The darkness didn’t last long as torches lit up, showing a long hallway that ended in what looked like an open chamber. The whole get-up looked medieval or maybe ancient greek. Column plinths lined the hallway, staggered in between the torches and a red plush carpet ran out into the darkness.

Deciding that he was probably supposed to follow the lighting torches down the hallway, he walked forward. Perrin was lost in his thoughts about what had just happened. He had been in some hairy situations before, but he was pretty sure that he had never been in one quite like this. It was just beyond anything Perrin could ever imagine, and he was having difficulty trying to cope with it. He still wasn’t wholly sure this wasn’t some type of drug-filled hallucination.

He walked for what felt like hours, putting one foot in front of another, his gaze studying the red carpet like it had the answers to all his questions. A faint light appeared in the darkness and began to draw closer rapidly. Faster and faster, it approached him, but he couldn’t make out what was coming. Then all of a sudden, he was standing a few feet away from where the hallway ended. Shifting the broken Mazikeen on his shoulders to a more comfortable position, he decided to table his troubled thoughts until he could work through them. He took the final steps towards the exit of the hallway.

Perrin looked around at what he could now see was a palatial circular room. He thought it could easily fit in two basketball courts side by side. Gigantic Archways lined the room’s wall. Some type of shinny mercurial liquid undulating in between the threshold of each arch. The red carpet continued towards the center of the room, circling an odd-looking many-sided pedestal then branching out to each archway.

The pedestal was a deep red color that stood a little over waist high and two meters across. What really caught Perrins’s eye was the rather large, dimly glowing blue crystal that sat on a red stone stand in the middle of the pedestal. The crystal was the size of a volleyball with a dodecahedral cut, but he wasn’t entirely sure without counting the sides. The stand had bands of runes running around it. Each band had different runes and seemed to be stacked on top of each other like blocks. It stretched a meter in height from the pedestal.

A faint pulling sensation urged him to go towards the strange structure, so he started walking over. About a meter and half away, he set down the still unconscious Mazikeen and started unloading his gear absent-mindedly. He couldn’t pull his eyes off the structure. Perrin walked around the pedestal in fascination.

He laid his hand on the deep red stone, thinking it might be some type of marble. He dragged his hand along the cool glassy surface as he walked, inspecting every inch. Perrin was now confident each side seemed to correspond to an archway in the surrounding room. There were round coin-like indentations in the stone for each side with thin blue lines of crystal running to the center of the pedestal, where they disappeared into the base of the stand that held up the large crystal.

This must be some kind of puzzle. It looks like a more complicated one I’ve seen in one or two RPG’s I used to play.

About half way through his inspection, he noticed that one of the impressions was different. It was slightly larger and had an additional thin line of blue crystal running in the opposite direction and off the side of the top. Perrin followed the line down to a square box that had an upside-down hand impressed into the stone.

Feeling like he might have found something important, he rolled the dice and stuck his right hand into the mold. Nothing happened. Looking at the slightly larger impression on the top of the pedestal, he thought that the medallion Avaya had given him might fit. Pulling it out, he tried sticking the medallion in, but it wouldn’t go down. Realizing that the gem was preventing it from going in, he flipped it around, and it slid in perfectly to the slot. Slapping his hand to the impression again. Perrin looked up to see the crystals inner light starting to grow brighter. The intensity was rapidly increasing to the point that he couldn’t look at it anymore. A high pitch whining sound started emanating from the crystal. He could feel the sound in his teeth.

Realizing how idiotic he had just been, he tried to get away from the pedestal, but his hand was stuck fast. The whining noise hit some type of crescendo, and a blue-ish ball of light shot out from what now looked like a miniature sun and hit him in the chest. Pain like he had never felt before seared through his body and everything went black.

Perrin opened his eyes, finding himself on his back with his hand no longer stuck to the crystal pedestal. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. There was a very bright and annoying looking pop-up screen floating in mid-air a foot from his face. In the middle of the screen was a play icon overlaid on it.

Of course, a pop-up screen, why not. Well, maybe these are the instructions I heard Dory and Avaya talking about.

He shrugged while pushing this finger at the play button on the screen and waited as a little sword icon was filling up slowly, so he assumed it was loading.

The screen came into focus on a man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes sitting on a dark stone throne. He was looking off to the left, talking to someone. He turned his head, cleared his throat, and started to speak.

