Intangible Feelings

“Princess, you mustn’t. We haven’t even started your magic-control lessons yet!”

“Look,” Lacia snapped. “It’s because I’m the princess that I must leave. Earth can’t defend itself.” She slammed the book in her hand shut. The smell of old paper and dry ink filled her nostrils. “We don’t have time to start from square one, and I’m not enrolling in some academy so I can take more notes that I was never good at taking in the first place.”

“Kilhan really won’t be happy if you leave.”

Lacia sighed. “I appreciate the wonderful care you and the other maids have given me, Miss Hilan, but I really can’t stay. Kilhan will understand, trust me.”

A series of knocks came at the door. With a small nudge, the door creaked open; Kilhan stood in the frame, unamused. He must’ve overheard her conversation with Miss Hilan, but she couldn’t read him. He just stood there, poker-faced and unmoving.

“You’re a young woman now and can make your own decisions, so I won’t say you aren’t allowed to leave, but listen to me carefully, Lacia.” His eyes shone in the lamplight. “It isn’t that I’m not concerned about Earth—I am, but I have a duty to protect you and promise to keep to your mother. If I let you run around without having at least a semblance of how to control your powers, Eaukea would haunt me from the grave.”

“My mother isn’t here right now—”

“All the more reason you should wait. No one is forcing you to perform four years’ worth of coursework and magic instruction in less than a month. In theory, you’ve accomplished more than what we can teach you, but that’s why we must teach you how to use it.” He was firm, but not unswayable.

Lacia placed her hand on her chest. “This is my fight, and I have to carry on where my mother left off. Just because she’s not here doesn’t mean I don’t still love her, but it’s because she’s not here that I have to go.”

“And I won’t stop you, but there’s someone you need to meet first. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been around for quite some time. However,” he pulled a photo from a side pocket of his slacks, “I’d like you to take a look at this picture. Tell me if you know this girl, first.” He handed Lacia a photo of two little girls, toes dipped in a flowing river as they sat along the sandy bank. “And, Miss Hilan, you may go for the day. Thank you for tending to the princess, as always.”

“Of course. It’s always my pleasure.” She gave a small curtsey before leaving the room.

“So, tell me, Lacia. Do you recognize anything about that photo?”

She studied the photograph, eyes pouring over every detail. She recognized herself, a light blue ribbon tied up in her hair. The other girl looked as if she was trying to fight her for the same ribbon, but Lacia just sat there, grinning like nothing else mattered. The only semi-recognizable feature about the other girl was her hair, sun-kissed blonde, wavy, and full of volume, but hair alone wasn’t enough to put a name to a face.

Lacia shook her head. “I don’t recognize her, sorry.”

“Infuse a little of your mana into the photo and then tell me whether you recognize her or not. If you’re truly set on leaving, you need to know who she is.” Lacia looked hesitant. “All you have to do is close your eyes. Imagine your mana flowing into the picture, like that river.”

“Well, there’s no harm in trying if this is truly that important.”

She scooted her chair out from the desk, immediately engrossing herself amongst the silken bed sheets and throw pillows. Closing her eyes, she held the photo between her hands, mana seamlessly flowing into the image. A few moments later, she opened them again, frustrated that nothing had happened—except something had happened. She was no longer in her bedroom: everything was gone, replaced by what looked like a summer camp, emblazoned by the dawn’s morning sun.

“I think… I’ve been here before,” she said, nostalgically.

The suddenness of the sunrise startled her as it rose above the horizon. How long had it been since she’d seen the actual sun itself? Could feel its warm rays on her skin? Fresh sunbeams illuminated a row of wooden cabins, morning dew dripping from their logs. The smell of wet grass greeted her as it glistened in the sun like a freshly cut diamond.

Birds began their morning chorus as if they had been programmed to the rise and fall of the sun, eager to get a head start on their morning meals. It was peaceful, a stark contrast to what her reality had been lately: everyone’s supposed heroine, separation and loneliness—a ship without an anchor. She shuddered, not from unease, but from the cold mist that crept onto the camp like an unseen thief, out to steal the warming presence of the sun. She grabbed her arms, hands brushing every little goosebump like sandpaper.

“Hold on— I’m cold. This isn’t some strange dream. I can feel the goosebumps on my skin, which means this is real.” She made her way to the front of the nearest cabin, trying to see through the moisture-laden windows, hoping for a warmer reprieve. Her knuckles gave the door a small knock. No answer. She tried again, a little louder. Still nothing. She grabbed the door handle. “Don’t say I didn’t knock first… Just a poor, broken girl looking to get warm~”

She undressed the cabin with her eyes, hoping to uncover some clue as to where she was and how she got there. Blankets and sheets were perfectly folded in the center of each bunk, wooden chairs were pushed in, and the sink looked as if it hadn’t been used in weeks, but for some reason, the air was still pleasantly warm. She stood in the center of the main room, feet dripping with dew. The silence and warmth filled her with content, but she still felt awkward, like she’d just intruded on someone’s home, and it was too quiet.

