Paraeia (3)

I can't believe it, nor can I describe how shocked I am. If you think about it from my perspective, I can say that she's my doppelganger; an existence that is only shown in legends.

Doppelganger is a legend that originated from Germany, usually described as a wraith or a person who has the same features as any living being.

Ava, although she is different in terms of fashion, undoubtedly she is me. We have the same blue eyes, same face shape, it's like I'm seeing a picture of me cosplaying as a fantasy character.

But in the legends, it is usually said that doppelganger is dangerous. Meeting one of them can potentially endanger your life.

But if that's the case, why am I "fine"?

Maybe I shouldn't think about that last sentence.

Suddenly an immeasurable amount of pain surged into my body. My head and my heart, like before, aching so much that I probably wish to die.

Strangely, the pain only lasts for a few seconds. I'm confused. Why did the pain stop?

"I know what you are thinking." Ava touches her chest and a blue string appears between us. One side of the string connects to Ava's heart, and the other touches mine. Is it magic?

If I think about it, back then Kai attacked the skias with fire. But where did the fire come from? Magic is the only thing that could describe it right?

"Why did the pain stop? Surely, meeting your 'doppelganger' as it was told in your world will make one of us cease to exist, right?" The string suddenly disappears. No, it is more correct that the string is hidden from sight.

"If I'm going to answer your question, then yes, this is 'magic'."

Wait. How could she know what was I thinking? Does she possess mind-reading magic?

"Yes, I do."

She answers it without hesitation.

"You can read my mind? If -" I hesitated. I thought if she is my doppelganger, I could do the same thing. It was a foolish question. I can't do it. "No…. Nevermind…."

Ava giggles. It is the first time I could see her smile and laugh. She's so pretty this way. I feel it was unimaginable that she's my doppelganger. I'm not this pretty.

"I'll teach you about it later. For now, we must get out of here."

"Haaah it's like I have another baby bird that I must protect…." Kai implied.

After some walk, the seemingly endless room finally shows some changes. The floor gradually became smaller in size until it began to look like an endless corridor. I am too immersed in all this doppelganger thing until I realized I don't know anything about the place we're in.

"What is this place exactly? It's so strange…."

I ask Ava and Kai while walking.

The temperature is not too hot, not too cold either. It's like the perfect temperature for us humans to live in. The air is clean, I never have any trouble breathing here.

"This place is called Paraeia. The gap between worlds" Ava answered.

"The gap between worlds? Sorry, I don't understand."

"Hmm… how should I explain it…."

Then Kai interrupts. "Let me explain it."

Our walking pace becomes slower, to make it easier for us to converse.

"Imagine there's a lot of balls and those balls are adjacent with each other. Then there's a gap between those balls and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa stop there. Your explanation is ambiguous-" Ava blushes.

"Hm? What are you thinking about? We are talking about the universe 'ball' right?" Then he glances at me and smiles mischievously. "Do you think this is ambiguous, Krisan?"

"Uh what? No?"

Did I miss something? What part of that sentence is ambiguous? He's talking about- Oh.

I know. Well, It's still not ambiguous though.

"See? It's all on your mind Ava. Now, can I continue my explanation?"

Still blushed, Ava replies to him, "Oh, uh, okay"

"As I said before, The balls represent every world, universe, parallel worlds, you name it. And the gap is where we are. In this gap, there are 11 worlds connected to this place."

Before Kai can continue his explanation, Ava stops her walk.

"Stop. We must jump here."

Then we look at the edge of this corridor. The only thing I could see was darkness or an abyss. There's nothing there and nothing in everywhere. Where or what should we jump into?

"Jump? Into the abyss?"

"Yes. Paraeia is like a maze. Countless roads could lead to nowhere, and to find a road that connects to our destination, a coordinate of it is needed.'' then Ava touches the side of her forehead. "Virya told me that she has found the coordinate. So we must jump here."

Virya? Who is she?

"But there is nothing there. What if we fall into the wrong coordinate?"

"The worst case is, you will be trapped in the darkness forever and you can't escape. No one will help you too, because you have already fallen out of the world. But rest assured. You can trust me."

Her explanation gave me even more goosebumps. Instead of calming me down, it makes me even more anxious. "Wow, thanks," I reply sarcastically.

I definitely don't want to jump on to the wrong path. Trapped in the abyss is the last thing I want to do.

"Hmm if that's the case…." Ava said with a look. Her right-hand holds the chin while her left-hand holds the elbow. "I'll go first. Kai, help her jump."

Without a doubt, Ava jumps to prove that it is safe. I hope that we can jump together, but after that, Kai pushed me with an evil smirk on his face.

