KING OF SPADES CHAPTER 2

Falling…

Horizontally?

August felt himself being propelled forward by some unknown force in a tunnel of light, similar to the curtain he had gone through a few moments prior, but less bright. Taking in the sights around him, he kicked his legs, pushing forward with his arms in a motion not unlike swimming, distracted by openings in the tunnel, as well as various… people, some humanlike and some not quite, making similar movements as him. Awestruck, he slapped himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, earning a couple of strange stares.

It’s like an airport terminal… he thought to himself, I wonder if-

His thoughts were cut off as he slammed into somebody. “Ow! What the-” yelled Octavia Demant, the very person who had caused him to end up here, albeit unintentionally. Her companion, the red-eyed boy, turned to August, and slowed him down by holding him by the shoulders. Smiling good-naturedly, he chuckled, “Hey there, watch your speeds, man. You’re gonna kill someone.” He helped August straighten his body in a similar position to treading water, “Sorry ‘bout Octavian here, bit of a sour grape.”

“Don't call me that!”

“Sorry mate, sorry. Keep forgetting, ‘cause I knew you before you figured out you-”

“Ace. Stop,” Octavia said sternly, “I don’t need every blasted person in every dimension knowing I’m trans. I don’t want people knowing all that. It’s none of their damn concern.” Turning to August, she opened her mouth to speak, but frowned with recognition upon noticing his uniform and appearance, “You!”

August flinched, but was still processing this newly acquired bit of information, as well as this whole new world he had just stepped into. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be here...” Octavia huffed angrily, “Obviously! Go back home, and forget this ever happened!” She tried to shove him back, to a tunnel with another light-curtain… portal? Yes. Portal, at the end of it. “Hey! I’m not going anywhere without explanations!” he argued, pushing back.

“Go home, August!” Shove.

“What is this place!” A harder shove. The two struggled for a moment, all while the white-haired boy, Ace, tried to pull them apart, “Whoa, whoa, you’re gonna-” Octavia attempted to drag August to the opening, only for him to lash out and push her into the wall of the tunnel. She slipped through, sinking into the wall. “Ace!” she screamed, thrashing. Both boys tried to pull her back into the tunnel, but their efforts were in vain. As if being sucked into the light, all three of them fell through to the other side, tumbling down a dark abyss. “This is your fault!” Octavia slapped August hard on the shoulder. He couldn’t argue back, instead turning to Ace, who looked strangely calm, excited even, for the situation, “What’s happening? Where is this pla-”

The three hit the ground painfully, but the impact wasn’t as bad as August thought it would be. Instead of endless darkness, he saw a dimly lit corridor that mildly resembled something from an analog horror game he had played with Astra a year or two back, with no sign of where they had just come from. “What- Where-” he stumbled over his words, getting to his feet, clutching the straps of his backpack, which was miraculously still secure on his shoulders. It appeared that Octavia and Ace still had theirs as well, although he guessed Ace’s wouldn’t have anything in it, simply serving as the cake on the cream to his disguise. “Welcome,” the pale boy said, leaning against the wall in his sitting position, “To the in-between. The most dangerous place among all the dimensions. Although I guess it can’t really be considered one.” Octavia got to her feet, scowling, and she stomped over to August and jabbed him in the chest, “Well done, genius. Do you know how hard it is to find a way out of this place?” She plopped down next to Ace, fuming with her arms crossed, “What are we supposed to do now?”

“Die?” the blond suggested, smiling in a half-hearted joking manner.

“That’s not helpful,” both August and Octavia replied at the same time.

“Oh, rich coming from you!” her curly mass of hair bobbed as she shot to her feet once again, “You’re the one that got us stuck here in the first place, you nosy little bas-” She was cut off by a loud screeching sound coming from further down a hallway. August froze, seeing a tall creature, midnight black and dripping with a red liquid that looked suspiciously like blood. It had a vaguely humanoid form, a regular sized torso with unnaturally long, gangly limbs. Its head completely lacked a face, hanging at a sickly angle as if its neck had been snapped. As if being called by the ghastly shriek, similar creatures swarmed in, making the same ear-piercing noise. “Gangles,” Ace breathed, “Crap.” He got to his feet and began sprinting in the opposite direction, grabbing the other two by the sleeves of their blazers until they began to run unaided.

“What the hell are those?” August gasped hysterically, stumbling over his feet.

“Gangles!” Ace repeated, louder this time, “Creatures from the in-between. I’ve only seen one in person once when there was a dimension leak and one of those things slipped through, but I can tell you first hand they are not a lot of fun to deal with.” He laughed as the three turned a corner, “Creatures in the in-between range from deadly annoying to annoyingly deadly. We might see the less dangerous ones if we’re alive for long eno- Split up!” They hit a fork, and he veered left, Octavia down the centre, and August to the right. Dress shoes that were certainly not meant for running slamming onto the green and purple carpeting, he ran on, not looking back, occasionally bumping into the pale blue walls. Whoever built this place clearly made a terrible design choice, he thought, immediately laughing at how he could think about interior design choices while being chased by a horde of monsters. Speaking of which, he couldn’t hear their shrieking quite as loud anymore, nor any footsteps behind him. They all sounded like they were coming from his left. Risking a quick glance over his shoulder, August saw there were no more of those creatures following him, and stopped, catching his breath. Remembering a trick he had learned online about reality checks, he poked at his palm. Solid. He was awake, which meant this nightmare was real… But how?

