Leo stumbled forward, at least he thought he did. The whole world around him was twisting and tumbling. If someone told him that he was put inside a giant washing machine, he would have believed them.
He tried to sense something around him, but he just couldn't focus on anything. There wasn't one smell or sound he could distinguish. It was a just an overload of information. He had lost the others when they jumped in the darkness. The inside of it was surprisingly colorful, at least that was the best way he could describe it.
He was able to see sound and taste colors while he had no clue where he was going. His senses changed their functions regularly but even in the short moments that he could see, smell, hear and taste as he usually would, he couldn't discern the exact information he got.
He had thought that he was the master of his body, especially after he had trained himself to live without a sense one at a time. At one point in his training, he wore a blindfold, earmuffs, and drugged himself so he would lose his sense of taste and smell.
It had changed his complete outlook on his body and his appreciation of it. He was blessed, he thought back looking at that period of lack of senses. On a lesser level, it could be compared to having a stuffed-up nose. It makes one appreciate the moment your nose functions without err. It also helped resetting his mind like a long-term dopamine detox would just on a greater level.
However, in hindsight the lack of senses was easier handled in short-term than the complete overload of them which weren't filtered by the brain whatsoever. The lack of senses after days was increasingly infuriating, but he could manage. With such an overload he just experienced if he endured it for as long as he did with the lack of senses he might just die.
His crossing through the darkness could have lasted hours. Leo just couldn't tell anymore, just like his other senses were overloaded, so was his sense for time.
This trip through the darkness might as well have been a torture session, so when he finally stepped on something solid, it wasn't unusual that he felt like he found peace at last. With another step the rest of his body stumbled out of the hell he was in and onto solid ground.
Humans are resilient and adaptable, but Leo would rather avoid having to experience this anytime soon.
His mind was still turning as he kneeled on the ground before barfing out the snacks that he had for breakfast. It took him a while before he finally calmed down. His ears were still tingling, his eyes felt pressured, his tongue was numb, his nose stung, and his skin prickled.
He was the further away from feeling good than he had ever in his entire life. He heard a distant mumbling as if someone were trying to speak over the damage to his ears caused by something akin to a flashbang. He felt his body being moved, although it felt more like his arms were being pulled out of their sockets.
They prepped them up against a tree before he felt burning pain on his cheek as if someone slapped on his sunburn.
He forced his eyes open and saw a blurry figure gently petting his cheeks to wake him up. He raised his arms with difficulties and pushed their hands out of his face before trying to rest against the uncomfortable tree.
He kept waiting and his senses slowly but surely started to recuperate. He didn't hurt as much and his senses slowly returned to normal, making him realize that Sarah was the one tending to him.
As soon as he opened his eyes again and looked around, she wiped off the sweat that accumulated on his forehead.
She gave him something to drink after he signalized that his throat was parched. He almost emptied the bottle before getting something out to eat. They still got some leftovers from the shop in the morning, so he had a quick bite before he looked at Sarah.
They were obviously in another forest, although it wasn't a jungle like before. Sarah looked normal and didn't seem like she had suffered as much as he did.
"Are you okay? Where are-" He finally struggled to get out what he wanted to say. He looked around but he failed to find the others. It would be better for them to stick together, he thought.
"They aren't far away. I heard them from down the cliff a few minutes from here. They shouted that they were making their way towards us. Oh, and I am fine. The trip through that portal was weird but I managed. I just stumbled for a few minutes forward until I could make heads or tails from the world again. What about you?" She asked as she offered him another snack that he gladly accepted.
She continued concerned, "You look like you will fall unconscious again every second now. You have symptoms of multiple conditions. To be honest, I am surprised that you are even awake."
"I will live, but we will need to go." He smiled bitterly. He wouldn't describe the transition through the darkness as weird as she did. It was right out tortuous. He would rather be disemboweled with a rusty knife while conscious than go through that again.
He slowly stood up and ignored Sarah's protest. "We are going to meet them halfway. It is better if we stay together, who knows what is inside this forest. We shouldn't assume that it is anything like that previous empty jungle, especially in my condition. I won't be able to protect you." Leo said as he looked at the bird that was flying over their head.
Sarah smiled slightly at his concern as she pulled out her taser that he had bought her a few years ago. She pressed the button from the taser with a smug expression on her face, but where there was usually a blue arc of electricity there was nothing.
"Eh?" Sarah intelligently let out as her smug expression froze.
