Green eldritch characters danced across Elrik's screen.
The desk lamp cast its gentle glow over Elrik's keyboard. It was the only source light in the quiet, dark apartment. Outside, through the window, the Berlin sky was black.
Elrik blinked, and shook his head clear.
Wait.. How was he back here?
Elrik checked his body, looking over himself. He was wearing a t-shirt - plain white - and jeans. There were no wounds on him. No open sores from vicious eldritch leaves ripped out. No scars, cuts or arrow wounds. He looked fine. Utterly normal.
Was it all a dream?
Elrik sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. His mind felt numb.
Agrisu.. Senu.. All of them were..
Elrik had never had very vivid dreams. A glass of half-drunk whiskey sat on the desk, next to his monitor. Elrik reached for it. He really, really needed a drink.
The glass wouldn't budge.
Huh?
Elrik frowned and tried again. The glass seemed to be glued to the desk, attached. He drew back and shoved the glass hard with the heel of his palm. Again - nothing. The glass didn't move an inch. The table didn't even shake. The whiskey in the glass stayed frozen still and unmoving.
That's not right
Elrik got up and walked around the apartment. He tried to pick up a spoon on his kitchen counter. It didn't budge either - glued down like the glass on his desk.
Then he walked over the window.
The view outside was black.
Not the inky black of a Berlin night. Through the window it was utterly, completely black. No distant stars. No cars on the street. It was as if a blackout curtain had been drawn over the outside of his window. As if someone had just turned off the view outside his window.
As if none of this was real at all
Now that he saw it - it was obvious looking around. The apartment was too clean. There were no chip packets lying on the ground. There was no mess of half eaten takeout on the kitchen counter. Too clean. Too.. artificial
This place.. this apartment wasn't real
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Which meant..
It wasn't all a dream
It was the the first thought that came to him in that moment - and it brought something back to life in his chest. A profound feeling of relief washed over him.
It was all real. Agrisu, Yena, Sakka - all of it. All of it was real
This place was the lie
Which of course begged the question
Where was he right now?
"I wasn't trying to trick you, you know", the voice sounded peevish.
Elrik turned around and saw himself.
...
It looked like him. Exactly like him.
The mirror version of Elrik wore a black hoodie and jeans. It what he usually wore back in his apartment. It was what he had on that night when he walked down to the bodega.
"I was trying", the other Elrik continued, "for a place that would calm you down. Help you chill. I meant it as an apology. Go ahead take a seat", He waved to the sofa, "And call me El"
"Allright... El", Elrik took a seat and tried to keep his face from revealing too much.
Mirror-Elrik - El - reached up to his ears, touching them - and they seemed to lengthen. The ears sharpened becoming almost comically pointy and elfen - like a cosplayer at comicon.
"There, see", El smiled, "Now we look different. Less weird that way. Get comfy, I have a lot of stuff to tell you"
Elrik wasn't sure what to think, "Fine, El, but first - do you mind telling me where I am"
El frowned, "That's a complicated question to answer. In one sense your body is, right now, washed up on a river shore, three miles downriver of the Yitka bridge."
"In another sense", the strange pointy eared mirror-Elrik continued, "You are in another world. A world that's kind of like the one you know - but one where there's magic - or something a lot like it"
"Magic?" Elrik frowned, "Magic is just a word for something you-"
"- for something you don't understand", El finished for him, rolling his eyes, "Jeez. Fine. Call it whatever you want. But in this world, the rules are different. Here, Agrisu can fight with the strength of ten men. Here, Yena can see in the dark like a cat and shoot arrows that ignore the wind. Here leaves can grow out of your ears and into your brain"
Elrik felt his expression harden.
When he spoke his voice came out harsh and leaden, "Agrisu is dead"
El's face fell at that, "Yeah. Yeah.. He is. I am sorry for that. I.. It was my fault, in a way. I could've done more. Maybe if I had, we could have saved him".
Elrik felt his hands clench into fists, "Why do you keep saying that? Why do you keep saying you're sorry? You weren't there at the riverbank"
El laughed, "Of course I was, you idiot. Who did you think was talking to you?"
Elrik's mind reeled. Suddenly, like a picture he'd been looking at upside down the whole time, it all fell into place.
The strange thoughts. The whispers in his mind. The way he'd learned the spear in scant handful of days.
[It was me - El! It was me the whole time!]
The thought - no - the voice - El's voice - injected itself into his mind - in a way that had become oh-so-familiar these last few weeks. Elrik looked up in shock. El waggled his eyebrows at him with a wry smile.
"You've.. You've been in my head all along", Elrik croaked out
El shrugged, "Yeah man. That was me. I've been trying to help"
El sighed, gathering himself for a second, then looked up at Elrik, "but back to the question of where we are. Your body, like I said, is here on Aruth - washed up on a rivershore.",
El leaned forward, steepling his fingers, "Your mind on the other hand, is here in this place, and this place is-"
"- And this is a simulation" Elrik finished for him.
"Yup", El smiled in relief, "You understand, then. A simulation. Made up. A dream. A quick and dirty virtual reality inside your own mind. You get it!"
Elrik nodded, steeling himself for the question, "Alright - fine. Then answer me this, El. Who or what are you? And why are you wearing my face?"
El's face twisted in complete and utter confusion, "Dude! I thought you got it. How thick are you? Who do you think I am? I'm you!"