NOVEL WEB Ch.36: A World of Thought
Sitting down at my desk I looked at my looked down at my phone and moving my tail in strange wavy motions. “No, that’s not right…” I mumbled to myself. This time I tilted my tail to the side only to turn it left. “Nope….” I sighed. I’ll need more practice before I could hold a proper simple conversation. I could talk with my hands but it was different when you realize it was more like sign language with an extra flexible finger.
Turning my phone off I turned to looking at the weird posters on the walls and noticed one with a hooved black demon. He looked like a business man in a full blue suit but his tie was pure black as if it cut out a piece of the world. Focusing my eyes until I could just barely see some texturing on the tie, it was almost void like if it didn’t have the texturing. At that point I turned away, it didn’t look that appealing to me, maybe a little empty.
At that point I noticed Steph come in with Belle, it looked like they were talking about something. Steph’s eyes looked at me before looking away, she looked uneasy as she moved over to her desk and coiled up to the point it looked like several fat donuts on top of each other. Leaving me the feeling she was still upset about yesterday, I wouldn’t blame her if she did feel upset. I was tempted to try and talk to her but Belle was already walking over to me, also looking a little confused.
“Hey… Oliver?” Belle called in and nervous voice.
“Yeah…..?” I asked hesitantly.
“Steph told me that you need to let her do her thing first…. I don’t know what that means but I think she wanted to do something before she talks with you?” He said with uncertainty.
“I see…” I mumbled to myself before turning to Belle. “What about you? I did cause a problem, instincts or not.” I asked directly. Instead of talking about it, Belle looked really uncomfortable and even leaned away.
“Can we just… continue like before.” He said. It wasn’t a question or suggestion, he wanted me to drop it but why? All I knew for sure was my question made him uneasy.
“….Sure.” I said trying to keep a calm face.
“So I heard we’re going to the artist’s Trove today! Maybe we’ll see some of Draco’s live art! It’s so life like you’d think it came from another world!” He said changing the subject.
“Draco, huh? Is he a dragon too?” I asked with a smile.
“Nope.” Belle said cheerfully flashing a smile. “She’s a red salamander and really crazy!” he said with a proud face.
“Uh you mean eccentric?” I asked a little concerned.
Belle looked shocked. “You mean you missed her wild flame golem last year?” he asked. He looked at me like I grew four heads.
I metaphorically turned all four of my heads in embarrassment. “Yeah I was in the middle of something important at the time.” I said with a little fake sadness. Missing huge school events, planned or not was similar to missing a town festival.
“Makes sense, there were a lot of people that left early for club or sport things at other schools.” He said with an understanding nod.
At that moment Mr. Minnow walked into class slowly before sitting down as if his favorite show was canceled. Everyone looked at each other in confusion, some even looked really nervous. One guy even looked ready to cry while trying to stay stoic. Mr. Minnow sat on his chair like a statue carved from solid sadness and pain, his eyes were slammed shut and his teeth clenched so tightly that I thought he would draw blood.
“I’m sorry class. I just found out that my favorite series got put on hiatus and, I….” he stopped to keep from sobbing. “the last book ended on a cliffhanger and Adam was left there at his lowest point!” he finished before taking a few breaths. After a moment he got up and wrote on the board, making it creak in pain again.
After a finishing he showed the board with several rules. “Since yesterday’s little prank, I have to make sure that everyone here knows the rules. If you fail to follow them then our class loses access to rights to any future field trips this semester. And if you do that then I WILL be personally training you to handle following rules the classic style!” He said as he slammed his fists together.
On the board there was very simple rules most art places had. Don’t touch art works no matter how they interact with you. Don’t disturb anyone working on an art piece or staff installing a piece. Don’t use magic on an interactive art pieces unless allowed to. But then there was an odd one which was about not feeding the art or another warning to not turn any art into golems, especially ones that explode/burst into flames.
I’m guessing that had to do with what Draco made, that might be a person to watch out for. No telling what she might do if they see me, an actual dragon, it might end up with some dragon mecha that’s invisible only leaving foot prints. Or something very lewd…… the last thing I want is that church using it as fire to act.
After having to say the rules out loud four times, Mr. Minnow let us leave for the Artist’s Trove. This time, everyone that normally walked with me all left me alone. Belle told me that Steph asked for his help on something before taking off with Steph and Emily. It was weird to walk to one of these places without my small group of friends ….and Emily. Seeing them walk and talk without me just made me feel like the first day I walked in here as a dragon. Maybe this was why Mr. Minnow said to figure myself out first before making new friends, otherwise it’d blow up in my face.
It's probably best if I focus on other things, who know if being sad makes me turn into a super nuke. As we walked, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one walking alone. All the way almost near the front was the Orc guy, I couldn’t see his face but no one was even within a few feet of him. He held his shoulder high while walking like he was in a narrow hall, his arms were squeezed against his sides and barely moved past this square he made for himself, moving like a robot with limited motion. Looking at him made me feel even more lonely, making me look down at my hand and my black claws.
The sharpened tips, it looked like it could pierce and if I used my full hand, maybe yank flesh off of someone. Spreading my palm, I saw just how big it was, could be two or three times what my original hand was. There was definitely a lot of muscle in them, as if I worked a demanding job or worked out until my body was a different shape. Tapping my orange crystal scales with my claw, I could just lightly feel it, it felt like a gentle breeze, I could probably take a lot before I felt it. The crystal scales were uniform, evenly overlapping the base of the next scale but if Fachnan could turn them to spikes then…
My face only cringed at the thought, looking away, I continued my walk to this art place everyone seems so excited to go to.
