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"Uh.." Dude, where am I.
My coat continues to get drenched from the rain as I look in front of me and at what looks like a very fancy bar. I then look around me, and I find myself in the middle of the rain-soaked streets within an empty city at night. I don't know how I even got here, but something extremely obvious is telling me this might just be another dream, so I'll just step into the bar in front of me that is very obviously beckoning for me to enter it
This whole place feel kind of strange. It's as though I'm back in my previous world, but everything feels so hollow and bright in a way I am having so much difficulty describing.
I can hear the distant sounds of cars traveling and beeping at each other that is typical for a highly populated city. I can even hear the very distant chatter of people moving about the streets.
But there are no cars passing or people in sight, just the lonely streets getting drenched in rain in a golden bright color as the lights from the many scattered lampposts shine their bright yellow lights that reflect across the streets.
"This place is pretty odd, huh Lucifer."
"...."
"Dude did you hear? You better not be asleep."
"...."
"Ok no seriously tell me if you're messing with me right now."
"....."
"I'm being dead serious if I find out I have to walk through time and space or wherever the hell I am all alone while you sleep in, I'm gonna be pissed."
"...." Nothing but the sound of the rain and the ominous city ambience.
"Well you're a lost cause." I step forward and feel the immediate sensation of something cold taking over my entire right foot. "Well crap." I just stepped on a puddle.
*CrEeEek..* I push the fancy glass doors open and step in, then I get hit with a wave of warm air as the light of the bright blood red lamps shines against the row of empty glass cups behind the bar, across the empty rows of chairs and tables, then onto the only two individuals in this entire place.
"You're late." Rin taps her finger against her glass cup impatiently, sneaking a quick glance over to me inconspicuously as she sits at the middle of the bar.
"Yeah well.. what do you want me to do when I'm constantly getting dragged around everywhere and getting pulled into the most random situations.." I have a lot of questions, such as why Rin is here dressed like an office lady, why we're suddenly meeting again at a bar from my previous world.
Or why Lucifer is off in the corner playing the piano.
But I'll just play along with everything, I'm getting tired of asking questions.
"Hmph." Rin glances over at me as I sit on the stool next to her before she quickly adverts her gaze. "I am not going to waste my effort in trying to understand of your recent foolishness. I am sure it is nothing but a typical Tuesday evening for you."
"Thanks, it would actually do both of us good to not ask any questions." Can't even begin to wonder how I'd explain everything that's been happening within the span of... I don't know. My perception of time is a jumbly mess.
"Hm~ Hmm~ Hmm~" Lucifer hums a soft melody to herself as she passes from behind me then behind the bar after leaving the piano, now leaving only the soft music of jazz playing in the background and the rain hitting against the windows. "The usual~?" She looks at me, scrubbing the inside of an empty glass cup with a small red rag.
"Preferably." I join my hands together against the bar surface, watching as Lucifer diligently moves about the bar and carefully chooses one of the many glass cups sitting face down against the shelves.
"Did anyone follow you?" Rin suddenly speaks up, looking over at me from the corner of her eyes as her finger circles her glass cup's top. "Say no."
"Nah."
"You are only saying that as to not suffer my wrath, I can tell by that clueless idiotic expression on your face." She looks at me and narrows her eyes, a sight I haven't seen in a while. "Did you at least make sure you weren't being watched?"
"Of course. Who do you think I am, a non-cautious person?"
The sound of a vehicle pulling up outside interrupts Rin before she has a chance to speak, followed by the doors being slammed after a delay.
"Here you go~♡" Lucifer places a glass cup full of a dark red liquid onto the bar, nudging it and pushing it against my hands resting on the wooden surface, before giving me a wink.
"Yeah thanks." I reach out for it and bring it up to my face, but then I stop when I notice Rin glaring bayonets at me as if she wants to slice open my throat and yank out my vocal cords. "..What?"
We then both turn our attention to the five men dressed in black mafia-like suits that walked into the bar.
They're all holding black suitcases.
"Gentlemen." I greet them, setting my glass cup down on the bar as I watch them walk closer.
"Hm." The man in the middle reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, giving one glance down at it, then he shows it to the man on his right before they both nod to each other. "This is our guy." He puts his phone away before opening his black suitcase. "Waste em'." I feel my eyes widen in genuine surprise when I watch them all pull out firearms designed to put bullet hole after bullet hole in someone's skull.
"Oh my~!" Lucifer covers her mouth in astonishment before she quickly ducks under the bar.
Rin suddenly lunges out of her stool and towards the table behind her, kicking it over and grabbing onto my collar before she brings both of us kneeling against it.
*PtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtRtR* Hundreds of bullet holes get punctured against the conveniently thick wooden table, followed by the sound of glass shattering as the glass cups get ruthlessly gunned down along the shelf and the various scattered tables across the bar.
"You insolent idiot! I told you to make sure you weren't being followed..!" Rin yells over to me, cupping hear ears to muffle the loud gunshots as we lean against the wooden table currently getting used and abused.
"LaLaLa Can't hear you..." I bring the glass cup Lucifer filled for me up to my mouth - only to have my hopes shattered when I notice the red liquid completely empty itself from the cup as it drips from the gaping cracked hole on its lower half. "..No."
The rapid gunshots stop after the sound of a final bullet hitting the ground echoes across the bar.
"You missed..!" I peek up from the table, still holding onto my ruined drink.
*Click* The man in the far left pulls out a pistol as the rest are reloading their submachine guns, aiming it right at my head.
*BANG!* He drops dead after a bullet got pierced into his head from Rin's silenced pistol after a cute little PEW! sound. "Silence your impudent comments and focus on walking out of here with your brain intact!" She looks over at me with her red eyes narrowed as we kneel back down to cover, then she slides on a red laser sight on the underbarrel of her 1911 pistol. "You better have something to defend yourself with, because I refuse to believe you agreed to meet up here without so much as a stick."
"Indeed." Rin studies me, staring at me with an emotionless expression as if she's waiting for me to show her my tool of defense. "It's not on me though."
"Alek." She calls out my name in a cold and hard tone, looking at me as if she's looking at human garbage.
*click* The sound of various guns getting cocked echoes across the bar, signaling my move. "Here'a we go!" I suddenly throw myself up and lift the thick wooden table, holding it in front of me as I dash forward, shielding my front from the incoming bullets.
"What in-? A-At least warn me before you take my cover you twit..!" Rin yells from behind me as I hear the sound of glass falling and breaking, probably the glass cups she knocked over as she lifted herself against the bar and sliding over on the other side.
*PtRtRtRtRtRtR**PtRtRtRtRtRtR**PtRtRtRtRtRtR* I feel wood scraps fly around and scrape against my neck as the bullets impact against this stupidly thicc wooden table."CHAAARGE..!" I pick up speed before SLAMMING against one of the rude mobsters against the red and black striped wall.
Two of the men immediately shift their attention from Rin to me as soon as they realize I'm in their backline before aiming their MP5's at me.
"I yield." I put up my hands, casting and initiating my vote to surrender.
"Catch~!" Lucifer is of course the first to vote no, peeking up from the bar and throwing a shiny small object towards me, causing the two men aiming at me to stumble as they dodge the thrown object in a panic.
I catch the object, looking down at it and noticing it's a shiny silver butterfly knife. "What am I to do with this cute little thing..!?"
"Get creative!" Lucifer casually walks over by Rin, then ducks down as she enters her zone that's getting shot, before rising back up and walking back towards the piano in the corner of the room.
"I think I'm in trouble.." I separate the two small grips from the butterfly knife, freeing the pristine blade that shines the light of the blood red lamps against my very sensitive eyes. "Well, at least I won't have to worry about getting blind in a dream."
*PtRtRtRtRtRtRPtRtRtRtRtRtRPtRtRtRtRtRtR* The mobsters begin to unload the fury of bullets that comes from owning an MP5 with a god damn drum magazine.
*clng**clng**clng* I spin the butterfly knife around, which surprisingly works well for blocking hundreds of bullets getting launched at you at a breakneck velocity. I guess all the time and effort I spent on learning how to do tricks with a butterfly knife paid off.
And almost a year of 'Training' with Kitsuki...
Not sure if getting the various small cuts along my fingers was worth it though.
*clng**clng* I continue running across the room as I do my very best to not get shot at, spinning the butterfly knife around and blocking the bullets as the two grips rotate in elegant harmony.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen.. GENTLEMEN." I sit on top of a table as the two men begin to reload their submachine guns, swapping their empty drum magazines with another. "Isn't this a little excessive?" I didn't even know you could put a drum magazine on an MP5. "Hey Lucifer, do you think if you slapped a drum magazine on a gun shaped like a stick, it would be called a drumstick?"
"Hm~ Hmm~ Hm~" She ignores me as she continues to play the piano, adding onto the soft melody of the jazz playing in the background.
"That is absurd." Rin yells from behind the bar, peeking up before quickly ducking back down, causing the glass cup behind her to shatter after a bullet got fired at her direction.