“What’s up shit stain. Long time no see. It’s been, let see, for you probably a couple of thousand years giver take. The iterations your soul has been bouncing through runs at a faster time. I don’t really feel like looking it up right now. Whatever, that’s not important. Alright, so you probably have questions, so hit me with your first one, and I’ll answer the best I can.”

The man on the screen leaned back and stared intently at him, waiting. Perrin thought about it for a second and asked the question that he thought was the most important.

“What are the instructions that Avaya and Dory said would be here.”

The man stared back at Perrin. Silent.

Did he not hear me or something.

“What are the-” Perrin cut off as the man started laughing and continued to do so for quite some time.

Perrin was confused at first, and then he started to get pissed. This guy had just said to ask him questions and Perrin had.

What the fuck is his problem?

When the man’s laughter started to subside, he wiped at his eyes.

“Oh man, can’t believe you fell for it, ha, and I know you did too lolz you were always a sucker. This is a recording, dumbass. I can’t hear you or see you. What a twat.” and he started laughing again.

That son of a bitch.

“Ahh, that was rich. I really needed that. Ohh, okay, so you’re probably wondering. “What do I do” “how do I get out of here,” blah blah blah. Welp, it’s easy. It’s like a video game. You know the drill.”

In an announcer-like voice, he said, “Find the coins of destiny, slay the monsters, level up, and unlock your mysterious past. Welcome to Daedra, the most advanced interactive game ever designed!”

Talking normally again, the man continued, “We designed this place to wake you back up and kinda build you back up to a point so that you can survive the next step. We had to strip you pretty bare to make the whole death-rebirth cycle work, your memories, body, and finally, your soul. That little patch where you could run your Mantle in a dream state is done. You have started your path to ascension again, just like you wanted fresh and free from outside influences. Opening the portal here and starting up the crystal should have severed you completely from your Mantle. I bet it gave Dio a shock. That little shit head.” The man chuckled again.

Wait what, that was a lot of information, most of which made absolutely no sense. Ascension to what? Who’s Dio?

“I’m sure your wives explained most of the details about what you needed to do in here to survive, so I’m going to skip all that bullshit. I’m busy, and I’m sure you will figure out the finer details….”

They didn’t explain shit, and the world was going to hell when I jumped through that portal. This lazy bastard is just skipping the instructions he was supposed to give me. My life is shit. Like, a complete dumpster fire is an accurate description of my life currently.

“or you won’t. If you don’t, there is no coming back, buddy. You survive in there and succeed, or we will never see you again. I didn’t want to set it up this way. That was all you. I pleaded with you the whole time we built this place to leave in a back door or a respawn just in case something happened. Shit happens, dude, like no one, is on point 24/7. This place may be essentially a video game, but it’s a fucking hellscape, and your playing in permadeath mode. Whatever, you’re a stubborn bitch, and I couldn’t change your mind.” The man shook his head like he couldn’t believe the stupidity.

So basically, it’s real life, and if I die, it’s over. It doesn’t seem to be any different than what I was expecting before my life became a hack job fantasy plot.

“I mean, who gives up infinite respawn when you are literally going to be fighting real Demons in hell. Dude, those tentacle looking ones that are the size of small skyscrapers that YOU insisted on putting in there.” the man shuddered.

Demons in hell… the size of skyscrapers... you have got to be fucking kidding me, and I said no to respawns. Who even does something so stupid like that?

A pit started growing in Perrins’s stomach at what he was about to face. Knowing that he had “technically,” for whatever reason fucked himself at the same time was a hard pill to swallow. Thoughts of what could have driven his previous self to do such a thing were troubling.

It’s almost like he set us up for failure or at least a very small chance at survival.

“Anywho, we did it before, so I’m sure you will be able to do it again. We didn’t always have our broken ass powers and bull shit abilities.” the dark-haired man said with a chuckle.

“Alright let’s see, hmm... What else should I say? Oh yeah! I added that difficulty increases you asked me for just in case one of your wives decided to tag along. If two souls step into the pocket dimension, it will kick in.”

Damn asking them to come, why hadn’t I thought of that. With either of those two powerhouses, I could probably fly through this place. I didn’t know what was going on, though, and they hadn’t offered either. Well, Avaya did say she technically wasn’t there, whatever that means.

“They no better than to try, and I warned them that if they did, the difficulty would increase by a thousandfold. Now, I know you said to only do ten, but Perrin, there was no way those numbers were keeping them honest. Get the fuck out of here with that shit. There is no way they will step foot in that place with you now. You would both die for sure… well probably.”

