Chapter 18: What Lies Beyond The Gates

After I exited the concrete stairs, I saw more concrete stairs that gently sloped down around a hill covered in small trees and light shrubbery. I took a nap at the top of the stairs after leaving the previous floor, but I was going to be fully rested before I attempted a floor that was probably going to be all stairs.

Last time I attempted an all stairs floor, which I think was floor six, I was resting constantly on the stairs. I guess the gimmick of that floor was kind of tough, but even though these stairs appear to slope down, I don't know if it will stay like that, considering it looks like this floor starts in the middle of a mountain.

After sleeping, my head felt a little more clear. I was curious what this floor was going to be all about. I didn't recognize the mountain was on, or rather, I really shouldn't. Oh yeah, what did the guy from The Hub say about this floor?

It was something about uhhhhh… wooden structures. I think that was it, really helpful advice. Next floor all I get is a single word, and then nothing on twenty or further, if it does even go further, which I can safely say it probably does.

There isn't anything I can do about it. I will just have to go through like I did the first few floors; with no information. I couldn't trust the bestiary past The Hub. It was incorrect and unreliable, not even documenting the only thing inhabiting the previous floor.

A fox masked creature that will have a conversation with you for a short time. Seriously. I would have asked more pointed questions if I knew my time talking with it was limited. I also doubt that going back to the floor would let me speak to it again. I was already looking forward to meeting with the creature again.

I should focus on the floor in front of me. I took the first step onto the stone stairs, noticing that it was in fact carved natural stone, and not concrete. Also, the scenery around me had abruptly changed. The pleasant view down the mountain had been replaced with dense forest.

A quick look behind me confirmed that not only were the stairs gone, there was a wooden building with two statues guarding it. The statues were foxes and their faces looked identical to that of the fox mask I had seen on the previous floor.

There was a transparent cloth hanging on the front entrance of the wooden building, and inside, I could see someone who was sitting on their legs looking directly at me. Every single hair on the back of everything stood on end. The person inside screamed of danger, I needed to leave.

Now.

Calling out to them was going to be extremely stupid this time. The shape was human, but there was… power. There's no other way to describe it other than I felt unnatural power emanating from whoever was sitting inside that building. It feels similar to what I experienced the day I fell into this place. A feeling of wrongness.

So I went down the stairs. Nothing good waited for me in that building. I could feel it watching me even though I was well out of its range of vision. I felt it smile, then suddenly the presence vanished just as quickly as I had noticed it. I wanted absolutely not a thing to do with whatever that was, so I kept walking down the stairs.

With distance traveled, came peace of mind. I was starting to notice things around me as I walked down the stone stairs. The 'wooden structures' were a type of gate that I couldn't remember the name of off the top of my head.

The whole gate was a bright red color that stood out distinctly from the otherwise green environment surrounding them. The two cylindrical posts of the gate were tall enough to make it tower well over the path. The slight upwards curve on the horizontal top bars really made the whole thing come together. The top bar looked as if it had been tiled to protect the gate from weathering down over time.

The gates seemed to repeat at a fixed pattern of twenty meters all the way down the mountain. Or at least, seemed to repeat at the same interval at the section I was currently in and had traveled through. Not that I remember much of the last hour other than panic and the great desire to run down these stairs.

It was kind of pleasant. The sun seemed to actually be moving slightly, which worried me as it was somehow already nearing sunset. If it got too dark to keep going down the stairs, I would stop and wait out the night, unless something attacked me, that is.

From what I could see through the dense trees, it felt like I was still very high up on the mountain. I guess the only place it makes sense for there to be an exit is the bottom. So the only option is down, cause I am sure not going back up to that wooden building.

The sun finally set and it was too dark to see the path ahead of me. I was forced to stop before I made a mistake and veered off the clearly marked path, or fell. I was hesitant to walk off the path, as I knew this horrid place probably had some kind of punishment waiting for me if I even tried to take a shortcut down.

I just sat on the stone steps. I had put on a layer of extra clothing to keep myself warm from the cold breeze coming through the trees. I was still warm with just a second layer of clothing, so I called it good enough. No sense making myself feel worse from staying cold for too long.

Suddenly, lights started floating around me. They looked like small balls of fire, but didn't radiate any heat at all, only light. The blue glow coming off the small fires was interesting, but it had a hint of something wrong in it. It didn't set off any alarms like other things that felt like this, so I stayed calm.