"..Well I thought it was a pretty good observation." I hop off the table after the mobsters cocked their guns, then I immediately dash towards them. "YEET." I toss my tiny sharp tool at the one in front of me, but he just dodges it effortlessly. "Hacker." I am now left stranded in between two big men pointing their long, stiff, hard barrels right at me as I stand with nothing to defend myself with. "So this is why they say don't bring a knife to a gunfight.."
*PtRtRtRtRtRtR* They start firing at me, but I'm already kneeling behind another thick table.
*click**click* Their barrels are now empty, so I take this opportunity to do what I should have just done from the beginning.
Which is running it down and pushing while they have to reload their guns.
"Salutations." I am now standing right in front of the one to the left, close enough to tickle his face with my breath.
He reaches for his inner coat and attempts to pull out what looks like a golden desert eagle.
"Whoa, goes hard, bro." I use this moment to place my hands gently on his shoulder, before giving his big forehead a nice little WHACK with mine in a devastating headbutt. "Gotta be quicker than that." I watch him stumble backwards before falling against a table, falling down along with the table.
*click* I then instantly reach for a glass cup relaxing on the table next to me after hearing the dude behind me insert his fatass magazine into his petite gun. "TRICKSHOT." I toss it blindly over my shoulder, then I turn around and rush towards him as he's wiping the glass fragments off his arm. "FALCON SLAP." I slap him across his cheek with a loud piercing SMACK, then I reach for the drum magazine and yank it off his MP5 before uppercutting his chin with it, sending him sprawling backwards before slamming against the tall windows.
"Oh, you, you're finally awake." I notice the one still behind me rise to his feet, then I toss the fat drum magazine at his face before he could aim at me. "You were supposed to dodge that." I rush towards him, picking up the butterfly knife still stabbed against the ground while he's probably having trouble understanding what's happening around him after I threw an actual rock of metal at his head. "Let me borrow this." I snatch his desert eagle, then I look over my shoulder and shoot the dude I sent crashing against the window earlier, dropping him dead.
*clng* I block the bowie knife against my butterfly knife the dude under me tried slashing me with. "Good try."
*BANG*
"Hmph.." I look over at Rin still taking cover behind the bar as the remaining two men continue to unload their fat mags at her.*click**click* She then instantly slides over the bar, knocking over more glass cups as she darts to the man on her right, kicking his kneecap and causing him to kneel down, before delivering an upward blow to his chin with her knee. She then arches backwards, avoiding the bowie knife slash from the man on the left as she plants her hands backwards against the floor, before kicking the man's face in a backflip, causing the bowie knife to launch into the air before she catches it, using it to slice at the man's throat to the right, then plants the cold, long end of the suppressor on her pistol against the last man's forehead, and finally pulling the trigger in a cute little PEW! sound, followed by the man dropping against the smooth shiny floor with a Thud.
"*Clap**Clap* That was dope." Gotta give Rin props for this one, I didn't know she was flexible enough to move around like some professional mercenary.
"You are still not off the hook." She unloads the suppressor and the laser sight from her 1911 pistol, then holsters her pistol on her thigh holster just slightly peeking from under her skirt. "And stop looking at me like that." She glares at me with a disgusted look as she sits back down on the stool at the bar.
"Sorry." I've always been a fan of 1911 pistols, couldn't help but watch as she put that shiny silver thing away, as I'm not sure when the next time will be when I get to see one.
"Hm~ Hmm~" Lucifer re-joins us at the bar, still humming that tune she's been playing on the piano, reaching for a glass cup and pouring me another cup of a dark red liquid.
*CrEeEek..* Rin and I then shift our attention to the entrance and then onto the big muscular dude that stepped inside, wearing the same black mafia suit. "Still alive, plebian?" He then raises the concerning long object against his shoulder. "Then I must take it upon myself to cleanse your foul existence from my presence BAHAHAHA!"
"Huh, it's that Chamuel dude." I raise my cup to take a sip of it, but then realization hits. "Wait he's holding an rpg....WAIT THAT'S A FUCKING RP-"
*PeuOoOoOom...*
*BWOOOOOM..!!*
"COUGH COUGH.. Jeez Luis.." I stand up from behind the bar, swatting my hand up and down to clear the foggy smoke around me that threatens to give me cancer. "Why is he even here?"
"..Hmph.." Rin also raises herself next to me, reaching for her pistol.
"You continue to prove your existence as nothing more than a cockroach that I cannot kill no matter the attempts, peasant.." Chamuel drops the now empty RPG down next to him with a heavy THUD. "However, rest assured, for within these walls.. you will see your cleansing to the END." He pulls out two tommy guns, then begins unloading barrage after barrage of bullets.
"This way, Alek.." Lucifer suddenly grabs onto my collar and pulls me up against her, taking my hand and leading me to the back towards a door.
"Alright." She opens it to reveal a completely pitch-black room before stepping inside.
I take one last look behind me at Rin still taking cover behind the bar as Chamuel continues dual wielding tommy guns and spamming her with bullets, before I step in the dark room, closing the door behind me.
I can feel something standing behind me, as if someone is watching me within the very darkness.
"..Ale-"
"Welcome, Alek..." Lucifer suddenly speaks up, the pitch black around us now lighting up, revealing her standing in front of me, as well as a gigantic fancy lobby that was designed like the interior of an old-school but luxurious and ornamental theater. "to the Dream Realm.."
It really just looks like a series of long fancy hallways decorated by occasional hanging red curtains, various weird paintings on the walls, some sofa's strewn about, dim red lamps resting atop intricate bookshelves, and the extremely shiny black and white checkered floor.
There are no windows.
"Are you sure this is it?" Don't get me wrong, it looks highly expensive to just step foot onto the checkered floors. But... "There's just no way this is the place where dreams or whatever come from."
"Yes, you silly boy.. This is indeed where dreams take place.." She walks towards a bookshelf, trailing her finger along the wooden shelf slowly. "But it's much more elaborate and perplexing than that~" She reaches for a black book at the top of the shelf.
"Well dumb it down for me, because I'm still not convinced."
"Very well... When the Rune of Dreams first spread its power across existence, it brought a separate dimension from where consciousness could be gifted to every living being. However, this.. dimension was far too.. fiddly. And so, after King Agamemnon granted the first King of Fortuna the power to control the Rune of Dreams, King Hitzerald Fortuna created this very place we find ourselves in, modeled after his childhood home." She grabs onto the black book, looking down at its cover. "As a result of a second dream dimension being created over the first dream dimension, the two dimensions fused, creating the figments... and allowing dreams to be able to take shape." She then offers me the black book, pressing it against my chest.
"Two dream dimensions, huh.." I take the book and look at the golden letters engraved onto the hardcover. "A maze in.. abracadabra?" I look up at Lucifer with a confused look on my face, waiting for her to explain such a dumb title for a book.
"That is correct.." She walks by me, standing next to me as we both look at the word 'Abracadabra' that shaves off one letter as it repeats itself down along the cover, forming an upside-down triangle. "King Hitzerald was a very artistic person, he had a strange fascination with the number nine.." She leans against me, resting her elbow on my shoulder. "And now that he was granted the power to control the Dream Realm, he was able to look at the.. 'Unobserved' part of reality, further fueling his artistic urges, beliefs... and theories~"
"Ok but.." I open the book to take a quick peak at one of its pages.
---------------9-------------------
------------NINE----------------
---------------9--------------------
-----I AM THAT I AM------
-I THAT AM THAT NINE
---------------9--------------------
----------|-<-O->-|----------------
------------A + Z ----------------
------------9 x 7-----------------
--------------63-------------------
------------6 + 3-----------------
---------------9--------------------
------------9 x Z-----------------
--------------72------------------
------------7 + 2 ---------------
---------------9-------------------
"Still don't believe me, hm?" She then grabs my shoulder, turning both of us around to look at the door we just came in from. "Try going in there~"
"I really don't see why.." I walk over to it, then look over my shoulder, watching as she just gives me a single wink. "..Fine let's see." I turn back towards the door and open it.
Instead of seeing the bar we were previously in, I get hit with a wave of cold air and the dim light of the sun barely peeking from the gray clouds as I look at the lone playground laying against the middle of a large gloomy scenery.
It looks like the playground I used to frequent during my childhood.
Everything is empty.
It's just a single small playground covered in orange leaves in the middle of a large, empty autumn area.
The slide is a pale white color for some reason.
That's odd, I just remembered the slide was red.
Suddenly the slide turned to a red color after I blinked.
"Well that was weird." I shut the door, turning around to look at Lucifer as she looks at me with an intrigued expression.
"My oh my.. It seems like you were quite the loner, FuFuFuFuFu~" She giggles to herself, covering her mouth. "Is there a particular reason that playground was so empty, Alek?"
"U-Uh.. I guess I just don't remember any other kids using it when I would go there.." The playground was always so empty when I would visit it whenever my parents would start to yell at each other loudly. I can't exactly remember where it was, whether it was in the middle of the town I lived in, or in the middle of some woods.
