Tobi stood about to leave but before that, his mother grabbed each side of his head, bringing them face to face even as he wore the mask; her eyes bore into his solemnly. "Remember you are Tobias Renholm; do not think you are not deserving to be human; you are not Death," she murmured sternly and lovingly.
He didn't speak for a moment; he wanted to reassure her, even lie but. "I am Death," he spoke coldly and bluntly as she looked at him sadly before smiling once more, grabbing his cheek beneath the mask.
"And you are human too," she said lovingly.
"Of course," he replied with a small smile beneath the mask.
Amias stared deadpan at the reflection in the wall. He blinked a few times, confused, rubbing his eyes before looking again.
It was still there.
But… they came from there, right?
"Tobi? Hey, Tobi, where the hell did you go?" He called out, clearly disoriented.
The moose huffed beside him, the glowing runes along its hide flaring to life as it suddenly took off. Amias barely had time to react before he scrambled to grab on.
"M-Moosey?! W-What the hell ?!" He shouted, surprised by the sudden speed. The moose didn't stop. It charged ahead, impossibly fast, and Amias could hardly keep up mentally.
His thoughts were a mess. He swore he heard a woman's laughter. For a moment, he was sure they were in another dimension, some endless hall with a river of blood. But when he looked back, it was just a wall, and now that Tobi was gone, it felt like he and Moosey were actually back in the real thing with no bloody river below and more turns and corners now.
So what the hell happened? Where is Tobi?
Also, there WERE skinwalkers in the mirrors.
"That meant... I never actually hated my reflection. I never hated myself. I knew something was wrong all along. This maze is just pure evil." He laughed, loud and sudden, before clearing his throat and composing himself.
Eventually, the moose's destination became clear as he ran through the silver door into the vast forest tucked inside a colossal tree. The moose didn't slow, trampling over glowing flowers as it rushed toward an ancient portal, and there, waiting in front of it, was Tobi.
Amias blinked. Of all things, he was just... there.
"Wha… Where'd you come from? What happened?" Amias asked, a little breathless.
Tobi paused before answering simply.
"Family ties,"
I have no idea what that means, Amais thought.
"Ok, but how'd you get here?" Amias asked.
"You wouldn't understand," Tobi replied bluntly but Amais looked at him madly. "I was stuck in another reality and had an argument with my mom to get back here."
"..."
"Okay," Amias said hoarsely, just accepting the answer.
"So you came to save me then. Thank you, Amias," Tobi said sincerely.
"No problem, though it doesn't seem like you needed much saving," Amias said, glancing him over. Tobi nodded. "Anyways since you disappeared and all, now could you explain how you lost the god exactly?" Amias asked.
"I fought the plant god and brought him to space and created a supernova. He's not dead. Regardless, he won't be coming to Earth again if that's what you're worried about. Same with the flame god. And half my body got burned in the process."
He held up his charred, blackened hand. Amias flinched.
"Are there still doctors? Can we fix that? Jeez," Amias said, inspecting it. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"It doesn't matter," Tobi replied coldly.
"Okay then... but um, what now?" Amias asked, curious.
"We're going through the portal," Tobi said.
"Yeah, I wanted to do that actually... but have you ever been stuck trying to figure out why you live?" Amias asked, his voice unsure.
Tobi tilted his head slightly. "Explain a little more."
"I mean, like... you're walking somewhere, but you don't really know where. You're just going forward into the unknown without any real direction," Amias explained.
"Oh. So you don't have a goal?" Tobi said, intrigued. Amias nodded.
"To find meaning... well, I can't help you with that, Amias," Tobi said honestly. "That's a path for you. I know what I am and I'm sure in the future you'll know what you'll be."
"I've got lots of questions too, Tobi. Like... who is Ryo? And why do the gods hate humanity?" Amias asked, looking at him.
"Ryo I know he's humanity's light and saviour. As for the gods hating humanity, who knows?" Tobi answered honestly.
"Oh. Okay. Well... that's all for now, anyway," Amias said, honestly disappointed.
Tobi nodded. "Have you ever been through a portal before?"
Amias shook his head. "Is it bad?"
"We'll see," Tobi said, and with that, he stepped through the glowing magical light and disappeared.
Amias stood there in silence, staring at the portal. He waited for a bit, uncertain. Eventually, the moose tired of waiting gave him a shove and pushed him in.
Even as Amais was scared, the thought of seeing Elentera again made his heart flutter. he really had wanted to see her; he did still owe her a date, after all.
I can't wait
What followed could only be described as a fever dream. Everything twisted and turned, colours flashing everywhere, sensations blurring. It felt like everything was happening at once.
Then he was there. Sprawled on the ground, looking up at an ocean in the sky.
Wait... were there always oceans in the sky?
He sat up, confused, and saw a massive stone wall nearby. A labyrinth. Another goddamn maze. Everything was dark, though his eyes dilated and he could make out just a little bit.
He looked around, worried, until he spotted Tobi, thank god standing ahead, arms crossed, facing forward. Amias sighed in relief. At least they hadn't been separated.
He was just about to speak when Tobi placed a hand over his mouth, then brought a finger up to where his lips would be if not for the mask, signalling silence as Amais heard scraping. It was slow but grew louder and louder, and he could even start to feel a vibration until there.
Amias looked forward... and froze.
At the end of the tunnel was a gargantuan creature, maybe the size of a few school buses. It had no legs, only grotesquely long, massive arms that stretched unnaturally far, each one allowing it to drag its grotesquely inflated body along the stone floor. Hooked claws scraped with each movement, shrieking against the ground. With every swing of its limbs, its bloated form lurched forward, screeching in a slow, agonizing crawl that echoed with a terrible, irritable sound.
A glowing lure hung from its head like a lantern, swaying gently with each movement and illuminating its decrepit form. Its skin was a blackish-blue, mottled and slick, with gills on either side that flared open with every breath; each inhale and exhale produced a loud, wet sucking noise. Its mouth was an open nightmare, filled with vicious, jagged teeth scattered and layered in unnatural rows, even deep into the back of its throat, as if its entire skull had been built to devour whatever was unlucky enough to get inside.
It looked like some ancient, nightmarish anglerfish that had crawled straight out of hell, two pitch-black, soulless eyes staring ahead, void of thought, emotion, or mercy.
It turned toward them briefly... then slowly turned back and kept moving forward. They could hear its body scraping across the stone, the sound growing quieter and quieter as it faded into the distance.
"I don't know what that thing is," Tobi whispered, "but it probably came from the water above."
They both glanced up at the inverted ocean above them. Amias paled, despite technically being a corpse.
"So... this place is worse than Earth," he muttered.
"Probably. For us, anyway."
"Is that the worst creature here?" Amias asked.
"No," Tobi said simply. "It's probably hiding from whatever's above us."
Amias let out a long, tired sigh.
Damn Mazes