The next thirty minutes changed the dynamic of the group entirely.

Sariel had sworn to his innocence, whilst Lantern had to hers. It was a very serious allegation from both sides; Sariel stated that another Dreamer had attempted to kill him in his sleep, which was incredibly taboo. If the number of competent Dreamers lowered, everyone suffered. Surviving Otherside was, in essence, a team effort, and thus killing your ally Dreamers was seen as incredibly bad.

However, assault was also a serious issue. Sariel had lived in the underworld of the Eastern Bloc for so long, and though the blood and fighting was endless and unforgiving, assault was still taken very seriously. More so because it was a really convenient excuse to lynch a competitor, but the fact remains that assault was treated very seriously, at least in the Eastern Bloc.

And the only witness had fallen asleep standing.

Though both Sariel and Lantern could shatter the barrier placed around them easily, there wouldn't have been a point, so they each waited in their soundproof barrier box. Sariel watched all the Dreamers individually go into Lantern's cube and talk with her, and then they filed into Sariel's cube and questioned him one by one.

All the female Dreamers were especially brutal with their words. 'You should just die,' Paw stated after entering. 'I can't believe I thought you were normal.'

'You've made up your mind before even speaking to me. Why not just get out?' Sariel shrugged, and Paw stomped off with a sigh of frustration.

Of course, there were exceptions. 'We're doing a vote, right now.' Rosary sat down to explain what was going on outside, and looked towards Lantern through the see-through barrier. 'A lot of us want blood to be drawn, and I don't think your chances are high.' A pause. 'She's just too charismatic. It doesn't matter that there is no evidence. But I'll fight for you, at least. For my own sake, as well.'

Sariel let out a small smile at that. 'You know as well as I do that it's not possible for them to kill me. Everyone will drown if I don't cooperate.'

'Exactly.'

---

It wasn't long before the barrier went down, and the two captives stepped back onto the platform, their feet submerged by the rising water level.

Pane had collapsed from exhaustion, and Pen had formed an elevated platform to allow her to sleep without getting choked out by the water. Everyone was still drowsy, but their eyes sharpened as they landed on Sariel.

Butterfly sat in a resting position, having gone back to sleep. He had already announced that his vote was to be 'abstain', making it very clear that he did not care about the outcome. 'Do your own little thing, and leave me be. I need my energy for the next fight.'

That left seven Dreamers to decide the outcome of this exchange.

'He's guilty. Of course.' Paw announced her verdict immediately.

'You have no proof, and yet you're so quick to sentence someone to death. How wonderful is that?' King scoffed. 'Is there no justice? I vote for neutrality. There is no evidence on either side.'

Globe rustled at that. 'Neutrality? What are you suggesting?'

'Exactly that. There isn't a point sentencing anyone when no evidence is given. We have exactly a 50% chance to ruin an innocent person.' King looked around at everyone. 'I can't stand for it.'

Rosary voiced her agreement. 'I've fought with Flower before. He's useful, and very skilled. Furthermore, he has Infusion. We can't afford to lose him.'

'Are your morals really so clouded, Rosary?' Paw scoffed. 'Just because he's useful, we'll allow this... this rapist to continue roaming free?'

Sariel burst out in laughter, which only served to aggravate Paw even more. She glared daggers at Globe, who also voted against Sariel.

Chains shrugged. 'He uses chains. He can't be bad.' Another neutral vote, which sent Paw into a fury.

'I choose to believe Lantern. She has been nothing but a kind leader, and I can't see why she would lie to us.' Another vote against Sariel, this time by Pen.

Blade shrugged his shoulders. 'I trust in Chains; we've fought for our lives together. So I'll copy his vote.'

The vote ended in a 4-3. Paw stormed off in a fury, and Sariel let out a little laugh. He looked into Lantern's bubbly eyes, which flashed darkly when he looked into them. She quickly fell back into her persona, and looked away, scared.

'Don't think you've gotten away, girl. Only one person can try something like that on me, and it isn't you.'

---

What felt like six hours then passed.

Sariel was tasked with burning up the water with Infusion since Pane had collapsed. The stream of water innocently continued flowing, but it was an endless threat. Someone had to acknowledge it, because nobody could properly sleep if the water coated the floor.

