Amias stared deadpan at the reflection in the wall. He blinked a few times, confused, rubbing his eyes before looking again.
It was still there.
But… they came from there, right?
"Tobi? Hey, Tobi, where the hell did you go?" he called out, clearly disoriented.
The moose huffed beside him, the glowing runes along its hide flaring to life as it suddenly took off. Amias barely had time to react before he scrambled to grab on.
"M-Moosey?! W-What the hell ?!" he shouted, surprised by the sudden speed. The moose didn't stop. It charged ahead, impossibly fast, and Amias could hardly keep up mentally.
His thoughts were a mess. He swore he heard a woman's laughter. For a moment, he was sure they were in another dimension, some endless hall with a river of blood. It still looked like the maze, but now that Tobi was gone, it felt like he and Moosey were actually back in the real thing with no bloody river below and more turns and corners now.
So what the hell happened?
Also, there were skinwalkers in the mirrors.
That meant... he never actually hated his reflection. He didn't hate himself. He knew something was wrong all along. The maze was just evil.
He laughed, loud and sudden, before clearing his throat and composing himself.
Eventually, the moose's destination became clear: an ancient, intricate silver door, crowned with a statue of a moose. They passed through into a vast forest tucked inside a colossal tree. The moose didn't slow, trampling over glowing flowers as it rushed toward an ancient portal and there, waiting in front of it, was Tobi.
Amias blinked. Of all things, he was just... there.
"What happened?" Amias asked, a little breathless.
Tobi paused before answering simply.
"Family ties,"
I have no idea what that means, Amais thought.
"Ok, but how'd you get here?" Amias asked.
"Oh, that's a complicated one," Tobi replied bluntly. "But to put it simply, I was stuck in another reality and went through a portal to get back into this one."
"..."
"Okay," Amias said, just accepting the answer.
"So you came to save me then. Thank you, Amias," Tobi said sincerely.
"No problem, though it doesn't seem like you needed much saving," Amias said, glancing him over. Tobi nodded.
"A-Also... you lost the god?" Amias asked.
"Yeah. Out in space, I fought the plant god and made my own version of a supernova. It wiped him out, though he's probably not dead. Still, he won't be coming to Earth again if that's what you're worried about. Same with the flame god. Though... half my body got burned in the process."
He held up his charred, blackened hand. Amias flinched.
"Are there still doctors? Can we fix that? Jeez," Amias said, inspecting it. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"It does, but don't worry about it," Tobi replied casually.
"Okay then... but um, what now?" Amias asked, curious.
"Hmm, isn't it obvious? We're going through the portal," Tobi said.
"Yeah, I wanted to do that actually... but have you ever been stuck trying to figure out why you live?" Amias asked, his voice unsure.
Tobi tilted his head slightly. "Explain a little more."
"I mean, like... you're walking somewhere, but you don't really know where. You're just going forward into the unknown without any real direction," Amias explained.
"Oh. So you don't have a goal," Tobi said, intrigued. Amias nodded.
"To find meaning... well, I can't help you with that, Amias," Tobi said honestly. "Finding your meaning is something only you can do. Others can give you reasons, but in the end, it's about what you choose."
"I've got lots of questions too, Tobi. Like... who is Ryo? And why do the gods hate humanity?" Amias asked, looking at him.
"Oh, Ryo? Well, remember when you asked if I was the protagonist? I'd say he's more of the actual protagonist. I need to meet him eventually but that's for another time. As for the gods hating humanity... that one's complicated. The assumption I've made is that it's because man was said to be made in god's image. But until all my memories return, I can't say for sure," Tobi answered.
"Oh. Okay. Well... that's all for now, anyway," Amias said honestly.
Tobi nodded. "You ever been through a portal before?"
Amias shook his head. "Is it bad?"
"Depends on the person. Personally? I think they're fine," Tobi said, and with that, he stepped through the glowing magical light and disappeared.
Amias stood there in silence, staring at the portal. He waited for a bit, uncertain. Eventually, the moose tired of waiting gave him a shove and pushed him in.
What followed could only be described as a fever dream. Everything twisted and turned, colours flashing everywhere, sensations blurring. It felt like everything was happening at once.
Then he was there. Sprawled on the ground, looking up at an ocean in the sky.
Wait... were there always oceans in the sky?
He sat up, confused, and saw a massive stone wall nearby. A labyrinth. Another goddamn maze. Everything was dark, though his eyes dilated and he could make out just a little bit.
He looked around, worried, until he spotted Tobi, thank god standing ahead, arms crossed, facing forward. Amias sighed in relief. At least they hadn't been separated.
He was just about to speak when Tobi placed a hand over his mouth, then brought a finger up to where his lips would be if not for the mask, signalling silence as Amais heard scraping. it was slow but grew louder and louder and he could even start to feel a vibration until there.
Amias looked forward... and froze.
At the end of the tunnel was a gargantuan creature, maybe the size of a school bus. It had no legs, only grotesquely long, massive arms that stretched unnaturally far, each one allowing it to drag its grotesquely inflated body along the stone floor. Hooked claws scraped with each movement, shrieking against the ground. With every swing of its limbs, its bloated form lurched forward, screeching in a slow, agonizing crawl that echoed with a terrible, irritable sound.
A glowing lure hung from its head like a lantern, swaying gently with each movement and illuminating its decrepit form. Its skin was a blackish-blue, mottled and slick, with gills on either side that flared open with every breath; each inhale and exhale produced a loud, wet sucking noise. Its mouth was an open nightmare, filled with vicious, jagged teeth scattered and layered in unnatural rows, even deep into the back of its throat, as if its entire skull had been built to devour whatever was unlucky enough to get inside.
It looked like some ancient, nightmarish anglerfish that had crawled straight out of hell, two pitch-black, soulless eyes staring ahead, void of thought, emotion, or mercy.
It turned toward them briefly... then slowly turned back and kept moving forward. They could hear its body scraping across the stone, the sound growing quieter and quieter as it faded into the distance.
"I don't know what that thing is," Tobi whispered, "but it probably came from the water above."
They both glanced up at the inverted ocean above them. Amias paled, despite technically being a corpse.
"So... this place is worse than Earth," he muttered.
"Probably. For us, anyway."
"Is that the worst creature here?" Amias asked.
"No," Tobi said simply. "It's probably hiding from whatever's above us."
Amias let out a long, tired sigh.
Damn Mazes