Lower Worlds

Personally, I have visited four lower worlds. I ventured no further—it became terrifying. In the first, you enter a labyrinth of caves and emerge into richly adorned, enormous chambers. There are windows, there is something beyond the windows, but this is a trick. In reality, you are in the first subterranean world. Its inhabitants lag behind us by one or two epochs, dressed in camisoles, or togas and cloaks. They all enjoy trading, selling, and sharing information. A shaman I know called this world a meeting place for two worlds—theirs and ours.

The second world truly resembles ours. A pure repetition of "The Lord of the Rings" (or is it just me?). They perform excellent sorcery there. Shamans learn songs here. Mescalito shows strange images on its palms.

The third world is a world of forces. They rarely embody in forms that we can interpret as human. Shamans and mages seek allies here. I disliked this place due to its usurious laws. They demand almost everything from you, while offering very little in return. In short, they are true swindlers.

I liked the fourth world, but it is terrifying. Vast desolate expanses. A multitude of auditory and visual glitches. Deserted and eerie. Black sands with enormous dunes. You walk among them as if through a deep canyon. The whistling wind, and somewhere in the distance, a wandering fire. You rush towards it, flying on black webbed wings. But the flickering light vanishes, and you fall onto sharp stones at the base of a colossal statue. Nearby are scattered white bones, skulls, and shards. You raise your head to behold the effigy of an ancient god... and receive a powerful blow that hurls you back into your world. In your ears, malicious laughter and a warning resound: "You are mine, Sergey! But for now, I release you!"

Someday, I will venture there again. I have direct transit to this world—through the "Drying Lake." This is a place on my map in the zone of transformations. It is sometimes full, sometimes dry and cracked. And it is then that I penetrate any of the cracks and enter one of the lower worlds. Mainly, the second and first. But quite often, the third. And once, in childhood, I dreamt of the fourth L.W. for almost two months. After which I fell ill and nearly died. Perhaps that is why I am now afraid to go there.