Sariel had never experienced drowsiness on Otherside, ever, and he had never heard of anything like it. Your stint on Otherside lasted exactly eight hours, from 00:00 to 08:00. Sleeping was suicidal at best. And yet, here he was, evaporating water in a cavern whilst ten Dreamers slept, scattered across the platform.

The Dreamers gathered around each other in very distinct ways, now. Sariel, who was currently evaporating the water, stood in the middle. The Infusion flames burned faster than water poured, so the level of water had dropped to an acceptable level, and everyone was able to sleep. Lantern and those who voted against Sariel slept around the north side (Well, perhaps it would be more suitable to call it the side that everyone simply called 'North') whilst Rosary and those who voted neutrally slept towards the South. The exception was Blade, who fell asleep sitting back to back with Chains; it seemed like they had developed a proper bond. Butterfly naturally slept alone towards the East.

The light level didn't vary. No sounds were being produced, apart from the swirling of the water under them and the flow of water from above. Nothing was changing.

Nothing was changing. How long had they been in here? What is actually going on?

Everyone began to wake up one by one, standing up and stretching. They've properly divided themselves into factions, now. Divisions within the group was going to be incredibly worrying in case a conflict arose; for example, if the roof collapsed any more, Sariel doubted one person could hold off the flood. If they needed two at the same time, they'd both pass out from exhaustion and drown. Or, if any monsters deigned to rise from the depths around them, miscommunication could be deadly.

'Is anyone else feeling hungry?' King yawned as he stretched, before his eyes widened as he looked around; everyone also stood shocked, contemplating about his words.

As if there weren't enough problems.

---

Everyone put aside their differences momentarily to meet up and discuss the issue. 'Hunger. We need food, then.' Rosary let out a low laugh. 'Food. Where on earth are we getting food from?'

'We can survive starvation using Infusion,' Pane suggested. After she woke up, she had heard about what had occurred, and agreed to vote for neutrality. 'The pain won't dissipate, but we'll survive.'

Scribe scoffed. 'We have two people with Infusion, and that's it. It doesn't say anything in the text of the Aspect, but the healing is reduced if you don't use it on yourself. We discovered this after someone had reached transcendence 7 on their Infusion, and it stated that 'healing on others is no longer reduced'. Furthermore, at least one of you needs to sleep, so we can't survive that way.'

Butterfly spoke up. 'I have a healing Aspect; Fountain of Lethe. Does anyone else have healing Aspects?' A scan around the room confirmed that nobody else did, in fact, have a healing Aspect.

Paw sighed. 'It isn't even about just surviving. How weak will we be after starving for so long? How can we fight back? No, we definitely need food.'

'Where on earth will we find food?'

A splash in the water around the platform drew everyone's eyes to the depths. They paused in silence for a minute, before Butterfly announced what everyone was thinking. 'There are probably life forms in the water. We can cook them with Infusion.'

The other part of his statement was left unsaid, but everyone came to the same realization.

'There has to be another way. The depths are death. Everyone knows it. The depths are death. It's one of the most important tenants of us Dreamers.'

Scribe sat down, falling deep into thought. King got up and walked around, attempting to find an alternate exit. Lantern looked towards the roof, and the opening in it. 'What if we broke down the roof, and swam upwards?'

'We don't know what the outside looks like. That 'Seeker' might be able to swim upwards.' Sariel scoffed. 'If that is indeed the case, breaking the roof is instantaneous death for us all. Even if the Seeker isn't there, I simply don't trust going into any body of water in this wretched realm.'

'So is that it?' Pane's hollow laughter rang through the chamber. 'Are we simply dead, now? It's over, because we got sent to some random place by the whims of this godforsaken Abyss?'

'Not us,' whispered Butterfly. 'It's just everyone without a healing ability that is doomed.' A glance towards Sariel and Pane. 'You two, and by extension I, are now the most pivotal pieces in this group.'

A bristle of fury went through the rest of the Dreamers, to which Butterfly scoffed. 'Either we find food in the depths, or we rely on the healing attributes, or you die. I'll survive a bit longer after everyone else dies, but the Fountain of Lethe doesn't have as low a cooldown as Infusion, so I'll be dead as well. It's just Sariel and Pane that have any real shot of survival.'

