Somi, Gery, and I stepped out of the cathedral at dawn—or what seemed to be dawn in this ruined city of Sanctus Mortis.
Everywhere I looked, I could only see red. Red mist clung to ruined buildings and stone pillars. No grass, no trees, nothing green—as if every corner of this world was covered in blood, and only blood would fall as rain.
Another thing I noticed: we didn't feel hunger or thirst in this world. We didn't need to eat or drink. I raised this question to the three walking beside me through the cathedral's massive doors.
"No, I presume," Somi said. "I haven't had any urge to drink or eat in this world, but I'm not sure if it's the same for the Mirror World. Don't worry though—we don't have to go there to hunt yetis for red essence."
"Isn't it better to go to the Mirror World than the Darkest Zone you mentioned? Isn't it more dangerous there, according to you?"
"It's easy to enter the Mirror World, but the situation in MD is on another level. We can't predict the environment there. As you said, you encountered a train in your MD, but it depends on the person. The rules differ for everyone," Somi voiced her theories from other survivors.
"So the train station was only for me?"
*But why a train? And there was a hospital scene too. What does that mean?* I thought.
Lucy suddenly came forward. "What were you in your previous world? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
She was so close I could feel her breath on my face, as if she might kiss me. My face burned red, ears included.
"I... I... wa-was just a normal person trying to survive."
"Oh, you know, I finally got a job at a big company, but now here I am," Lucy voiced out.
So everyone was having a hard time in their previous life, not just me.
We walked into the wasteland covered in red mist. Behind us, the foggy cathedral grew blurry with distance.
The ground beneath us suddenly changed. I noticed we no longer walked on the cathedral's solid stone but on fine gray dust, each step kicking up small clouds.
"What is this?" Lucy asked, rubbing the gray dust between her fingers. "It's sticking to my skin."
"Ash. It covers this area of the wastelands," Grey simply replied.
I looked around. The landscape stretched before me—gray earth, skeletal trees in the distance, and that same oppressive red sky pressing down on us.
"Well, it's manageable. We can see clearly now," Somi said, walking steadily forward. "This is the transition zone, where the cathedral's influence ends and the wasteland begins. Other survivors call it the Ashen Grounds."
"The Ash," Lucy corrected, smiling. "Everyone just calls it The Ash."
I stopped, gray ash swirling as my foot hit the ground. Looking back, I saw our four sets of tracks marking the dust.
"So how many red essences do we need to create a Tier 6 artifact and enter the Tier 5 Mirror World?" Lucy asked, confused.
"Wait... wait, this doesn't make sense. We're entering a Tier 5 Mirror World?" I looked at Somi, confused.
"We need 2 red essences to make a Tier 6 artifact, and we need 1 Tier 6 essence—meaning we need 8 red essences total to make 1 Tier 6 red essence. Then we can open the door to the Tier 5 Mirror World, as it attracts that tier."
"For your information, there's no Tier 6 Mirror World, so we don't have a choice. Red essence only attracts Mirror Worlds or main regions after entering Tier 7 MD."
"Also, to answer your question—we need answers. By entering the MD, we can get information about this world using the essence from that MD."
I was about to speak but stopped, listening to her calm voice, absorbing information about this world.
"Either we fight and get information, or we stay in that cathedral all our lives. I can't even be sure if we're immortal. Every survivor is either new, doesn't have artifacts, or has only been here for weeks—maybe months."
Listening to her, I couldn't voice anything. I just stayed silent and let her talk.
"Good boy," Lucy spoke again with a wink. I looked away.
"So I already have 1 red essence."
Somi said she'd used hers to make her artifact, same with the other guys.
"So we need 1 more red essence to make an artifact. But how will we make another tier artifact if we can't carry it?" I asked the group.
I saw a dead tree and touched its bark—bleached white, brittle like sun-dried bone. The tree was thin, maybe ten feet tall, standing alone in the ash.
"We can shatter our artifacts to make new ones. The old one disappears into the thin world, so don't worry," Grey spoke instead of Somi, which surprised me—that big guy didn't talk much.
"How far does the ash extend?" I asked.
"Half a mile, maybe." Somi pointed ahead. "After that, the fog gets thicker, the ground gets worse. That's when we enter the Barrens."
I looked where Somi pointed. In the distance, I could see where the landscape darkened, where fog rolled thicker, where trees twisted into unnatural shapes.
Maybe it was the landscape, but I imagined my dagger and it appeared in my hand, its weight reassuring.
Grey looked ahead and pointed, pulling his long sword as Lucy called her wand from thin air. Something was approaching.
Barely visible through the mist—white fur, eight feet tall, long nails, silver liquid dripping from sharp teeth, slowly moving and sniffing through the ash.
My heart pounded—*thump... thump... thump*—but I forced myself to stay calm. The yeti was alone.
"That yeti is alone," Somi whispered. "Yetis in the Ash are rare and move solo through this area."
"Meaning?"
"Free essence," Lucy answered happily.
Lucy instantly raised her wand toward the lone yeti and closed her eyes, concentrating.
Heat washed over my face. A burning crimson flame erupted from her wand and shot toward the yeti, parting the gray ash and splitting the mist. It struck the creature, engulfing it in violent flames. The yeti screamed, swinging its long arms wildly through the air, dancing in the hot fire.
After a moment, Grey lunged forward, his long sword dragging through the ground, kicking up gray ash that flew toward us.
*Achoo! Achoo!* I coughed hard as ash blocked my vision, making everything blurry.
"Hey, be careful, you dummy!" Lucy complained.
I blinked hard to adjust my vision. Grey was already eight steps from the monster. When my vision cleared, I saw him lift his long sword with both hands and bring it down. The yeti collapsed to the ground.
We approached as the red essence formed, the yeti's body dissolving into nothing.
I picked up the red essence. "One down, Eight more to make a Tier 6 essence."
"Should we make the artifact now or wait for more red essence?"
The red essence disappeared into my hand as I spoke.
"No need to rush. We can farm more red essence, then decide who makes the Tier 6 artifact."
Everyone nodded agreement.
We moved through the Ash, familiarizing ourselves with the gray earth and thin fog scattered with white trees.
As we pushed past this area, the ground changed again.
The fog thickened—not suddenly, but gradually. The ground darkened from gray to reddish-brown. Cracks widened, forcing me to watch each step carefully. The others did the same, eyes on their feet.
The trees changed too—no longer thin and white, but black and twisted, bent at wrong angles like broken bones.
"This is it," Somi said quietly. "We're entering the Crimson Barrens."