The Frozen Hour

Anna stood between a meadow of vibrant flowers of different shape and size, flowers she had never seen, heard of, or read about before illuminated by the soft warmth of the blazing sun.

She stood there gazing at the distinct flowers of the meadow. Some of them looked like stars, some looked like complex geometric shapes and some she couldn't make sense of. However, she still had a smile on her face, even though she should be worried, scared even though she didn't feel those emotions at that moment. It was like such emotions didn't even exist for her at that time.

Anna who was standing within a field of flowers heard a youthful and gentle voice.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" 

"It is…"

"Where am I?" Anna asked as she turned her head to look towards the direction of the voice, there stood a teenage boy who appeared to be 13–15 years old, he had short deep blue hair, honey topaz like eyes, He donned a three-piece black suit with white shirt, a neatly folded red handkerchief with golden embroidery rested in his suit's pocket square, he had a small smile on his face as he looked towards Anna.

"Guess?" the teenage boy asked, his eyes sparkling with mischievousness.

"I.. have never been to any place like this" Anna replied.

"Of course you haven't! Haha! Spirit realm is not your average backwater place after all" the teenage boy said as he puffed his chest with pride.

"Spirit realm?" Anna tilted her head and asked the teenage boy.

"Hah?! You don't even know about the spirit realm?!" the teenage boy looked at her with shock and confusion.

"Ah… by the way, Who are you?" 

"Ah silly me! Hmm.. Who am I? Who am I?" the teenage boy replied as he soon fell into contemplation..

"I don't remember…" the teenage boy said, his voice being merely a whisper. 

"Hmm?" Anna tilted her head as she couldn't hear him correctly.

"You can just call me The Guide" the teenage boy said with a small smile as he moved his right hand towards Anna.

"The Guide…" Anna moved forward and grabbed his hand. 

The Guide smiled at her and waved his other free hand and as soon as he did so various animals, beasts, birds came into the view. 

Horses with their manes made of fire, water, light, thunder, etc. 

Rabbits with diamond like fur.

Elephants with white body covered in golden runic marks. 

Birds with wings as wide as an aeroplane.

They all looked ancient, mysterious, and glorious. 

A "Wow.." escaped Anna's lips as she saw them running around in the field of flowers seemingly free from all bonds and enjoying themselves.

"Don't stare at them for too long, lest your gaze make them uncomfortable" The Guide said as he looked at Anna with a profound gaze.

Anna nodded at his words.

*Snap*

The Guide snapped his fingers and the scene before them changed. 

Once a meadow of fantastical flowers turned into a dreadful place filled with withered flowers, dead trees and coarse land filled the place, this place wasn't illuminated with the soft glow of sun instead a cold moon took its place illuminating the place with its cold yet calm moonlight, skeletons of various shapes and sizes could be seen littered throughout the place.

When Anna looked at the horrifying and dreadful place instead of feeling horrified or dreadful she felt calm like she finally earned the rest she always wanted..

"W-why am I feeling like this?" Anna questioned The Guide as she couldn't understand anything at this point..

"You were at the -Meadow of Fulfillness- before which made you feel fulfilled, Now you stand at the -Land of Eternal Rest- which makes you feel at rest" The Guide spoke as he looked at the cold moon hung in the air.. 

"That is the -Eternal Moon- it always exists, illuminating this realm with its cold yet calm moonlight" The Guide spoke as he pointed one of his fingers at the moon.

"Similarly the -Meadow of Fulfillness- basks under the soft warmth of the -Eternal Sun- at all times" The Guide concluded.

"H-how is that possible?" Anna asked, she was stunned from what she had heard. 

"Why not? What you believe becomes possible and what you don't stays impossible."

Anna looked at the Guide with a solemn look even though she didn't fully understand his words she knew that he was right.

"Let's go" The Guide once again moved his hand towards Anna which she soon grabbed with hers. 

*Snap*

Once again, The Guide snapped his fingers and the scene before them changed. 

Now they stood inside? Outside? Anna couldn't say for sure, various objects—or were they living beings?—floated near her she looked at them but she couldn't understand what they were nor could she make sense of the place they were at. She just knew that she was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be…

"This is -Zone of uncertainty- Here nothing is certain be it time, space, living, dead, day or night, this whole place is just a mashup of CHAOS" The Guide said as he continued to look towards something which Anna couldn't see.

Soon however she asked him

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you showing all of this to me?"

"Because… That's how it's meant to be." 

"Meant to be?"

"Destiny is a peculiar thing, Even those who believe that they are above it simply follow it without knowing how pitiful their resistance is."

Anna stayed silent as she stared at The Guide.

"What is my destiny then?"

"Hmm? How would I know?" The Guide said as he looked at Anna like he was looking at a stupid kid asking stupid questions.

"What?..." Now Anna was more confused. 

'Didn't he just say that I was meant to be here? And now he says that he doesn't know anything?'

The Guide looked at her and shook his head, he could clearly see what was Anna thinking.

