The forest seemed to stretch on for miles and miles on end. I have yet to uncover what’s the secret of this place, and how the hell didn’t this whole cave collapse. I glanced around, but to no avail, as the scenery was a repeating cycle, like seeing the same photos over and over again. You could guess how frustrated I was by that, walking in one direction but to no avail. Something kept bothering me, like the lack of noise in here—no birds chirping, no nothing. There’s not even wind in this place, no twigs rustling, no nothing. My mind was reaching its limit, but nothing hurt my brain as much as this did.

I came across the same old stone buildings, but what crept me out was that the doors were opened. Everything was like the village I had left, down to the last detail.

"No, it can’t be; there’s actually no way this is real."

My face dropped, and sweat started dripping on my forehead. I ran around the whole place, checking each and every corner. Everything was the same. I panicked, breathing hastily, supporting my body on a nearby wall. I almost felt like fainting. Something about this place is just...

"Ok, let’s be rational now. I must have taken a turn at one point, and I haven’t realized it. Yes, that must be it, unless..."

I scrambled through my memories, looking for the one with the answer. What if this place uses some sort of dimensional magic to do this?

The answer felt so obvious that I felt like smacking my head with a rock. Getting used to magic was going to take a bit longer than I had thought before.

Having nothing else to do, I looked around the village over and over again, checking every corner for something I might have missed, something that was enough of a clue for me to go forward. If this place truly wants me dead, then so be it.

My search had me going in circles, always coming back empty-handed. I sat by the remnants of a fountain in the center of the village, staring at what was once filled with water. Just as I got ready to go looking all over the place for—I couldn’t remember what time—the gentle feeling of air brushing my skin woke me up from my trance. I was gone in a blink, dead by the moment I could react to it, yet it gave me one important clue—the fountain.

Without thinking too much of it, I grabbed my sword and started blasting the thing with magic, making sure to crack it open. My arms swung furiously, a never-ending rain of magic attacks cutting away at my target. Nothing could stop me, and nothing tried.

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A cloud of dust the size of one of the houses settled in, making me wait for a verdict—despite me almost running inside the dust without thinking. That place made me feel insane, which perhaps I was, but it’s not like anyone would resist being alone in such a place.

Once cleared, it gave way to another set of stairs, which were going downwards –again. My mind was already on the brink of developing stairs trauma, but what else was there to do for me to get out? Once again, I went down, and once again, my sword was my only friend, never leaving my side. I didn’t turn back; my promise was set in stone. I could only hope they have found rest.

Once again, going down Just how deep was I? Just how massive was this whole cave system? Just who the hell made it? All these questions, yet no answer.

My mind drift away, as my eyes laid themselves upon the soft blue glow of the walls. The wall seemed to have veins carved into it, with a blue liquid flowing undisturbed within. No touching random things; last time I did that shit, I got stuck in this hell. I was quick to lash out at myself for my lack of self-preservation. Sometimes my stupidity took over, and like a careless child, I’d go around trying random things, just like now I wanted to touch the weird, unknown substance flowing against gravity.

If not for the light’s glow fading from blue to a soft red, I would have no idea that I was progressing in my descent. At one point I had to take a break and sit on a step, which was uncomfortable as hell.

"Finally! Fucking finally!"

I could see the end, the solid floor, underneath. I hadn’t felt so much happiness in a long time, and what made it funnier was that seeing the floor was enough to make me enjoy life once again. My last step on the staircase was followed by random dance moves, my celebration for having survived up until that point—not like the stairs were about to kill me just by causing mental trauma.

Once my celebration was done, I checked my surroundings, hoping to find some clues. Faint darkness, broken by the pale light of the substance flowing in the walls. It gave off a weird feeling—that of being inside a living creature. Confused, I walked around the room, checking for an exit. I bet the look on my face when the wall gave way was priceless. Buildings all around, a giant city built underneath the earth. I had to close my eyes for a bit, pinch myself, then open them again, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. I wasn’t.

Looking down made my legs numb. Just how high up was I? I looked around for a way to get down, but never could I have expected an elevator. Why the hell use stairs when you have this sort of thing?

Upon reaching the ground floor, I came to the obvious conclusion that this world had a lot more secrets hidden than one could even expect. The rooms looked the same, with no windows and only the "wall veins," as I came to call them, working as a source of light. The whole place was like a futuristic town, in a twisted way, like in a weird dystopian future one would see in movies.

Streets were a thing, yet they were as empty as possible. No trace of anything, not even dead bodies around. Just what the hell was the big idea? I walked around for a while, checking each building, yet everything was still empty.

"Great! Don’t you just love being lost in such places?"