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Further tears strolled from Melisande’s eyes before she nodded with a face scrunched from holding back tears, accepting his hand before standing.

“Alright,” he nodded in return with a smile, “Let’s get out of here.”

“…Is that even possible, though? I’ve looked everywhere, but all I’ve found are monsters…” Melisande asked.

Now that they were standing together, her height was clear; the silver-haired girl was roughly a whole head shorter than the blonde-and-black haired boy.

“It is. Joel taught me how to maneuver through this place: we have to find a doorway,” he told her.

“A doorway? Here?” Melisande asked.

Emilio nodded, beginning to walk slowly into the wetlands with Melisande following, “–There’s always a doorway. It’s the one, absolute truth in these twisted realities. If we find a door…”

“…We can escape?” Melisande interrupted.

“Well, it’s not certain…” He told her, hesitant to give her the gloomy news, “…There’s a chance we’ll end up in another distorted world–like this swamp. That’s how I found you. I was in a different place than this before entering a doorway to this area.”

“Oh…” Melisande replied.

He made sure to continuously check on the girl while they both marched through the swamp. If there was one thing he was certain of, if he let his guard down, the Unending Nightmare would take advantage of that in a heartbeat.

“Listen, I’m strong too, you know!” Melisande suddenly said.

“What? Oh–yeah?” He replied, somewhat taken aback by her words.

“–My brother taught me how to fight! I can handle myself if it comes to it so…don’t worry about me! Just take care of yourself if it comes to it,” she told him, “…If you ask nicely, I might even protect you.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind, then.”_.

It seemed once peeling the frightening veil back, Melisande had a strong spirit, just like her older brother as a shine of resolve was etched into her emerald eyes.

To his surprise, he felt his left hand, which was free of his sword, grabbed and held gently by Melisande.

“Huh–?” He let out, glancing back at the silver-haired girl.

She was somewhat shy about it at first, but asserted her decision confidently, “–W-we can’t be separated, right?! That’s why I’m doing this…!”

“Oh…got it. Thanks,” he smiled.

Though as he held her hand, tethering them to one another, he could feel her fingers trembling against his own.

It must’ve been frightening for her–all alone in a place like this, he thought.

With his sword being held in his right hand, he kept his eyes and ears peeled while traversing the crimson-flowered swamp with the girl following close behind.

“…Are you from Larundog?” Melisande asked.

Keeping his eyes ahead, he answered, “No. I was coming through…and well, to make a long story short, a lot’s happened.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh?”

“You’re the same age as me, aren’t you?…Dealing with something like this…” Melisande said.

“We’re both in this–but we don’t have to face it alone anymore,” he assured her with a small smile, looking back.

Melisande looked at him in surprise before nodding her head, gently clenching his head, “Right…’

Still, as much as he tried to remain optimistic for the sake of the girl, he found himself doubting more and more of his own capabilities.

My mana is shot and I’m exhausted, he thought, at this rate, I don’t know how much longer I can go.

The stickiness of the wetlands made it difficult to move one foot in front of the other, having to lift his boots from the clingy mud below the shallow water with each step. It was a small obstacle, but repeatedly, it grew cumbersome on his tired body.

As they walked, Melisande used her free hand to hold the bottom of her dress up, keeping it from touching the water, though it was already dirty from her time in the alternate reality.

“What’s that…?” Melisande asked.

For a moment, he didn’t know what the silver-haired girl was referring to as he was tunnel visioned on what was in front of them, but once he looked up, he found himself flabbergasted.

There were what seemed to be human bodies, suspended on the trees with spider lilies sprouting from their eyes and mouths; their bodies were completely overtaken by moss.

It’s just like that gorilla. Are these victims from Larundog…or previous attacks by the Unending Nightmare? He questioned.

“…Let’s keep moving,” he told her.

“Yeah…” Melisande agreed.

The deeper they went into the swamp, scouting for any signs of a doorway, the more dense the spider lilies and other foliage became. Entire gardens of colorful flowers sprouted on the bodies of trees, though they weren’t species of plants he recognized.

“I should’ve asked this before, but…is there anything I should be looking out for? Anything like that beast from earlier?” He asked quietly.

Melisande took a moment to respond, “There are.”

“Really?”

