My senses return to me and I let out the knot of air stuck in my throat. With my eyes opening and the dim lights in our cart becomes my morning sun. My body feels like it’s floating, almost like I’m on a water bed.

  Wait why am I lying down… Awh who cares, this feels nice.

  I feel a pat on my head.

  “Five more minutes.”

  My eyes shut again. I just need a little more rest, that’s all. I turn to the side to get more comfortable, and the seat feels softer and.. warmer?

  I crack open an eye to get a peek.

  “What’s-”

  Past my long hair blocking my view, I see,

  Knees, right in front of me, knees...

  My brain takes a second, and eventually gets the hint.

  “-thAAAAAAAT”

  Without any time to react, my body jolts up. Why the hell was I on Lyanna’s lap?! How did I even end up there…

  My head creaks toward Lyanna, but she looks like the spirit was washed off her. What happened in the trial floods my mind again and I remember.

  “Lyanna.”

  Her face doesn’t move an inch but her gaze shifts to me. She looks soul-less.

  “What happened in the trial?”

  The moment sends a tide of memories against me, but my emotions twist and my lips end up in a curve and I end up smirking with joy clouding me.

  “Don’t. Ask.”

  Lyanna says without even a single drop of warmth in her voice.

  “Keep it to yourself then. I won’t ask”

  A wider smile crosses my face, and a sense of joy infects me like the plague. Why do I find this funny all of a sudden? She lost her parents, and she wasn’t able to move on from this. Why do I feel this way? This is… rather interesting.

  I reach out my hand in invitation,

  “Shall we get going?”

  Lyanna nods her head and we get up to the front seats. I buckle her into the seat. Tightening both of our coats, I belt myself in.

  The engine vrooms as I start it, but it folds over itself. Fucks sake. I turn the key again, and this time it reverberates to a start. Sighing at the absurdity of the situation I’ve found myself in, we progress onward to the large unlit room in front us.

  Darkness swallows the entire room as we move deeper in, making the corridor behind us look as if it’s under the sun. My eyes adjust as we head further in and I make out what seems to be a button on a stone pedestal with a circle underneath it. I stop the cart as I take my foot off the pedal, and the cart rolls to a stop. Lyanna stares at the ground as her disheveled hair covers her face again and I make my way down to check what I’m looking at.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I take a few steps, and dust scatters as I catch a circle engraved onto the stone floor.

  Huh, that’s peculiar.

  I run my hands against the carvings on the ground, but I don’t feel any conductive material. It’s oddly stale.

  I don’t hassle myself with running Analysis, but make my way over to the button. I get closer, and suddenly, I feel mana growing underneath the button.

  Eh?

  I thought this space blocks out mana, but then why can I feel mana from this button then? I back up and sweep the circle again, but this time notice, this circle has the same design as a teleportation circle, but just more complex.

  My brain ticks at this new discovery and my facial muscle relax as, I’ve just found our way out.

  I rush my way back to my control panel to start the engine. Glancing at Lyanna, she still looks like the emotion was stripped away from her, but she’ll grow out of it, we have bigger problems here.

  I park the cart directly over the circle and near the pedestal. Just in case we get separated, I put a vessel that just looks like an eye on her chest. That way I’ll be able to locate her.

  The possibilities of what could happen if we got separated comes across me and a sense of wonder and amusement fills my mind.

  “Now that would be interesting to see”

  I keep my left hand on the pedestal and finally, hit the button.

  Through my senses, I can tell the mana gushing down into the floor and spreading out under us. The little indentations and complex parts in the circle start moving and spinning around themselves, and I can feel something trying to pull my legs down.

  Lyanna’s eyes fixate as if she came back to her senses, and she hurries to grab onto me.

  The pressure suddenly reverses itself, and I feel like my body is going to be thrown into the ceiling. Activating an Anti-Gravity circle, I ground myself and the cart.

  My muscles twitch and tense under the two opposite forces, pinning me to the floor. I can almost feel my stomach juices slowly coming up. I tighten my grip on the pedestal and brace myself. The pressure doubles and my head spins.

  A white barrier forms at the edge of the circle and with my timing being the worst, my broken jaw reveals itself, but the pain is dulled out by the pressure I’m getting overwhelmed with.

  Lyanna holding on to the t-shirt she’s got on from flying away, tightens her grip on me. The pressure goes up even more and I feel like my eyes are going to gouge out. My hair flies so violent, it bruising and scraping my face.

  But in the blink of an eye, we’ve come back to the cold maze. The air brushes by me and the walls seem silent as if nothing happened. Blood rushes back throughout my body and I swallow the vomit that’s about to force its way out. I hurry to heal my jaw, stop myself from hyperventilating.

  That was one hell of a ride. Oddly enough, it was pretty fun.

  Thoughts run throughout my head, and I can’t think straight again. I feel overwhelmed even though nothing’s happening. My mind just wants to pass out again but my body is keeping me up. My ears start ringing again as the healing circle in itself causes more pain than when before, it feels like pins are piercing my skull.

  “A-Arius?”

  My heart skips a beat and eyes swell as I mistake her voice for-

  “YEAH?”

  My head jumps towards Lyanna as my vision starts blurring.

  Lyanna jerks back a bit and asks, avoiding eye contact,

  “Its- nothing”

  Shit Shit. Calm the fuck down. The healing circle does its course and the pain instantly vanishes. My chest heaves as my heart thumps louder, and breaths try to calm.

  “I’m.. Sorry. Please don’t.. I didn’t mean that to happen”

  Calm down Aarius, calm down. I force my lungs to exhale and my heartbeat to slow down. Time appears to slow down as I relax and I come to my senses.

  “Tell me Lyanna, what did you want there?”

  I'm awful at conversing, god please help me.

  My head wobbles as I get lightheaded, an Lyanna tilts her head and finally makes eye contact with me. Funnily enough, I feel a bit relived knowing that.

  Lyanna’s body and voice shakes a bit as if the cold air ran shivers around her and she manages to articulate past her trembling,

  “Please don’t leave me”

  The tears start flowing again and the first time we met flashes in front of my eyes as it feels like I just burned my eyes. I finally calm down to think and process her words, did she just…

  “Never.”

  Some of the stress inside me loosens, and for the first time in a while, I feel at ease. I can’t explain why, but I just do.

  I… haven’t felt this in my recent tim- I’m reminded of Kida, but my brain blocks it away.

  A genuine smile decides to finally reveal itself on my face as I bite down on my lips, so I don’t look like a bitch and Lyanna choking out her tears, offers me a smile.

  This feels nice.