My Unconventional Lover: Seeing A Different World

I took a deep breath as I stared at the vast sea in front of me. The sky was a bit cloudy and it was a bit windy. Standing on my sides were Tom and Sanji who looked lost. They were holding onto their hopes that maybe one of them could get into the territory of the Queen with me.

I lied if I said I wasn’t worried about getting inside alone. But, I repeatedly reminded myself that I was going to be fine, that the Queen wouldn’t do something bad to me.

“Don’t worry, if something happened to her, trust me, I will be the first one to know.” Siji appeared with helpless look on his face.

Sanji and Tom frowned. They trusted him, but they couldn’t help but feel worried about me.

I took another deep breath. “I’m going in.” I told them as I walked forward and stepped into the water.

Didn’t they say they would pick me up? Why weren’t they here?

As soon as I thought about it, the water in front of me churned and the atmosphere changed. The originally gloomy situation suddenly turned bright as the golden and greenish light emitted from the sea. Slowly, a gold cart appeared with two women dresses in green with gold accessories riding on it.

“Greetings to Master of White Army. We’re here under the order of our Queen to welcome our distinguished guest. Please, step onto this cart and we will take you to the Queen.” One of them spoke in a soft and alluring voice.

.....

I didn’t need to be told twice. After I boarded the cart, the cart made a smooth u-turn and left the shore. I didn’t look back, for fear I would make them even more worried. My expression might still look stoic, but I knew how sharp their eyes were. The worry would still be reflected in my eyes.

However, seconds later, I had other things to think about other than my worry.

A big wave was rapidly approaching. It was around two meters tall, a perfect height to drown a grown up man. I didn’t know whether these two beautiful women noticed it or not, but I was sure I was freaking out for a moment there.

It was fortunate that I didn’t shriek or scream shamefully when the wave hit down.

I closed my eyes, braced myself for the impact, but there was nothing. Instead of getting hit by salty water, I only felt as if I entered a foreign dimension. It was the same sensation as when I crossed space using the other dimension. There was a moment of being deaf after I successfully did it, but this time, the dullness remained. I couldn’t hear the sound of wind, birds, even the sound of the waves. I felt as if I was getting deaf.

Noticing that something had changed, I tried to open my eyes a bit, to see where I was. To my surprise, the cart was going down!

How was I supposed to breathe underwater?

My answer came as soon as the question popped into my mind.

I breathed normally, of course.

I always thought that being submerged under the water would be terrifying. It would be dark and suffocating. Fear would fill one’s mind as the lack of oxygen and cold would slowly grip the heart and affect the rationality.

Turned out it was completely different.

Well, maybe it was because I went down with the women who controlled the sea. Instead of feeling cold and fear, my surrounding was enveloped in a warm light. It might be colder one or two degree than the ground, but it wasn’t to the point of biting cold.

The dull sound in my head slowly started to disappear as the sound of traditional instruments being played from far away filled my ears. It was the distinctive sound belonged only to the Queen of Sea as the mark of her arrival or whenever someone was moving closer to her.

The music was soothing and at the same time elegant. However, if one was to listen closely to the music, one could easily be drawn to the hint of mystic in it. Since I was a master of a mystical army myself, I could notice the presence of this hidden power. Yet, I wasn’t affected by it.

As time went on, the strength behind that power was getting stronger and stronger. It was steadily trying to warp itself around me, trying to mess around with my mind.

I sighed. Was it always like this? Was it the welcome I got as soon as I entered her territory? Were they trying to mess with me?

The feeling was uncomfortable, but I felt annoyed more than anything. I tried to endure it as I thought it might be their form of protection against anything or anyone that had bad intention towards them.

But, as the sound was getting louder and louder, I felt that it was toying with me. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Those women in front of me didn’t say anything throughout the journey and I didn’t feel the need to ask them.

Well, if they really wanted to test me, I would love to show them that I wasn’t someone they could play with.

Not today, my dear citizen of Soul World!

With a small wave of my hand, the alluring power behind the music dispersed in a flash and the music started to disappear as well. The tranquility returned to my surrounding and a smile appeared on my face.

It was much better. The only thing I could hear was the sound of water splashing the barrier around me, but I couldn’t touch it. It was a refreshing feeling to hear to movement of water even though I was supposed to be in the other dimension.

The cart moved down even further until I couldn’t see anything around me other than darkness outside the barrier enveloping the cart. If you were expecting me to say that I saw schools of fish, corals, and every sea creatures, well, there wasn’t going to happen since those were not what I saw.

Other than endless water and darkness as I submerged further and further, I didn’t see anything.

Didn’t people say that the palace of the Queen was so beautiful that it was hard to find anything to compare to it?

Well, I had not seen the palace yet so I didn’t want to assume anything.

We were still going down yet I still couldn’t see the bottom of this place. How long did we need to arrive at the palace, actually?

One of my escorts took out a small shell and blew it. A soft yet adorable sound came out from the shell in a long and melodious tone. It sounded like a call of siren in the middle of the storm.

As soon as she stopped blowing the shell, my surrounding lit up as if someone was opening a giant curtain for us and the darkness and dull surrounding changed into one from the fantasy.

Colorful corals, fish in all size and colors were swimming here and there. It looked like a dreamy underwater garden in a painting. Not too far from it was the magnificent looking building made of gold and marble.

This was the palace of the Queen of the South Sea!

The cart landed on the path led to the palace and a group of women appeared in the sidelines, looking at me with straight face without any hostility reflected in their eyes.

They looked like professional bodyguards in traditional costumes. Beautiful and elegant bodyguards. If I were a man, I wouldn’t mind chasing after one of them. Where would one find such a beauty with strength without looking a bit boyish?

But, of course, it was only if they were real human. Even though there was stories about the love between two worlds, I knew that it wouldn’t be forever.

Still, it was romantic, right?

“Here we are, Milady.” The cart stopped and I was pulled from my imagination at the same time.

Looking at the massive pillars supporting the ceiling in front of me made me feel like a dwarf in a giant’s house. Why should they make a super giant room while they were only tiny creatures in it?

“Our Queen has been waiting for you.” One of the maids who were waiting for me made a slight bow at me before she spoke.

Here we go!