"...uhhhg, ouch, what in Antioch's holy sh-...huh?"

I woke up with a big headache, the only thing I remember was hitting the floor and... why am I in a forest? Why do I feel warm? And why do I feel... lost? I am already lost in who knows where but... it's like a feeling of... other worldliness. I was lost in thought for a very while when I went back into one thought: WHY am I in a forest? I sobered up in an instant as I tried to figure where I was laying down, I lifted my back and found myself seated in the ground, looking in every direction I could think.

"Yep, this is a forest alright" I said to myself.

Only thing I was also wondering is why I was still sitting here like a sitting animal, so I jumped back onto my feet, but then I felt kicking something with my left foot as I straightened myself. I looked to the ground and lying there was the cube from my haversack. But only this time it was glowing quite strong

"There is no doubt, I have found a link somewhere..." I said to myself once again

The cube was the only thing I considered as a hint to lead me back to my creator, or at least I like to believe, because it's the only thing I managed to rummage after gaining my consciousness back in Europe. And from what I've gathered, it usually glows when in presence of a "hidden door", some places have entrances to "realms" that are beneath the normal plane of existence, but they do not open unless a key is present, the cube is said key. Unironically they are actual doors, but makes "sense" since if the realms are connected and beneath to our world, a "link" is formed to enable entry. The link is weak but it strengthens when the cube is nearby it and the realm typically resemble something related to the place the door is located.

I'll take for example the time I was in a McDonalds in Berlin, when I got there to grab a bite, I had the urge to pee and went to the bathrooms, but when I opened the door and was greeted with an industrial complex on the other side of the door, I closed it and opened it again and the same place was there again. I thought I was going crazy but I remembered I had my haversack with me, so I opened it and the cube was glowing, so I just left the sack at my table and got back there again, opened the door, and the room was back to a bathroom with multiple stalls (and went to do my usual "business).

But curiosity got the better of me and I went there again, this time with the cube in my sack... and there it was again, I entered and this was more akin to a food processing plant, I explored for a bit, there were conveyor belts traveling meat of all sorts and stuff, but no one in sight to attend it. I kept walking when I stumbled upon another door, but this one did not contrast with the rest of the place, I saw multiple doors leading to other rooms and storage, but this one was wooden, like old timer wood with more baroque decoration, I entered it and found myself inside another room, this time it was more religious like, with many objects with Christian symbolism and well decorated furniture.

Turns out I managed to travel from the McDonalds into the Berlin Cathedral between realms, and it was the real world again because as I exited the place, I could see a myriad of people, tourists and practitioners alike in the main room.

Long story short, there is an interconnected realm beneath the world that allows safe travel to the world

This is how I traveled most of the time in Europe and Asia whenever I got top gigs. But wherever I am right now, there were no visible doors to or entry around, I would encounter realms that have no connection to other doors but that was on extremely rare occasions.

But I'm getting out of the point here, I got to know where am I, so I started to walk around the forest for around 20 minutes when I found an open patch with no trees, but in the middle, was covered in stone flooring and 2 buildings, a shrine and as storage shed that looked also like the shrine. The shrine was obviously a Shinto shrine of sorts, very common in Japan, but it seemed unusually empty, not even a single soul in sight. I really did not want to stay in the forest any longer so I walked directly to the shrine.

As I got closer to the shrine, I heard people conversing, they all sounded female so I got closer, this time more cautiously to not alert, all these years as a raider got me always taking caution to not be heard, but it's not like I would mess with religious places, that's asking to be kicked in the nuts by a god or deity themselves. I got into earshot of the sliding "paper" door, and they were talking about general stuff, typical stuff like "how's your day", how they have been enjoying the place so far, gossip of a "gap hag"? well it's not like I could ask them directly after eavesdropping. But then I heard a voice... a familiar voice that I just met mere hours ago.

Me being as curious as a cat detective, I peeped through the sliding door by just sliding it enough to see, and I could confirm it... it was Usami! She was having tea with the shrine's Miko priestess and a black and white dressed girl with a very big witch hat, why was she here? And even so, how did she know these people located in butt-knows-where? Questions and confusion flood my mind when I am suddenly tapped in my back. I jumped in place and startled a little in surprise when I turned around to see who did it, a little girl?

she was an oranged haired girl dressed in a white shirt with a light purple dress, the only things I could see that stand out of her where that she was carrying a gourd flask of large proportions and she had shackles as bracelets for her ankles and wrists, had a big bow in the back of her hair and she had 2 big horns coming out the sides of her head. And aside from that, I could smell a strong alcohol smell, she was obviously very drunk.

"heeeeyyyy! What's this doggy doing here, are you lost? Are you Aunn's new friend?" she dragged her words to me.

"uuuuuum... uhhhh, hi?" I said back, "ummm, who's your friend? And why are you drinking? Aren't you too young for that?" I said back to her, but I think she didn't even understand half the words I said.

"Are you looking for someone? Looking for Reimu? YOOOOOO REIMU! You got someone out here looking for y-'' but I interrupted her "NO NO NO NO WAIT, it's not that it's just ummm, ahh, it's... it's..." my words are interrupted by the voice of this "Reimu'' girl.

"Suika, is that you? Someone looking for me? Coming, but it better not be that old hag again!" she said muffled from the inside.

"S-SHIT" I panicked, what do I do?! Crap, I don't even know where I am and who this girl is but I am somehow more worried about being found eavesdropping, so with all those thoughts in me, I just gunned toward the side of the shrine to the front.

"Hey, come back doggy!" the horned girl yelled as I ran, but I just kept going.

I made it to the other side of the shrine, which looked to be the front area, with 2 wooden stakes connected by a twirled rope and 2 paper decorations hanging parallel to each other vertically and a donation box below it, but what am I even thinking? I gotta get out of here! I turn my head forward to where I'm running and I see a big red Japanese gate at the end of what seemed like a slope, but as I got closer, I saw that it leads to a downwards set of stairs so I just ran for it.

"it should be a relatively medium set; I'll just jump it!" I thought to myself but then I hear a voice behind me.

"Wait! You there!"

I turn my head around and I see all the girls on the porch of the shrine: the priestess, the witch, the horned girl and Usami looking at me. But I could not waste any more time, so I jumped towards the stairs in hope to skip them, but when I turned my head forward once again... I looked in horror when I saw that there was no ground.

Turns out... There were more stairs, and I was at the top of the hill...

My knees took the first hit and I came down snowballing down the set of stairs, hitting every conceivable part of my body, and unlucky enough to be awake all the way down, crashing like I was in a slapstick comedy skit.

And after falling down the last sets of steps (218 steps to be exact*) I finally came down to the ground and took the final hit once again to my "snout" and laid face down on the ground.

...

...

"It really is mysterious Asia" I weakly muttered before I passed out.

Meanwhile... The golden cube came down last and landed on the ground beside me, still glowing as before.