I was interested in the balls of fire. They floated around aimlessly between the gates and slightly above the stone path. Not a single one was within reach of me, seemingly staying just out of my reach. It was probably better that way, so I didn't try and touch them while they were just hanging around.

It was enough light though, and now I could keep descending down the stairs. It wasn't all that bright and the forest remained dark, save for a few of the balls of fire floating between trees illuminating parts of the forest with a blue glow.

It looked beautiful, all things considered. The blue glow on the red gates turned them a menacing black color, but otherwise, the blue glow was nice. It felt gentle on my eyes and illuminated the stone stairs to the point that walking down them wasn't a chore.

I kept walking down the stairs while admiring the view of lights occasionally coming into view inside the forest of trees. I started to become slightly relaxed while walking down the steps, when I suddenly saw the outline of antlers illuminated by a blue glow just to the side of the path.

I was cautious, but I kept walking. If it was a normal deer or something, it would get spooked off by the sounds of my boots hitting the stone, if it was some horrible abomination, I would just fight with my life on the line. I had a weapon, and while I was untrained on how to use it, I was ready to do so if the need arose.

The antlers never moved from their spot, and I could more clearly see the details of the creature now that I was closer. It looked like a normal deer as far as I could tell, but it had two heads, with only a single of the two heads having antlers. What that meant for its biology was beyond me.

What I did know however, was that this creature wasn't scared of me, but it didn't look angry either. It looked curious. It looked like it was wondering what I was and if I was going to be a threat. I tried to relax as much as possible and just kept walking down the steps.

The creature was assessing the danger all the way up until I went right in front of it. It turned around and went back into the forest after I had passed by it. It was no longer curious about me, having seen all it wanted to see. It wasn't fleeing by any means either, not like an animal normally would.

It just walked away, as if it was bored. What was the creature thinking, I wondered. I'll never know, but at least it wasn't going to try and kill me. All that was left for me was to keep wandering down these stairs.

The gates kept getting closer and closer together. They were already only ten meters apart now. Half the distance they were when I started this journey. I wonder if this meant I was around halfway down. I hoped so at least.

The forest at night seemed to be teeming with wildlife of varying types, all curiously watching me as I descended on the path. Deer with multiple heads were the most common sight along the pathway, deeper in, I could see single headed deer, but the ones with multiple heads seemingly protected them.

One terrifying encounter was with a brown bear. I was expecting to have to defend myself with my weapon, but it just watched me from the side of the path, never stepping on the path. It was weird to see animals so curious about my presence beyond checking if I was a danger.

There seemed to be something deeper to their curiosity, but I couldn't place it. Was I an odd existence here for them? I must be. Judging from the lacking information, I bet not many people go through here. Perhaps they haven't seen a human in a very long time.

Wait, animals usually run away from or attack things that are unknowns to them. Wouldn't that make them aggressive if I was the only human passing through here? Or what if they think humans are like the thing that was inside the wooden building at the top of the stairs. That would make sense, they were scared of that thing up there, and they thought I was just like it.

I didn't feel the same as that thing though, so they were curious what exactly I was, having been completely placated by the thing at the top of the stairs.

"Bit rude to call me, 'That thing', Logan." A voice high pitched, yet also deep enters my ears, but also I can't hear it at all. Once again every hair on my body stands on end, screaming for me to run. I needed to run.

So I did, I didn't give it the time of day. Its appearance was indescribable, it looked familiar, yet so new. It looked old, but also young. It was a walking contradiction and it was following me down the path.

"Ah, not following. I am in front of you." And it was there, as it described. It stared at me with eyes that seemed small, yet so large. They stared deeper than the surface, it felt like my very being was under observation.

I wanted to speak, but my mouth was shaking from fear. I couldn't escape.

"I will not harm you, Logan. I humbly ask you answer my next question truthfully. You can just think of your answer, and I will hear. After this, we will never meet again." I nod my head shakily at its voice. I was shaking uncontrollably. This was the most terrified I had ever been in my life. Looking at it was like looking at something a human was never meant to see.

"What do you see me as?" A question that was so simple, but nearly impossible to answer.

You…

Suddenly their figure becomes clear in my mind, as if a haze clears. The extreme feeling of fear slightly subsides as my shaking slows and my beating heart calms. It was unexpected, I wondered the reason why, but now was not the time.

A pressure in the back of my mind disappears as she stares at me. It was a she, definitely. Not human by any means. Her figure was hard to describe but it was definitely feminine. I could see glowing tails of fire, the same color of the balls of fire illuminating my path.