The pit in his stomach seemed to grow deeper, wider, and fall into infinity as he looked over at Mazikeen.

"Let’s see what else uh...hmmm... Time will run super fast in there relative to the outside plane you’re on. We can’t stop it completely, well we can, but that would draw too much attention, and you would need to come back there if you make it out. That was a change I made after you left. No reason for time to be an issue once you get to this stage, plus you’ll get done faster, well, at least for us, you will. I guess that’s it. I can’t think of anything else, but I’ll leave you with one last thing before I go.” he stopped, and his face took on a serious expression.

“Perrin, what happened that caused you to do all of this craziness. I understand why you wanted to do this, and it is not like I didn’t have my part in the situation. I wouldn’t have helped you build this place had I not. Just remember that you were, no, you are a good person. Frankly, you’re one of the best people I’ve ever known. The choices you made in the past are just that, in the past. Your friends and family care about you deeply, and we need you back, buddy. I hope that you can find some forgiveness for yourself and let go of the things that have been weighing on your heart for so long.”

The man then smiled and leaned back on his throne. “Welp, enough of that bromance garbage, that’s all I have to say, soooo don’t die beotch. I’d really miss your cute wittle scowling face.” said the man in a condescending tone.

The screen faded to black with a 10-second timer counting down. A voice said, “this screen will self-destruct if not closed in 10...9...8...7...”

Perrin tried to close the screen, pressing the red X in the top left corner repeatedly. Standing up, he started to run, but the screen stayed in front of him no matter where he went. With the screen covering his vision, he couldn’t tell where he was going and slammed into a column plinth, almost falling into an archway.

When the timer hit zero, howls of laughter could be heard emanating from the screen. As the dark-haired, blue-eyed man beat on his black throne.

“Oh my god... I can’t wait to see that video. It had to have been priceless. I’m going to send that one out as a Christmas card if you make it back. Ohhhh, that was good. Anywho, ciao fucker, and good luck.”

That trolling piece of shit. I’m going to rip his balls off if I ever see him…. shove them so far up his ass… Calm... Calm….Calm, I need to remain calm. That ass whole will get what’s coming to him as soon as I get out of wherever the hell I am.

Perrin looked around with the screen gone and saw that his hand was inches away from the shiny liquid looking portal that took up the massive archway. Jerking his hand back from the thing in panic, he rolled away from the archway and got to his feet.

“Alright, I need to figure out what this place is about.” he muttered as he looked around.

He looked over to see that Mazikeen was starting to stir. She looked perfectly whole again, which was amazing considering the state she had been in when he jumped in here. Her face and dress were still covered in her own blood, and her silver hair was disheveled.

At least I’m not alone in here, although now that I think about it, I don’t think my heroics back there did me any favors—what a joke. I save someone’s life only to find out that I’ve inadvertently killed myself and her most likely.

Perrin thought about what happened between Mazikeen and himself right before the shit hit the fan, and Avaya decided he needed a new door on his RV.

Why did I bring her with me? She obviously had some type of “mojo” and was healing on her own. Yeah, sure, she might have died in that battle from the crossfire, but she most definitely wasn’t on our side, was she? Dammit, can I even restrain her? She can probably squash me like a bug with a thought. How do I play this so that I don’t die before I even begin this farce? Best to play it smart and act as an ally until I can find out more about her. Maybe she might know about this place or at least know enough to keep us alive.

Perrin walked over to her as she started to sit up. She had one hand rubbing at the side of her temple like she might have a headache. She noticed Perrin walking up to her, and she froze. Her purple eyes were laser-focused on him.

He continued to walk toward her trying his hardest to emulate friendly confidence and a non-aggressive posture. “Are you okay? I might have some aspirin in my bag if you have a headache. I noticed that you were healing on your own, but you aren’t looking too good right now.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she looked down at her blood-soaked clothing. She had a look of shock and dismay at her appearance. She pulled out a hand mirror from out of thin air and looked at her face. She then promptly shrieked. Mazikeen looked back at Perrin then looked around like she was trying to run away from him. She saw the pedestal and made a b-line towards it and out of his sight.

Well, that went well.

He had no clue what to make of the interaction. Perrin had always thought women were odd, especially the attractive ones. At least that had been his experience. He knew next to nothing about women’s motivations and supposed he probably never would. His father had raised him to treat them with respect, and his mother taught equality. That approach hadn’t failed him yet so he’d keep to it.

Mazikeen peeked her disheveled head around the pedestal and said, “Don’t come over here!”

