After a weird moment that felt both like a few seconds and an entire decade, Alice finally got to the other side of the Door.
The Room she was in... was different from the Forest of Glass and the City of Flowers.
To keep things simple, it was small.
Very small. Like, smaller than a small house.
The Room seemed to take inspiration from the City of Flowers, because the "limits" of the Rooms, were, just like in the City of Flowers, a white ceiling, and white walls. Just like in the City of Flower, the Room was lit, but the light came from seemingly nowhere.
The main difference beetween this Room and the previous two, however, wasn't just the size. This Room was also... extremly simplistic.
There was no dirt, no grass, no building, no trees, none of that: the floor was as bland as the walls and the ceiling, and the Room was almost empty. Almost.
The only thing interesting in this place, besides the fact that it looked like a small version of the City of Flowers (but without the city, obviously), was the fact that there were Golden Doors here.
Nine, to be exact, each aligned in front of the wall Alice was facing.
It looked like Alice had to make a choice. The "trial" here wasn't to get to a Golden Door, but choose the right one to continue onwards.
She had to find a Golden Door that would lead her to a peaceful Room near the Temple of Light. Or better, a Door that lead to the Temple of Light directly.
Alice looked at the Doors, thinking that there might be some clue on what was on the other side inscribed on it.
Sadly... all of these Doors looked exactly like the one she crossed to get here ! The six weapons, Isa on the center, the woman and the man on each side...
Even the little text in English stating who made the Door was the same !
It was as of Isa was too lazy to do a design that would help people understood where they were going !
The lost Lightbringer recalled something Nikoletta, the Heart Eater, said, a while back. Some Rooms, rare, could kill an human being instantly.
Alice cursed. What if one of the Door was leading towards a Room where, like, gravity was one hundred times stronger ?
If Mirror was there, everything would have been so much easier. Alice would just have to follow her.
But Mirror was gone, and now, she was the one deciding.
Thankfully, she had some kind of divine Blessing that could really help her in that regard.
Her Name, Seer.
Alice tried to use it...but, unexpectidly, it didn't work.
It was just like in the red tower: an invisible wall was preventing her from fully utilizing her Name.
Was this related to the fact that she had been infected and was slowly devolving, just like Brandon ? Or was it something else ?
If it was, then finding a way to kill the thing that inhabited her body before it grew too much was going up in the priority list, right below:"don't starve".
Bearing her hunger, Alice looked at the Doors again, hoping to find a small hint that would help her.
Nothing, there was nothing to help her choose.
In the end, Alice tried her Sixth Sense, but it also failed to be of any help.
Well, Alice kind of expected that to fail anyway. The Sixth Sense was more of a thing that give her more info on the present than something that could be used to predict the future.
At least, that was what it was for Alice. Mirror seemed able to use it like for more than that, but Mirror was also dead.
Alice always wondered why Mirror had been so much stronger than her. However, she probably would never know the answer.
Well, it wasn't an important question, anyway.
The important question, right now, was: "Which Door should she pick ?"
Alice recapitulated what she knew about Golden Doors: they seemed to always be made of gold, there was always the picture of a man with horns and a woman with a strange orb on them, and, more importantly they led to other Rooms in the Sky.
That last point was the most important.
It was also... unclear.
Did the Doors always led to the same Room, or was there a small amount of randomness involved ? Did Doors always lead to the same spot iniside a Room, or was the spot in which one appeared random ? How much time did it take to be transported ? Did Doors break after a certain amount of use ? Was there a limit to the number of Doors you could put in a Room ? Was it possible to make two Rooms "linked" by making a Door in Room A leading to Room B and a Door in Room B leading to Room A ? And, by the way, how were the Doors created ?
She should have asked these questions to Nikoletta, when she had the chance...
At least, she knew something about Doors, from her time in the City of Flowers. How could she not ? She lost an eye because of that fact...
The fact that Mirror arrived in the City several hours after her, despite being the one to enter the Door first.
That meant that the time it took to be transported from a Room to another wasn't always the same. Of course, it could also be that the Door created by Stranger wasn't working like most other Doors, or maybe it was because Mirror wasn't really a normal human being, but just the reflection of someone else, but Alice thought that those two things were unlikely.
Sadly, this knowledge was kind of useless right now.
"Killer, what Door do you think I should pick."
No answer.
"Killer... I remember something you told me, a while ago. If I die, you also die, right ?"
Alice wasn't sure if that was true, but if it was, Killer could become a very useful ally.
What was a better ally than an ally that would die if he tried to kill you ?
"The way you think is disgusting."
Alice almost burst in anger again. Killer was so annoying, with her speech about how she was a really bad person....
But instead of screaming in anger, Alice got an idea.
She put her dagger, the one she got in the City of Flowers, against her own throat.
"What are you doing ? Alice ?"
"Simple. I'm threatening you. From now on, if you continue to refuse cooperating, I kill you."
"You would also... die ?"
Alice grinned.
"You think I can't do it ? Come on, we both know that I'm perfectly capable of doing that."
Alice, to support what she was saying, cut her own throat. The cut was so shallow there was no threat to her life... yet.
A single drop of blood fell down her neck.
"You crazy girl..."
"If you say crazy, or sociopath, just one more time, I kill you."
Alice put the dagger away, and smiled.
"Now Killer, tell me... what Door should I pick ?"
"You're the one who should know, don't you think ? My Name isn't really suited to..."
Alice immediatly put the dagger against her throat again.
"Wrong answer."
"Wait ! Wait ! I know !"
"Tell me, then."
"The one in the middle, you should pick the one in the middle !"
"Why ?"
"You appeared in the center of the Room, explained Killer. Assuming it was not random, and everyone appears in the center, that means that the closest Door is the one I picked. And since it's the closest, it's probably the one Isa used the most."
Alice stayed silent for a bit, thinking.
"I don't know if what you're saying is that smart..."
"I don't know either, but since all of these Doors look the same, we have to choose based on where they are."
Alice hesitated, but her stomach seemed against the idea of thinking about her choice for too long, so, in the end, she went with Killer's choice.
She opened the Door that was in the middle.