Alice and Mirror were walking up the cold stairs, circled by an oppresive wall of darkness.
Mirror was going first, and Alice was calmly following.
Alice didn't feel her legs anymore. She hesitated to ask Mirror for a break, but she was reluctant to ask that, for some reason.
Maybe because she felt as if this situation was all her fault.
And so, time passed.
What was an hour of worthless climbing quickly became two hours of climbing, and then three... four...
Most people wouldn't have been able to keep track of time at all in the harsh environment Alice was in, but the young Lightbringer knew. Her sixth sense went far beyond what she had originally anticipated.
Honestly, it wasn't really a new sense. It was more like her instinct became something extremly, no, absurdly, precise and reliable. And because this instinct was telling her that four hours, twenty-two minutes and five seconds passed since she and Mirror entered the red tower.
And soon, that number started going up... and up again.
Yet, nothing changed.
Alice and Mirror were still stuck in the unchanging stairs.
"Mirror..."
"What ?"
Mirror's tone was somewhat aggresive.
"Huh... I need to pee..."
This was somewhat embarrasing, but the same sort of situation kind of happened back in the Glass Forest Island, so nothing new.
"Ok. But do it fast."
Peeing on the stairs was both uncomfortable and disgusting, but it wasn't like Alice had a choice.
I want a shower, I want a toilet, I want food, I want water... these were the kind of thoughts Alice had. Honestly, friends were overrated. If it could get her some cosiness, Alice would be ready to abandon Mirror and Killer.
Not that she hated those two, but living without the kind of things that most people from rich country like her took for granted was super annoying.
After a bit of time, the two girls begun walking up the stairs again.
Another hour passed.
Then, a whole day.
And another.
Alice's and Mirror's mood was already horrible before, but now they were even worse.
Alice also begun having some sort of light fever, and she begun to feel a urge to scratch the left side of her face, the one that looked as if a terrifying monster tore it.
Well, actually that was what happened. And honestly, Alice had been kind of lucky. The blood loss had little to no effect on her for some reason, and there were no poison on the Two Mouth's claw.
But it seemed like some sort of virus or some other shit got into her body.
But her light fever and minor urge to scratch her face was nothing.
The true problem... was thirst.
Alice experienced thirst a little in her life, before entering the Sky. She also experienced it back then, in the Forest of Glass.
But this was nothing compared to the kind of thirst she was experiencing now...
Her pee was now in a weird brown-red color, her head was spinning, her legs were hard to move, her thorat was so dry it might as well be the desert...
This was... true thirst.
The strangest thing, however, was how fine Mirror was. Despite the thirst, she didn't bother slowing down, or showing any sign of weakness.
"Is that girl made of steel ?" commented Killer. Alice was too tired to reply.
Besides, she just heard a sound, far ahead.
The sound water droplet made while meeting the ground.
Water !
Alice rushed forward, even going past Mirror.
On the edge of the stairs, she found what she was searching for.
In an alcove, there was some kind of basin with water in it.
Alice drunk greedily, as of hee life depended on it. She avoided drinking too fast, however. For some reason, her instinct was against it.
Or was it her sixth sense ? Well, it was basically the same thing anyway.
"How interesting..."
Alice's remaining eye looked in the direction of Mirror's voice, even though it was useless since she wasn't percieving her surroundings using sight.
"What do you mean ? Now that I drunk this water, I'm going to transform into one of the Two Mouths ?"
Alice said that as a dark joke, but she really whished it wasn't the case.
But if that was the case, Mirror would have stopped her... right ?
"Transform a human into a Two Mouths ? You got some twisted idea, Alice...It's just that... I found it funny that he want to play with his food at this point. He should have just let us die of thirst instead of doing what he just did, but I guess he found that unfun. We might have a chance if he underestimate us at this point..."
Alice immediatly understood that Mirror, once again, knew something she didn't.
Why was that girl so much more proficient at using the Blessing of Name than her, even though her Name was just a copy and not the real deal ?
Was the dreadful mirror of the Forest of Glass so overpowered it could outperform a litteral Godess ?
No, that didn't sound right.
The problem wasn't with the Godess of Light and the strange mirror made of Stranger's own blood, it was with Mirror and Alice.
Mirror was just... more... something.
Sometimes, the fact that Mirror was so skilled made Alice feel... inferior to her.
"I'm not sure I understand what you just said. Who is he ?"
"He ?"
"Who is the person who underestimate us ?"
In the darkness, Mirror coldly smiled.
"Brandon, Stranger's youngest son. Or rather... what remains of the man who was once called Brandon."
"Huh ? Care to explain ?"
"I myself am not sure... but it seems that Brandon, the man you saw in the vision you told me about, is still alive, and he is the reason we're stuck in this never-ending staircase."
"How does he do that ?"
"I don't really know. Let's hope it's just sorcery and not some sort of other shit."
"Why ?"
Mirror's smile grew wider.
"If it's magic, he has to stop at some point... and then we strike. You distract him, and I deliver the killing blow. No mercy."