Memories of a Forgotten Past: Part 1

Several days passed before Lacia regained the use of her legs. She knew recovery would be slow; unlikely as it was, she’d already prepared for the possibility she might not walk again. Thankfully, that reality never came to pass.

“It’s not perfect, but at least I can sort of walk again,” she thought. An exuberant smile shied its way onto her face. She’d grown weary of the medicine-induced paralysis—stretching never felt so good.

Eagerly, she ventured her way out of the med-bay, tiptoeing along as she used the handrails for support. Her legs were weak, but she could at least make small trips before running out of breath.

The hallways were dark and filled with the stench of bleach, cold tile exacerbating the chill on her skin. The thought of warm sunlight gave her the motivation she needed to push through the stinging ache in her side—just a few more feet.

Waves threw themselves at the boat from all sides, splashing against the metal hull; the sound grew louder the closer she got to the deck. With a large heave, she pressed her body against the door as bright sunlight blinded her, forcing her eyes to adjust from the dimly-lit med-bay where she’d been recovering from surgery.

Her bare feet burned as she stepped onto the sun-seared deck. She didn’t realize how well wood absorbed heat as she quickly retreated back inside, scouring the area for any nearby shade. Propping herself between the doorway, she took a deep breath, inhaling the salty ocean air. Finally, something other than bleach.

Eyeing an open beach chair, nestled beneath an unfurled umbrella, she half-limped, half-fast walked across the scalding deck. Moments later, she managed to successfully tumble into the open chair, clenching her toes in blistering pain. While she’d wanted some actual sun, she supposed she couldn’t complain; being outside after what felt like eternity was good enough, though she had little semblance of what day it even was, much less the month.

“Oh well,” she sighed. “It could be worse, I guess, but I’m kinda glad things ended up this way, because drowning doesn’t sound fun anymore. Err… Not that it ever did… I definitely wasn’t thinking straight.” She shivered.

Adjusting her position in the chair, she found herself face-to-face with the same endless horizon as before—nothing but open ocean for as far as the eye could see. She’d grown tired of playing musical beds and medical tests, but she had grown just as weary of all the water—five minutes on solid ground and she’d be happy.

“At least I don’t get seasick,” she laughed.

She sat back and closed her eyes, taking in the mixture of saltwater and the lingering stench of bleach in her nose… No. It wasn’t bleach she was smelling but something else—something acrid, and it made her nose curl.

“Is that… smoke? It smells like fire, but the only thing out here is water. Unless,” she gasped, sitting up, “the boat’s on fire? Oh, God. Am I doomed to have a watery grave anyways?” she sobbed.

She couldn’t help but recall her nightmares: the empty beach, the drowning— “Stop it. You’re psyching yourself out… There was still a beach, and that had nothing to do with any boats on fire,” she pouted. “But still. Where is that coming from?”

Hoisting herself onto the railing, she leaned over for a better view. The metal sweltered in the blazing sun, blistering-to-the-touch, but she didn’t care. She dangled over the edge a moment longer, welcoming the sea spray that splashed her face.

“I never knew the sun could feel so good. That’s what days of dark rooms and air conditioning will do to you, I guess…”

She began her climb down from the railing; her legs felt like they were on fire as they shook under the strain of her weight. While unsteady, she managed to secure one foot on the lower rung followed by the other, clutching the railing with an iron grasp all the while. Her heart pounded against her chest as she realized the climb down would not be as easy as the climb up. Blisters formed on her hands from the sun-seared metal, but if she let go now, she would fall onto the deck—there would be no way to break her fall.

“I can’t believe I thought this was a good idea,” she panicked. “I’m losing my mind. There’s no way that was smoke. The bleach must have ruined my sense of smell or something. Now I’m stuck!”

Without warning, a sudden squall battered the boat with gusty winds and a bout of heavy rain, nearly forcing her overboard. Her hair billowed in the tempest, locks of platinum against a gray sky. Steam rose from the deck as the temperature dropped nearly twenty degrees in a matter of minutes. While she wasn’t fond of being rained on, again, the metal had at least cooled enough to give her hands a break from the scalding temperatures.

Another gust slammed into the boat, forcing it to careen into an approaching wave with tremendous force. Miraculously, Lacia managed to hang on, but not without first taking a mouthful of saltwater she subsequently spit out.

She turned her gaze to the sky. “Would you like to add a shark to the next wave or are you done now? Like, what the actual fuck?” she muttered.

Just as soon as the storm had arrived, it departed, leaving clear skies and calm seas in its wake. A brisk wind chilled her skin, a far cry from the warm summer-like sea breezes she’d been graced with earlier. The air had grown exponentially colder; a mind-numbing chill clung to her body like wet paper. She inhaled sharply, catching a strong whiff of the same acrid, smokey odor that forced her onto the railing to begin with. Summer was right around the corner, but the cold was unseasonal.

