"..."
Just as Lupin sat up from the bed, he hesitated for a moment, then silently lay back down again.
He closed his eyes.
Hmm...
He believed he must be dreaming, just sleep again, sleep again...
...
...
How can I sleep like this?
Where the hell am I? Am I still in the country?
Can anyone explain this? Clearly, he fell asleep in the cabin of the recently concluded party on the "Merpeople," but now he appeared here... this... this... yes, the problem is right here, what is this place?
Lupin looked down, hmm, it's the bed he made himself, with the patchwork quilt he sewed with little yellow flowers, but the position of this bed is a bit strange, why did he and his bed suddenly appear on this huge golden-edged blue glass with silver patterns in the middle, surrounded by a slightly translucent dark blue mist that only allowed him to see a small part of the area around his bed.
In Lupin's memory, he had never been here.
So, is this a dream?
The man lifted his hand, pinched the back of it without hesitation, and the pain and the crimson pinch marks told Lupin that he was probably not dreaming.
...
"Hello?"
After a moment of hesitation, Lupin chose to get out of bed, and only then did he notice that he was not wearing the pajamas he fell asleep in the previous night, but rather the beige leather jacket he wore most frequently, with two patches on the slightly faded edges.
He reached into his inner pocket, the familiar touch gave Lupin a slight sense of security.
Thus, he took out his magic wand and waved it gently, the white light lit up, although the place was well-lit, it always felt more secure having a light source in hand—of course, there's another reason, for whatever reason, Lupin couldn't see where the light illuminating this space was coming from...
It was as if this place was meant to be bright.
Only then did the mist surrounding the man finally clear, allowing Lupin to see the disk beneath him, the spiral pillars around it reaching up, and the rocky cliff hidden behind the mist—was he in a cave?
...
"Lumos!"
The ball of white light flew downward, illuminating layers of mist before disappearing into what seemed like endless darkness.
Great, it seems going down is not possible...
Watching the light fade into darkness, Lupin sighed. He was standing on the edge of this huge disk, quite far from the surrounding cliffs; he had already given up on reaching there, especially since he didn't have a broomstick, and those walls had no places to land a foot.
Going along the disk downward didn't seem feasible either, so he could only... The man looked up at the top obscured by mist, and those pillars reaching into the clouds.
If he could climb up along those pillars... Fortunately, their shapes weren't regular, with lots of protrusions and footholds making them look easy to climb... but what Lupin wasn't sure about was how long he would need to climb.
After all, he was a wizard, lycanthropy didn't enhance him like in fairy tales, if anything, it was a definite debuff...
Wait, lycanthropy?
Lupin suddenly remembered something, pulling back his sleeve, the silver-grey bracelet was covered with deep blue rune patterns, according to William, this "equipment" didn't just prevent him from transforming, it even had moonlight magic runes, meaning...
Lupin pressed the bracelet, gently twisting it as he recalled.
"Click—"
The sound of mechanisms fitting together came crisply, and Lupin felt as though he'd seen a full moon, his body began to itch, sparse silver hair emerging from his skin—"Roar—" Lupin let out a low growl from his throat.
"Click—"
Once the mechanism reseated, Lupin closed the bracelet, stopping his lycanthropy with sheer willpower, elated with newfound hope. He remembered William had given him a few bottles of strawberry-flavored Wolf Poison Potion, he'd always kept it in his pocket for safety, once he drank the potion and transformed, a werewolf retaining its intellect would climb much faster than he could by hand—
But the pocket with the Capacious Extremis charm was a bit cluttered, where did he put the potion...
"Roar..."
"..."
Lupin stopped his potion search, pausing for a moment to look behind him —"Sniff..." A gust of rancid warmth filled his nose, his hair stood on end the moment he saw the large black dog that had somehow crept up beside him.
"Roar!"
Noticing its prey had spotted it, the originally slow-motion black dog swiftly opened its mouth wide, trying to bite at Lupin's neck—
"!"
The sudden attack pushed Lupin's heart into his throat, hearing a rapid beeping under immense stress, but he had no time to think; survival instinct kicked in, his knees buckling as he slipped and avoided the dog's deadly move.
Throughout Lupin only felt wetness on his cheek, realizing after returning to his feet that his head was mere inches from the dog's teeth, the dampness from its rancid saliva.
"Roar..."
The black dog landed not too far off, quickly turning around, its red eyes staring intently at Lupin's form, black fur bristling while a low menacing growl rumbled from its throat—it dared not move against the wizard's wand, a man-versus-dog standoff had begun.
Does it know the wand?
Though still shaken, Lupin saw his wand in his hand, finally remembering he wasn't some defenseless weakling, "Stupefy!"
The crimson charm flew, but the prepared black dog dodged aside, the charm blasting a charred mark on the glass below—however, no animal was smarter than humans; the moment his Stunning Spell left, Lupin adjusted his wand slightly upward, "Accio!"
The attempted evading black dog couldn't escape, drawn uncontrollably toward Lupin's direction.
"Incendio!"
"Boom—"
The blazing flames engulfing the black dog completely, its fur fragile against fire until finally it ceased struggling, turning into charred remains.
"Huff—"
Escaping death, Lupin couldn't help but catch a deep breath.
"Clank—"
Before Lupin could rest, a sudden metallic clatter sounded in front of him, a golden bridge seemed to appear, extending toward the distant cliff; a door not present two minutes ago gradually opened.
"..."
Gazing at the bridge that seemed a path to freedom, Lupin hesitated.
"Poof—"
At Lupin's hesitation, the charred remains beneath his feet suddenly turned into dust, vanishing completely.
Soon, the man decided, gripping his wand, he stepped onto the metal-linked bridge, passing through the door, reaching another similarly deep-blue glass area, seeing... three black dogs.