Chapter 17: Nightmares In Another Dimension

Once I had made it to the bottom of the stairs, I stared at the room in front of me with a slight look of disappointment. When I was told it was a culture the trader didn't recognize, I thought that maybe it was something that no human had ever seen before. No, it was a very recognizable culture in the modern era.

Technically, at least in the area right at the bottom of the stairs for me, the walls weren't even flowery. There were artworks of various flowers I couldn't name even if someone had a gun to my head. I was horrible at recognizing flowers, no matter how long I spent trying to learn.

The walls looked to be actually made of paper. I was curious, so I stepped slowly into the floor from the stairwell and reached for the nearest wall. It felt like the door at the top of the stairs, cold and hard. Despite being paper, it felt more like glass. I still wasn't going to break it if I could help it.

Not a single floor had the answer been to break the walls and power my way through. Every floor has had some sort of trick required to get to the end. Some less being a trick, and more just not dying while you try and find the exit, but I digress.

I hear a door open beside me. Turning to look, I realize that the stairwell is already gone and there is now a creature standing in the doorway. It stood there and stared at me while I was cornered in this nearly empty room with the creature.

"Hey." My throat groans out the words with heavy effort as I wave at the vaguely humanoid creature. It was a last ditch attempt to communicate and maybe save my life as it blocked my only exit.

The creature covered completely in a black robe didn't match a single description given to me in the bestiary. I was going to stop trusting the damned thing if it was going to keep leaving things out and saying the wrong things.

It stepped forwards, not even acknowledging my greeting to it. I was a little sad that it just ignored me. It could have at least gotten angrier or something, being ignored after finally speaking to something after so long kind of hurt me.

I was trapped, and it looked to be intelligent as I couldn't use the method back from floor fourteen. It had me in a corner, I wanted to lash out and attack the creature, but something deep in me told me that was a horrible idea. I should defend myself, but a feeling deep down was screaming at me to not attack the creature.

I listened. My hand which was reaching for my weapon stopped and I started to think of a good way around this creature. I stared directly at its face, it was covered completely with a black robe. Its entire body was.

With how the lighting was though, I could see that it was wearing some kind of white mask. Why it was going to such lengths to cover itself was beyond me, but I knew that it probably had some other way of looking at me than its eyes if it was following me so closely despite the mask and hood covering them.

With nothing to lose, I waited for it to get close. There was an idea in my mind, but I only had a single chance to make it work. As usual, failure probably meant death. This plan was probably my worst one yet, but if it worked, it meant my continued survival.

As the creature reached out for me, I dove down under its reach, and just as I thought I was safe, it kicked my leg when I tried to regain my footing on the other side of it. It wasn't a slow creature at a constant speed. It was an intelligent creature that was just going slow to taunt me.

The creature no longer hesitated, it reached for my neck with both hands as its hood fell down. Beneath the hood was a white mask with red accents in the shape of a fox's face. Its hands wrap around my throat, and no matter how I try and pull, I can't remove their grip.

I couldn't breathe, their hands wrapped tightly around my neck as they leaned over me. My vision was fading as the circulation to my brain was being cut off. I was going to die here, all because I didn't want to fight the creature.

Its cold, pale hands kept getting tighter around my neck as everything went black. It was over.

…

I opened my eyes, expecting to be dead, but I was back in my room.

I was no longer in the place that kept trying to kill me. I thought I was going to die when that creature wrapped its cold hands around my throat, but I guess I just managed to escape. It was all just a nightmare, I was never in that place.

Just an extended dream. One that felt all too real and lasted much longer than it needed to. I was probably going to find a therapist to talk about it… but I was enjoying the nice feeling of my bed. It was extremely comfortable and felt nice after spending all that perceived time sleeping on anything that I could.

I eventually stood up from my bed and stretched. There were no wounds on my body, and I had gone back to the slightly overweight that I had been before falling to that place. Looking out the window, I could see cars driving by and people walking on the street.

It had felt like it had been so long since I had actually seen real people. It was almost a nostalgic feeling. I should probably go and greet my parents before I start to go about my day. So that I did, or so I tried to do. Once I reached for my door handle, I realized it wasn't there.

There was no way to open the door. When I turned around to look in my room for something to open the door with, the room was empty. I panicked and was just going to break down the door, but the door was now gone. Looking around the room, the window was gone now too.

Just as I was about to do something drastic, the walls started to close in from every side. I was going to die. This is it. The walls kept closing in on me, I tried to stop them, but the force pushing them together was much stronger than I was.