"It's time for my baby bird to fly~"

"What? What do you mean- AAAAAAAAAH!" Shocked, I scream. It feels strange that my voice can be this clear. This place's nature is still unknown to me.

After a few seconds, a neon-like road is seen. Well, I think she's not wrong. I should've trusted her more. Ava is standing there with a smile. I feel I could die for only watching her smile.

Maybe secretly I'm a narcissist.

The landing is smooth. It is effortless, and it feels like jumping on the moon.

Not long after my landing, Kai appears behind me.

I'm annoyed with Kai's treatment of me earlier, so I gave him an annoyed look.

"Teehee."

Did he have a grudge against me?

"Oh c'mon, it's just a joke. Don't give that look, please. You remind me when Ava—" Before Kai could continue, Ava cut his sentence short.

"Well well, we're almost there. Please refrain from joking for now on."

I agree. We must hurry so Ava can give me a good reason why she kidnapped me and force me to do something here. I can't go back, so I must follow whatever she wants.

*sigh* Maybe Ava will listen to my thoughts there.

This corridor is not as long as before, so after a few walks, I could see a light at the end of the road. I hope behind the light there's paradise.

"After you cross that light, we'll arrive in Centralia, and then you'll meet one of my colleagues there," Ava explains like it was on a road trip to the museum or something.

Then we cross the light.

The scenery that was present in my eyes is hard to describe with mere words. We arrive in an open hall, with an endless amount of galaxies and stars in the sky. The floor has an iridescent color and sparkles appear every time I walk. The beauty of Centralia is out of the world.

"So pretty…." I express my admiration for this place.

A light pillar is seen in the middle of Centralia, and a woman figure is there, waving her hand to us. I assume she's the colleague Ava was talking about.

We walk towards her, and I can see her figure in a clear look.

She has an appealing look, with a robust body and womanly curves. Her clothes seem to be designed to show her alluring charm without showing too much skin. She has a quite middle-eastern look on her face, and a gem on the forehead makes it more beautiful. Her red hair was tied in half, and a crown-like ornament "flying" on top of her head. I bet her doppelganger will be famous as a model or an actress.

"Oh my, is this Ava's twin? She is prettier than you ohohohoho." she said it with a ladylike laugh.

Ava ignores her words and introduces her to me.

"Krisan, this is Virya. She's the one who provides us with coordinates. Virya, this is Krisan, my 'twin' as you say."

"Well yes, 'twin' is shorter than doppelganger right? It is also easier to say. Anyway, welcome to Centralia. Virya at your service."

"Hey Virya, you really look like a succubi more than a kienne." mocks Kai.

Kienne? What is that? I never heard that word before.

"Kienne is the name of a race in our world. While you see her as a woman, but kienne's gender is hard to be classified as mere 'woman' or 'man'. To be exact, all kienne have a feminine body with a feminine soul." Ava answers my question. She read my mind again.

"Yes, that's correct. My race is classified as an ancient race. If you're wondering, We didn't have any genitals. Well, should I explain more?" Virya implied.

"N-no thanks." It seems that we would have a meaningless conversation if this continues.

"Well then, we must hurry to the 6th world. Virya, if you may."

Then Virya goes near the pillar and begins the preparation. There's one detail I haven't notice before. Near the pillar, there's a podium with a panel in it. Virya touches the panel and then pink-purple-ish light surrounds her. The preparation only took a short time.

"Done. You can go in now," said Virya.

Then a door appeared near the pillar and the podium. I think this pillar acts as an elevator.

"Yes. This pillar is like an elevator. You see, 11 worlds connect to Paraeia. The structure of it is like there are 3 disks with 3 arms, the disks are overlapped with each other. We are on the first disk. Your world is number 3, and our world, the 6th world, are parallel in each other."

She reads my mind, again.

"I understand but could you please stop reading my mind? It's annoying."

Honestly, her explanation about Paraeia is pretty good. My head hurt less than I expected. But she only mentions about 9 worlds there. Where are the other 2?

Ava tries to open her mouth to answer, but she quickly closes it again. I'm glad she hears my concerns there.

Then we enter the door. It indeed looks like an elevator. Maybe it seems like we go upwards, but in reality, according to Ava's explanation, we would just no-clip to another side of the disks.

After we arrived on the other side of the disk, Virya directed us to one of the "arms". It was the road to the 6th world. At first, it didn't differ with the road for the 3rd world- my world. But, then the road widened, and we arrived in a dark room similar to where I was before. But the difference is one, and there is a white door with strange writing and two, eight people are waiting for us there.