Chapter 3
In the Depths of the Endless IKEA

Everyone look at the IKEA store that turns out it is an SCP, the Endless IKEA. It is where a special soul fragment is held that is responsible for what the fuck is going on. Arthur, Filo, Gwen, Raphtalia and the rest just look at the rest just look at the building.

"What's wrong with this weird building?" Raphtalia asks.

"SCP-3008." Matthew explains, "Also known as the Endless IKEA. Once you go in, you are trapped in a nexus reality prison where the staff will kill you during closing hours. You will have to spend an eternity with no exit and your sanity will be tested by the place."

Raphtalia gulps and looks back at the IKEA, "So this place is a prison?"

Gwen looks at Matthew, "Can't they go out the same way they go in?"

"No." Matthew replies, "The exit disappears the few seconds they went in."

"How about we make a giant hole?" Arthur makes a suggestion.

Matthew would like to say something but thinks about it for a moment.

"That... I have no idea if that'll work." Matthew is unsure about it. "I don't remember much about SCP since there was a shit ton of SCPs back then. Didn't have a chance to get all the details after the apocalypse."

"Right." Arthur crack his neck and knuckles, "Let's test that theory."

"Hold!" says the MTF captain. "In truth, if you damage the anomalous object, it'll return to being a regular IKEA store."

Arthur looks disappointed as he look at the captain, "Really?"

"Yes. However, given the circumstances, the soul fragment can negate such anomaly and will continue to be an infinite IKEA given the fragment's own anomalous properties. In theory. Probably best if you head inside first and then create the hole."

Arthur looks at Matthew, "Will that work?"

"Like I said, I don't remember much. So...maybe?"

Gwen sighs in annoyance, "We're wasting time! Let's head in there and just create a fucking hole!"

Raphtalia looks a little worried, "I have to agree with Gwen. The longer we wait, the worse the situation gets. If we don't act now, one of those armies might head to our homes."

Filo is getting impatient, "Come on everyone! Let's fix this!"

Arthur looks at everyone, "Looks like I got three volunteers coming with me. What about you, Mat?"

"Hell no!" Matthew is scared, "I ain't going inside! Besides, someone needs to keep an eye out on our home and protect it."

"Good point." Arthur turns to the store, "Then let's go!"

The four head inside of the IKEA store and start blasting the entrance from the inside. Much of the front of the store is rubble by a combined blast from them and they run further inside.

Matthew looks back, "Good luck, Arthur."

Arthur, Raphtalia, Gwen and Filo head deeper inside the store and stop.

"This place is HUUUUGGGEE!" Filo is astonished by the store size.

"So this is a furniture store from your world." Raphtalia feels small.

"Yeah, but this is something different." Gwen states as she looks around, "Although finding the damn thing is like finding a needle the world's largest haystack. Any ideas?"

Arthur looks at his shield, "Hey, Nephalem?"

"Say no more." he responds, "I'm trying to locate it. Let's see... Ah! I got it!"

The shield transforms into a compass with a dial being pink.

"This should help. However, it is a rough estimate of what I am sensing. Yet I do sense other things like other humans."

"Can you add that along with any dangers?"

"No problem."

The [Detection Compass Shield] then shows dials that are blue to locate humans. So far, there are two with one pointing in the same direction as the soul fragment.

"That's some good news." He looks at his party, "Okay, let's go!"

Everyone heads on over to the direction of the soul fragment with Filo transforming so everyone can hop on to go quicker. They are quickly passing through various departments in this maze-like furniture store that everything is a blur to them. Arthur is keeping an eye on the [Detection Compass Shield] and gives directions to Filo. As they run by, Raphtalia caught a glimpse of something that wasn't furniture.

"What was that?!" she shouts.

"What did you see?!" Gwen asks.

"I saw something humanoid just now!"

Arthur shouts, "FILO! STOP!"

Filo comes to a screeching halt as there is a swarm of humanoid creatures right in front of them. They appear human that wear the IKEA uniform, but they have zero facial features. Some of them are deformed as well. One is a size of the world's most heavyweight champion with extended thin arms yet hands the size of boulders. One is small with no neck. One is super thin with an elongated body yet have very short legs and arms. There are other forms of deformities among the two dozen creatures there are as they head down the aisle. The four are staying perfectly still as these creatures are walking on to do whatever it is they are doing. They even noticed one of these creatures dusting some of the drawers on the shelves.

Gwen whispers, "What the hell are they?"

Arthur whispers back, "I believe we found the 'staff'."

"What should we do?" Raphtalia whispers.

"Well," Arthur takes notice, "they aren't attacking us. Guess they only attack during closing hours. We should be fine long as we don't interrupt them. Best to go around these guys so we don't have to waste our time fighting."

Gwen nods, "I agree."

"Filo, try jumping up and use the shelves."

