Hotel Between Worlds

In the final second before death arrived, Darian felt an endless, overwhelming, and almost tangible darkness, thick and viscous, like some kind of fluid with substance.

He could feel his consciousness rapidly fading. He knew that the body sustaining it had lost all vitality under the brutal injuries. As his physiological functions shut down, the mind housed within his flesh followed suit, sinking into oblivion. This was the natural order of things.

Yet, at the very edge of that fading consciousness, a force or rather, an intense thought, a strange obsession seemed to anchor Darian's mind. In a haze, he remembered the frog that had devoured his heart, and recalled his previous "resurrection."

What had happened back then? What exactly had occurred within him? Why had he come back to life?

These questions morphed into an obsession, keeping his mind clinging to the brink of that endless darkness. Though teetering on the edge, he never completely sank. He had to know what had really happened? After dying, how had he managed to "return"?

The darkness pressed down, its thick texture growing cold and coarse. He felt as though he were being buried beneath a heavy layer of soil, his soul suffocating under the weight. But then, suddenly, the pressure vanished.

In a flash of clarity, a revelation sparked within his wavering consciousness

In his death, Death had died before him.

Darian's death had died. And so, the dead Darian once again began returning from that boundless dark to the world of the living. He felt his "body" suddenly lighten, accelerating upward and away from the endless void.

As this happened, he vaguely saw something on the surface of the darkness, as if he were skimming rapidly past some kind of "layer." But before he could make out what it was, his eyes snapped open.

The cold night wind blew in through a massive hole in the wall. Beyond the half-collapsed roof stretched a chaotic, murky sky. Deep in the night, the hollow winds of the valley howled.

Darian sat in a corner of the ruined temple, his head still in a fog a sensation all too familiar. He had just experienced something like this not long ago.

But this time, he recovered more quickly. In just a few breaths, his memory returned all of it. Including the feeling of being buried in darkness.

After regulating his breath, Darian slowly got to his feet.

He felt all his joints gradually awakening from stiffness, as if a newborn body were quickly learning how to live. Strength surged through him, his mind cleared, and only then did he look outside the ruined temple at the spot where his blood had once pooled.

Now, the place was empty. The giant beast seemed to have left... or perhaps it was simply hiding, like before.

After a moment of silence, Darian tentatively spoke in his mind, "...Eileen."

Almost the moment he finished speaking, Eileen's frantic voice exploded in his head, "Darian! Oh my god, are you okay!?"

She immediately launched into a panicked ramble, "You suddenly stopped responding just now! No matter how I called you, you didn't react. I couldn't even sense where your consciousness was. I thought you were dead! I was terrified! If you died, there'd be no one left to fix the TV. wait, you are okay, right?"

Darian's face twitched. "So what you're saying is, you were mainly worried no one would be around to fix your TV?"

Eileen thought for a moment. "...Well, not just that. I was also kind of worried you were really dead…"

Darian: "…"

She actually hesitated before answering!

Forcing himself to calm down, Darian clenched his molars and tried to sound composed. "What if I told you I really did die just now?"

Eileen didn't believe him at all. "Don't be ridiculous. You sound perfectly alive to me…"

"...Right. Just messing with you," Darian replied casually, brushing off the topic without revealing anything. Then, after a brief pause, he suddenly asked, "How long has it been?"

"Huh? How long has what been?"

"Since I told you I was hanging up, until now. how much time has passed?"

"Uh… I can't see the clock from where I am in the painting… but I'd guess about half an hour? Not sure if that's accurate. I've been sealed in this thing for years, so my sense of time's a bit dull. But judging from the sky outside, it doesn't look like a whole night has passed. The sun hasn't come up yet…"

Darian: "...Are you serious? Do you realize how big the difference is between half an hour and an entire night?!"

Eileen didn't respond right away but then an obnoxious, low-pitched laugh rang out from her end.

Eileen immediately shouted in defense, "That wasn't me! It was the bear!"

Darian wearily waved his hand. "I know."