"Did you break it again?" Leo deadpanned at her for being so confident with a busted taser.
"N-no! I just used it in the temple just an hour ago! There is no way it broke on the way. And no, I didn't fall or spill anything on it either." She explained as she slapped the taser as if it offended her.
"Well, he did say we would cross the gap between worlds. Maybe your taser doesn't work in this world?" He concluded. He did read about such a thing in a novel a couple of times. They would go inside a dungeon or something and any technology that they would take with them would be completely useless.
Leo went down on a knee, not to propose but to get his gun that he had strapped to his calf for emergencies, and he figured that his inability to fight properly and Sarah being unarmed counts as much.
He checked the pistol first if it triggers without shooting since he didn't want to attract any attention of whatever might be in the forest. In case the primer of his pistol doesn't work for some supernatural reason, he gave her his knife that he had strapped to his other calf as well.
He used to try to convince her to carry some weapons of her own, but she always argued that a taser was enough for her. He was no slouch, so he just carried it for her just in case and it proved to be the right choice. Maybe this time it will convince her that carrying a deadly weapon wasn't only for bloodthirsty people.
He pushed the weapons in her hands. "I'm trusting you with these, keep us safe. I'll rely on you." He said solemnly. He had already recovered somewhat but Sarah would have better chances with a weapon than without it and if he made it sound like he relied on her, she wouldn't be as hesitant to use them as she would normally.
In her mind she was now responsible for not only her own life but his as well.
With her determined nod he knew that she could at least pull her own weight if the situation arises. They slowly made their way with Sarah carrying the pistol in one hand while supporting Leo with her opposite shoulder. She had strapped her knife to her hip for easy access.
They walked for 3 minutes to the cliff she heard the others from. Leo looked down and saw a vast expanse of forest. It stretched out for hours until it stopped at which the ocean seemed to start. It looked like it would take days to reach the ocean, Leo wasn't sure if he even wanted to visit it anyway.
Usually, oceans would hold gigantic monsters in a supernatural setting, hell even in their world some crocodiles were growing up to become absolute beasts of nature.
First, they should regroup and then secure a water source and see if they could hunt some animals that they could take on or gather some berries to survive from.
He looked down and saw that there were few tracks that Laura and Shunlei could take to reach them. Assuming they were as banged-up as he was, they would take an easier and safer route that in turn might take them longer to reach them.
"Did you hear them from a particular direction?"
"Yeah, they said that they were by that rock over there."
"Why didn't they stay there it will be easier to find each other if we have a landmark." Leo inquired as he analyzed the terrain.
"They wanted to come and get us after hearing that you were unconscious and wanted to go together to watch each other's back." Sarah explained as Leo finally decided on a path.
"Alright let's take the path around the erosion on the right side. We will stay close to the edge so we can look down and keep watch for anything strange. We have a better view from up here. The descend isn't that great either making it the most comfortable path."
"Alright, we can reach the rock in about half an hour." Sarah muttered to herself. "They started walking about 20 minutes ago, so we will reach them soon." She continued, speaking more to herself than to Leo.
They walked for 15 minutes while Leo was chirping away like a bird. He learned the strangest things and he liked being able to replicate almost any sound with his mouth. When he figured out to chip like a particular bird, he had annoyed families and friends to death with it.
Chirping was an excellent method of giving out his position without attracting too much attention from any predators. If he just yelled a predator might perceive his voice as another predator entering his territory.
A bird would usually only be bothered by other birds and those would bugger off after seeing Leo and Sarah in their full human size.
This little tactic proved to be successful as the two saw Laura and Shunlei slugging their way towards them from a bit further away from the cliff.
"Are you two, okay?" Leo asked as he greeted the two with a hug which they returned with a smile and relieved expression on their face.
"Yeah, we are still dizzy from the darkness, but we manage." Shunlei confirmed what Leo assumed. Leo seemed to have been hit the hardest and after listening of their little trip in the darkness, he figured out why he was the most out of it.
The stronger ones sense the more you could sense from the darkness. If their sense weren't as refined, they would have barely noticed their trip beyond a slight initial dizziness and loss of direction or a weird feeling. Leo's sense for anything was beyond the three and suffered the most as a result.
"Soo, what now?" Sarah asked and the three girls turned towards Leo for him to make the decision. "We should probably go towards the ocean, so we can safely hunt in the shallow water for fish. We can also walk along it and search for any sign of civilization like a harbor. If there are any sea monsters, we will go back land inwards."