Knowledge Of It All

Ras followed the glow around until it made its way through some cracks in the floor. As he was about to break the floor, it opened right before him, revealing a twirling staircase.

"This shit sure looks eerie. Should I perhaps wait for Mark?"

The light appeared before him once more, moving frantically in all directions.

"Fine, fine, I'll follow. Just what on earth are you to be a smart ball of light?"

He stepped down, starting his slow descent. The staircase seemed to go on and on, reaching the depths of hell itself. Carvings of all types, faded along the walls, were only part of what made that place even more intriguing. Somehow, light managed to get in there. There were no torches, but rather some glowing stones set within the walls.

"Ok, Mark sure was right. Those guys were advanced in quite a weird way."

The light didn't rush ahead; instead, it lingered around, moving around Ras as he went deeper into the unknown.

By the point he began growing impatient,he had already reached the bottom. A large room was laid before him, but it seemed barren. The light prompted him to walk forward, take a step, and reach the other side of the room.

Somewhat skeptical, his eyes peered around as he began pacing, feeling his heart beat inside his chest. Just to make sure, he strengthened himself with some energy, preparing for anything that might happen.

... 

Mark had finally finished the map of the outer zone. It looked childish considering the way he drew it, but he made sure to include some measurements, approximate as they were, while jotting down some of his own observations of each place. Some of them looked like they could still hide things of value, while others were empty and abandoned for good.

"Phew, finally done with the boring part. I'll go finish up that large building in the center, then we can head home."

He went inside, opposite where Ras had been.

"He must be outside waiting, or perhaps he came in to check this place out. No worries, I'll try to scare him if I can."

An impish smirk appeared on his face as he began walking around the building, moving all the way to the top, taking notes of each level and anything worthy of note, but he still found no sign of Ras.

"Just where is this guy?"

From the top, he looked around, but he saw no trace of him.

"Ras! Where are you!?" 

His shouts echoed in the distance, but nothing came back to answer him. Somewhat baffled, he ran all the way down, moving frantically until he found something. A part of the floor looked different, as if something rubbed alongside it, cleaning it from dust.

He stepped on that part of the floor, the sound of his foot touching it feeling off. He crouched and tried to knock on it like one would on a door, and surprisingly, it sounded empty.

"Could this be some sort of trap?"

He grabbed his claymore, and with his strength boost, he slammed it into the floor, revealing a hidden staircase.

"This...this was nowhere in the game...just how many things are there that the players have no clue about?"

With a deep breath and a short prayer, he stepped down, hoping to find his friend.

His steps were loud, thunderous within the enclosed space, rapturing in his ear, but he didn't care. He had one thing only on his mind: finding Ras.

Once down, his heart stopped dead in its tracks. There was no trace of Ras inside the room. His steps left faint traces within the dust, which Mark could barely follow until he saw them vanish in thin air a couple of meters away from him.

"Ras...just..." 

Angered, he held on to the hilt of his sword, walking forward despite there being no hall or door to allow entry. Somehow, he had a faint idea of what was going on, yet a determined step was sure to clear any misunderstanding.

As he approached the wall, his step was imprinted beside that of Ras, and everything went dark around him. He kept on walking, hearing faint whispers and voices muttering incoherent things from the void that surrounded him. One single thought was on his mind: "Could this be the Abyss itself?"

Before long, he saw a glint of light before him, and one step led to him reaching an unknown realm—something that defied logic. Staircases went down and somehow reached up, but when they went sideways, the path led to you getting somewhere on the other side of the room, despite them leading outwards.

Mark's eyes bulged at the weird sight of interlooping, floating stairs, but he quickly composed himself and looked for Ras.

"No sign of him. Perhaps shouting would help? I'm not sure if it would...still, I should try."

He shouted for Ras, but he found that sound was treated just like anything else within the room. He heard faint remnants of his voice coming from all angles.

"God, help me find my way around this place."

He began walking upwards, but soon enough, he found himself climbing to the spot where he came from. Going downward made him descend inside the room from another angle. Trying to run to the sides placed him within the same jail room, looping him through over and over.

"Ok, this should be enough for a test. All of these staircases make sure I stay locked within this room, but I'm sure there has to be a way to exit, a specific pattern to follow that would allow one to get out."

He sat down, deep in thought, taking a while to figure out a plan. He barely noticed the small carvings on the floor.

"For the way outside is to look inside."

He laughed hysterically, nearly slamming his fist on the floor.

"Well, let me think about it for a bit. Outside, you look inside. This works like the staircases do, always leading you inside if you try to leave. So, by that logic, trying to go inside should lead out, but how would I go about entering something I can't leave in the first place?"

He got up, his hand placed on his chin as he thought. Apparently, he got up too fast, losing his balance, stumbling backwards.

"Backwards...step back...perhaps?" 

He began walking backwards, going up the stairs as he faced the inside of the room. Suddenly, he found himself walking away from the room, seeing it float in darkness. His steps kept him going until he felt his back press against something. Once he turned around, the room behind him vanished.

He stumbled inside the new room, and to his surprise, he saw Ras standing by a large stone tablet, something carved within it.

"Ras, fucking finally. How did you even get in here!?" 

Ras looked at him unbothered, as if what he did was normal.

"Ah, well, there was this little light that guided me. At one point, when I was in the first room, I heard it talk with me, telling me to walk backwards, so I ended up here."

Mark sighed, nearly slapping himself out of frustration.

"Leaving that aside, this place sure is stranger than we could even think. This wasn't in the game."

Ras nodded; his eyes stuck to the stone tablet.

"I figured that much. I think you would have been here already, had this been in the game."

Mark nodded, noticing a little particle of light move around Ras.

"I guess that's your little friend. Well, leaving that aside, I'm curious as to what the hell is written on that tablet, since your eyes are glued to it."

Mark stepped beside Ras, reading out loud what he saw.

"The knowledge of it all. Break the curse or embrace it."

Below, Ras was reading something that kept changing the more he did.

"What exactly are you reading there?"

Ras spoke in a dead tone, bewildered by the words.

"It's something about this world, about creation. It's truly...captivating." 

Mark noticed that something was off, so he peered his eyes away from the information.

"So, any idea as to how we'll get out?"

Ras shook his head, seemingly unbothered.

"Man," spoke Mark, his voice filled with worry, "look away for a second at least. Stop reading for a moment and help me figure out a way to leave."

Ras acted like Mark's words were nothing worthy of his attention. His entire being was poured into reading.

"Knowledge...curse...embrace it, or destroy it...I get it..." 

Mark grabbed his claymore, lifting it high above his head. The red aura around him grew in intensity as he slashed downwards...