God only knows where I'm going to wind up, but for now, I keep falling through this black abyss until I arrive at the bottom- whenever that might be. One thing's for sure, though, I'm not dead- at least, yet.

But just like when I first arrived in this land, a small light begins to grow the closer I get to it. In fact, it's so much like the first time- almost the same feelings and everything- that I get hit with the strongest case of déjà vu I've ever experienced. Part of me actually starts to worry if this is my punishment, that I have to start this whole process over again like an unsaved game file.

Coming into the light, I squeeze my eyes shut, half expecting the excruciating pain from my body hitting the still water below- like what happened the first time- but nothing happens.

Instead, I open my eyes and find myself face down on the soft, mossy ground which tickles my cheek. Sitting up, absolutely bewildered to the sudden change, I blink while I survey the area, trying to figure out where I am.

Judging from the scenery, I'm no longer out in the humid, sticky jungle, but rather the balmy, crisp forest- almost like when I first fell in this world.

Sitting up, I glance around, checking out the area. It seems I haven't fallen into the despairs of hell yet (I'm just waiting for the day). In fact, I seem to be in a rather tranquil place. The sky is a calming shade of purple and dark blue and orange- it's really pretty- then you have the big open meadow that looks like the stock photo on a laptop surrounded by the forest, it's quite the sight. What's also quite the sight- and surprise- is the out-of-nowhere horse that comes whizzing past me at full speed.

Jesus!

Recovering from the shock, I glare at the horse and its rider who continue running as if they didn't almost kill me. I'm so busy glaring that I'm caught off guard again by a second horse and rider flying past me, this time even faster than the first one. At this point, I don't know if I landed right in the middle of some Kentucky Derby thing or whatever or perhaps just a fun racing game or maybe a murder about to happen- I dunno- but I'm hoping there aren't any more sudden surprises.

Since the two people who flew past me are the only people in sight, I don't have a lot of options available to ask for help. I need to figure out where I am and how to get back to where I was before I fell through the door.

I'm in luck, as they seem to be slowing down. It must've been a game or something because the guy who flew past me on the faster horse reaches over to stop the other rider's horse. I hurry to catch up, just in case they're on the verge of starting up again (I'm fast, but not that fast).

But as I approach the scene, I can tell things are not as I originally thought.

As the female rider dismounts- or at least attempts to dismounts but ends up failing as she tried to get off- the guy ends up dismounting as well, trying to help her up from the looks of it, but she's having none of it.

"You didn't tell me how to stop her!"

Hell, I'm not even the one getting yelled out and I stop in place. I'm also frozen in place by another reason that eludes me at the moment.

Gosh, that sounds so...familiar. Just the yelling- it's kinda weird.

The guy isn't too fazed though, in fact, he keeps trying to help her.

"My apologies, it slipped my mind, but are you all right?"

This time, the fiery female gets to her feet- and she's not done her scream fest. Damn, I must have walked in on a couple's argument- yay me.

"No, I'm not alright! I'm fucking pissed! You enrage me! Killing innocent people because you want to. Torturing them for crimes they didn't do. You're a psycho!"

Before the guy can even reply to that, she starts to walk away, practically fuming steam out her ears. And that's when I finally recognize her and my heart stops beating.

I could spot my mom from a mile away just from her unique strawberry blond hair- it made finding her in a crowded store super easy. Though her hair isn't as lustrous as it was when she was younger, it still stood out. Her hair now, though, is even more blazing than I've known it- it's the vibrant color it is in pictures from her childhood and wedding photos. From her hair to her angry voice, there's no mistaking that's my mom, but definitely a lot younger. How young, I'm not sure.

If that's my mom then looking more closely at the person she's yelling at, I can tell it's my dad. My mind is literally blown. I must be in another flashback, one that involves both my parents. Now I'm beyond intrigued.

While my mind's being blown, the scene continues to unfold before me as my dad reaches for my mom's hand, trying to get her to stop.

Out of nowhere, she punches him in the face. I'm shooketh, there's no other way to describe it.

While he recovers from that unexpected punch, she points a finger at him and seethes-

"If you fucking touch me again, I will slit your damn throat. Don't touch me."

And with that she's marching back into the woods, leaving the scene.

And they say I have anger management issues!?

Shit, if my parents' relationship started out like this, I wanna know how they managed to pull it together for so long.

Since this is a flashback, I'm sure they can't see me- especially since they nearly ran me over not too long ago.

I'm not really sure what my dad did (or didn't do) to piss off my mom so much. I mean, she only uses that tone of voice paired with that volume if something is really bad, like shit and piss has hit the fan kind of bad. She mentioned torture in there if I heard right so that might have something to do with it. The mention of torture also takes me back to the other scene that Tymos showed me- the one I still have a hard time believing is true.

After a second, my dad recovers fully and pinches the bridge of his nose, a telltale sign that something's wrong. He spends about several minutes pacing and muttering softly to himself. It's odd to see how some things never change about a person no matter how old they get.