'Unless we find more healing Aspects to drive off the effects of hunger, we are dead.'

---

The day passed. Sariel fell asleep after Pane took over evaporation duty, whilst everyone tried to deal with the creeping feeling of starvation. The group's stomachs growled in unison, a chorus of hunger that filled the air with a low, insistent rumble. They felt a gnawing emptiness in their bellies, a hollow feeling that seemed to sap their strength and make their limbs feel heavy.

As the day wore on and the hours stretched into the evening, the hunger pangs grew more intense. The group's mouths watered at the thought of food, and they found themselves daydreaming about savoury stews, freshly baked bread, and juicy fruit.

Their thoughts became increasingly fixated on food, and they found themselves distracted and irritable, snapping at one another and struggling to focus. Even worse, there was absolutely nothing at all to do. They were forced to make conversation; at least they had water that they could drink, since the waters of the depths were judged to be safe for consumption a few years ago. The stone room did not change, the light did not vary, the water did not stop pouring, and the constant sound of water hitting stone started taking a toll on everyone.

The group tried to push the hunger from their minds, but it seemed to dominate their thoughts, a constant reminder of their body's needs. They knew that they needed to eat soon, or their strength would continue to wane. They knew, but there was simply no way. Nobody would dive into the depths. Nobody could forget what they had witnessed; death by starvation in comparison seemed significantly more favourable.

The wisps of white in the air were contrasted with newly pooling black threads, gathering in the middle of the platform. Sariel felt himself get shaken up to awaken as everyone stood up and gathered around the portal.

'Search the arena for food. If we're lucky, we can survive off the food in the Dungeons alone. We can also try to cook the monsters, if they're edible.' Lantern spoke to the group as the portal continued forming. 'Roll all your Aspect Gems, and try to get a healing Aspect.' Her flickering personality was absolutely sickening to Sariel, but he couldn't say that her leadership skills weren't excellent.

'It seems like we're going to be stuck for a while. So we'll prove to the Abyss we own our claim on life.'

The next thirty minutes changed the dynamic of the group entirely.

Sariel had sworn to his innocence, whilst Lantern had to hers. It was a very serious allegation from both sides; Sariel stated that another Dreamer had attempted to kill him in his sleep, which was incredibly taboo. If the number of competent Dreamers lowered, everyone suffered. Surviving Otherside was, in essence, a team effort, and thus killing your ally Dreamers was seen as incredibly bad.

However, assault was also a serious issue. Sariel had lived in the underworld of the Eastern Bloc for so long, and though the blood and fighting was endless and unforgiving, assault was still taken very seriously. More so because it was a really convenient excuse to lynch a competitor, but the fact remains that assault was treated very seriously, at least in the Eastern Bloc.

And the only witness had fallen asleep standing.

Though both Sariel and Lantern could shatter the barrier placed around them easily, there wouldn't have been a point, so they each waited in their soundproof barrier box. Sariel watched all the Dreamers individually go into Lantern's cube and talk with her, and then they filed into Sariel's cube and questioned him one by one.

All the female Dreamers were especially brutal with their words. 'You should just die,' Paw stated after entering. 'I can't believe I thought you were normal.'

'You've made up your mind before even speaking to me. Why not just get out?' Sariel shrugged, and Paw stomped off with a sigh of frustration.

Of course, there were exceptions. 'We're doing a vote, right now.' Rosary sat down to explain what was going on outside, and looked towards Lantern through the see-through barrier. 'A lot of us want blood to be drawn, and I don't think your chances are high.' A pause. 'She's just too charismatic. It doesn't matter that there is no evidence. But I'll fight for you, at least. For my own sake, as well.'

Sariel let out a small smile at that. 'You know as well as I do that it's not possible for them to kill me. Everyone will drown if I don't cooperate.'

'Exactly.'

---

It wasn't long before the barrier went down, and the two captives stepped back onto the platform, their feet submerged by the rising water level.

Pane had collapsed from exhaustion, and Pen had formed an elevated platform to allow her to sleep without getting choked out by the water. Everyone was still drowsy, but their eyes sharpened as they landed on Sariel.

