Opening her eyes, Lumina found herself lying down still surrounded by darkness. Sitting up, she realized that she was in a bed, and it was night outside. She could hear the soft footfalls of someone approaching, she could see a meager light filter through the crease between the door and floor. Looking around, she found that she was only wearing her dress, and her sword and shield were nowhere to be found.

  Lumina paid extra attention to her incredible hearing. The unknown individual wore boots and didn't have any weapons. Considering her circumstances and the comfy bed she guessed that she wasn’t in any immediate danger. A sense of relief came when Eldin walked through the door.

  Eldin took a seat on a nearby chair and leaned back in it, "What happened? Between you and Alice."

  "What do you mean?" Lumina responded as she sat in the bed.

  “All we saw was you and Alice locked in place as if frozen. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to do anything." Eldin did his best to hide the worry in his voice.

  Although Lumina heard the subtle fear, she was more interested as to what happened to that dreadful spirit. "Did Adrok capture Alice then?"

  "No. You ummm… you absorbed her.” Eldin said hesitantly.

  Lumina blinked a few times unsure that she had heard her friend correctly. "I absorbed Alice?"

  "That's what I think." Adrok interjected.

  Lumina nearly jumped, she hadn't heard anything move. It was almost as if the primordius had simply appeared out of thin air.

  "Do you feel any different?" Adrok asked.

  Looking down at her hands she really couldn't tell. Closing her eyes and trying to concentrate on whatever she could think of Lumina couldn't help but notice two very distinct lights.

  In her mind's eye, she looked at Eldin. A vibrant and bright will o’ wisp of light floated in his place. When she focused on Adrok, that dread she had felt before when she first met him settled in even more deeply. His energy was significantly larger than Eldin’s. While her friend's was bright, Adrok’s was like a voracious mass of burning darkness waiting to consume whatever touched it. Lumina couldn’t help but open her eyes after seeing what she could only guess was the terrifying swirl of energy from Adrok. At least she had an idea why she was terrified of the man.

  Adrok was giddy with excitement. How long had it been since something he couldn't readily explain appeared before him. For the first time in years, he was presented with a puzzle he didn't already know the solution to. "Care to explain what happened between you and Alice? I'm assuming something happened on the energy plain."

  "Energy plain?" Lumina replied puzzled.

  Adrok wanted to give an explanation, but even he didn't know what the energy plain was actually like. There were theories he had read, but like everyone else, it was unreachable. “Did you find yourself in a world different from ours?”

  Lumina continued looking around the room for her equipment, though she didn't leave the warm comfort of the bed. "I remember fighting in a dream like expanse. There was a beautiful blue sky with clouds as far as the eye could see. The entire ground was a thin film of water causing the entire place to seem like we were existing in the sky."

  "We?" Eldin asked.

  "Alice and I. She was quite beautiful, when she wasn't a monstrous wraith trying to rip me to shreds."

  Thankful to have a firsthand account, Adrok pulled out his notebook again and started taking notes.

  Once she found her equipment in one of the corners of the room, Lumina looked at her arms, "Odd. I don't have any injuries. Did you guys take me to see a healer while I was out?"

  Eldin shook his head in response. Both him and Adrok were more interested in what happened.

  "She slashed my arms, but now that I think about it... I was still able to use them, even if it hurt initially."

  "You mean you actually fought it out? Like to the death?" Eldin asked.

  Lumina nodded thinking back on the entire fight, it truly had felt like a dream. “It was weird though, when Alice appeared in what I assume was her human form, the scenery was peaceful like a calm spring day. When she reverted back to her creepy form, the entire area became a gray and foggy with thunder and exploding blasts of lightning.”

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  "The thunder and lightning didn't hinder you in any way?" Eldin asked surprised.

  "No. It was weird. I could hear everything, feel everything, but it didn't bother me at all. In fact, it was really cool when I grabbed an actual lightning bolt with my sword and blasted Alice with it."

  Eldin coughed with disbelief, "You grabbed a lightning bolt with your sword?"

  Lumina could feel herself getting excited recounting the surreal skirmish. She did her best to calm down before continuing. "I mean it wasn't really lightning. Everything, the water, lightning, my weapons. All of it was energy."

  "How did you know it was all just energy? You didn't even know what the energy plain was until just now." Adrok interrupted.

  Lumina turned to face the man, she still felt uneasy around him. "I don't know. There was a voice that kept speaking to me. Giving my vague clues about what to do. It would say things like; Feel don't see. Everything is energy. Call your sword." She did her best to imitate the voice she heard, adding her own inflection of annoyance.