Filo nods and jumps up into the air and landed on the top of the shelves. Filo jumps from shelf to shelf to avoid the staff and to get to their destination. From the distance, they can see something towering above the shelves made entirely out of furniture. They head straight towards it while following the compass. The dial is pointing at the large structure where the soul fragment and some humans are at.

Inside the makeshift fort, there are two people standing guard with makeshift spears made of broom handles and kitchen knives tied together by cables and ropes. They are a little on the skinny side as if they have to eat very little of what they can find. They are guarding the entrance with a sign above them that says 'Exchange'.

"Hey?" one says to another.

"Yeah?" the other replies.

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

The second sighs, "I don't know. One minute I was shopping in a regular IKEA store then got stuck here in an infinite IKEA with no way out. Forced to survive against fucked up zombie staff members, eat a diet of Swedish meatballs, and barely getting any sleep." He is getting annoyed. "So I have no idea why we're here!"

"I mean why are we here at ground level when we should be at the top for a better view?"

"Oh. Yeah, we should head on- HOLY!"

Filo comes down and lands right in front of the guards. The two aim their spears at her.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" the second is startled.

'WAIT!" Raphtalia raises her hands, "We're here to rescue you!"

"Dafuq?" the first guard is trying to process what he is seeing.

Some of the others in the fort emerged and see what is going on. They stop and try to process what they see. They see a boy in a fantasy cowboy outfit, a girl with racoon ears and tail, and a regular human girl riding on a large bird. All of them have no clue how to process what the hell they are seeing.

"What's with the giant chicken?" a woman asks.

"HEY!" Filo takes offense to it.

"HOLY SHIT, IT CAN TALK!"

Arthur jumps off, "Hold on, we're here to get you guys out. We managed to keep the entrance open by blowing a huge hole on the inside. Sorry to spring this on you, but get ready to leave this place for good. Also, we're looking for a special item that brought this store to the world we're from."

"A world with giant, talking chickens and girls with animal traits?"

Arthur does a fire spell, "And it has magic."

Everyone understandably freaks out as they step back and are a little discouraged. Not sure what they see is real or something the store made as a way to wipe them out. They all look at each other and unsure whether or not they should trust what they see.

"Sorry to rush, but do you guys know where I can find a weird item that may not be considered quote, 'normal', unquote? That item is what's causing a lot of problems right now."

One of the people holds up a glowing pink orb, "You mean this thing?"

"THAT'S IT!" Nephalem's voice can be heard.

Everyone freaks out again and back away. Now they're more frighten than before.

"The hell is going on?" another group of people showed up.

They are seen with a box full of Swedish meatballs and other samples from the restaurant of the IKEA store.

Arthur says out loud, "This is gonna take awhile but I'll make it quick because we're running out of time."

Back outside, Matthew and the others are fending off against skeletal archers and warriors that are from Armies of Exigo, of the Fallen faction. They are all firing their guns at the undead monsters before a bunch of WW2 Allied tanks showed up to make things worse as they just fire at everything.

"Damn!" Matthew and a few troops take cover. "Where the fuck is Arthur?! That strategy better not be all for nothing and he and the others ended-up being more victims!"

"Mat, look!" Janna points at the entrance and see it is slowly regenerating.

"Ah hell!"

A Zergling showed-up and poke its head above where they are hiding. Matthew shoots the thing's head and have it dropped.

"Dammit! Should've given those kids a radio!" Matthew continues to fire at whatever the hell is coming their way.

Back inside the store, Arthur does his best to explain everything to the group of people that have been surviving in the store for who knows how long. Some of them find it hard to believe but considering the circumstances, they may have to accept Arthur's offer to get the hell out. The world outside of the store maybe scary, but it is better than the state they are in. Some of the people are deliberating on whether they should go or not. But they have to make it quick because time is running out.

"Hey, uh, Arthur?" one of the guys talks to him.

"Yeah?"

He holds up the blue orb, "You said this thing is a soul fragment, right?"

"A soul fragment of a god-like being, yeah." Nephalem proclaims.

The man looks at it, "What happens if someone eats it? Just, you know, out of curiosity." He's trying to hide the fact he has a plan for it.

"Oof. You don't wanna do that."

"Hmm?" the man tilts his head.

"The last person that tried that ended-up getting erased completely because of the power it has. A simple fragment like that can destroy you from the inside out. If you're planning on using it to return to your world, you can forget it. That there is a fragment of someone that does strategy and warfare. If we can find the fragment of Nexus, then we could try."

"Shit." the man is disappointed, "So much for getting back home to my family."

Arthur looks at his shield, "Who's Nexus?"

"Nexus is the god of multiple dimensions that like to create many realities and multiverses. The guy that was in-charge of maintaining all realities...and was a huge pain in the ass."

"Yikes."

