Leaving the safety of the apartment felt like stepping into a different reality. The dread of the Void was always present, but today, it seemed more pronounced, as if the very air pulsed with an invisible tension.

The apartment was on the top floor of a five-story building, with six apartments per floor. Each apartment had four rooms, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. The building was dilapidated and in poor condition, but it wasn't an ordinary building. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here.

Irmund closed the door and proceeded down the long hallway, heading toward the stairs at the end.

Eric said, "Why are we going there? Let’s just use the stairs next to the apartment."

Irmund replied confidently, "Just follow me."

Eric followed, filled with doubt. The place was rundown, the ceiling peeling due to humidity, green mold covering the corners, and a constant feeling of being watched. As they walked, Eric decided to break the surrounding silence.

"What a difference between the apartment and the building it's in. I can't believe we're still in the same place. It looks like you put a lot of effort into cleaning that place."

"No, actually, I found it like that."

"What? How?" Eric asked, surprised, trying to ignore the matter since it wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen today. It seemed that stranger things were yet to come, so it was better to keep his sanity intact.

He continued, "Anyway, we don't know how long we'll be together. Is there something you prefer I call you for now, since you don't remember your name at the moment?"

Irmund stopped, holding his chin and closing his eyes. After a couple of seconds, he said, "Irmund, you can call me Irmund or shorten it in any way, it doesn't matter," and continued walking.

"Irmund? Why that name?"

"I took it from a novel. I don't know why, but I like it."

"Alright, so be it, Irmund."

They continued, but Eric noticed they had been walking for about a minute toward the end of the hallway, and he began to feel uneasy. However, he didn't see any tension on Irmund's face, so he kept following, hoping Irmund knew what he was doing.

Irmund suddenly stopped and changed direction toward the stairs behind them. Eric turned, puzzled, and said, "Why did you decide to use these stairs suddenly?" Irmund replied, equally puzzled, "What are you talking about? These aren't the same stairs."

Eric looked around and then glanced at the end of the hallway. They had reached the end of the hallway, and the place they had been was now on the opposite side. It felt like their location had changed the moment they turned around. Eric said, his voice trembling, "H-How did we get here? It was in front of us, how is it behind us now?"

Irmund responded, "What's the matter?"

Eric composed himself and said, "Nothing, just let's continue."

There was an elevator next to the stairs, seemingly in service. But Irmund chose to go up the stairs, despite them being on the top floor, leaving Eric puzzled again. He decided not to ask and followed, wondering where this would lead. What followed was the most random series of events he'd ever seen in his life.

They went up the stairs and returned to the same floor. Irmund said, "Alright, let's go down again." They reached a different floor and turned right. There were stairs ahead. Before reaching them, Irmund opened one of the apartments and said, "This way." The apartment was in a terrible state. They headed to one of the rooms, and when they entered, they exited through the front door of the same apartment. Then they headed to the stairs and went down, returning to the same floor they started from, and went down the stairs again to a new floor. They turned right again, but halfway down the hallway, Irmund turned back. Before Eric could say anything, they found themselves on the left side of the hallway. So they turned back again.

"What the hell is going on?" Eric said.

When they reached the junction, they went down the stairs and returned to the same floor. They entered the next door on the right, which led to a new hallway, with stairs in front of them. There was also an elevator beside the stairs. In fact, Eric noticed there were elevators next to every set of stairs they went up or down, and all of them seemed to be in service. When he started feeling tired, he asked, "It seems these elevators are working. Why don't we just use them?"

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Irmund interrupted him with a warning look that scared Eric, "Don't you dare go near the elevators!"

Eric swallowed hard and thought to himself, 'He's either one of those fitness fanatics or got stuck in an elevator before.' They continued on. Anyway, they were almost out. After turning to the end of the hallway, they turned left, went down the stairs, and reached a floor they had been on before. One of the elevators made a sound as if someone was using it. Eric stopped and his eyes widened. Irmund calmly said, "Don't look back, just keep moving."

They entered one of the apartments and finally exited to a corridor under the building, with exits to the right and left and a broken vending machine in the middle.

