Chapter 4 – The Path that Pushes You Forward
The hole takes Joanna and Esther to a crystal world where almost everything is pure crystal.
“Oh wow. Usually, your body will change when we enter a dimension, but this time it hasn’t. The gravity hasn’t changed for us as well.”
“Do you usually get a good-looking dress and look?”
“Most of the time I do. I remember this place. It was the first dimension I found myself in,” Esther says.
“How do you keep getting in these dimensions?”
“Probably because I obsess over it when I shouldn’t. This is why I look this way, but I want to see the last secrets these dimensions hold.”
The two fly through the crystal dimension. Esther appears to know what she is looking for.
“How do you escape these dimensions?”
“You learn from your mistakes and the door you came in will let you go.”
“It doesn’t seem that you’ve learned.”
“I do, but I keep making the same mistakes over and over again. At least no time passes when you get out of a dimension. It’s as if you went in and go out instantly.”
“What are we doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I have to see something first.”
Joanna and Esther travel to the furthest point in this dimension which has the ruins of a kingdom that stretches out for miles.
“What is this place?”
“A kingdom I used to know. It fell when several other kingdoms decided to attack them all at once.”
“What are you looking for here?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to see if it got rebuilt. The leader of it left this dimension with me but the other one I knew stayed behind. I thought she would’ve rebuilt it. Maybe we need to go to the place where I discovered this place’s secret about you.”
“I’d like to see it.”
“We might as well since we don’t know what else to do.”
On the way to their destination, they see regular people just living in the dimension and other people at war. People are fighting on mythological creatures like griffins, chimeras, and giant snakes with six heads.
Esther says, “It’s always the same in every dimension no matter the differences. There are always people wanting to control everything. There are always people who want complete anarchy.”
“Sounds familiar to me. And they always fight each other I assume.”
“But no one ever wins no matter how many times they fight. It always goes back and forth, back and forth like the swinging of a pendulum. Watch out!”
Esther helps Joanna move out of the way of artillery fire meant for the flying soldiers.
“I pray that these people change, but I don’t think they will.”
“I’m sure some of them will. How many people do you think learn from their mistakes and leave these dimensions?”
“A handful while a kingdom of people will stay behind.”
“Will this ever end?”
“I might’ve seen something about that in the place we’re going. Let’s hurry now before we get hit in the crossfire.”
Joanna and Esther quickly fly away from the battle and enter a hidden cave hidden within a hole in the dimension. In the cave, they find the remnants of an ancient people. Pictures, statues, and writings litter the ground. Some of these pictures depict Joanna as an infant and what they thought she would look like when she grew up. These people depict Joanna as a goddess that would bring humanity prosperity and power greater than God’s and the devil’s. They planned to spread their power not only in these dimensions but also in the reality above it. The buildings leftover from this civilization are absorbed by the cave and appear to be holding it up. Joanna picks up one of the books off the ground and realizes something when she notices that she can read it perfectly.
She asks, “Is the universal language here English?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve asked other people where they’re from and it seems these dimensions connect people from all over the world. It seems to me that these dimensions make us hear and see the language we speak while making it understandable to others without our knowledge.”
“Everything about this is so complicated.”
“I know right? It’s ridiculous. Hey, come over here. I found the expiration date on the dimensions metaphorically speaking of course.”
Esther shows Jonna a huge mess of equations of numbers and formulas on the wall of the cave.
“I found out through these books and notes that these people needed this much space to estimate what the date was when these dimensions would disappear. They found it out apparently, but the answer isn’t clear, at least to me. I, admittedly, am not that good at math. Haha, I can’t even do percentages that well.”
Joanna looks at all of the numbers and calculations these people have made and steps back from it all. All of the writing on the wall form an infinity sign when it is put into perspective.
“I think I know,” Jonna says, “Back up a bit.”
“Ok.”
“You see how it look like the symbol for infinity?”
“Yeah?”
“This means that only God knows.”
“Oh! That makes sense.”
“But what do we do now?”
“I’ll try cutting a hole in the dimension again. Let’s see if we can’t get back to reality like this.”
Esther cuts a hole in the dimension and the two go in and pop out in what looks to be a dead dimension. Islands are spread across the dimensions with dead vegetation, a dead sun and moon in the sky. All of the kingdoms on each island are decayed and lay hollow and cold. The oceans are black and look like liquid death. Even looking at it, makes Joanna’s soul feel empty.
Esther shakes Joanna and says, “Come on. Let’s see what we’re supposed to do here.”
“R-right.”
Esther and Joanna fly through the dimension while looking for something that will catch their eye, but everything looks gray and black.
“Have you been here before?” Joanna asks.
“Once, but it was more vibrant. Believe it or not, I think the devil ruled here.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. There was a mighty king who was more handsome and powerful than any mortal here. He tried to marry a wife to conceive a child, but he never could get one. He even tried to make a man his wife, but that didn’t happen either.”
“Where is his kingdom?”
“Not too far from here actually. You’re not looking to marry him, are you?”
“No, not at all!”
“It seems that all life has been sucked out of here. I know he gave energy to this dimension, so he must’ve left for another one. We can go see the ruins of his kingdom if it’s there.”
“I think that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
“You’re probably right.”
The two fly off to the mighty king’s kingdom to find it blacker and more decayed than the rest. The atmosphere of the island chills the soul. When they land on the surface of it, their skin crawls as if insects have just entered their body. They walk into the towering castle and find no one in it.
“What reason would the devil have for leaving this dimension?” Joanna asks.
“Maybe he thought there was a wife for him in a different place,” Esther guesses.
Joanna begins to think a bit deeper then asks, “You said the millions of the souls who got sacrificed for me combined into one being right? It wouldn’t happen to be a female, would it?”
“…oh. Damn.”
Esther then begins to feel the surfaces of the castle and especially its floors.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“They are! We have to go to the dimension of this man-made god now before the devil gets to them.”
“You never told me why he wanted a wife.”
“He wanted a sinful being like him to be his wife in order to create the anti-Christ and begin the end of the world on his terms instead of God’s. Billions of people could die in all dimensions including reality if we don’t stop him! I know this is a lot to ask of you, but will you help me stop him?”
“I will. I can feel that this is the reason I was born.”
“I’m glad you’re willing to do this with me. We don’t know where the devil is or if he did what he had to yet.”
“Let’s hurry and get after him then!”
“I hope this takes us to where we need to go.”
Esther opens up a hole in the dimension and the two travel in-between space and time to stop the end of the world.
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