Chapter 5

"Huh..?"

"Do you need any help, sir?"

"Okay now, what the heck is happening?!"

He didn't think that searching through this gigantic library was going to be easy, but...

"What's wrong, sir?"

"Why do you all look the same!?"

In front of him were three Clouds. Three of them, one giving respectful energy, another didn't, and the third hadn't even looked his way yet like she didn't even care.

"Ehm, this just gets weirder and weirder..."

"I'm sorry if I bothered you, sir, but-"

"Oh shut up! If you are gonna stay here then you better learn, you moron! This isn't your domain, so don't go around and point out what's weird or not!"

"Well, how nice of you."

The Cloud that gave off the disrespectful energy, gave him an attitude and insulted him. But what she said had been true nonetheless, even though she had been rude about it.

"Want me to apologize or something?"

"Yes please."

"First please I've heard from you."

"And it's the only one you'll ever get! Now get on your knees and beg for mercy!"

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. You, the nice Cloud, mind helping me?"

"Of course, sir." The nice Cloud said and nodded at him before taking him away from the other two.

"What was that all about?"

"Those two Clouds represent her pride and her anxiousness."

This must have been what Cloud meant when she told him about her ability.

"Really? Now I see what she meant by pouring in her emotions into the copy of herself... And what do you present, Cloudia?"

"Who?"

She hadn't realized that the name, Cloudia, was the nickname he had given her so that they could address one another.

"?- Oh I thought I would give you a nickname so I could remember you, or do you already have a name?"

"No, sir, I do not. Should Cloudia be my name?"

"I mean... If you want it to be, then you are welcome to use it. That's what I'm gonna call you either way so..."

"I will happily take that name, sir."

Her accepting the name made him happy. But that she didn't already have one, saddened him again. Just how long had she been there?

"You don't have to call me 'sir' y'know."

"Then what should I call you?"

"You can call me Han."

He gave her a small smile as they continued walking down the library.

He realized that he hadn't told her where he wanted to go, and she had just started leading him down the hall. But he thought that she must already know what he wanted to find, because why else would the others have known about him, if Cloud didn't share some kind of mind ability with her clones, to command them?

"Is something the matter, sir- no, I mean, Han?

"No, not really... Wait, you didn't tell me what part of Cloud, you represented."

"Oh, sorry sir Han, I represent her loyalty. I'm a very proper version of her, and therefore, I don't have very strong emotions, like Pride and Anxiousness back there."

"Can't we just call them, Nimbi and Cloudie?"

"If you wish."

For Han, all these different Clouds and what they represented were too confusing to understand, so he gave them proper names so that they could address them easily.

"So, eh, where are we going?"

"To the section where exiting this world is mentioned, of course."

"Oh, alright then..."

They wandered down the hallway of giant bookshelves, stretching up to the roof that was about twenty meters high. They had walked for almost five minutes now, and still, he couldn't see the end of the hallway of books.

The only thing that made it possible to climb these bookshelves, were the clouds that held the candles. He could see them float up and down, sometimes carrying a Cloudperson and sometimes carrying candles.

The clouds were small platforms that looked fluffy but were solid enough to hold a person on top of them, so he didn't doubt that they could hold him if he wanted to get up.

"Here we are."

"This... isn't that many books..."

"Well yeah, no one has ever gotten back to the world they came from that we know of, so there isn't much information on the topic, sir Han."

"I see..."

The bookshelf in front of them wasn't big at all, standing out like a sour thumb. It was about 6 feet tall and wasn't even filled with many books, to begin with.

Han reached out his hand and took a book and tried reading the title.

"Heh?! I can't read this!"

"Of course, you can't. It's the language of dreams. Runes that aren't from any other world than this. Could you read and write before, I wonder?"

Han thought about it for a second.

"I suppose I did, but I don't remember how to write in my alphabet. Is this the runes I have to learn now?"

"Yes. I suppose they are just that."

"Sigh. That's going to take forever. Mind reading them for me?"

"Of course, I don't mind, sir Han."

Cloudia took the book he was holding into her hands and read the title.

"Mysteries about the world before your own, a guide for The Welcomed."

"The welcomed?"

"Yes. There exist certain groups who got transported to this world. The welcomed, The originals, and The gray children."

"The gray children! Isn't that what Cloud told me that I was?!"

The sudden burst of excitement came from the familiarity of the words 'gray child' which was what both Meno and Cloud had told him.

When he looked down at himself, he felt like that made sense, but what was a gray child?

