Chapter 22

If this world was a dream, Mirror Shard was the nightmare.
I don't mean this in an ominous kinda way. It wasn't that scary or disturbing...yet but it had all the qualities of those weird loopy dreams where nothing made sense and you couldn't tell if you were here or there and if the person next to you was a cyborg or your mom. Sometimes you really couldn't tell the difference. 
It wasn't grass that we landed on when we went through the portal. There was this weird swooping sensation as if your stomach exchanged places with your heart or when you were on a very steep rollercoaster. I loved it and hated it at the same time. 

We were on a shore. I couldn't call it a beach because it was far too mindbogginly looking to be tied to anything as serene and fun as that. The sand underneath us was black and decayed. If you ran your hands through it, it stained your fingertips with something that looked like coal or smoke and it disintegrated. There was a weird background buzzing that it took me a moment to place until I looked in front of me at the water of the sea. The waves were moving backwards. Instead of licking the sand, they seemed to move away from it and that created a sound opposite to the swooshing of a wave if that makes sense? The sky looked like fractured glass. I was at awe and at the same time completely terrified. Everything about this place told you that you shouldn't trust a thing of what you saw and felt and we would not only have to defeat the Echoes of Eden police but manage to rescue a bunch of people. At least we knew where the way out w- The portal was gone.

"Of-fucking-course" I tried not to panic and didn't mention anything to the others. Maybe it moved, I mean it wouldn't be much of a challenge otherwise? And this was supposed to be the hardest point of the game. To which we had come with stone weapons, one legendary sword that I wasn't sure I still had access to or what I would do without being able to pick it up and a wolf with lots of attitude. I hadn't seen Fett use any weapon yet so I couldn't be sure and Tol's strength seemed to be her knowledge of herbs and plants and their different intricacies. Thing was, there was nothing remotely green in this barren place. Or anything living apart from us now that I thought about it. My eyes widened and I quickly stood up, not a very easy feat seeing as the sand seemed determined to swallow my steps, and looked around. Nothing. For miles and miles forwards or backwards. Only sea both from the left and the right. As if the beach itself was a reflection. How could we tell what was real then? And more importantly, WHAT THE HELL WERE WE GOING TO EAT AND DRINK?!

"Okay, guys. I think there is more to this place than we initially thought...or actually less" I passed a hand through my hair, feeling the grittiness of the sand stick to some of the strands. "We're gonna have to figure this out but I think the prison isn't in Mirror Shard. The prison is the Mirror Shard. I know how it sounds! But I think I have proved myself a little bit so have a little trust in me! There is nothing around so what if entering the Mirror Shard is what imprisons you? That would be very bad for us but now that we know the situation, we can work it out together." I took a deep breath in, relieved that I got to expand on my thoughts and express them. I had never talked that much before, barring the chance I had to talk about Mulan but I was still interrupted. Then it struck me.

I had never talked that much before 
"Guys?" I laughed mirthlessly before looking around. Nobody was there. Even my voice itself sounded like a drowned echo. "It's not funny! Did you leave me behind?" Were would they have gone then? The place was so void of anything that I should be able to see them in the distance. Had I even heard any of them make a sound when we landed? Had I seen them? I couldn't remember. I thought I was alone before but there was nothing quite like this. This was the real nightmare.

Something flickered in front of me, in the middle of the sand and the two mirroring shores. It was pale, it was bright, it looked like a silhouette. I cocked my head in confusion and furrowed my eyebrows. A splitting headache started building in my temples but I wouldn't be discouraged. Then I remembered.

"You! I knew I saw you in the Frozen Wastes! I knew you were real!" I smiled maniacally. I wasn't alone, or was I? There was something strangely ominous about the whole thing and the silhouette still didn't move or make a sound. "Where did you go? You vanished so fast that I didn't catch up to you and then..." My steps were unsteady on the sand so I put more vigor and speed into them. The closer I came, the more an uncomfortable feeling built in my stomach. I should keep away it said, I braved on. "How did you end up here? Do you know what's the deal with this place?" Still no response. "Answer me!"I shouted hoping to break the muted sound surrounding me as if I was screaming underwater. The whole situation frizzled me and I took on a moe confrontational look before I bulldozed toward them. I was going to make them notice me. But when I came up to them, instead of colliding with a body, I crashed onto a mirror and the next part was hard to remember.

I was in a room of numbers. It was cold, it was square. All I could see, taste or feel were numbers. And some letters from time to time to spice things up. Latin numbers mostly. Stuff I shouldn't be familiar with, I was pretty sure I had only ever learned to speak Japanese, but they made sense to me. Now, if you asked me to explain it to you, I would draw a blank. I understood the sensation of them, meaning they didn't look like gibberish. Still, I had no idea what they were all about or where the hell I was. 

"Hello! Hello! Hello!" I turned towards the voice to see a person with the same not-quite-there essence of the one I had been trying to approach. Their features were more defined and so were their clothes. He looked like a shopkeeper in a medieval setting. His colouring though was still very much like a ghost. He kept saying that one word like a broken record and doing the same movement with his hand as if inviting you inside to show you his wares.

"Hi, can you-?"

"Hello! Hello! Hello!" He kept at it. No orange question mark to take on a quest, no choice in my menu to try and buy something even if I had no money whatsoever. I hadn't even seen an actual shop before stumbling upon him but I guess, any good game would have one. I hadn't even finished having the thought when an earthquake shook the whole room and cracks started appearing in the walls before a shop appeared right behind the shopkeeper out of thin air. I was starting to seriously freak out.

I moved away from that spot but I kept stumbling on half-formed people with one word on repeat or sometimes not even able to say something other than make nonsensical noises. Some of them had pixelized heads, others lower bodies and many of them flickered in and out of existence. I never managed to find that one person that kept appearing and disappearing in front of me as if trying to convey a message or hint at something but by the point I would find the way out of there, I feared I would have lost myself.

I summoned my map after I walked around enough. Surely, I could find something on it about this place. 

The Glitching Fields 

Well, that was helpful