Eileen sounded genuinely delighted. "Ah, so you finally believe me now…"

Darian didn't bother to argue with the sealed doll. He couldn't bring himself to admit that it wasn't her story he believed in. it was just that, if she really wanted to get smacked, she didn't need to try hard. Her mouth alone was already enough to earn it.

In fact, compared to Eileen's endless quips, the bear's mocking laughter was merely adding fuel to the fire…

Darian walked out of the ruined temple once more, his mind spinning with useless thoughts.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt even stronger now than before he'd died. His steps were lighter, his movements more powerful, and even his vision… seemed sharper than before.

It felt like he was beginning to adapt, to the darkness here, the jagged ruins, and the ever-present malice and hungry stares lurking all around.

He walked toward the clearing in front of the temple, then across it to the forest beyond, heading deeper into this so-called "Otherworld."

He knew he might die again. maybe even with the very next step, in the very next second.

"Darian," Eileen's voice echoed once more in his mind. "Are you really okay from earlier?"

"I'm fine. Just took a few scratches are already healed."

"Well… maybe you should stay put for now? Or find somewhere safe to hide? I'll try to remember, maybe I've seen that 'valley' you mentioned before…"

"Go ahead and remember, I'll keep wandering around here," Darian replied casually.

"Wait, that might be a bit dan"

"Eileen," Darian cut her off. He had already stepped into the clearing. Taking a deep breath of the valley's cold, strangely metallic, and foul-smelling air, he looked toward the shadowy forest in the distance and suddenly smiled. "You know, I've been living in a daze these past few days."

Eileen clearly couldn't keep up with his train of thought. "Uh… am I supposed to know that…?"

Darian didn't seem to care how she responded. He kept talking to himself. "…You mentioned the 'Otherworld' earlier, and those incidents where people accidentally stumble into it. Do you know how I reacted when I heard that?"

"How did you react?"

"Happy."

"Huh?"

"Happy. I was genuinely happy," Darian said, standing in the darkness with a smile he couldn't suppress. "You said some people accidentally open the wrong door, or maybe they just step on the wrong floorboard at the wrong moment—and they end up in this place, this cursed place called the 'Otherworld,' right? And you also said that if someone's lucky enough to grasp the rules of the Otherworld, they might actually find a way back…"

"That's what I said…" Eileen replied hesitantly. "But that really depends on luck. For trained investigators, maybe. But ordinary people, if they're not trained, falling into the Otherworld is basically a death sentence…"

Darian murmured, "It's fine. If I die enough times, I'll figure it out…"

Eileen: "…What?"

"Nothing. I just finally found something to do," Darian exhaled slowly, as if releasing all the stifled confusion and fog he'd accumulated over the past two months in this world. "Let's start from here. It might take some time, but I'll definitely find a way out of this place."

"I don't know exactly what's going on over there, but… it sounds like you're… kind of fired up?" Eileen said cautiously. "Well, that's a good thing, right? Keep it up. Try not to die again… I'm still waiting for you to come back and fix the TV… and find me a body or something…"

"Sure, once I'm back I'll see what I can do about the body situation," Darian replied offhandedly. "I've dabbled a little in sculpting and modeling before. Might be able to make something work."

This time, Eileen sounded genuinely excited. "Huh? You have experience as a dollmaker?! Why didn't you say so earlier? How good are you? What kind of dolls or models can you make?"

Darian hesitated a moment, then admitted frankly, "It's basically the kind where I watch a pro sculpt clay on video, my brain tells my hands 'I got this,' but my hands strongly disagree."

Two seconds later, Eileen was cursing him out, loudly and with colorful vocabulary.

But Darian felt completely relaxed. A strange, possibly irrational sense of ease was fueling his confidence. He moved forward and, lifting his head in the night, looked toward the mountains nearby.

A hulking beast, several meters tall, composed of twisted, interwoven limbs from countless ferocious creatures, was standing by the roadside staring directly at him.

Darian froze.

Then, after a moment of thought, he called out mentally to the doll still mid-rant: "Eileen."

"What?"

"…Nothing. I'm hanging up again."

"Huh?!"

(End of Chapter)

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