When Elias first opened his eyes again, he could've sworn he was hallucinating. Whatever he expected the 'mirror dimension' to look like, this definitely wasn't it.
There weren't any volcanoes, fiery skies, hordes of demons, or anything else found in hellish landscapes.
No, this world was just flat.
Literally.
In fact, it felt like he was inside a painting.
"This is new," Elias muttered to himself before attempting to stretch. Except... it just didn't work.
He knew how to move his arms and everything. But the movement was limited to simple directions like up, down, forward, and back.
'Am I some sort of manga character?' Elias chuckled at the absurdity, but it was the only idea that made sense.
The world felt flat and compressed, as if it were 2D. He moved as though he were in some kind of platformer game: the old classics like Mario and Sonic.
'Yeah, next time I'm gonna decide against letting some old stranger kill me.'
Elias sighed, knowing he didn't have much of a choice. Ever since his sister had first fallen comatose, he had tried pretty much everything except trusting a creepy old supernatural man. But there was no cure for the disease she had.
That's what five years of failure told him. Nothing in the regular world could ever save her.
'Focus,' Elias thought as he squeezed his fists. He felt a soft, metallic coldness in his right palm and instantly knew what it was:
The coin.
Slipping his coin into his pocket, Elias turned all of his attention to this new world. Because he could only see what was directly in front of him, it was hard to get a proper view of the landscape.
Still, what he could see was a luscious garden, which was one of the last places he expected to find a vampire nest.
Caring little for the 'beauty' of nature, Elias ignored the plethora of flowers surrounding him and instead focused on his next task.
If he was going to fight in this new world, he had to learn how to move through it. Otherwise, he was just gonna die again.
And something told him that this time, his death would be permanent.
...
"I'm gonna die here," Elias lamented after half an hour of failed attempts. The difference between this world and his 3D Earth was too staggering.
It was like trying to teach a toddler to walk but a thousand times more fucked up.
Elias heaved a sigh before kicking his foot into the dirt. Except he missed, of course, and blasted his own ankle.
"Ow, fuck!" Moaning, Elias reached for his ankle out of instinct.
Which, of course, made him lose his balance and fall face-first.
'And now you're stuck here, idiot.' Elias closed his eyes as he accepted his defeat. This great journey, one that he literally died for, was going to end with a bunch of flowers suffocating him because he simply couldn't move.
His only hope for rescue now was some hot babe.
"Please, God, if you're out there... just let some heroine find me."
"What is he talking about?"
"He's obviously a pervert. Markus, I told you we should leave him alone. The moment he fell, it was clear he's nothing more than an idiot."
"Hey, Dereshi, be nice. And try to smile sometime."
Elias's ears perked as he heard three different voices conversing. Unfortunately, he was the subject of discussion. Even worse, the girl of the party already seemed to dislike him.
'Oh well,' Elias thought as he tried to push himself up. 'There's plenty more fish in the sea.'
To his surprise, Elias found he could finally move, at least a little. His arms actually bent at his sides, and more than that, he could feel himself coming off the ground.
Triumphantly, Elias thought, 'heh, I'm movi-'
Splat!
"I see it's your first flat mirror."
The third voice was suddenly beside him. Although his gruff voice was filled with humor, Elias could tell he wasn't exactly being made fun of.
No, the voice clearly belonged to a veteran man, one who had fought in many battles and seen many things.
Such a person would be far too focused on assessing the situation to make fun of him.
A stuck-up bitch who's always had everything handed to her, though...
"We should just leave him," she said simply, her words completely devoid of any empathy. "He can't even move. Even if we save him, the vampires are just going to eat him anyway."
"I hate to say it, but she's right," the first voice said. "We should just keep him here until we're finished."
"Yeah, it's not like he's going to escape," the girl snickered. "The plants would carve him up first."
"I don't need to move to kick your ass, you know," Elias growled. However, because his face was stuck in the dirt, he sounded more like, "blahblehblah."
Still, he kicked his leg out to show that he meant business.
"See, Markus, he's literally a dying baby. Just leave him behind already, we got vampires to kill."
Sighing, Markus gave Elias a little shove from the side before asking, "How'd you get your artifact? It's hard to imagine you'd have something like that but can't even move."
'Artifact?' Elias thought as another question came to mind. He was curious the first time he heard Markus, but now he was sure.
Somehow, Markus was beside him. Even though the entire world was flat.
"Who are you?" Elias asked the dirt.
"Hmm?"
"You're gonna have to raise your head if you want us to hear you. If you'd like, I'll tear it off. Unfortunate, but your head does seem to be very stuck."
Elias rolled his eyes the best he could before raising his head. Because it was a simple movement up, he found that it was a relatively easy task.
With his head raised, Elias repeated his question, "Who are you? How are you beside me?" before turning his head to see a boy who couldn't be more than twelve years old.