Chapter 3: At the bottom of the Rabbit-hole

The tactile granulous sensation pressed upon the youth's form with little remorse. It was cold, no, it wasn't that cold, not as Siberian as the land he once inhabited. In fact, it felt almost lukewarm to the boy, as though plunged into a land of eternal sun where the soil was free to bathe underneath Heaven's radiance, yet, it wasn't the warmth that sat oh so perfectly amidst both the inwardly and outwardly perplexed youth's mind, occupying every inch of absentminded space he currently possessed but rather the coarse feel of something else, the land upon which he rested, Eden knew this sensation, or instead, he knew of something akin to it, for the boy had never been blanketed by such heat before, the palpable material feel of the earth, of the body of Gaia, he was on the ground, his decent had come to an abrupt end.

'How?' However, instead of feeling grateful for the miraculous feat that had taken place, where a god had listened to the boy's inward ramblings, Eden could do little more than ponder, to wonder how such a thing could possibly occur. One second he was on the brink of madness, on the precipice of suicide to escape the perpetual noise of dissonant clocks that echoed infinitely within his brain, and the next, he was here, his body flat on the ground without so much as a scrape nor bruise to infect his blasphemous form while the realm around him lay placid and silent.

'What happened? How? How? How did I escape such a tortuous fall?' Eden inwardly exclaimed, his veiled hollow brown eyes that lay face down upon the body of the world shimmering for all but a second as they resisted the desperate urge to give into the boy's maddening query.

'Did the game finish loading? Was that all a loading screen? I had heard from the shopkeeper that apparently the first load time could be pretty long, but…but wasn't that too much?' Eden solemnly commented, 'My stomach still feels as though it's in a perpetual state of motion from the fall,' He continued, unyielding to the gastric urge that sizzled within his stomach, begging to escape from its fleshy prison. With hands ajar, Eden probed the macrocosm that lay close at hand. The adolescent knew he was safe, that his form rested upon solid ground; however, he still made such desperate motions. Like a child beaten yearly by an abusive father, he failed to trust his senses until he felt definite proof, until salvation imposed itself on his hopeless body, a notion that quickly occurred, for no matter how much Eden poked or prodded, the earth by his side did not change, nor cascade to a hellish abyss waiting to consume both him and his soul.

Immediately a bout of hope racked the youth's still face-down form. Strength flooded his body, falling to his ever-outstretched arm as, with one succinct motion, he retched himself free of Gaia's grasp, though whether such a decision was wise would remain to be seen, for what greeted Eden's eyes was a world worthy of the name derelict.

A realm of darkness, a land where light, sparse as it may be, refused to penetrate, or instead, it simply couldn't, for the space that swirled amidst the presence of the youth was the very epitome of drab and dismal. Cold, the land, despite its apparent heat, oozed such a chilling aura. There was no colour, or at least none that naturally caught the eye. No fields of ravishing emerald nor medieval houses befell the child's gaze, but instead, little more than the same recast texture upon which he lay, that of monochrome dirt. It was as though Eden had been buried alive. However, odd as it may be, such a view of earth stretched on for a chilling length, it was as though the land no longer wished to grate upon the boy's unblemished flesh, for it possessed a volume comparable to that of a grand hall, one in which this worlds nobles may dance listlessly in a vain attempt to catch a suitors eye.

No natural light illuminated such a bleak realm. Its heaven-sent radiance appeared to have been barred from entry, for in its place loomed candles, that of which Eden had once seen. Possessing mismatched bodies and ages, such eerie creations dominated atop the earthly domain, not fastened to the walls in range of Eden but instead high above him, their figures positioned against the bowels from which he came, a hole upon which he spied an endless climb.

'How am I meant to get out of here?' The youth innocently questioned, done with the form of bloodlust such a maddening fall had forced upon him. Eden could do little more than lament his fate and lack of technical skill. He couldn't simply log out as he wished. He still didn't know how. In fact, the boy didn't know how to do anything. His mind had failed to think of reenacting the sight he had once seen, for it was illogical in every sense of the word to believe his thoughts could bring up such a panel. Yet his queries wouldn't go unanswered, for it was in the midst of such self-questioning that his hollow brown eyes caught sight of an item that held no place in such a drab, desolate land.

A table, one sporting nothing short of lofty grandeur. Made of dark wood, it appeared glossy, almost silken to the touch, with ornate swirls and intricate decorations on all four corners atop its head, all unique from one another, just like its colouring, for although Eden spied only dark wood, if he were to gaze upon the item from a different angle he would be met with a brilliant shade of ivory white, in its bottom left most corner, the side that pointed closest to the youth who lingered dead centre in the midst of the earthly realm, appeared a crest, one Eden had familiarised himself with many times in the past, it was the symbol of a club, that from a deck of cards, and to the crests left appeared a heart, and so on so forth.

Yet it wasn't the embossed suit that caught Eden's eye but rather the odd furnishing that loomed atop it, for upon the table's top perched a bottle, one made of a completely lucid crystalline glass, one that screamed gaudy, an item the boy would kill for in what he perceived to be the real world. However, the more Eden trained his gaze upon the pellucid work of man, the more he spotted oddities amongst the item's surface, for in place of where should have been a fine cork littered…nothing, empty air reigned supreme, allowed free access to the brothel that was the items womb, to breed with the contents that lingered within. Still, there was nothing to impregnate, for with a second cursory glance, Eden saw that the glass was empty, completely drained of whatever contents may have once brewed within.

However, strangest was the creation that hung tight across the glass's neck in a manner akin to that of a noose. Fine satin acted as nought, but a thread for the item, which was little more than a piece of paper, though upon its face and written in the most recherché cursive, was a rather harrowing message.

'Drink me'

The paper read, to which Eden could only blankly stare. Whoever had come before him was, in his finest opinion, an idiot, a human who lacked all sense, for now, he knew why such a beautiful bottle lacked all its contents. Whoever had entered this supposed realm before him had consumed every last drop of the item. 'Are they…did they…drug themselves? I know this is a game…but still, I don't think it's too smart to drink the contents of a random bottle,'

Still, despite inwardly commenting on such a maddening stunt, the boy found himself moving towards the ornate bottle. However, his purpose was distinctly different to that of his predecessor, for without missing a heartbeat, Eden wrapped his outstretched hand around the contents of the creation and brought it to his side, not to drink, but to pocket. 'I can probably sell this, right? I mean, the owner clearly doesn't possess the intention to take this back….' Eden exclaimed, his gaze turning sharply to the sky above, which remained ever adorned with the faint flickering of candles 'that is, if they even can,' he continued as his neck returned to its usual position.

Though, his focus this time lay not upon the table but rather a light that blurred behind, a light that didn't exist prior to his curious gander. Instinctively Eden's body began to move. His steps, unsettled at first, almost skittish transported the boy ever closer to the now-growing light, the size of which appeared to expand with every motion performed by Eden, to the point where once he stood before it, the size it possessed easily eclipsed both his entire body and an additional two metres above.

'Is this the exit?' Eden inwardly deliberated as, with one final step, he encroached upon the heavenly light.