Eyelids slowly opening, Bryce was greated by the sight of the unnatural red sky. Due to how the day-night cycle worked like so far, he couldn't tell if he was sleeping in or ending up as an earlier bird after so long. First and foremost however, he was lucky that no black creatures found him in his sleep and devoured him alive. The lack of hunger and thirst was surprisingly convenient. Thanks to that, trying to climb on that giant tree would feel to painful.
He stood up and went on his way through the pathways separated by thick walls of red leaves. The more he thought about the situation, the lesser the seed given to him seemed ordinary. The deal between him and the creepy prisoner entailed nothing more than helping him breake out of prison in exchange of his freedorm as well. That was honestly all there was to it. Yet he gave him a seed before running off without bothering to explain if it was simply a gesture of appreciation or not.
Just like his life, all those around him did things to him without explaining why. Except for Lily, of course. He could spectate that this was all a prank from the accursed Eric or something he see due to being severly drugged by said bastard. Perhaps he had truly lost in touch with sanity the moment he saw... that. What a cruel ending it would be if he were indeed mumbling to himself in a mental assylum after the impactful trauma. But it was not the time to dwell in theories. The giant tree was waiting for anyone who dared to consider climbing on it.
After a while of sneaking and crawling pass the freaks, he finally arrived at where the tree sunk its root. The trunk was massive, gigantic even in a cyclop's standard. The next thing to worry about was that how to climb. He never had any experience climbing on a tree, being occupied with books after all. But luckily, there was what looked like an entrance leading inside, about thrice the size of an average human.
He stepped inside and saw branches laid out conveiently for climbing. He just needed to hold tighty on them and try not to fall. It wouldn't be too bad, he hoped. He chose to climb on one of the sturdy wood pillars present inside the massive trunk. Taking another look, the interior was undeniably spacey. And then began the repeated pattern of grabbing onto the branches close to his body and head while standing firmly on the ones around his feet. It was not pleasant at all, even though he wouldn't have to worry about sudden hunger or thirst holding him back. With gradual movements, he managed to reach the branches 20 meters above ground. That would also mean he must not allow himself to fall.
'God damn it! It is hell! There's no way I got resurrected only so suffer more.'
Frustrated at fate, he redoubled his effort and kept on climbing. Every muscle of his forced itself to work in harmony. If only he had a talent for multitasking, his brain might be able to handle the massive requirement of focus.
As long as he didn't fall, he could keep climbing. It was not like he would have to do it forever, hopefully.
After what felt like thirty minutes, he kept climbing. Despite the fact that he could still see more of the height of the pillars, he was glad for making a progress. But then the sudden appearance of of pitch black woodpeckers had to show up and turned his mood from a sunny day to a bizarre snowstorm.
"Ah shit, he we go again."
He climbed and climbed, the randomized preference of each every woodpecker had annihilated the easy path completely. He thought it couldn't get worse yet here was a blonde tormented by birdies.
He displayed his reaction to the meddle some feathers by snapping some branches and threw each of them at the woodpeckers. From that point on, KFC might be something he would fiercefully avoid for a very long time. With so little brances on the pillar, he had to make some leap, almost fell off even. In the process of climbing the trophical everest, he came with a conclusion.
"This realm is a huge piece of shit."
Twenty more minutes of climbing and donuting the woodpeckers had passed. He had them all nailed firmly on the thick pillar. Finally, he saw wood platforms above. After a bit more, his right hand finally touched the lowest platform that just happened to be right above the top of the wood pillar.
He lied down and panted heavily, he only needed to rest for ten minutes before going forward with the next type of challenge in way to torment the blonde lad more. Each platform was connected with another with spiral staircases also made out of wood. A platform was approximately four meters radius wide, making it looked like an endless stairway but at least one didn't have to descend or looking downward while traversing or deciding between the left or right pathway. After a well rest, he ascended on the stairway.
Ten initial minutes went smoothly without nothing in particular happening. As Bryce suspected, another challenge had showed itself. He heard a weird sound from below and was shocked to the core to see a horde of termites gnawing on the wood. He began running restlessly. He kept going up and up but didn't managed to get far away from the termites. There appetite beat his running speed, which was another painful thing to note about this world in his opinion.
Thankfully however, he found a vine and grabbed it, swinging toward a fairly wide platform before the termites ate all of the stairway. He rested his hands on his elbows, relieved that it was over. He hoped the next challenge wouldn't involve constant movements or even better, no more things like that.
It seemed like fate had decided to play it differently, suddenly a green portal appeared near where he stood. He tried to look inside but tripped on his feet and fall through the portal. He stood up and looked around and saw something stunning. An enthe endlessly vast made could be seen strectching far and wide. There was nothing above the wooden floor he was standing on other than the red sky of course. Before he could notice, the color of the sky had darkened once more, signaling another night.
He sat down and looked up, having confirmed that he had been taken directly to the top by the portal earlier. This somehow meant that whatever that was supposed to come next would be the final challenge before he truly exit the place.
With some time to spare, he began to gather his thoughts. Everything he has seen so far, relevant or not, might prove to be useful. It was the crucial moment to organize all of that into a singular line, smoothly flowing like a domino going from the start to the end. After all, knowing more would help him afirm the situation and identify the cause.
First, there was the seed given to him by a creepy person. That guy ran off without giving explanation. Coincidentally, when he woke up inside a labyrinth, the seed happened to disappear. There was a low chance that it was not something so random. But then how did his body... heal? The scenery around the labyrinth was all filled with the color red. The place had the relation with his dying moment, drenched in red. Which would mean... his blood was the condition for the seed to do whatever it did.
Second, in this world he never felt hunger or thirst. Tiredness was the only thing remained aside from the five senses still functioning well. The fact that he could still perceive this world without feeling bodily need implied that his consciousness had lost touch with reality. In other words, this would be a different realm, something existed outside the tangible.
Finally, everything around the realm seemed to revolve around him. Specifically like, when he decided to follow behind a black humanoid thing, a gigantic tree suddenly appeared as if it was clearly visible yet he saw nothing beyond the red walls at first. Or in another case, when he feared that something would happen while he ascended on the stairway, something did happen almost immediately. From that, he deducted that this world was a simulation of his mind, bearing unnatural relations to his past experience.
With that, if he wanted to get out of here then he just had to... come up with a way. Still, the blonde Bryce was amazed of how the place played with his doubts and suspicions. That also meant... it was his fault for the fucked up hardship inside the giant tree as well.
"Gosh, what am I to do without Lily..."
Right, Miss Lily had been taken away, out of his reach for eternity. No longer would he get to eat her homemade pasta. No longer her warmth was next to him when he slept. No more pictures would they take together on a field trip. Because after all, his life would feel meaningless without her.
Bryce wondered just how unfair life had to be with the both of them. What did she do wrong to have fallen ill? Why didn't he just dealt with Eric sooner and take it for himself? Last but not least, why did he have to coexist with pretentious people?
Done with pondering, he focused his mind to create a poisonous apple that would take him out of this world. As he took a bite, his throat burned, his body felt heavy. Every cell of his being felt sick to the core. He closed his eyelids while lying on the floor, having committed suicide in a dream realm.
Opening his eyelids, he was ready to come back to the real world as he expected to. But he saw something entirely different from the theme earlier. He was standing on the top of a building. The place seemed to be where a hellicopter would land. A few meters in front of him, he saw the oh-so-familiar Eric unexpectedly holding Lily hostage.