“Grrkh!”

“Ow!”

My teeth felt like they had hit a rock. I scoffed as I looked at the apple. The amount of effort it had taken me to pull it did make sense for it to be solid…yet I couldn’t understand why it would be so utterly hard. I reached for my pocket, which surprisingly had not been utterly devastated by the vines and pulled out a shard of glass. The glass was sharp, and hopefully would help me cut through the app-

Crack.

“Goddamnit!”

The mirror shattered. My prized possession…

I grumbled. The solid apple laid in my hand as I desperately tried to think of ways to crack it open.

“No way in hell I’m pulling out that rock from his eye…” I stared at the corpse to my side. As I looked at the holes where the vines had latched onto the ground to pull me I stammered. “The vines…”

A deep focus rushed towards my head. I did not know if this would work, how it would…or why. I focused on attempting to control the thorns that protruded from the crown…and sure enough a small thorn quickly turned into a solid ivory-white vine which stretched down towards me.

The crown was hard to manipulate, and my head nearly exploded from the pain as the vine slithered down my arm, piercing intangible thorns into my soul as it did. I focused on attempting to solidify the vine, and my mind shook at the thought of it. Clearly the last time took a lot out of whatever controlled this thing, and it was having a hard time doing it again. “A fluke so to say.”

After nearly waiting a dozen minutes I felt a solid sensation touch my arm, the thorns lightly brushed against it. I manipulated the tendril like vine and watched it wobble towards the apple.

Sharp just means narrow and small…right?

I visualized the vine to have an utterly sharp tip, and although it was hard to imagine what exactly sharp was…I figured it would work. Using as much of my will as I could I brought down the now sharpened vine onto the apple.

Clang!

Clang!

“Come on!”

A slicing sound finally came. The apple had been sliced cleanly in half. Another slice cut these two slices into fourths.

A gasp escaped my throat. I retracted the vine, and it quickly returned to its small thorn-state on the crown. I was happy to stop feeling the immense pressure that came from manipulating it.

I do feel a bit excited though…being able to manipulate vines like that opens up a lot of interesting venues for me…though I wish I knew this sooner! I touched the flesh of the apple. It was much softer than the peel. Juicy as well…I carefully avoided the peel and brought the apple to my mouth. It was essentially an armored up…orange slice?

A warmth rushed down my face and onto my neck. The mysterious apple tasted godly, and even if only a joke compared to my true fatigue, it invigorated me with energy. Its taste was just as sweet as any other apple, yet the flesh of it was a nice texture that was rigid and contrasted the peel which seemingly kept the heavenly apple safe. The flesh’s juices were warm, and seemed to melt in the mouth.

Slight noises of what I could only describe as the noise of extinguishing a long lasting hunger, and simple pleasure were all I could muster as I devoured the apple. My tongue enjoyed the taste of the apple, which was perfectly ripe, almost as if it was according to my ideal taste in apples. Not that it was common for me to eat apples.

In fact…this was the first strangely fulfilling meal I’ve had in a while.

A long breath of appreciation followed after I had eaten the apple.

I pocketed the leftover peel of the apple, its sturdiness could serve a purpose. Not that I was an avid craftsman.

“What a glutton.”

Well quite a dumb thing to say for someone who was well under a healthy weight…but that was a problem I could solve later on…right?

I stared at my now juice ridden hands, and wiped my face like a messy toddler. It was quite cringe for someone like me, but I feel like I had earned myself a little of slack. The sunset blazed a beautiful fire as it loomed above me, it’s stillness and unchanging nature except for the shifting of the clouds was certainly ominous, however I could confidently say I was safe for the time being, simply because the ashes hadn’t begun to spread into the area where I currently was yet…and it seemed like they wouldn’t.

It seemed like they were actively rejecting whatever external force I pulled that apple out from, was. I felt the strong urge to shrug away my questions of what the hell was going on, as if it were all unimportant, but truly I’d have to ask Rheneas about it later.

I slowly leaned downwards and collapsed into a sitting position.

It’s definitely distasteful for me to do this…but I needed to rest. I glanced to my side.

