Chapter 11: Never Ending Confusion

Gaia...Mateo was from a planet called Gaia.

"You mean Earth?" I responded back. 

"Earth? No, you idiot I mean Gaia...what is Earth?" Mateo and me locked eyes and I think we both realized something but didn't want to discuss it. We were from two different worlds...

Mr. Voice had never said he summoned Mateo from the same place as me. I figured maybe he was from another place not Japan but I didn't think he was literally from an entirely different world! It was a shocking revelation but I thought about it rationally for a moment and realized was it really that insane? Look where I...where we are currently. 

Armata...

Why was it so hard to believe there were others world other than Earth? When I thought about it like this my slight panic eased away. This was just another example of how wild reality truly is. I laid in my small but cozy tent for a few more minutes pondering so many different things but eventually, I succumbed to sleep. 

Morning once more...

Mateo made all of the tents vanish into thin air with a wave of his hand and we set off towards the Forest of Infinity once more. Mateo and I talked a bit, Alna listening in but confused when we began to discuss more about our differing worlds.

"Wait...you two are from different worlds!?" Alna now was clued in like the two of us. Her reaction made me laugh a small bit. 

"Yeah...apparently. I come from Gaia, Mizuki from Earth. Mr. Voice seems to have some scary abilities itself if it can summon people from different places entirely." Mateo said with his arms behind his back. 

"I agree. Mr. Voice...I want to know more about it. I feel like we are only seeing a partial truth here and that worries me." 

"What do you mean?" Alna asked me.

"In my world, we have people like Mr. Voice...manipulators. People that lie to others to get their agenda fulfilled. These people are scary...they aren't above completely fabricating lies to fool others." 

"We have people like that on our world as well." Mateo chimed in.

"They sound like a shady salesman." Alna said and I nodded.

"Yes, they are selling something...lies and half truths." 

Another day of travel came to a close. I had always thought adventures in another world would be more...eventful. Aside from the recent goblin attack, we had just been walking and chatting like it was a Saturday stroll in Akihabara. I wasn't complaining, even though it kind of sounds like I am, but I guess I wanted more. I would soon regret my thoughts and remember these simpler days.

Several days had passed since the attack and we finally reached the forest...

"What the hell..." I looked at our destination and couldn't believe my eyes. Outside, the weather was nice. A bit warm but not a cloud in the sky and we had arrived midday so the sun was still high in the sky. However, the forest...it had a giant rain cloud above it and just peeking inside from the outside showed it was nighttime. Alna's statements were almost comical I thought when she first described this place. Now seeing it in person though, she wasn't lying.

"Welcome to the Forest of Infinity." Alna stated.

"This place screams don't enter yet here we are, three fools about to enter in hopes of finding a girl within." Mateo dropped to the floor and crossed his legs. I didn't disagree with his comment. Are we really about to enter this place? 

"Guys, Mr. Voice told us we needed to find that girl so we could get stronger...so you could get stronger Mizuki. I don't disagree this is idiotic to enter this place but...we have no choice." I looked at Alna than Mateo. 

"We have to...she's right." Mateo looked up at me then Alna.

"Well...it beats sitting in a cave all day I guess. Here...might as well use these here." Mateo got up and then began to dig into his pockets. He pulled out several round items.

"What are those?" Alna and I asked.

"These are items that can track your location via this." He then pulled out three small smartphone-like monitors. 

"While you won't know who is on the screen, it will show one of us is nearby. This way when we go in, we hopefully won't get too separated." I held the two items in my hand and was a bit lost.

"A tracker and monitor?" 

"Yeah? You don't have them on Erf? 

"Earth...and we do I'm just surprised. I wonder how much our two worlds have in common." 

"Probably a lot. Maybe not magic but look at Armata. This place is similar to both of our worlds in some aspects." Mateo pointed at the ground then the sky. 

"You have dirt and clouds in your world right?"

"Yes..." I stated.

"So goes to show you...despite our worlds being different they share a connection in design." Alna just looked at both of us with a confused look on her face.

"What's a monitor and tracker?"

We spent some time describing their purpose but Alna quickly understood what they did and how we could use them. We both walked to the front of the entrance and didn't move. If my feet could, I'm pretty sure they would have dug into the ground and refuse to let me step into this place. Yet, we all turned to one another, nodded, and entered into the forest...

When we entered, I almost laughed at the cliché incident that followed. Despite us literally entering together and being next to one another, maybe only a foot apart at best, we now were all separated. 

"I should have seen this coming...played enough games to know this would happen." I knew no one could hear me but it needed to be said out loud and to myself. I looked around, it was indeed night in here and was raining but oddly enough the rain didn't seem to be real. As confusing as that sounds, I was standing in the open with nothing above me yet I was bone dry. I held my hand out, the water did indeed hit my hand and felt cool to the touch but it didn't get me wet. 

I started walking through the light rain gripping onto my monitor from Mateo. The device was simple enough as he showed us before we entered.

"There are three buttons. One zooms in, another zooms out. This button is what lets you send out a pulse. When that pulse hits another one of the trackers, it will show up on screen. Again, you won't know which of us it is signaling but its better than nothing and the best I could do given my ability." 

"Thanks Mateo, at least I have some assurance someone is nearby." I knew he wasn't around but when I hit the button he said would send out a signal, the screen briefly blinked than another image popped up. A small dot that didn't seem too far away.

Here's where I was wrong about thinking Mateo's device was great. Despite walking for a good thirty minutes, the icon on the device didn't move and it seemed I wasn't getting closer to it either.

"Useless mage..." I cursed Mateo out. I knew deep down,it wasn't his fault but still this device was a toy at this point. I could keep walking towards the icon but even if I changed direction and walked elsewhere it stayed fixed in one spot. Maybe this forest nulled his device's ability? Maybe it was just useless after all? Too many theories...right now I needed to find the others. I know Alna said monsters avoided this place but I couldn't shake a feeling...I was being watched.

It had now been several hours of walking aimlessly. The paths never seemed to go anywhere or change visually. Despite the monitor and tracker originally being a bit comforting, they now felt like high grade rocks in my hands. I could understand more and more why people avoided this place...it was hell.

"What do I do?" I stopped walking finally and laid down on the floor. The rain had subsided, not that it was doing anything negative in the first place but now it was just night...quiet and dark. The moon above gave me some light...and then it hit me...THE MOON! 

I waited several minutes, still lying on the ground but staring at the moon...which never seemed to move. Even after an hour, the moon didn't shift position...it was still there. I realized this was moon was fake...it wasn't real.

A while back when it was just Alna and me, I remember I looked at the moon and noticed something foreign. 

"Your moon is like mine but there's a big difference." I looked over Alna who was laying down and looking up as well.

"What's that?" 

"My moon, only during some times in the year does it seem close. Most of the time its far away so that you need a special device to see it up close." I pointed to it. 

"Yeah?" Alna turned to look at me.

"Yeah, your moon it moves a lot and is super close. Like...it moves almost like its alive." 

"Well the rumor was the moon is alive. It dances at night and when the sun comes in, it sleeps far away and let's the sun shine." Alna smiled I think she even knew that sounded absurd.

"Well...regardless of that...silly story...your moon literally feels alive."

That was the difference here. The moon I was seeing reminded me of my moon. This one wasn't the dancing moon of Armata...as ridiculous I still think that sounds. This moon was like mine...

"I give you credit. You passed round one. Even though your friends figured it out a bit sooner." A voice suddenly made me jump up and summon my blade. 

"Whose there!?" I scanned around frantically.

"Time for your second test. This time I'll give you back your friends...you're going to need them to survive...