Somehow, while Kael and Dio kept the strange goblins busy, Any managed to infiltrate the newly appeared castle.
—"Alright… from here on out it's just a massacre." —the boy thought as he climbed a spiral staircase that seemed to have no end.
Little did he know he was about to discover why this place was truly called a Nightmare.
Two minutes climbing endless steps at a quick pace and he was already getting desperate.
Two hours passed in what felt like the blink of an eye, and now the boy had changed direction. For a while now he had stopped trying to go up and instead tried going down.
The reason?
Simple. It seemed this place had no end.
Better help his friends than remain trapped here forever.
For us it would have been a blink.
For him?
Two damn days inside this hell.
He didn't even look back anymore.
His only focus was descending, trying to escape this cursed place as fast as possible.
—Don't you ever get tired of getting into trouble? —a voice in his head asked, genuinely concerned— Trouble here, trouble there… don't you like painting or singing?
—God… I've been in this place so long even you came back.
And who did that voice belong to?
None other than the great Kaiser.
—Well… technically I never left. I was just resting my eyes a bit, you know… —Kaiser said with a sly grin. If one could see it, of course.
—Then maybe you can explain what the hell is going on here and why this damn place wants to drive me insane? —Anyael asked, already desperate.
But something interrupted his thoughts.
An ominous sensation.
Someone was watching him.
And suddenly—
poof.
He was pushed from the stairs.
He began falling into the void.
But something was wrong.
Was everything in this damn place broken?
Why was he falling upward instead of downward?
Nothing made sense.
Darkness.
Then light.
He had returned to the exact moment when Kaiser had begun speaking.
—Yeah… I saw that too, Anyael —Kaiser said, his tone far more serious than before— Looks like you've got a long road ahead of you. Let's just hope you don't end up insane like this place wants.
—So at least you have some idea what's happening here? —Any asked, genuine worry in his voice.
—Well… considering Nightmare has that property called "Mimic", which replicates the fears of anyone who ever stepped into this forest, I can tell you something.
Some lunatic out there is afraid of infinite castles full of goblins where you die and revive.
That's one hell of a specific fear.
Complaining was useless.
The only thing left was to move forward.
A few surprising minutes later, Any found one of the green dwarves.
Presumably the one who had pushed him earlier.
The idiot had fallen into his own bear trap.
Now it was time to give him a taste of his own medicine.
After that curious encounter, Any continued descending.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Dwn.
Dnw.
O.
O.
DOWN.
Something was definitely wrong with this place.
Hours later, Any realized not only that he didn't feel hunger, sleep, or exhaustion here…
He noticed something strange.
One of the steps…
moved.
And as if the stair itself had spat it out, a sign appeared.
It read:
«Prepare yourself well, young hero. The next decision may make everything easier… or far worse.»
As Any read it, Kaiser spoke with clear boredom.
—Excellent. So the lunatic who's afraid of this also thinks he's a hero. Hahaha.
A strange slot machine appeared in the air.
Any saw his reflection in the glass.
Kaiser nodded.
Without asking anything else, Any pulled the lever.
The three slots began spinning.
The first stopped at 7.
The second at 4.
The third at %.
After that, the sign rewrote itself.
«Congratulations, great hero. The probability of finding ruin is 74%.»
And the moment Anyael finished reading it—
The entire gigantic staircase structure began to tremble.
Then he fell.
He was sure he had died from the fall. Darkness appeared again, followed by that same light.
But unlike before, he had not returned to an earlier point.
And more importantly…
Why didn't he care about dying?
He should be in shock right now.
Well…
It probably had something to do with Kaiser.
Probably.
It couldn't be that he had only been in this world for a few weeks and was already losing his humanity… right?
His thoughts were interrupted.
Kaiser spoke again.
—Look.
That was all the god said.
Following the instruction, Any looked forward.
Three doors stood before him.
Each one had one label.