Mona stood there besides himself. He shifted in place, his heels dug in, trying to figure out which way to go. The surroundings didn't change no matter which way he looked. Endless fields of stark white sand, the occasional zephyr that came back and forth, the Medivers scattered about like forgotten toys of some titan's creation.

  "Where do I go from here?"

  The words carried themselves through the bleak landscape, once again scattering the sands as they passed. Were the occasional winds coming towards him the words of some other soul trapped in this place? The thought grabbed him, and he began shouting out.

  "Hello?"

  "Hello there?"

  "Is anyone there?"

  The words carried themselves in physical form forwards, the words manifesting before evaporating in this landscape. He watched as the sand and dunes before him steadily split away at his shouts, disappearing into the horizon. And then he waited.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  *****

  After a great deal of waiting in this space, nothing was returning. Not a shout, not a whistle of any kind. The sounds that filled his ears, the whispers of some indiscernible language continued, but nothing that gave him the sense that anyone heard him. It was even possible that these whispers were from the distant past. Plenty could have existed here, but maybe they already passed away, their final utterances casted about continuing to the ends of this space.

  This was beyond strange. Mona regretted not attending these ceremonies sooner, not asking his father about what this place would be. Surely his father would have known what was going on, but he was too preoccupied with that landscape of the duchy, and now here he was. Trapped, in the space between consciousness and unconsciousness, the moment between before, and after. Just what could be creating this illusion before him, if it was an illusion for that matter?

  "None of this seems right. I should've--"

  Just as the words were leaving his lips, Mona could feel something. Something yearning for him. He felt it, not in his heart, but he could feel the armor. It...shifted. Ever so slightly, he could notice that he moved in this environment. The obelisk in the distance seemed to move to the left, by just a smidge.

  He paused. Mona thought over his words carefully, the words he just uttered. Which of these words could it have been, that changed this space?

  "None?"

  Nothing.

  "Of?"

  Nothing.

  Finally, he tried the directional.

  "Right?"

  And the armor came alive once more, the obelisk and other stones, the endless dunes, seemingly shifting to the left once again. He could feel it. He was making progress moving in this environment.

  "Left."

  The Medivers in the distance shifted back now, returning to their original position. The armor seemed to be the key to navigating this place. Once he gave it the command to go left, the shapes before him all moved right. He wasn't sure if he was moving, or the environment was moving under him. He was happy for change, change in this accursed place.

  "I don't know how this is working. I just hope I can get out of---"

  Unexpectedly, Mona felt himself lift into the air. Some word he spoke lifted him higher into the air, the ground now a good half meter below him. His legs dangled, his body held firm by some invisible force. Fear gripped him; no one was a fan of being midair, potentially until the end of time.

  "W-w-w-which word was it???"

  He shuffled through the words once more.

  "Don't? How? Working?"

  "Hope? Can? Get? Out?"

  And he ascended some more, not a good meter or so off the ground. Temporarily his fear spiked, but thankfully the word revealed himself.

  "Of course, it's--"

  He was just about to shout the word again, but held his tongue. Just as he was about to utter the word, he could feel the armor tensing on his chest. Mona didn't know what shouting the word would do. He didn't want to soar into the heavens.

  What's the opposite of 'out'? It's 'in', isn't it?

  Mona looked about, noticing the never ending sand dunes before him. Although being higher meant he could see further, the landscape beyond didn't change much. It seems he would have to traverse far more if he wanted to notice any changes.

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  "In."

  As soon as the words left the young man's lips, he could feel the armor sink closer to the ground, his body along with it. He didn't know how the armor was doing this, but was grateful that this ability existed. His mind shivered at the thought of still being in that static position from before.

  "In."

  Mona could feel the ground before his feet once more. While he couldn't yet move with his legs, having stable footing had greater value than simply movement. His mind went over other prepositions, wondering what number of words could move him.

  "Forward. Backward."

  The world shifted at his words, bringing him closer to the monuments before him, then shifting him further from them, returning to his initial location.

  "Forward. Forward. Forward..."

  Mona tediously spat out each word. Progress was progress, even if it came one second at a time.

  *****

  The words became second nature now. There was Mona, alone in this location, uttering movement call-out, one after another. The world was like a map, moving his figure across this barren landscape. Here it didn't rain, or snow, nor heat, nor chill. The only sensation he could feel was the occasional gust glide past his body, tickling his bare skin, leaving unintelligible sounds behind for him to ponder. He ignored these for a moment, his thoughts focused solely on moving ahead.

  Occasionally, a Mediver would stand before him, and he would have to shift left or right before continuing. When a sand dune appeared, he found that his body simply rose along with it, rather than go through. Of course, the first time he tried this he was happy to find he didn't get buried in this white sand.