The grinding noise of the solid walls moving towards me was horrifying, the walls eventually stopped moving, but I was trapped in a small area that I could barely stand in. I was unable to raise my arms from my side. The walls had perfectly trapped me inside, and I could feel my heart beating faster.

I had to break out of this somehow. There had to be some way out of here. There wasn't however, as I heard the walls start to move again and there was massive pressure on every part of my body. The pain was excruciating, I was getting crushed alive while I panicked from claustrophobia.

The last thing I feel is a slight popping sensation as my skull gets crushed. This is the end.

…

Or so I thought.

This time I knew I was back in reality. No haze on the edge of my vision. The pain I had felt just then might have seemed very real, and my beating heart told me it wasn't. My eyes quickly scanned the room I was in.

Paper walls, pictures and paintings of flowers. Yeah, I was back on floor seventeen. I felt my neck, and it was sore to the touch. The creature had left its mark. I wonder if it meant to kill me, or if it was just putting me in a state of near death.

I stood up slowly, calming my erratic breathing. I couldn't stay here long. If another one of those creatures got a hold of me, my neck might not last, even if it didn't actively try to kill me. Thankfully, it seemed I was alone in this small room now.

I wasn't going to stick around and find out though. There was still only a single door and if another creature opens it before I can get through and randomize, I might just die. With my renewed determination to continue, I slid the door open. The door felt fragile, but it was made of the same materials the walls were, so I very much doubted it was actually so.

I treated it carefully regardless, as if it broke, I might not be able to randomize the room behind me. The floors felt fairly soft beneath my boots, but I wasn't going to take them off. I didn't have room inside my bag for them, and I wasn't going to give the creatures another easy way to grab on to me.

I was nervous. It was probably closer to anxiety though. The creature tried to kill me and until the very end, I refused to attack the creature. It was wrong. I should at least try and fight back, but even just thinking that now, some feeling inside of me tells me that I need to treat them nicely.

They are trying to kill me, is it not fair that I try and fight back, to save my own life? Perhaps it is fair, but this feeling, it's not been wrong once since coming to this place, and if I stopped listening now, who knows what might happen.

I didn't like it one bit, but maybe it was that if I attacked one of these fox masked creatures, they would actually try and kill me. Instead of just putting me to a near death state. Near death wasn't death, so I'll take it I guess.

Suddenly, without any warning, I feel cold hands clamp down around my neck from behind. The grip is so strong that I was unable to turn around, but I knew it was another creature. I let my guard down one time too many, and was finally punished.

My vision fades quicker this time, there was less pain, but I could tell that it wasn't going easy on me.

…

I opened my eyes, noticing the haze in the corner of my vision. It was another nightmare, but I am aware of it this time. My clothes were slightly wet from the moist carpet that had a thin layer of water on it.

I was back in the outfit that I had come to these floors in. I was back on the first floor. It had been so long since I was there, but it felt so familiar to me. I was back in the same position as when I had arrived in this place.

It was replaying something I had already experienced. Whatever. I'll just pull out my phone, check the network name and just hang out in the office area until I can escape from this nightmare. It had been too long, I can't remember the path I took to find the offices.

I reached for my pocket, only to find there wasn't a phone there. My pockets were empty.

That wasn't good. I looked around the floor to see if maybe my phone had fallen out. It wasn't anywhere nearby. I couldn't remember the path that I needed to take. I do remember that it wasn't a long one though.

Brute forcing a problem wasn't my style here, but there wasn't a choice. I started walking. My legs felt heavier than they usually did. Walking even just two hall lengths was challenging. I was already tired and needed a break.

Was I this weak when I went down to the first floor originally? How in the world did I even manage to survive for as long as I did if I got tired this quickly. I knew I was out of shape before going to this place, but my god, there's no way it was actually this bad.

The smell of the floor didn't seem as bad, at least now that I knew there were things down here that somehow smelled worse than carpet that had been rotting for who knows how long. Either way, it didn't really matter how bad it smelled. I had to find a way to escape the nightmare.

Last time, I died and it put me back in reality, but I would like to avoid that, as unlike a normal nightmare, I seem to feel every bit of pain I experience in here. That does mean killing myself is out of the question, as it always should be. What if for some reason I think I'm in a nightmare, but I'm really not, and just kill myself. I'd be a laughing stock if anyone ever found out.

I kept brute forcing solutions on where to go, but I never found anything other than the yellow walls with the loud hum of fluorescent lights. If anything I should have at least found another zone by now, but it's all yellow.

Uh oh. This wasn't actually the first floor. It was some sort of variation of it that was trying to trap me here with no actual escape. This was it, there was nothing else here, other than me, this rotting carpet, and awful yellow walls.

