While the passing of time was difficult to observe, it was fair to say that around a week or two has passed since the portal incident.
The exit was still nowhere in sight.
The group was slowly losing motivation. Their hopes of ever escaping becoming less certain with each passing day.
Their only saving grace was the fact that since then things have been rather peaceful.
No more strange deaths and no major battles.
The only monsters that showed up in these past days were weak ones that weren't able to shake the groups foundation.
Their supplies were also still holding strong, they packed for a months long journey anyways.
Today the group was resting once again, same as they've been doing every day.
Stacy was awake having rested at the stop prior. Still her mental was also getting worse with each day that passed.
'Will we ever make it out?'
This was the question that Stacy asked the most during these past few days, but there was a question that was slowly threatening to overtake it.
'Why are we here?'
Indeed. Why were they there in the firstplace.
There was no useful data to collect about the environment, and the corpses of the monsters they defeated were just left to rot.
Their expedition seemed pointless, no matter how hard she thought about it.
Then Stacy looked in the direction where Gabriel was staying.
Out of anyone here he was the only one that may know why they are really there.
Why the Holy Army was pouring so much of their own soldiers into the exploration of this Void of nothingness.
As the others were still resting, Stacy with nothing better to do decided to go for it and ask the question herself.
Gabriel was just standing there in the darkness seemingly deep in thought.
"Gabriel."
Stacy spoke to him without any of the usual respect one would expect to be given to a Holy Knight.
"Yes, Stacy?"
Still he didn't seem to mind much. He knew Stacy's personality and also knew the effect such a situation could have on others.
...and he was also partially responsible for her being here.
"I want you to answer me one thing, which has been bothering me for a while now."
"..."
"Why are we here? For what purpose? I thought we were supposed to be researching, documenting, but we've been doing nothing but walking and fighting. Why?!"
Gabriel took it all in, but said nothing. His face mostly unreadable in the darkness.
"No answer, huh? So there is a reason why we are here after all. One which you won't tell..."
Then while Stacy was ranting Gabriel finally spoke up his tone resolute.
"It is the will of The Great Reinhardt. That is all one needs to know."
'Reinhardt?'
'Ha, tell me the obvious. Still what is it that he wants so much that he would send so many soldiers here every year... for what?'
Stacy was upset, but it wasn't like she was expecting a real answer in the first place.
As she was angrily walking back, a strange feeling overcame her.
It was a feeling of overwhelming freedom, a feeling of immense rest.
Once she came back to her senses they were all already in the midst of walking.
Still, she didn't notice the abnormality of the situation and just kept on walking.
While walking she felt light, rested. It was the best she had felt in days.
'That last rest a few hours ago must have really done me good.'
As the group kept walking they quickly came to a stop.
It was also the time for Stacy to rest, but as she still felt fine she decided to give up her spot to someone else.
'What is this strange sense of déjà vu?'
The resting period was quickly over and the group embarked on the endless walk once more.
Walking has by now became the life of all people here. I mean there was nothing else to do.
They walked and walked and then they stopped.
'Why are we stopping?'
Stacy questioned the situation, unsure of why they were stopling so quickly.
'Did something go wrong? Is there a problem?'
But despite her guesses nothing of the sort was going on, they were just setting up camp.
'Wait... what?'
Stacy was confused enough for her to quickly ask one of her team members.
"Hey, Mary why are we stopping so early?"
Mary just looked at Stacy, her confused look hardly concealed in the darkness.
"Captain we've been going for more than a day since our last stop. I'm shocked you'd want to continue. Also I've heard it's been a few days since your last rest are you okay?"
That was when it finally registered for Stacy, she was now under the same spell as what Jack was when he died.
"I have to go meet with Gabriel."
Stacy quickly ran through the camp arriving to where Gabriel was.
"I have it!"
Stacy shouted at Gabriel, who could only look at Stacy with a confused expression.
"What do you have?"
"The... death... time... not tired thingy."
For a moment Gabriel didn't understand what Stacy was trying to convey, but once he did his expression darkened.
"Immediately round up everyone in the camp!"
Gabriel said to one of the men standing nearby.
"And you Stacy... I don't know what you should do. Maybe try sleeping, even if you feel like you aren't tired."
Stacy couldn't help, but agree. Since one of the possible theories was that the deaths had to do with exhaustion.
So Stacy quickly layed down nearby and tried her hardest to fall asleep.
At first things weren't going so well, but then her world suddenly became darker.
*Wraaah*
A weird noise came from the distance, but by this point Stacy was already so close to the darkness that it just passed by her.
...
Stacy slowly opened her eyes, only to be disappointed as the world was still nothing more than darkness.
She quickly tried to use Aura Vision as way to help her see what was around her, but for some reason it failed.
'Where am I?'
"Hello?"
She shouted into the empty space before her, but barely any sound came out from her mouth.
'Am I dreaming?'
Stacy arrived at this question, afterall how she was feeling now felt similar to how one felt while dreaming.
Dampened... underwater.
'I have to wake up somehow.'
She tried to search, but no method came to her.
The place truly had nothing to offer, even her body seemed to not be fully tangible.
'How do I escape?'
That was when the silence was finally overriden by a sound.
*Wraaah*
A loud growl like shout swept through the giant empty space. The sound seeming to come from all directions at once.
That was when something changed.
The space became more tangible than before, but it was still the same place.
'What happened?'
Looking around Stacy was now able to properly feel her body, it felt like she was actually there.
'Blade of Light.'
She used her skill and with its usage a sword of light appeared in her hand.
She simply held onto it instead of sending it flying, still the fact that her blade was here in here hands meant that she could use her skills in here.
Her confusion over the situation certainly didn't get resolved.
That was when the strange sound echoed again.
*Wraaah*
But this time sound wasn't the only thing that appeared, as in the far distance a monster the size of a small mountain with deer like features showed itself.
'What the fuck is that?'
Now Stacy finally understood what this place was. And also why people like Jack died.
She was in a Mindscape. A skill which skilled fighters used for isolated assassinations.
This skill wasn't some unusual skill by any means, but they still didn't suspected it for two major reasons.
First, victims of this skill would usually show wounds of some sort, as the damage done while in this skill was always reflected in some form outside. Yet the victims showed no damage.
And the other reason was the fact that the usage of this skill has never before been observed in monsters before, but it seemed that such a thing actually existed.
'Can I win?'
Stacy thought to herself, but looking at the beast before her she already knew the answer.
She had no chance.
So what could she do?
There was no known way to escape from this skill and time was pretty much frozen on the outside.
She had no chance of surviving alive.
It was seemingly the end of the road for Stacy. Her life was finally coming to an end.
But then a miracle happened.
The beast which was in the distance started showing signs of damage.
Cuts were appearing on it left and right.
And with each cut on it Stacy's state changed little by little.
She could feel it, the binding was being undone. The Mindscape was collapsing.
*Crack*
With a loud cracking sound the Mindscape fully collapsed.
...
Waking up Stacy found herself in the same spot she had been when she tried falling asleep, but some things around her had changed.