  Jetting along, his body jerked forward infinitely, steadily weaving back and forth past these obelisks and broken bits in this space. Time, he couldn't tell the time. The only sensations he could feel were the winds, the lurching of his body. That was until he noticed.

  "There's more Medivers than before."

  He didn't notice this at first, but thinking back, those stone creations were a tad sparser back when he began. As he kept moving forward, the broken monuments, as well as what seemed like slanted Medivers became more commonplace. It wasn't by a lot, but it felt like progress. Mona's mood improving, he began shouting the words faster.

  "Forward! Forward! Forward!!!"

  His speed quickening, the landscape became steadily flatter, the dunes seemingly shrinking with his words. The broken stones left his view, only tilted obelisks of various sizes remained. His need to shift left or right disappeared. Only moving forward was necessary at this point.

  It was surprising Mona could make it this far. At this point his throat would grow hoarse, and there wasn't anything close to drinkable water nearby. And yet, he could shout with ease. He stopped for a moment to think about where he could be. And that's when he noticed the disappearance.

  Not far from where he came, he could see ... nothing. It didn't make sense, like everything that existed behind him ceased to exist as he passed. Or rather, was being deleted out of existence. The pace of that deletion was increasing. First the horizon disappeared, then the furthest monolith, then the next closest Mediver statue. The darkness was creeping up on him.

  He turned his head back, casting aside his thoughts and began rapid shouting directional commands. As the darkness behind him lurched forwards, he zipped along as well, speeding along. He didn't want to find out what would happen if the dark caught up to him.

  The monoliths before him steadily grew more straight. The once visible cracks disappeared, and these Medivers seemed to be getting steadily taller and more perfect. The dunes ceased to appear now, leaving a flat expanse of white and obelisks scattered about. The lighting of this place was even, and so no shadows could be found. Mona didn't take time to look back, he simply kept firing off word after word.

  "Forward! Forward!"

  Eventually Mona found himself passing a boundary of sorts. He could feel it actually. Like gliding through the curtain of a waterfall entering a cave, Mona could feel he passed some perimeter. Before he had a chance to look back at the encroaching dark, everything went black.

  *****

  Mona held his head, a splitting ache filling his skull. He could barely open his eyes, before noticing his scenery had changed once again. He found himself in a log cabin, a rather large one, lacking in adornments. It had a steady fire, burning some type of fuel, giving off sparks and undulations of mana. The sound of something besides hidden whispers was a pleasant surprise.

  This cabin was rather large, he could probably take a dozen minutes to walk its interior. There were no walls in this cabin, nor any visible windows or doors, but there was the fireplace, the toasty fire, a couple seats, a small table, and somewhere in the back a staircase that led up. The walls were adorned with mana torches, their subtle green hue feeling more warm than ominous. He looked down; the armor had disappeared, replacing itself with the robe from before. The Aurum insignia was a lit with a yellowish hue, a tender ancientness that felt like it belonged.

  The stairs beckoned his attention. After warming up before the fire, his body relaxing to the steady heat, he climbed himself up these stairs, the distinct wooden slabs giving a cheery sound with each step.

  Appearances really were deceiving. He thought this staircase would be a short set to the next floor, but found himself on a spiraling staircase, hugging the walls of a wooden tower. Each of his steps echoed back to him in this large space. Soon he lost sight of the bottom, his steps continuing upwards. Occasionally a window would appear, and when Mona took a chance to look out, he could see in the distance, far below, the endless fields of stark white sand and scattered obelisks.

  "I guess I'm still in the space, but somewhere else?"

  He couldn't see the encroaching dark anymore, so if anything this cabin he ended up seemed to be safe. But the question presented itself: who built this tower, and why?

  All that could be heard at this point was Mona's breaths, and the steps he took up and up. He counted himself 400 something steps, before giving up. Was there a point in this never ending staircase? The idea of breaking through one of the windows came to him, but he didn't want to take his chances. He didn't know what kind of magic was keeping this place together, or keeping him alive for that matter.

  Finally, Mona could see an end to the stairs. Up, barely in his viewpoint, he could see the stairs opened up to the next floor. A light poured down from that entry, an inviting orange hue. His steps quickened with curiosity; if whoever wanted to harm him was there, he couldn't avoid it anyway. The entryway became brighter and brighter, and finally Mona found himself on the second floor.

  It was closer to a room really. The walls were empty. Flat. Stark orange brown, like a cube. There were no windows, a table, and a chair. Another fire, crackling as it went. But sitting before the fire, at this table, was a golem. A magic golem it seemed, its head reminding it of a Mediver. The creature stood up, its 2nd right arm gesturing for Mona to come forward.

  It let out a gust, a sound of sorts. The same intelligible sounds he heard before. But he could make out a few things.

  "MCEO....TSI."

  A natural utterance in such a bizarre world.