A strange sound suddenly permeated her ears, but it was… different—something akin to that of crackling ice cubes in water. A violent shiver overcame her body as frost crawled along the metal railings, flash-freezing anything that dared cross its icy path. She had seconds to make a decision: let go of the railing and fall back onto the deck, or hold on and risk frostbite.

Indecision mired her brain like a fog as she watched the advancing frost inch closer and closer. She turned her head around, trying to estimate the distance between her position on the railing and the deck below. The problem wasn’t that she’d climbed too high, though. While it had been a formidable climb, her legs had gone numb since; she’d wedged her feet between the rails to anchor herself. She tried to wiggle her toes, but they wouldn’t budge.

Her skin was wet and cold, a prime target for rapid-onset hypothermia. Perhaps more pressing were the icicles that had started to form on the underside of the rails as the rainwater flash-froze where it dripped.

She cursed, releasing her hold from the railing. Time seemed to move in slow motion; she watched as the place where her hands had been moments prior turned to solid ice. The air whipped around her back as she fell, plunging into the icy atmosphere. She arched her back, hoping her shoulders would take the brunt of the impact, but something was off—her left foot was still lodged between the rails. She squeezed her eyes shut; she didn’t want to see what came next.

Her shoulders slammed into the deck, forcing her head to rebound into the wooden planks. The impact expelled the air from her lungs, sending her into a dizzying whirlwind of excruciating pain as she gasped for breath. She lay crumpled on the deck in a heap, roiling in agony.

The hope was that her feet would dislodge from between the railing as she fell back, eliminating the need to move them herself. It was a risky last resort, but the muscles in her legs must have atrophied in her time since surgery—more than she’d realized. To make matters worse, she’d unknowingly restricted the flow of blood to her feet, causing much of the lower leg to grow numb as well.

As she fell back, she twisted her foot in the complete opposite direction before it finally freed itself from between the railing. The pain was intense; she didn’t realize she’d been screaming for over a minute. With an obnoxious rusty, creak, a heavy metal door swung back on its hinges as Lacia’s agonizing screams continued, reverberating across the whole of the boat.

Aria’s voice broke the cacophony of screams and sobs. “Lacia?! What the hell are you doing out here?” She made a sickening face as she laid eyes on Lacia’s now-broken foot. “Girl, do you like making my life harder or something? Here you are, sneaking out of recovery, just to injure yourself again.” She frowned. “And to think we were finally going to have our talk.”

Tears streamed down Lacia’s face. “As much as I hate to see you right now,” she said between breaths, struggling to fill her lungs with oxygen, “I’m— The pain—” She scrambled around on the deck, somehow still wet with rain.

Aria gave her a look, something between bewilderment and curiosity. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone break a foot so cleanly before,” she said in disbelief. “I literally have no idea how you managed to pull this off, but I don’t know if I can even move you—it might cause even more damage.” She ran over to Lacia, careful not to slip.

“Twenty,” Lacia said.

“Excuse me?” Aria replied.

“The pain,” she said, foot beginning to swell into a bruised heap, “is a twenty— One to ten scale…”

Aria knelt down, carefully examining Lacia’s foot. She took a deep breath. “Oh yeah… You definitely broke it. Just from the outside, I can tell there’s a clean break of the bone,” she explained. “Until we secure that foot, there isn’t much else I can do. If you’re looking for immediate relief, well, pain meds don’t work like that, so the sooner we take care of this, the better.” She removed a pair of padded splints from a medical bag. “If the bone truly separated, you’re in luck. If not, this could hurt—a lot.”

Lacia’s breathing had grown ragged and inconsistent, but she managed to sit up, using the railing as support despite the icy metal. She watched as Aria unraveled the splints, preparing to press them against her leg. Embroiled with nausea and pain, she wanted to lean over and empty the contents of her stomach into the sea.

“Again,” Aria said, “if the bone is still hanging on, even by a sliver, I will have to set the foot first.” She moved to place the splints but stopped. “Actually… Can you move it at all?”

She wiggled her foot ever so slightly, but it was enough; the bone was still attached, but almost certainly broken. In all likelihood, when she’d twisted her foot between the railing, the initial twist had fractured the bone, but the ensuing torque had exacerbated the fracture, splintering the bone in multiple places; it would have to be set, after all.

“Ok… Just close your eyes and I’ll get this all nice and wrapped up,” Aria coaxed deceivingly. “This should only take a minute.” Lacia likely wouldn’t let her set the foot if she was expecting it.

