Lee stared incomprehensibly at the strange being before him.

She was indeed no bigger than a crow, but had the proportions of a fully grown woman. Like a doll. She was naked save for a cluster of black feathers or perhaps scales that just barely covered her breasts and loins. Her ears were pointed and poked through a mane of wild black hair. Behind her, two bat-like wings remained folded as she peered down at him with a bemused smirk on her black lips.

“You know my name!” he said.

“Of course I do,” the tiny demon woman—or at least, that’s what Lee presumed she was—said. “You tell me it every time I damn well see you!”

“What?”

“Who are you talking to?” the Keeper asked, suddenly appearing at his side.

Lee looked at the Keeper and then back to the demon woman, who was now shaking her head at him.

“You can’t see her?” he asked pointed to the demoness.

The Keeper smiled at him weakly. “I see no one.”

Perhaps he truly had gone mad.

“She can’t see me, Lee,” the little demon lady said and then sighed. “How many times must I have this conversation with you? And besides, even if she could see me, her memory is worse than yours. She can’t remember your name no matter how many times you tell her…the clueless dope.”

“Hey, don’t call her that!”

“Call her what?” the Keeper asked, looking even more perplexed.

“Ah…” Lee looked to the Keeper. “Don’t mind me, Keeper. There’s a little devil that only I can see perched atop the door. I’m having a conversation with her.”

“Oh…” the Keeper said, eyes widening. “Well. I’ll let you enjoy your conversation then.” And with that she departed, eyeing him warily, no doubt confirming him to be completely mad now.

The little blue woman snickered. “I suppose seeing you make a fool of yourself every time is sort of worth the torture.”

Lee’s eyes narrowed at the little woman. “Who are you? How are you able to remember me? And why can only I see you? Is it from my insanity? Are you actually in my head?”

“Calm down, Lee,” she said, rising from her perch on the edge of the doorway and standing to her full, one-and-a-half foot height. “My name again is Lilith and no I’m not in your head. I’m also not a devil. I’m a Wood Sprite and I didn’t just appear. I’ve been here the entire time. You just couldn’t see me.” She then added with a sigh “…as usual.”

“Why? How am I able to see you now? Is it to do with my insanity?”

“Yes, I suppose,” she said. “Although I don’t know why you keep calling it that. To me it just means you’re finally awake.”

“Well that’s what it says it is.”

“Yes, I know you keep saying that too. And now you’re going to ask me how to get rid of it, right?”

“Well…yes, I was… do you know how?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to tell you how just yet.”

“What?” Lee shouted. “Why?”

“Because you’ll forget about me again when you do.”

Lee blinked. “Forget about you? Do you mean I’ll die?”

“No you won’t die. It’s not like with the crystals that make you remember again. You’ll forget only me. Which is very annoying, because I’m forced to remember you every time.”

Lee frowned. “You make it sound like something bad.”

“Watching you bumbling around with no memory is bad. You don’t even remember saving me do you?”

“Saving you?”

Lilith sighed. “Always the same…”

“When did I save you? How?”

“You saved me from the headless woodcutters. My wings were injured and I was stuck in a tree. They were chopping it down and then you killed the woodcutters and freed me.”

“I did?”

The blue woman nodded. “Yes, then we found a pathway back to Sanctuary and I’ve been able to live here ever since.”

“Sanctuary?”

She shrugged. “That’s what you called it.”

Lee looked around at the beautiful blossoms. “I suppose the name does fit.” He looked at to the Sprite. “You said we found a pathway back here?”

“Yes, you found it actually,” she said. “You said you saw something shining in the distance. We found a glowing rune behind some buildings that were in the middle of the forest. When we entered we both appeared here.”

“Buildings?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t recall seeing any buildings, but clearly they existed. “I need to find that pathway.”

Being able to return to the Keeper and enhance himself without dying would be a major achievement. Being able to cure his madness would be an achievement also, but he had merit. Being insane seemed to have its advantages as well. “So I was only able to see you and that pathway by being insane?”

