“Ehem!”

A false clear of the throat came from the side. I turned and stared at a familiar face.

“Wait a moment!? Why are you here?”

Emilia was next to me in her wheelchair.

“It looks like you put my two halves back together, but... You probably didn’t “save” me? ...What is that place?”

She looked around, but there was nothing else than the yawning emptiness and the remaining 12 doors.

“Ha? I don’t know, this world exists inside of Eris, but what exactly this world is... I don’t know.”

I answered her honestly.

“What do we do now?”

“I would have entered the next door, but... I don’t know what we could do. I thought if I “redeemed” you, you would connect with Eris, but I was wrong...”

I held my head and thought.

I can’t even imagine a reason why she’s still here... her “form” should have dissolved, and the pure energy would have flowed back to Eris...

“Hey, come on, let’s go through the door.”

Emilia wrenched me out of my thoughts as she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door.

“Hey!?”

I stopped her and turned to her.

“I can’t just go through the next door.”

“Why not?”

“Because ... Because ... Ha!?”

I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t think of a reason, it wasn’t like Emilia was changing the past.

“Well, why not? BUT! You have to be careful, and it can be dangerous.”

She nodded with a confident expression on her face.

“Then come.”

I opened the door and held it open for her.

“You’re welcome.”

She was about to roll through the door when an icy wind pushed her away and pulled me in with the same breath.

“Wah! Tyche!”

When I flew through the door, I saw Emilia disappear behind a white wall.

 

===

 

The first thing I felt when I became conscious was the coolness that surrounded me. The ground below me was soft and cool. When I opened my eyes, I realized that it was snowing. It was snowing lightly, and a light breeze was blowing.

Door number 13?

I was surprised because I never expected to find a snow-covered mountain behind one of the doors.

What about Emilia? I am also interested in what Eris’s previous self looks like in this world?

*Qik!*

A squeaking sound came next from me as something grabbed me and dragged me through the snow. My body was still a little numb from the cold, which prevented me from getting up.

“Where am I?”

I couldn’t see the person, but it didn’t feel dangerous to me.

“Mi, bring you vil-lage.”

A very high voice answered me, but it didn’t answer my question. The voice spoke slowly and also paused often.

“How far is your vil-lage?”

“Close, just a-round the cor-ner. Do not wor-ry.”

“OK.”

I closed my eyes and tried to listen to my surroundings.

She spoke of a village, whether it is deserted like Emilia’s hospital?

I was dragged through the snow for a few minutes until I could see a wall made of logs appearing next to me. I saw shadows scurrying around the windows of the houses.

“Mi, who have you there?”

A high male voice rang out.

“Mi, bring for-eig-ner, found in the snow.”

“Not dan-ger-ous?”

“Not!”

Both talked very familiarly, maybe father and daughter or husband and wife, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Bring her in.”

I was further ground through a door into a small house. It was made of everything that could be used, in addition to wood and stone, bones and feathers were also used. The bones were from giant monsters. The door of the house was too small for a human.

“For-eig-ner, ok?”

The person who was pulling me straight to the village was leaning over me. It was a rare breed that had not existed in Tareh since the separation of Tareh and Herat. It was the race of the Duch Gór. They are better known as lords of the mountains and lives like the Jotuns in the snow-covered peaks.

Duch Gór are almost 1 meter tall with a human-like shape. Their bodies are covered with short white fur from neck to toe.

“..Y-yes, everything ok.”

I answered a little dazed.

Duch Gór are known for their slow way of speaking, and they often talk with monosyllabic words because they are easier for them than longer terms.

“Where am I?”

I asked curiously.

“Village of Mi.”

Answered the Duch Gór.

“Village of Mi? Is that the name of the village?”

“No, I am Mi.”

“Oh! Your name is Mi!”

She nodded.

“You?”

“I? My name is Tyche.”

“Hihi, fun-ny na-me.”

She giggled and commented similar to Emilia’s on my name.

“Yours is also not ordinary where I come from.”

She pulled me a little further to a fireplace where my body was slowly “thawing.”

“What are you do-ing on the moun-tain?”