The long-dead body of my adversary laid still right next to where I wanted to rest.

I heaved a sigh and slacked my neck backwards. Then my body fell back. The cold and hard ground was quickly omitted from my mind as I stared at the beautiful sky above me. Even if whatever this journey was had just started. Even if it was just merely hours since I had made that promise to Fright.

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I was tired.

I rolled over to my side. It was a habit to sleep on my side. Though…I also liked having something to clutch onto. No way in hell I'm hugging a dead body! My remarks made me roll over on my back once again. The sky stretched above me.

I blinked a few times.

The unchanging wildfire-like sunset flashed in my vision with each blink, only to be replaced by a darkened yet increasingly brightening sky seemingly instantly.

“Huh?”

Dawn had come. From sunset to dawn…in an instant. Not only that…but I wasn’t in the forest any longer. “A road?” A rough stone path replaced the dirt ground I had been laying on. I rushed to stand up, and strangely was able to as if I had not been clutching for dear life to, well…my life a few seconds before. For a dozen seconds I panicked as it felt like all objects had lost their permanence due to my sudden transition.

Before I could panic any longer…a light and muffled scream came from my side.

My head jerked to the side as I turned to the sight. I was not sure what the architecture of it was, or why it seemed so strange to me…but a wooden building lay in front of me. Muffled yells and shouts were all I could hear as I looked at it.

My gaze shifted to my surroundings as a deep onset feeling of confusion took over me.

The roughly paved road was testament to the clearly less developed surroundings. Judging from the people that walked around me, I could tell I wasn’t on Earth, or anywhere I had ever been. No one seemed to notice me, and it was as if I was invisible…yet what I saw was quite shocking.

Demi-humans. As I knew them through depictions of them in stories and reports, they were all seemingly living as a civilization, which I could fairly deduct that includes them living in settlements, just like humans did in the past…which means I’m in the middle of a street of one of these settlements.

“W-What?!”

Staaaaaaaaare.

Huh?

I turned to my left, only to see a demi-human child looking at me. Strangely, no one else seemed to be able to notice me. “Wait…is this proof of those rumors that kids can see ghosts?” The child stared at me more. The cute cat-like ears twitched. “H-Hi?” I waved, but the small feline demi-human just cooed at me and walked away.

It wasn't so much they were human, they just seemed like it, I felt a strange feeling rise within me as I looked at the mostly bipedal animals. It wasn't everyday you saw fur replace flesh.

Architecture befitting of the demi-humans size was sprawled all over the road, and quite literally was made for anything but a human. Such a system was primitive, as a single size of architecture for all shapes and sizes at least to me seemed to be a good solution.

“For god’s sake is that a real mouse hole?!” A small hole-like entrance into a nearby building made me chuckle. I walked forward towards it.

“Grgh!”

Chain rattles.

I had fallen to the floor, abruptly stopped as I treaded away from the small shack-like building that I could hear screams from. “What?” A white chain wrapped around my body. It was solid, yet barely opaque. It sprawled out forward, its tension drew tight when I tried to walk far from the shack.

“Hmm…?.” I walked forwards slowly. The door to the shack was closed. I reached for the strangely shaped handle, it being hard to hold with my thumbs.

“Ah!” I tripped. My vision flickered as I tripped towards the door. I flinched as I went to hit the solid door, yet never hit it. I opened my eyes only to see roughly shaped wood-like material in front of me. I pushed myself off the ground.

I turned to look at where I was standing before I tripped.

Instead I was met with the sight of half my body phasing through the door.

“Oh.”

I got up slowly. Without even caring to view the surroundings inside of the shack, I reached towards the door handle.

“Oh!”

My hand went through. Footsteps filled my hearing before a cold sensation filled my entire being. A figure walked through and exited through the door. The figure wiped their hands with a rag. Blood covered all over.

Expressions were hard to read. Yet…for some reason a grim expression easily lay on this person’s face.

“Oooooh!”