I just know it always felt a dark bitter every time I went to look for an escape.
But I'm not sure if it was from the loneliness, or just the cold air.
"Well, in any case... I am quite certain you are convinced now. The dream realm is the same for everyone.. I am sure you have dreamt of this place at least once in your life, riight~?" She stops and gives a wink. "However, the dream figments are what make the Dream Realm infinitely diverse to every conscious being, each door you see here is a gateway to a dream... A figment~" She looks over to one of the many hallways, then along the abundance number of doors plastered along the walls. "The dream realm has many layers, Alek..."
"But why am I here Lucifer." How did I go from raiding dungeons and fighting dragons in a fantasy world to getting into a gun bar fight while Satan plays a piano.
"I have already told you when we were in the nine hundred thousand nine hundred ninety sixth loop, silly boy.. How your soul got forcefully dragged into the dream realm is beyond me."
"Huh.." I continue staring at her as I continue holding this black book with the silly title, not sure what to say. "But you at least know how to get out, right? Say you do, don't make me beg.."
"Of course I know... What kind of partner would I be if I didn't?" She walks towards the wall behind her, crossing her arms and placing a finger on her bottom lip. "It is nothing sort of simple, Alek..." She tilts her head slightly up to look at the large painting pasted against the red and golden striped wall. "We need only locate the Rune of Dreams and forge a gateway back to the waking world~"
"Sigh.. Again with that? I thought all that stuff about it getting stolen was just a dream that doesn't exist anymore... Why do I need to go look for it all the way here in abraca-where in hell am I..??" I walk over to her and look up at the same painting.
It depicts what resembles a pale man... probably.
It looks as if it were drawn by someone off psychedelics and hallucinogens.
The man's facial features are all over the place, it's hard to focus on one point for long periods of time.
The crudely drawn man is standing tall in the center of the painting, and the background is red with what looks like hundreds of long black hands reaching up for the moon, which is split in four parts.
"Alek, do you remember a particular moment within a figment.. The one where you clearly landed a killing blow to that silly man?"
"You know what? I (probably) do."
"That was a decoy, a projection~! That Viktor fellow decided to hide himself within the dream realm, possibly to look for a way to dispel the barrier keeping him trapped... Or perhaps to conceal himself in phantasmal solitude, FuFuFu~ I have a feeling he is still running around within these halls, you need only find him..."
"You know I'm getting really sick of trying to find things, right."
"Mhm~" She looks at me with a mischievous wink.
It feels kind of weird being with Lucifer in person right now. Sure, she rarely decides to manifest herself physically and I have yet to fully get used to it, but that's not what has me curious right now.
It's the fact that there is no chain around her neck that connects to my right hand.
I guess she's allowed to roam freely outside the real world. I mean, where's the logic?
But I guess finding logic isn't something I should be worrying and focusing on right now. "Alright whatever, let's just get this over with." I throw Lucifer the black book, and I watch her catch it before she pushes it inside her chest in a red glow, almost as if she's absorbing it and storing it inside herself. "If it means no more loops and going through the same thing over and over, I'll look for him till the ends of consciousness or whatever man, let's just go already."
"You are going to wish and regret you ever said that~" She starts to follow behind me, the sound of her heels clacking against the smooth shiny checkered floors echoes across the dim corridor that somehow feels empty and full simultaneously. "You realize... there is no telling just how long it will take to locate 'someone' in an infinitely changing dimension, hm?"
"Are you trying to make me go mental? Don't say those things right now dude..." I continue my pace as I walk forward through the eerie halls.
There are two doors on both sides of the walls every five steps or so, then a completely different and single painting on one side of the wall every ten steps, as well as a green sofa next to a bookshelf on the side of the wall with the painting.
The doors, paintings, and sofas continue to stretch on forever down the hall.
And, everything is so perfectly symmetrical, from the rows of red curtains hanging from the walls to the checkered floor, and to the fancy enigmatic patterns engraved along the walls.
"..You... Promised..."
"Huh?" I look over my shoulder at Lucifer, but she's not there.
"Yes? Something on your mind?" Lucifer speaks up from my left, looking at me with a curious face as we stop in our tracks, taking in the low and eerie sound of the buzzing coming from the fluorescent fancy red lamps resting atop the scattered bookshelves.
"I thought I heard something..." I swear I heard a whisper or something, but whether it came from the blurry and infinite sight ahead of me, or from behind me... It kind of has me spooked.
"I assure you, Alek.. it is only us two here~" She just dismisses, walking ahead of me.
*SLAM* We both then jolt up after hearing what sounded like a door slamming hard, looking at each other blankly.
"Alright I know you heard at least that part." I instantly turn the opposite direction and start to run down the corridor towards the approximate direction the slamming came from.
"Maybe~" Lucifer already re-absorbed herself into my right hand, which is pretty lazy of her to do since I'm the one that has to do all the running for us now. "Careful not to trip~"
"Just when did I become your taxi..."
"Since the very beginning~"
"Shut up lazy bones."
"Degrade me more..."
"Wtf."
I then stop after noticing a spiral of stairs on my right that head down, before looking behind me and debating on whether I should head down or continue running through the hall.
Before I could speak up and ask Lucifer for her suggestion, something begins to echo from down the stairs.
It sounds like the sound someone makes when their vocal cords have been fractured, trying to make a sound loud enough for someone to hear and save them before they fall victim to a snuff film.
The best way to describe it, is when you open your mouth wide and inhale rough and deep, until the fleshy tissues and pieces in your throat rub together to make a creaking sound.
A gurgling lacerated creaking sound.
"Let's go see." I then hop onto the stairs, then run down the long spiral quickly but carefully as to not trip and hurt myself, I am very scared of getting hurt.
I soon reach the bottom of the stairs, but it just leads to yet another long fancy corridor.
I stand still, trying to hear for anything else, but all I hear is the buzzing from the red lamps.
"Nothing, hm? Perhaps we should head back up?"
"Pfftt, you kidding? Don't be a silly willy now." I start to run down the hall, focusing my sight ahead onto the incoming and blurry repeating objects. "There's no way I'm running back up a set of stairs that long Lucifer."
"Hmm? Well, if you say so~"
I stop again as I notice another set of stairs, but these aren't in a spiral, they're just stairs that go down before meeting a flat area before leading further down, kind of like a set of stairs in an office building.
I am able to look over the railing and down the small square opening, and it seems like each set of stairs get increasingly dim the further down it goes.
**THUNK**
***THUD***
**Thud**
The sound of something falling onto the ground echoes three times, less and less audible, as if someone dropped their phone down along the stairs.
"Whatever let's just speedrun this." I break into a fast sprint, rapidly descending the stairs, noticing how the lamps along the walls get more and more dim, like I'm reaching areas where maintenance hasn't reached far enough.
I stop after it gets dark enough to feel like I'm in some theater after the movie ended, as the lights are still on, but they're just barely illuminating the area in a low orange.
I look to my side and onto the stairs that continue to head down, then over to the hallway that continues to expand forward dimly, debating. "What do you think, Lucifer? Down or forward?"
"You wish to see the lower layers of the dream realm, Alek? FuFuFu~ You are quite the bold one... Not many can say the lower levels of the dream realm is something they can endure~"
"I'm not even going to ask, I'll just start heading forward then." I sprint down the hall, not bothering to wonder what Lucifer meant by that statement. I'm just trying very hard to not slip and fall from the low visibility. It seriously feels like I'm in some room with one of those light switches that spins, allowing you to adjust the brightness of your room.
But in my case, the brightness is set to about 20%, which is just barely enough to see what I'm walking on.
The lights begin to flicker the deeper I run through the halls, releasing a distant and low tapping sound as if the bulbs are struggling to remain on.
I stop, standing completely still, looking over my shoulder, then ahead of me. "Lucifer..."
"Yes, Alek, I hear it as well..."
Through the low but annoying sound of the bulbs tapping, I can hear someone crying.
It sounds very far away, yet so close.
But I can make out that it very much sounds like a little girl crying.
I continue walking forward, slowly.
I then stop after I notice an area to my left with two doors next to each other, and a water fountain in between them.
There is a symbol of a stick figure on the door to the left, and a symbol of a stick figure with hair on the right.
"I didn't know they had bathrooms here."
"You would be very surprised at what else you can find in here~"
I can hear the sound of the crying closer this time, because it's coming from behind the door to the right. "Well, I guess we're heading in."
"Oh my..."
"S-Shut up.. this is for research." It's pretty much true.
I'll be fine though; we're far away from society's judgment.
Very far away.
I push the door to the woman's bathroom open, stepping inside as the door slides closed behind me after I let go of it.
**Drip**
*Drip*
One of the sinks from the row on the left slowly drips water, creating a scene directly from some indie horror game. "I don't like this, Lucifer..."
"Oh my~? Scared?"
Before I could swing back at Lucifer's uncalled for question, I hear a little girl crying again, and it's coming from one of the closed stalls. "O well, nothing in here." I turn away towards the exit.