“I spent most of my time avoiding them, but some of the plants…they seem to move on their own,” Melisande told him, “I’m not sure of it…I think they might be able to kill–”

Before the girl could properly explain what she’d encountered, Emilio stopped in front of her, raising his sword as the sound of rapid movement through the shallow waters resounded.

Splash. Splash. Splash.

Out from the dark depths of the crimson treeline, more surprising than a hellish entity was a man sprinting out.

“–A person?” He mumbled in surprise.

It was a middle-aged man with a thick, ginger beard and left only in a pair of tattered trousers with a body layered in bruises and abnormal, fungal-like growths.

“Help me–! Help!” The man cried out, racing towards the two with bloodshot eyes.

Melisande hid behind Emilio, clutching onto his cloak while he stood his ground, keeping his sword raised.

“Stay back-! Tell me what’s going on!” He shouted.

“Help-! Help! Help!” The man continued to cry.

Lunging towards him, the hysteric man attempted to grab onto his shirt, but he stepped back, bringing Melisande back with him as he avoided the grasp of the sickly stranger.

What’s wrong with him?! He questioned.

“…Why won’t you help me?!” The man cried, “I-It’s coming! It’s going to get us all–! It’s–”

Right before the crazed man could finish spitting out his words, something stretched out from the depths of the wetlands: scarlet vines, layered in thorns, whipped out and wrapped around the man’s body.

“No–!” The man cried out.

“Hold on…!”

Before Emilio could try to cut away the bindings with his sword, the disembodied vines retreated, pulling the infected man back from where he came at a visceral speed.

He and Melisandre were at a loss for words for a minute at what had just happened, but it left an ominous atmosphere hanging in the mystical swamp.

“…That’s what I was trying to tell you…It feels like something is lurking–like part of the swamp is alive,” Melisande told him.

He didn’t respond, only taking her hand as he kept his eyes on the direction of the murderous vines before heading in a different direction.

This is bad. I can’t handle something like that right now, he thought, I have to prioritize getting her and myself out of here.

Further into the wetlands, leading the way, he found himself stepping onto a patch land that was engulfed in colorful flowers.

“Try not to touch any of these,” he warned.

“Okay,” Melisande nodded quietly.

He wasn’t certain of it, but such vibrant aspects of nature usually led to the objects themselves being poisonous to some degree. If there was one thing he wanted to avoid, it was some otherworldly variation of poison ivy.

The ground was mushy beneath his boots, prompting him to glance down, though he immediately regretted that decision.

What the…? He thought.

It was difficult to see unless looking carefully, but the mossy ground he treaded on wasn’t simply of soil and flowers, but covered in stagnant faces which bloomed the otherworldly plantlife.

Overtaken by the malignant nature of the wetlands, the landmass they walked on was built on a foundation of bodies, used as the basis of new life.

“What’s wrong, Emilio?…” Melisande asked from behind him.

She must’ve sensed his hesitation, or at least felt the slight squeeze he gave to her hand once laying his eyes on the horrific realization.

Still, he opted to keep this discovery to himself before continuing to move, “…Nothing.”

Up ahead, it seemed the layout of the swamp was finally lending itself to a new shape: trees were lined perfectly together like walls, forming a corridor towards something unseen and unknown through the darkness.

“Do you think there’s a door down there…?” Melisande asked.

“I don’t know. But, it’s worth checking,” he replied.

Together, the two moved through the knee-high, murky water, enclosed by the claustrophobic walls of trees that seemed to grow more narrow the further they traveled down.

What was once a gap as wide as a street was now just enough for the width of his shoulders, which weren’t particularly broad for his age.

It’s getting narrower…He thought.

Soon enough, it got to the point to where they both needed to turn to the side, slowly maneuvering through the thin passage between the colossal, mossy trees.

“This isn’t normal…” Melisande said.

He wanted to respond with a snarky ‘Nothing about this has been normal’–but he was more focused on saving his breath as the claustrophobic environment weighed on his chest.

To add even more to it, the water level grew higher along with the narrowness of the trees; it rose to being up to his stomach now, causing him to slow down.

Though it grew to be an arduous path to traverse, he could now make out what laid at the end of the assembly of trees: an opening into a gargantuan tree, shrouded in spider lilies and azure flowers.

“Emilio…” Melisande said.

“I know,” he replied, breathing heavier as he kept moving, “…We’re almost out of here.”