My eyes opened, but I reflexively shut them with a hiss. A bright light shone high in the sky. It was not the sun, but rather another star. I groaned. My body was sore. I had slept in a weird position. My head also pulsated in pain. I wasn’t sure why. I’ll just lay on my back for a bit. The trip through the Between was a lot more draining than I thought it would be. “I utterly underestimated the Between. That Grey Mourner person…they were quite strange no?”

I mean…it did not seem like this person had gone out of their way to attempt to kill me. I however could not speak more on them, since it was hard to tell what exactly their intentions were. For some reason though, I found myself appreciating their help.

My thinking, and monologuing was definitely affected while in the Between. Changing my mannerisms in the face of danger is a habit I need to get rid of.

I groaned in pain as I stood up. My eyes opened once again. The scene in front of me caused an almost quiet gasp to escape my lips.

White…White was everywhere.

Is this…snow? I looked around. A white substance covered the ground, as far as my vision stretched. However it was not the only thing in the region I had landed in. A swath of my vision was filled with titanic trees, They stretched far upwards. The leaves served as a shield from the sky, however the altar I had landed in was in a clearing between all these trees.

The forest was gloomy. I saw a few critters from the altar. I did hear some sounds, but it was also strangely quiet for such a large forest. If I were to describe the forest in a word it would definitely be eerie. This region of the Vast creeped me out, so much so, I found myself not wanting to even move from where I was.

I looked up at the sun of this land.

It was midday. The sun lay at its highest point in the sky. I figured I still had time before it turned dark, which made me feel much better. I rubbed my hands together, and brought them up to my mouth to breath hot air onto them. It was chilly in this forest.

“What a mess. Is this really the first thing I have to plunge into?” I asked a question to the empty forest. I looked towards my martial arts shoes, which I had bought not long ago as they were the cheapest available. They were, however, not fit for traveling in snow. “Damn.”

“Snow.” I stepped off the altar in curiosity.

Which by the way, why an altar? That was strange. The Between also made me land on an altar. Was this a trend? This useless thinking was halted instantly as I touched the white dust that covered the entirety of the forest. One thing was clear.

This was not snow.

I involuntarily yelped as my feet touched the white dust. My face contorted. A cold so strong, so grim and painful invaded my being. It was strange. This cold was different than a simple chill, it was as if it were intentionally designed to be as cold as possible, and somehow the ashy substance permeated even through my clothes.

Well my clothes weren’t very thick either way, but still.

Although I could barely tell, my thoughts slowed down. Monologuing was becoming increasingly hard as I stood in the ashy substance for longer. I reached down and touched the white dust. It did not exactly feel like snow, which sometimes fell in my hometown. It felt more like ashes.

However the substance did not release a suffocating smog when touching them, so it was clear they weren’t ordinary ashes. It was still creepy however. Well, for the time being…I’ll just hop back on the altar.

Funnily enough, these ashes had anomalous properties. The second I stopped touching them directly, and instead separated myself from them with a bit of distance and layering, the deadly chill was gone. Instead it was replaced by the ordinary cold embrace of the air around me.

I shivered. “Already starting with this crap?!” I looked towards the ashes. I wondered what else they would do to me if not careful.

Oh that’s right, I should probably check my body for injuries and any of the sort. Sadly I no longer expected to have any treasures on me. The only other belonging to me was a simple shard of glass wrapped in cloth I used as a mirror. I carried this on me, as mirrors were rare in a town where most homes were packed with people. Scared people.

“Although I appreciate the kindness that Mourner showed to me by saving me, what did he mean by thief? That Ichor was clearly mine. I could’ve made loads of money with it…” I felt my face become gloomy. I was quite tired of the ceaseless confusion though.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I mean for one I traveled across realms, and my destination was a strange land where the frost of a mysterious ashy substance seemed to reign as its primary characteristic, I was tired. Thankfully I was pulled from the endless comparison and complaining these monologues used to be filled with.

Instead I was able to convey my feelings towards situations more accurately, which made me feel better about tackling my problems. Although my self loathing was not gone, I felt much better about myself. I had not overcome my issues, but it felt better to have a reason to keep going.

My feet dangled off the edge of the altar as I swung them side to side. My mind shifted towards a scene of a beautiful girl looking towards the ocean. Fright. I had to find a way out of the Vast soon, or a way to find her.

A sigh rang out from my throat.

This damned headache. Why wouldn’t it go away? I pulled out the cloth in my robe’s storage pocket. I unraveled it slowly and pulled out the shard of glass. Thankfully it had been transported through the Between.

Objects weren’t always guaranteed to not simply disappear while traversing the Between, sometimes people even just fell naked into the Vast. Thank god I wasn’t however, since I’d probably die of frostbite before I got far.

I wiped the glass with the cloth, and brought it to my face. However, I froze

Atop my head. Where the harrowing pain from my headache originated from, a strange object lay.

I moved the glass around, looking at the object from different angles. Each time I saw it, it made me feel a different layer of deep anguish as I looked at it.