"But Alek.. should you not investigate?"
"Pft yeah right, like I'M gonna go open a stall just to get jump scared, noo thanks.. Seriously, YOU go and check, I want to not die from a heart attack."
"Alek..."
"Urgg Fine..!" I turn back around and make my way to the first stall on the far left, standing right in front of it. "Are you ready..?"
"Go on, open it.."
I reach for the metallic handle slowly, and I can feel Lucifer's anticipation like she's watching some videogame loot box unboxing video.
*SLAM* I roughly push the door open as it slams itself against the flat wall from the stall on the right, revealing a lone and empty toilet. "Nothing."
"Four more to go~"
I switch over to the stall on the right, repeating the process.
*SLAM*
"Must you use so much force, my host?"
"Nothing in that one either, huh.." I then switch over to the next one, the sound of the dripping sink continues to echo in the empty woman's bathroom.
*SLAM*
"Next one~"
"Don't gotta tell me twice.." I reach for the handle slowly this time as I near the last two stalls, opening the door and I breathing a sigh of relief when I see the same empty small space for the fourth time.
"You're doing so well~! Almost done now.."
I stand before the last one, and it just occurred to me that the sound of the crying stopped earlier when I first stepped in front of the first stall.
"Hi." I push open the door, and of course, it's empty.
"Well this was electrifying, huhh?" I turn back around towards the exit, then I feel my heart drop as the lights begin to flicker on and off repeatedly. "W-What the heck.."
"..Alek.." The sound of a voice calling out to me forces my attention to the long mirror that stretches across the row of sinks, and I notice a figure pressing itself from behind the glass, black and muffled.
The mirror begins to fog up, as if someone is blowing a torrent of their breath at the glass, and I can see hand imprints press from behind the glass.
"Who the.." I start to slowly back away, watching as a figure outlines itself from behind the mirror as the lights continue to flicker in quick succession, before a pair of pale hands dig from out of the mirror, reaching out for me.
The figure is now halfway out of the mirror, revealing the top half of a little girl with a bow on her hair.
"..What the f-.. Astal..?" It looks like Astal, but this one looks like she was 'Gorified'. Almost like seeing your favorite fictional character get re-drawn to look like they have been distorted and altered in a much depraved and horrific version than what it was originally.
Her eyes are pitch black, her skin is pale as clay, and she is moving in an unsettling, twitchy manor, as if her joints have been crudely reconstructed after falling from a fatal height.
*Gk-Kg-Crck* The sound of her joints twitching and twisting fully overtakes the sound of everything else in the bathroom as she fully slides herself out of the mirror, dropping forward against the ground.
"..A..Ah.. *Gkc-Kcg-CRCKK*..Alek.." A loud, gurgling crack audibly twists from her neck as she looks up at me, reaching her hand out. "..Y-you... *CRCK* ..you.. promised.." She begins to crawl towards me, leaving a trail of a black liquid along the white tiled floor.
"..Well this just got all kinds of what the actual hell.." I back away until I feel the door behind me, pushing myself backwards as I step out of the bathroom and back into the dim hall, watching Astal slowly crawl towards me as her joints continue to twist and crack audibly.
I feel something poke me from behind, and I reach back to feel a doorknob. "Yeah screw this." I turn around and turn it, opening the door to a room of pitch darkness.
*SLAM* I slam the door behind me, the sound of Astal's neck cracking as she looked up at me close the door being the last thing I hear and see.
"Your pulse is all over the place, Alek... Can you be a dear and calm it? You are beginning to make me nervous as well..."
"Are you serious? Did you not just see what I saw? Dude that was a fricking ghost, Lucifer, a specter.. a god DAMN DEMON."
"Now you are just being a silly boy..."
"Yeah you're right." I reach my hands around in the pitch darkness, trying to look for some kind of switch. "Ah-ha!"
*Click*
The row of lights on the ceiling light up, one by one as they stretch forward across the empty, large inside parking lot I find myself in.
I then look behind me and I notice the door is now gone.
"My, this place seems.. peculiar... A familiar place of yours, Alek?"
"I think so." I don't think I have ever been in an inside parking lot as big as this, it feels so long and stretched.
There are no cars anywhere in sight, just the occasional cement pillars.
"Well, wherever we are, try and look for the entrance to the next figment."
"..Uh."
"A door, my host~"
"Right, a door, its obvious.. I'm being silly aren't I.." I begin stepping forward, walking through the empty inside parking lot as the row of lights on the ceiling continue to hum their obnoxious buzzing sound.
There are no doors so far.
None in sight.
"Lucifer where are the doors."
"Don't ask me.. this is your figment, remember? Only you know where the things you're looking for are... Assuming you can remember, fufu~"
"Why is this place such a pain?"
I stop in my tracks, I can hear something off in the distance, from behind me, in front of me, or from one of my sides, I don't know.
It sounds like the same chocked gurgling I heard from below the stairs back in the hallways.
I look behind me after I felt the back of my hairs stand, as if something has been staring at me for the past three minutes.
Then I spot it.
Peeking from one of the cement pillars off in the distance, I see a small black cat staring at me.
Its eyes are white, bloodshot.
I can hear it letting out the chokiest, blood gurgling purr I have ever heard.
"Lucifer this place really sucks."
The light above the cat goes out briefly, then it relights and reveals there is nothing below it.
"Where'd it go?"
"It's behind you."
I instantly look over my shoulder, then onto the metal door resting against a cement pillar. "Oh nice, you found it."
"FuFu~"
The lights begin to go out one by one behind me as I reach for the door, before I open it and quickly step inside as it closes behind me.
*Bzz* *Bz* The tall lamp posts buzz loudly from around me, illuminating the wet parking lot I'm in as it gets drenched from the rain in the night.
The parking lot is incredibly large, and there are rows and rows of tall lampposts that stretch across every direction, lighting up the wet and empty streets.
"I'm cold Lucifer." I walk and step over the puddles, traversing the rainy and dim parking lot, with the lampposts being the only things keeping me company.
"Hi cold, I'm Lucy~"
Oh, and the devil woman just chilling inside me.
"RrrG...* I look behind me, and I spot a very tall and lanky humanoid monstrosity peeking down at me next to the lamppost that just barely lights up its alien-like features.
Its head is bald, and it has a gaping mouth that stretches all the way down to its stomach.
"HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL..!" I instantly turn around and start to book it down the wet streets, and I can hear fast and loud thumps from behind me. "LUCIFER I HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT THING EVER IN MY LIFE WHAT IS THAT OH FUCKING CHRIST."
"I was wondering when you would encounter a dream ingester.."
"A WHAT."
"They are a result of the first King of Dreams falling into the-"
"DID YOU SAY THEY." I look up and spot hundreds of the same creature staring at me as they stand next to the many lampposts, their mouths wide and gaping. "THERE'S MORE OF THESE?"
*STOMP* *STOMP* I can hear the one behind me getting closer, stepping over the deep puddles. "SLOW DOWN."
"Alek~"
"WHAT."
"Door~"
"WHERE."
I spot a door floating against nothing a couple more feet in front of me, just standing there soaking up rain.
The rain stops drenching me, then I look up to see the creature's hand hovering just above me, its hand wide as it stretches its freaky thin fingers. *RHGH*
I then HURL myself forward.
I practically dive like a missile, slamming through the door and past it as I roll back into the hallway and across it before rolling through another door.
*SLAM*
I stand up after the door slammed behind me, dusting my hair. "..This place sucks..." I notice that I am now at the far end of a completely different hallway.
A school hallway.
The lights are blinking, creating an eerie atmosphere as if I'm some guy recording an urban exploration video after breaking into a school after late hours.
"Lucifer, I can't take much more of this. We need to find Viktor and get the hell out of this place." I start to speed walk through the hallway, walking past the many lockers. "Why am I getting these dreams lately? I thought dreams were supposed to be quiet and calm, not dark and empty.."
"The dream realm has many layers, Alek... I am most certain the places you have been getting that feel unsettling to you is because we are in the lower layers of the dream realm... And only the faintest and most harrowing figments are kept in the lower layers~"
"You're not making this any better."
"Just try not to get eaten by a dream ingester..."
"Oh yeah, what was the deal with that?" I have never seen something that looks like a tall alien with a mouth that stretches all the way down to its legs.
"The reason beings forget their dreams is because they have been eaten my an ingester within their dreams~"
"So a thing that can just eat your dreams exists..."
"It doesn't just eat your dreams, it eats you whole... Along with any memories you have of the dream realm, until the next time you unexpectedly wander into the realm of dreams~"
"Well I already hate them."
"Is that so? They are a result of the first King of Dreams falling into his own prismatic abyss... His fall created many distortions and brought much corruption~ In fact, the lower layers of the dream realm did not exist until his fall..."
"So.. just watch out for any tall bald men that will swallow me without chewing?"
"And I advise you to be cautious, Alek... Normally, getting eaten by an ingester would instantly wake you up and send you back to the waking world. However, since it was your soul that got forcefully brought into this realm... getting eaten will most likely kill you~"
"I reallly hate them already.."
