The Last Portal Chapter 2 : Voices

DOVHAKIN

- What do you mean, you know who we are ?, I asked the weird guy.

- Not them, you. We started in the same room, but I woke up before you and you scared me, so I hid behind the couch.

- I... scared you ?

- Have you seen what you look like any time recently ?

The question took me by surprise. What I looked like ? Nobody cared what I looked like back in Skyrim. Didn't scare anyone anyway.
But then I took a look at my companions. A kid, a girl, a tall man, a young man and an overly stressed man.
And I nearly made a wall collapse on the kid just by shouting.
Okay, maybe it was normal if I scared them...

- So, um... What do we do now ?, asked Pincher. We can't go through the door there, because of that SCP thing.

He was right. I took a look around. We were in a square room. Behind us was where we all came from, Steve, Chell and I from the huge hole in the wall, Pincher, Max and the new guy after them from the corridor at the back.In front of us was the door we couldn't go through... and it opened.

- HOLY MOTHER OF NOTCH !!!

- WHAT THE HELL ?!

- NOBODY BLINKS !!!

In a second the abomination behind the door was there again and everyone were screaming like mad hargravens.

-EVERYBODY CALM DOWN, shouted D-139.DON'T STOP STARING AT IT ! We're going to try to pass by him.

Wait what ?
I turned to him.

- Are you mad ?!

- No ! I've dealt with these before. Everyone, just keep looking at it, we're going to go through the door. Whatever you do, don't stop looking, and DON'T TOUCH IT.

I think at that moment, everyone was so confused/scared that we all listened to him. We crossed carefully the door way, crouching and sticking to the wall to avoid any contact with the statue-like monster. When everyone had crossed safely to yet another room, and when yet another door was opened and closed, we all let out a sight of relief.
I looked across the room. There was a hallway again, it was like an endless labyrinth.

- Should we continue walking ?, I asked.

- Oooh... Can we have a break ?, sighted Max. That got me really tired...

- Everyone is tired, said Steve. A pause wouldn't be bad...

- Well, okay then...

We settled down. An awkward silence started off, but I guess nobody had anything to say anyway. I started thinking about the past events.
I'd woke up in a room with weird furniture and a weird voice had told me to find a way out, which I did by Fus-Ro-Dah-ing the wall in front of me. Then I'd just shout my way out of every room until I'd fell on a girl with a weird weapon and a tall guy. Then I fell on a kid whom I scared the hell out of. And to other people. And now me and all these fellas were having a break in a maze of test chambers. Suddenly the weird voice that had told me to find my way out rang out.

- TEST SUBJECTS 1,2,3,4,5 AND 6, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEXT CHAMBER.

- Hell no !, shouted Chell in response. Too tired for that, sorry for you !

- TEST SUBJECTS 1,2,3,4,5 AND 6, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEXT CHAMBER OR THE DOOR SYSTEM CONTAINING SCP-173 WILL OPEN.

- Well, if they say it like that..., sighted Pincher.

I looked at him.

- Why do you say that ? If they open that door I shout that thing out of the way.

I started wondering why I didn't do it before.
I realise D-139 was staring at me with a wondering look on his face, like if he was wondering wether I was insane or stupid, and that was probably what he was doing indeed.

- You've never been a test subject before, have you ?, he finally said. No, of course not. Well sorry for you, but I don't want to die here. You'll have to learn that in a place like this, you do what they tell you to do if you wanna survive longer.

He got up and left. Progressively everyone did the same and I was left alone. I heard stone scraping sounds coming from the door.

- Hey, okay guys, wait for me...