It was a crown of barbed thorns. Small grey blossomings sprouted from it. The most harrowing part of it was that the crown was pierced into my forehead. However no blood came from the wounds. It was as if the crown pierced through my psyche. My very being.

As if it were able to pierce me in entirety.

I swallowed hard as I looked at the crown. My free hand reached towards it and touched it. It was a rough material. Yet I knew that no matter how hard I pressed and beat at it, It would never break. It was just too ethereal.

The barbs were sharp, but they did not cause blood to come out of the places they pierced. I put my finger against one of them. I was scared to test it, and my instincts screamed at me not to. My fear of pain was heavily driven against the decision I was about to make.

I pierced a thorn directly through my finger. It was extremely painful, but no blood came out. It did not even leave a mark.

I hissed. I pulled my finger away, which now tingled and once again that sensation of pins and needles embraced me. I tried another thing. I lightly tried to remove the crown. However it was no use. It was locked into place.

Ah. That is quite scary. I want to take it off. Why can’t I take it off? I felt like panicking. Like desperately trying to take it off, but I feel as if more pain would come of that. God. “Ouch…” It fucking hurts.

I fidgeted with the crown once again, its material was quite interesting and the flowers’ blooming on it were even more interesting. They reminded me of the anomalous petals that the Mourner had surrounded me in. Enough.

I wrapped the glass neatly, and returned it to my pocket. A sigh escaped my lips. I really wanted to go home. Not that I had one, but I really just wanted a nice warm fire to sit by. I also missed people already. I was used to seeing people everyday, whether they liked me or not.

I missed the looks on people’s eyes that showed how their day was going. I missed counting the steps it took for me to find another person who just lived day by day, no hope for the future in their eyes. I missed the silent streets of my hometown. It’s simplicity.

Hup. I stood on the ashes once again. Imagining what I looked like right now it was probably quite silly, as I just had a strange crown on my head. If I saw that damned Mourner again, I’ll make sure to give him an earful.

I strolled into the forest. The maddening cold was bad, but I had to make progress on finding shelter. If nighttime came in the Vast of all places, the most realistic thing that would happen to me was immediate death. The creatures here were no joke, sentient or not.

I heard the ashes crunch slightly under my feet, they didn’t really crunch as much as snow would, and it felt a bit weird to walk on them. My heart ached as I saw how lonely the forest really was. I was truly stranded. Who knows how long it would be before I found civilization.

Why…why did our world have to be this way?

I found myself thinking of my existence as I walked towards an empty goal. There wasn’t even a direction I knew to go. However I was perceptive of the trees and landmarks around me to easily find a way back to the altar, should I need to run back.

Truly, our world was twisted. Of course I had been born in the middle of the end of it, but that did not matter. Normalcy had still not changed. Truly I found myself selfishly why I as an individual had to go through this. Guilt washed over me, even if no one was watching.

I wasn’t entitled to a good life was I? I mean…no one was. I simply had been born, and got the short end of the stick. Funnily enough all humans did. We thought we were superior in the past, that we might’ve been absolute.

How wrong we were.

I chuckled as I walked deeper into the forest. The sun was long ago shielded by the veil of leaves that darkened the forest. Shafts of light fell through the beautiful veil though, which allowed for enough vision to still let me confidently walk through the forest.

For some reason, the cold was worse. It was really starting to hurt to even just move. The cold had been reduced from cold, to just pure, unadulterated pain. A sharp sensation of helplessness made me grimace. However it was probably just my imagination.

I continued walking. However, I was considerably slower. Not that it was strange. Right? Wait no, that’s not right. I shouldn’t be tired at all. What’s going on?

Probably nothing. I continued to walk.

Walk.

Nothing was going on at all?

The crunching of the ashe-

What ashes? I’m stepping on grass right now aren’t I? I looked down, and sure enough, I was stepping on green and beautiful grass. What ashes was I talking about? I continued to walk, but my legs didn’t even move.

I felt small. So small. Was I dying? Why was I so cold? It was a sunny day was it not? This forest was my home. Nothing strange was going on at all.

I felt my hand raise towards my forehead. “What are you doing?” Was I talking to my hand? Then my palm slammed against my forehe-

“A-Aaargh!” A scream escaped my mouth. It was loud, and it made my rings ear in pain. However it worked. No longer did I see a grassy forest. Instead the ashes were back, however they seemed to be disappearing again. As such I drove my hand deeper into the thorns of the crown. My screams of pain intensified.

Despite this…when I turned in fear to run back to the altar of stone…instead of my footprints laying a path towards safety…I saw something much, much more different.

The ashen ground was stained red. My breathing hastened. I wanted to fall to my knees. Yet I had to keep moving. However I was still frozen in place. I looked down at the scene in front of me. Tears threatening to form in my eyes. “N-No…”

In front of me, I saw a bloody stain on the ashy ground. Atop this stained ground a corpse lay. It was a girl.

A beautiful girl of slick brown hair, wearing a sundress.

W-Why?