Lacia closed her eyes, swaying in tandem with the rocking of the boat as the world began to fade away in a dull collapse of color. Was she always this tired? She struggled to keep her eyes open, despite her distrust of Aria. Colors melted like ice cream in the sun, dripping from the sky, off the walls, and seeping through the deck. She reached out a hand, but her muscles fell limp as if she were caught somewhere between wake and sleep.

At some point, Lacia’s hand drifted in front of her face; the distortion reminded her of the way water refracted light, metaphorically breaking anything submerged within its watery clutches. Was she actually drowning? Could she take a breath, and would her lungs even work if she could? Her arms drifted in the empty space before her, fingers outstretched, waiting for a lifeline. Somewhere in the expanse, she could hear Aria’s voice, but it was distant, unable to break the barrier that seemed to separate them.

Snaaap. The crunch was gut-wrenching, even startling a small flock of seagulls that had perched on the top of the boat. With a quick twist and subsequent splint, Aria had set the bone in Lacia’s foot. In a perfect world, she would have been elated, having set her first-ever broken bone. While she’d successfully pulled Lacia from a state of shock, any celebrations would have to take a raincheck.

Instinctively, Lacia swung her elbow straight into Aria’s temple, temporarily stunning her as she stumbled into the railing, trying to regain her balance. She’d unconsciously attacked her after she set the bone; the pain shot through her nerves, triggering a half-conscious fight-or-flight response—Aria just happened to be on the receiving end of an unexpected stimulus she’d triggered.

“Ughhh… What the hell was that? Did something… hit me?”

Lacia seethed. “That really hurt. You definitely had that coming,” she said, opening her eyes.

“Ok, but why did you hit me so hard?! I almost blacked out,” Aria said, pressing a hand

to the side of her head. She looked ready to cry.

“I don’t really know what you were expecting, girly-pop,” Lacia retorted. “If you were a man, I would have swung a lot harder.” She rubbed her elbow.

Aria balled her fists as she stormed over to Lacia, ready to share a few unkind words. Woozily, she stomped through a puddle left by the rainstorm and promptly lost her footing, landing on her tailbone.

Lacia watched as her face changed from rage to shock. “Aww. Look at you,” she teased, “pathetically sitting there in a puddle.”

Aria’s face turned bright red; she was soaked-through in the worst-imaginable place. “I swear to God, Lacia… If you laugh—”

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a wad, Aria. Or, should I say, a wat-er,” she joked, biting her lower lip. “Imagine how I felt when you sat there at the edge of my bed, taunting me. I—” She covered her hand with her mouth before finally losing the contents of her stomach. “I’m totally exhausted,” she groaned. Her eyes had grown heavy again. “I’m done. I’ve had enough…”

“Find your own way back to your room, then,” Aria scoffed. “I’m over this. You’re a waste of my time.”

“You’re so crass. No wonder you don’t have,” Lacia yawned, “a boyfriend. But it’s okay if you’re into girls too, though. Just know you wouldn’t be my type even if I did swing that way.” She yawned again. “Goodnight…”

Aria was bewildered. “Where does this girl get off, thinking I’ll just let her sleep here? Not to mention it’s the middle of the day! And what in the world gave her the impression I’m into other women?!” She sighed. “It’s going to be a long while before I get used to this,” she grumbled.

Several voices drifted through the door, a hushed conversation piquing her ears, ready to eavesdrop. Mixed into her dreams, she wasn’t sure if what she was hearing was real or if it was her brain trying to trauma-cope.

“…Yes. We successfully… her foot…”

“But… is completely splintered?”

“... heal… way it was… to—”

The conversation seemed to go on for hours as she tossed and turned, desperate to fall back to sleep. Whatever they were rambling on about, she could care less; she’d deal with it later as she buried her head under a pillow.

“Why are you so insistent we dock and take her to a mainland hospital? These X-Rays are not as severe as you think they are,” said an older male voice.

“I don’t care about the X-Rays,” Aria’s voice came. “What I care about is restructuring the bone. It’s so splintered there’s almost no way it will heal on its own.”

The voices had grown louder, pulling Lacia from her sleep. Whatever they were bickering about, it was starting to irritate her. She wanted to sleep, not listen to a conversation about a broken foot. If it was truly that important, they could come and talk to her about it.

Having given up on any rest, she slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the light of the room. Daylight filtered in through a small port window, casting a pale daylit ambiance across the room. The shade on the door had been pulled down for privacy—like that was of much use, she thought.

“Dammit, Aria! Stop trying to fight me on this!”

“With all due respect, Doctor, she’s been asleep for three days. Look… All I’m saying is I think she should be looked at by a team of medical experts. I’m not trying to downplay your knowledge or anything, but we don’t have the resources to deal with something like this here.”

