The grey boy slowly surveyed his new environment. The room, with two sofas and a small dining table sitting on the white tiled floor and bearing red curtains on its windows, had an appearance similar to that of a wealthy man's house.
What made it different, apart from its smaller size, was its detailed look.
Putting it close to the houses he had seen would be like placing a simple drawing by an adept artist side by side with an extravagant drawing by an amateur.
The latter would be bigger but could not hold a candle to the simple yet fascinating drawing.
After a minute of walking around, Tintless confirmed that he was indeed in a house.
In total, it had seven rooms, all filled with the necessary equipment.
Now sitting down on the comfy sofa, Tintless pondered, 'What exactly is going on? A while ago I was on an island and now... here.
'Wait, maybe I'm still on the island.'
To prove this, he walked towards the brown door and, grabbing onto the handle, pulled.
Immediately, a gust of wind hit him, making his shirt and baggy pants sway rapidly.
Squinting his eyes and stubbornly looking down where the gust of wind appeared to come from, the boy soon came to realize that, indeed, the entire atmosphere had changed.
He was no longer on the island but was rather in a house that was falling through cloudy air, slowly descending towards a burning forest a thousand feet below.
He reeled backward, and before he could think, a piercing noise boomed in the sky. Tracing it, he saw a gigantic white feathered bird.
It was, with its golden beak, feasting on one of the countless scorched floating corpses.
Careful not to be seen by the white-feathered bird, Tintless rushed and quietly closed the brown door.
He was peeping through the keyhole to confirm the feasting gold eyed bird had not seen him when he saw the world blink again.
Toc!
Replacing the feasting white bird was the distant image of the mountainous island with two wrecked ships.
...
Ten times.
That was the number of times Tintless tried to debunk his earlier realization of the Nexus Abyss landscape changing unexpectedly, and ten times was the number of times he failed too.
The first three involved him slowly pacing to and fro on the hill, his eyes fixed on the skies, and the last seven involved him maniacally running down the hill, during which he was almost killed by the gigantic flowers, only to be saved by the austere yet elegant falling white house.
Now lying face-up on the hill, Tintless's breathing was ragged. He was covered in sweat, and his low energy did not help at all.
Using the beauty of the brilliant afternoon sky to soothe his nerves, Tintless began to analyze the situation.
'Okay, apparently I'm trapped on an island where any movement I make leads to a number of gigantic flowers moving in my direction in an attempt to stop me by any means necessary.'
Thinking about the falling house or how to escape from it was, at the moment, pushed from his mind. It was suicidal, and he planned to use the place only as a resting area.
He stood a better chance against the gigantic flowers, compared to the falling house, feasting white bird, and burning forest.
'When I stop, they also stop moving. This would make my movement a stimulus to which they respond.
No, that does not quite explain it. When I initially landed and sat down on this hill, there was no movement. Only after I walked towards the edge and tried running on the root-snared ground did they chase me.
There must be something about the edges of this hill and the ground that makes it special.'
He carefully turned onto his stomach, and after verifying that movement on the midsection of the hill was indeed safe, he looked at the gigantic flowers.
A lot had moved from their respective positions, while a few were now stationed at the bottom section of the hill.
With a thought, he summoned the colourful screen and opened the Target Scan tab.
[ TARGET SCAN ]
Species: Unknown to Equilibrium Interface Grade: Unknown to Equilibrium Interface
[ Current Emotion: Wary ]
'Mmm, just like with Mr. Freak, Mr. Fiction, and the Topped hat Man, the interface cannot decipher what these species are. The reading on all of them is the same, yet some, to my knowledge, are alive.
Could the others also be alive but incapable of motion?'
The lack of answers lowered his spirits for a while before he encouraged himself.
'At least I know they are wary of me.
And if they are, and move once I move yet cannot attack once I stop, it means they are technically blind.'
His mind raced as he sat up.
'Yes, that must be the case. These flowers are programmed to stop anyone from leaving this island. They are blind, so for them to sense my movement, they have to rely on other senses.
Which should be... touch. Yes, of course, that is obvious. Plants are very sensitive to touch and thus...'
With the Equilibrium Interface, he scanned the island from above, seeing the vibrant colours of the stunning and cunning flowers, multiple ball-like objects covered in sand, weapons such as swords and spears, as well as the remains of Emontarions.
Looking away, he scanned the edge of the hill and, with his mind in its most optimal state, realized the answer as he said to himself,
"The roots. That is how they keep track of what's moving."
Armed with this knowledge, Tintless slowly understood that leaving this island was going to be no easy task, for almost the entire island was covered in protruding roots.
As for the few regions that were not, they obviously had root hairs beneath the sand.
Plus, distinguishing which of the many flowers were alive and which were not was downright impossible.
'My third fear is that the sea might also harbor species that will want to stop my progress.'
He summoned the interface and, to his surprise, saw nothing suspicious.
The sea, just like the shore and the island as a whole, only bore the remains of the poor souls who had tried to traverse the beautiful yet treacherous island.
Shifting his gaze, Tintless looked at his colourless wrist.
Wrapped around it was a grey metallic bangle.
Commander Gal had told him that if he wanted to communicate with them, he could press the small blue button it possessed.
'No, it's too soon. I'll come up with the solution myself.'
With his earlier declaration of wanting to find his purpose, the colourless boy was now inclined to handle matters by himself as opposed to waiting for others to step in or guide him.
'Besides, I only get to talk to them four times, so it must be done in crucial moments. Not this. Come on, I am Tintless, and surely I can handle a little garden problem.
'All I need are the right tools, and by tools I mean my abilities.'
Soon, he opened up the Attribute tab.
Dismissing the interface a moment later, the colorless boy in a grey T-shirt and baggy grey pants sat seriously.
He knew exactly what to do. How he would survive this seemingly impossible situation.
Firstly, he would rest as much as he could.
Then he would find means of becoming stronger.
He had a feeling that the coming journey would require him to be in the best shape possible, and what better training landscape and sparring partners could there be than the ones bestowed upon him by the Nexus Abyss?
...
Looking at the orange sun that was steadily setting across the now fast-shifting landscapes, Tintless saw the once-blue sky near the horizon attain an orange hue as the sun fell behind the mountainous island.
'There is my next stop.'