Lore/Story The Inbetween

I disembarked V. S. S. Seaskipper, waited a few moments for the earth to stop moving around, and set my way towards the great Llevigar gate. As I trotted through the sandy beach I felt something was wrong. But I wasn't sure what until I looked at the sky. The seagulls that were circling above stopped moving, yet remained flying above. Then it hit me. The world was silent. Not the usual kind of silence, with wind passing by and occasionally birds screeching high above. No, utter, unnatural silence. I made a few more steps, which didn't make a sound. My steps usually aren't too loud, but I'm not a *ghost*. I looked around. Despite the wind still flowing (which I only now realized was also weirdly constant), the trees and bushes didn't move at all. The sails of ships in the harbor were stuck in different stages of flapping. Old Seaskipper looked like a statue put on the bridge between the pier and his ship. Suddenly, I heard screeching and stomping on sand and the world went black.

I found myself in a strange place, brightly lit, full of fine white sand, and, more importantly, dozens of massive creatures all around me. Each of them was unique, completely dissimilar the rest, but they had one thing in common: they were eldritch abominations, stranger than anything I'd seen or imagined. And my imagination got creative after the years. But unlike corrupted beasts and demons these looked... "clean", they (mostly) didn't have flesh falling off of them, wounds that made their bones visible or horrible burns along their bodies. Which made it only weirder. One of them, looking like a giant dragon crossbred with a flying spider turned towards me, followed by everything else. I was frozen in horror, unable to move a bit. Then, there was dark again.

I saw what seemed like a web of lights, sparkling and sending flashes towards each other. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity I was in the sky, falling down into nothingness. I screamed, knowing well it was pointless. Suddenly I was on the pier, standing next to V. S. S. Seaskipper, its captain looking down at me from the ship. "Are you ok?" he asked. "I saw you walking down the beach one moment and the other you're here, screaming like a you'd seen the devil."
I breathed out for a second or two. "I... I hope... so. I think someone's spell broke loose."
"A'ight. See ya soon," he said. "And please don't do this again."
I glared at him, before walking away. "I'll try."
The Portal just happened? I thought. I'd gone through portals, got teleported, sometimes even accidentally, but this? No, this wasn't so simple. A time anomaly, perhaps? I'd heard stories from Time Valley, people reliving a day over and over, having their lives slowed down or sped up by ridiculous amounts... but this doesn't explain the rest. I shook my head, trying to purge it from my memory. Better forget this.

I got to the other side of the tunnel when the world went silent again. People stuck mid-step, fountains looking like icy sculptures, trees bent to the side. I took my bow from my shoulder and tried to take an arrow, but it was stuck in the quiver. *Stuck*. I tried another one, with the same result. Suddenly, the world moved in a horrible cacophony, People got to the other side of the square in seconds, the greenery returned to its upright state just to be moved by the wind again. And like it started going, it stopped again. Except I now had three arrows in my hand. What. And again, the world jump forward. And few seconds later again. I tried going to the upper portion of the city, but I was returned to the beginning each time. I didn't dare to try the launch pads. At last, the world went black again.

This time, there were way more creatures, larger ones, already looking at me. One of them moved and in a flash it was dark again, many fires around me. I tried to reach for one, but my hand simply passed through. Not even a hint of warmth. What is this place? I thought.

And then I was falling in nothingness, until I was just as suddenly standing on solid ground, bow in one hand, three arrows in the other. It took me a second to realize the arrows were identical, each having the same tiny defect just below the arrowhead. I shivered and went on my way for the third time. I recalled some madmen speaking of the demons from beyond, lurking in between the worlds, waiting for an opportunity to get to us. They babbled about much more, even more insane things, so we dismissed them, thinking the Corruption got to their minds. But now I wondered, could there be some truth to this? Or am I becoming one of them? I wouldn't be *too* surprised. I decided I needed a drink, despite it being barely noon.

As I walked towards the bar, I suddenly found myself several blocks back. *Not again!* Knowing more than well that it's futile, I still tried to enter it, with no success. The constant cycle of utter silence and deafening cacophony started getting to me so much I tried to shoot one of the trees in frustration. Tried. The string refused to move, no matter how I pulled. I gathered my strength to cast a spell at the tree, but nothing happened. I felt the magic flowing through me, collecting itself and exiting my body, but then... it went nowhere? Some people seemed to notice me struggling, but rather quickly passed by. Typical villagers, I thought.

For the third time, I was in the strange realm, with the beings closer to me than before. One of the reached to me with an indescribable appendage. I wanted to escape, but my magic was... gone? In the last moment I jumped to the side, narrowly evading it. I shot it, which surprisingly worked, but unsurprisingly didn't seem to hurt it at all. I crouched below its next attempt and leapt away from the third one. Then there was finally a flash of light, for a moment I saw the lights and I was falling again.

I was back at the beginning of the tunnel. My head hurt, worse than if I'd been hit with a boulder. Slowly, my mind tired, I went up the step towards the bar. The tree I targeted was full of arrows and had a large hole where I aimed my spell. So much for me just being crazy. I decided that I'll rather keep it a secret and pray that this never happens again, as no one would believe anyways. Besides the crazies, that is. I continued on and, to my surprise, I managed to enter without problems. I sat at a corner table with a pint of ale, still distrustful of the world around me.

A short while later, I saw a figure enter the establishment. She was small, clad in weathered armor bearing the Ragni insignia. Her skin was sickly pale with numerous wounds and red scars. Horns protruded from her hair like some kind of broken crown. A fallen one. The patrons turned away from her with more or less obvious signs of disgust, some even thinking about getting up to throw her out. I waved at her to sit down next to me.
"Don't mind them, they're afraid of anything reminiscent of discomfort," I said as she came near. "Welcome to Llevigar."
"Thanks," she replied.
"My name is TrapinchO. What's yours?"
"I am Renea."


Salted, fix your damn servers!


Credits:
@Galaxias - proofreading
@Luminary - taking me on a trip that inspired this

 

lag is canon, it's just your character dissociating