The Trickster’s Hat

"CHILD—" The intimidating figure took an abrupt pause before continuing.

"HOW DID YOU DECIPHER THE LOOP?" A sinister gust of energy was emanated from the powerful figure, sending an ominous cloud of aura to fill the desecrated realm.

Trick stared at the baleful figure that took slow steps towards his direction, the ghostly energy that accompanied him growing heavier against Trick with each step.

'Loop?' Trick wondered in question, his eyes remaining fixed on the intimidating figure.

'Of course, that checks out. It's no wonder everything felt so familiar, it's because—' 

'I'D ALREADY DONE IT ALL BEFORE.'

Trick's eyes gleamed in reaffirmation, but almost as quickly as it came, his feeling of confirmation was surmounted by one of concern as the figure brought his trek to a sudden end.

'Well I'd done everything...'

'Except this.' Trick concluded his thoughts as he stared at the diabolical figure who stood a few feet away from him.

The figure threw a curious glance at Trick, his face overhauled with a perplexed look.

"Not only did you unravel the loop…" The horned entity wondered out loud.

"But you were also one of the only ones to notice my authority's activation."

He stepped forward, slowly encircling Trick as he spoke and freezing him by his daunting presence.

"No child of regular origins could accomplish such a feat, so I ask—"

The otherworldly entity stepped in front of a shuddering Trick, pausing for a brief moment just until the child's eyes met his own.

"WHO EXACTLY ARE YOU?" He questioned commandingly, piercing Trick with a haughty gaze.

Trick's former shuddering grew even higher as he trembled frightfully, his eyes remaining fixed unto the ground.

'This menacing sensation…' Trick took a stare at his arms, his eyes creasing at the sight of the goose bumps that lined through his skin.

'The feeling I had that night, after master's show, and even now—'

'They're all the same!'

'But then again…' Trick wondered in confusion, his sight firmly locked unto the ground.

'Why could I sense it?' Trick immediately shook his head anxiously, clearing the cloud of thoughts that filled his mind.

'Those will all have to wait.' Trick stood in puzzling stupefaction as he went back to his earlier line of thought.

'I've felt this entity's presence twice before entering this weird realm, meaning it can't be a coincidence.' Trick' face still remained lowered as he went through multiple streams of thought, piecing them together within mere moments.

'But—what's his game plan?'

Trick closed his eyes tightly shut, gliding through any clues he could use to unlock the answers he so desperately needed, but was interrupted mid thought by a dreadful voice, laced with signs of pure irritation.

"I thought I asked a question child?" A raging storm of sinistrous aura washed over Trick once more, causing him to give an immediate response.

"I'm—I'm Trick!" Trick yelled aloud, the thunderous gusts of aura doing their very best to drown his response in their loud booms.

The entity then brought his billowing aura to a steady halt, watching the child's frantic shivers.

"Answer me when I speak boy, you've piqued my interest—' The horrific entity ordered in an irked tone, directing a chilling glare in Trick's direction.

"So it'll be a shame if I just killed you right now…"

"Wouldn't it?"

In this minacious situation, Trick was afraid, his heart gripped by the lonesome hands of fear. Yet as much as he was frightened, even so was he in desperate need for something invaluable…

ANSWERS.

Trick's entire body was overrun by fear instilled shivers, his arms trembling uncontrollably under the gaze of the woeful figure.

He then clenched his fist tightly, gritting his teeth in unbridled frustration. Frustration for this situation, frustration that he was trapped in this horrific realm, frustration that he was before such a terrifying figure, and frustration that he had little answers to everything that was now going on.

And on the wings of that very frustration did he ride to ask an audacious question.

There was a moment of concerning silence, the tranquil quiet being broken by Trick's soft mutters.

"Wh—who are you, and…" Trick mumbled at the eerie entity who turned his attention to the boy as he spoke.

"WHAT SINISTER PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR MASTER ASTRAVAN'S TRICK SHOW?!" Trick yelled in exasperation, his eyes glinting with a defiant crimson gleam.

But was it bravery—

Or just plain stupidity?

BOOM!

The realm shook under the ominous aura of the loathsome figure. His energy reaching so high that even the skies became dyed back in their grim scarlet hue.

Sharing in the similitudes of an otherworldly earthquake, the world started a relentless vibration, the ground beneath the sky splitting with large cracks all over. And then—

There was an abrupt pause to the madness, the figure pausing the calamity he plagued upon the realm.

"Did you just question me?" He asked calmly as he lowered his thunderous gusts of aura.

"I, A CHAMPION OF ZYAKORIA?!" 

BOOOOOM!

His baleful energy billowed across the realm adopting an even greater degree of force and sending the unlucky world into a more woeful madness.

The grounds were cracked, large chunks of rocks being pulled out of the very floor. The skies were thrown back into sorrows, radiating with an even more sinister scarlet hue.

Causing the world to be simply—

Torn apart by the raging figure.

"YOU WISH TO KNOW MY NAME RIGHT?!" The figure yelled in a thunderous voice.

"I AM ONEIROS…"

"ZYAKORIA'S NUMBER 1 CHAMPION!" Oneiros' face became construed with a wicked smirk as he opened up his lips to continue speaking.

"And since you're so desperate for knowledge of my plans child—"

"I'm here on a special mission from one more highly revered than anyone you have ever beheld in your pitiful life."

"But in order to do that—" Oneiros' lips spread out to form a diabolical grin.

"I'll have to kill one very troublesome artifact hunter—"

"The one they call…" Oneiros filled the air with a sinister chuckle before continuing.

"ASTRAVAN!"

Trick's eyes widened in shock, his face being overhauled in pure rage as he ran through a single thought.

'Kill, Master?'