How could her mind possibly change that quickly over one book? Either she is itching for revenge, which would be reflected in her enthusiasm, or maybe, just maybe, this book is more legitimate than we are giving it credit for. If that were the case, why would she feel the need to exclude my friends? After all, all of us had equal part in the bullying scandal, for the most part. I still feel bad for Skye, and I really wish I had been kinder before it became too late, on that fateful day...
"Ready to learn?" Mrs. Sobre was holding in her hand something that looked like the original copy, with a smuggish expression on her face— something I truly didn't trust.
It should have been my cue to run away, but my curiosity got the best of me.
"Have a seat, Soola. I will explain everything to you, if you are willing to listen. There are multiple worlds, and multiple dimensions, by the way. Also, my daughter did not off herself, in fact.
"Not that you probably care much."
It took me a moment to think of how to respond, but before I could assure Mrs Sobre that I did actually want to repent, and that I cared about Skye, she stopped me and continued with a long monologue about each of the dimensions and how they used to work, vs how they worked now. There was a mysterious, new game developer that took the place of the OG (original gamer/ game developer),messing up the balance entirely. What was even more concerning: it seemed to be intentional. This was no accident, but rather someone with malicious and sinister plans for universal domination and chaos.
Apparently, Skye got stuck in the 7th dimension, which was named the 1st dimension. Our dimension number one was called the 7th dimension, or was that vice versa? There were so many details to keep track of.
Why Mrs Sobre let her daughter wonder off by herself in the universe on a quest to find the OG in addition to faking her death confused me as much as anyone else, but that strange story seemed like it was only the tip of the iceberg, compared to the details that came next.
"In order to get to the Moonlight dimension, you have to travel through 7 other dimensions:
The Sun Dimension
The Eclipse Dimension
The Blood Moon Dimension
The Blood Dimension
The Black Dimension
The name of the 7th Dimension is the 1st Dimension
The name of the 1st Dimension is the 7th Dimension
How each dimension works:
The Sun Dimension has a forest which is called the Vertex Dimension. It leads to the world's largest graveyard where you will find every single negative myth imaginable- mainly of the undead, since it lies in a graveyard.
Next, the Eclipse Dimension.
If you walk through Twilight Forest in the Twilight dimension long enough, it will lead you into the Shadow Forest. This is a place that leads to a village of people friendly and normal, unless you do anything to upset them. Make sure to read the manual, because each individual has their own pet peeve, and you must tread carefully. Should you upset them, you will have more shadows to fight on your way to Shadow Forest.
A shadow from every person you upset will be born, with its own personality, own power, and own ability to make decisions. Because they were born of negativity, they will set out to eliminate you however they can.
Next is the Blood Moon Dimension. The Forest of this dimension is named the Red Forest, and it will present any dangerous mythical creature imaginable, whatever you did not meet in the Forest of the Undead (aka the Vertex Dimension).
Next is the Blood Dimension. The forest for this Dimension is named the Scarlet forest. In this, you will get a blood stone, and wish for anything. It will allow you to create your own reality, and at first it will seem like a really good thing. This can be either a break from the previous challenges or one of the most difficult of all the forests combined, if you are not very very careful what you wish for.
Anything can go wrong unless you describe your wish exactly. Make sure it is something you want badly, and prepare to make a big sacrifice in return for your wish. For most people, the second option best describes their experience. Next is the Black Dimension. You will get a magical black opal as well as a magic onyx, as you get a second chance at whatever went wrong with your wish in the Blood Dimension. The name of this forest is called the Black Forest, and it can be either a big relief, or the second most deadly of all the challenge forests.
Last is the First Dimension, with the name of the First Forest. In this dimension, some have believed their journey ended, because of how similar it is to the real world, but don't let that fool you. The second you interact with anyone, you will notice immediately something is off. Every person there is a clone of the people in the real world, so they are robots without a soul. They look and feel like people you know, but they act the complete opposite. The first thing that will strike you is their dead eyes, because they don't have a soul.
Most people find this world to be better than their reality, and stay in this world. Nothing bad will happen if you do stay in this world. Once you decide to stay however, you may never travel to any dimension again, so choose wisely. If you pass this dimension, you may go to Moonlight Forest inside the Moonlight Dimension, and there you will find the original developer, able to save all of the other dimensions and turn them good again. Despite having powers that can be used for evil, most of the evil mythology will turn good.
