Chapter 134 Sand Trap

“I’ve got a question,” Ethan said, folding his arms over his chest.

“Y-yeah?” Joel looked over at him, hiding his arm.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, ignoring his companion’s odd behavior, “…Have you seen anybody with dark-brown skin and silver eyes? Wearing all-black clothes and kind of a sour attitude?”

“Huh? No, sorry, that doesn’t ring a bell,” Joel shook his head.

“Figured as much,” he sighed.

“Why? Is it somebody you knew?” Joel asked.

“‘Knew’?”

“Sorry, ‘know,'” Joel wore a small smile.

He stood by Joel, keeping his guard up for anything similar to the hair-manipulating entity from before, “Yeah. I initially came here with him, but he went ahead of me.”

“Ah,” Joel’s smile faded, “Sorry to hear that–well, I mean, I’m sure we can find ’em if we keep searching. It’s not like we have anything else to do but keep moving and looking for a way out of this mess, right?”

“Right.”

Still, this didn’t mean it was optimal to head out right away. They were both exhausted from the previous encounter, and the accumulated stress of the Unending Nightmare’s torment.

They explored the house over the next few hours; brushing off dusty books from the broken-down bookshelf, playing with stained cards, and talking about themselves.

“…Yullim, huh? I’ve always wanted to go there, actually,” Joel admitted, putting a card down.

“Really? I can’t say I see the allure of it…there’s not much there,” Ethan chuckled wryly.

“It’s a whole lot quieter than Larundog–especially, well, these days…” Joel said somberly.

“Guess that’s true.”

It was difficult to perceive what was “day” and what was “night” beneath the veil of the scarlet sky, though they treated it like night once the groaning clouds overshadowed their section of the city.

–

The time came to set out again into the bowels of hell, which neither of them looked pleased about.

Though it was seldom yearned for to step back into the accursed city, under the everlasting watch of the crying, man-faced clouds, there was nothing to be gained from sitting around in the decrepit home.

“Sure you want to head out?” Joel asked, standing in front of the door.

“Yeah, what’s the point of staying here? We’re losing time,” Ethan said, adjusting his gloves.

Joel leaned his forehead against the wooden door, “…Indoors is about the safest we can be, minus the Dread Period. The overlapping spaces apply to the creatures within the city, too. So they don’t usually try going through doors.”

As he learned of this, the recent memories of his encounter with the hole-filled entity returned to his mind.

That makes sense, he thought, it was banging on the door, but it wasn’t opening it. So…that’s why he doesn’t want to leave.

“Even so, what good is it going to do for us to close ourselves off here?” Ethan asked, “The Dread Period will return and we’ll be getting nowhere.”

There was a certain silence that hung in the room; they both were on edge with the lurking entities that left little hope in the despair-ridden city.

“I’ve got a little sister, ya know?” Joel suddenly said.

“Huh?” Ethan was taken aback by this, “…Oh. Is she…?”

“She’s alive,” Joel said adamantly.

For the first time since they met, there was a glow in the man’s emerald eyes when he said that. It was a shine in his eyes of hope; absolute belief in those words.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Ethan scratched his head.

Joel wore a small smile, shaking his head, “No, it’s just…when I think about her being alone in a place like this, well, ya know? It just drives me insane. I’m all she’s had since she was born–no parents, no other siblings–just the two of us, surviving.”

“–” Ethan looked at him.

“That’s why I have to find her,” Joel told him, “Thanks for lighting that fire beneath me again, man.”

“Yeah–of course.”

The two shared a fist bump that reignited some embers of hope, though faint, they still existed.

–

As soon as the door opened, what was revealed to them wasn’t the expected exterior, but another scenery entirely; the paved, stone streets were instead a deep-blue sand which seemed to stretch on for eternity; metal trees sprouted from mounds of sand, jutting out their silver branches.

Looming above was a sky replaced by a scarlet sea, hanging overhead with a vague sprinkle of orange stars.

“What the…?” Ethan looked up, walking out from the door.

“Wait–!”

Joel shouted out from behind, trying to prevent the thinly young man from stepping past the threshold, but it was too late: they both left the building. The moment they both stepped over the threshold, it slammed shut.

“Huh–?”

Spinning around, he found the door itself, along with the building in its entirety gone. All that was left was the forest of metal trees and the dunes of dim, blue sand.

