1 The First Floor
She felt a drop of water on her forehead before she woke up in a strange world. Oddly, she is sure that a drop of water awakens her but the thick clouds is not grey at all, rather it was red—bloody red.
She wipes the smear of wetness on her forehead before she sat from laying down on the hard grassless soil. She glanced at the liquid on her hand, it was red as well.
"Where am I?" she mumbled as she lifted her gaze to the sky again.
There she saw a winged being with a red hood covering its head from its feet. It was like a floating two-hundred-meter statue holding an enormous scythe in both hands.
'Am I in hell?' She thought for a moment as she noticed that the sky was not lit by the sun, rather, she could not understand how everything was not blackened despite the absence of it.
At a few distance from the winged being, there she saw a digital clock that shows the time, two hours.
She stands up and tries to remember what happened to her but with a fail, even a fragment of her memories, there's none.
All of a sudden, a golden scroll pop out of thin air, she was dumbfounded for a moment thinking how could a scroll come out of the blue and floats in the thin air.
As she tried to reach for it, with a simple touch, like opening a message from a smartphone, a large screen appeared in front of her as she read the message with contemplation in her heart.
['Welcome to Wonderland! You need to know what type of creature you are and defeat the boss before the clock runs out of time. Good luck!']
"What?! Where am I exactly?!"
'This is not real! I'm only hallucinating things!'
She tried to hit herself thinking everything was a dream, but to her surprise, she felt a flinch of pain.
She let out a curse of exhaustion and disbelief.
"Okay, calm down, calm down…" she whispered as she scanned her surrounding hoping there was someone who could explain this to her, but there was none.
She frowned, and with a furrowed eyebrow, she read again the message in front of her vision.
['Welcome to Wonderland! You need to know what type of creature you are and defeat the boss before the clock runs out of time. Good luck!']
'…Wonderland? Boss?'
Somehow, she managed to remember something. A famous game that she gained no interest in. A fantasy otome game that centers on survival. As she recalled, it was a game of a hundred floors, each floor is a world, a world of battle against the lords of each level. In that game, there is a famous character, rumored to be the protagonist of the game—Klyde Rivers.
"But how did I end up in here, I don't even like this game, and I don't have any interest in this." She commented, irritated.
Is this what they called transmigration? She thought.
"Good heavens, then why did I end up in here when I don't even like this sh-t!"
As soon as she started walking, the message disappeared from her vision.
"…The rules said I need to know what kind of creature I am and defeat the boss…"
She looked upon her small hands, and felt her face, touching her hair and ears.
'Nothing has changed?'
"A human?" she uttered but nothing happened.
Nervously, she glanced at the clock near the strange being.
[1:59:00]
"Why am I the only one in here?"
She continued to walk.
"How should I know what I am?" she mumbled.
After a short walk to nowhere, an idea came up.
"That's right! This is a game, there should be a help button here!" she muttered and tried her hardest to search for something despite looking like a fool.
She tried pressing something in the air, or uttering the word 'help button' but nothing happened.
"WHAT THE F—K IS WRONG WITH THIS GAME?!"
She sighed out of frustration. Clearing her head, she looked at her environment, trees and grass are dying, animal bones were everywhere, the sky is red, and even the mountains ahead are red. She felt a sudden emotion in her chest---fear.
'Why am I here?'
"For a start-up, you are a strange woman…"
She jumped sideways out of shock and saw a little red man in a black Santa hat.
"Only your blood is red…" the man commented.
She swallowed the lump inside her throat.
"I'm lost…" she began.
"Lost? In here?" the man answered in disbelief. "Oh dear, this place is already fixed… No creature is lost in here."
"I'm lost…"
The man whose height is leveled only below her waist looked at her with doubt.
"…Well, do you have any idea to help me?" she muttered, awkwardly. "What should I do?" she continued.
"No." The man said shortly. "I can only answer questions--- Three to be precise. And you, lady, already ask a lot of times, so goodbye!" the man added and leaped three steps away from her.
Like a surprise, as if her adrenaline controlled her, she immediately run and drag the little man by the shoulder to stop him.
"Wait! Please, give me another chance!" she pleaded.
"…And what can you offer?"
"Offer?"
"Yes, nothing is free here, Madame…"
She looked at the moving time above.
[1:00:00]
"…I don't have any…"
"Well, then goodbye!"
"…I'll just give you what I have!"
The little red man looked at her, "And what do you have?"
"…I'll give you this..." she muttered as she handed him the golden locket hanging upon her neck.
It was a gift from her dead mother. The last thing she cherished, and she had at the moment.
The little red man smiled at her and took the necklace from her grip.
"Sure. I'll have this."
She calmed herself and bit her lips while looking at the locket, to her surprise, the red man eats the necklace.
She was about to scold the man and asked him why he devoured it but she stopped herself since she only have three questions to ask.
She composed herself and thought of a good question to end her problems.
"Listen, where can I find a place to know what creature I am?" she asked.
"A woman is drowning at the lake nearby, ask her then."
'Drowning…?'
"Second, where can I find the Lord of this world?"
The little red man pointed to the ground.
"The Lord is below us, if you want to meet him then you must upset him."
"How can I upset the Lord?"
The red man showed a strange grin.
"Exactly the opposite of him."
*Poof! * The little red man disappeared from her grip.
Her shoulders lowered because of her disappointments, but just as she was about to lower her head, an urge came up inside her to look at the clock.
Lifting her head, she saw the time.
[00:59:00]
As if her body was controlled by an unknown force, she immediately sprints away in the direction of the lake. As she saw a red pool of water, she stopped to breathe her struggles as she moved forward, closer to the water.
She looked at her fuzzy reflection.
"There should be a drowning woman here…?" she whispered as she looked for any sign of someone drowning, but there was none.
'Sh-t did that midget lied to me?!'
She gazed upon the red liquid once more, trying to find out a way. All of a sudden, she noticed bubbles rising from underneath the water.
Her heart was pounding as she kneeled to take a better look, she bends her back closely that the tip of her nose felt the coldness of the lake.
In a split second, two hands grabbed her head into the water. Eyes close, she tried to escape, but due to the strong force, even her whole body was dragged into the lake. She screamed in fear, she could feel the bubbles of air coming out from her mouth and touching the skin of her face, while the creature's hand is still holding her head, dragging her below.
She couldn't stand any longer, she was out of breath, letting herself succumb to the situation, she opened her mouth but instead of water filling her lungs, she could breathe!
She opened her eyes.
The water below is not red, rather it was clear. She could see the rocks below, and although there was no life within the lake, she was at ease knowing that she is not drowning…
Her gaze then fell upon the owner of the hands holding her head.
A lady with pointed ears, white eyes glaring at her, and a wide grin almost reaching the temple of the forehead.
The strands of the lady's hair covered them both.
"What is it that you want to know?" the lady asked in a monotonous tone.
'We could speak underwater?!' She thought, feeling strange.
"Ask a perfect question and I shall give you the truth that you seek, if you don't, you'll drown with me…"