"Allow me to say, Alek... The ingesters aren't your biggest worry, they have not been since you created a revenant that is now running lose within the dream halls~"
"..A what."
Suddenly the lights go out, plunging me in complete darkness within the school hallway. "Uh.
*CRCK-KCK-CK*"..You.. promised.." The light at the far end of the hall I was under earlier lights up, revealing the disjointed mangled ghoulie that is Nightmare Astal.
"Well, damn."
"Well well well~
"And why did you say it like it's my fault? And what do you mean I created that thing?"
"Just by existing and becoming someone Astal began obsessing over... It is indeed your fault~"
"Did you just blame me for existing."
"..A.. A-Alek.." Dream Astal takes a single step forward, but her leg ends up twisting, causing her to drop to the floor and begin to crawl towards me with her pale arms.
"Lucifer."
"Hm?"
"When did it come to this."
"I cannot even begin to tell you.."
"Alek." I look back up at nightmare Astal, and now she's back on her feet, standing way closer than from where she was originally. "..I.."*CCK-KK-CK*" "..i l-" The lights begin to flicker on and off repeatedly, and Astal gets closer each time the lights turn back on after brief darkness.
The lights go out completely, and I can't see shit
"I can't see jack, yo."
"Alek." The lights go back on, revealing Astal's pale face now a breath away from mine.
♡"I love you."♡ The pitch darkness in Astal's eye sockets begins to display static, before what looks like glowing red heart-shaped pupils take form in her eyes, dripping blood down her pale cheeks.
I suddenly feel something extremely cold press against my chest, followed by an extremely hot burning sensation.
"...Wh-." I look down at Astal's pale hands forcefully pushing a silver and gold dagger directly into my chest, and I feel something warm begin to drip from the corner of my mouth, probably my blood.
"..I love you so much Alek.." I feel her press the dagger deeper inside me, but I feel the sensation of the flesh fibers of my organs getting punctured even harder. "..No one will understand... No one will ever feel the warmth I feel when I look at you Alek.. I need to become a part of you....
*CRCK-KC-CRK* I feel so cold...so broken.. E-Everything hurts.. I can't see anything.. But when I feel like you're here with me... I can see... I can see my finality calling out to me.. I can see where I need to be... Inside you.. A part of you.. I want us to be together forever Alek.. I want to bathe in your inner moisture.. your warmth... *CRCK* Alek... Please.. I-I'm so cold... Save me." She starts to push in the dagger deeper, causing me to get dragged backwards before I feel something behind me.
The door behind me forces open after I turn the knob, causing me to drop backwards as it closes in front of me, disappearing.
"..Damn it Lucifer this hurts like hell.." I press my palm on the open wound in my chest, dripping blood from the gaps in my fingers. "..this place sucks so badly."
"Oh no~! Poor you... Would you like me to come out and soothe the pain~?"
"..You know what, just forget it.. It doesn't hurt that bad... Of course it hurts god damn it?? I just got internally stabbed by a crazed maniac that said she wanted to live inside my body no crap it hurts like hell?!"
"Well if you're sure... This place seems.. Enigmatic, another lonely place you remember, Alek?"
"Huh.." I look down from where I'm kneeling, noticing the water below me slowly absorb the droplets of blood leaking from my wound, before I look up at the large empty poolroom I'm in. "..The heck."
I rise from my knees, and I am most definitely in some large, blue-tiled poolroom with many rows of halls that lead into more poolrooms.
"This place looks stupid.."
"But at least we got away from Astal~"
I hear the sound of water splashing, then I notice the head of one of those dream ingesters peeking its bald head from under the water in the poolroom just in front of me.
I step out of the water and begin to walk through one of the blue-tiled narrow hallways, pressing my right hand against the wall as I slowly walk, attempting to steady myself while I feel the blood from my body ever so slowly deplete itself. "..Life just does not feel like it's worth living right now.."
"Oh don't say that... You'll make me very sad~ Is that what you want?"
"..I don't even know what it is I want.." Did I ever have an ambition when first coming to this world?
"Yes, you do. You know very well what it is you want."
"..How could you know." I stop and lean against the cold tiled wall, trying to catch my breath as exhaustion starts to numb my body.
"Alek... I have been one with your soul for past a decade~ I know what you crave, what you loathe, what you long for.. And now I know what you fear~"
"..I have a fear?"
"..Alek..I lo-love.. love you.."
"FuFuFuFuFu~~"
"God damn it, she found me already..?" I rise back up and start to pick up slight speed as I navigate through the dim and wet, blue-tiled hallway.
"What the.." I stop after I notice a long hand with wide fingers peek from the blurry darkness ahead, reaching out to me.
I then throw myself backwards as it slams down its huge hand against the cold tiled floor.
*CRACK* The tiled floor starts to crack from where the hand impacted, and I notice a line of cracks inching towards me. "..Well, ain't this just a son of a b-"
*CRSSHNGG* The floor below me finally gives out, shattering and dropping me in pure black.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
This novel is a work of fiction. It is no way related to real life persons, places, or events.
Any resemblance is purely coincidental.
Just kidding~
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
*CRASH* I feel myself break and impact against something below me. "..What is even happening anymore.." I open my eyes, and I see a black hole punctured in the ceiling from where I dropped in from as I am now back in the black and white checkered hallway.
"You've had quite the fall! There's no telling just how deep you are in the dream realm now... Careful how you navigate~"
I rise on one knee, still clutching on my bloodied chest as I look at the dark hallway around me.
There are no more lamps, and the only thing keeping the hallways barely illuminated is from the small sliver of lights peeking from under the endless number of doors across this god forsaken dimension.
"..Lucifer... What happens if I die in the dream realm?"
"What do you think will happen to your physical body in the waking world when your soul extinguishes here? It will fall over motionless, of course~ A body cannot remain animated without a soul, as I am sure you know.."
"..Wait... My physical body is still in the real world? What's it doing? Is it on autopilot or something??" That is actually a creepy thought.
"Oh calm yourself... I am unsure, just as you are~ But I have a feeling it is merely.. 'Paused' in the original position it was before you stepped into the dream barrier's range."
"Dude, that wouldn't make sense at all.."
"Nothing ever does~"
*SLUMP*
"Oh, my... Feeling a little under the weather, hm?"
"..Under the weather is an understatement...I feel like ass.." I rise back on wobbly feet after almost fainting. Losing blood isn't something I want to experience again.
"..Yes, I can feel your very being moments from deteriorating... I feel myself fading away as well, perhaps our time has come, hmm?"
"..You know what? I think I actually agree with you on this one." I drop back on my knees before leaning back against a door, feeling the rough wooden texture scrap against my back. "..It just sucks it has to end this way. Dying in another dimension sounds so.. lame."
"FuFuFu~ I am most impressed you.. no.. We, I am most impressed we have made it this far, hm? I never thought I would get to see this place again... You are just soo full of surprises, you know that~?"
"..Yeah well.. I try." I raise my right hand, and the blood has already begun to dry. "..So what's going to happen to you?"
"Oh.. Indeed, this is the end of the line for me as well, hm? A pity... And I had soo much planned.. Do you not just hate it when you can't see something through to the end, Alek? I always find myself feeling.. Indignant.. when something I pursue finds a way to slip away.." I can feel the last drops of blood leaking from my chest slowly going warm, as well as the dried blood on my right hand. "That feeling.. it has always been the very thing I cannot come to terms with... Why has 'God' allowed beings to feel such a way? Why has she made the possibility of experiencing something you have yearned for just.. slip away? A higher being that chooses to evoke such cruelty onto her subjects is no 'God', hardly an Angel as well... No no no, that just makes them a.. A real asshole, no? Hmm.. I feel myself getting quite ticked, Alek..."
"..You're right." My insides feel very warm, like my joints that went numb have started to respond after getting unfrozen from the light of the sun. "..Everything is such bullshit right..?" I push my back against the door behind me, just enough to allow me to slide my body upwards and back onto my feet. "..Since the very beginning." Since the moment a dungeon cockroach found its way onto my body upon arriving here.
I have never known true humiliation before that.
"It seems the world is just not ready to give us what we want, hm?"
"..To hell what the world wants and doesn't want." I manage to fully stand up, but I still feel like I could drop motionless and let my body rest forever. "..We're getting out." I reach for the door knob behind me.
"Yes, Alek... If the world won't allow us.. then we will just have to take it ourselves.."
"..Damn straight."
"What do you say, Alek? One more door, for the road~?"
I twist the doorknob, and I feel myself fall backwards before hitting against something soft.
I open my eyes before facing up, and I'm briefly blinded by something very bright, forcing me to shield my eyes with my dried but warm bloodied right hand.
"..Yet another empty space... Does this place hold any significance to you, Alek?"
My eyes slowly adjust to the brightness, letting me lower my hand as I look at the rows of hundreds of houses around me.
I'm in the middle of a patch of grass under a tree, the light of the sun peeks from the many clusters of leaves above me and into my eyes, causing me to blink over and over as I still try to adjust to the brightness.