Hearing footsteps and heavy breathing further down the hallway, he straightened up, ready to run back to where he came from, throw his backpack, anything. He relaxed, however, when he saw Ace jogging lightly over, looking exhausted, some black gunk on his knockoff uniform replica, holding a wicked sharp knife which was also covered in the same material. Once he reached the other boy, he stopped, breathing deeply for a few moments before looking up at the brunette, grinning, “So, how’s that for a near-death experience? Killed two that were chasing me. I think most of ‘em chased Via down the centre, but she’ll be fine. She’s used to this stuff.”

“How can you still be cheerful in a situation like this?” August shook his head slightly, amazed, “Also, how are our two hallways connected? Was it a curve?” Ace nodded, still grinning, oblivious to what that would mean. “If our paths were joined by a curve… that means Octavia’s must end with… would be a… it would be a dead end.”

Horror stricken, both of them, began to run as fast as they could down the hallway back to where the corridor forked and down the centre. Ace pulled out another knife, this one sheathed, from one of his pockets, handing it to August, “I hope you can fight! If you can’t… hope you’re a quick learner.” Fumbling with the weapon, the green-eyed boy pulled the unsheathed it, still sprinting, and shoved clipped the sheath onto his belt with little difficulty. The shrieking noises intensified as they ran further down the hall, until they came across the creatures, all tailing Octavia, who was running in their direction, most likely having somehow slipped past them back the other way. Ace pulled out a throwing knife from a pocket on his belt that had gone completely unnoticed until then, aiming it at a gangle’s creepily bent neck, hitting his mark. The same black goo that was splattered on his other knife and clothes spewed across the hallway and onto the other gangles, causing them all to shriek louder and crumple to the ground.

Grinning, he turned to August, who looked near-traumatised, “The blood is extremely corrosive to them only. Just stings a little for every other species. Their veins have a special coating inside, though. But if you manage to burst an artery, they’re pretty easy to kill. Even large crowds of them.” Noticing one that was still alive, he threw the knife in his hand, killing it immediately, “Wonder what it’d be like to dissect one of these. The bodies usually disintegrate pretty fast, so it would have to be-”

“Can we focus on getting out of here first?” Octavia glared, crossing her arms over her chest once again, irritated, “The longer we stay here, the more of these we’ll have to deal with.”

“Alright, alright,” Ace rolled his eyes, kicking one of the corpses, muttering under his breath, “Damn killjoy.” Knocking rhythmically on the walls, he called, “Help me search the walls.”

“No, I’ve been here before, I think.The exit’s on the floor,” the girl argued, patting down the carpet, occasionally pushing at a section, “Come on, human boy. You got us into this situation, you’re helping us get out of it.”

Awkwardly, August knelt down and began tapping the ground. On his fourth or fifth try, a panel opened up below him, exposing the light tunnel from before, and the other two came over. Octavia slipped in, practically jumping through. She hovered in the middle of the tunnel in a standing position with her feet slightly forward, gesturing for them to follow. Ace held on to the edge of the carpet, about to let go, but he looked up. Sensing the other boy’s hesitancy, he reached out, offering him his hand, which August took. They jumped down simultaneously, gravity stopping its effects the moment they reached the centre of the tunnel. Once they passed through, the panel closed behind them, its outline vanishing as if it was never there.

Ace let go of him, brushing off his clothes and discarding his jacket, which was being weighed down slightly by the gangle blood on it. “You can stay, you know,” he threw him a glance over his shoulder, laughing when he saw the green-eyed boy struggling to control his balance, floating around clumsily, trying to stop like Octavia had done, but overextending his legs and flipping back instead, pinwheeling his arms. He secured him by the shoulders like he did before, guiding him into the still position, “Here. It’s like how you stop when ice-skating, just with both feet.” Once August managed, he floated away, stopping once he was about a foot or two away. “Anyways, like I was saying, you can stay with us if you want. We could use the extra help.” He shrugged, looking at their companion for confirmation, but she shook her head profusely.

“Via, don’t be so sour. We need all the help we can get,” Ace persuaded, “Give it some thought. But meanwhile!” He grinned at August, offering a handshake, “Pleased to formally make your acquaintance. I’m Ace, Prince of Hearts,” tapping the red mark on his cheek with his other hand, he continued, “I don’t think I ever caught your name. Oh wait, I did!” He proudly brandished August’s student card. “Hey! How’d you-” he checked his pocket where it was supposed to be out of reflex, only to find nothing there. “August West,” the prince ignored him, “Date of birth, thirty-first of August. How apt. I was born on the first day of the year, that’s why they named me Ace. Since it represents one in a pack of cards.”

“Shouldn’t we explain the dimensions to him first?” Octavia grumbled, “Since he’s going to come along with us to help. It’s best to teach him everything now, at the terminal, so he doesn’t get overwhelmed when we land in Card Kingdom then get us all arrested for having a human over.” She said the last part in a hushed whisper. “Get arrested?” the person in question asked, “Why would we get arrested?”

“Not you. We get arrested for harbouring a human, you get the death sentence,” Ace shook his head nonchalantly. “What?” August yelled much louder than he intended, attracting a few sharp glares from passersby.

“Told you so.”