The Gray Iris

Jane opened her eyes and was immediately confronted by a giant mirror in the middle of the forest. It stood floating in the middle of a grassy mound, leaning against an oak tree. There were some offerings under the mirror, as well as incense, and some broken human eyeballs. Around the small mound, there was a swamp with gray water. The trees around Jane were of a fairly normal size for a human like her; neither too tall nor too big, nor too small or petite.

Even if there was life in this unknown territory, the figures who inhabited the land like this must have been the Wrenas, or the Sirens, who were still human in size, not as big as the giants, or as tiny as the fairies and other creatures.

The girl looked in the mirror in front of her. Her irises were now a gray color, while the bottom of her eyes had traces of flowing blood, still wet and making her cheeks a pure red color. Not far from her knee was a piece of white cloth that was streaked with blood-red in the middle, directly adjacent to two new eyeballs—in a clear bowl—that had puncture marks in the middle.

Jane swallowed saliva, seeing the two eyeballs and herself in the mirror. The girl instantly wiped the traces of blood left on her cheeks.

All the pain she had previously felt was real. Renik's voice that landed in her head turned out to be very helpful. Later, when she was able to return to L-07, she had to meet Renik and ask directly about the incident. If it weren't for Renik's voice, she definitely wouldn't have made it this far. Even though the pain from the eye stab was deeply imprinted on her mind, she still, she was well-deserved for trusting that voice.

However, Jane did not see the use of these eyes at this time. She looked around, climbed up the trees and jumped down to cross, so as not to touch the swamp around the grassy mound that provided the large mirror. This time, she was already walking barefoot. She didn't know where the sandals she was wearing had gone, and even so, she was still grateful that she was 'sent' to a land this calm after coming out of the Black Valley.

It's also possible that this is the Holy Land. Jane had just remembered the term when she saw countless kinds of animals and other creatures roaming around with their eyes covered with white cloth. If anyone tried to open the strap, all they saw was a pair of white eyes that were no longer functioning. All creatures on this land are blind.

Creatures that exist from this point and are not blind are just strangers.

They will not disturb anyone who comes here, because they only think that the beings who come here will worship. After all, for a bunch of blind creatures like them, it would be impossible for humans to get to the Holy Land because, in their minds, humans didn't have the ability to do that.

The Holy Land is indeed a part of the land that is difficult for humans to touch. Most Holy Land locations were either floating in the air or located at the edge of a ravine, and it was not easy to get to those locations.

This type of land is uninhabited because it is only used as a place to pray. Also, in prayer, no one should gossip about each other. No one should judge each other how a creature prays to a figure they believe in, so that all creatures who are permanent residents in this forest indeed have to blind their eyes.

The majority who believe in the culture with all their body and soul also sometimes decide to turn a deaf ear to them. So that they could not hear whatever the wishes of the beings praying here.

The mirror, where Jane sat earlier, was probably one of their only holy places. Or, it was one of the holy places used to bring back creatures that had just escaped death. Along the way to getting out of the Holy Land, Jane found many small places that were used as places of worship as well. There are so many beliefs that are carried out in this layer of soil, so that in every Holy Land, there are various types of characteristics or tools used for worship. From incense to statues, flowers, and offerings, to a stone engraved in the ancient language of praise to their Lord, the Queen who created this world.

When the girl realized the forest was a Holy Land, she felt a sense of security and calm fill her chest cavity. There are a lot of Holy Lands in this layer of soil, but some of the famous Holy

Lands are quite integrated with nature and are not approached by many creatures because they are often used for meditation. Only the Holy Lands are at L-05 and L-04. She didn't know much about the dungeons because she had never been there.

At L-07, in the cave where Jane and Renik are hiding, it is also a type of Holy Land for humans.

However, that place wasn't completely safe because, apart from not having many inhabitants of other types of creatures—it was only a place for humans to be imprisoned—at L-07, it was only used to prepare special dishes for creatures in other layers of soil.

The eyepiece, or maybe now more accurately, has become her real eye because the eye that was previously attached to her body has now been destroyed, and became an offering for the mirror earlier. The girl was now looking around her. All the trees covered the ceiling, so she couldn't really see where she was.

After walking for quite a while while occasionally eating fruit from the offerings there, Jane finally found a light that was quite hot. She approached the light, then finally came to the end of the forest, which was now greeted with a vast meadow above the Black Valley.

This time, she finally knew where she was.

Apparently, all the creatures that managed to escape were indeed transferred here. So even if they wanted to return to the Black Valley, they would face the same obstacles because they didn't have time to explore all of them.

Jane still didn't even know what was in that Black Valley.

However, when she came out of the forest of the Holy Land. The various colors that made abstract shapes in the sky made the girl slowly step back and go back into the forest. Find another way to escape from the dimensional portals of all beings at L-3.5 and below.

Her gray irises… were actually working.