He raised his hands up in an “okay” gesture and nodded his head.

Definitely odd. At least she didn’t kill me, I guess. Be thankful for the little things.

He sat down and waited patiently, figuring that she would come out from behind the pedestal at some point. It wasn’t like they were going anywhere, according to the dickbag in that video.

The stress of the situation slowly started setting in on him, and he reached into his pockets, searching for his lights. He found the pack, sighed in relief, and decided to burn one as he thought about what he needed to do next.

What is the most important thing currently? Water and food. Avaya said there were essentials here somewhere, but all I see are the archways, and I’m pretty sure that she said not to leave the safe area until I was ready. But what does that even mean? If I assume this is the safe area, then where are the water and food?

He cursed himself for his lack of information about this place. He was supposed to get instructions when he got here, but yet everyone either didn’t have the time or was too lazy to tell him. The thought about the man in the video flamed his rage again. His left eye twitched a little as he took another drag.

I just need five minutes with that bastard. A rusty pair of scissors and some salt. Oh, what I’m going to do to you…Calm…Calm…be calm Perrin. You need to focus and adapt. Okay. Okay. What do you know? I’m in what is most likely a safe area. The archways full of mercury are most likely not. What did the video tell you? There was a lot of information. Some of it was useful, and some bits were confusing. What was useful? This is essentially a video game world. He distinctly said I needed to find the coins of whatever, level up, slay the monsters….Video game…level up. Wait, that means there must be some type of menu, then, right? But how do I access it, or is it even on yet? Also, Avaya said this was my study as well.

Perrin looked around again, but he still saw no doors anywhere. “How could this be my study if there is no door to it?” He mumbled aloud. As soon as he finished his sentence, a golden door appeared a few feet away from him off to the left, and he almost pissed himself from the shock.

What did I just do, and where the hell did that come from? Was it because I said “study”? Maybe this place is voice-activated. That would make sense…well, no, it wouldn’t because this whole situation is bullshit, and my life is bullshit and whatever. A magic door on voice command…why not.

He took the last drag off his light and put it out on his dress boot before standing up and brushing off his slacks.

Still in my damn work clothes, at least I have a change of clothing in my go-bag, and I'm pretty sure I put my old iron ranger boots in the bottom. Alright, let's see about this door.

Looking over the golden door, he noticed it didn’t have a handle, but it did have a slot the size of his medallion. A now familiar hand impression was right below the slot. Looking back to the pedestal, he saw that his medallion was now on the carpet.

Guess it must have popped out after… whatever that was that happened and that ball of light hit me. Well, I can’t go grab it right now with her hiding behind the pedestal.

Fortunately, Mazikeen decided to stand up and walk around the pedestal at that moment. She looked pristinely clean with zero signs of blood anywhere on her. Her silver hair was now tied into a ponytail on each side of her head in a purposeful messy fashion. Her red polka-dot dress was still the same scandalously short thing it was. Her boots were gone now and replaced with white tennis shoes. She had a playful look on her face that really gave off an innocent sexy vibe. Basically, she hit Perrin’s strike zone at all levels. The emo thing she had going on with the black lipstick made her appeal more exotic, in his opinion.

Perrin looked away as his cheeks started heating. He gave his slacks some needed adjustment while he tried to dispel the thoughts he was having. He walked over to the medallion and picked it up. Slipping it into his pocket, he turned to her with a smile.

“All better now?” He tried hoping to get a response out of her. She just looked at him with that same innocent, insanely attractive smile. Her purple eyes were boring into him like she could read his soul. He wasn't certain if she couldn’t do just that now that he thought about it. They stayed like that for what Perrin felt was entirely too long, but he wasn't about to look away.

She finally broke the silence, “Where are we? And where is Avaya?”

He thought about the first question and decided to address it first. He wasn’t sure he wanted to answer the second one just yet.

What will she do to me if she finds out that Avaya isn’t here? She will either want to kill me or ….

He shuddered internally as his imagination went a little wild. He thought it might be worth the chance for the second option, but right now, he needed to focus. He wasn’t a sex crazed teenager but if that woman didn’t spark dirty thoughts in your mind then he thought you probably were batting for the other team.

“Well, we are in my personal study currently. What do you remember?”

She tilted her head ever so slightly to the side and continued to smile before she said, “I remember that I was sent to pick you up and then… SHE showed up and ruined our fun.” She made a pouty face and took a step towards Perrin. With his heart racing, he took a step backward. Her pouty face turned into a smirk, but she didn’t come any closer.

