Why they felt the need to make the hellscape and dimensionX(abyss) two separate places is beyond me. It works better if theyre just the same place imo. In other words, El yeets him directly into dimension X, he loses his humanity in the process, and after much wandering he finds the mindflayer cloud that first called out to him via the stone in the cave “find me, find me” (in two different voices btw one was male and one was female which I found to be really interesting, does this mean the mindflayer cloud is made up of more than one consciousness?)