I sat down in the seat of my desk and opened up an empty journal.

The biggest mistake that people make when training their bodies is that they forget to strengthen their minds and mentalities as well.

I could be the strongest person alive, but if a mind-controlling man told me to kill myself, it would defeat the whole purpose of everything.

Strength...

What was the best way to grow strong...?

"I brought you some lemonade, Lia...Are you alright today?" the prince, Florence, purred me as he looped his arms around my waist from behind.

I slapped his arm out of the way.

"Back off. I'm trying to work on...stuff," I sighed as I closed the journal and turned around to look at him.

"You keep working nowadays...When is the last time my lovely little fiance spent some quality time with me?" Florence chuckled as he picked me up from my seat and tossed me onto my bed.

Florence took a seat on my bed as well and gave me a childish grin that was bright enough to be worthy of a prince's smile.

Luckily, unlike when I was little and his smiles could purify my soul, my soul was now so dirty and dark that no matter how bright Florence's smile was, he would never be able to purify me!

"Stop it! You're being a nuisance," I said loudly with a groan as I tried to push Florence's face away from mine.

But instead of doing as I asked, Florence pinned down the arm that I was pushing him away with onto the bed and held it above my head as he moved his body over mine.

"Haha...Doesn't this seem a bit familiar, Lia~?" Florence asked me with a singsong voice as he bumped his forehead onto mine with his eyes staring straight into mine.

"Yes. It does. I wonder why. Maybe it's because you literally do this every time you're alone in a room with me," I said sarcastically in a monotonous tone.

"Aww...You're too cold nowadays...Perhaps, you've finally grown used to my antics?" Florence asked me with a soft teasing smile on his face.

"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, can you get off of me now? I still have a lot of work to do and...uh...you're kind of really getting in the way," I said with irritation as I attempted to break free from his iron grip.

Darn...his grip actually was, regrettably, incredibly strong.

No matter how hard I attempted to break free, there was no chance that I'd be able to escape.

One day...I'll become so strong that Florence would have to risk losing a few of his limbs trying to pin me down.

And I'll be able to boss him around to do my bidding!

Hehehe...Hahaha...HAHAHAHAHA...MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

"Why are you chuckling so much, Lia?" Florence whispered straight into my right ear.

I jolted in surprise.

"W-Woah there. Back up a little, prince. You're getting a tad bit too close," I said as I tried to turn my head in a way where Florence's lips wouldn't be near, but it was useless.

"Don't think about other things when I'm next to you...Please?" Florence asked me quietly as he suddenly launched a surprise attack that I was not ready for.

Puppy eyes.

Florence, the prideful sadistic prince, suddenly gave me the most pitiful precious little puppy face that looked so terribly hurt and sad that the tiny little part of me that still held some affection for cute things wanted to smother him in cuddles and love.

God no...

God no...why...

Puppy eyes...they should be illegal.

They are a crime.

A lethal weapon that should be banned.

Aghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were even more effective than his super bright, shiny princely smiles!

My soul...no...it...my soul was being purified.

Noooooooooooo!!!!!!

"You sinful man...Get away from me!!" I yelled as I did my best to push him away.

This was bad.

The darkness within me was being repelled by his expression...which was something under no circumstance was I allowed to let happen.

Unlike what I was expecting, Florence let go of my arms and body willingly.

For a moment, I thought I was safe...that I could finally get away...

But then Florence curled himself up into a little ball next to me and began to snuggle his head by the nape of my neck.

W-Where did this cute persona come from...????????

N-No...

Dear god...I think I was starting to hallucinate.

For some reason...I swear I could see dog ears and a tail sprout from Florence's body.

"Lia...Lia...Lia..." Florence murmured over and over again as he wrapped one of his arms around me into a hug while I wasn't paying attention.

Oh, god...

Oh, god...I need self-control...

I took a deep breath and covered my face with my hands.

"Hey...Lia...Do you like it when I call you Lia...? Or would you rather me call you...Cor-del-ia?" Florence asked me with an innocent voice.

The unfamiliar sound of Florence saying my real name was almost too much for me to handle.

"Ah...um...well...er...L-Lia is just fine. Yep. Lia," I replied as smoothly as I could.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call you Cordelia?" Florence asked again with his puppy eyes.

"YES! YEP! It would be good for you to stop now!" I said unnaturally as my face became flushed and I shut my eyes closed again.

"Mmm...Okay, Lia," Florence sighed as he snuggled against me again.