“Not insane,” Lilith said. “You were simply awake. Or that’s what I call it. You can see everything that I can. Including me.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Lee against looked at the peaceful scenery. “Is this reality though?”

“It’s my reality,” she said with a little shrug. “When you go to sleep you forget everything and can’t see it anymore.”

“When I go to sleep?”

“That’s how I remove your insanity,” she said the word facetiously. “I cast a spell on you that puts you to sleep. And when you awake, you will recover yourself, but forget about me… entirely. It’s very annoying.”

She rolled her eyes as she said the last part.

“How long have I been here…” he asked. “…asleep in your eyes?”

She looked upward thoughtfully placing a finger on her chin. “There’s no way to measure time here, but I’ve seen you die many times… like very many…like a lot.”

“Fine, I get it,” he said with chagrin. “What can you tell me about this place? This door.”

“I know you’re always trying to open it. And maybe for a good reason too. As for this place, I don’t know what it is or even how I got here. But I feel like I’ve been here a long time.” Her eyes then glossed and became a bit distant. “Before you saved me…I remember being in a nightmare in that forest with those headless men. They killed me…over and over.”

Lee recalled his own experience with the lizard. Was it the same? Could she not truly die? “Are you a Chosen One, like me?”

Lilith regarded her hands. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t have the mark you have. But like everything else here, I don’t think I can truly die either. Or perhaps I already have…and this is place is really hell.”

Her words caused a deep knot to form in his stomach. He didn’t want to think that perhaps this was some un-escapable hell, but in truth, it was the best way to describe it.

“Can you recall anything from you past before this?” he asked.

Lilith shook her head. “It’s all a blank. I only have memories from after you saved me. And…thank you for that by the way. For saving me. I know you don’t remember me saying it before, so I thank you every time you remember me again.”

The way she said it caused his heart to drop. He truly didn’t want to forget her, and it saddened him that he had forgotten her so many times already.

“I’m sorry that I don’t remember you,” he said.

“I know. You always say that too.” Lilith sighed. “I know it’s not your fault. It’s this horrid place.”

An uneasy silence fell between them as Lilith stared down at the ground.

Lee finally smiled and tried to lighten the mood. “Well, you’re welcome, I suppose.”

It still felt odd being thanked for something he didn’t even remember doing, but she was proof that he had saved her, he supposed. The thought made him sigh inwardly. How much else had he done in this world and simply forgotten? How long had he really been here trying to open this door?

Lee looked to the Keeper who was now resting under the shade of the trees. He knew in her reality the place was still made of hard, barren stone. If this was truly a hell, then this illusion was more than simply that.

It was a comfort he could ill afford to lose.

“How can I make her see all this too?” Lee asked. “To see what we now see?”

Lilith shrugged. “I still don’t understand why you both can’t see it. You keep saying it looks like ruins here to you.”

“Yes,” he said. “It normally does.”

“Perhaps what you’re seeing is the illusion then,” Lilith said. “Have you ever considered that?”

Lee pondered it. If not for his Insanity sitting at 57% he might consider it. But no, this world had rules and it was telling him that what he was seeing shouldn’t exist. Right? He wondered if that meant the same for Lilith as well. Was she possibly not real?

But she certainly seemed like a real person to him.

Plus she remembered him. A memory was the only truth to this world it seemed.

“Even if your reality is an illusion,” Lee said. “I prefer it over what’s normally here. If there’s a way to make this a reality without going completely insane, then I’m going to do it.”

Lilith laughed. “Yes, you say that every time too.”

Lee chuckled. Perhaps that was something to consider for later. But for now, finding that pathway back to Sanctuary would be his next goal. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the pathway? Where it is exactly?”

“It’s so long ago now,” she said. “But I remember it was behind a building that had huge wings.”

“A building with wings?”

“I don’t know how else to describe it,” she said. “But I’m sure you’ll find it. Look for the glowing rune.”

