As if sensing that Arthur was leaving this world, the painting itself started to shift. Things changed to make it more difficult for Arthur to escape, to make sure that the young man stay.

The earth did not shatter and vines did not come out from the field to bind themselves around Arthur and the owl. Things were not that dramatic. The only thing that changed was the cherry blossoms that drifted through the wind.

The blossoms curled up their petals and they essentially turned into flower buds. That contributed to an increase in velocity, because when the petals were full opened, the flowers had a bigger surface area to buffet the wind, thus the flowers fluttered lazily down to the ground.

However, with the petals all closed up and the bottom of the flowers pointing downwards, the buds now had a more ergonomic shape, that allowed them to cut through the wind more easily.

Take for example, the comparison between the twirling of a feather and the downward descend of a pointed object through the air. Of course, the latter was going to travel much faster than the former. It was the same case here.

With a whole sky filled with blossoms, it was practically raining bullets. Of course, the blossoms were not sharp enough to cause any real damage if hit but the real purpose was not to kill Arthur or the owl but to knock them off balance. If their flight got knocked off its path, they would plunge into the field of flowers and that would take care of the rest.

The owl either flapped its wings to blow away the buds or it tried its best to weave through the rain of flowers. The pressure was mounting but their distance to the black seal in the air was decreasing. Now that the flowers had closed up all of their petals, the view was not as obstructed as before. Arthur could see the seal clearly and he knew it was similar to the one he saw inside the painting at Lady Myra's studio. It was pulsing with magical energy.

Arthur believed that if they could reach the seal, then they would be able to escape this floral hell and everything would be fine.

The owl was swatting all the buds away as it made its way to the seal. So far, Arthur had not come across the need to use his Voice Magic. The owl seemed like it was able to handle itself just fine.

That was until one of the bigger buds flew their way. It was too big for the owl to flap it off. In that case, Arthur realized he should use his vocal materialization to push it away. However, the young man forgot that he was not standing on firm ground.

He did not anticipate the powerful rebound. He made a mistake. While the bud was pushed away, it also unhinged the owl's balance. They spun around in mid-air. Arthur's heart was in his throat, he was about to cause their death.

It was all Arthur could do to hold onto the owl's feather so that he would not get flung off. His world was turning all round and round. His stomach also felt like turning.

The owl though seemed to have a higher intelligence than Arthur. While they were being spun by the force in Arthur's voice, it kept its gaze on the seal. Using one of its wings to navigate the direction, it managed to guide their trajectory to careen towards the seal.

Arthur did not know what was happening. Everything was moving at such crazy angles and speed that he was feeling very disorientated.

The next thing he knew, he felt like they had slammed against something hard and it shattered, kinda like glass. Once again, the curtain fell.

...

When he gained consciousness next, Arthur felt like he was sleeping on the softest mattress he ever had in his life. The surface was soft and fluffy.

Arthur slowly opened his eyes and he was surprised by how bright everything was. Gone were the tree and the flowers, in their place instead was a slate of whiteness.

Arthur noticed little white particles falling from the sky. He held his head as he sat up and when he looked around him, everything he could see was equally white. It was snowing and Arthur could barely see 5 metres before him. The snow was falling intensely but not to the degree where it would be deemed dangerous. In other words, there was not a snowstorm or a hail. There was simply a constant falling of a thick layer of snow.

The young man looked around him and the owl was nowhere to be found. Arthur hoped that it was doing alright although the bigger chance was that it had been reabsorbed back into the painting from whence it came from.

With his earlier experience, Arthur knew where he was instantly this time. He had jumped from the painting, 'The Cherry Blossom Tree' to the painting entitled, 'Snow'. It was another one of the paintings he saw in Lady Myra's studio.

He tried to pull himself up from the ground and he realized there was a certain degree of resistance. It was like the floor was sticking to him and refusing to let go.

Arthur looked down at the ground and naturally it was white, a result of the falling snow. He touched it and when he released, the layer of snow stuck to his finger. This was not the consistency of normal snow, if anything, it looked and acted more like marshmallow.

With the low visibility caused by the falling snow and the ground that bounced under his feet, Arthur found this new world to be quite romantic.

However, he quickly reminded himself that he was on a quest. Based on what happened earlier, Arthur's goal should be to locate the seal and continue to move forward. That should eventually lead him to Lady Myra and hopefully the exit. It was not like there was anything else for Arthur to go off on.

Arthur had to find the seal but how was he going to do that when everything in sight was covered up by the snow?