The Other Side

"Well is it not at all a possibility that the door I found leads to whatever dimension you can move in?" I questioned.

Alyssa stared at me, her face slowly morphing into a contorted grimace,

"What in god's name are you talking about?"

"Ok, so, what if my door isn't really an exit? What if my door leads to your spot?"

"It's too risky to check though, if you exit without me then i'll die with the room,"

I massaged my temples as I probed my brain for a possible safe solution. We had been talking for hours attempting to come up with a way for me to get into her dimension. Clearly, my dimension was the main one, and hers was an alternate, but, besides the lack of a tree, there must be something else to set them apart.

I shot up, startling Alyssa.

"Hey, what the hell are you-"

"Shut up," I quieted her.

"Get back into your realm, check if my door is in there!" I exclaimed as I had already begun to run, not daring to let the thought drift away. All I needed was a nod of confirmation before I took off. I ran to the portion of the room opposite to the tree, where Alyssa had found her door. If the door wasn't there, then Alyssa's door had to lead to an exit. If my theory was correct, the one door in my room would lead to the corresponding one in hers, and the door in hers would function as an exit. The prospects always follow one cardinal rule, there is only one exit, if Alyssa had two doors, it meant she had the exit. It was an easy solution, which typically means it's not the right one, but perhaps the main challenge in this room was crafting the keys, which was already done for us. I nearly crashed into the forest wall, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I ran my hand across its smooth surface, and felt around for a protrusion. My heart beat faster and faster at every small bump, and each rough edge made it practically leap out of my ribcage. After a thorough search of what must've been about 45 minutes, I was sure. There was no door. I wasted no time getting back, and Alyssa was already stood up, eyes refocused. When she nodded her head, my heart skipped a beat.

"It's there?!"

"Yes, two doors apparently, now how about you tell me about your plan instead of leaving me in the dark next time?" Alyssa said with a sigh of irritation.

"Yeah, that's my bad."

I explained the whole plan to her, she nodded throughout, occasionally asking questions.

"Wow look at you, what a smart young man you are, figuring this all out by yourself" Alyssa teased.

I let out a grunt of irritation,

"I'm only 215 days younger than you…" I grumbled.

Alyssa stifled a laugh,

"You calculated that?"

My face turned red in embarrassment.

"Is the plan good or not?!"

Alyssa let out a hearty laugh before continuing,

"Yeah that all checks out, does that mean we can finally leave?"

I gave a silent nod of affirmation.

Alyssa dropped to the ground, arms sunk to her side "Thank god, I was getting so tired of being down here, it's felt like days,"

I let out an exhausted chortle as I waved goodbye to Alyssa. This room was by far the longest one, and I truly was glad to finally be rid of it. I stumbled to the back of the forest, the distance felt even longer than it ever had. Branches smacked by face, reddening my cheeks, but in my stupor, I hardly cared . My hand ran sluggishly along the door's wooden surface until it landed on the knob. I took out the key, and turned it in its lock. The door swung open, grazing just past my outstretched arm. An involuntary sigh of relief fell out of my mouth as I entered the glowing expanse to my front.

The feeling of entering mirror reality was incredibly painful, far more than anything I had experienced thus far. I felt as though my vision, my world, was being torn apart. My agonizing screams only increased as my limbs were torn apart. Each molecule in my body became undone, only to weave itself back together, undulating in a manner that beckoned my demise. An unfathomable anguish writhed all across my body, my skin feeling as though it was lit ablaze. My loud and seemingly unending screams of pain were cut short when I appeared on the other side panting, trying with all my might to not vomit on the forest floor in front of me. When my eyes refocused I saw a figure, wandering about the river. I walked out of the brush, the tree wasn't there. "Alyssa!" I called out. The figure didn't respond. My mind still spun from the transportation, and my legs that felt as though they had just been torn apart weren't helping the walk. I shuffled one step closer, and a small leaf crunched below my foot. The figure's head snapped towards me at a pace not possible for a human; my face paled and my eyes widened at the realization, this was not her. This fake Alyssa had inhuman proportions; her arms were skinny and long, her legs blown up to the size of tree stumps, and her neck craned back in a spine-chilling way that made every bone in my body scream 'get out'. I instantly pulled back out of sheer instinct, but the creature didn't approach. I hadn't any idea where I had ended up, and I definitely did not want to go through the portal again to find out. My dazed mind made the decision for me before I could even register it, 'leave' it echoed. And so I did, and the creature's eyes still bore into the back of my neck, like a laser singing my skin, but no uncomfortability could rival the pain of the portal. I stumbled over to the wall near the door and layed down. Sleep. Sleep was all I needed. The pain would subside, and then I could think about everything with a clear mind.

