Further tears strolled from lisande’s eyes before she nodded with a face scrunched from holding back tears, accepting his hand before standing.
“Alright,” he nodded in return with a smile, “Let’s get out of here.”
“…Is that even possible, though? I’ve looked everywhere, but all I’ve found are monsters…” lisande asked.
Now that they were standing together, her height was clear; the silver-haired girl was roughly a whole head shorter than the blonde-and-black haired boy.
“It is. Joel taught how to maneuver through this place: we have to find a doorway,” he told her.
“A doorway? Here?” lisande asked.
Emilio nodded, beginning to walk slowly into the wetlands with lisande following, “–There’s always a doorway. It’s the one, absolute truth in these twisted realities. If we find a door…”
“…We can escape?” lisande interrupted.
“Well, it’s not certain…” He told her, hesitant to give her the gloomy news, “…There’s a chance we’ll end up in another distorted world–like this swamp. That’s how I found you. I was in a different place than this before entering a doorway to this area.”
“Oh…” lisande replied.
He made sure to continuously check on the girl while they both marched through the swamp. If there was one thing he was certain of, if he let his guard down, the Unending Nightmare would take advantage of that in a heartbeat.
“Listen, I’m strong too, you know!” lisande suddenly said.
“What? Oh–yeah?” He replied, sowhat taken aback by her words.
“–My brother taught how to fight! I can handle myself if it cos to it so…don’t worry about ! Just take care of yourself if it cos to it,” she told him, “…If you ask nicely, I might even protect you.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind, then.”.
It seed once peeling the frightening veil back, lisande had a strong spirit, just like her older brother as a shine of resolve was etched into her erald eyes.
To his surprise, he felt his left hand, which was free of his sword, grabbed and held gently by lisande.
“Huh–?” He let out, glancing back at the silver-haired girl.
She was sowhat shy about it at first, but asserted her decision confidently, “–W-we can’t be separated, right?! That’s why I’m doing this…!”
“Oh…got it. Thanks,” he smiled.
Though as he held her hand, tethering them to one another, he could feel her fingers trembling against his own.
It must’ve been frightening for her–all alone in a place like this, he thought.
With his sword being held in his right hand, he kept his eyes and ears peeled while traversing the crimson-flowered swamp with the girl following close behind.
“…Are you from Larundog?” lisande asked.
Keeping his eyes ahead, he answered, “No. I was coming through…and well, to make a long story short, a lot’s happened.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Huh?”
“You’re the sa age as , aren’t you?…Dealing with sothing like this…” lisande said.
“We’re both in this–but we don’t have to face it alone anymore,” he assured her with a small smile, looking back.
lisande looked at him in surprise before nodding her head, gently clenching his head, “Right…’
Still, as much as he tried to remain optimistic for the sake of the girl, he found himself doubting more and more of his own capabilities.
My mana is shot and I’m exhausted, he thought, at this rate, I don’t know how much longer I can go.
The stickiness of the wetlands made it difficult to move one foot in front of the other, having to lift his boots from the clingy mud below the shallow water with each step. It was a small obstacle, but repeatedly, it grew cumberso on his tired body.
As they walked, lisande used her free hand to hold the bottom of her dress up, keeping it from touching the water, though it was already dirty from her ti in the alternate reality.
“What’s that…?” lisande asked.
For a mont, he didn’t know what the silver-haired girl was referring to as he was tunnel visioned on what was in front of them, but once he looked up, he found himself flabbergasted.
There were what seed to be human bodies, suspended on the trees with spider lilies sprouting from their eyes and mouths; their bodies were completely overtaken by moss.
It’s just like that gorilla. Are these victims from Larundog…or previous attacks by the Unending Nightmare? He questioned.
“…Let’s keep moving,” he told her.
“Yeah…” lisande agreed.
The deeper they went into the swamp, scouting for any signs of a doorway, the more dense the spider lilies and other foliage beca. Entire gardens of colorful flowers sprouted on the bodies of trees, though they weren’t species of plants he recognized.
“I should’ve asked this before, but…is there anything I should be looking out for? Anything like that beast from earlier?” He asked quietly.
lisande took a mont to respond, “There are.”
“Really?”