Vampires, sirens, banshees, you name it. In the wish dimensions, the stones will not be defective and therefore your wishes will not be corrupted. The people trapped in the First Dimension can come and go from there, and most importantly, all the balance shall be restored. Except, nobody has ever made it past the first dimension. For someone to save us all would be revolutionary. The dark shadows would even be good, despite a mischievous nature.
So far, nobody who tried has ever succeeded, and I wonder if it's even possible at all. Because it's so unheard of, the results could only be a myth of hopefulness, especially since nobody has seen the Moon Dimension in the first place. In addition...."
Blake's POV
I could see from a distance the bored and bland expression on Soola's face. From my observations, it seemed like that crabby old librarian was talking her ear off, which I found absolutely hysterical, mainly as karma. From one chatterbox to another, I am sure my "girlfriend" could understand that mindset better than anyone else in the room.
Whether or not the advice she was getting was legitimate, it didn't concern me. I was just thankful that I had minimal interaction with her for now. If this dimension hopping had something to it, perhaps I could find something as the perfect excuse to dump her already.
It isn't even that I am scared of getting in trouble or offending anyone. All I really care about is my reputation.
It will get ruined unless I have a good reason to dump her. Without a reason, I will look like the bad guy.
"Things just aren't working between us"? That won't be enough to get her off my back for good. She will probably beg me constantly to get back together, and that's the last thing I want.
Once I cut things off, I need them to stay cut off. For what her father did to mine, this will be the ultimate payback to her family name.
"Earth to Blake!" My good friend Damien waved his hand in front of my face. "Football players aren't usually space cadets, but as long as you buy me lunch, I'll keep your dirty little secret.
"Also, I don't care what anyone says otherwise about books being nerdy, because dimension hopping is so real."
Charlotte stared at him in awe and disgust, but her comment was too funny for any one of us to take seriously. "You have very gay mannerisms."
"So I've been told. What's on your mind, Blaketown?
"Anything I can do to bring you back to reality? People tell me I'm an awesome helper."
"I'll tell you later in private," I replied in a mellow, but assertive tone. "In the meantime, you wanna read this book with us? Not sure if it's real or not, but it sure is entertaining."
"Sure thing, buddy. The reliability of journalists is usually about 50/50. This seems very detailed, however, so there's a good chance it has at minimum, a grain of truth, if nothing else."
Pneudonna sized up Damien in amusement and disgust. "You're such a clown sometimes, Dame, but for some reason Charlotte finds you hot."
Charlotte elbowed Pneudonna in the ribs, practically knocking the wind out of her.
"OW!"
"Bitch."
"Ladies, ladies! Language! Calm down! No need to fight over the Dameasaurus over here..."
"You really are a clown, dude. It's better to be quiet and seem a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
"We should have a rap battle my guy, or settle this outside."
I face palmed in frustration, and did my best to compose myself by just not answering that time, and getting Pneudonna to read the book out loud, distracting him, hopefully, from digging himself an even deeper grave.
Maybe that will occupy his mind enough~ I need to start re-evaluating who I let into my inner circle. Why do I attract all the nut jobs?
Sabri finally decided to join us in conversation, and when she did, it made her even more mysterious by adding questions about her personality rather than answering them. At least, that was my opinion on her, but from the intrigue on the faces of people around her, I got the hunch that many of them shared my opinion as well.
"This book is very interesting, but you know, there is a way to test out whether or not there are other dimensions outside of here."
She pointed to the dimension blueprint, and how they were all connected by either forests or magical transportation taxis, which were both equally ridiculous in my opinion.
"It mentions that in order to get from the 7th dimension, which is us, into basically any other of these dimensions, you need to either walk through some type of forest or get a magical taxi, but that is usually used for skipping dimensions and it can cause some serious complications, so not worth it in my opinion. We'll bring all the needed materials as suggested by the manual, and, bring some money, food, clothes, water... maybe just pack a suitcase."
"Interesting idea," I said coldly. "But how do we know which forest we're looking for?"
Sabri smiled confidently, and took out the Randonauts app, checking for any unusual forests, glitches, or off the grid locations that didn't match up with the map of our town, and after 10 minutes of grueling and seemingly pointless wandering in circles, she was able to find something.
"It won't appear as the strangest forest we know, because, that would draw attention to it. I've been searching wrong this whole time. We are looking for a very average and unpopular forest that most people wouldn't even think twice about. It would have to be some place that's abandoned or that people don't visit often.
"Anything ring a bell?"
We thought for a moment, then everything seemed to make sense all of the sudden, not just to me, but to everyone in our group.
We shouted excitedly in unison,
"Midnight Forest!"
