Falling.
Falling…
I just kept falling without resistance. Everywhere I looked, there was nothing except for eternal darkness. No sky or air exerting friction on my body, no earth or ground to land on, no sun illuminating the world, no moon, no stars, literally nothing.
But I could still see the translucent silhouette of my body, I could feel myself consistently accelerating with no way of slowing down. As this space had no sky, I would never reach terminal velocity.
The speed of my descent was just going to keep increasing at a consistent rate without any limits.
I don't remember how long I had been falling but I knew when I first fell…
After what felt like falling for all eternity, I had finally landed on something.
I took a deep breath and found myself lying flat on my back, gently swaying up and down with my eyes closed. I was floating atop a great body of water. But this wasn't just any ordinary water…
Even in my soul-body state; where I was supposed to be completely intangible to reality, I felt an almost nostalgic feeling… I was cold, I was wet.
I could feel the ruthless chilling touch of the dark ocean piercing the back of my soul body like needles from every direction.
'Why is this water the only thing I can touch and feel? I still can't feel the wind in this world, or maybe it doesn't have an atmosphere in the first place, so is it just an ocean world?
'I do taste a bit of salty water but I can't smell it—or smell anything for that matter, what's going on? Well, no way to find out other than research…'
I slowly opened my illusory eyes fighting through the pain of shivering cold to observe my surroundings., only to see an unholy sight.
This nightmarish ocean world seemed like an entirely different dimension than the abyssal limbo realm that I fell through for eternity. Regardless, the scenery before my eyes terrified my naked soul even more than the feeling of an eternal fall.
At my zenith was a completely eclipsed sun, or at least something similar ominous in the starless sky.
This dimension was almost entirely dark like the abyssal limbo realm, but there were two stark differences: a faint yellowish-orange light glistened in the world. It emanated from the slightly visible perimeter of the eclipsed sun.
The sky, on the other hand, looked slightly different too. It appeared to be an extremely dark shade of blue rather than just pure jet black like the limbo realm.
These two things led me to believe that this endless ocean wasn't just the bottom of the abyssal limbo realm I had been falling through; but rather, it was an entirely separate dimension with its own fabric of space and time.
…
Hold on… didn't this happen before?
The last thing I remember was standing in front of a mirror in another world, inside the body of my host; Abhi, right?
Oh yeah, I also got the new string of memories where he walked away from the factory and back to his home, and finally standing in front of that damned mirror.
But why am I back into this goddamn nightmare dimension again bruh? Why can't I just have a normal adventurous journey?
Painfully laughing at my own expense I sighed and tried to focus on my current situation.
I curiously looked around this desolate nightmare dimension to find a resolution to my perilous condition.
And for the first time in eternity… I was not alone in this lonely world.
///
Floating atop a great ocean of dark water were two motionless souls. Both were translucent but the degree of their opacity differed greatly.
The barely visible soul on the left was 'Nameless'. The one who had already experienced the trials and tribulations of the right Nightmare Dimension and Abyssal Limbro Realm. It carried a surprised and scared expression. But the vibrant soul on the right was a stranger, lying still on the dark ocean surface. A completely new soul in this desolate world.
'What the hell! Whose soul body is this, and what is it doing here?'
The surprised Nameless carefully studied the vibrant soul while maintaining a safe distance.
'This dude's soul is exactly the same as mine—Silhouette in the shape and form of a translucent humanoid entity. But the white light emitting from his soul is far more potent and vibrant. Is he—is that supposed to mean he is stronger than me? Scary…'
Just as these thoughts echoed in Nameless's mind, the stranger's soul body; which was previously lying still on the dark ocean surface—subtly trembled.
Nameless jumped back… Swam back in fear.
'Did that thing move? Or am I just going crazy?' As if answering his doubts, the dark water below the stranger's soul body rippled outwards, confirming the fact he was moving.
A cold shiver ran across Nameless's illusory skin, its body started to turn around and swim away in order to escape the presumed danger.
But before it could. The stranger's eyes shut open in an instant.
…
As if the world had frozen, Nameless stopped all actions. Not even attempting to escape. It just lay still on the dark waters. Not daring to make another move that could alert the awoken soul.
A few seconds passed in absolute silence. It was as if even the dark ocean grew as quiet, as the soul's floating atop. The wary Nameless, nor the wide awakened stranger made any movements.
Well until the stranger broke the silence at least:
"Am I dreaming?"
The next moment, the stranger turned his illusory head towards the left and looked directly at Nameless with his deep golden eyes.
Nameless shuddered with fear. The stranger asked, "Who are you?"
Nameless remained quiet for a few moments, then answered; "Just a Nameless soul roaming this desolate world. Who are you?"
The stranger stayed silent and looked deep into Nameless's eyes, as if gazing at his soul… well not as if.
After a few seconds, the stranger spoke in a deadpan tone. "I'm Abhi, am I dreaming?"
The two souls just stared at each other in silence.
Nameless thought, 'So it's the host Abhi, that does make sense but why did he end up here?' then said. "I know who you are, in a way you might be dreaming yes. But this isn't a normal dream, rather a special space—The Nightmare Dimension"
As soon as Nameless spoke the last three words, his eyes suddenly glinted. A psychic abstract image formed in front of him.