"..I think.. I think this is my childhood neighborhood.." Just like all the other figments, this place is equally as empty.
I'm really not sure why the past dreams have been so empty, but it probably has something to do with being such a loner.
I can't remember meeting or talking to another person in my previous life.
I was always so alone, no one to hold conversations with but myself.
Everywhere I went, every place, every area, I always kept to myself.
I never bothered to look up at a single person, I didn't see the need to.
There's no point in trying to know someone if all they do is walk past you without a single care.
Because that's just the reality of being a human.
Everyone has their own drives, motivations, and commitments.
I was always so dead set on thinking that no one would want to bother with me, a nobody.
And yet, I found such a warm solitude in the loneliness.
A solitude I couldn't get anywhere else.
A hollow solitude.
I stand up from the patch of grass, stepping onto the road and looking ahead at the endlessly expanding rows of houses. "..You know, Lucifer, I've been thinking."
"I know that look on your face... You are about to suggest something devious, are you not~?"
"If we can't get out without making a doorway..." I raise up my right hand. "..Then why not just make a doorway.."
"Our own doorway, you say? I am.. uncertain, Alek, what if you happen to fall into an endless void~?"
"What do you mean you're uncertain? We did exactly that in the first figment, what's got you so hesitant woman??"
"Silly boy.. that time was different, it was within a figment that had the barrier active.. It was necessary to carve a doorway! I am merely expressing how careful you ought to be when you suggest something like that within the lower levels of the dream realm..."
"..Yeah well it's either this or bleed out and die."
"I see.. And what do you wish to do, hm? Lucifer's Grasp~?"
"Lucifer's grasp."
"Very well, anything for you..." I feel my right hand throbbing just like that one time, then it starts to glow red and slowly manifest the black armor around my hand. "Go wild..."
I look down at my right arm that is now fully engulfed in the black armor, throbbing a red glow along the engravings. "This won't cut it."
I bring my right hand up to my chest, then press it against my open wound. "..Ow."
*FwWwWwsh..* My blood starts to slowly absorb along the black metal, then it ignites and lights up in a blood-red flame. "Pfft.."
"Oh? It is quite rare seeing you smile, something on your mind~?"
"..Nah. I just kind of find it funny... We haven't used blood flames in a while huh.."
"I wonder why that is?"
"Not sure... But I do remember how destructive it is, fuehehe.."
"FuFuFu~~♡"
My right arm then explodes in a demonic-like flame, a mix of black and red bright enough to actually blind me in this dimension. "Owch"
I finally clutch my right hand, before rushing forward and charging a very very small and gentle punch. "Buckle up..."
*FwOoOosh* A huge bright flaming hand manifests just to my right, mirroring my right hand's movement as it charges up a kawaii little punch.
*PFWAM!*
*CRACK!*
*PFWOoOoOm..!*
A hole gets shattered in front of me, spreading its glass shards everywhere as a very wall in front of me cracks open, leaving a gaping hole.
"Did it work." I can feel the black armor on my right hand crumble into pieces before it disappears.
"You should get close and check~"
I walk up to the hole, peeking my head in before I feel myself get pushed forward. "..W-What the?"
I fall forward, but Lucifer manages to catch onto my left hand.
"Just as I suspected, Alek..." I look up at Lucifer as I'm dangling, looking at her as she just looks back down at me with a usual smile. "You managed to puncture a hole... not to the waking world, but to the first dream dimension.."
I look below me, then around me... There isn't a dark abyss below me.
Just the perfectly symmetrical, bright, multicolored patterns that repeat themselves infinitely.
I'm dangling between Lucifer grabbing onto my arm from the cracked hole, and the multichromatic abysmal hell that is the infinite fractals rotating around me. I can't focus at one point at a time, the shapes draw my eyes in as the extremely loud sound of a falling shepard's tone plays in the background, it's ringing in my ears.
"..What, the fu-"
"..The first dream dimension... The Abfractal Coil threshold.." She begins to grip my hand harder. "This is where the first dream King met his unending demise~"
"..Fuck's sakes bro.. I'm getting tired of all this, I'm literally going to have a mental breakdown Lucifer.. Wait never mind, I'm just kinda sleepy." The falling shepard's tone actually feels comforting, in a way.
"Now now.. My time with you is not over just yet~" She suddenly pulls me back up the hole and against her. I can feel her arm wrap around me. "This is what consciousness looks like, Alek~ Everything you see here... It exists everywhere."
"..Ohh, really huh.." I don't ever want to look at this place again. "Lucifer, we need to find that retard Viktor and get the hell ou-"
"What did you say, peasant?" I look over at the voice that called out to me, then I see Viktor standing a couple feet away, peeking over at me from a doorway across the Abfractal-I don't frickin' know.
"ENEMY SPOTTED." I instinctively throw myself over my doorway and across the gap that separates insanity from reality, reaching my hand out as I am hovering above multicolored hell. "Oo snap.. I made it!" I look up as I just barely managed to grab onto the bottom edge of Viktor's doorway as he just looks down at me with an irritated curious face.
"What? What's this? How did a peasant like you manage to find the ever elusive Viktor..!?" He suddenly raises his left leg and hovers it over my hand. "Begone, now!" *STOMP* *STOMP* "Do not make me get the pesticide!"
"..Hey hey what the hell..?! D-Dude stop doing that..!" Getting your hand repeatedly getting stomped on isn't a very good feeling.
"Bwahaha~~!" I look over my shoulder then over at Lucifer still standing on the doorway over on the other side, just laughing as she's watching me dangling over bright fractals and getting my dried up bloodied right hand kicked on by a goober in glasses.
"Lucifer, I don't have a plan. I'm about to lose my grip.. my poor fingers can't take it.."
Lucifer stops laughing and looks over at me, then onto my right hand getting swollen in red as I hang on with my final three fingers. "..Ara."
"You're history, PEASANT! HAHAHAHA..!!" Viktor starts to press his rough boot against my hand, pressing against it and rubbing in hard circles, before he suddenly looks to his left.
"Who goes there!? H-Huh.. who.. what are you..!?
He steps backwards slowly, clutching onto the book in his hands that has a bright purple symbol in the shape of a fractal engraved on its surface.
Lucifer suddenly appears from the doorway above me, peeking down at me and smirking. "You look like you could use a hand.."
"..Wait when did you.. Never mind just help me up I'm begging you.. Being in this colorful area is making me question life.." I reach up my left hand before Lucifer takes it, pulling me up and pressing me against her, again.
"I told you.. you would regret saying what you did, hm~?" She starts to stroke my hair.
"Ok but.. s-shut up.. When I said I would look for Viktor till the ends of consciousness, I didn't think I would actually end up in- Never mind, s-shut up.."
Lucifer doesn't say anything back, she just continues maintaining eye contact and smiling deviously at me while she strokes my hair. "Well, at the very least you'll have someone to thank~" She looks over to Viktor as he continues slowly backing away, before hitting back against a door as the twitchy pale being corners him.
"..You dare corner V-Viktor, fiend..!?" He starts to shake, dropping the book on the ground as Nightmare Astal starts to lean her face in to his, as if she wants to dig the static void in her eye sockets onto him as he attempts to reach for the doorknob behind him.
"..What.." He begins to slowly drop to his knees, letting go of the doorknob as he begins to slide down against the door.
*SHCKL* Nightmare Astal presses her dagger against his chest, giving a single little twist.
"..Ghg..!" Viktor drops completely on the ground, starting to cough up blood. "..I will not..COUGH.. I will not.. die here..!" He starts to crawl away from her slowly and towards me, leaving a blood trail along the black and white checkered floors. "..Viktor... is.."
Nightmare Astal slowly follows behind him as he's crawling towards me, the fluorescent red lamps flicker on and off repeatedly as she gets closer.
"..Hey Lucifer, you reckon I can go take that?" I look over at the grimoire still resting on the bloodied ground by the doorway as Viktor crawls away from it, leading Nightmare Astal with him.
"Hmm? I... Would definitely go do that~" She says as she continues stroking my hair for the past... Well, since Viktor fell victim to a horror movie.
I detach myself from Lucifer as I walk towards the objective I've been chasing till the end of consciousness, or should I say beginning.
I end up passing Viktor as he just continues crawling along the checkered floor, taking Astal with him as he crawls toward the open doorway leading to the trippy place with the infinite fractals.
"So is this it?" I look down at the book laying on the ground, it's got a few blood splatters on the glowing fractal symbol, but nothing a good little wipe can't fix.
"..Viktor is... Is.. GHG!.." Astal leans down and flips Viktor on his back, facing up. "GGHHG..!!" She then digs her pale fingers against the dagger still impaled in his chest before sliding it downwards along his stomach, spreading the vulgar sound of flesh splitting as he starts to gurgle in his own blood.
*SHCKLLLL* I watch the sight of a little pale girl I recognize butcher open a man, carving into his flesh and separating as much flesh from the bones as possible.