“All right,” he said. “And then afterwards you can cast your spell and remove this insanity from me, yes?”

“Well…for me to cast sleep upon you, I’ll need some of your essence as well as a branch from the forest.”

A branch? That reminded him of something. Lee checked his inventory again and saw several branches stored next to the hatchets, the other item he had glimpsed when checking his inventory before. He focused on one of them and the branch appeared in his hand, which was actually more like twig. “You mean this?”

Sacred Branch

A purifying item that can cure any illness, even those of the mind.

The great forest spirit, Yggisil is said to inhabit the branch of every tree within the forests of Moerdraan. With luck, even a small branch such as this, may contain some of her vital Essence.

“Yes,” she said and fluttered down towards him, landing on his shoulder. “I can use that branch to allow you to sleep. But you don’t want me to do that now, do you?”

“Well no,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to find that pathway then. Or even remember this conversation with you, I suppose. But what happens if I become fully insane? I don’t want to risk that either.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But you always said it probably wouldn’t be good.”

Lee nodded. “I’d probably become like one of those monsters.”

Lilith nodded with him. “Probably.”

He sighed. “I’ll need to find this pathway back before I do.”

“Good,” Lilith said smiling. “That means I’ll have some company for a bit longer. It’s terribly lonely when it’s just me and the Keeper. I can’t even talk to her, so it’s like being forgotten already.”

Lee pondered that a moment. “I wonder if there is a way for me to remember you somehow.”

She chuckled. “You always say that, but you never do. Anyway, I’m always here, even if you can’t see me. Try to remember that at least.” She then flew off his shoulder and landed atop the doorway again. “So what will you do now, Master Lee?”

“Master?”

The Sprite shrugged. “Well, you seem to be the only one able to do anything here and you are the Chosen One. So that makes you in charge, I suppose. So what will you do?”

Lee chuckled at that. “I’ll find that pathway back to Sanctuary first and then I suppose I’ll need to sleep. I’m sure I’ll run into more monsters while doing that, so I’ll have to be quick.” He eyed his Insanity level. “I’m not sure how much more I can endure before I go completely insane.”

“Oh,” Lilith said, her ears perking up. “There’s something you may want to see before you go. Even though you’ll likely not remember it.”

“What?”

“Climb atop the door. I’ll show you.”

Lee did so, finding easy handholds on the stone pillars.

“What are you doing?” the Keeper called to him as he climbled.

“Looking at something,” he called back to her. “I’m not sure what yet.”

“Oh…all right then,” she said, waving back to him cheerily.

As he climbed to stand atop the doorway, Lee could finally see over the ridge of stone that formed a natural cul-de-sac around the temple. The area was actually much bigger than he first realized, or perhaps it was bigger with the illusion, a good acre or more.

Lilith fluttered to his shoulder again and then pointed into the distance. They appeared to be at the top of a small mountain plateau several hundred feet high. A sheer cliff face extended to a barren wasteland below; gray sand and dead trees—what he was used to seeing here before.

But beyond that was something he’d never seen before entirely.

What had to be several miles away was a sea of black bodies that extended in all directions as far as he could see. Lee spun about as a sense of dread filled his soul. He could barely make out what they were exactly, but he could see movement. Huge black bodies, moved slow and lumbering like in the distance, encircled them. Talons, claws and teeth flashed, black scales and skin.

“What are they?” Lee asked.

“I don’t know,” Lilith said shaking her head. “But they are always there.”

As Lee watched, he noticed they didn’t approach any further than where they were. There seemed to be something that prevented them from coming any closer, but as for what, Lee couldn’t tell.

“They’re trying to get to us, I think.” Lilith said. “I can feel their hunger.”

That caused Lee’s stomach to drop and a slow sense of panic filled him.

“Those things are why I think this place may actually be hell,” Lilith said and then she looked downward at the door. “And why opening this, may be our only means of escape.”