I didn't see where they went, because the hallway divided into countless little corridors. I walked into one of them randomly, and started calling the names that I could remember, but no one answered. Either the walls were soundproof or I was far away from the group. But could I really be that far from them ? I didn't leave that much time after them...
Suddenly I heard someone scream. It was coming from my right, wich probably meant from another corridor. I rushed back to the junction, heart pounding, and I took the first hallway on the right. I heard another scream, but this time it was another voice and I could make out a word they probably shouldn't be shouting next to a kid. I ran as fast as I could until I reached an incredible room...
It was like someone or something had taken a whole chunk of Skyrim's plains and put it into a giant glass dome. For a second I was flooded with memories from my home, until I saw a blood dragon attacking my friends. I let out a loud roar as I flung myself at it, and I struck it with Wuuthrad my axe as hard as I could. The beast fell to the ground with me, but it got back up in the air as soon as it got back on its feet. My mind was whirling as I tried to remember the shout that can force a dragon to land. Before I could the dragon had prepared itself, and I just had time to roll away before a firy beam hit the ground where I was standing. I took out my bow and shot arrows at the monster. It then made a crucial mistake : it landed. I switched back to Wuuthrad and delivered a lethal blow to the dragon. I jumped off it as it started burning away and I smiled satisfyingly as I started to absorb his soul.
I then noticed the others, bundled up together and watching me with an astonished look.

- What ? Never saw the Dragonborn in action ?

I guess I was a bit too full of myself at the time but after all it was the first familiar thing of the day.
I turned to the dragon and looted his bones and scales, but it was too heavy so I threw out some useless stuff out of my inventory.

- What... Where is all that stuff coming from ?

I turned around. It was Pincher.

- Huh ? Well, from my inventory. Don't you have one ?

- Yeah, continued Max. You never saw it before ? I have one too.

- And so do I, added Steve. But talking about that beast... Was it like an ender dragon or something ?

- Not exactly, I said. It was a blood dragon. I never heard of an ender dragon.

- I guess that's understandable, there's only one and he's in a special dimension...

- TEST SUBJECTS 1,2,3,4,5 AND 6, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEXT CHAMBER.

- Again ?!, exclaimed D-139.

- All these rooms keep getting more dangerous, started to cry Max. I don't want to go there...

- That's okay, said a voice inside my head. You won't have to go there anyways.

Judging by the look on everyone's face, they'd heard it too.
Then Steve looked even more surprised than the others.

- H...Huh !? D-Diamonds and wood just spawned in my inventory !!!

- What !?

- You'll know what to do with it, said the voice. It was a girl's voice. There's no time to explain. The walls in this room are programmed to be unbreakable, but this is the only room with walls touching the outside world completely, and it will be your only chance to escape. I'm going to hack a way out, but it won't last long. Hurry to the wall on your right !

Wait... Programmed ? Hacking a way out ?
What ?...

- H-hey ! What tells us we can trust you ?

- Do you want to escape or do you want to continue into rooms where you will have to fight monsters until each of you is dead ?

This time it was a boy's voice who answered.
We all ran to the right wall. A hole was opened in it, but it was wobbly, like if it would disappear in a short time. We jumped through it just before it closed off. Outside, it was beautiful. It was the plains of Skyrim, but at some places the hill sides and trees were square. Some weird square animals also roamed there. On some trees, three strangely big fruits were hanging. It was a bit like a mix, but I didn't know of what. Maybe of worlds ?

- Woah..., said Max. It's incredible !

- Why did you help us ?, asked Pincher as he looked at the sky, like he wasn't sure where to look else.
A third voice answered.

- We help you because you are the carriers of some of our dreams. Also, you are the only ones who can save them, as well as you and your respective worlds.

- Save them ?, asked Chell. Of what ?

Yet another voice answered.

- Everything will be explained when the time is right. For now, get as far away from here as possible. It's the only thing that matters right now.

- Wait !, I exclaimed. Can't you just tell us who you are ? What are your names ?

And a fifth voice said,

- ...We are people that once lived in a world of creation and imagination. It was a beautiful world. Unfortunately, the creators of this world decided to destroy it to the profit of another world, where only a few of us could go . So we fled to other worlds. Now we try to find our lost friends in all of these worlds. Some of them we found. Some of them still not. And we try to recreate the community we had...

- We were called many names, continued the sixth and last voice. Creators, artists, animators... In all your worlds and some others we would be called players. But we used to be called only one name...

...Flipnoters.