Viktor let's out a low gurgling sound, inhaling audibly as his body struggles to stay conscious. "Ghh..hgg....Viktor.. hgg.. is.. E..ternal.."
He reaches the doorway, then he pulls himself over it before rolling off the ledge and into the dimension of freaky patterns.
"..He'll be fine right.."
"Of course he will~ He'll continue falling through A Maze of prismatic infinity~" Lucifer nudges my shoulder as we both look over to Nightmare Astal peeking down over the doorway.
*CRCK* Her entire head instantly rotated backwards, her mouth gaping open in a void black color, before it suddenly falls off her body and rolls over to me.
"..Yeah I won't miss any of this." I look over to the grimoire and reach out my hand to it before my finger makes contact with the fractal symbol, making my vision go white, along with releasing a loud ringing sound against my ear drums just like the time I touched the philosopher's stone.
"Lucifer... what just happened?" I open my eyes as the ringing fades away, and I'm not in the hallway anymore. "You there?" I look down at my right hand, and then around me.
I'm now in a large flower field, all the flowers are a blue, pink, and black.
The entire night sky is bright, but the big cathedral split vertically in two is brighter, the clouds around it are a bright red, and the brightest.
The moon doesn't have a red glowing upside-down star on it anymore, but it is split into six parts.
"..Uh, Lucifer.."
"She's not here." A rough voice calls out to me, and I look over my shoulder to see some dude sitting down on a broken marble pillar that's been knocked to its side.
He has long black hair that reaches barely past his shoulders, with a beard that looks like it's just been shaved.
And he's wearing some kind of black uniform with a red tie.
But his black coat looks exactly like mine.
"..Who the hell are you."
"Damn, why so hostile.. I just told you she's not here." He looks up at me, digging his colorless pale eyes into mine. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I really don't know man. I just touched a book with a glowing flower symbol that looks like it was drawn by a five-year-old on hallucinogens. I was hoping you would tell me how I ended up at the end of time or whatever the crap all this is...Seriously, shed some light."
"..Oh, pftt... So you went through all that? That's hilarious." He starts to smile to himself as he just sits on top of the marble pillar as the flowers around him wave with a cold, but strangely warm air. "Thanks, haven't laughed like that in a while."
"You didn't laugh though."
"Am I really this insufferable?" He looks up at me, palming his chin as he looks me up and down. "No joke, you're such a mess."
"You wanna take this outside?" It's like I'm talking to myself, this guy's lame.
"We are outside... Never mind that." He looks down at his right hand, then over to me. "So you touched the Rune of Dreams? How was it?"
"What do you mean how was it? Literally all I did was touch it and now I'm here... Wait, I didn't travel to the future or something did I..??"
"Nah, it wouldn't make sense if you did. There is only one Rune of Death across the entire multiverse... and timeline." He looks up at the cathedral that's been split in two, then along the clouds that look like they're bleeding.
"..Please... No... not a... Not a multiverse...Don't do this to me..."
"It's sad but true... and maybe a little predictable if I'm being a hundred percent with you here. It's like who didn't see this one coming? It's turned into an actual epidemic among exposition..."
"Exposition? Are you sure you're using that word right?"
"Dude I don't know!? You get the point I'm trying to make though.."
"Well yeah, but it doesn't excuse the fact you suck at explaining." Why is this guy such an unbearable person.
"Yeah sure whatever man.. Just.. just get out." He points behind me, and I look over my shoulder to see a door. "I've heard enough. You gotta change something up, you're a little weirdo."
"I dare you to say that again... Wait so is this actually the end of time?"
"Huh.. so The One That Watches hasn't told you anything? Lucifer won."
I look over my shoulder after I reached for the doorknob. "The who?"
"I'm pretty sure you've met him... So has Dysma.."
"Shut up you're embarrassing yourself by saying things that don't make sense I hate you very much."
I twist the doorknob and step inside, not looking back to waste another single breath on that loser.
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"..Uwaah..."
"What is it, young man? Not get enough sleep?"
"..Nah, it's not that, I feel rejuvenated actually." It feels as though I've woken up from a very nice 8 hour nap.
"I see, it is good to see you in such high spirits." Kitsuki smiles over at me, making this the second time she has ever smiled in our entire 9 months together. "Ahem.. Fortuna is up a-ahead.." She starts to speed off, but I can't tell if my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw her start to blush
"Lucifer... She said that before, right?"
"What are you blabbering about this time, my host?"
"Lucifer do you know what DeJa'Vu is..?"
"No."
"..Wait, is this another.."
"Dream?"
"..Are you serio-" *CRACK!* The loud sound of glass getting broken echoes very loudly across the area, it was so overwhelming it made the foliage around us rustle slightly quicker. "..D'fuk." I look down at my hand and realize I've been holding a small book. I look at the cover and at what looks like a disturbingly symmetrical flower with various kinds of shapes around it, then reality hits. "Wait is this the real worl-"
*CrRrACK* The sound of more glass breaking briefly overtakes the area, then I look up to see the bright rows of pink cracks spread around the entire sky, before the pieces start to fall one by one in large groups. It all feels like a quiet disaster, the sound of the glass pieces impacting against the ground makes no noise, yet the force can still be felt.
Until there are no more cracks in the sky.
"Congratulations, Alek! We broke out of the Dream Realm! FuFuFu~ At the cost of breaking the barrier, of course."
"Does this have a significance to the plot."
"Maybe~"
"Then I'll carry on with my da-.. Wait did you say maybe." I get off my horse and stretch my back, a feeling I like very much.
"Uh.. what plot, master?"
Oh shoot, it's Astal.
"Astal how do you feel?"
"W-What? I feel fine, master.."
"That's good."
"Young man." Kitsuki returns, looking at me with a confused look. "Strange... Have you seen what I have see-" She notices the bright book in my hands, and her expression turns to one of pure bewilderment. "...Is that..?"
"Uhhh, I can explain..."
Kitsuki dismounts her black horse, then walks over to me before tilting my chin up, then she slides her blindfold down with her free hand, looking right into me with her golden spiraled eyes. "I do not sense any treachery in you.." She tilts my chin up slightly higher, leaning in and smelling my neck briefly. "It is unlike you to-" She suddenly pauses as she starts looking at me all over, as if she's searching my face for any mock or dishonesty. "..Very well. We must find the princess and deliver her the news.." She looks up at the sky, then back down at me as she reaches for my hand and starts to drag me along with her. "Quickly, and do not drop that."
"...Alright alright s-stop pulling..."
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"..M-My grimoire..!?" The girl with the long hime cut in front of me abruptly lunges forward and practically snatches the bright book away from my hands. "Yay..!! " >﹏<~★
She then holds up the book in front of a small ceramic urn. "L-Look granny! It's right here... I didn't lose it at all, nu way..!!" > o < ;
"Ahem.." Kitsuki crosses her arms, looking over to her as she just looks back at us as we stand in front of the balcony door Kitsuki sliced open. "Have you listened to a word Alek has said, young Kuroime?"
"Well no duh!" Kuroime clutches her grimoire against her flat chest before approaching me, looking up at me with narrowed eyes. "So, you went through the dream realm, hmm?"
"Successfully.. Surprisingly.." But I'm still vigilant... I just know it's gonna get revealed this is all just another dream somewhere down the line. _ _ ;
"Hmm.. Yeah I dunno.." Kuroime places a hand behind her head, scratching her dark purple hair with a look of uncertainty. "I mean.. Loops? I guess I can believe the whole figment part since you seem to know what the dream halls look like but.. Over nine hundred thousand loops? Really..?"
"It sounds rather moronic, but he is not lying." Kitsuki disregards my feelings as she speaks up. "I do not sense any dishonesty in him. If he were to use the Rune of Dreams maliciously, he would have long done so."
"..Erm.. The dream barrier got taken down, if I'm not mistaken.." Kuroime replies as she rubs her two fingers together.
"Young man, did you do that?" Kitsuki looks over at me, digging her blindfolded eyes into mine.
"Nah."
"Yet, I still do not sense any deception from him. Hm.." Kitsuki palms her chin in thought. "In any case, you possess the Rune of Dreams yet again. I do not doubt your ability to set a new one, young Kuroime."
"Huhhh..!?" Kuroime's jaw drops, looking at Kitsuki with confusion. "D-Do you know how long that's going to take for someone of my 'ability'?!"
*THUMP**THUNK* What sounded like loud and heavy knocking echoes from downstairs.
"I believe mending the Adamant Knights should be a first priority.." Kitsuki walks out of the girlish pink room and steps out into the hall.
"W-Wait..." I get stopped before I could walk out of the door, and I look over my shoulder to see Kuroime grabbing onto my sleeve. "Just one more thing... In your figments, did you s-see anything?"
"Like?"
"Oh.. Umm.. like, I don't know.. L-Let's say a really.. W-Well.. a book a princess shouldn't have.. M-Metaphorically, of course..!" ( ;﹁ ﹏﹁ )
I can see her clutch her grimoire against her flat chest with her elbow, chewing on her finger, then twirling her other finger around her dark purple hair as she looks down at the pink carpet with a flushed face.