Butterfly sat in a resting position, having gone back to sleep. He had already announced that his vote was to be 'abstain', making it very clear that he did not care about the outcome. 'Do your own little thing, and leave me be. I need my energy for the next fight.'

That left seven Dreamers to decide the outcome of this exchange.

'He's guilty. Of course.' Paw announced her verdict immediately.

'You have no proof, and yet you're so quick to sentence someone to death. How wonderful is that?' King scoffed. 'Is there no justice? I vote for neutrality. There is no evidence on either side.'

Globe rustled at that. 'Neutrality? What are you suggesting?'

'Exactly that. There isn't a point sentencing anyone when no evidence is given. We have exactly a 50% chance to ruin an innocent person.' King looked around at everyone. 'I can't stand for it.'

Rosary voiced her agreement. 'I've fought with Flower before. He's useful, and very skilled. Furthermore, he has Infusion. We can't afford to lose him.'

'Are your morals really so clouded, Rosary?' Paw scoffed. 'Just because he's useful, we'll allow this... this rapist to continue roaming free?'

Sariel burst out in laughter, which only served to aggravate Paw even more. She glared daggers at Globe, who also voted against Sariel.

Chains shrugged. 'He uses chains. He can't be bad.' Another neutral vote, which sent Paw into a fury.

'I choose to believe Lantern. She has been nothing but a kind leader, and I can't see why she would lie to us.' Another vote against Sariel, this time by Pen.

Blade shrugged his shoulders. 'I trust in Chains; we've fought for our lives together. So I'll copy his vote.'

The vote ended in a 4-3. Paw stormed off in a fury, and Sariel let out a little laugh. He looked into Lantern's bubbly eyes, which flashed darkly when he looked into them. She quickly fell back into her persona, and looked away, scared.

'Don't think you've gotten away, girl. Only one person can try something like that on me, and it isn't you.'

---

What felt like six hours then passed.

Sariel was tasked with burning up the water with Infusion since Pane had collapsed. The stream of water innocently continued flowing, but it was an endless threat. Someone had to acknowledge it, because nobody could properly sleep if the water coated the floor.

Sariel had never experienced drowsiness on Otherside, ever, and he had never heard of anything like it. Your stint on Otherside lasted exactly eight hours, from 00:00 to 08:00. Sleeping was suicidal at best. And yet, here he was, evaporating water in a cavern whilst ten Dreamers slept, scattered across the platform.

The Dreamers gathered around each other in very distinct ways, now. Sariel, who was currently evaporating the water, stood in the middle. The Infusion flames burned faster than water poured, so the level of water had dropped to an acceptable level, and everyone was able to sleep. Lantern and those who voted against Sariel slept around the north side (Well, perhaps it would be more suitable to call it the side that everyone simply called 'North') whilst Rosary and those who voted neutrally slept towards the South. The exception was Blade, who fell asleep sitting back to back with Chains; it seemed like they had developed a proper bond. Butterfly naturally slept alone towards the East.

The light level didn't vary. No sounds were being produced, apart from the swirling of the water under them and the flow of water from above. Nothing was changing.

Nothing was changing. How long had they been in here? What is actually going on?

Everyone began to wake up one by one, standing up and stretching. They've properly divided themselves into factions, now. Divisions within the group was going to be incredibly worrying in case a conflict arose; for example, if the roof collapsed any more, Sariel doubted one person could hold off the flood. If they needed two at the same time, they'd both pass out from exhaustion and drown. Or, if any monsters deigned to rise from the depths around them, miscommunication could be deadly.

'Is anyone else feeling hungry?' King yawned as he stretched, before his eyes widened as he looked around; everyone also stood shocked, contemplating about his words.

As if there weren't enough problems.

---

Everyone put aside their differences momentarily to meet up and discuss the issue. 'Hunger. We need food, then.' Rosary let out a low laugh. 'Food. Where on earth are we getting food from?'

'We can survive starvation using Infusion,' Pane suggested. After she woke up, she had heard about what had occurred, and agreed to vote for neutrality. 'The pain won't dissipate, but we'll survive.'

