Chapter 13 12: Other Side

Elric opened his eyes with great effort. Each time they were enshrouded, the mist remained so thick that even keeping one's eyes open was tough.

And if Elric closed his eyes, he would have to resist the urge to sleep. Thankfully, it was still bright out and the light of the sun kept his eyes open.

He checked his hands first. Claude was still there. Then, he tapped his other hand and turned to face the tree.

"The mark is here."

"Just touching anything is enough to transport with it."

The two of them nodded, they then turned to look at the other trees when they both froze in place.

Sunlight.

Bright.

The two of them slowly, very slowly raised their gaze upward.

The tree that had been marked with a zero had its leaves bent downward, folded away from covering the sun and its bright beams. The trunk of the tree was swaying from left to right as nests of birds and treasures of squirrels dropped down with each sway.

On top of the giant tree, was another tree.

Upside-down.

"Ahahaha…" Claude let out a shocked chuckle.

"AAAAAAH!!!"

The two of them left their hands and dashed away from the trees. Behind them, the tree on top made a final sway and came tumbling down. Its branches intertwined with the one below.

A snap rang out as the other tree broke into two halves.

The two of them dived forward to the ground at once and covered their heads, scrunching up as much as they could—

—THUD!

A cloud of dust and leaves fluttered up into the sky as the giant trees fell flat against the ground all at once. Twigs and leaves came crashing into the heads of the two and a breeze of wind climbed up their shins as the impact spread out.

Elric sighed and stood up, with a hand on his chest, he turned around. Claude stood there with a horror-struck gaze. Another world, fake accusations, one-on-one with monsters, and it was tree that almost killed him.

Sensing the fear in his eyes, Elric covered his face with one hand and posed. "Hah!" he scoffed, his voice creaky. "How did you like killer technique, Mist falls?"

"Crazy…" Claude played along. "You are quite the schemer," he heaved out each word, trying to calm himself down. "But, I dodged it with my splendid technique."

The two of them together rambled on the most nonsensical words as their solution to losing their fear became a collective escape from reality. It was only after they praised each other's moves for a couple of minutes that they calmed down enough.

Elric and Claude set off once again, this time sticking closer than ever before. The reality of how lucky they had been all this time dawned on their heads and the fear of being swallowed up by the mist increased manyfold.

"Do you see anything? None of these trees have the marks," Claude said. The two of them looked around the place

"I did though? It's pointless anyway, it's all random." Elric muttered back with a rather normal voice. Claude was surprised that even Elric could behave like a human being when talking about things that required him to use his head. "Didn't you notice? The rocks, the type of grass growing down, and even the insect that I had trapped between my hands and the tree, all of them disappeared or changed."

"Hm!?" Claude did a double-take, he turned to Elric with widened eyes and asked. "Y-You remember the rocks and the grass? And insects?!"

"It's just the basics, just the basics."

Elric shrugged the matter away and spoke again. "There is, a silver lining though."

"Silver lining?"

"Look around." Elric moved his fingers all over the place, tracing out all the dents and bumps in the ground around. "All this remains the same, the topography of the place."

"Hm?" Claude checked things again, gazing over the path Elric had traced over and over. He didn't remember things but felt that Elric was onto something.

"In that sense, I believe that this 'mist' only displaces things above the ground."

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "Above the ground…"

Claude kneeled and picked up some of the soil. He rubbed the dirt in his hands. The soil was already a fine layer of small particles, moreover, he was sure the roots of the trees remained intact, or the forest would have long been gone.

"How does it decide what's above the ground?" Claude asked.

"Haah," Elric shrugged. "No clue."

The two of them continued on their search for an exit and some water when a wet sensation trickled into Elric's feet.

Elric's gaze turned downward.

A clear, transparent stream flowed over the umber dirt below, seeping deep into the ground. The scrawny stream of water jumped past the dam of orange-brown leaves and clear tawny tinder sticks.

"Water."

"What?"

Claude froze. The two of them bent their heads to the ground, their eyes bulging right above the flowing stream.

"W-water!!"

With a scream, Claude and Elric ran ahead. They followed the trail of the stream, going past the bushes and trees as the flow of the stream widened. It was clear from a single look that the stream flowing had not dug into the ground but was merely passing over it. A large amount of clean water was likely pushed up in some parts of the forest

Elric and Claude giggled wildly as they chased the stream of water, it was fresh and was put up in a spot where it could trickle down. They jumped out of a bush, and then another and then another as the sunlight that had been faint all this while spread its arms wide open at them.

Then, as the two of them jumped out of another bush, the glimmering glow of the sun gleamed in their eyes at once.

Spread wide in front of them was a large crater in the ground, and inside it, water was filled to the brim, overflowing in all directions. The water ebbed and flowed in rippling waves, brushing behind the long blades of grass and moss that grew around them. Lilypads floated in the water as butterflies and moths gathered around the abundance of flowers. The reflection of the clouds above in the pristine water peered into them as the smell of fresh air wafted into their noses.

A smile bloomed on the face of the two.

It was a lake. A lake in the middle of the forest.

Spellbound, Elric and Claude shifted their gaze further and further upward, and with each movement, their hearts throbbed. At last, their eyes fell on the other side of the lake.

The smile's withered into horrifically gaped mouths.

Staring back at them from the other end of the lake, was a gathering gang of orcs.