Walking up to a bare empty looking wall, everyone stopped and quietly waited, watching the wall. Was this some joke thing that the students di- even Mr. Minnow was staring at the wall. Okay? Maybe it was something related to the art room? Looking back at the wall, there was a sudden shake as the paint on the wall pulled back like two rows of clouds parting, showing a white wall undernea- the white wall split open like an earth quake hit splitting down the middle. Before the fissure could fully open, hundreds of fish swam out of the fissure, followed by two statues that pulled out of the wall like an object coming from a wall of paint. These statues sunk their hands back into the wall until pulling away at the wall like it was a curtain made of fabric water. The two statues then pinned the curtain to opposite sides of the wall, making a wet slap noise and painting the wall navy blue and white. This revealed the doorway into the place but the walls themselves was painted to look like a splashing sea holding several fish with the fissure framing the doorway, while the statues posed like they had pulled the very sea and land beneath it apart.
It was super cool to see this in action, it was as if the special effects of movies were brought into the real world. The bland looking wall had become a work of moving art itself and now was calling us forward into a greater beyond, one of- BATTLE! Shouted my mind in excitement. Without realizing it my body warmed up, my scales felt really tingly like wind blowing through my hair and I could feel my core tremble with a chaotic energy as if I downed forty cups of coffee.
I wanted to dive right in and lose all control, I could even feel a smile forming on my face, I couldn’t wait to see what was inside. But before I could let my desires take hold, I let out a deep breath and shook all four of my shoulders. This would be the first time in………..um, well I guess in a long time since I saw one of these creative art Museums let alone a magic one! I had to see what was in there!
Without even realizing it, I sped walked into the entrance into a dark tunnel. Then slowly, stars, nebulas of neon blues and galaxies of different shapes started appearing on the tunnel walls. Slowly moving, twinkling and shooting stars rocketing across this cosmos. Then all of it began to spiral into a single point, a bright almost blinding light, as I slowly walked taking in the light show, I found myself outside the tunnel and in a new room.
The walls around me rippled or waved like the surface of water. The ripple was made of hundreds of different shapes, some were of X’s, O’s and a weird wavy T. the waving walls were made of a series of fabric like strips that arched up and down, one would move up the other down but sometimes it would form a large wave that even created that white foam. The room was had a cool blue lighting and at the middle of the room was a figure that looked like a decayed statue, Its body looked like a glossy white, purple and blue. It was a simple sword and a hand holding the hilt that connected to a shoulder and a shredded cape and ending with a mask the showed the bridge of the nose and falcon like eyes holes. It was missing the rest of its body, no other arm or even a head, even the mask floated in the air in the place a face should be.
Once everyone was inside the room, the statue began glowing a chilly pale blue before a head and arm formed out of nothingness. The statue now had a ghostly body while waving its ghostly arm and then bowing to everyone here.
“Welcome to Artist’s Trove! Please remember to be respectful of all art here. Many have put much of their time and effort into the works here.” the statue said in a jolly tone of a friendly pirate. “Now then, Please have fun exploring the wild minds of all the GODs here.” the statue said before twisting the sword. This made a clicking sound like a timer before the watery walls pulled apart, each wall now had two doorways. The wave walls now had its fabric curled upwards or pulled down like small shrines, while the ripple walls now made swirls and animal shapes around its doorways. Looking at the doorways there were six all together and each had a different entrance names. Nation of the small, the World Around Me, A Moment in Time, living Waters, living Lands and living Skies. They were strange names that I assumed meant what the art was categorized as?
I guess nation of the small might be like the mini town in the garden? I guess the living ones are about different locations or animal types? Could also be about different monster art based on where they live too. But I was curious about living waters, if it was based on sea life or just water themed art, so I walked into that doorway.
The moment I was past the doorway, I walked through a bubble I didn’t notice, the air here was cold and frigid. Oddly enough I felt like I was being sprayed by mother’s cold spray bottle. The lighting in here seemed to slowly move back and forth, casting shadows or a random shimmer of white light. The walls looked like they didn’t end. I could see pretty far into them especially as I focused my eyes, seeing more and more fish swimming around and the blueness of the ocean.
These fish were different sizes and shapes too, one looked like sword that glided across the sandy floor, one was a bottle- no a disc wait it was a burrito now? Out of the depths a dark silhouette of a huge humanoid turned its head in my direction before slowly sinking into the darkness of the deep ocean like a dead body. It was just a human right? Not some leviathan of the deep or some ancient existence?! I didn’t think they put horror pieces here!
Quickly turning away and finding something uh… more flashy to, um, to admire! Weird how colorful the ocean can be! I was watching a googly eyed fish that had a stupid face pop up and disappear behind yellow and red candy wrapper corals. Its face made me smile before it swam into a coral made of….claws (?) the fish eyes widened then exploded into red and pink confetti. That made me chuckle at its sudden popping. Looking at another fish, I was stunned to see a cloud of black and white, it looked odd and I felt like it didn’t be- the cloud suddenly rushed at me, surprising me into covering my body with my arms and wings. Looking between the gaps, I expected some forceful impact, instead the cloud broke into several fish that looked like someone drew them with pen. They had solid outlines and white bodies that looked like paper, these fish all resembled salmon and trout. But a few looked to have human noses or bird beaks. Turning around. I watched as the cartoon fish rushed off into the direction of THAT dark part of the ocean.
Looking away I moved deeper into this arm (?), maybe it was a west wing? I don’t care, I just gotta look for something else to distract me.
