The Serpentwitch opened his eyes.
For a moment he thought he was blind because everything was white, but it soon faded away. He was lying in a bed, a simple room filled with wooden furnitures and weird aromatics. "Smells like mint, rosemary... and a bit of parsley?" he tried to guess, "but why is there some rotten egg smell..."
"Ah sorry that was my fart."
The Serpentwitch looked around to find the owner of the voice.
"Not there, here."
"I can't see--wait, is that you?" the Serpentwitch leaned forward towards a potted plant beside his bed. On one of the leaves, there is something resembling a frog, and it winked as a sign of yes.
"Uh... umm who are you?" asked the Serpentwitch. Suddenly he was reminded of his weird dream and recognized the voice.
"That was not a dream--not really, and this is not a frog, it's a spidertoad." that thing answered as if it was reading the Serpentwitch's mind. "Well at least that is the name of this form I'm taking right now."
"A mind reading shapeshifter?" the Serpentwitch was astonished. Not many wizard mastered the art of mind reading, and shapeshifters were more like a racial trait that can't be learned. To met someone that have both was an extremely rare occasion.
"Ah, not that kind of shapeshifter actually," the spidertoad jumped to the bed near Serpentwitch's feet. In just a blink of eye, it transformed into a small girl with a very large ear and rabbit-like leg. "That is just an illusion. My actual body remained the same behind it."
"So... is that your real body?"
"Maybe...who knows?" she grinned mischievously. "More importantly, you looked so calm for someone that nearly died."
"What?" the Serpentwitch pondered a bit. "Wait--so THAT was not a dream?! That giant hand really caught me?"
"Almost," she sighed, "You managed to reach the light just a fraction before he clawed your last life force and pulled you to the afterworld."
"What is that actually? How did I get there?"
"You almost spent your entire mana," the little girl explained. "Your consciousness gets plunged into that world when you are very low on mana. If you had stayed just a second longer you will be trapped there forever."
"I guess I owed you for saving me back there? Did you gave me some mana to pull me back from that place, miss uh..."
"Faerith, you can call me by that name," she replied. "I only gave you the little mana that rightfully belongs to you."
The Serpentwitch got confused. "What do you mean?"
"Ironically, the way you spend your magic power telling stories and making those bizarre illustrations are what almost killed you, but that is also what just saved you." Faerith stopped for a while letting that information sinks before continuing. "This hive world is a network of give and take. What you gave to others will eventually made it's way back to you again. I simply helped claim it for you."
"Just remember to take a rest and don't spend your mana recklessly." With that last note the little girl vanished before Serpentwitch could say a word.
My art magic is not bizarre, you loli furries!