Scribe scoffed. 'We have two people with Infusion, and that's it. It doesn't say anything in the text of the Aspect, but the healing is reduced if you don't use it on yourself. We discovered this after someone had reached transcendence 7 on their Infusion, and it stated that 'healing on others is no longer reduced'. Furthermore, at least one of you needs to sleep, so we can't survive that way.'

Butterfly spoke up. 'I have a healing Aspect; Fountain of Lethe. Does anyone else have healing Aspects?' A scan around the room confirmed that nobody else did, in fact, have a healing Aspect.

Paw sighed. 'It isn't even about just surviving. How weak will we be after starving for so long? How can we fight back? No, we definitely need food.'

'Where on earth will we find food?'

A splash in the water around the platform drew everyone's eyes to the depths. They paused in silence for a minute, before Butterfly announced what everyone was thinking. 'There are probably life forms in the water. We can cook them with Infusion.'

The other part of his statement was left unsaid, but everyone came to the same realization.

'There has to be another way. The depths are death. Everyone knows it. The depths are death. It's one of the most important tenants of us Dreamers.'

Scribe sat down, falling deep into thought. King got up and walked around, attempting to find an alternate exit. Lantern looked towards the roof, and the opening in it. 'What if we broke down the roof, and swam upwards?'

'We don't know what the outside looks like. That 'Seeker' might be able to swim upwards.' Sariel scoffed. 'If that is indeed the case, breaking the roof is instantaneous death for us all. Even if the Seeker isn't there, I simply don't trust going into any body of water in this wretched realm.'

'So is that it?' Pane's hollow laughter rang through the chamber. 'Are we simply dead, now? It's over, because we got sent to some random place by the whims of this godforsaken Abyss?'

'Not us,' whispered Butterfly. 'It's just everyone without a healing ability that is doomed.' A glance towards Sariel and Pane. 'You two, and by extension I, are now the most pivotal pieces in this group.'

A bristle of fury went through the rest of the Dreamers, to which Butterfly scoffed. 'Either we find food in the depths, or we rely on the healing attributes, or you die. I'll survive a bit longer after everyone else dies, but the Fountain of Lethe doesn't have as low a cooldown as Infusion, so I'll be dead as well. It's just Sariel and Pane that have any real shot of survival.'

'Unless we find more healing Aspects to drive off the effects of hunger, we are dead.'

---

The day passed. Sariel fell asleep after Pane took over evaporation duty, whilst everyone tried to deal with the creeping feeling of starvation. The group's stomachs growled in unison, a chorus of hunger that filled the air with a low, insistent rumble. They felt a gnawing emptiness in their bellies, a hollow feeling that seemed to sap their strength and make their limbs feel heavy.

As the day wore on and the hours stretched into the evening, the hunger pangs grew more intense. The group's mouths watered at the thought of food, and they found themselves daydreaming about savoury stews, freshly baked bread, and juicy fruit.

Their thoughts became increasingly fixated on food, and they found themselves distracted and irritable, snapping at one another and struggling to focus. Even worse, there was absolutely nothing at all to do. They were forced to make conversation; at least they had water that they could drink, since the waters of the depths were judged to be safe for consumption a few years ago. The stone room did not change, the light did not vary, the water did not stop pouring, and the constant sound of water hitting stone started taking a toll on everyone.

The group tried to push the hunger from their minds, but it seemed to dominate their thoughts, a constant reminder of their body's needs. They knew that they needed to eat soon, or their strength would continue to wane. They knew, but there was simply no way. Nobody would dive into the depths. Nobody could forget what they had witnessed; death by starvation in comparison seemed significantly more favourable.

The wisps of white in the air were contrasted with newly pooling black threads, gathering in the middle of the platform. Sariel felt himself get shaken up to awaken as everyone stood up and gathered around the portal.

'Search the arena for food. If we're lucky, we can survive off the food in the Dungeons alone. We can also try to cook the monsters, if they're edible.' Lantern spoke to the group as the portal continued forming. 'Roll all your Aspect Gems, and try to get a healing Aspect.' Her flickering personality was absolutely sickening to Sariel, but he couldn't say that her leadership skills weren't excellent.

'It seems like we're going to be stuck for a while. So we'll prove to the Abyss we own our claim on life.'