Game Over~

4. Blowing Stuff Up With Charles

I scratched my head. "I... I think I got the gist of it. It's basically another world that can teleport me anywhere I want but with bad guys in it and the mask helps me blend in... right?"

Rana shook his head and put his hands (wings?) on his face. "It's not teleportation. It's more like... a shortcut."

"Like wormholes?"

"What's a wormhole?" He twisted his head to the side confusedly.

"Well they're these...-nevermind. Let's just go already. How do I get in?" I asked him.

"You can't. At least, not yet." He then extended his hand (seriously, are those hands or wings?) toward me. "For now, you can do as my master instructed and follow me. Hold my hand."

I held his fluffy feathery hand and before I know it I'm already somewhere else. We are now standing on what seems to be a wooden bridge with no railings that goes on forever. Both above and below us are more wooden bridges going in all directions infinitely. The bridges are connected with these spiraling staircases that are spread sporadically all over the places. I can see neither the bottom nor the top of this place. It's all just blue sky decorated with lines of bridges wherever I see. Looking at the bridges, there are people walking on top of it normally, and also people walking upside down on the bottom of it.

Speaking of people, this place is jam-packed with people... well, I'm not sure if "people" is the right word for them. They are tall creatures, the shortest being around 180 cm and the tallest about many many meters tall/long. Most of them are humanoids that walk on two feet, but some are... grotesque? Some of them walks on 4 feet, and some crawl on their many feet. Hell, some outright don't have legs and slither about like a snake. Their faces look quite similar to the mask I'm wearing, very simplistic with not much features on them. If I'd have to take a wild guess, I'd say these are probably the intelligent spirits Rana talked about.

"Keep your head down, hold my hand tight and whatever happens just keep focusing on your destination. As you can see, this place is impossible to navigate normally. You can easily get lost here if you lost focus, and you don't want to get lost in Vorgein."

We weaved and slipped through the crowd of spirits. The creatures we passed by glanced at me with a curious look. All of them give off this uncomfortable oppressive aura whenever I pass by them. Ugh... this is making my stomach hurt. I'm a bit scared at how- aaaand I'm lost now.

...Rana?

Where are you?

Where did that damn bird go? Come on, this isn't funny...

I desperately pushed through the crowds to find my lost pet owl, but I can't find him at all. The more I kept searching, the more I feel lost. The spirits around me are starting to really stare at me. It can't be that they know I'm not a spirit, right? The mask still works?

"Ouch!" I fell down after a lanky 5 meters tall spirit bumped into me. "Hey, watch where you're-" My words are cut short when I saw the face of the spirit who bumped me. His face is a skull with two gaping holes on where his eyes should be. From within the abyss of his eye sockets, eerie purplish glow seeps out.

Wait, why is he not wearing a mask? No, more importantly what the heck is he? He's so creepy!

Rana help! Where are you?!

The skull spirit lowered his lower jaw and said something. "I.... am, trrrruly sorry.... Plleaaase, excuse me....." He said politely yet creepily and stretched out one of his many arms to help me up.

This guy doesn't seem to realize that I'm not a spirit yet. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, so I should quickly get out of here.... But how do I get out of this place?