I peeked open my eyes and saw puppy-Florence resting beside me comfortably without a care in the world.

"...This must be a trap...right...? Yeah...it's most likely a trap...He's going to wake up later and make fun of me...Yeah..." I mumbled to myself as I did my best to control the...human instinct within me.

This cute persona...was dangerous.

Yes...

Very dangerous...

"Mmm..." Florence murmured as his body began to shake a little by my side.

"Florence...? Hey...Are you okay...?!?" I asked as I began to shake Florence a bit.

Was he possibly having a nightmare???

"Mmm..." Florence continued to murmur.

"Hey...Florence?? Wake up," I said again as I shook him a bit harder.

"...Mmm...Mmhah...hahaha...Hahaha...Pfft!" Florence suddenly broke out into laughter as tears of humor formed in his eyes and his expression was warped with the joyfulness of an innocent(?) child's.

It really was a trap!

I rolled off of my bed and immediately backed away as far as I could.

"Oh my...I didn't mean to burst out laughing like that. It's just...hahaha...Lia, you're too funny," Florence chuckled as his face went back to the sadistic smile I was accustomed to seeing on his face.

"Ugh...I should have known..." I muttered as I waved my hand to shoo him away.

"You know...I was starting to worry that I wouldn't be able to make you turn red anymore...but I guess you're always the same," Florence laughed.

I shuddered.

"Ah...I'm so happy, Lia~ You're still mine," Florence said as he gave a cheery smile that didn't suit the dark sadistic look in his eyes.

"Argh...Just get out!" I yelled again as I pushed him out of my door in a hurry.

"Hahaha...Yeah, okay, Lia~ I'll visit you again once I get the time. Oh! And make sure to take a break every once and a while...You always seem to be working nowadays," Florence said as he waved before I slammed the door in his face.

I sighed and collapsed into the chair by my desk.

It was time for me to finally get back to work.

I gave a small glance to the lemonade that Florence had given me earlier before he started to mess around.

...He didn't put an aphrodisiac or anything into it...right?

I shook my head.

Instead of secretively putting a drug in my drink, he would be the type to slam me against the wall and feed the drug directly to me through mouth to mouth.

I poured myself a glass of lemonade and took a tiny sip of it.

Yep.

It seemed perfectly safe and delicious.

Actually...now that I sit down and think about it, it has been a while since I last took a break.

...Did Florence visit earlier because he wanted to give me a breather...?

Hmm...

Nahhh...

He was probably bored and wanted to mess around.

Welp.

Either way, it's time for me to get down to work.

I opened up my dorm room's window and hopped right out of my room all the way to the ground underneath.

Honestly, this method of leaving the dorms was much quicker than using the stairs all the way down.

I quickly ran as far as I could, looping around the school paths here and there, trying to find the perfect place to train.

What was the best way to become strong...?

What should I do to stop being weak...?

I think I saw multiple students stare at me as I ran by them.

I was used to being stared at, so I didn't pay any of them any mind.

Training.

The only way to become strong was through endless training.

Talent also played a large role in how far you'd be able to get with through training, but nonetheless, training was the only way you could possibly go about things.

I kept running and running and searching and searching for someplace.

And, since I wasn't paying attention to my feet, I tripped somewhere along the way and fell down.

...

...

...Actually...I should have fallen...but for some reason, I hadn't hit the ground yet.

Huh...?

I peeked open one of my eyes and suddenly began to gape in horror.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait!!!

When I looked below my feet, I realized that...there was no floor below me.

I was free-falling into a pitch-black pit that, from what I could see, had no bottom.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!! HEY! ISN'T THIS A BIT TOO EXTREME?! WHO THE HECK DUG THIS HOLE ANYWAY?!" I screamed angrily as I continued to fall for who knows how long.

The pit seemed to be endless and even after a full minute of falling, I still couldn't even catch a glimpse of the bottom.

Where the heck was I heading?!

Actually, no.

This was no time to be thinking where I was going to land.

I needed to start thinking about how I was going to survive.

Pure fear enveloped me, which wasn't too surprising, given the situation I was in.

It was starting to become difficult to breathe, so I quickly started powering my magic to find some way to soften my fall.

But when I tried to release my mana to create a parachute of some sort, nothing came out.

"...You gotta be kidding me...this pit...has anti-magic imbued in it?!?!" I muttered.

