Crystalla
Liminal

Brannam and Ruby jumped through the wall and landed face down in a long hallway. Ruby groaned and stood up as she looked around.

"Why does being human hurt so much?" Ruby said as she rubbed her head. Brannam stood up, stifling a laugh.

"Welcome to our world" She joked.

"Where is this place?" Ruby asked as she gazed up and down the long hallway, that seemed to stretch into infinity, the red and gold carpet gave the impression that this was some kind of hotel. Brannam frowned as she took Ruby by the hand.

"They know where we are" Brannam whispered, as she began running down the long corridor, as the two ran, the hallway almost seemed to twist upwards ahead of them, and they soon found themselves face with a vertical hallway.

"That is creepy..." Ruby sighed. Suddenly, the two were thrown to the wall, as the gravity in the corridor began to shift, the hallway almost seemed to begin to rotate. Brannam grunted and ran over to one of the nearby doorways, she jumped up, the gravity now being in her favour, and jumped down with all the force she could muster, the door broke apart and Brannam almost fell into the room below, she quickly grabbed hold onto the door frame.

Ruby scrambled over and looked through the open doorway, below Brannam was the glass doors of a balcony, Ruby watched as a lamp fall from a dresser and crash through the glass window.

"Brannam!" Ruby gasped. Brannam grunted, her hand slipping slowly. She looked up at Ruby.

"Run..." Brannam said, as she lost grip and went flying backwards. Ruby tried to reach for her, but it was too late. Ruby got to her feet and began running along the wall of the hallway, jumping across each door that she came across, in fear of ending up like Brannam.

She could see a green exit sign come into view in the far distance, she gazed behind her to see the hallway had straightened out, but the light's behind her were going off one by one. Her foot got caught by a lamp on the wall, and she fell flat into a doorway, which suddenly gave way, Ruby gasped as everything became slow motion, she began falling through the doorway to the glass balcony window.

A hand gripped her wrist and she dangled precariously above the window, she looked down to see the world going about its business as normal, aside from it being orientated in the wrong direction.

"Ruby, give me your other hand" A familiar voice called down, Ruby looked up to see Ariel holding onto her hand.

"Ariel?! How are you aware? Why aren't you dreaming like the others?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"You really think some soppy dream could fool me?" Ariel grinned, as she pulled Ruby into the hallway. The two laid down against the wall and caught their breath.

"Another question" Ruby pondered.

"Shoot" Ariel smiled.

"How did you know it was me?" Ruby said, as she looked at her humanoid hands. Ariel remained silent for a moment, as she thought.

"I... just kinda knew?" Ariel replied, sounding unsure. "I'm not sure how though" She added.

"Strange" Ruby nodded. She sat up and looked around. "How are we gonna get out of this hallway" She asked. Ariel sat up too, and looked at either end, the green exit sign no longer being in view. Ariel looked upward and thought for a second. Ruby raised her eyebrow.

"I have an idea, it's dangerous though" Ariel began, as she stood up, she kicked the door frame of the door below, and broke off a bit of wood. Ruby watched as Ariel began whacking the door above them with the plank of wood. After a minute or so, the door above broke apart.

"We go up" Ariel grinned as she looked over at Ruby. Ruby's eyes widened as she realised that Ariel planned to climb alongside the edge of the building, while it was turned on it's side.

"Is this safe?" Ruby asked, as she stood up.

"No" Ariel shook her head. "But it's a way out" She shrugged, as she put her hands out, to boost Ruby into the room above, Ruby stepped onto Ariel's hands, and she pushed upwards to lift Ruby into the room above, once Ruby had reached the room, Ariel jumped and struggled as she also climbed into the room.