The Doctor gave an exasperated sigh. “If you want to go out there, be my guest, but I won’t be able to help you once you disembark.”

“Thank you, Doctor Reihner,” Aria said, relieved. “Besides, I want to see if the neriolite actually reacts to her or not. Like maybe it was a fluke?”

“Suit yourself, Aria,” he said in defeat.

Lacia sat up in bed, noting the conclusion of their conversation. “Now… If only someone would walk in here and explain to me what’s going to happen to my foot,” she sighed, her head falling back onto the pillow. “I am so sick of lying in bed all day. I literally cannot catch a break.”

She sat up once more, but something felt… different. An increased cold poured from the window above her bed as if it were trying to provoke the heater, but why would the heater be on in the first place? Last time she checked, May was a temperate month in Alura before the blistering summer heatwaves took hold.

Regardless, the heater was definitely working overtime. “How can it be so cold, though? Oceans don’t exactly get that cold,” she pondered aloud. “Err… I think we’re on the ocean or something, anyways…”

The familiar rocking motion of the boat had ceased. They weren’t anchored; the boat was buoyant—it would bob regardless of whether they were anchored or not. Shakily, she pulled her covers back. Standing on the bed, she reached for the blinds above her head as she swiped for the string to pull them up but to no avail. Her foot ached, firmly held within a sturdy cast; small cat faces and hearts were drawn in red sharpie on the white bandaging.

“God, I hate her,” she said. “Now I have these cute little cats on my cast and— Ughh! Why is she like this? She acts like a devil yet has this stupid girly side to her, too. Too cutesy—not very demure.”

With a loud bang, the door to her room burst open, revealing a triumphant Aria as she stood in the doorway with… winter clothes? In her arms were two coats, though, if she didn’t know better, she’d have mistaken them for miniature sheep they were so full of fleece. Among the assortment of other clothing was a set of thick-cotton underwear, footed tights, snow pants, and waterproof gloves. Lacia rolled her eyes, noticing the stupid look on Aria’s face. Either she was genuinely excited about something, or someone had slipped her a little too much caffeine.

Lacia sighed. “Fine. I’ll ask. Why are you so happy? Did hell freeze over or something?”

“Actually, it’s funny you should say that,” Aria replied, a dainty look on her face.

Lacia mimicked Aria’s pensive tone. “Actually, no it’s not funny,” she said. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

Aria walked over to a control panel by the bed. Flipping a switch, the blinds on the curtain began to rise, revealing a solid sheet of grey clouds; it looked as if someone had taken a bucket of grey paint and smeared it all across the sky.

A short burst of heavy flurries nestled themselves into the arch of the window, sticking to the heater-warmed glass before they returned to a liquid state. Is this what Aria was so thrilled about? A quick burst of flurries? Lacia wasn’t amused, but Aria just stood there, clothes in-hand, beaming like a child.

Noticing Lacia’s lack of enthrallment, Aria opened the window, blasting Lacia with a gust of freezing air and snow, blowing her bed covers into the floor; she felt like she’d been plunged into an ice-water pool.

“Fine! You have my attention. What?!”

Aria activated the lift on Lacia’s bed, nudging it just high enough she could grab the windowsill for support as she looked out over what had once been water; a hellscape of snow and ice greeted her eyes.

“How… does an entire body of saltwater freeze in a matter of days?” Lacia asked, her brain struggling to comprehend the sudden winter-like scenery. “This isn’t a prank or something, right? Like, I will throw hands if you’re trying to mess with me.”

Aria recounted the last few days. “The same day you broke your foot, everything began to freeze. I noticed the railings were already covered in frost when I walked outside, but it just kept getting colder and colder,” she explained. “According to temperature sensors here on the boat, we’ve dropped almost ninety degrees, and we’re still falling.”

“So, what exactly happened, then?” Lacia asked, seating herself on the bed.

Aria shook her head as she rummaged through the mound of clothes she’d brought with her, now piled on the end of the bed. She held up garment after garment, modeling each new potential outfit for Lacia to see.

“Wait,” Lacia said, stopping her midway through. “I actually like that one. Can I—”

Aria shook her head. “Shower first, then you can try on whatever you like.”

Lacia tried to contest the decision only to be met with a rather abrupt, and rude, demonstration by Aria, waving a hand in front of her face as if she were removing a foul bag of trash—not her finest explanation, but it would have to do for now. Lacia’s complexion was a mired combination of matted hair, oily skin, and trace amounts of dried blood, but there was no actual body odor—probably a good thing, Aria figured.

“What? Did you think I was going to leave you to fend for yourself? I’m going to help you, obviously,” Aria said, addressing Lacia’s sour expression.