"What are the gray children?!"

"The gray children are those who live in The gray lands."

"Live in The Gray Lands, huh? Interesting..."

"Would ya like to know more about The Gray Lands, Grayie?!"

From behind Claudia, came the black cat that could walk on his two back legs, as well as talk.

"Oh, it's you again, Meno."

"Happy to see meh?"

"Next question please?"

The cat grinned at him as he walked up to them both.

"Ya alright, gray boy? I heard you wanted to know more about your cousins?"

"Your damn right. Do you know anything?"

"I know, but I would rather show ya."

"Show me?"

"But sir Meno! The gray lands are highly dangerous! Think about the!" Claudia exclaimed but was cut off by Meno.

"Oh, don't worry about that, he will have meh as his guide after all!"

"I will?!"

"Yeh, gray boy, how else would ya survive, heh?"

The cat gave him the option to follow him to The gray lands, where he would be able to meet the other gray children, people that were just like him. The offer was a great one, but he couldn't ignore what Cloudia had said. The gray lands were dangerous, so was it worth it? Even though the cat offered to be his guide, how strong was the cat before him?

"If anything happens, are you strong enough to defend me?"

Meno grunted.

"Yeh, of course, I am. If you doubt me, then doubt this!"

He held out a strange dagger. The dagger shone in yellow but was entirely black itself.

"And what's that?"

"It's meh dagger of course! Strong enough to defeat any Waonderer that gets in our way!"

"What's a Waonderer?"

"Ya don't wanna know. If ya see it, ya'll know that it is one."

The strange term Waonderer made him a little anxious since they talked about it in a way that told him that if they encountered one, it would be dangerous.

Claudia, who had seen how he reacted, assured him of something.

"They won't come out if the children are okay, they are afraid of them, you see."

"Affraid how?"

"When you learn to read, I will show you."

"Oh, come on!"

Well, that wasn't fair he thought while Meno led him back to the entrance of the library.

He had taken a liking to the girl, Cloudia, who had been nice toward him but acted strange, just like all other Clouds. They were hiding something, and he wanted to know what that something was. And to find that out, he had to go to The gray lands, so that they maybe started trusting him more.

"Cloud!" Meno yelled and Cloud came out of a room next to them.

"Ooh, are you going now, then?"

"Yeah, I guess we are," Han said and gave her an awkward smile.

He had been there for only an hour from what he could recall. And now he was following her cat to go see his own supposed cousins.

It was weird to think about, but he had a duty to fulfill, and that was getting back to his world, the one before The gray rooms.

Whether or not this was possible, he didn't know. But, he could do nothing and believed he would achieve something that he wanted.

"How do we even get to The Gray Lands?" He asked because they hadn't mentioned that yet.

"Easy! Just use that door over there! But before, ya have to wish to use it to go to The gray lands!"

"Oh, okay."

He looked at the door.

It was a rainbow.

He stared at it for a second. Why was this door also rainbow? Just like the door down in The Gray Rooms. It made him think of the aura surrounding that place, and instantly, he started hesitating.

"What's wrong, Han?"

Han looked at Cloud, who had asked the question.

She didn't know that the door in The Gray Rooms was the spitting image of this door. She couldn't know. She may have been the one to troll him with the staircase, or so he believed, but she knew nothing of the rainbow door and it was no chance it was a coincidence. Maybe it was a sign that he should walk through it, or maybe it was a sign that he shouldn't. Whatever it meant, he had to know. His curiosity was now the only power that he had in that world, and so, he answered.

"Nothing wrong. Shall we go?" He looked down at Meno, whom he realized wasn't even standing there.

"Hey, I'm waiting here, gray boy," Meno said, standing beside the rainbow door.

"Oh, sorry..."

Han stepped forward and stood eye-to-eye with the door.

"Well then, see you!"

Cloud and Han exchanged goodbyes before they opened the door.

"Any last wishes?"

"To see my world..."

And so. The pair went outside.

"..."

They were met with the sound of water droplets hitting the rocky floor, as well as the realization that they had just stepped into a puddle, making their feet or paws drenched in cave water.

"Ew!"

"What? Are ya afraid to get ya paws wet or something?"

"I don't have paws, dumbass!"

They had ended up in a small, dark cave.

They could barely see anything and their only light source was Meno's yellow dagger.

"Come, follow meh."

They climbed out of the intersection of the cave by tumbling over the hard rocky surface as well as the rocks in the cave.

They made it out finally, but it was still dark.

