Loki said nothing for a few seconds as his brain processed the question he'd be asked.
'Awfully brave of 'Him' to assume that I'm going to die anytime soon…'
Loki responded dazedly as his hollow eyes gazed at the darkness that stared deep into him.
"....my life and death serve one purpose, the resurrection of the Great Lord!"
Although such a 'sleepy' person wouldn't have been able to remain so expressive, Loki did his best to push emotion into his bland tone to show just how much he cared about Mr. Error.
The darkness pulsed at his answer. Seemingly pleased by his loyal obedience.
It left Loki feeling confused.
'Can 'He' not sense the Sefirah Castle on me?'
'If 'He' can and just hasn't commented about it yet…'
'...how is 'He' so sure that I'm not Mr. Error already?'
'How is 'He' even sure that I am affected by his ability to drag me into a dream? If he can sense the Sefirah Castle on me?'
Loki almost frowned as he thought this. While he himself didn't have any memories regarding meeting or even helping Salazar Slytherin, from the books written about him in the room of requirements, he did feel that being so close to a True God should've invoked some spiritual intuition alarms.
It felt weird to Loki that Salazar was so sure that Mr. Error and he were different people.
But Loki didn't question it for now. His idea about it all was that even though Salazar could probably sense some spiritual significance from Loki, he just assumed that it was because Loki was the resurrection vessel of Mr. Error.
The silence lingered a moment longer as the darkness seemed to revel in Loki's devoted answer.
Loki could almost feel the darkness radiating a deep sense of 'excitement'.
'Is 'He' acting so unabashedly worshipful of another God right now because 'He' thinks that I won't remember any of this?'
Time seemed to pass as Loki eventually grew tired of playing the part of being asleep in front of a True God. And as if noticing Loki's impatience, the darkness spoke once again after making sure it's influence on him 'lessened', enough to keep him 'lucid'.
"...boy, what is your answer to the question Rowena's daughter posed to you?"
Loki frowned mentally.
'Shouldn't you treat me with more respect if you think that I'm the vessel of your idol's reincarnation?'
'Why do you call me a 'boy'? I've got a name you yandere snake!! I'll make sure to tortur- teach you extra well once I return!'
Not wanting to break the illusion of his consciousness though, Loki answered what he'd already planned to say.
This was the greatest opportunity he could get to digest his Parasite potion apart from the grand experiment he was going to perform in the coming months with magic.
And as such, Loki wanted to miss none of it. Not one bit.
Loki's head swung loosely as his eyes settled on the darkness that had snuggly wrapped around him like a blanket of space, engulfing him in it as if he were a puppet held together by the whims and fancies of its master.
"....I agree…" Loki said without fear, as if his true thoughts were slipping out because of the lack of control.
"Goo-"
"In exchange I want to be directed to find the Sequence 2 Beyonder Characteristic necessary for my advancement…"
The darkness trembled as if greatly shocked but Loki didn't give his 'fan' to ask him any questions, instead he kept rambling, over sharing, as if he were a fervent 'fan' too.
"...I don't want to keep Mr. Error waiting any longer… Mr. Error has gone above and beyond to help me out… by keeping my sister safe and sound…I can only repay him best by giving him myself! My body! My soul! My whole!" Loki declared with surprising firmness in his tone, as if simply evoking Mr. Error's name had given him the strength to break free from a True God's control.
It greatly surprised even the darkness as it grew silent for a few seconds before-
"...I understand…"
Loki stayed still after that as he felt the darkness shift around him.
It felt like the darkness was trying to shine some light onto itself to search for something in particular as its body hustled around like sheets in the wind.
After a few moments of rustling, Loki finally felt a tendril of darkness slip out of the mass, the body of the True God he was just communicating with. It slithered around him before sinking into his Astral body from over his shoulder, sinking slowly like a container losing its air as heavy weights dragged it to the ocean floor.
Loki was surprised, startled and bamboozled.
He had expected to be told where the Beyonder Characteristics were, not…not whatever this was…
It felt weird to be violated by a tentacle after all.
