Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 181 Two Doors 3

That was all Lars could see when he opened his eyes - endless white in every direction.

As he lay on the ground of this unknown place and looked up at the ceiling or sky, everything was bright and white. Surprisingly though, there was no problem of glare or the need to squint his eyes after presumably a period of being unconscious, he could see just fine.

He raised himself up and found that there he was unhurt. Even his wound no longer hurt, nor could he feel any aches…

'That's… Too strange… I couldn't have been out cold for *that* long, could I…?'

When Lars propped himself up and sat up, he felt confused. He looked around and found that everything all around him was just whiteness, with no sign of anything or anyone – not even walls, clouds or the sky could be seen…! What was even worse was that there didn't even seem to be any ground to stand on anywhere nearby, at least, not within range of his sight.

It was only when he looked down that he was truly shocked. It was not just all around him that there was no ground – that was true even under his body - he found himself sitting in mid-air, suspended by nothing…!

'??!?? What the h.e.l.l…? Am I in a dream…?' Lars reasons that this was the most likely answer given that he was not plunging to his doom into the abyss of bleak whiteness…

'Right, I'm 90% certain that this is either a dream or a form of mental state my mind entered while unconscious… But… Then why isn't anything happening…? And how do I leave this dream…?'

Lars tried to stand up and found that he could apparently walk around without having anything to step on.

'Everything feels…'

'Seems it's ok… Let me try the basics…'

He reached his hand up to his cheek, then pinched hard – *really* hard.

'OWWW DAMMIT! That hurts!! But why am I still asleep…?' Lars winced and rubbed his cheek where he had pinched himself, then stretched his body and legs, shaking his whole person to see if he could jog himself out of slumber.

'Not working… How do I get out of here…? Hmm… Oh well. Since there aren't any landmarks or signs of anyone here, I'll try heading in one direction and see what I find… Maybe I just need to wait for a while to wake up…'

Lars shrugged, chose a direction at random and began walking off into the horizon of whiteness that looked exactly the same no matter whether he looked up, down, left, right, forward or backwards.

* * * * *

Quite some time later, Lars was still walking. He wasn't certain, but it felt like he had been walking for hours. He wasn't sure firstly because there was no reference to tell the time, he wasn't clear whether his internal clock was still working and because despite walking for so long, his normal body didn't feel hungry nor fatigued in the slightest.

Feeling safer now that he knew he wasn't in any apparent danger, he took the chance to go through what he knew.

'Since I'm stuck here… Then… Alright, let's say I am unconscious and that this is just a dream… Let me organise my thoughts and a.n.a.lyse my next actions…'

'Firstly, my physical body is most likely injured after touching the Truthstone. But it seems my mind is fine.'

'Second, based on what I've overheard so far, they were likely afraid of me being a corrupted one, fallen by the Taint or the Darkness. That creature I encountered at the pa.s.sageway into this world likely has something to do with the Taint…'

'Third, there was an immense amount of concentrated Divine power in the Truthstone, which brings me to my fourth point – it's likely that their suspicions of me should be allayed.'

'Then the fifth logical point would be finding out how to return home, before the team heads off to the capitol Danedaar for the National compet.i.tion… In time to find and rescue Moira, in time to protect the children of Gorun city… Quickly, too, there isn't much time.'

Lars' brows tightened as he a.s.sessed his options; 'I only have maybe 2 or 3 days left if I were to be back for the compet.i.tion… But…'

'What if I skip the compet.i.tion? It will likely last a week based on the format, which means that gives me an additional 7 days to return and launch the escape plan!'

A faint rumble sounded in the distance, but Lars was focused on his thoughts, biting his lip.

'Now the crucial part… How do I get back?'

He shook his head, gooseb.u.mps running over his skin as he thought about his best lead –to return back the way he came.

'The most likely lead is to retrace my steps, following the same journey by which I came… Meaning…'

'Meaning I would need to get past the Tainted creature… And for that…'

Lars tightened his lips, gritting his teeth in determination.

'I need to cultivate this world's Divine Power…!'

The rumbles grew louder, attracting Lars' attention. He looked up and saw that the monotony of the bleak whiteness had been broken by two rectangular structures – structures that were still far off but were moving closer and closer.

'…? Could that be the clue to leave this dream world…? I guess I'll find out soon – it's heading in my direction…'

Lars did not have to wait long – the structures quickly grew closer, allowing him to make out two ornate looking doors made out of an indeterminate mixture of metals.

The two doors were sharply different. The one of the left was pristinely white, so white that it would have blended into the background and been perfectly camouflaged, if not for the mystical looking strokes carved into the surface of the door frame. The door itself was unadorned, smooth and without any marks or even a handle to push or pull. The only things that stood out were the colour that seemed to fit the theme of this dream world and the mystical writings on the frame…

The other door could have been more contrasting. The frame of the door looked to be a dark, black metal with… Veins of red…? Lars was pretty sure that it was made of metal, but somehow, it seemed to be the actual blackened flesh and crimson blood and veins of a creature… The veins seemed to be those of an actual organism, but gathered at 7 different locations to form nodes of sorts in the network of blood vessels. One of the nodes was a bright, b.l.o.o.d.y red colour but tinged with a golden sheen, another was not as bright, looking like a piece of juicy raw meat, while the other 5 nodes were dull and lifeless.

He felt a chill run through his body as he scrutinised the door. It gave off a dark, oppressive aura, while the other white door exuded a sense of purity and gentleness. The only similarity between the doors was that the actual door panel had no handles of ways of opening it.

And yet, without even knowing how he knew it, Lars instinctively could tell that all he needed to do to open either of the doors would be to place his hands gently on the surface…

Lars felt a chill run up his spine again as he looked, because if he wasn't wrong, every now and then, the red and black door *pulsed* like it were alive, and dozens – no, hundreds of low-pitched voices filled his ears with unintelligible moaning and mumbling… While the white door seemed to be singing to him with angelic voices, giving him an illusory feeling of being raptured to the heavens…

'These colours… These phenomena… If I couldn't guess at least a little about what the doors mean, I'd have to be an idiot…'

'Obviously the pristine white door on the left represents Divinity… Perhaps this entire realm is formed from the Divine energy and light compressed and released in the Truthstone… While the door on the right with 7 nodes should be related to the 7 deadly sins described in many religions, but primarily in the Christian Bible… It seems that the concepts of 7 deadly sins transcends just Earth…'

Lars' eyes were then drawn to the two nodes that were already lit up.

'One of the sins nodes is already fully alive – corresponding to my soul-imprint of Greed… Hmm… The other one partially lit up should be Gluttony… And based on Insight being an extremely n.o.ble bloodline heritage from the Demon Hunting Sect founder, this 7 deadly sins that can contend with my Demon Hunting bloodline should also be a highly n.o.ble inheritance…'

Lars' eyes flashed, then grew slightly emotional.

'Could it be from my yet-unknown mother…?'

'No-one in this world should know about my abilities and background… So if these things related to my soul-imprint and my environment appeared here, then that means I'm most likely in a soul-mind projection of my internal world… And seeing that there are two doors before me, is it something like a choice…?'

Lars' continued to look at the pair of doors, alternating his gaze between the two with the question burning in his mind.

Which to choose…?