A group of twenty-two gathered, ready for a new adventure. They chose their guides, Damon and Kefy. The two of them needed to decide where to go and what to explore. Kefy mentioned that someone had brought a mysterious book of secret magical doors.
"I got it from my grandmother," Reino began, "and she got it from her grandmother. She told me to study it well and by no means get into trouble. Because this book is full of it. This is a very dark book. Full of dark magic. It reveals mysterious gates leading to never-before-discovered worlds. It's enough that our world is full of all kinds of secrets. You can imagine what secrets unknown worlds hold. It's unimaginable."
It was decided. Despite objections from the book's owner, they would seek out a gate and embark on a mysterious adventure. They came across an interesting name, "Levitating Dream." It sounded quite enticing. They had to try. The key to enter wasn't too demanding; all they needed were Japanese mushrooms hakitake. One bite would be enough to allow their minds to travel. Because these journeys weren't on a physical level. But the mind can also die, and then the body shuts down when the soul has nowhere left to reside.
The Japanese imported products store, "Sinamaku." They bit into them one by one, eagerly awaiting the next turn of events with impatient expressions. The box of mushrooms stated that they should sit in pairs, leaning back against each other. Because, in the end, they would be unconscious, left to their minds which usually were in chaos. And so they fell asleep, changing their brain waves and starting to stride toward a big pink door.
And they just floated there, in the middle of a green-white medium without air. They knew there was none because their lungs weren't working. The door was locked. Reino mentioned that each person needed to imagine their greatest fear or moment of greatest happiness; only the strongest feelings of joy or fear could lead the mind through the gate to another world.
And so people imagined carefree play with fluffy, plush penguins on a soft carpet, bites of giant tarantulas on the neck, changing colorful hats in a store in front of a mirror, running away from ghosts who ruthlessly broke knees, cheerful family gatherings with constant changes caused by not so funny jokes from an uncle, opening the head with a circular saw, and so on. A multitude of horror and joy found itself in one mental place, in front of the large, unattainably high pink door that slowly opened after each strong expression of pleasure or fear.
After the last member of the fearless adrenaline-seeking team, the wind started blowing from nowhere, and some suction force pulled them through the door. And on the other side was a chasm. They landed on their backsides, but they didn't feel pain. They looked up at the now floating orange door. Someone from the group quietly wondered why the color was different, and someone else loudly wondered how they would return when their adrenaline ride came to an end.
Damon said it wasn't the most important question at the moment, because in front of them was an infinitely wide bloody river. The problem was that heat was visibly rising from it and it completely surrounded them, making them feel like an island surrounded by endless salty water. Luckily, none of the members felt thirsty. Or hungry. But fear had completely overwhelmed them.
However, hope didn't fail them this time either, because they saw a bridge, which actually didn't make sense because the river was so wide that it couldn't be grasped by sight. The bridge was narrow, just wide enough for one person to pass sideways, and it seemed to break somewhere in the distance. They walked along it for a long time, and when they looked back, they saw only a bridge disappearing intermittently in the mist. After half an hour, they passed through an invisible frame that continued into a cave. Before them were now two carved paths leading into darkness. The large group decided to split up and with their guides explore both parts.
Damon's group went left, and Kefy's went right, both into the unknown. Damon went first and after a few moments saw a strange light floating in the darkness around the bend. Shortly after, all eleven of them heard strange howls, resembling those of an injured dog, coming from the direction of the light. Reino mentioned that they could be "Levitating Wraiths," a type of possessive spirits that attach themselves to a person and don't let go until death. The only defense, as she read, was constant laughter.
So they had to laugh incessantly, no matter how much their hearts tried to escape their chests, their thunderous laughter had to echo off the cave walls. And so, with forced, loud laughter, they passed by a multitude of floating creatures with shiny green skin resembling tree bark, with yellow headlights instead of eyes, who didn't stop howling. However, somehow they managed to get through that evil.
Soon, to the great joy of the terrified members of Damon's team, they met Kefy's team, so without any delay, they retold the incredible event they had survived. Some in the group joked that, although not possessed by howling spirits, that experience would undoubtedly haunt them every day from the moment they opened their eyelids to the moment they closed them for the last time. Kefy, with pleasant surprise, announced that nobody bothered them in their passage and hoped they would soon find a way out of that cursed cave. It was enough for her to hear that horrible story from the neighboring group; she didn't need to experience it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
However, after a few dozen meters of passage through the cave, the large group encountered another fork. This time, three paths were offered. They debated whether it might be unnecessary to split up again, as they could end up at the same destination upon exiting, so they decided to all take the same path together. They played a game to decide which path to take where they arranged three stones under which they placed colorful buttons that one of the members had been carrying in their pocket. The red button brought victory.
