World Isekai

"Everyone wants the same thing: out," said Jax.

"So the whole goal of everyone in this damn realm is to leave it?"

"Nah, sloth is probably good here. But everyone else, yes."

Jax was nodding while smiling.

He was floating around, like a fairy in children's movie. All that was missing was a little glitter.

He was eccentric, and his chuckles were annoying as hell, yet behind all of that Mori could tell he wasn't to be underestimated.

Unwilling to remain in the middle of the path forever, Mori started walking forward, followed by the floating companion.

"But Maël said everyone gave up leaving, as it brings them back here anyway."

"Yeah, there's some truth to that," replied Jax.

As he walked, the castle got bigger and bigger against the sky, which was as bright as a shining light.

It wasn't a deep blue nor a light pink. It was a soft white.

The castle itself was imposing, time had its toll on it. Getting closer, he could tell it was mostly ruins, now. The walls stood tall, but they were cracked and crumbling in certain places.

It looked kind of medieval to Mori. Some of its aspects were what he'd expect, while others were a gravitating a lot more toward a gothic style.

The multiple towers that were around the castle pointed their heads above the large wall, and now that he was closer, he could tell they all had a special feature.

One of them had a dragon made of stone, sculpted in a way that made it look like it latched on the tower, swirling around it with its tail in the air.

Another one had what looked like one of the titans he had slain days earlier. It was on its back, at the tip of the roof as if the roof had pierced its body. Its arms and legs in the air on the sides of it.

Closer than ever, he was about to reach the gates. It was two giant doors made of metal, but they weren't open, they were broken.

While one door barely held in its joints, the other one was flat on the ground, a big hole in the middle of it.

They were both massive, making Mori feel small next to it.

Jax was still around Mori, as they got closer.

"Who is it that's waiting for me?" asked Mori, stopping in front of the door.

"You'll know when you see her."

He sighed deeply after filling his lungs. "Alright."

Mori hopped on the flat door, his steps echoing against the metal.

"About this 'me possessing you' thing..."

"We'll discuss it after I've met that person," cut Mori.

"FINE, fine. Not like there's a ticking clock in here, anyway."

Mori hopped down, finally stepping inside Tenet.

"This is..."

"Quite the nice little castle, right?"

"No, quite the opposite. Who designed this place? It makes no sense."

Mori looked around, but this was no typical layout. If anything, it looked like a Labyrinth more than anything else.

An amalgam of structures with all sorts of styles mixed into them. Right in front of him were stairs carved in rocks going down, with metal fences on each side.

Would he go right, more stairs were going down. He could go around them, however habitations were the immediate thing surrounding them.

He could clearly see the castle's walls which was further into this small city, but there was no clear paths to it.

Stairs, and tiny pathways surrounded him but they all seemed to lead to a different place.

"This place is hell. How the fuck do you get anywhere in here?"

"Heh, you get used to it. I actually forgot this place could be weird to first-timers. The girl actually got lost quite a few times when she first arrived."

"Yeah..."

Mori looked around, totally unsure where to go.

"Here," said Jax floating toward a path leading to a house made of stone. Its roof was caved in, but the debris seemed to have been cleared.

"We're going inside someone's house?"

"Yeah, that's the fastest way to get to the castle. Don't worry, most houses here are empty."

Mori followed Jax, entering the house.

It wasn't empty, a couple of husks were against the wall, looking at the ground immobile. It was as if they were made of stone.

The room was quite simple, with a table in the middle and some furniture made of wood all around.

Besides the table, almost everything was broken with a layer of dust on top of them.

Inside the room, the door on their immediate left lead outside again.

Stepping outside once more, they were on a balcony that went toward yet another house. Looking down, he could see more husks on the ground.

It felt depressing. All of these people had lived a life, only to become human statues covering the grounds of a realm made to punish them.

"I believe everyone in here deserves to be, but this is a bit much," he said. .net

"Eh, in my opinion, it's quite nice."

"Nice? The amount of husks— hollows, that we came across... Eternity here is a torture I wouldn't wish on my ennemies."

"It's not a torture," replied Jax.

They were walking across another house, which also lead back outside, this time with stairs going down.

Jax was still floating around, leading the way for Mori to follow.

"Honestly, it's a blessing," continued Jax. "You can't die, as long as you don't want to. To become a 'husk' means you decided to die. You 'gave up', and your mind broke, and you turn into one of these things."

"I'm still not understanding how that's a blessing."

"As long as you want live, you will. This place seems like hell because most give up, those who don't will thrive. This city wasn't created by people who had given up, but by those who truly saw the blessing of this realm. You could create a similar place, rebuild this city, and infuse hope into it to draw people in.

The only problem is usually after a couple of millennias the city goes back into a state similar to this."

"Yeah, after thousands of years in this place I don't blame them."

"Maybe you wouldn't last here, after all."

Mori sighed again, stepping over another husk as he now took stairs going up and around another structure.