[World unlocked]
[
– Limbo Realm: The space between reality and illusion.
Abyss Dimension / Abyssal Limbo Realm (The Dimension of eternal descent)
• Nightmare Dimension (Endless Eclipsed World of the Dark Ocean)
• (ƨnoiɈɔɘlʇɘЯ ϱniqoo⅃ ʇo noiƨnɘmiႧ) noiƨnɘmiႧ bɘɿoɿɿiM
– Reality 3
]
This image didn't exist in the real—or illusory world but rather was just a manifestation in the soul's mind.
'Oh this again, wait the "Reality 3" is a new one'
Abhi suddenly flinched, then asked in a calm tone "What is that?"
"What is what?" Nameless asked in confusion.
"The image, the chart thingy called "World Unlocked""
'Huh?" Nameless was perplexed. "You can see it too?" he asked.
"Uhm yes? Am I not supposed to?"
Nameless stared at him with his brows furrowed for a few seconds, then he said in a suppressed voice: "From what I surmised, this is supposed to be a mental image only existing within my psychic. This half-real dark water can interact with my intangible illusory soul body, but it just passes through this psychic chart as if it dosent even exist."
'How can this bastard see into my mind? Wait can he read my thoughts?'
Nameless continued to stare at him as a slight frown slowly appeared on his face.
Looking at it, Abhi replied nonchalantly, "Interesting, so this is an illusory dream realm… the limbo realm. And this nightmare dimension exists within it as a subdivision alongside the abyss dimension and the unreadable third dimension right?"
The frown on Nameless's face deepened, his stare growing more potent. "You figured it out quite quickly. In fact, a bit too quickly, have you been here before? It's just a bit jarring to see how calm you are while having such an other-worldly experience."
"Well, first time here. But what's the use of making a fuss? Panic will just lead to unnecessary problems, always better to stay calm." Abhi replied with the same nonchalant tone.
The frown shifted a bit and turned into a subtle smirk. "You have grown Abhi."
Abhi slightly narrowed his eyes "What do you mean by that?"
"You saw the name of the first dimension in this realm right? The Abyssal Limbo realm— The Abyss dimension." Nameless asked.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I'm assuming, you fell through it as well, right Abhi?"
Abhi waited for a few seconds then answered "Yes, I perhaps did. I can't confirm if the completely dark abyss I feel through is the same as the 'Abyssal Limbo Realm' but I assume it is. Falling through it for what felt like an eternity is also half the reason why I wasn't completely stunned by being in this 'Nightmare Dimension'."
The smirk grew slightly wider "I had the exact same experience, but twice! This is the second time. The first time I fell out of my physical body in my world, then plummeted to this abyss, and falling through it I had ended up here. But the stark difference in the first time is that, in the exact moment I entered this 'Nightmare Dimension'. I saw the vision of memories. Your memories Abhi.
Nameless paused for a second, growing a bit unsteady because of Abhi's suppressing gaze. But soon he continued. "Don't worry though, I didn't see everything about your life. I would've probably gotten old and withered away before finishing one, one-hundredth of your life haha! Rather I just saw what happened throughout your day. From the moment you stepped inside H.S. Kolar, to the end of the day when you stood in front of that damn mirror."
Abhi stared ahead silently for a few seconds then asked "Everything?"
Nameless replied nonchalantly, "Yeah pretty much."
A few seconds of ghastly silence veiled the world, the wobbling ocean surface intensifying the serenity.
Abhi kept staring and then snarled "Creep."
"Huh? Bro, it's not like I had a choice I was basically forced into your body"
"Hehe! I'm just kidding lil bro don' worry about it."
Nameless stared at him dumbfounded, "I take it back, you have not grown at all."
"Haha! Well, that at least means I won't have to do the chore of introducing myself right?"
Nameless smirked, "I guess so."
Abhi subtly smiled and asked, "So what should I call you?"
Nameless turned to look away, the glint in its eyes hidden in a veil of shadows "Just nameless I guess, I don't remember what my true name was."
Abhi's smile dimmed a little, "So Nameless… got any idea how we ended up here?" Abhi asked while curiously looking around. Especially focusing on the eclipsed sun.
Nameless kept looking at the curious Abhi and spoke cautiously "Not completely sure, I'm at least aware of the 'trigger' of my condition though. Back in my physical everyday life, I saw an unsightly scene. Just looking at it essentially ripped my soul out of my body. I was a bit happy to be outside of my body and one with the universe at a deeper level as a soul for a bit. But then my dumbass looked at the same -unknown- sight again. This time I looked at its illusory form, which looked like a yin-yang sphere. Looking at it led me to plummet below the earth's surface, where a bunch of monstrous souls devoured my body.
"Then I ended up falling endlessly through the abyssal dimension. And then after an eternity of falling, entered the Nightmare Dimension through the portal. And yeah, watched your entire day's flashback at the same time as well, as I said before."
As Abhi was looking elsewhere, he turned back to face Nameless. He tentatively gazed into Nameless's eyes and raised one of his eyebrows to ask with curiosity: "Portal?"
A wide grin appeared on Nameless's face. Then he moved his hand and pointed it straight up to the heavens!
...….