Joel was visibly shaken, “…Shit. Shit! Shit–! It’s what I told you: we entered a different space!”

“But you said it was only through crossing…thresholds? Oh…”

As he planned to retort, he realized through his own words what had happened; he had assumed it was only a one-way concept, but it seemed from either side of a doorway, it could happen.

“…Is this bad?” Ethan asked.

Joel was on guard completely, already drawing his sword as he looked around, “‘Bad’ is an understatement here…! Entities are way more common in these spaces–and more powerful!”

“How do we get out, then?…” He asked, holding his staff up and gulping.

“We have to find a doorway…” Joel said, glancing around as they watched each other’s backs.

“Is that even possible in a place like this?”

“It is,” Joel nodded, “…There’s always a doorway; it’s the only ‘fair’ thing about this place.”

There was hardly anything ‘normal’ about the separate space; the air was thin and filled with microscopic grains of sand that irritated his throat and lungs.

“–” Ethan coughed out hoarsely.

Joel pulled the collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose, “Cover up. I don’t trust this stuff.”

“Good idea,” he nodded, pulling the collar of his cape up.

There was an ambience of metal creaking like gears grinding as the steel branches of the unnatural trees swayed.

It was an unsettling land; nothing about it was normal, simply a deviation from the norm of reality.

“…Is this how all of these spaces are?” Ethan asked while slowly moving forward beside Joel.

“If you mean twisted like this, then yeah…but, no, they’re all different. Somethin’ like this? Tend not to forget it…” Joel replied.

There was no keeping one’s eyes averted from the sight above; the scarlet sea that swayed, suspended by nothing but a mystical force, was a sight to behold.

“Hey, look at that…” Joel said.

They were both looking up at the sea-sky as the subtle, scarlet luminescence produced swaying shadows cast down by marine entities that swam through the unnatural body of water.

By the shape of some of the airborne, aquatic entities, they resembled sharks in their nefarious fins.

“This is all really…something,” Ethan remarked.

“You can say that again,” Joel responded.

After gazing upon the supernatural sky, they continued moving forward through the forest of sand and steel. As they walked across the azure sand, a quick tremor was felt for a split-second.

“What was—”

Just as Ethan muttered to himself, he spun around as a yell left from his companion’s lips.

“Aaaah—!”

Around Joel’s ankles, hands had sprouted from the abnormal sea of sand, gripping tightly. They were inhuman; covered in bristly, silver fur but long digits and opposable thumbs.

“What the—!?” Ethan let out.

“Ah—help!”

Joel yelled out as the hands around his ankles began to pull down, dragging him down into the blue sand, bringing him shin deep.

Without a moment to waste, he rushed over and grabbed onto Joel’s hand, taking hold of him and preventing the mysterious hands from pulling the man deeper.

“—I’ve got you!”

The blue sand vibrated beneath the soles of his boots as the embedded creature continued to tug on Joel’s legs.

“P-pull…!” Joel said, strained,

“I am—!” Ethan gritted his teeth.

Whatever was pulling on the silver-haired adventurer was strong, or at least strong in comparison to Emilio’s ‘Ethan’ form. Even with ‘Draconic Constitution’, his frail body struggled to summon adequate strength.

“Ethan…! It’s doing something…! My legs…!” Joel said through pained words.

Sweat was exuding from the pores of both men in the tug-of-war with the sand-dwelling entity.

“Grrgh…!” He further strained.

As another powerful tug came from the creature in the sand, the sudden pull caused the two to part, prompting Ethan to stumble backward as Joel was further sucked into the ominous sand. This time, the silver-haired man was sunk down to his waist, leaving him little room to contest the pull of the sand-hiding creature.

“Ethan…!” Joel cried out for help, extending his hands again.

The sand was vibrating aggressively, swirling around Joel like a vortex that made it difficult for Ethan to regain his footing, or maintain any semblance of balance.

Using magic was not much of an option, though he did consider it; the option laid in attempting to use it when it could result in friendly-fire. When frantic, control over magecraft is lessened; this was something he came to know well.

With that in mind, he still grabbed his staff, but instead of conjuring a spell, he reached out with it, extending the other end to Joel. It only took a moment of looking at it with his wide, afraid eyes for Joel to grab on tightly.

“Hold on–!” Ethan yelled out.