“I also remember you were so sweet to me after Avaya was so mean.” She then made a face that was full of unbridled fury, and her eyes started to glow faintly. Perrin felt a pressure bear down on him, similar to what had happened with Avaya but not quite as strong. And then it was gone as if it had never been there, and her pouty face was back like it had never left.

She took another step closer, and Perrin once again took another step back in what he hoped was the direction of the golden door. He slipped his hand into his pockets, casually feeling for the coin, deciding then and there, that he might not want to have this conversation with her just yet.

She seems like she might still be upset with Avaya. Her emotions are changing too much for my comfort. If this goes sideways like I’m fairly certain it will. Let’s hope that I can get in before she can get to me. Fat chance of that if she really tries, but if I can be clever enough and casual enough, I just might be able to pull it off.

Perrin flicked his gaze behind him and saw that he was only a step or so from the door. When he turned his sight back to Mazikeen, she was inches from his face. So close, he could smell her. She smelled like cherries and limes.

How does she move so fast? I didn't even hear her move or feel it for that matter.

He started stammering, “So after I uh-uhm helped you, q-quite a few people showed up. Angels maybe? They looked like they were angels, and then these oddly dressed people started fighting with them. It got well, you know, pretty crazy. You uhm almost died again, I think, and uhm so I opened up my study and brought you with me to escape the craziness outside…” he trailed off as she continued to stare at him with that intense purple gaze and innocent smile.

“Where’s Avaya?” She said in a sweet and innocent voice as she started twirling a lock of silver hair in her right hand. Her left starting to tap on her lips as a more predatory look replaced the innocent smile.

It took all Perrin could do not to freak right the fuck out right then and there. He managed to causally smile back at her as he took the last step towards the golden door. He broke eye contact with her as he turned and looked at the door, reaching up and acting like he was inspecting it curiously.

Easy now, Perrin eeeasy. Nice and casual. Be casual.

“She’s down that hallway over there.” He said as he pointed to the torch-lit hallway, putting on a "like it didn’t really matter where she was" look. She turned in that direction at again speeds he was sure weren’t possible. Then she took a step and was just gone. Not wasting any time and hoping, no praying to whatever god hated him so much that they might possibly show some mercy right now, he slid the medallion into the slot and placed his right hand in the impression. There was a slight pop, medallion falling back into his hand. The door bisected horizontally, leaving only a frame and open entryway into a small, more modern lit hallway. He stepped through immediately. He then heard the sound of Mazikeen’s seductive voice coming from the hallway.

“Ohhh Perrin, Perrin, Perrin, Perrin, you naughty naughty boy. Avaya isn’t here, is she? In fact, we are here all alone, aren’t we?” She said, giggling and then laughing in a broken way.

Panic struck through Perrin in very conflicting ways from the sound of that broken laugh, as he tried to figure out how the ever-loving hell he was supposed to close this damn door.

She appeared at the entrance to the hallway as if she had always been there. He froze as their eyes met and she stared at him in what he had to admit was the most sexually appealing and terrifying gaze he’d ever had the chance to experience.

“You don’t know how to close it, do you?” She laughed then, and it was achingly beautiful this time. Mazikeen started walking towards him slowly like she was a cat that had finally cornered its prey. She wanted to see him squirm for a bit as she toyed with him.

Perrin reached around both sides of the door in a frantic way, desperately feeling for a switch or pad that he could use to close the door before she made it back to him. He refused to take his eyes off her. He knew for certain that if he did, she would be on him instantly. He was lucky she had some type of playful streak, or he’d already be done for.

Think think think think …. Why is this happening to me? I mean, it might be fun …probably. STOP, think seriously, get it together. How did the door open? Well, I don’t really know how it opened technically, but it was most likely voice-activated. Oh, she’s so close... shit! Think, think. Okay, so most likely, the word “study” opened the door. So maybe close study. Worth a shot.

Feeling like he was probably right, a twisted humorous thought came to mind. He dropped the panicked look and gave her a confident smirk that made her pause for a moment.

He looked her up and down, letting her know that he was enjoying the view before he met her purple gaze.

“Sorry, sweetheart. I need to close the study door.” His face widened into a big shit-eating grin as the door quickly snapped shut. An impact so hard it shook Perrin’s bones reverberated out from the door.

Wiping the sweat pouring off his face with his arm, he said, “Well, that was fun,” chuckling to himself, he turned around to explore the new area.