Haha...I'm not going to die because I tripped and fell over literally nothing while trying to find a place to train...right...?

I glanced over to the walls of the pit and they were smooth.

Even if I tried, there was nothing for me to grab onto.

Nearly five whole minutes had passed since I had begun my descent into who-knows-where and finally...I could see the bottom.

I closed my eyes shut as hard as possible and braced myself for death.

"Ace...I'm sorry about this..." I murmured unconsciously.

Haha...it's weird.

Why is the last person that I think about before dying Ace?

At the speed and height I was falling from, I doubt I would feel any pain as I die from the impact.

I waited for the moment where everything would end, but it never came.

Instead, the speed of my fall slowed and I plopped onto the ground softly.

"I'm...alive...? I was...freaking out for nothing this whole time...?! Are you kidding me?!?! No one told me I had plot armor!! Argh!! If I wasn't going to die, someone should have told me!!!!!" I screamed loudly at no one as I let out the clenched up emotion of fear I felt from before.

I sighed and fell to my knees.

I had no more feeling in my legs and there was no freaking way I was going to be able to stand up again for a while.

From the look of things, there was no way for me to get all the way back up to the surface.

In the meantime, I guess I was stuck.

I tried to activate my ice magic to create something...anything...but it didn't work.

I guess it really was impossible to use magic in this place.

My stomach began to growl from hunger and I began to worry about food and water.

Actually...where was I?

I looked around and realized I was in a glowing cavern that had tunnels stretching out from where I was.

"Young one...Are you still conscious?" a woman's voice echoed throughout the cavern.

I froze a bit.

There was actually someone living all the way down here?!

Were they the one who called me here and forced me to fall down a five-minute deep pit?!

"Yeah...I'm awake..." I said out loud into the glowing cavern surrounding me.

"Oh...that saves quite a bit of time...It's my pleasure to meet you, Cordelia de Boren Cyllia."

"It seems that you already know who I am," I said as I stood up shakily.

"Yes, I know who you are..."

"Well, who are you?" I asked.

"I have no name," she responded simply.

She had...no name?

How strange...I bet she was lying.

"Were you the one who saved me from that fall? Actually, were you the one who brought me all the way here?" I asked as calmly as I could.

But it was impossible to hide the shakiness of my voice as I spoke.

I guess I was still in too much shock from earlier.

"To your first question...No, I did nothing to slow your fall...this place is pure...and has a will of its own...it chose to save you..."

So she's telling me...that this place is alive?

Excuse me?

Was she insane or something?

She must be stupid.

"What about my second question?"

"Yes, I have brought you here...I wish to see who you truly are..." she responded.

What a vague response...

Actually, what would have happened if this place didn't 'choose to save me' and I died because this woman wanted to bring me here all of a sudden???

I could have actually died for no apparent reason!!!!!

"You brought me here against my will...and, apparently, I nearly died because of it...So tell me, what do I get in return?" I asked the woman coldly.

"This place will answer to your wishes...If you wish to be sent back to the surface at any time...this place will show you the way..."

I was starting to question what drugs this woman was on, but I chose to keep my mouth shut on this matter.

"In return for showing me who you are...I will gift you the soul of this place for one time...So, tell me, young one, what your deepest desire...?"

Was I supposed to answer her question seriously or something?

In my mind, my only wish at this point was to be able to go back to the surface.

I hated this place and after sky diving for five minutes too long, I really wanted to pass out onto my bed and comfortably sleep for the next few days.

...

...But...something in the back of my mind told me that I shouldn't answer that way.

That this was my only chance to get what I want.

"Young one...tell me...what is your deepest desire?"

"...I want...to grow strong...please," I answered out loud.

Around me, the sound of my wish echoed off of all of the walls and, only then, could I truly understand what the woman meant when she said that this place was alive.

And, little did I know, this wish of mine would force me to go on a three-month-long journey on my own all the way back to the surface.

---------------------------------------------

A/N: Well, this chapter was certainly an interesting one to write~

Before some of you guys think that I'm including this "falling into a pit" part for no apparent reason, I'll just tell you, it serves quite the bit of reason~

Ehehe~ What is the identity of the mysterious woman? How does she know Cordelia? Who knows~?

For me, school is starting again soon (even though it's all going to be online)! Honestly, I am not excited in the least, and I'd rather have another few weeks off but...ugh...life doesn't work that way...

Thanks, again, to all of my readers/voters/commenters!

Okie byeee!

Word Count: 2559