Once he's done with his concentrated thinking, he mounts the black horse he rode in on and uses the reins on the other horse that my mom left behind to lead them back to wherever they came from. I'm kinda tempted to follow them and see what's going to unfold next, but I know I don't have that kind of time to be wasting. I mean, clearly, my parents made up after that- they're married now for crying out loud- so there's not much suspense about the outcome.

"Okay, now to find a way out of this place," I mumble to myself, my eyes scanning the clearing as if there's going to be a magical door available for me to waltz through.

Being here alone makes me wonder if the others- like good friends- walked through after me or if- like the sensible but bad friends they are- stayed behind after watching me fail. If I'm here alone then that's not ideal since I still need to extract some truths from those guys still.

But another thing. If this isn't the right door then, firstly, which one is it? And secondly, it was promised death and doom and all that melodramatic stuff, but I would hardly consider this death, an inconvenience yes, destruction and death, not so much.

"You don't look much beyond yourself, do you?"

Whirling around, I hate how I'm always caught off guard by him.

Tymos stands there, only a few feet away from me, his expression a bit more reserved than usual. I can still feel the inhumanly strong grip of the invisible hand around my neck from the last time we met face-to-face; he wasn't happy with me and I'm not sure what to expect now.

"Why'd you bring me here?" I question, though my voice isn't as sharp as I would usually have it around him.

He shrugs nonchalantly.

"A fond glance at forgotten memories. But that is not important. What did you think about this all?"

I feel as though he's trying to catch me in a lie or something, but I'm not sure why.

"I think this is a waste of time," I reply flatly.

"Oh, humor me," He says. It seems he's not as doom and gloom this time around.

I sigh. "Why did you bring me here? What happened to death and destruction and crap?"

His twistedly amused demeanor shifts back to the reserved, neutral expression he wore when he confronted me last night- making me a bit hesitant again.

"You haven't a clue who you are," He shakes his head pitifully at me, making my blood start to boil.

We're not doing this again. "I know who I am- you're just trying to play mind games with me."

"Have you thought about the injustices your father has committed? Or have you put that out of your mind as you have everything else in your life?"

I really don't want to go down this road with him- no matter how much I hate to admit that I have been bothered slightly by the things shown to me before.

"Why are you so adamant about proving something about my dad?" I ask in frustration. "What does any of this have to do with you or me?"

His expression sours as he glares at me with so much animosity that I swear I can actually feel the heat radiating off of him, making me take a small step back.

"You will see soon enough, but do not question my right to hold anger against your family name."

I want to snap back, reply that my family's past has nothing to do with how I live my life, but for once I hold my tongue and stay quiet.

Due to my silence, his anger dwindles and he resumes his usually cool, unfazed front which I'm really starting to see is just a facade to his true emotions that are starting to spill out more and more.

"The red sun is fast approaching, Joan," He taunts. "I would make haste if I were you."

Thankfully he's not me and I'm not him, but I don't say as much as he disappears from sight in a whoosh of shadows leaving me alone in the midst of the clearing.

Well, I'm back where I began, stranded and alone. Placing my hands on my hips, I look around, trying to find a starting point. As I'm mindlessly scanning the area, though, my eyes spot something rather interesting. In fact, upon closer inspection, my heart leaps in my chest when I realize that my eyes aren't deceiving me. There before me, forming in the rough pattern of the tree is a small door. It's not as aesthetically pleasing as the other doors, but it looks like my salvation so I'll take it.

Yanking open the door, I crouch down to shuffle through the door. Like the first time I carelessly entered through a door, I feel the ground beneath my feet disappear causing me to fall into oblivion.

°°°

Not sure when, or if, I passed out during my fall, but the next thing I know I feel a gentle hand nudging me on the shoulder and voices solidifying as I gradually come to.

"Joan," The voice sounds like it belongs to Dhisnaek. "Can you hear me?"

"She's starting to stir," A voice like Lan's says.

I continue to be gently nudged until I half-heartedly swat the hand away, my face still prone to the ground looking like an idiot I'm sure.

"Yeah, she's up," Chasan says.

Dhisnaek tries to get me to get up. "Joan, are you all right?"

"Maybe," I mumble into the ground.

"Joan," I hear Nimu's voice.

Finally, I lift my face, wincing as the world shifts into balance momentarily before groggily replying like I just woke up from a nap after smoking a pack.

"Yeah?"

They're all looking down at me in concern, Dhisnaek kneeling next to me with his staff in hand.

"What happened?" She asks.

Sitting up better, I rub my face, brushing off the dirt from the ground.

"I dunno. I fell through the door then I...then I-" I don't think they'd understand if I tried to explain the whole ordeal I just witnessed, plus the little chat I had with Tymos, so I brush it aside. "I had a funny dream and woke up."

As I collect myself, I glance around, trying to gather my thoughts together.

"Where are we?" I ask.

Everything looked the same in this jungle, but I couldn't be sure since those doors were nowhere in sight now.

"We must have picked the correct door because we're still alive," Chasan says.