'Did I teach him about it in the past? Would suit the theme of a nightmare…' Loki asked himself, feeling like he'd done this to himself in some way, like he'd played himself.
Within moments, Loki realised what Salazar was doing.
The tendril of darkness touched Loki's soul and marked it with a 'will'. It didn't seem strong enough to host the True God on his being directly, but it was enough to interfere with his 'fated' actions, perhaps an attempt at guiding him to the required location.
Loki didn't understand why Salazar had done this, but his question was answered almost immediately-
"My will will guide you to your destination for I cannot reveal the current location without risking you to corruption." Salazar said calmly.
Loki's body remained slack in spite of all that Salazar had said and done.
There were plenty of thoughts in Loki's mind as his mind dissected and stitched together everything Salazar had said, but knowing better, he remained quiet for now.
The darkness took a good look at him for the next few seconds as Loki felt a trace of pity flash in its being for him. But that pity was soon erased by excitement for something else.
"...Your sacrifice has been accepted, you may visit the demons."
Loki's vision shifted and almost immediately he found himself surrounded by a hostile abyss like darkness.
It wasn't quite the same as the Abyssal feeling that he got from Mother Tree of Desire, but it was similar, as if the darkness had been morphed into something more dangerous, more ruthless.
Gone was the unnoticed warmth of darkness from before as it was replaced by a biting cold that aimed to infiltrate into each cell of his body, trying to overpower him and turn him 'wonderful' almost immediately.
Knowledge sank into his mind in the form of wails and screams as he failed to comprehend any of it, only knowing that listening to it would be for his 'best'.
Loki quickly regained his sight as he reabsorbed the rune he'd transformed after stealing it and continued to steal the corruption-inducing knowledge that he was being bombarded with right before his hand landed on one of the fleshy walls disguised as darkness surrounding him.
With an annoyed frown, Loki spoke softly-
"Isn't being vetted by a True God enough?"
The words were effective since everything stopped almost immediately.
Loki stepped on Tom who was writhing under his feet.
Loki already glanced at him, and looked at him in entirety, but apart from being trapped in a nightmare created by a True God, there wasn't much else to worry about for Tom, he'd surely go mad with fright from the nightmare, but then again, what Loki had done was arguably worse.
The deep dark abyss that Loki was staring into suddenly grew eyes of various shapes and sizes, which peered back at Loki, examining him keenly as they looked for any signs of suspicion or deceit.
While the eyes scanned Loki, his own eyes landed on the body that had turned into a massive blob of flesh right in front of him.
The blob of flesh had mostly exploded with only its heart still hanging around as it continued to beat while pumping black blood out of the exposed veins and arteries.
It occurred to Loki at that moment that Salazar Slytherin's purpose in questioning him wasn't just to judge his answers.
It was likely that Salazar was just making sure that Loki would pay absolutely no attention to the outside world since Salazar had transported both him and Tom through the darkness into the location of the hidden demons.
Loki frowned.
In spite of all his preparations for being ready to have to face Salazar Slytherin's methods himself, Loki found that he'd been inadequately prepared since he couldn't orient himself using any means.
He didn't know where he was or even how he was brought here.
All he knew was that he was in his Astral Projection form and was somewhere in the Spirit or Astral world hidden by darkness. Maybe even in the kingdom of a Divine God himself.
But if he was in the shadow of a random electric pole in a suburban neighbourhood or in the shadow of a cloud floating aimlessly over an ocean, Loki knew not.
'I can sense the Sefirah Castle's connection with me…but that isn't much to orient myself to begin with since I don't know where the damn castle itself is in this world.'
After the abyssal creature's first attempt at 'terrorising' Loki by throwing the foul looking demonic creature in front of him, Loki was snapped out of his thoughts when one of the pairs of floating eyes that looked to be a perpetual part of the dark abyss, opened its toothy mouth, revealing a hoard of spiky teeth that looked like they were ready to shred anyone near them into pieces.
"Are you telling the truth, boy? You remember 'Him' questioning you? Even though it happened in the…'darkness'?"