"Hold your horses! I never said I know your destiny, What I meant was that you are here because you were meant to be" he spoke like he was talking to a child still in its adolescence.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked with a slight frown.

"Do you think the spirit realm is like the garden of your house which you can enter whenever you want?"

"Then.. What is it?" Anna asked with intrust gleaming in her eyes.

"The Spirit realm is where the primordial laws take a physical form and give birth to multiple laws of this universe. In your terms, spirit realm is like a machine created for the progress of the universe"

'universe?' Anna thought.

"Then… who are you?"

"As I said before I am nothing more than a humble guide"

"I find that hard to believe"

"It doesn't matter if you believe it or not"

"I guess so…" Anna turned back towards the strange scene before her which she couldn't make head or tails of.

"Let's move" 

*Snap*

Once again, The Guide snapped his fingers and the scene before them changed. 

The scene which had been a random gibberish till now turned into a serene ocean, its water glimmered when the sunlight softly touched it, fishes of various shapes, sizes and colours could be seen within the ocean.

However looking at the ocean made Anna feel like she was right there with the fishes while also being far away from them at the same time this dissonance in distance made her head dizzy causing her to fall at her knees.

Seeing that, The Guide raised an eyebrow. 

'She seems to have an innate understanding of space however it's not that great'

"W-what's going on"

"This is the -Lake of indefinite Space-" 

"L-lake?" Anna asked as she once again looked at the ocean in front of her and rubbed her eyes thinking that maybe she was seeing it right, However even after that nothing changed and she asked again 

"B-but isn't that an ocean?"

"It is, However we can't be sure of it because space is stretched and compressed at the -Lake of indefinite Space- thus we refer to it as a lake" The Guide answered her questions. 

"Still you shouldn't look at it for that long as an unawakened" 

"Unawakened?" Anna asked as she tilted her head.

"Hmm? You don't know about the awakeneds?" The Guide asked with a small frown, his voice was laced with confusion.

"What are awakeneds?" Anna questioned.

"Beings who have shed the mortal body and soul are awakeneds" 

"Auh.. You mean people with superpowers"

"Hmm... You can say that"

"Hah! How does that make sense"

"Does all of this make sense to you?" The Guide said as he pointed at the unnatural scene nearby him. 

"..." Anna turned silent she didn't what to say anymore.

Shaking her head, she looked towards the ocean wanting to etch the scene in front of her in her mind.

Suddenly her eyes fell on the end of the ocean which had.. Nothing.. Yes, nothing.

The flowing water just disappeared when it reached that place, it was a place of void, no light, no stars, nothing. Only darkness.

"What's that?" Anna questioned as she pointed towards that place. 

The Guide moved his head toward the location Anna pointed at and spoke. 

"That's the -Boundary of Space- it is the place at which the water starts to disappear at."

"Why does that happen?"

"Because of -VOID-"

"VOID?"

"Yes, only -VOID- exists after the -Boundary of Space-. Whatever enters the boundary of space becomes void as in they return to #@!$"

"Huh?!" Anna blurted out in surprise as she wasn't able to hear or understand the last word said by The Guide. 

"Hmm.. you are still too weak to know about it" The Guide said so and started to nod his heads continuously. 

"Can you tell me more about those awakeneds?"

"There's no point in doing that."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know what path you follow, You have already obtained a soul body even before becoming an awakened so my knowledge can't help you... not yet at least"

"I see…"

"What's a so-"

"It's as the name implies, Soul body is the physical manifestation of one's soul …which shouldn't be possible unless one is already an awakened…" The Guide said his last words however were merely a whisper. 

"So now what?"

"There's still one more location for us to visit"

"Let's go then?"

"No we can't"

"Hmm? Why?"

"You are too weak… if you went there like this even I won't be able to keep you safe"

"I-is really that dangerous?"

"It is.. For now you should get rest and review everything you saw till now in your head"

*Snap*

Once again, The Guide snapped his fingers and the scene before them changed, however this time only Anna was there. 

She looked around and found out that she had returned to the place she first opened her eyes at, She walked towards a boulder and took a seat on it.

Now that she thought about it even after everything she did today she didn't feel hungry or tired. 

"Strange.. Too strange.. This whole place is too strange…"

"Hah! I don't even know how long it has been since I entered this place… I hope my elder brother is fine…"

"Tomorrow, I will visit the last place with The Guide and then ask him for a way to leave this place"

Anna continued to think about the bizarre and otherworldly places she saw today soon however her eyelids felt heavy as she went to dreamland. 

The Guide was with her from the beginning. she just simply couldn't see him, as it was impossible to sleep in the spirit realm it was not surprising that The Guide had to do something with Anna's sleep. 

"I wonder.. Why did Lord Veylor send you here?" The Guide pondered, Soon however. 

"Well, it's not like I can question my glorious Lord" he shook his head and left Anna alone.

The nearby beasts, upon seeing Anna, began to walk toward her and snuggle up beside her and one by one closed their eyes. 

Footnote:

The Guide used some kind of area-based skill to make Anna sleep which had the same effect on whoever stepped within that area.