***

Alyssa POV

What is taking that fucker so long, I wondered as I paced around my original spot by the river. It had been well over 4 hours at this point, and not a single sight of him. I grumbled in annoyance at the idea of lying in wait for another hour, but if my door really did have the exit, it would be a gamble for me to open one. Once the door opens, the entire room gets rapidly sucked away, and there was no way in hell I would ever leave Demias, not after all he's done for me. Even just the thought in my mind disgusted me. Still, I wasn't going to sit idly by while he was potentially risking his life to get us out of here, I was gonna help somehow. But then it came back to the same agonizing answer, the only way I could help is opening a door, and opening a door could be an exit route. I decided to double back to the doors and check their keyholes insides. Maybe the material was different on one of them? I walked to the first door I had seen on the north side of the forest, Dems door, apparently. I closely examined the inside, he was right, same texture as the fruit. I walked to my other door, in the south of the forest, and gazed into the keyhole. I gasped in shock at what I saw. Brown, but not dark brown, a tan brown, kinda like Dems skin, I thought. I laughed at the idea of asking him for his skin, but I forced myself to refocus. A tan brown… the flesh! The flesh of the fruit was the same color, so assuming the same principle applied… I took out the extra fruit I had held onto. I have to make a key out of both the skin and the flesh, one for the exit, one for the whatever Dems doing. Although, this posed an even larger problem, the skin disintegrated when I cut the flesh last time, how was I meant to put the skin into the mold. And according to what Dem said, the skin of the fruit is also a scripture, that's how it molded to fit the key mold scriptures, so scripture plus scripture plus scripture means explosion bomb or… something not good. Or maybe it didn't? I never knew anything about the scriptures, that was Dems job. I sighed and collapsed to the ground. "Man am I really this useless without Dem?" I pondered. I tossed the fruit around in my hands. I cut it open with the knife to reveal the sticky flesh. Curious, I wanted to taste the flesh, maybe it would be nice, help get the creative juices flowing. One bite couldn't hurt, right?

One bite hurt. It hurt really bad. The flesh tasted absolutely horrible, and then the pain. The flesh had regenative properties, even without the skin it seemed, and it's icky sticky slimy pulp tore apart and reformed repeatedly in my mouth, causing an absurd amount of money in dental payments. My teeth quickly became mutilated as the fruit weaved in and out of them, and I was forced to spit it out before it devoured my whole tongue. My mouth stung, as if a thousand wasps had landed in it, though my teeth remained intact, despite the feeling of complete mutilation. In fact, my whole entire mouth was just fine, wholly unaffected by the fruits repeated reformations.

I got it.

The fruit stayed alive in my mouth, it writhed in anguish and made my mouth experience otherworldly pain, but it remained. If I could eat enough of the pulp, while also pushing the skin into the mold, I could make two keys with the different textures. The more I thought about the plan, the more a dull, aching sensation occurred in my head, a deep throbbing pain that threw off any focus I had attempted to have. A side effect of the illusions, I assumed. Illusions work by placing tricks on the brain, and oftentimes the brain can indeed discern between real and illusion, but the eyes don't recieve the same signal as the brain. This causes migraines in countless people, and has been the source of many delvers deaths, although to me it was simply a minor headache.

Maybe sleep was what I needed. I hadn't slept since I got here, and it's been probably days since we arrived. Yes, that makes sense, just a short nap, and I'll execute my plan, maybe Dem will be back by then too. He'll laugh at my solution I'm sure, but it'll be nice to see him again.

***

Demias POV

The sound of screaming filled my ears, an unfamiliar scream, an otherworldly force. The being who was emitting these waves was screaming at such a high frequency that it pained the human ears to listen, and I very quickly became irritated at that constant droning. I stood up from my stupor and rubbed my eyes. What in gods name was screaming like that. The noise was distorting everything around me, the air, my vision, my hearing, every sense of mine felt dulled.

