The Infinite Realms

Chapter 41: Ring

"I promise!" the clown insisted when he saw Trevor hesitating.

"Oh please let this end." Trevor prayed inwardly.

"I insist. Don't be afraid. Be a friend." the clown wore a saddened expression when it saw Trevor ignore it.

"I don't want your stupid red balloons. Leave me alone." Trevor yelled in panic.

If there was one thing he knew about that clown, it was that it would lure children into its trap then sick the life out of them when they least expect it.

The friendly face the clown previously had turned into an angry one.

With killing intent radiating off his eyes.

He started expanding and deforming and additional limbs started growing off the side of its body.

His fore head expanded and a set of four pure black eyes opened up.

In just five seconds, he had turned into a mutant scorpion.

"What the hell!" Trevor tagged at the door violently trying to escape but no matter what he did, they didn't open in the slightest.

Scorpion pennywise swang his right claw at Trevor trying to chop him in half.

But Trevor performed a backflip and escaped its attacks strike.

He then countered with a fireball which bearly managed to injure him.

Pennywise wire a wicked smile as he haunted Trevor to his core.

Launching attack after attack on Trevor.

It would even launch a few causal tail stings at him but he always dodges them.

"Your useless......"

"Your powerless."

"Your parents don't even love you."

"You're unlikable. That's why you only have one friend." Pennywise mocked Trevor to make him loose his fighting spirit.

And it seemed to be working.

Trevor's mind drifted off for a short second. And it was this second that Pennywise used to his advantage.

Swinging a his claw at Trevor, he sent him flying into the wall.

Pennywise let out an evil laughter as he crawled towards Trevor.

He lifted his tail up into the air and prepared to sting Trevor while was still in his vulnerable state.

At this moment, Trevor recalled something about pennywise.

The same down talk pennywise was giving him, that was his weakness.

The fear Trevor previously had was replaced with determination.

Just as Pennywise's tail was bout to strike him, Trevor said, " your ugly."

"You're a monster."

"No body wants to be you're friend."

Pennywise immediately halted his attack.

"No your lying." he took a step back.

Trevor utilizes this opportunity to stand up.

He then continued, "Yes. I mean look at you. You look like a sea of birds pooped all over your body."

"Look at that fore head. What you keeping in there? Let me guess, a pile if nonsense and stupidity."

Pennywise started shrinking at a rate visible.

He constantly doubted Trevor and tried to defend himself but nothing would stop Trevor.

Pennywise shrunk to the size of porridge spilled on the floor at Trevor's insults.

And immediately, he turned into a dark smoke an evaporated out into thin air.

After he disappeared, Trevor heard the door click.

And hope bloomed in his chest.

He hurriedly walked over to check if the door was truly unlocked.

He regretted coming into this house in the first place.

He wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Who knew what other horrors awaited him in this room.

He thanked the heavens when the door opened freely.

He hurriedly stepped out of the room and shut the door door behind him.

At this point, he no longer cared about the item that creepy man had left behind.

All he wanted to see was the awkward purple sky outside.

He hurriedly ran down the stairs but then his face turned gloomy at what awaited him downstairs.

He had entered a similar corridor as the one upstairs.

Everything was an exact copy.

"So this is how it is huh?"

He immediately ran back upstairs and the scene was the same.

Just as he walked back downstairs again to confirm things, a dark shadow swished behind him.

His heart clenched when he felt the breeze of wind behind him.

He immediately turned to check what it was but noticed something.

And when he turned his head back to where he was going, there stood a demon nun staring at him with murder intent.

"F**k! The nun too!" Trevor cursed in fear.

He immediately turned tail and ran the opposite direction.

He was completely helpless this time.

He had learnt that he couldn't use his magic on any of the beings here.

He had defeated pennywise cause he knew his weakness but the nun?

He could only kneel down and pray that Jesus comes to save him.

Looking back, he discovered that the nun had looked at him with a tilted head before disappearing.

Trevor stopped running to catch his breath but when he looked infront of him, he saw the nun.

His eyes widened in fear.

He subconsciously stepped back and started moving backwards.

Anything to get him out of this night mare.

The nun simply held the cross that was tied to her waist and pulled at the top hilt of the cross and a knife emerged from the cross.

She raised up the knife over her head and looked at Trevor with saliva watering out of her dark pale cracked lips.

He tongue played around in with her razor sharp black teeth.

"Oh no... She's going to do the creepy walk again." Trevor said helplessly.

And just as he guessed, the nun walked in rigid speedy way closing in the distance between her and Trevor.

The knife in her hands swang and penetrated Trevor's stomach causing a huge blood leakage.

Trevor winced in pain as he looked down at the bloody knife stuck in his stomach.

The nun simply flashed a wicked smile at Trevor as she looked at him with those pure white eyes.

Trevor felt like life was being sucked out of him in a rate he couldn't comprehend.

His mind wandered and tried to make up reasons for why unrelated characters where in dungeon.

He tried to pull out the knife that was stabbed in him but the nun reached out for it before him.

