Door noises!

  Before entering I look towards my right, left and then forward, not in this particular order though, what I find however, brings back warm memories. Yes, it’s a normal room, a simple room that is furnished, nothing more, nothing else. Ah, I will finally leave this place and everything behind, Miranda included. Hum, maybe I should get her number?

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Confirming that there isn’t any danger up ahead with my Magic Sense skill, I fully enter the room and just like always, once the door closes, it disappears right after. Now that I’m fully inside of the room I quickly notice something that picks my interest.

  “Is that the outside!?”

  I lay my eyes on the balcony to my left, one that is slightly higher than my current position, but I’m still able to somewhat see the outside. This very moment is when I let this out to the world with a somewhat relieved look on my face. I might really be at the end of this, and this thought alone is bringing relief to myself. I still have to confirm it though, is this the real outside, or is it the outside from one of those places that I was just in? With this I mind a walk up to the balcony in a hurry, ignoring everything else that is in the room. Although there is one particular thing that caught my interest, but I still have to see the “outside” first. It seems that the goddess of luck is on my side as what I see pleases me by quite a bit.

  “Thank god it really is the outside... But I sure am quite high! Can’t say that I expect that but, at least I know where I am.”

  Once I was close enough to the balcony, I was able to fully see the real outside and its chaotic scene. I can’t forget that, this whole area is a battleground so it’s more than expected to be in such a way. I’m not at the plaza for example, I’m actually closer to the commercial area than it, however the destruction has reached here and well beyond it. Shadows are walking around the destroyed city like they own the place. While the Crystal monsters do the same thing, they instead are looking for the Shadows, hunting them down. An endless battle it seems, one that each side seems desperate to end the other one. But enough of this, with my Magic Sense skill it seems that things have calmed down a bit. This means that I’m not in a worry, but I should get moving, I still have my business to take care of. Although, I do have that feeling that I’m close.

  “Hmm, now that I think about it, while I, the Hero, is looking towards the horizon, this makes a good opportunity for someone to sneak behind me, waiting for me to turn around and scare me!”

  I look backwards in an instant as I say this, however to my extremely unpleasant surprise, but one that I was expecting since I didn’t feel anything or anyone behind me, the moment I fully turn around no one was behind me as expected. Am I this bored? Really? Anyway, to my left we have quite the fancy and exquisite looking sofa, one that is right next to the wall maybe 2-3 meters from me? This room is not big by any means, I would say 50 square meters? Either way, this sofa is coloured fully in white and with a few décors coloured in a golden colour. This sofa does look nice, so much so that I want to sit on it. Seriously, this thing looks beyond comfortable and to make things even fancier, to each side of the sofa there is a small cabinet, ones that have the same or similar décor as the sofa. However, they are coloured in darker shades of grey, creating a nice contrast with the bright colour of the sofa.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  To my right there is the exit right in the middle of the wall. This time there isn’t any door at all, just a “hole” in the wall, one that has an arch at the top. Quite nice, but moving on. In front of me there is the thing that caught my interest as I was walking up to the balcony, before that I did forget to say that, to enter the balcony not only there are two glass doors, there is also a step. In front of me, right at the end of the room, there is furniture’s right next to the wall, nothing out of ordinary really, still fancy and exquisite looking. The “vibe” from all of this is also the same if not similar to the sofa and the cabinets as they also share the same colours pattern. However, this is not what caught my interest. In front of me, a meter or so, there is a chessboard with two rather simple chairs on both sides. These chairs seem to be made of metal with a comfortable looking coshing. The chessboard does follow the same atheistic although the board itself does have a crystal-clear white colour on top of it, almost as if it is made of snow and ice from how white and clear it is, while the rest seems to be made of metal, coloured in black.

  “Whoever this belongs to, they sure have good taste. However, first it was a piano and now a chessboard? Do they have any meaning that I’m missing?”

  While these two are something that I do have some enjoyment in playing with them, being that the piano much more than the chessboard, I simply cannot see the connection to all of this. Maybe it’s just that, this individual likes to play with them and that’s it. No hidden meaning behind them, nothing at all. However, as I was thinking about this, I noticed something rather odd on the chessboard, making me walk up to it.

  “I just noticed that there aren't any pieces here… Although there is this small torn piece of paper in the middle of the board. One that is screaming at me to see it.”

  Not only is the chessboard completely devoid of chess pieces, a single and lone small piece of paper, one that was torn, is right at the middle of it. Of course, my curious hands cannot keep to themselves, making them grab the paper. But don’t worry, I know well that this might be a trap or something of that sort. There is a lot more to this small torn piece of paper than meets the eye, what I mean is that, this thing has quite the magic energy on it. I slowly extend my left hand towards it and I didn’t even come close to it, let alone touch it, when a heavy feeling hit me, one that was even heavier than when I first met Miranda.

  “Hahaha! This is unbelievable!”

  I recoil back as I say this, as I turn stone cold thanks to it. I just figured something out, something that made me feel this way, something that almost made me lose my mind as I shout this into the empty room that I am in. You see the outside? Maybe not since all the focus is in the small torn piece of paper. Either way, the “outside”, it’s not really there, it’s just a projection of the real world into this chaotic space that I am currently in. I’m stuck in another dimension, and a parallel one to be precise. I will tell you this though, the small torn piece of paper is the anchor to this parallel dimension, that’s why it’s filled with magic.

  “Is there any way out or am I trapped here?”

  I look around as I say this, as I intensely look around in my surroundings. There must be a way out, just like what happened in the library. There must be a “door” ready to be discovered as the “hole” in the wall will take me nowhere as I’ve used my Magic Sense to scout out a bit. Now that I’m saying this, maybe I should reuse my skill again, who knows, maybe I will find something.

  “Wait a second! Am I stuck between dimensions rather than being in a parallel one!? It feels like I’m stuck in the-”

  “As if you are stuck in the void?”

  The world fell, it collapsed, it shattered. All of this happened when the world said this to me. It wasn’t the world, who am I kidding? It was a soft voice, one that seems to resemble a fairy. At the same time though, it was as cold as the ice from the north, a place where the temperatures easily are below -100 degrees, and yet, it was also a voice from a young woman.