As Dhisnaek helps me to my feet, I continue brushing myself off and nod.

"Yeah, good works, guys. See, teamwork makes the dream work."

Alright, now that we're not faced with imminent death, I try to find the invisible footprints. While I search, Lan chirps-

"What was your dream about?"

"Huh?" I ask distracted.

"Your dream. You said while you were out that you had a funny dream."

Focusing again, I look over at him for a second then shake my head. "You don't wanna hear about it- it honestly wasn't that funny."

"Oh."

As he deflates at that news, I finally catch sight of the footprints which allows us to start back up.

"Speaking of funny dreams," I begin. "What's the craziest, most bizarre dream you've ever had?"

"What, me?" He replies.

"All of you."

Chasan is already over this, rolling his eyes so heavily that it's a surprise they have gotten permanently stuck in the back of his head.

"Since you brought it up, Lan, you can start."

"Okay, okay," He starts to think about it. "One moment, I have a lot of them to choose from."

"Oh, I'm sure," Nimu replies.

Snapping his fingers, he grins. "Okay, so the oddest dream I ever had was when I had a fever and was recovering. I was in this weird, mystical kingdom where objects sang and the water was made from diamonds, but then that was a problem because no one could drink any water because it would turn into diamonds and then this fire started and it couldn't be put out because of the water situation."

I always knew Lan was my type of guy- the kind that experienced trippy dreams, the kind that would make people wonder if he took MDMA before he went to bed.

"That's quite the experience," Chasan says, unsure of how to take that.

"What about you?" He asks.

"Me?" Chasan repeats.

I tsk. "Now, now, we all know Chasan doesn't dream- he's not creative enough for that."

Yeah, okay, I'm looking for trouble, but that one was so easy to reach for- I just couldn't resist.

Now with ample fuel to roast my ass, Chasan narrows his eyes at me.

"Since you're so fond of questions, why don't you answer some of ours?"

I scoff. "Like what? I'm an open book."

"Like why you feel the dying urge to constantly bring negativity and shit to every conversation you're in."

I'mma be honest, that's a fair question to pose to me. I'm not always little miss sunshine (despite what my pajamas used to say when I was five).

To that question, I simply shrug and reply-

"I dunno, but I'm trying to work on it."

Probably a bit taken back by my chill response, Chasan regains some of his cool and loses the aggression.

"Yeah, well, work a little harder at it, okay."

I can't help but smirk at that.

"I'll put it on my to-do list."

My smirk doesn't last long, though, as Nimu's next question comes to slap it off my face.

"I've noticed you always ask us a set of questions each day. Why is that?"

"Can't a girl be curious?" I chuckle, trying to steer away from this topic- it's going to be the beginning of the end if I spill everything now. "I'm the interrogator type. I want to make sure I'm not traveling with a pack of serial killers."

She's not buying it, I can tell, it's written all over her face. But I'm not trying to spill secrets here so I jump in before she can even open her mouth to interject again.

"Okay, so I don't know about you guys but I'm getting pretty hungry."

It's so jarring and obvious that I'm diverting attention away from that subject, but I can't risk breaking another one of Tymos' rules again- fire and brimstone might rain upon me if I do. Taking a group consensus, we decide to stop briefly for a lunch break before continuing on.

I swear, the whole time we're eating, Nimu is staring me down like a freakin' federal agent or something, like I have some top secret files or something (which, I kinda do, but she can't know that). I try my hardest to ignore it, but she has those freaky cat eyes that make you feel like you're always being watched and stared down. By the time we're ready to start back up, I'm honestly not trying to start any more conversations, which, thankfully, doesn't really happen except for the quiet chatter between Lan and Chasan.

As we travel, we stumble across a pond- best way I can describe it. It's only a short crossing to get to the other, plus there's a trail of stones leading straight to the other side.

Since I'm Indiana Jones booby trap conscious, I let the others go on ahead of me before starting to cross myself. But just as my foot hits the first stone, the voice I've quickly grown to despise rings out in my head.

"I give you too much assistance, but nonetheless, I have a feeling you'll enjoy this little activity."

I don't have a clue what he might be talking about, but I know it's not good news. Sensing the tide about to turn, I try and call out to the others but it's too late.

Before we even have the chance to make it across, the stones shift out of their straight line, creation a new formation. Recovering from the sudden move, I look around and find the others exchanging bewildered looks. Because of this new circular formation, we can no longer get to the other side.

What now?

While I groan, the others try to piece together what's going on.

"What just happened?" Lan asks, glancing around warily.

"We're going to have to cross a different way," Chasan says, already looking around for a new way to cross. That might be a little hard pressed since the gaps between us are so large, but maybe if we swam to the other side then-

"What in the Fates' name is that!?" Chasan exclaims, pointing at the large dark object that's increasing in size in the middle of our circle.

We get our answer in the form of a leviathan creature bursting up from the depths of the water before sinking back down below the surface again.

And clearly this pond is deeper than I thought. How fun.

Welp, I guess it's true what they say: when it rains, it pours on you like a relentless bitch.