My senses return to me and I let out the knot of air stuck in my throat. The dim lights in our cart become 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?
My eyes shut again. I turn to the side to get more comfortable, and the seat feels softer, then.. warmer?
I crack open an eye to get a peek.
“What’s-”
Past the long hair blocking my view, I see—
Knees, right in front of me, knees...
My brain experiences jetlag for a second, but eventually gets the hint.
“-thAAAAAAAT”
Body already up before my legs gain strength.
Why the hell was I just on her lap?!
My head creaks toward her.
Emotionless. Reactionless. Spirit completely erased. Her dark hair falls loose around her face, curling over itself like it gave up trying.
She just stares into the ground.
The events of the trial flood my mind again, and I remember.
“Lyanna.”
Her face doesn't move an inch, but her gaze shifts to me. Soulless.
“What happened in the trial?”
A tide of memories hits me as I ask it.
I-
My emotions twist, and somehow my lips end up in a curve. Joy clouding me for no reason I can explain. Like the grief just… flipped. Like my body decided it’s done being destroyed and picked the only other option available.
“Don’t. Ask.”, not even a single drop of warmth.
“Keep it to yourself then. I won’t ask”
The smile stays. I'm not going to interrogate it.
I reach out my hand,
"Ready?"
Lyanna nods. We move towards the front of the carriage. The door swings open with a groan; Hinges scraping against themselves, protesting the weight. I catch it before it bounces back on her.
The creak echoes off the stone walls longer than it should.
We get up to the front seats. I buckle her in, tighten both our coats, belt myself in.
The engine vrooms as I start it, and then folds over itself.
Fucks sake.
I turn the key again and this time it starts up.
The maze stretches out in front of us, exactly as it always does. Same walls, same stone, same silence.
Sighing at the absurdity of the situation I've found myself in, we press onward into the large unlit room in front of us.
Darkness swallows the entire space as we move deeper in, making the corridor behind us look like brighter than it actually is. My eyes adjust as we head further in, and I make out something with the little light we have; A button on a stone pedestal.
I stop the carriage. Drop down, scraping my leg on the way, and head over to check.
A few steps, and dust scatters as I catch a circle engraved onto the stone floor. I run my hands against the carvings. Sense no conductive material. Oddly stale.
I move to the pedestal.
Get closer. From my legs to my head, a signature I’m familiar to crosses me. From the frequency to how it flows.
I feel mana growing underneath the button.
…
I thought this space blocks out mana.
I back up and sweep the circle again, this time catching the design. Same architecture as a teleportation circle, but more complex. Much more complex.
Each anchor overlaps over itself. 5 on the corners, lines somehow drawn through them. A design so chaotic it couldn’t have been manually created.
My face relaxes.
This is our way out.
I rush back, and get into my seat.
Engine already started; I glance at Lyanna.
She’ll grow out of it.
…
I park the carriage over the circle, and pull up near the pedestal. Just in case we get separated, I plant a vessel on Lyanna's chest; Just an eye. Enough to locate her if it comes to it.
I wouldn’t mind running around to find her.
The thought arrives and sits there. I don’t examine it too closely.
Left hand on the pedestal. I hit the button.
Through my senses, mana gushes down into the floor and spreads out beneath us. The indentations in the circle start moving, spinning around themselves, and something pulls at my legs.
Lyanna's eyes snap into focus. She grabs onto me.
The pressure suddenly reverses, and my body wants to launch itself into the ceiling. Anti-Gravity circle created, a ripple of air crashing out, we’re grounded.
My muscles twitch under the two opposing forces, pinned to the floor. I tighten my grip. The pressure doubles. My head spins.
“Hold On!!”
A white barrier forms at the edge of the circle and my broken jaw picks its moment, pain flaring back through my face.
Lyanna grips my shirt to keep from flying. The pressure climbs. My eyes feel like they're going to gouge out. My hair flies hard enough to scrape against my own face.
A familiar situation.
My eyes dart.
Lyanna pinned to the ground. Biting through lips. Eyes wide open.
I try stacking Anti-Gravity again. But my emotions are too spread apart to concentrate.
“End ALREADY—”
The pressure doubles again, and I’m brought down. Knees slamming the floor, both hands catching me, back bent like something bracing against collapse, everything above my waist fighting to stay up against the force coming from above.
The tibia in my legs pierces up through the skin.
“—FUCK!”
I’m barely able to keep my head up from the pain. The bone slides more by the second.
Then, in a blink.
Cold maze. Air brushing past. Walls silent.
Blood rushes back through my body, and I swallow the vomit forcing its way up. The white bones poking out, makes me nearly pass out.
I somehow access Creation and get a circle of regeneration running.
Excruciating burning runs through my entire body. I flatten onto the ground. My legs heal, and my jaw heals. But I don’t manage to stop the tears from running down.
“One. Hell. Of. A Fucking. Ride. Huh.”
I stop myself from hyperventilating. Manage to get my head up.
Thoughts crowd in and I can't think straight. My mind wants to pass out again, but my body is keeping me up. Ears start ringing as the healing circle runs. More pain than before, like pins through my skull.
"A-Arius?"
My heart skips.
Her voice, for one second-
"YEAH?"
My head snaps toward Lyanna. She jerks back. Avoids my eyes.
"Its— nothing."
Shit. Shit. Calm the fuck down.
The healing circle finishes and the pain vanishes. My chest heaves. Breaths slow.
“Sorry”
I wave my hand.
“Just a bit taken away by that fact my- never mind.”
I force my lungs to exhale and my heartbeat to settle. The world slows as I come back.
"What did you want?"
My head wobbles as I get lightheaded, and Lyanna tilts her head and finally makes eye contact with me. Something about that loosens a knot I didn't know was there.
Her body shakes slightly, and she manages to get past her trembling,
"Please don't leave me."
The tears start flowing again.
What-
The first time we met flashes in front of my eyes.
"…Never."
The last time we met ends the memory.
Some of the stress inside me loosens, and for the first time in a while, I feel at ease.
I can't explain why. I just do.
My brain blocks away the rest of that dream before I can go there. Not now.
A genuine smile finally reveals itself on my face. I bite down on my lips so I don't look too pleased with myself, and Lyanna, choking out her tears, offers me a smile back.
This feels nice.