Shit. I had fallen asleep, I realized. Before I did I saw a creature, one I thought was Alyssa. Alyssa! I needed to get back to Alyssa! How long had I kept her waiting, I wondered. I have to wrap whatever this is up quickly, I need to kill that fucking screamer. My vision slowly cleared, and although the air was still distorted, I could at least make out some features. The creature was unlike anything I'd seen before, any human like traits it had possessed upon my arrival, it had lost. It's whole body was a black tar, it's eyes bright white and bloodshot with red splotches dotted around, and lastly, it hair was frizzed up as if it was just struck by lightning. The sight of it was truly terrifying. I wanted to be rid of it. I will get rid of it. I wasted no time in dashing towards the creature, my wind plated scepter rune on my wrists glistening as I unleashed a large barrage of scythes. The creature grabbed the concentrated wind, and in one swift motion sent all of them hurling back into me. I pivoted midair to avoid the cascade, and planted myself into the ground just feet away. Shit. It wasn't affected by magic. The creature was resistant, somehow, or at least it has really fast healing. As I stared at it for longer, its screaming grew louder, more grotesque, distorted. Its head turned and writhed in anger in a way no living thing should be able to move. Then It leaped. The pitch black mass dashed towards me at unfathomable speeds, providing me with barely enough time to narrowly shift left. The creature barreled past me, a deep laceration opening in my neck, the purple grass around me slashing into the air and falling at my sides. I grabbed my neck to feel the wound. Deep, but not life-threatening. I'd be fine, for now. But still, how could the creature move like that? how did it hit me even though I dodged? How was there a combat and a puzzle trial in the same room? I had no time to think, the creature was getting ready once again, and I couldn't dodge it last minute like last time. I decided to go on the offensive. I dashed toward the creature as I unleashed blades of concentrated air into its tar-like skin. Just as I approached its claws, it attempted to pounce, but I was ready. A gust of wind manifested at my side, blasting me 50 feet away and slicing clean through the creature. It's black blood spilling onto the forest floor, dying the violet shrubbery a deep ebony. While it was weak, I rushed in again, leaping in the air and manifesting the energy into a pressure point on my back. The wind pushed into my spine, propelling me straight into the head of the creature. My wind-clad fist punctured straight through its head, and the fist size hole grew bigger as I manifested even more scythes around my body. I landed deftly on the ground, nearly tumbling into an oncoming tree as I struggled to gain footing. The creatures screams were deafening now, I couldn't hear anything, but it's body writhed in pain even further. It was still alive. In a last ditch effort, I threw all I had at the creature. A massive barrage of all manner of wind scepter attacks descended upon it, ripping it to shreds. Scythes, swords, small blades, all rained down on the creatures body until only a black puddle of goo remained. No way it could come back I thought, but I was all out of energy to make sure. I needed to leave. I needed to. I had no other choice. I stumbled away, my right foot dragging behind my left, my hand placed on my neck to stop the viscous fluid from flowing out in the waterfall it was beckoning to flow out of. A door. I saw a door in the distance. My way out, I thought. No keyhole either… perfect.

It took me what felt like hours to fumble to the door. Each step filled with a terrible squelching noise coming from my wound. Just as I reached the door. I heard a small noise, one that escalated quickly to a violently loud, anguished scream. That creature was back. I had barely any time before the creature reached me, but I had nothing left in me. I made a mad dash to the door, but with no rune supplying my legs, it felt like a snails pace.

The pain from the prior door was simply nothing compared to the pain I was feeling. The creatures sharp claws ripped and teared at my legs while the top half of my body was being pulled by the portal. I cried out in a scream rivaling the creature's, and I used any and all energy that I had remaining to rip my legs free from the creatures grasp.

The pain of the door was amplifed to the max with my injuries. The lower body and neck went through the decomposition process a corpse goes through all in the span of two seconds, over and over and over again. Every fiber of my being was being torn apart, being reformed. I couldn't take it. The pain was too great. The portal spat me out on the other side. I didn't care where I was. I couldn't even focus over the sounds of my own guttural screams. The screams got louder, and louder, and as I gazed upon my right leg missing its foot, my screams reached their peak. I screamed so much that my body, my vocal chords, all of it, gave way in an instant. I was gonna die there. So close to the all-rune. Leaving Alyssa all on her own. I couldn't tell her anything, not how I felt, not how sad I was leaving her behind, none of it. My life, it's purpose, my goals, all to waste, in an instant. My eyes forcibly shut from the pain, and my head swayed back and forth, I collapsed onto a soft surface, and accepted the cold grasp of death.