Parallels- an MCSM AU [COMPLETED]

EIGHT- Journeys Within Journeys

i feel like this entire story is moving too fast and i'm mad but i don't know how to fix it

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I emerged into a land of nothingness.

A wide, perfectly flat, grass-covered plain, as far as I could see. The horizon was dim and far in the distance, dotted by faint white clouds. Based on the lighting, it appeared to be somewhere between midday and sunset, though I couldn't actually see the sun anywhere.

There was not another being in sight, no animals, no mobs, and no Julia. The entire place was perfectly, eerily silent, so completely still that I had to wonder for a moment if I'd gone deaf.

Then, things slowly started to fade into view around me, coming into focus as though I was adjusting to an unusual light level.

The empty plain still stretched out in all directions, but I was now standing on the edge of a massive circle of glazed terracotta blocks in all possible colours. Surrounding the disc were tall slashes of white light similar to the one Julia had opened- gates to other timelines, I had to assume.

Three of these were brilliantly luminous, exuding a colourless vibrancy that somehow didn't hurt my eyes to look at. The other two were fainter: one was only slightly dimmer, like a torch vs. a sea lantern; but the other was barely there at all. A quick glance behind me confirmed that the gate that I'd come through was just as bright as the first three.

Julia and her horse were standing near one of the clearer gates, waiting for me. She waved me over and I started to walk towards her, before something else caught my attention.

There was another layer of gates above this one, though unlike the filled-in circle that I was standing on, these were connected by only a ring of blocks. And although it was high enough up that I couldn't be sure of what I was seeing, I think there was a third layer as well.

That was a lot of alternate dimensions.

A strange sizzling flash of a noise came from behind me, and I turned to see Radar appear through the gate that I'd come through. His eyes were wide and startled as he looked around at the six white gates.

"What...?" he murmured.

Julia was grinning. "Welcome to what I call the In-Between. You're now officially outside of everything you've ever known to be true."

Radar didn't look comforted by this. "Why is it so empty? I've never seen a Plains biome so...flat."

"That's because we're not in a real dimension. We're on the edge of all of them." Julia said cryptically.

He shook his head. "That doesn't help at all."

Now that I was closer to the gate near Julia, I could see that it wasn't pure white. Little flashes of colour appeared here and there, looking almost like images. Small, quickly-fleeting images, but they were there.

I watched the gate closely, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I caught a glimpse of a side-profile of Julia's face for a moment, then a second-long view of her standing at the top of the Farlands maze, wearing Ellegaard's armour. Another quick flash of her standing on top of a tall Enderman statue made of black wool blocks. Her watching symbols fly out of the open Atlas in the Portal Network. Little snippets of her adventures, showing that this gate led to her timeline.

By the time I'd torn my eyes away from the faint images, Lukas had caught up to us. He gave Julia a begrudging sort of look.

"I thought you said that gate would take us to your dimension."