[BARELY VISIBLE AT THE EDGE OF HIS PERIPHERY,
 THE CRITIC NOTICES SOMETHING SHIFT]
[hey
 theo
 im gonna go by myself for a bit]
[Okay where do you want to meet back at]
[ill
 come find you
 dont worry about it im
 gonna go now]
[Stay safe]

MEMZ6 - treasure-of-the-ocean-cave

something about that flooded variant always brought me back

i dont know if it was the area itself or the mirror

i remember when fiend walked into it like it was nothing
almost like he expected it to work
and
it went to that other variant

as i stare at the mirror now i can see a flicker in the reflection

almost like
something is moving around

i hesitate for a moment before stepping out of the paintings frame

i was never good with water

but before i could scare myself into going back
my shoe has already stepped in a small hole of water

the same place it was before
of course the variant wouldnt change

i hear a scraping sound coming from behind the mirror

i pass my hand through but pull it back quickly
just in case something bites

nothing of course
why would there be anything

i walk through the mirror after the scraping stops
it lasted around eight minutes or so
its hard to tell the time down here


i immediately noticed the variant on the other side had two sets of stairwells one leading up a potential second floor and another leading down a basement of sorts the normal version didnt have a stairwell or at least i dont think it did i walk back through the mirror i feel something push me through i press against the mirror i feel something press back i hear running water i look down the floor looks more wet than usual its flooding the water is rising the water is rising quickly the water is grabbing my ankle the water is dragging me down into it the water is staring at me with its horrifying face the water is holding my head beneath the surface the water is just below my chest the water is i fall through the mirror i had been leaning back on it the whole time hoping whatever was resisting me would let up it did thankfully i hear it rushing from the other side but nothing came through the mirror my clothes are soaked just my luck i turn to my left the stairwells are still there the idea of a basement here seems interesting but you dont see a second floor very often so i head there first
as i walk up the stairs i hear a constant dripping sound i look up i dont know why i havent been before the second floor looks more like the normal variant i reach the second floor i turn to look downstairs its flooded it sent me back here but how there was no stairwell before unless this was moved here i cant wrap my head around it im stuck here now or no i need to go down there i cant spend the rest of my life stuck up here the floor is pretty small just like the rest theres nothing to do here theres no company theres no potential leads to where he went theres no fiend theres no theo theres no id be trapped with my thoughts and i do not want that so i slowly walk down the stairs into the flooded first floor


♪ — jousecological-dead-zone
original: AREA 4 - The Forest (Overwater) - dconn

return


♪ — (drink-all-the-water-in-the-variant)
original: AREA 4 - The Forest (Underwater) - dconn

[LET'S DO... "SOMETHING CRAZY."]
[the only way i can go is down]
[i dont know how long i can hold my breath]
[the water is lukewarm]
[i cant see the bottom]

MEMZ6A - eel-graveyard

as i reach the bottom of the stairwell
the chunk of the floor i step on gets kicked out from under me

the variant falls apart
im in a vast ocean now

i dont take this well

i try to catch myself on the stairs before i begin my slow descent
but the stairs crumble

i look up
the second floor is gone
i entered from nowhere

there is nothing i can do but try and navigate
but where am i trying to go

air
i need air
i need to get some air

i look around
its hard to see underwater but
i see a chunk floating around that looks like the mirror variant

i try to swim over to it
i was always a crappy swimmer

frantically flailing my limbs around in a
desperate attempt to reach what i could only hope to be safety
i quickly realize that im beginning to overexert myself
so i slow myself down

it takes a little bit and i panic whenever i start descending
but im above the chunk

i let myself fall down onto it
and i hit the ground

there doesnt seem to be any water in this chunk

it formed a sort of air bubble around itself

i use this opportunity to catch my breath
obviously
but also to look around

the horizon is empty
i look up to find a bit of darkness
potentially a ceiling
i look down and

its the darkest down there
but i see more chunks floating around

i dont want to do this
i want to go back
i shouldnt have left the group
but its too late for me to have second thoughts about this

