She Belongs To The Devil

Nigel began to focus on his breathing as Rhea had asked. He slowly began to breathe in and breathe out. Slowly, the noises around him, like the sound of different types of birds in the forest began to fade away. Now all he was hearing was his own breathing.

After a while, without even realizing it, he had entered the subconscious state of his mind. He found himself in a moonlit forest. He looked around and the forest looked like the wet rain forest which he had crossed before entering the Enchanted Valley.

He looked up and saw the full moon shining gracefully. "Where am I? And why does this place look familiar?" Nigel was talking to himself while walking further ahead. He walked for some time to see if he could find someone else there in the forest.

However, no matter in which direction he walked, he found not a single living being. "This forest is awfully quiet.. Aren't there any animals or birds at least?"

After walking aimlessly for quite a while, something struck to Nigel, "Wait, how did I end up here in the first place? And why can't I seem to get out of here? Is this some kind of a dream?"

He tried to pinch himself on the hand to check if he could feel any pain. "Ouch! That sting! But why does everything feel so unreal then?"

"I have to get out of here." Nigel was determined to get out of that forest anyhow. He walked in one direction, and after a while, he began to sprint, and soon he was running at his top speed. He ran for what felt like a few hours but no matter how much he ran, he was not getting anywhere. But strangely, he was not tired at all.

He stopped in the middle of his track, irritated at his inability to get out of this forest. Then his eyes fell on a strange dead tree. "Didn't I see this tree already? Am I just running in circles?"

He decided to check that theory and ran ahead. After a while, he arrived right near that dead tree again. "Am I in Hell or something? This forest seems to be an endless loop. I always end up here no matter how much I try to get out."

Nigel was already so frustrated that he looked up in the sky and then shouted at the top of his lungs. "Let me out already." Then Nigel began to punch himself thinking that he was in a dream. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake… uuuupppp…!"

"Your Highness!"

Nigel heard a faint sound of a woman in the forest. 

"Nigel... Nigel!"

He heard that same voice calling for him again but he was not quite sure who that voice belonged to.

He frantically looked around in search of that voice. But he saw no one in the vicinity. He cupped his hands over his mouth and then shouted, "Hello! Helloooo! Is anyone here?" But there was no answer.

Outside in the training ground, Rhea had been trying to reach out to the Prince who had been in the meditative state for too long. She had been calling his name out but there was no response from Nigel.

Rhea puckered her lips and then sighed. She cracked her knuckles and whispered to herself, "I did not want to resort to this method, but I guess I have no other choice."

Then Rhea gave a tight slap to Nigel on his cheek.

Nigel suddenly found himself lying on the dirt of the training ground. And in the next second, he felt a sharp pain on his cheek. "Argh!" he gritted and then placed his hand on his cheek. He looked up to find Rhea staring down at him.

"How… what…" Nigel furrowed his brows and tried to comprehend what had just happened. "I was in a strange forest just a while ago. How am I here?"

Rhea went back and sat down in front of Nigel again. And she said in a sarcastic tone, "You were training with me, remember? You were supposed to be meditating, trying to find out your animal side, not sleeping like a dead log."

Nigel pouted his lips because he remembered what he was actually supposed to do. But he had no idea whether he had really fallen asleep or that was him in a meditative state. "Teacher, may I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"What will we see when we are in the meditative state? I am not quite sure whether I was dreaming or I was in my subconscious." Nigel gave an innocent grin to Rhea and Nigel was sure that the corner of Rhea's lips curved up slightly.

But Rhea immediately put up the stern act and said, "It is different for different people. Some say that they just see a dark room, some just hear the growling of their animal side, while some will have an elaborate layout. I think you might be the latter one."

Nigel nodded his head in relief. It would have been a shame if he had fallen asleep and dreamt in the very first training exercise. Nigel suddenly looked up to check where the sun had reached and asked, "How long was I stuck in my subconscious? I felt like I had spent at least 10 hours in there."

"Don't worry, I woke you up after an hour had passed. As I said, it can even take around a week just to find the animal side, so I couldn't just let you get stuck in the very first exercise. You have a lot to cover today."

Rhea was ready to teach another thing to Nigel, "Now, the next exercise that we are going to do is our hearing exercise. I want you to close your eyes again and this time, instead of looking deep inside your mind, I want you to focus on the outside. Focus on what you hear outside, and try to check how far your ears can pick up the noises."

Nigel closed his eyes again and focused on the sound. For a while, he was hearing the sounds of the birds chirping and even some people mumbling in the distance. But as he had just entered in his subconscious a while ago, he happened to enter his subconscious state again.

"Er… I am back in this forest again?"