Thus, they started left, again into the unknown. As they walked, people commented that this new "adventure" of theirs might be unnecessary and definitely life-threatening, and they regretted not following the advice of Reino's grandmother and great-grandmother. Their lament was interrupted by a sudden earthquake that caused stalactites with sharp tips to fall on them, where people feared at every moment they would be pierced like a dartboard.
After several falls of these stony spikes, one member, Simon, noticed that this supposedly natural phenomenon contained nothing natural about it because with each fall of the spike, behind the hole left behind appeared a strange, dwarf-like creature, all knotted up on its face, which seemed to throw spikes at them. And that was true because the stalactites fell nowhere else but where the members were standing. Obviously, someone wanted to pierce them.
Fortunately, they came across a shelter under which they squeezed and crouched, waiting anxiously for the end of their hell in that unexplored world about which they all regretted. Reino mumbled that she saw a section with similar creatures somewhere, so she seized the opportunity to leaf through her grimoire and find, she hoped, a defense against these deadly darts players. She was right.
She came across the "Zoroses," cave creatures from the world of "Ongorazi," who were absolutely always very hostile to any stranger who entered their home. It also mentioned their territorial defense, as they were, allegedly, still "shy creatures," pelting opponents with stones and anything else they could grab from their nearest surroundings. Unfortunately, there was no mention of their weakness. They decided that their only way out was to run headlong. After a bombastic journey through the aerial minefield, sixteen of them alive reached the exit from this inhospitable cave from the world of Ongorazi.
They found themselves on barren, rocky ground, on a vast plain that contained not a single plant, let alone an animal. It seemed that the sixteen of them were the only living creatures there. Breathless and bewildered, they had no time to think about the demise of their fellow members, because suddenly, in front of them, two stone pillars emerged from the ground, one with a red and the other with a purple gemstone on top.
They didn't stay in the dark for long, as Reino unraveled the strange sight they witnessed. Namely, these two pillars represented the end of this world, with the possibilities offered by two gemstones. The red one offered an unforgettable dive into the boiling, bloody river over which they had crossed on that bridge disappearing into the distance, while the purple one offered a safe return home.
After explaining the situation of choice, Reina unexpectedly squeezed the red gem, and at the same moment disappeared from the view of the remaining fifteen members. None of them were aware that, while they were clicking the purple gem and safely teleporting back to their beds in their homes, they would lose the memory they had gained in that world.
Reina omitted to tell them that she had cunningly lured them to this particular world, pretending innocently from the beginning that she didn't want them to come here. She was aware that she had chosen people who suited her needs perfectly – daredevil adventurers with a whirlwind in their skulls.
She presented them with an interesting bait – the grimoire she had brought with her, all the while knowing about the dangers lurking in the cave of death, and hoping that everyone would surely choose the option to return home safely. How surprised she was when Damon and Simon, along with some other members of the group, decided to see what had happened to Reino and for what reason she had so suddenly and seemingly thoughtlessly chosen the red option, so they chose the red gem.
They materialized under the red river and watched Reino embrace a hefty round chest. They ran to her and snatched it from her hands. She yelled and cursed them, grabbed her book, and began reciting strange words like a song. Several people began to fall like candles until Simon kicked her in the head and she hit the wall.
As she lay dead near the wall, Damon, Simon, Gorg, Jokvi, and Israela opened the grimoire and searched for an explanation for six glass bottles filled with orange liquid standing in the recesses of the round chest. They flipped through the book for an hour, but couldn't find any explanation for the mysterious bottles.
And then, the originally dead Reino sat up and tried to sneak up on them from behind. Gorg spotted her, knocked her down to the ground, and chopped off her head with the spade he always carried by his waist. Then hidden ink began to appear in the book on a previously blank page. They looked at the headless Reino's body and watched with their eyes how, at an abnormal speed, she aged, shrunk, lost fat and agility, the hair on her head turned white, and the face wrinkled unrecognizably.
Once young and beautiful Reino had now become an old granny!
In the ink, it said:
"Mix two doses with three pinches of basil and bring it to a boil. Add nine light-pink rose petals and stir gently. Drink in one gulp. Restores vitality, blush, and shine, as well as hormonal balance. Duration of the effect: ten years."
At the very bottom, in the corner, a faint title could be seen, "Elixir of Youth."
Then they realized that Reino's great-grandmother and grandmother had actually been her all along; that the grimoire was hers; and worst of all, that for decades she had lured and killed people to get hold of the elixir of youth.
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