I could feel dread creeping up on me as I started to feel thirsty. It was only a matter of time until I would have to find something to drink and even eat. This wasn't so much a dream as it was a simulation. It was planning on killing me in the most painful ways possible.

Fine, I'll play its game. This creature wasn't going to break me or my morale. I was going to die from thirst in here, then move forward on the floor. So what if it puts me in another nightmare. I can recognize they are nightmares but just can't escape them without death.

I kept wandering through the imitation of the first floor until I was completely out of energy. It was faster than it should have been, even for me back then. This place must have taken pity on me, not wanting me to spend however many days it would take to die from thirst.

It's fine though. It was painful, you know. Dying from thirst. Everything felt dry and cracked, there was a constant pain in my gut and in my chest as my heart struggled to keep beating with the lack of water. Based on the pain, some things had already failed.

Eventually, I was losing consciousness. I could feel the blood flowing through my veins turning thicker and thicker with time. It was painful. My head hurt more than it ever had before. It felt like someone was continuously piling bricks on my head.

I was scared. Scared of dying. It hurt so much and I was scared.

…

It was over before I knew it and I was opening my eyes in reality. That one sucked. Dehydration is a serious pain. It was worse than getting crushed alive. I needed to keep going, so I stood up. I checked my watch this time, I was only out for probably around five minutes.

I needed to keep a better eye on the time. It was mostly for my own safety, not just curiosity of knowing what time it was. If I rested at the proper times, my body would feel like it had rested better despite getting a smaller amount of sleep than just sleeping randomly.

I was keeping myself less occupied by my own thoughts while I wandered around the floor. They had gotten me when I was distracted once, but I wasn't going to let it happen again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

I kept walking around aimlessly going through door after door, until I had managed to spot one of the creatures before it spotted me. It was sitting cross legged at a table in the middle of a larger than normal room.

I was going to randomize the room when it suddenly raised its arm. I was even more so about to sprint and randomize when it waved me over. It was calling for me. I hesitated, this was probably a trap, but they had yet to actually kill me. If it was a trap, I'd just die in another nightmare, whatever.

I slowly walked over and the creature pointed at several pieces of paper on the table. Laid out on the table were several pieces of paper with different and even some completely unrecognizable languages on them. I pointed to the one that I could read, in English.

The fox masked creature gathered all the papers and set them on the floor, and motioned for me to sit across from it. I did as it suggested, sitting exactly like the creature did, and it nodded once I got comfortable. It pulled out a sheet of paper from inside its robe and slid it to me across the table with a grace that was almost indescribable.

I stared at the creature, hesitating to pull my eyes away from it, but it seemed to wait patiently for me to read the paper. It didn't look like it was going to attack me this time, and there was no feeling inside me saying I needed to run, so I read the paper it handed me.

'Under the effect of the floor, I am obligated to attack you, but this is a rest area, so no such obligation applies. However, once you leave this room, I am sorry, but I must do what I am forced to do.'

I looked at the creature and it bows its head, almost looking as if it was shameful. Did it feel bad that it was forced to attack me? Wait, it is being forced to attack me?

"Who is-" I coughed, forcing the words out of my throat after not talking for such a long time really hurts.

The creature immediately caught on and handed me a pen and paper to write on, but I held up my hand. It hurt, but I wanted to speak, it had been too long since I had a chance to actually talk to anything.

"I will power through the pain." I eked out. "Who forces you to attack me?"

'I am not allowed to say.' It replies by writing on the paper in front of it. It wrote it upright for me, which means this creature just wrote upside down to talk to me faster. Whatever. I can work with that then. It'll almost be like having a normal conversation.

"Why bother talking to me here then? You attack me, and I go on my merry way after I wake up. We never see each other again after I leave the floor."

'We will meet again.'

"Ominous, but I can accept that after seeing the Shadelings on a different floor than normal. Why bother trusting me here though, for all you know, I could have tried to kill you once I saw you sitting there. You had your back turned after all."

'Such is the way things have to be from time to time. You are the first to not attack me upon our first encounter. I value this greatly as outside this room, I have no control of my own actions. In fact, I have no wish to be on this floor in general. I don't belong here.'

"You and me both, buddy." I lean back and let out a sigh. The tension I felt before entering this room had left my body. I was glad that I didn't attack this creature if it meant I could have a conversation with this thing.

'Would you like something hot or cold to drink?' The creature asks me and I stare at it, seriously considering its question. I could have a hot drink any time I wanted if I just started a fire, but a cold drink was something I hadn't had in a long time. The fridges on floor three didn't work and I had yet to see them anywhere else.