“I spent most of my ti avoiding them, but so of the plants…they seem to move on their own,” lisande told him, “I’m not sure of it…I think they might be able to kill–”
Before the girl could properly explain what she’d encountered, Emilio stopped in front of her, raising his sword as the sound of rapid movent through the shallow waters resounded.
Splash. Splash. Splash.
Out from the dark depths of the crimson treeline, more surprising than a hellish entity was a man sprinting out.
“–A person?” He mumbled in surprise.
It was a middle-aged man with a thick, ginger beard and left only in a pair of tattered trousers with a body layered in bruises and abnormal, fungal-like growths.
“Help –! Help!” The man cried out, racing towards the two with bloodshot eyes.
lisande hid behind Emilio, clutching onto his cloak while he stood his ground, keeping his sword raised.
“Stay back-! Tell what’s going on!” He shouted.
“Help-! Help! Help!” The man continued to cry.
Lunging towards him, the hysteric man attempted to grab onto his shirt, but he stepped back, bringing lisande back with him as he avoided the grasp of the sickly stranger.
What’s wrong with him?! He questioned.
“…Why won’t you help ?!” The man cried, “I-It’s coming! It’s going to get us all–! It’s–”
Right before the crazed man could finish spitting out his words, sothing stretched out from the depths of the wetlands: scarlet vines, layered in thorns, whipped out and wrapped around the man’s body.
“No–!” The man cried out.
“Hold on…!”
Before Emilio could try to cut away the bindings with his sword, the disembodied vines retreated, pulling the infected man back from where he ca at a visceral speed.
He and lisandre were at a loss for words for a minute at what had just happened, but it left an ominous atmosphere hanging in the mystical swamp.
“…That’s what I was trying to tell you…It feels like sothing is lurking–like part of the swamp is alive,” lisande told him.
He didn’t respond, only taking her hand as he kept his eyes on the direction of the murderous vines before heading in a different direction.
This is bad. I can’t handle sothing like that right now, he thought, I have to prioritize getting her and myself out of here.
Further into the wetlands, leading the way, he found himself stepping onto a patch land that was engulfed in colorful flowers.
“Try not to touch any of these,” he warned.
“Okay,” lisande nodded quietly.
He wasn’t certain of it, but such vibrant aspects of nature usually led to the objects themselves being poisonous to so degree. If there was one thing he wanted to avoid, it was so otherworldly variation of poison ivy.
The ground was mushy beneath his boots, prompting him to glance down, though he imdiately regretted that decision.
What the…? He thought.
It was difficult to see unless looking carefully, but the mossy ground he treaded on wasn’t simply of soil and flowers, but covered in stagnant faces which blood the otherworldly plantlife.
Overtaken by the malignant nature of the wetlands, the landmass they walked on was built on a foundation of bodies, used as the basis of new life.
“What’s wrong, Emilio?…” lisande asked from behind him.
She must’ve sensed his hesitation, or at least felt the slight squeeze he gave to her hand once laying his eyes on the horrific realization.
Still, he opted to keep this discovery to himself before continuing to move, “…Nothing.”
Up ahead, it seed the layout of the swamp was finally lending itself to a new shape: trees were lined perfectly together like walls, forming a corridor towards sothing unseen and unknown through the darkness.
“Do you think there’s a door down there…?” lisande asked.
“I don’t know. But, it’s worth checking,” he replied.
Together, the two moved through the knee-high, murky water, enclosed by the claustrophobic walls of trees that seed to grow more narrow the further they traveled down.
What was once a gap as wide as a street was now just enough for the width of his shoulders, which weren’t particularly broad for his age.
It’s getting narrower…He thought.
Soon enough, it got to the point to where they both needed to turn to the side, slowly maneuvering through the thin passage between the colossal, mossy trees.
“This isn’t normal…” lisande said.
He wanted to respond with a snarky ‘Nothing about this has been normal’–but he was more focused on saving his breath as the claustrophobic environnt weighed on his chest.
To add even more to it, the water level grew higher along with the narrowness of the trees; it rose to being up to his stomach now, causing him to slow down.
Though it grew to be an arduous path to traverse, he could now make out what laid at the end of the assembly of trees: an opening into a gargantuan tree, shrouded in spider lilies and azure flowers.
“Emilio…” lisande said.
“I know,” he replied, breathing heavier as he kept moving, “…We’re almost out of here.”
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