Entrapment in Disparia | Sai Sruti Macha (9)

You wake up one day feeling a bit… odd. You don’t know why it's happening or what it means, but you decide to ignore it for the time being. It’ll probably go away. 

You rub your eyes groggily and decide to get out of bed to start the day, so you reluctantly tear the covers off and crawl out of bed, landing on your feet on the solid wood floor before making your way to the kitchen to brew a steaming pot of coffee and maybe make an omelet. 

Except… that’s not what happens. 

Instead of landing stably, you collapse, crumpling to the floor like a house of cards. 

Everything goes black. 

When you finally wake up again, it feels as though you’ve been beaten for hours. Everything hurts and there’s an intense ringing in your ears that feels like a fire alarm is going off in your brain. It seems to go on for hours before it, and the pain, finally subsides. Then you look around. 

Where are you? 

The room you find yourself in is not your bedroom. Gone are the solid wooden floors occupied by familiar objects and wares, having been replaced by a vast expanse of yellowed walls, flickering overhead lights, and damp, carpeted floors, reeking with the stench of something that should have died a long, long time ago. 

What’s happening? 

You start to panic as you realize what’s happening, your head is spinning with wild theories about what’s going on. Are you dead? Is this Hell? Are you being pranked? 

Then you see a note in front of you. 

It’s creased and yellowed, resembling its surroundings, and you quickly snatch it up, anxious to know what predicament you’ve landed in. On it is messy handwriting, like a child’s first attempt at writing cursive. Almost indecipherable. Almost. 

You focus hard on the note, slowly figuring out what the words are and stringing them together to form sentences until, eventually, the note reads as follows: 

Greetings wanderer! Welcome to Disparia. I hope your journey here wasn’t too painful. Even if it was, no matter now! You might be wondering what’s going on, why this is happening, or even how this is possible. Unfortunately, I can only answer one question, and that is the first one! See, the place you now find yourself in is known as Level 0. I’m going to skip over the details and nuances and get straight to the big picture. 

You are in grave danger. You are not meant to be here. No one who ever came was meant to be here. 

I know all you want right now is to go home and forget about this, perhaps even dismiss it as a bad dream. I want to help you do that! So, I’ve listed some rules below this paragraph that will help you saunter on out of here without so much as a scratch on that pretty little face of yours.

 He’s lying. Don’t trust him. You will never escape if you do. I’m sorry. 

1. Keep this note with you. Just in case you need to check on the rules again :)

2. Don’t panic. You’re fine. If you panic, it’ll be easier for it to find you. 

3. Start walking. Doesn’t matter where, but start walking and keep walking. Don’t run. That wouldn’t be good. Just walk, and try to keep walking in the same direction. 

4. Eventually, you will come across a red door. When you see it, go through it. Remember, the door should be red. Not white. Not blue. Red. If you see any other colored door, just ignore it. 

5. Once you go through the door, you should see two figures. One will be dressed real spiffy, in a white suit and blue tie, and the other will appear haggard, wearing a ragged black robe. Shake the second figure’s hand. His name is Jerry :) 

6. Once you shake Jerry’s hand, the other figure will disappear and Jerry will start walking. Follow Jerry, and keep following him no matter where he seems to be going. Don’t talk. Jerry hates talking. 

7. He’ll lead you to a set of stairs that seem to lead to nowhere. Take them up. You do want to go home, don’t you? 

8. In time, you’ll find yourself in front of a council of hooded figures who look just like Jerry. Stand in front of them and stay absolutely silent. Eventually, if you followed my instructions correctly, they’ll ask a single question, answer honestly and to the best of your ability. They will know if you’ve lied. 

9. If you’ve impressed them, they’ll take you to a black door. Once you get there, thank them and wait for them to leave. Then, open the door and jump through. You’ll feel like you’re falling, but you’ll wake up safe and sound back home. Trust me. 

Good luck, wanderer :)

Yours truly, 

Luci

Your head spins. What’s going on? Who is this “Luci” person? Panic starts to set in, and you try desperately to think nice things to calm yourself down. 

But you have no time to think. 

Something stirs from the corner. 

You have just enough time to process what it is before it lunges at you, its maw lined with rows of sharp teeth, its skin a disgusting, nauseating amalgamation of rotting flesh and wiry hair, and you feel the stench of its rank breath hitting your nostrils right as you feel a brief, but excruciating pain explode throughout your body as the creature consumes you.

Then, you’re gone. No longer human, yet still alive. You’ve become a part of this cruel, sadistic world, fated to see more victims come and die, come and die, able to do nothing to stop it. 

You broke Rule 2, and it found you. 

Now you’re stuck here for all eternity. Have fun. 

Welcome to Disparia.