She sat across from me and stared at my face.

“Well, I’m not quite sure either.”

“Not sure?”

“Yes, I was still ... I was in this world and I went through a gate and then ... I was here.”

This must be the world behind the door! But here are several people in the village. So she’s not alone... but maybe Mi is the former Eris.

“I don’t understand.”

“Not so important. Doesn’t it happen that there is an Eris in your village?”

“Eris? No, never heard.”

So another name.

“Hmm ... have you ever been beyond the mountain?”

She shook her head.

“Mountain does-n’t have a foot.”

“Mountain doesn’t have a foot? Do you think there is no foot of the mountain?”

“No, noth-ing.”

“Haa!?”

She got up and moved to a small door.

“Pa! Moun-tain not a foot?”

She called through the door for someone named “Pa,” it was the high male voice from before.

“Mi, don’t un-der-stand, it was al-ways so.”

She came back to me.

“Pa, don’t un-der-stand, but you! It’s been for years, but no-body in the vil-lage can un-der-stand it.”

“Only you?”

“Yes!”

That made her the number 1 on the list, to be Eris.

“And how is life in the village?”

“Good enough food, enough drink-ing, but a big evil mon-ster lives near the vil-lage.”

The monster could also be the solution. If that’s the case, I would have finished the thirteenth door in a flash!?

“What monster?”

“Big sha-dow in a cave close to the vil-lage.”

“Can you show me the way?”

She looked a little ner-vous but nod-ded.

 

===

 

We had left the village and passed a ledge when a cave appeared in front of us.

She stopped at the entrance to the cave.

“In there!”

She pointed into the cave.

“OK!”

I went past her and went into the cave first. She followed me but kept a few feet away.

The cave rose slightly until it ended in a circular room.

“Mon-ster!”

I turned to her and saw her pointing to the other side of the room when I looked into the room again. I explicated to where she was pointing. A figure was hiding in the shadow, but it was anything but large. Its body was smaller than me and a little bit bigger than Mi.

“HA!”

A mocking tone came from the shadowy figure.

“Come out of the shadows and show yourself!”

My voice echoed in the room before the room was silent. A low voice suddenly came from the shadow.

“Do you want it?”

The voice was too familiar for me to stop and falter.

“This voice! You can’t be here!”

The figure came out of the shadow into the light.

“Tyche?”

She spread her arms.

“Why are you here? How can that be, Eris!?”

The figure opposite was undoubtedly Eris, at least from the presence she exuded, but some creatures could no doubt copy it, so I hoped for a reaction.

 “Tyche...”

Even before a complete answer came out of her, Mi interrupted us.

“M... M... Mon-ster!”

Mi screeched and ran towards the cave exit. I felt a shadow want to pass me, but before that happened, I grabbed the figure and hurled it back. Eris’s presence hadn’t moved a meter.

“Tyche...”

Eri’s sad voice came to me.

“Eris!”

I ran to her. Before I reached her, the shadow appeared behind me. Before the shadow could attack me, I kicked them and hurled them away from me. I moved closer to Eris.

“Tyche...”

When I reached Eris and wanted to touch her shoulder, I understood.

It’s just an echo... an echo from my thoughts!

It was just an illusion created by these creatures. Before I knew it, several presences of the shadow beings appeared and surrounded me.

I don’t know how much strength I have in this world... In Emilia’s, I was almost powerless...

I summoned a few flames on the fingertips of my right hand.

A little more exhausting than usual, but it works.

I fired the flames in all directions of the room.

“Miii!”

I heard Mi’s outcry.

Damn! I’m such an idiot!

In my concern for Eris, I had almost forgotten Mi’s presence. I was about to run towards the scream when three shadows pounced on me and blocked the path.

 

=== Eris’s messages ===

 

We reached Tes, but due to a severe storm, we could not reach the destined port and had to stop at another.

Ishina decided to continue the trip on foot as the boat trip would take another day, but we did not know when the storm would weaken. I learned from her that some storms could last for several weeks.

The planned march would take three to five days instead of one day, depending on the weather and what kind of creatures we would encounter.