The man throws the orb, "Catch."

Arthur caught it.

"Maybe you can make good use of it."

"Thanks." Arthur then places the org into his shield and got something new.

Back outside, Matthew and the others are fighting hard as a Protoss Zealot is about to stab him. However, the multiple armies suddenly disappear all at once.

George looks around, "What just happened?"

"I think he did it!" Janna smiles with joy.

MacDouglas falls to the ground, "Thank god!" She is relieved, "I was almost out of ammo!"

Matthew goes, "Woo!" and takes a seat, "Man that was too close. Glad that parts over." He looks at the IKEA store and see it halfway repaired, "Now it is up to Arthur to finish this."

Yet something started to come out of the store at blazing speed.

"About time." Matthew stands back up, "And it looks like they brought company."

Filo comes out while carrying a makeshift carriage made of shopping carts and random furniture followed by three others. She is super strong to carry three of these carriages full of people. Some of the others started to come out running with Arthur, Gwen and Raphtalia following behind.

"Haha!" Matthew is glad, "Glad to see you guys made it out in one pie-"

Behind Arthur's party, a swarm of staffers started coming after them.

One of the staffers say, "NO HORSEPLAY IN THE STORE!"

Another goes, "VANDALISM!"

"STOP! THIEVES!"

"YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT!"

"Ah hell!" Matthew aims his gun and fires...but only three shots, "SHIT! OUT OF AMMO!"

Some of the MTF members fire what little ammo they have left at the IKEA staff. Gunning down a few of them with precise headshots. Despite the fact they are made of nothing but skin, they went down the same way a person does. They just kept coming until the store has completely repaired itself and the staff stopped coming.

"THAT WAS TOO CLOSE!" Arthur finally takes a breather.

Gwen falls into the ground, "I'm too tired!"

Raphtalia also falls to the ground, "This has been a rough day."

Filo transforms and is just as exhausted, "I'm all done. I want something to eat."

Arthur straightens himself, "I think I had enough action until that Tortoise is awake. However..." He look at his shield, "I think I might have a new strategy in mind."

The people that escaped from the infinite hell known as SCP-3008. They all cheer as they get to see the sky again. Some shed tears of happiness, some are rolling in the grass, some are jumping for joy, and all are happy they escaped from that nightmare.

Matthew walks up to Arthur and pat him on the back, "Glad you and the others made it out."

"Ow."

"So, what did you get other than a few people from various multiverses."

"Wait what?" Arthur is confused.

"Yeah, some of the people are from other universes. There's one that doesn't have the Statue of Liberty, another not having the International Space Station, stuff like that."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." said Nephalem, "Maybe we could find fragments of Nexus and see about returning them to their original worlds. Assuming any of them are still around. And in this world."

"Hold on." Arthur is checking his stats, "I would like to see what new goodies I got that might help us."

Arthur checks on what he got and see he has the ability to create armies, buildings, and a few things. However, he can only create things that fall between modern, fantasy, post-apocalypse and before modern times. No aliens, sci-fi, spaceships or anything like that. Has access to god powers from Age of Mythology, a few spells from heroes, spawn in resources, and a few other things.

"No spaceships, dammit." Arthur is a little disappointed. "But I got a few other things that could be useful. Can spawn trees, create houses and stores, even generate an army. Hmm..." Arthur thinks about it, "Might be useful against the Tortoise."

"Anything else?" Matthews asked.

"I could create a few farms and... I got an idea! We can create a mountain for dwarves, create forests full of magic for the various factions to use, and spawn in a few resources we might need. This thing let me use a map editor!"

"That's some good news."

"What's a dwarf?" Raphtalia asks.

"Think beards on legs that have bigger stomachs than Filo, drink a lot, excellent craftsman, and vicious miners." Gwen responds.

"I don't think we need another bottomless pit."

"HEY!" Filo takes offense.

Arthur looks at his options and see he can create all kinds of things. But strategy games and turned-base tactical games aren't the only thing. He has access to things from top-down games such as Project Zomboid and other games like that.

He takes a deep breath, "Looks like I got a lot of work to get done. First, we got to check on everybody to make sure they're all alright." He looks at the crowd of people, "Next, finding a home for these guys." He looks at Matthew, "I'm starting to think I might be working overtime."

Matthew chuckles a little, "You don't know the half of it."

AN: Hey everyone. One more chapter before we go onto the main story. Also, there is something worth to note. I keep getting messages about doing commissions of the stuff I work on. Artwork, comics, anything. But if you want to make them without my commission, that's find by me because I believe in free reign and people can make them. Like to see what you guys make out of all the stories I have. But sadly, due to the economy run by idiots, working at a new job that has a much lower wage, and stuff here and stuff there. I can't do commissions, but feel free to do artwork and comics if you like. Have fun and see ya! And be safe out there.