"Truly interesting. Now I must be on my way. Good luck, Logan. This world may be dead, but you have hope in you." And as her words finished, she was gone, as if she had never been there.

I sat down abruptly on the stone steps. I was tired of these mystical encounters, just more and more questions, and they won't be answered for who knows how long. I was frustrated, but there was nothing I could do. I just had to keep going down until I somehow found a way out.

Another thing, this world looked far from dead. There were animals and trees everywhere. Life was abundant, at least on this mountain, and if it was abundant here, why not anywhere else. What makes a world 'dead' anyways. Why does it matter to me in the first place?

Two floors in a row where I get told about things being 'dead'. Why? What did it even mean? I slammed my hand on the ground in frustration. The slight stinging from hitting the stone steps had brought my thoughts back to reality, but I was still not amused.

I stood up and walked down the stairs begrudgingly. More questions, no answers. Fine, I'll just make some shit up since I have all the free time in the world right now. First question, who controls this place, some person, a god perhaps.

Second question, what is the purpose of these floors? Torture, definitely just sadistic fun on the part of the person controlling everything. Probably some sort of god, or thing from some magical place where they can control space and time.

Third question. Dead worlds. Who knows on this one, this one actually seems fairly easy to answer and how logical it really calmed my nerves. Things die all the time, it's the natural conclusion to life. Things grow old and die.

With modern science, we already know that stars die, so I can only assume it's natural for galaxies and planets to do the same. How they then end up here is well beyond me. That's where the god or god adjacent being comes in. Why though, is something clearly sull of life, like this mountain and some other floors so seemingly alive.

Something other than either solar scale or natural disaster meant the death of a system. The conclusion feels so natural, but wrong at the same time. Higher powers were at play, and I had nothing to do with it. In all of this, a single question comes to mind, one I might never answer on my own.

Where do I play into all this mess? Another good one would be; why am I in this mess?

Death in this context meant something else, and I was curious. I needed to know.

Unfortunately though, it was time to focus on the floor ahead of me. Abstract thinking was never my strong suit and I only did it there because of anger. Spite even. Rage was making me want to know, I was demanding some form of answer even though it was wrong. I knew it was wrong, maybe all of it was.

The gates were getting closer together, and the sun was already beginning to rise. The small balls of fire were starting to fade as the early morning light touched them. I wonder if they were here to help me. The last two floors have been strange.

The previous creature was nice and didn't actually want to kill me and even had a small chat with me. The… woman(?) from this floor was an oddity. One question, and gone from my life, or so she claims. The feeling of fear I felt when I first met her was too intense. I really don't want to feel that again.

So I kept walking. The wildlife was beginning to pay me visits during the day now too. First deer, then bears, and now it was small foxes. I like foxes, personally, but these ones acted a bit strange. Foxes are normally skittish and hyperactive, but these ones were calm and collected.

No matter what though, as soon as I reached them on the path, they would head back into the forest, unamused and uninterested. Whatever, they weren't hurting me, so I could easily ignore the oddity it brought along with it.

The gates were getting so close together that the animals could no longer peek through between them, and I was on my own. They were blocking most of the sunlight as well. It was challenging to walk down the stone steps in near darkness.

I saw light at the end of the tunnel made from gates so I walked towards it. It was the bottom of the stairs already. I was confused, this floor felt a lot shorter than normal. I was expecting to walk a really long distance. Or was the challenge of the floor supposed to be the woman(?) that was in the wooden building.

All in all though, it was a decent floor. Wait…

Where's the exit? I looked around and it was something that looked like a normal city street. Behind me were still the gates, but there was no exit to be seen. I looked around for a while until I spotted a nearby park.

I walked through the park. There was nothing here, no people, no noise. No animals. Nothing other than me and the plants. I spot a building that looks like it might be a washroom and I walk over.

On the men's side was the exit, and the woman's side had an elevator.

I'd love to get out of here faster, but the woman(?) said she would never see me again, and I trusted that, so I took the elevator back to The Hub to restock my supplies and drop off my phone and its charger.

It took me some time to orient myself on the map, the elevator had dropped me pretty far off from where I had set up my base, so it took at least a day to get there. I plugged the phone in once I arrived, just to see if the wall sockets in The Hub even worked, and they did.

I was surprised, but it was quickly accepted by my brain. Completely restocked on food and water, I returned to floor eighteen, half expecting to have to walk all the way down the stairs again, but it wasn't randomized it seemed. I came out of the elevator where I went in, and just walked to the men's side of the building and opened the door.

Next floor. Rainforest.