BEYOND 3A: BloodRed and ScaleBlack

The Forty-Fifth Feather: There's a Mirror House

"Another day, another migraine, as the old saying goes." Levia thought.

Although he would rather continue the monotony of working in his restaurant, he felt inclined to partake in Demogorgon's teachings. She came knocking on his door that morning and greeted him: "Good morning... Are you ready?"

Levia: "Eh."

Demogorgon: "Excellent... Let us begin right away..."

Levia: "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

Demogorgon: "...Where did you die?"

Levia: "That's creepy, I'm going back to my house now."

Demogorgon: "No... This question is important... to figure out where your liminal space is..."

Levia: "Then maybe you should've worded it better."

Demogorgon: "I was referring to the human body you call your own... where did you find it?"

Levia: "It was by a beach, if my memory doesn't deceive me. I don't know which beach, though. What I do know is that it's in Europe and it's close to Germany."

Demogorgon: "Then... let us go on a journey to that place..."

Levia: "Yeah, I know how this shit goes. You say 'Let's go on a five minute adventure' and it'll end up taking two weeks with countless fights and traumatising experiences."

Demogorgon: "Serpent... We are not cavemen... We have magic..."

She then displayed a ring she had on her left ring finger, a ring which is used by Syndicate members to create magic doors for instantaneous teleportation. Levia saw it and said: "Ooooooh, right, those things. Alright then, Miss Sadako, where do you reckon we should explore first?"

Demogorgon: "A beach near Germany... I'll create a door to Belgium, then..."

Levia: "What the fuck is a Belgium?"

Demogorgon: "It's above France and next to Germany... Read a book..."

And with that, the two of them stepped through her door, which resembled the doors of a church, and departed.

Only a few minutes after the house was left empty, Murmur landed in front of its main entrance and allowed herself in. She looked around for a bit, admiring how the decorations haven't changed since she created it hundreds of years ago. She then walked to the hallway connected to the other rooms and tapped the ground with her feet in a certain pattern, unlocking a secret trap door indiscernible from the floor tiles. She jumped down and entered the mirror house, which was an identical version of the house above but upside down along with reversed gravity.

This was a place she always came to in order to work her blacksmithing side gig, but it was primarily a relaxation spot for her. Opposite to Levia's drap, technology-lacking living space, hers was full of convenient little gadgets and quality of life stuff. She had a roomba, modified by her to be able to climb walls, and a seventy-inch LCD screen with countless subscriptions to different streaming services which all expired by the time she came back. She went to check inside her fridge to fill her stomach but was met with moldy, disgusting junk food, infested with all sorts of stomach-churning creatures. The house itself was quite dusty, since the roomba she assigned to take care of it had long since run out of power, and all of her technology was either broken or operating poorly.

She wanted to get it all cleaned up and fix every broken thing, but she didn't have the strength nor will to do it. Instead, she laid down on the stiff, dirty bed and thought to herself: "More than an entire year had passed since then... Surely Damien has figured out the nature of this house by now, my liminal space... I miss him so much. Spending all that time trapped in that red stain's mind, watching her stumble her way pathetically through everything, knowing that my beloved Damien was still out there, suffering on his own... I must give credit where it's due, however, thanks to you, Corna, the seal preventing me from manipulating the contents of his mind was lifted. Now, all that's left is to regrow my head, reclaim my full power, and find him. Then, we can be together... Forever.

...

For now, this place needs a serious makeover."

Forty-Fifth Feather:

Plucked