And immediately, she sliced off Trevor's right hand in one swing.

Trevor let out an agonizing scream when he felt the overwhelming pain.

His arm bled profusely as as his hand fell to the ground.

And just like that, he had lost a limb.

Trevor came to a realization after giving on some thought.

Both the nun and Pennywise weren't real at all.

Those where his fears and he wouldn't have to worry about them since they were just movies.

But now, both his fears made contact with him.

The only logical explanation was that someone was using his fears against him.

The petrified look on Trevor disappeared after reasoning it out.

"Your not real!" he said.

"Who ever you are? You've done a great job at trying to scare me."

The nun before him immediately turned into dark smoke as it evaporated.

And in its place, there stood the creepy man he had seen earlier.

His eyes were on different shades.

One green, the other red.

He had a few wrinkles on his face and his smile was full of yellow teeth.

When Trevor looked back at the injuries the nun had caused, he discovered that he was perfectly fine and the hand she had earlier cut off was now reattached as if nothing happened.

"Hmmm..... This is the first tine anyone that has entered the elven book and survived through his fears." the man spoke with a friendly tone.

"You mean this was just a test?" Trevor rolled his eyes at the man.

He had almost given him a heart attack and here he stood as if nothing happened.

"Yes it was...but I have to say. Of all weird fears I've brought to life for people, yours are by fur the weirdest.

I have never seen such creatures in my life time. They almost gave me a scare." the man complemented.

"Almost....man I almost died." Trevor stared at the man in disdain.

"Okay, who are you? And why am I here?" Trevor asked.

The man looked at him as if he had noticed something in him but he quickly acted as if didn't see anything.

"Ahh... Yes. I am Takara. One of the keepers. As to why your here, I don't know. But you were able to face all your fears. And as per the rules, deserve this. " With a snap of his fingers, a red object that looked like a tiny ruby appeared in Takara's hand. Before handing it over to Trevor. With a little hesitation evident in the way he let go of the object.

Taking up the opject, Trevor realised it wasn't a ruby. But a ring. He was only able to see the red glowing part, while the test of it was invisible, probably because of the darkness. Which made him think it was a ruby. Upon closer inspection, he recalled the object. It was that same ring he had seen on that chair earlier. The red glow part he had seen was indeeda ruby but it stopped glowing a second after he touched it. It was embedded at the top of the ring, while tiny metallic dark vines entertained with each other as they ran around the circumference to form the hollownes. Knowing the object must be precious, Trevor couldn't help but feel excitement as a smile formed on his face. Though it didn't last long, because that it was too big for any of his fingers. The hole was probably thrice as wide as three of a grown man's thumbs.

"I don't think it fits me. I might as well just return it."

"You will need it boy...." Takara said, holding his hands behind his back and turning with back faced at Trevor. "That's your return ticket."

"That's your return ticket." kept on playing in Trevor's head as the meaning settled down inside of him. He felt relief and fear at the same time at the realization.

He had been given the ring only after he faced his fears for horror movies. And if he wasn't mistaken, there had been others before him, yet he was the only one that managed to face his fears. If the ring was his return ticket, and could only be obtained as a reward for facing his fears, how the hell did the others manage to get out of this place. Are they trapped in here for eternity?!

Wait, what if he had fallen for his fears, would he never find his way back. His stomach turned at the thought. At the loungue, Hawk had told him that whatever happened to him here would be severe. If he died in a dungeon, he would be erased from existence. If he got himself trapped anywhere in the dungeon and couldn't get out, then he would be forcefully ejected and given an extremely heavy punishment. But of cause there was an exception, and it wasn't good in the slightest. If he got himself trapped in a glitched and parallel dungeon inside the official dungeon, there was no way out. Not even forceful ejection.

Parallel dungeons! Crap! This is what he meant by parallel dungeons! His pupils dilated in fear.

Parallel dungeons, like this one were no secret. Almost every protector knew about them. They were glitches in the system, and no one in the world had the capability to fix them. Many had tried, even the council, but non succeeded. And those who attempted, had to pay dearly.

But even after cautious briefing and warning about the dangers of parallel dungeons, many knuckle heads still entered them. All drawn by the grid and benefits they could get once they completed the dungeon.

And obviously, many of them didn't return and were lost beyond redemption. Which strengthened the fear for them. Even with a large number of them failing, the small number that passed, tempted others to attempt these dungeons. Because of the power and rank they got above others.

"it's not what you think," Takara looked over his shoulder to glance at Trevor.

"Yes they managed to leave, we are not heartless boy. But as per the rules, no one leaves with their souls and memories, a part of their life force must be taken." he turned around and faced Trevor, a silly grin on his face, Luckily you made it, it would be a pity for a young person like you to live for just 20 years. It would have been worse for you.... Not even protectors can escape this in their universe."

The way he said the last sentence made Trevor stiffen," What do you mean by that. "he muttered in shaken breaths.

But he didn't get the answer he wanted, instead the Takara pointed to the ring," So you still want to return that?"