  Eldin was relieved that Lumina was fine and seemingly unharmed, but he couldn't help but feel a little jealous that she experienced something so crazy. He wanted to experience a crazy adventure too. "What happened in the end?"

  "I ended up skewering the wretch all the way to the hilt of my sword nailing them to the ground as the lightning bolt I had caught spread throughout her. Pretty quickly after that, the same peaceful spring sky came back. Alice reverted back to her human form still impaled, and thanked me before vanishing into what seemed like dust. After that, the entire area became a black empty void, and I watched and felt as I turned to dust then woke up here."

  Both Adrok and Eldin were completely intrigued by the incredible story Lumina had just regaled. Eldin didn't know what to say, and Adrok was still furiously writing things down in his notebook.

  "With Alice gone, does that mean we succeeded in our mission Christoph gave us?" Lumina asked

  "I would assume so." Eldin replied. He had yet to inform Lumina that most of the town was mad at them for getting rid of their spirit.

  Taking a small break from writing, Adrok looked up from his notes, “Did you say Christoph? That pudgy merchant?” Upon receiving confirmation from the two, Adrok made a mental note to visit the man. He could be useful for his plans. Focusing his attention back to Lumina, he asked “Did you happen to get a better understanding of control over energy?”

  “Now that you mention it. I can see what I think is a representation of energy. Eldin’s is vibrant and cute looking.”

  Eldin nearly fell out of his chair, “Seriously? That’s how you explain my energy?”

  Adrok couldn’t help but chuckle. His mirth quickly faded when he saw Lumina stare at him. A mixture of fear and wrath aimed right at him. Almost as if she was threatening him. He was even more intrigued at what was going on in her mind. “What did mine look like?” Adrok asked, guessing that her accusing stare was directly connected to what she saw.

  Lumina shuddered, “Your energy was a massive all-consuming black bonfire greedily consuming everything around it. Eldin’s was quite small in comparison to yours.” She really didn’t want to think about it. It truly was a frightening sight.

  Adrok celebrated inwardly. His theory on souls increasing in size was essentially confirmed by Lumina’s account. Granted he couldn’t prove or show it to anyone, but he didn’t care. Knowing, even if it was only him, was plenty.

  Seeing that Lumina didn’t have any more to input about her experience, Eldin took this chance to ask a question now that he had grown accustom to the primordius’ presence. “I heard that mom is actually a monster from the Lost World and that you brought over here a while back. Is that true?”

  Eyeing Eldin, Adrok still couldn’t believe that Milli had a son. “Even though I did bring her from the Lost World, that doesn’t make her a monster, does it?”

  Eldin was surprised. Adrok didn’t try to hide anything or beat around the bush. His mom truly was from the Lost World.

  “The way you are using the term monster, you mean something that is not one of the races currently living on the continent.” Adrok asked to clarify.

  Again, Eldin found himself confused, “There are more than 5 races?”

  Adrok couldn’t believe that Milli had never told her son anything about the matter. “Nevermind the whole monster bit.” He replied dismissively as he waved his hand. “She never told you?”

  “Told me what?” Eldin asked.

  Lumina could feel a small hint of fear coming from Adrok. It wasn’t strong, but she could tell he was being cautious about the subject.

  “Well, if she didn’t tell you, then it’s because she forgot, or didn’t want to tell you. I’d rather not risk getting on her bad side by revealing things she didn’t want you to know.” It had been ages since he last felt so worried. Truly this day was one he would remember. It almost made him want to head to Woodvale and convince his comrades to travel once again.

  Then again, if Milli was annoyed enough to hunt him down for telling her son, that would also make things interesting. Especially if she went about hunting him down. “Fine. There are more than five races in our world. We used to have Furans, but they got wiped out by the humans a while back. There are a few other communities in the Lost World that live in a society like we do. Milli came from one such culture.”

  Both Eldin and Lumina were extremely interested in knowing more.

  Adrok refrained from going in depth, “I’m not going to explain how I know, or why I went there, or why I brought her with me. I will tell you, however, that her species is quite terrifying on their own.”

  “What race is Mom then?” Eldin asked, wanting to know more.

  “I won’t say.” Adrok snapped his notebook closed and put it away along with his pen. “Well. I think that is plenty for tonight. Save your questions for the morning.” He said as he left the room without waving or saying goodbye.

  Eldin was grateful for more about his mom, but it still didn’t change the fact that he was still so clueless about his heritage.