Lacia opened her mouth to speak but decided against the thought—some things were better left unsaid. While her disdain for Aria was strong, she could at least keep her less-than-kind thoughts to herself. Still, she did an awful job at steering wheelchairs, bumping into anything and everything. At the moment, however, she was more concerned Aria would ram her foot into the wall than anything else; the mental pain was unfathomable, imagining her already-broken foot crumpling as it connected with the wall.

Pushing the thought from her mind, she decided to address a more-current issue. “And how, exactly, are we going to do this?” Lacia complained. “I’m not stripping down in front of you.” A devilishly-happy grin spread across Aria’s face. “You just had to ask, didn’t you, Lacia?”

“I thought you’d say that, so,” she said, removing a bag from the back of the wheelchair, “I brought two two-piece swimsuits. I’ll let you pick which one you want first.”

“On second thought,” Lacia said, “I’ll just strip. I’d be caught dead wearing a flower-printed two-piece. It screams bad taste.” She fumbled around inside her oversized t-shirt, trying to take it off, before finally throwing it onto the floor in frustration. “I really can’t take much more of this.”

“This boot was designed for patients with less-severe fractures than yours, but it should still help you walk a little easier,” Dr. Reihner explained. “You managed to fracture the entire bone. Really, I should say splintered, but the point is, you will need to take occasional breaks. Our capabilities here are limited, but we were able to at least make sure the bone stays together. We can’t have bone shards entering your bloodstream.”

“Also,” Aria said, “while what Dr, Reihner said is true, you’re still going to need an actual surgeon to fully correct the damage.”

“Ok, so how long can I stay on feet at a time then, and how does this thing work?” Lacia asked, carefully slipping the boot on as she adjusted the straps, simultaneously fighting the extra-long sleeves on her coat.

“I’d say an hour, but in the state that foot is in, even thirty minutes is pushing it,” the doctor explained. “As for how it works, the boot is made of a highly durable outer shell and packed with shock-absorbing foam inside. As the boot senses how your foot moves within it, it will adjust the foam and elevation accordingly to ensure the foot is secured. Anything else to add, Aria?”

“It’s a weird little thing. Not very cute or demure, but it is effective. Every couple of minutes, the sensors in the boot also take scans of the bone so it can be as precise as possible when making adjustments,” she explained. “It’s not perfect, and because the bone is technically still fractured, well… The plan is to reach the mainland and get to a hospital before the charge in your boot runs out.”

“And if we don’t make it to shore, then what happens?” Lacia asked sternly.

“You’ve seen what it’s like out there. Take a wild guess. I packed enough supplies for 3 days since we aren’t, like, really far, but it’s best to be prepared. Also,” she said, lifting one of several overstuffed bags, “these are really heavy, and I’m just a girl.”

“Never say that again,” Lacia said, cringing. “Anyways, Aria would probably just leave me behind if the battery ran out, to be honest,” Lacia said to Dr. Reihner, purposefully avoiding eye contact with her. “She’d just leave me to freeze in the barren wasteland of ice and snow, my body consumed by the forces of nature.”

A look of displeasure crossed Aria’s face as she turned to look at Lacia. “I’m really not so awful a person,” she muttered under her breath. “If I have to drag you to shore, I will. Sure hope you’re flexible, though, because you’ll be sore for a week if I do have to drag you.”

“And you,” Lacia emphasized, “will be at the bottom of all that sea ice if you lay a finger on me. I will knock you out, honey.”

“Enough! You two bicker like children,” Doctor Reihner said, ushering them over to a large map; it spanned the length of the wall. “Aria has taken the liberty of labeling each body of water, landmass, and our approximate current location for you. Study it carefully before you leave.” He eyed Aria. “That goes for you too, Aria. Now try to get along. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” The girls watched as Doctor Reihner disappeared down the hall, automatic sliding doors swishing closed behind him.

“Under normal circumstances,” Aria started, “you wouldn’t be allowed out of your room until you’d healed enough. Obviously, things are a little different right now,” she said, avoiding Lacia’s eyes, fearful of an awkward exchange. “I’m certainly not some cruel girl who wouldn’t let you have at least a little fun though, so here’s the deal.” She stepped in front of the map, spinning a sharpie marker between her fingers. “This dot here,” she said, tapping the sharpie against the map, “is where we are now.”

Click. “Ow! What the hell was that?!” Lacia cried.

“And that is so I can keep track of you. After all, they wouldn’t be very pleased if I let you run amok,” Aria said, shoving a small remote back inside her coat pocket.

“Okay, but why did it shock the back of my leg, and who is ‘they’? Actually, what else are you keeping from me?” Lacia retorted, twisting around to find what shocked her. Being poked and prodded was one thing, but shock-collaring her was another—even if it was a bit of an over-exaggeration. “Let’s say, hypothetically that, at some point, I would like the tracker removed. How much of your ass do I have to kiss to have it taken out?”