"Cold." I say in the end. It was too tempting to see what this creature would do.

The creature reached its hand out to the side and a bottle of some sort of green liquid appeared in its hand. There was nothing there a moment ago, then there was the bottle. There was no sound, no distortion, just nothing, then suddenly a bottle, as if it had always existed in that space and the creature just grabbed it.

The creature set the bottle on the table and slid it over to me. The bottle was sealed, but there was no label on the bottle. The clear plastic showed the green liquid inside quite clearly. I was hesitant to drink it, but the allure of the cold beverage was also very tempting.

'I can understand your hesitance to drink the beverage I have provided. As little as it might mean at this juncture, the liquid is mint flavored, so not only is it actually cold, it will make you feel colder for a while as well.'

"Thank you." I nod my head as I undo the lid and take a sip, throwing caution to the wind. There was literally nothing to lose at this point, and my curiosity was getting the better of me once again.

It was incredible. I was expecting a slightly mint flavored water, but it was incredibly sweet and had enough mint to where it was clearly the dominant flavor, but it also wasn't overpowering. I had never had something like this.

"Does this drink exist outside these floors, like, in the real world?" I asked the creature.

'You come from another world? Interesting. Once we meet again, I must ask you more about this. For context; most that come to this place are from the dimensions that have rotted and fallen. Dead galaxies and stars. The way you talk, implies your world is not yet dead, and you wish to return.'

"Yeah, I want to escape. No. I will escape." I say it with such confidence, it seems to shock the creature.

'Pray tell, what level is this currently.'

"Seventeen."

'You've made it this far, yet still have such a strong will to escape. Wonderful.' The creature puts a pale hand up to its ear and starts writing faster than I had thought possible without destroying paper.

'I must leave, I have stayed here longer than I should out of curiosity. Once we meet again, we will have more time. Please do not hold my actions later in this floor against me.' At the end, it was signed with a number; '33'.

When I looked up from the paper, it was already gone. Well now wasn't that some experience. I'm not sure what to make of it. I had an actual conversation for the first time in a while, but my throat was killing me.

It was too short, and I still had so many questions.

I can save them for when we meet again, no matter how long that takes. One thing I am glad about though, not everything down here is out to kill me intentionally. Something, or someone, is forcing these creatures and monsters to attack me.

'Dead galaxies and stars.'

It hangs in the front of my mind. Why, for what reason would they all be connected here? Did it matter, not that I could tell. Was there any conceivable way for me to figure it out? The answer sure as hell wasn't on this floor.

This certainly wasn't earth anymore though. To be fair though, I had long since come to that conclusion. The more I think about it, the more questions I have. Is this some sort of afterlife, a punishment for my crimes in life.

I can't stop thinking about it, so I decided to leave this room which just kept reminding me of how little I knew. I slowly stood up and stretched my legs. It was time to move on with the floor, but not before I had a good look around here for resources.

A shining green light caught the corner of my eye. A single wall outlet. A single charging cable and a phone attached to the end of it. My hands started to shake slightly… why. No, it just looks like my phone. There's no way it actually was.

I cautiously walked over, brain on high alert, seeing something I had clearly left on another floor. This was inside a waterproof container inside the bag I threw off to let me run that little bit more without getting tired. It was gone, I had accepted that.

I touched the phone, and it was warm from charging. The screen turned on once I unplugged it, and the background was familiar to me. It was the same dumb picture that was on it when I fell into this place. I unlocked the phone with a practiced movement.

Everything was the same as it had been when I fell in here. I checked the date, only to realize that I had spent even longer down here than I could have imagined. I thought it was only for three or so months. It had been five. Five months already.

Five whole months to the day. I quickly turned the phone off and put it into a plastic bag to protect it from water. I wasn't going to lose it again. I packed lighter nowadays thanks to the possibilities of the elevators.

Once I had the chance, I would leave my phone up in The Hub. I didn't need to have it with me all the time. Now that I had a charger though, the possibilities were incredible. For now though, I needed to move on, I didn't want to stay here in case that creature was forced to ignore the rest area and just attacked me in here anyways.

I wandered the floor at an accelerated pace. Picked up a few snacks and drinks while traveling through. The creature caught me twice more, but the nightmares were nothing notable, painful deaths, but nothing I couldn't mentally handle at this point.

I found the exit with the creature hot on my tail. It was a simple wooden door with nothing fancy about it. I quickly opened it and closed it behind me. The floor was over, and despite learning very little about my new questions, I knew there was probably an answer to everything down here somewhere.

I just had to find it.