i resigned my control of the situation
the moment i stepped foot inside the jouse

its either i proceed further down or
stay here for the rest of time

i already went over this
i cant stay here
but
what if there is something here with me

i try to listen from the air pocket
nothing but the music
at least the music is distant enough
i couldnt pick up any other sound so that was reassuring
but then i remember that you cant really see well underwater
and that sense of security went as quickly as it came


each time i reach another pocket the water gets darker if i wasnt scared of the dark before then i sure as hell am now my soaked clothes cling to my skin my hair is weighed down by the excess water it holds my eyes burn from how much ive been compulsively rubbing them after i reach a pocket its an awful feeling yet still there is nothing i can do but press on the distance between the pockets grow further the deeper i dive at some point im unable to see the last one when i reach a new one even worse though i hear a rumbling coming from below i dont think its the sound of some sort of creature but the idea of it being something else is what scares me more even still i am forced to face trial by fire or i guess water and keep diving
i can barely see anything in the water now the next pocket is so far i have to really try to even make out the vague shape of it and when i reach that pocket i finally see it some light only at the very bottom of this body of water the floor is the same as the variants usual but there is a sort of massive hole in the ground it almost looks like it has teeth they are made of the dry variants materials the inside of it looks to be pitch black but where else could the light be coming from maybe the rumbling i heard earlier was it opening will it close again i dont know i shouldnt waste enough time to find out who knows if it would open again who knows if it would shut when im passing through and it no i cant think of that now after all im already swimming toward it there is a strange sound coming from the other side
i made sure to take the biggest breath i could before setting out for the hole even then it was only barely enough for me to reach the teeth of it i place my hand on one of them grabbing the side its dry something pulls me through i fall i fall for a little longer than i would feel safe falling for and when i finally hit the ground something breaks my fall i regain my bearings and


♪ — familiar
original: various ambient tracks - Osamu Sato

[GAMBLE.]
["There are four switches in total, press them all."
 -"ENDING" variant's locked door, The Jouse 1]

MEMZ6B - twisted-switch

im under a spotlight in a completely dark room

the spotlight illuminates the floor
but the floor isnt there

there are more lights scattered around
and at what seems to be the end of the hallway
lies something green

i reach my arm out to the dark floor outside of the lights reach

as expected it phases through
i can only stand on what is lit

at least im not trapped in a desolate ocean
but this really isnt much better

i dont want to know what would happen if i were to fall
so i take care not to miss my jumps

thankfully the lights arent placed too far apart
but their radius compared to the one i started on is much smaller


im standing in front of the green object its very large almost looks like a sort of button i walk around it and notice a ladder on the back climbing the ladder leads to a trapdoor on the top of the switch i fling it open and catch a glimpse of something


♪ — Beneath the Waters of the Deep
original: deviating fate [downpour] - pittsbourne

[DELUGE]
["TAKE ONLY ONE."
 -Switch Key chests, The Jouse 1]

MEMZ6C - what-does-deluge-mean

i catch a glimpse of something before i am suddenly back in the
normal variant

everything was returned to how it used to be
nothing is overflowing with water
there is no strange sound behind the mirror
but

i still havent checked out that basement


♪ — Since the Beginning of Time
original: fate deviating [ruopnwod] - pittsbourne

[EGULED]
["Purple Key required."
 -The mirror on 1F-FL, The Jouse 1]

MEMZ6D - no-seriously-what-does-it-mean

i shouldve known the stairwells would be gone

however there is a pedestal here with a note
its written in purple text
maybe from a typewriter

"How you managed to reach
 that area is beyond me.

 Forget what you saw,
 it holds no bearing
 on whatever goal
 you may have.

 Take this and leave.

 -"

theres
no signature

attached to the note is
a single blade of grass

i put it in my pocket and head back to find theo and fiend

Youve been gone for quite some time

Where have you been

i
dont really want to talk about it
  I feel like communication is important here
  Like why are your clothes soaking wet
    theo

Fine