A stifled laugh forced its way from Aria’s throat. “You’re really amusing, you know that? You’re, unfortunately, not very bright, though.”

“She literally just said I’m stupid. That’s crazy,” Lacia thought.

The phrase seemed to reverberate through her head; Aria’s response probably meant she’d have to bargain more than what she was willing to lose if she wanted the tracker removed. She shot Aria a petrifying leer. She jumped.

“Okay,” she said, uncomfortably. “If you want the tracker removed so badly, walk back into your room. Before you jaunted off to wherever, the tests I’d been running on you weren’t finished. There’s something about you that I just can’t put my finger on yet, so, unless I lose you outside somewhere, our work here isn’t finished.”

“That’s reassuring,” Lacia grumbled. “I’m not sure that’s much of answer, but okay.” That was fine, though. She’d devised a surefire method that would make Aria’s icy will crack. “Call me what you will, but I’ve been one step ahead of you for a while now,” she said under her breath.

“Oh, you poor, stupid girl. As you sit there thinking you know how to get the better of me, I would advise you to rethink whatever it is that’s going through that head of yours.”

Aria grasped Lacia’s wrist, holding it in the air as her coat sleeve slipped down her arm. A small, metallic object glinted in the ceiling lights, fastened to the underside of her arm. Untethering the object, Aria stuck what seemed to be a small scalpel in her bag.

With a quick show of dominance, Aria’s hand flew through the air, connecting with Lacia’s cheek where a sweltering red handprint smirked, throbbing. As if one slap wasn’t enough, she followed up with an even stronger slap, causing Lacia to bite her tongue. The bitter taste of blood filled her mouth.

“That was for the elbow a few days ago. I have not been able to get rid of this migraine because of it since, but I suppose it is rather amusing, though,” Aria scoffed. “If you were thinking you were going to attack me with that scalpel, I’ll let you in on a little something. When you thought you snuck it from my scrubs in the Operating Room when we first met, I put it there on purpose.”

“So, you admit you baited me, but I already knew there was no reason you’d have a scalpel, anyways. When I grabbed it, if it had been sharp, I would have cut my hand because of the way I grabbed it, but I didn’t.”

Lacia pretended to rub her cheek as she waited for Aria to turn her back. The scalpel was never meant to be an offensive weapon, but a defensive one; she’d hoped to use it in a microwave to short the ship’s circuits. In the confusion, she’d use the dark to sneak into the Control Room, send out a distress signal, and wait to be rescued by any passing vessels, but before she could swipe the scalpel back, she found herself on the floor, hands behind her back.

“Ok, so she has insane reaction times, too. What else can she do? Read my mind?” Lacia thought, surprised.

“Do you want me to answer that question?” Aria whispered in her ear. Her breath was warm and uncomfortably moist.

Lacia gasped as Aria released her from the hold. “You… scare me,” Lacia whispered, watching as Aria walked away.

“Mmm… That’s more like it. Now, then. It’ll take us several days to reach the mainland by foot. Are you coming, or do you want to be poked and prodded more?”

“I cannot believe this is what my life has turned into,” Lacia grumbled.

The morning had begun to warm as the sun continued its trek across the sky, shimmering rays peaking between the high-rises of Seria, bathing Mana in a soft, orange glow. Sunlight bled through her eyelids as she stirred, slumped against the wall of the patio. The icy concrete made her shiver despite the influx of warmth from the mid-morning sun, but it wasn’t the chill that encompassed her body that caught her attention; her right cheek was uncomfortably warm, like she’d laid in a pool of her own drool.

She reached into her pocket for her phone but forgot the gown she’d chosen for the previous night didn’t have any pockets. At the very least, it explained why she was so cold. She crawled over to the patio door, using the glass to examine herself in its glossy reflection. To her surprise, a small, star-shaped mark had appeared under her right eye where it glowed with a faint reddish hue. Like Lacia’s, it looked as if it had been hand-drawn by a small child who was just learning how to draw.

“What is this thing?” she wondered, rubbing the mark with a finger.

“I see you have awoken.” It was the voice from earlier that morning. “We are both short on time, child. I wish you hadn’t slept so long.”

Startled, Mana rammed her toes into the metal legs of the patio table, each joint giving a loud pop as she bit her lip, trying to suppress the urge to simultaneously scream and cry from the pain. A small trickle of blood seeped from her lower lip as she bit down even harder.

“I seem to recall Gods being benevolent—not beings that cause innocent young women unnecessary pain when they ram their toes into metal chairs because the voices in their heads won’t stop scaring them,” she said through clenched teeth. “Honestly, If I said I talked to God today, nobody would believe me. Not that having a name to call you by would really help with that, but at least give me something.”

