Of course, where would the story go if she didn't?

She let out a large sigh and lightly smacked her own cheeks a few times. She mumbled to herself so quietly I could barely overhear her, "Why did this have to happen right now? I didn't get to clean up after all that work..."

I simply looked at her somewhat confused, not quite understanding what it was she was talking about. She calmed herself down before looking about to make sure no one was watching. Even though she confirmed this, it didn't seem to ease her nerves at all.

She let out a nervous whine before shaking herself to snap out of her seemingly internal struggle. She gave a determined nod and turned to me, "Alright, I will help you, but you are gunna owe me one, got it mister?" The waved her finger energetically at me, getting very close to my face.

I couldn't help letting out an amused chuckle, "Have you ever seen me not repay a favor?" She chewed on her lip for a second as she considered what I said, and gave a somewhat satisfied nod. 'Of course you haven't seen me not repay my favors, everyone has owed favors to me this whole time. Ah, the genius of having false credit due to loaning out, it applies everywhere.'

She let out one last sigh before she gripped the sides of her oversized hat. For the first time since I met her, she lifted it off her head and clunkily spun it around to that the bottom was upwards, akin to the position one would hold a magician's hat. Her hair, no longer held by the hat, somewhat sprung out in a crazy fashion, possibly fueled by her magical nature.

She blew at the hairs that got in her face as she looked to me, "Alright, get in the hat."

I blinked at her a few times before looking at the hat again. after staring for a moment, I looked back to her. "I'm... sorry? 'Get in the hat'? Did I hear you right?"

She gave a short but determined nod, "You did, get in the hat." After a second or so of complete silence she let out a sigh, "It's a magic hat, you just step in and it has space inside."

I looked down into the hat, seeing nothing but a black abyss within. I looked up to her one last time, seeing her serious expression, before letting out a large sigh. Shaking my head, I carefully stepped one leg into the hat.

To my immense surprise, there was nothing to step on. Instead, the moment my leg was within the rim of the hat, it was grabbed by an unseen **** that immediately pulled me in. It didn't make physical sense how I was dragged into the hat while my other foot was still on the ground, but at this point I don't think I should consult physics on much in this world.

I fell for a quite decent amount of time, nothing around me but sheer darkness. As I began to wonder if there was nothing to land on at all, I suddenly impacted something soft. Looking below me, I had landed exactly in the center of what resembled a nest made of pillows. Giving them a nice pat, they were high quality pillows, the type I would use myself in my past life.

Looking around, my surroundings were somewhat surreal. A variety of interesting objects floated, spinning slightly as if there was no gravity. A variety of interesting and large books, to crystal balls, to other seemingly nicknacks of all types. I did catch a large number of carvings depicting small animals, something that made sense knowing who's hat this was.

I carefully got out of the pillow nest, stepping onto an invisible ground that covered the area. Every object in contact with it, including me now, sent ripples along it that quickly dissipated. This helped slightly with walking, as it felt less like I was walking on literally nothing and more like a strange invisible puddle.

After walking for a short amount of time, I saw a strange barrier on the wall, that showed what seemed to show a live feed of outside the hat. A good thing to have, as being in a hat with no way of knowing what is outside sounds like an easy way to get snuck up on.

Looking around a bit more, I saw something that made me raise my eyebrows. There was a desk of sorts, positioned behind the pillow pile so I had not seen it before. As I walked over, my suspicions where confirmed as to what was covering the entirety of the desk.

Across the desk, nearly blocking all view of the wood, was an almost endless amount of papers. Upon almost every single one, was a sketch of something involving me. Either Matthew's face, the divine mark of Moged-Ruun, or an art of the spirit.

There were a few exceptions. Buried under the other papers were some sketches of wildlife, on top of one pile was the beginning of a sketch depicting the abomination. There was one of these sketches not of me that stood out. One that was seemingly finished, with far more detail than any of the others.

It showed a near skeletal face, thin flesh barely preventing the raw bone from being exposed. Its eyes were empty, as if there was no soul or mind behind them. Its mouth was latched open in a position akin to a zombie trying to bite. lastly, it wore a blackened helmet that had a crown built into it.

I had little doubt as to what this was depicting. 'So this is what took Oliver's arm, huh? I do feel lucky I haven't encountered the worst of the monsters yet, in terms of species. Sure, I have the abominations, but that's not as bad as some of the undead out there. Still, I should remember this face. If he isn't dead for the final time, vengeance for Oliver would be a good motivator.'

Done looking at that sketch, I began to look through the others again as I tried to pass the time. As I picked a rather flattering portrayal of myself up, I heard a noise from behind me.