"Looks like it's nap time for the children, which means their eye is watching, eyetime."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there is a chance that HE is watching. If we are discovered, we are as good as dead."

"I thought you said you could protect us!"

"Against Waonderers yeah! But HE is no Waonderer. HE is death itself."

Han swallowed his thoughts of running back to Clouds library in a panic, but looked back, only to see...

"How do we get back?"

"What? Oh, we don't."

"What?!"

"Hey, quiet down!"

"But you just said we can't get back!"

He was shocked, why didn't they mention this?! If he knew he couldn't get back, then he wouldn't have come in the first place!

"Relax. We can get back, but not while HE is watching. We can enter at all times, but only leave when the light is out and shows us the door in the wall."

"Uh.. what?"

"Who cares?! We can get back, okay?"

"Okay..."

He looked where Meno was looking, straight out into the dark, like he was observing something.

"What are you..?"

But Han saw it too.

In the distance, a dark figure slowly approached the cave.

"Shit! HE has seen us!"

"No, wait!"

Huh? Went Meno, until he saw it too. The figure was approaching the cave, but from the side, a giant dark figure flew over the ground and attacked the figure they had seen before, knocking him into the ground.

A long arm-like things were flung around and the ground was ripped apart.

They could sense the intensity of that fight even from where they were standing and Meno quickly got up.

"Han, we should get the hell out of here, now."

Han nodded and the two of them ran deeper into the cave that now went downwards.

A loud screeching was heard and the roof of the cave, caved in, making anything inside it disappear under the rubble.

But far down into the cave, Han and Meno fled.

"What the hell was that?!" Han asked in a loud tone as they tripped down a great steep.

"That. Is a Waonderer!"

Han looked at Meno, running beside him, on his back legs weirdly enough.

"How do we get back now? We can't stay here, we will be turned to mincemeat!"

"Yeah, I know that already! Hu-"

"Meno?"

"Han, you should probably run!"

The small back of the black cat turned toward him as the cat turned towards whatever was up there, raising his dagger to attack.

Han looked back at the cat as he slipped down the steep, rocky slope of the cave underground.

"MENO!"

The cat's dagger was slapped out of his hand and the cave above them, covered in a strange dark matter, threw a fist out, smashing the cat into bloody pieces, flying everywhere in the cave. Blood was sprayed all over the walls and his body wasn't even in a physical form anymore. He had been killed and his body had been smashed.

"-!"

Han tripped backward and fell into a little cave beneath the one they had been running down through.

His had hit the rock and he almost passed out when blood started pouring out from the back of his skull.

"My head... Meno..."

The darkness came up front and poured down into the room, and Han quickly realized that he was surrounded, with no way out.

He gasped and ran back.

"G-get away from me!" He cried out.

His newly found friend was dead, and he was next, both he and the shadow knew that, why else would it silently laugh at him as he threw himself against the wall farthest back in the cave, to possibly break the rock and flee far, far away from that place.

"AAH! AH!" He screamed his lungs out, and he wasn't even that hurt, he hadn't even been attacked.

Bam! He was slammed into the wall behind him, instantly breaking numerous bones in his body.

"Help.. me... ah!"

Another fist was shot out, but this one didn't smash him to pieces like the one with Meno, this one was thrust into his mouth and down his throat.

When he tried to scream and push the arm away, his arms and legs were pinned against the wall so hard that he felt his bones breaking slowly.

"-!-!"

He felt like throwing up, but not even blood poured out of his mouth, his body was getting ransacked on whatever it had inside of it. The pain was so unbearable that he started twitching violently.

His bones were broken, and he couldn't move. His organs were massacred, and he couldn't move. His soul was getting dragged out of him, and still, he couldn't move.

His heart. It was grabbed by another hand. His inner organs had been violently crushed under their power.

"A-ha-GRLBRLLLL-!"

Blood sprayed the walls red. His blood sprayed all over the room, his vocal cords had been violently ripped out of his throat, as well as his lunges and his spine. Blood was sprayed everywhere.

"BLBLLLBLLLLLFLFLLFFLFFF-"

Why wasn't he dead yet?

What the hell was this?

It hurts it hurts so much.

The hand continued emptying his body, his clothes were shredded as well as his skin and muscles. The pain was unbearable.

And then...

In the corner of his vision, he saw a person. A person whose face he could not see.

Seconds before he felt his body give up, the person without a face opened his mouth and...

"Return."

His eyes were poked through from the inside and his brain was demolished.

Han had died.