“Oh. I see you remembered our chat from earlier… Very well, then.” The voice paused for a moment as if it were thinking of a name. “You may call me Omnis. I am many things, some you are more familiar with, others you are not.”

An abrupt tearing sound, almost like paper, spawned from a mysterious rift that seemed to appear out of nowhere; it reminded her of the cracks in the sky after the earthquake, but still… This was something else entirely—a tear in the fabric of spacetime, a gelatinous ripple with no set form; it was just a floating blob of black and celestial blue. She waved her hand through the strange rift, but nothing happened.

“What is—”

“Watch closely,” Omnis interrupted.

What had been an indeterminate ripple in spacetime eventually came into focus like a photo camera. The murky colors began to congeal, mixing into hues of white and grey as a wintry scene soon revealed itself. She couldn’t believe her eyes. While she didn’t recognize the location, the wintry landscape seemed to blanket everything for miles.

The scene faded in and out of focus before two figures appeared amid the ongoing tempest of wind and snow, their silhouettes juxtaposed against the stark background. They seemed to be carrying something, but she couldn’t tell what. Maybe a backpack? Or maybe it was some kind of sled? She squinted, forcing her eyes to comb over every possible detail.

“Wait… That’s not… Lacia, is it?!” she gasped. The two figures seemed to be conversing with one another, though she couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Closer,” she willed. “Get me closer.” The scene rippled for a brief moment, obscuring the view, before it cleared.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Lacia shouted over the roar of the wind. They had been walking for what felt like ever in the same, indeterminate direction.

“Of course I do,” Aria retorted.

Lacia groaned. Her foot was really starting to hurt, and she knew the cold wasn’t helping; cold weather always made her bones ache, but a broken foot gave new meaning to the phenomenon. Still, she knew she was reaching her set limit on walking as the snow and ice crunched beneath the boot.

She’d tried to discuss the idea of using sleds rather than heavy backpacks before they disembarked, but Aria had refused to humor the idea, saying that she was using it as an excuse to take more frequent breaks than the one-an-hour she’d been alotted. Likewise, Lacia had also refused to pull Aria along, vowing to dump her “dumb ass” in the nearest hole she could find.

“You’re literally holding the map upside down!” Lacia whined. “Please, God, tell me we aren’t los—”

Lacia plowed face-first into an enormous snow drift; it was at least twice her height. For a moment, she just stood there, too embarrassed to turn around. Aria, however, was having the time of her life, pointing and laughing.

“Oh my god! How did you literally not see that? It’s, like, at least twice your size. Wait! Don’t turn around yet. This is the best thing that has happened since I got to shock you earlier.”

Lacia quickly regained her composure. While it was embarrassing, her own clumsiness had actually prompted an important discovery—one that proved Aria’s cartography skills obsolete. What she’d originally believed was just a highly compact snowdrift turned out to be a border-gate meant for official immigration between the country of Alura, to the east, and the Kingdom of Gila, to the north; they were in the middle of disputed territory that laid between the official borders of both countries.

“Gila is the northwestern-most country to Alura,” Lacia said under her breath. “If Aria wanted to take us to the mainland, straight east would have been faster.” She paused, recalling the map from the boat. “That would have put us somewhere near the Aviid Isles to the southeast and the Kingdom of Miarn at Alura’s southeastern-most point…” Her eyes widened. She turned back towards Aria, now fiddling with the map. “So, I was right,” Lacia said dully, “she really can’t read a map. We went in the exact opposite direction.”

It was clear from Aria’s map fiddling that she legitimately had no idea where they were. She was so determined to prove they weren’t lost, she’d missed the border-tag entirely, bright yellow against the stark, white background.

Lacia packed several handfuls of fresh snow over the newly exposed sign, ensuring Aria remained ignorant of their whereabouts. If Gila was actively processing those seeking asylum, she could use that to her advantage, gaining immunity to Aria’s temporary conservatorship; it was a thought, and one that, if done correctly, could be a way out of the mess she continued to find herself in. While she knew Aria was keeping tabs on her thoughts, she’d already found a way to cut her intrusive pushiness out; she’d caught her off-guard the first time—it wouldn’t happen again.

She scoffed. “It’s crazy to think she thinks so highly of her abilities when she’s so blissfully unaware. What a life. To think all I had to was picture a mental firewall in my mind and now she’s on the other side, frustrated I outsmarted her, after all.” She finished packing the snow over the border-tag; Gila would be a secret she’d bury along with the snow and ice.

A searing heat suddenly brandished itself across her forehead as her body erupted into an adrenaline-heightened state. At first, she wondered if she was getting sick, but this seemed too sudden. Then, she heard Mana’s voice, distorted at first, calling out to her. She rubbed her forehead, trying to mitigate the onset of what she assumed was a bad migraine. All the while, Aria was watching her intently as the two locked eyes.