"Y'know what, I don't think I did."
"..Oh..! W-Well no questions, please..!" She suddenly gets behind me before I feel her plant the cold cover of her grimoire against by back, dragging us forward as she pushes me out of her room.
"N-Now let's go see what Kitsune-chan's up to..! T-Try to keep any questions and wandering eyes to yourself at all times and d-don't peak at my books..!"
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"Pfft... A puppy? Really?"（〃｀ ′〃）
"I'm dead honest. I saw the most precious puppy I have ever seen in one of the projections. And that lead me to getting split in half by one of your douche knights." We continue walking down the halls, all while having a totally normal conversation. "I seriously think that projection is cursed. You should make sure to add 'tearing it down' to your bucket list."
"Pffttyuhyuhyu~" She breaks into a small giggle out of nowhere. "Listen to yourself... You sound like a total yahoo..!!" Kuroime reaches up and starts to shake my shoulder, giggling to herself like a little schoolgirl. "Oh jeez..! Shut up... no more talking.. Shut. Up."
"You're sending a lot of mixed sign-"
"Hyuhyuhyuhyuhyun~~~!" She breaks into another louder giggle, very rudely. "I'm sorry I'm sorry..! It's just.. A demon? That haunted you down to the bottom layers of the dream realm..!?" She looks away, bringing up her hand and covering her mouth as she fights back another giggle.
"Please don't start laughing at me."
I know what I saw, but I don't exactly know what I'd call a gory version of Astal that wants to forcefully stuff herself in my body.
I guess I'll leave it at Nightmare Astal.
But no one besides Satan will believe me.
"Yeah yeah sure, pffthyuhyu~ You're actually kinda funny." She just keeps giggling to herself. "Annyways.. What'd you say your name was? Aleksander?"
"..Uh, no. It's Ale-"
*CRASH* Kuroime and I look over at the huge suit of black armor that conveniently crashed itself in through the tall window of the entrance hall at the exact time we got here.
"Hm? Ah, you are both here." Kitsuki looks over her shoulder at us as she stands face to face with the large black knight.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Kuroime yells, walking up next to Kitsuki, pointing up at the black knight. ￣ ﹏￣;
"Oh, hey guys." I look over at Rin and the others as they also suddenly and conveniently run in here, along with a whole group of those tall green knights just behind them
"A-Alek..?"
"W-Waaa~?! It's Alek~!!!"
"W-Wait.. Alek is that you..!?"
Rin, Yukki, and Akane are the very first of the group to instantly jolt up the second they see me.
"Who?" The rude looking dude with the dark blue hair raises his eyebrow at me as Emilia and the other two girls who's name's I don't even know follow behind him. One with golden hair in drilled twin tails, and the other one with double braided hair that looks like she's going to die of a cardiac arrest with how shaky she's being.
*STOMP* *STOMP*
*R:R:R:R:R:R:M:M:M*
And in steps the army of tall green knights with armor that could rip your tongue out if you licked it during winter, humming their alien-like boombox sound effects.
"Uh.. master.."
"Now, I know things may look bad, but I assure you guys, I've got this situation perfectly handled."
"You're lying boss Nya..!!"
"You are right, we are very much screwed."
"H-Huh..!"
"He is just being a silly boy, fufufu~ Well, Alek? What's your plan, hm?"
"Watch this." I suddenly reach into my han- *SCHKL* "..The hell.. this wasn't part of the script.."
Wait what just happened.
"Little boy, I do say... I.. thank you for bringing an end to the Dream Barrier.." The same guy with the weird German accent that took the rune of power says from behind me, leaning in against my ear. "It seems the stone bearer was correct.. You were destined to sever through the barriers of reality... A real hindrance to me and my work!"
I look down at the large butcher blade impaled right through my lower chest, dripping my blood onto the floor. "..N-Not again.."
"I know not what a 'Rune of Death' is, and frankly boy, I don't give a damn!" The german raises his voice at me like a lunatic, causing everyone else in front of me to shift their attention from the army of killer knights about to swarm them and onto me, kneeling down as I have a very big blade skewering me like I'm something out of a barbecue. "The power I pursuit exceeds that of which your mark of 'death' is capable of! Oh my, why the long face? Did mommy and daddy not teach you how to feel joy~? Or did mommy and daddy not love you enough? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Alek you idiot..!!" Rin attempts to run towards me, but the black knight gets in her way, wielding a mighty black axe.
"A-Alek..!?" Yukki looks at me with an alarmed smile that is slowly starting to fade away.
"O-Oh.. no.." Akane stands next to Emilia as they both cover their mouths in complete devastation.
The four attempt to head towards me and around the black knight, but his presence is too strong in the middle he is currently positioned in.
"Our work here has concluded, Akki. Let our beloved templar clean up the rest~" The german starts to walk towards a bright blue portal that appeared in front of me. "Sacrificing that fool Viktor for the removal of the first Dream King's barrier was a plan I oh so enjoyed.."
"Sorry mist-.. I mean.. Ale- Y'know what? I'll just call you Mister Alek or something." Akki pulls her stupidly large butcher blade right out of me with the loud wet squelching sound you'd expect that comes with removing a sharp object from flesh. "Don't hate me... At least not when you're dead. Baiii.." She looks over her shoulder at me with an expressionless face and waves slowly, before disappearing into the portal with the german.
"M-M-M-Master..!?!"
"This doesn't look good Nya.."
"..I..I've got this.. handled.." I drop against the ground, slowly raising myself on one arm as I start to struggle to breathe.
My eyes start to go heavy, and I feel everything beginning to fade away as I am about to enter the most peaceful sleep I may never have again.
My vision begins to go blurry as I look over at Kitsuki stand face to face with the tall black knight, clutching onto her katana, then onto the rest of my Luthran allies about to go to war with the Adamant Knights.
And then Kuroime is just hiding behind Kitsuki.
"..Master..! This can't.. This can't be happening.." I can see Astal sitting on her knees right by me, covering her face as tears start to drip down her chin.
"..Get up boss Nya..! Get up..!!!" And Dysma's just clawing at my chest.
"What a shame." As I'm on my final moments of consciousness, I spot Lucifer, standing in between Astal and Dysma, but it seems as though they don't see her. "It seems our time together is at a conclusion, Alek..." She then kneels down, looking at me as I feel my eyes get unbearably heavy. "At least, for now..." She reaches forward, giving my nose a single poke. "Alek~" She stands up, turning around and facing away as she starts to walk away before fading. "Find me."
My eyes close.
I re-open my eyes as fast as they closed, and I can see I'm still laying down as Astal and Dysma continue to sulk on me, but something is wrong.
"..Eww what the.." Suddenly the area around me gets dark, spreading black cracks around the area as many black hands dig out from the ground, reaching out for me.
And yet, it's as if no one but me notices them.
More black hands rise from the ground around me, and I can feel them grabbing onto me.
Well, what I think is me, because I start to feel myself get dragged downward, and I can see the scenery above me fade out as I'm no-clipped through the floor and down into darkness.
I can even see my body still there as I'm getting separated from it.
"..Guess I'm going to hell."
The darkness soon overtakes everything, and I am plunged into a black abyss.
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To be continued in...
The Deathbearer Chronicle - Volume 6: Six Six
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---TOPIC---
Haythorn, surveyor of the desolate wilderness: Sorcery versus Strength - Which of the two prevails in the face of battle? I propose the latter. You shan't convince me otherwise. [A small doodle of a sword]
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Jack, the bladesworn imperial: >>Haythorn, surveyor of the desolate wilderness
>A stick that allows the throwing of lights meant for children
>Wielding a stick of iron designed to allow a man to display his ferocity
I believe no further introduction is needed. Next question.
Dom, the bringer of mortality: >>Haythorn, surveyor of the desolate wilderness
What does it matter what tool is being used to cut down a beast? So long as it drops dead and allows me to hunt another day, I remain satiated.
Colt, harbinger of disaster: >>Dom, the bringer of mortality
>He believes the thread is dedicated to the beasts and not the freaks that inhabit the beasts to form an even barbaric freak.
Seek the oracle, inform yourself of the grotesque abominations that violate and fondles your body. Get with the program, stranger. The tentacles of the infested rarely arrive lubed.
Fray, the one that stalks the shadows: Gentlemen. A little off topic here, but has anyone else here seen this little girl in their dreams as of late? I cannot recognize her in any way, and I fear I shall not be seeing any less of her. [An impure doodle of a little girl with a bow on her head and black leaking eyes.]
Joffrey, the blade of ashes: >>Fray, the one that stalks the shadows
What in blazes is that? Nay, perish the thought. Mate, instead of being a depraved stranger on the board, seek better ways to redeem your spare time than to use up all the ink for your grade school level creation.
Jack, the bladesworn imperial: >>Fray, the one that stalks the shadows >>Joffrey, the blade of ashes
Perish thy selves.
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