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004

Marcus opened his eyes to only more darkness, after a bit of focus he could see the very dim glow of the cavern's ceiling. Seems he was now on the planet called Krotosia, and it was not what he was expecting.

It took a bit of effort trying to find footing on the slick rock beneath his bare feet, but Marcus managed to get himself upright while discovering several things.

One, he was deep below ground, inside some kind of cave network that broke off into various directions. Two, the dim lighting was a result of some glowing stone fragments embedded in the walls. The third and final discovery he made was not only were his feet bare, but completely nude at that.

'Okay, not ideal.' Marcus thought while moving his footing back and forth, not enjoying the cold temperature rock all around him. It only took a few minutes before his body started shivering. He was losing heat fast and his legs decided to start moving for him, trying to get blood flowing.

He had hoped the light of the stones in the wall were some kind of exothermic reaction, generating heat and light at the same time. Unfortunately after pulling one out of the dirt, he found no heat to it, just a soft light with no warmth. It was a fascinating rock he'd never seen before, but it was not too useful for the current situation.

After a few minutes of walking aimlessly, Marcus stopped to think about his whole situation. For the most part, he hadn't really contemplated his actions until that moment.

'I need to calmly think about this, I can't rush into the fact I somehow died, met a rather rude "Not God," and am now searching for my also dead wife in a different world. Either this is the weirdest dream I've ever had, or maybe someone spiked my coffee this morning.'

Marcus froze as he remembered that he had his morning coffee not too long ago, so what happened after that?

'I died, but I don't even know how that happened. I can't really remember much of anything, what is going on?'

The shivering got worse, but Marcus couldn't tell if it was just the cold, or the mix of emotions bubbling in his stomach. He kept walking, holding the soft glowing stone in his fist. He'd occasionally need it when the passage lacked any of the lighting he needed to not slip onto his bare ass.

He had no idea what direction he was going in, but he knew this world couldn't be all dirt in the dark. As long as he kept taking the tunnels that traveled at an upward incline, he'd find some way out.

The problem with that logic was the assumption he was close enough to a surface to find a way out, or that there was even a world above him.

'The Mirror man never said anything about this world, or how everything was situated. The whole world could be cavemen or dinosaurs with no way to actually survive. Maybe it's a single oasis on top of a completely barren planet, with me on the other side. Hell, this might all just be a ploy to mess with me. Maybe it's all been a lie; I'm actually in hell and this is a sick version of my eternal damnation.' He thought while jumping over a puddle formed from the cold moisture around him.

'I'll come back around to that idea if I start losing my sanity down here. For now, upwards and outwards. That's all I gotta focus on.'

The selfmade debate soon came back up after another five hours of walking. Pretty soon after, he noticed a rather similar looking cluster of light fragments that he was sure he'd seen at least three times now. His doubt on the original strategy resulted in taking a stone from the floor and drawing a continuous line on the right side of the tunnels he walked through.

Sure enough, he found himself in a tunnel marked with his line not even ten minutes later, Marcus managed to unknowingly walk himself in a circle for hours. Once he realized all the time and energy was a waste, he collapsed on the floor in defeat.

His stomach gurgled again, as he had grown pretty hungry on his little trek. Marcus could feel his whole mouth getting dry from thirst as well. He was at the point that he started daydreaming about the foods he could find on the surface. He could almost taste the fat fruits and juicy berries falling from the natural groves with plump looking wildlife.

'Damn, even the puddles are starting to look appetizing. I need to figure something out fast.' Marcus tried getting out of his slumped position, but the exhaustion had settled in.

He fell asleep with no concept of how much time that passed. Whatever problems he faced would require at least some rest, even if he was shaking the whole time.

Except the shiver slowly started to change into something different, it wasn't coming from his body, but the ground beneath him too. It was shaking to the point that more water droplets and loose dirt was raining down on him.

Marcus bolted up and started seeing the shadows moving in the deeper end of the tunnel. Something much larger than him was hurtling straight to his spot.