"Finally, I thought we'd never get out," Eric said, collapsing to his knees from exhaustion.

Irmund responded with a sarcastic smile, "You're so weak. You haven't seen anything yet, and you're already acting like a bitch."

Eric was silent for a moment and then said calmly, with a hint of anger, "I'll ignore your comment because I'm above responding to you."

Irmund laughed and extended his hand to help Eric up. "Haha, I'm just messing with you."

Eric took a deep breath in and out, shaking hands with Irmund in good spirit, and suddenly thought, 'Would this lunatic have left me in that place alone?' He asked with a forced smile, "Hey Irmund, what would have happened if I were there alone?"

Irmund replied, "Well, I would have left you some instructions, but I think you would have been stuck there for a week?"

"What?"

"Wait, factoring in panic attacks and accidents, maybe three weeks."

Eric screamed, "Stop saying that so casually!!"

"I thought it would give you a good sense of the place. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I could die!!"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Anyway, what's done is done," Irmund said, heading for the left exit, scanning the horizon. "Can I see that notebook you have again?"

Eric took a deep breath as he walked forward to hand over the notebook. When he stepped out from under the building, he got his first clear look at the Void.

They were on a small island with a flat gray ground, elevated from the ground as if floating in the air. There was nothing on it except for the building in its center, strangely and unnaturally placed as if taken from somewhere else and put here as it was. And it wasn't the only island like this. Floating islands were everywhere like empty gray platforms. In the Void, there was no sun or moon, but the place was illuminated by a distant light on the horizon, giving the place the feel of a gloomy, cloudy country. It also revealed islands of great cities in the far distance. Looking down from the island, there was no land, just an endless sea, calm and unmoving, with waterfalls of unknown origin pouring from the sky, adding to the place's eeriness.

Irmund examined the drawings in the notebook, which were not accurate but clearly depicted this world. Under each picture, there was a brief description of the place. He asked a question that had been on his mind since he first saw the notebook, "Is this your notebook, Eric?"

While Eric was gazing in amazement at the horizon, he snapped back to reality and replied, "W-What? Oh, no, not really."

"How did you get it? Or where did you find it?"

"Well, actually, you could say it belongs to my mother."

Irmund gave a puzzled look, so Eric said, "It's a complicated story, I don't like to talk about it."

Irmund thought to himself, 'What are you saying? I'm not your mother to ask these questions,' but he didn't want to press the matter. At the same time, he felt an impending danger nearby, so he decided to leave it for later.

He returned to the notebook and paused on a page depicting a city with an ancient Roman style. It looked like a place he had seen nearby before. "I think I know this place, let's head there first," he said to Eric as he prepared to set off.

Eric replied, "You think?"

He couldn't be certain since there were many similar places, but he wanted to move quickly as it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded on the island.

So they set off, quickening their pace this time.

As they walked toward the descent path, Irmund noticed Eric looking around, his eyes wide with a mix of curiosity and fear. The path ahead was unknown, even to him. His previous journeys had only scratched the surface of this strange world. Discovering Eric's notebook made him realize his knowledge of this place was painfully limited.

Eric was thinking, 'Everything matches what was mentioned in the book. The reality and logic in this world are indeed distorted, and that building showed it clearly. If what I think is correct, this means...'

They had reached the bottom of the island, two steps away from the calm sea. Irmund stepped onto it without hesitation. Eric's heart skipped a beat when he saw him walking on it. He gathered his courage and followed. He almost lost his heart when he stepped onto the sea, and began laughing like a madman. Irmund was starting to seriously consider leaving him behind.

Before they could proceed, distant screams echoed. Irmund drew a dagger from his bag and handed it to Eric, asking, "How are you with knives?"

Eric, terrified, responded, "W-What? What's going on?" Seeing the seriousness in Irmund's eyes, he composed himself, gripped the knife firmly, and said, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat familiar with weapons."

Dozens of eyes glowed in the distance, advancing towards them. Irmund drew his twin swords from his back, his eyes glowing crimson. "Looks like your heads are too heavy for your shoulders," he said.

Eric, surprised, looked at him and asked, "Wait, are you..."