“You’re not looking so good. It’s been a while since our last break, anyways, so we’ll stop here for a bit and rest,” she said, plopping down into the snow as she returned her attention to the map.

While a break was appreciated, her head felt like it was ready to split open as the pain only seemed to worsen. Mana’s voice came through again, still distorted but manageable. She didn’t know how such a feat was possible, but she didn’t care. As for the coming migraine, she’d deal with it later.

“Mana!” she squealed in soft delight, keeping her distance from Aria, but not too far that she’d grow suspicious. “How are you even able to, uhh, talk to me, I guess? Is this magic? Are you using magic right now?” Lacia interrogated.

“It’s a long story,” Mana said, laughing. “More importantly, where are you right now? It looks cold, but Alura isn’t known for cold climates this time of year. Are you maybe near Buunit? You know, crazy weather and all. Maybe they got hit by a freak snowstorm.”

“No, but I can’t really explain everything right now, either. All I know is that we’re at the border of Alura and the Kingdom of Gila. Umm… As for myself,” Lacia said, “I’m alright. Mostly.” The ache in her foot told a different story, however. Even so, she was fortunate that things hadn’t been worse in her time away from Mana and Brendan.

“Ok, then we’re coming to get you, so sta—”

“We? Brendan is still with you? Thank goodness.” Lacia gave a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, and his friend Licht. Listen,” Mana said, “we can be there in a couple days. Gila is usually pretty friendly to Alurian people.”

Lacia grit her teeth. “You can’t save me… Not yet, anyways. It’s not that I don’t want to be— I’m just concerned you’re going to get yourselves mixed up in my problems again. You’re not under any obligation to find me right now,” she said. “What I will say is that we’re heading to the mainland to find a proper hospital. Long story short,” she said awkwardly, “my foot is kinda, a teeny bit, really broken. It’s okay-ish for now, but it’ll need more surgeries to completely fix it.”

“What?! What happened? Lacia…” It sounded like Mana had begun to cry. “I’m so sorry. I should have paid more attention that day we stopped off the highway.”

“Mana,” Lacia soothed, “I want nothing more than to go home right now, believe me, but there’s somewhere else I still have to be, and something I still don’t fully understand. They’re related in ways I just don’t really get, yet.” A wave of nausea brought Lacia to her knees. “Urg… But you know where we’re going, now. I’ll leave it to you, uh, three to do what you believe is best. For now, don’t apologize for something that no one could have predicted. If I’ve learned anything, there’s always a way to look at even the smallest of happy days.”

Mana sniffled. “I’m sorry it’s taking so long to find you, but we aren’t far. I think we’ve come across some useful information, too. Just… try to be safe. Okay?”

Lacia giggled. “I know, but thank you. I hate to cut things short like this, but whatever this is, it’s draining me. This link is draining me…” Lacia slammed her palms into the snow, trying to stabilize herself. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you soon. I promise.” Mana’s voice went quiet—she was gone.

Noticing her erratic movements, Aria walked over to investigate as Lacia hit the ground, ramming her shoulder several inches into the snow to absorb the impact. She was exhausted, like someone had wrung every last ounce of energy from her body and, of course, Aria was of little help.

“What…? Where in the world did all of your mana go?” Aria pondered aloud; the wind threatened to sweep her words away. “You are one surprise after the other, I swear. What’s next? You tell me you’re some famous internet personality?”

“L— Look. I don’t know what happened, but I feel like death warmed over right now,” Lacia replied. “And no, I’m not famous, and you’re s— still not funny.”

“It seems you need a quick lesson on mana,” Aria said, failing to grasp what was happening. “All living things retain mana, regardless of whether living organisms are aware of it or not,” she explained. “That goes for you, too, but yours is gone. Actually, it’s there, but I can only detect the bare minimum you need just to keep your body alive.”

Lacia’s vision slowly began to focus as a deep warmth spread throughout her body. She closed her eyes, embracing the influx of mana. She didn’t care where it came from, whose it was or why. Right now, all she wanted was to sleep.

“I’ve shared some of my mana with you,” Aria said, breathing heavily. “It should help your body replenish its own natural reserves, but whatever you did, don’t do it again,” she warned. “We still need shelter… Just, uhh, rest here for now…”

The coming night would be treacherous and cold, but Lacia was confident in Aria’s abilities, even if she was easy to manipulate. She enjoyed watching her struggle to pitch a tent as she faded in and out of sleep before ultimately falling into an exhausted slumber.

“Man… How am I this unlucky?” Aria complained, the falling snow her only companion.