I’m really a ghost now?! Did I die?! When did I die?! I panicked slightly. It was a quiet panic, and I couldn’t quite run around since I was being restricted by the chain to not be able to stray too far. I walked towards where the chain led.

The shack was dimly lit, and utterly rubbish. The living conditions of it would require a call to action on Earth to save whatever poor soul was insane enough to live in something like it. However a small welcoming warmth and comfort seeped into my heart as I looked around.

Not much decorated the immediate entrance of the settlement. It was bland, yet cozy.

Furniture was of course different than traditional human furniture. Even someone not well versed in human commodities could tell. Some things were at least recognizable though. Buuuuut things were still different…as everything had to be. I felt strange. So many questions wanted to be answered.

“Rheneas?! Is this another memory?!” I shouted towards the roof of the shack in hope of hearing the strikingly familiar voice of Rheneas, only to be met with nothing but the howling of wind passing through the holes in the shack.

“Jeez…is drywall that hard to invent?” I roamed slightly around the shack. It was divided into small rooms, each with a set of things that seemed to accommodate an individual in it.

Despite the silly remarks…a deep panic filled me. I, for one, could not take anymore eldritch beings manipulating me like a doll anymore for the day!

I saw a simple chair, a blade for carving, and small wooden sculptures in the room I was in. They each were made finely and seemed to carry extreme amounts of work. Another room housed a more open atmosphere, however a mirror lay in a corner.

I stared at the reflection of my floating body, at least I wasn’t a vampire. Sure enough, all those scars and holes formed from my previous battle seemed to be not present wherever I was.

“It’s me.”

I glanced to my side, where a tall piece of furniture stood.

A mobile rack of clothes filled to the brim with outfits that were color coded and organized neatly was next to it.

Even as an amateur observationist…I could tell the people of this shack valued their hobbies.

“T-They’re so similar to humans.”

Voices soon entered my ears as I entered another room of the house. A language I could not understand. I walked towards them, phasing through several walls. A slight sense of disorientation was all I felt as I entered the room where the voices came from.

“What the…”

It was a dimly lit room. The inside was a bit more disorganized and unruly than the other rooms. 2 demi-humans stood near a single piece of furniture.

“Despair?”

Grief stricken faces. They were recognizable. Not because I had seen it before, but because grief is universal. The demi-humans looked like what a depiction of a werewolf would be back on Earth.

They wore casual clothing however, it did not seem very comfortable, comparable to burlap from the medieval times of my home planet, but it didn’t exactly seem like they had the resources for fabrics.

The piece of furniture faced away from me, as such I could not see what they were looking at. I slightly didn't want to see it.

Thankfully they couldn't see me, as this cowardice lasted a bit.

It was strange how still they were though. Not a single word was uttered. Slight breaths were all I could hear.

Strangely, one of the demi-humans moved to touch whatever was lying on the furniture, but hesitated. His hand loomed over the furniture.

I moved slowly towards where they stood.

I felt my throat tighten in what I could only describe as-

Anguish.

It felt like I wasn’t supposed to be seeing this. Like I had been wronged. It felt as if I was no longer myself. The piece of furniture was a bed. On it a demi-human lay.

Blood splattered across the entirety of it.

A small body lay on top of the bloodied woman. The screams I had heard. The distress. The blood on the person who walked out’s hand. It was all from her. She was suffering in here. Despite all that. Despite the ominous nature of the desecrated corpse. A smile lay on her still face. It was plastered out as if to say…

”I won!”

The baby was still.

It did not move.

It did not breath.

She had not won.

This was not uncommon. The Fading had brought many mothers to ruin. Birth was a rare occurrence for all races alike. The babies seemed to begin to Fade seemingly from birth. Some died before they could enter the Between. They’re still bodies stuck inside the mother’s body.

A shaky breath was all I could muster as I looked upon the scene in horror. I…was blind. I felt guilty for ever enjoying myself. For ever cursing my mother. These thoughts however changed nothing. The baby was dead…and so was the mother. Escaping reality was not possible when I was chained to it.

Chain…

The chain had drawn loose.

I had reached the other side of it. Which I could now see…

Was wrapped around the stillborn.