The eerie lack of people was both strangely unnerving and surprisingly comforting, but then again, when was spending time surrounded by nature ever such a bad thing? She turned around to take one last look at the interior: her eyes fell upon a set of numbers she’d hoped she’d never see again, but there they were, hanging from the outside of the porch door.

“Cabin number 009— Yeah, that’s not creepy at all. Glad the doors didn’t magically lock me in there or something creepy like that,” she mumbled. “What do I have to do to erase those awful memories of the ship? Whatever,” she said, disgruntled. “Time to investigate the other cabins!”

The remainder of the cabins were in nearly the same condition as the first: tidy, unused, and warm. Before exiting the final cabin, a piece of paper floated to the floor at her feet. It had likely been dislodged when she opened the main door, but where did it come from? A sharp pain erupted across her forehead as she stooped down to pick it up. She sat down on the couch, examining the blotched ink.

“God, you’d think I’d be used to the headaches by now…” She pressed her hand to her head, trying to ease the pain. “This paper… It’s a list of all the campers per cabin.” She scanned the list. “Cabin 009… Lacia Amana: Camper No. 009.” She crumpled the paper up and threw it across the room. “Ok— I’ve officially had enough of this.” Her head felt like it was on fire. She stood up, using the armrest for support. “Dammit… There has to be something around for pain, right?” She rummaged through the kitchen and bathroom cabinets before finding a bottle of pain relivers and jar of herbal tea.

Everything was right where she expected: the medicine bottle, kettle, sugar cubes—even fresh milk. The more she dug around, the less she wanted to find; she felt like she was being watched. Having brewed a quick cup of tea, she retrieved the crumpled paper from the floor as she read over the list again. One name in particular stood out, but the ink had been smudged, obscuring the last name.

“Lyra… I wonder if this is the same girl I met back in Chiipha… When I really think about it—”

The front door suddenly slammed open, banging against the wall as Lacia spilled hot tea across her lap. She jumped, which only aggravated her headache. Her head suddenly grew fuzzy, and her ears rang with a steady hum before she lost her balance, falling back onto the table, splintering the wood. The impact cleared her head just enough to come to one of two conclusions: either the devils had been tipped off, or they’d somehow been keeping tabs on her whereabouts.

The rough scratch of rope burned irritating red rashes into her skin. She was helpless, crumpled on the floor in agony. Whomever had stormed into the cabin clearly meant business, seeing as they’d wasted no time in tying her up like a hog. Frustration filled her like a rage as she felt articles of clothing ripped from her body. She cursed herself for not paying more attention to the magic control lessons Miss Hilan had been giving her, but even if she could use her magic, she was in too much pain to even think clearly; she needed focus, and focus wasn’t something she had.

“I don’t see any. Should we just take her with us anyways?” A male voice spoke.

“No. If there are no runes on her body at all, then she’s not a true Illiern, and we’ve been chasing the wrong person this whole time,” another male voice replied.

“So, what do we do with her then?”

There was a momentary pause as they considered their next move, and Lacia took advantage of it. The underside of the table was made of glass; all she had to do was find a big enough shard to cut her bindings and she’d be free. The two men didn’t seem too intelligent, so all she had to do was, somehow, grab a big enough piece and slowly—

“Unf!”

One of the men planted a firm kick into her side, winding her as she gasped for air. The sudden lack of oxygen plunged her into a daze. It all felt like a dream, caught somewhere between half-awake and barely conscious. The boundaries between reality and a pain-induced stupor were beginning to fade.

“Watch it. That Ahzef guy told us to be careful. He wants her in pristine condition and he’s gonna be mad if you break something,” the first voice said.

She played unconscious. She allowed her breathing to steady, carefully listening in on the conversation of the two, still squabbling, idiots. They reminded her of children, bickering about who said what—annoying and useless. Maybe if they kept fighting, they’d just forget about her, and she’d be able to crawl away.

“She looks the exact same as the picture Ahzef gave us, though. How can you be certain that she isn’t who we’re after?” The second voice had grown uncertain.

“Because there isn’t a single rune on her body. Obviously, we can’t have word of this getting out to anyone, so we’ll just throw her in the lake. Definitely can’t her running off to the police, you know?” The first voice was decisive. “We’ll just tell that Azhef fella that his data was wrong, and she wasn’t here. This poor lass was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Her heart skipped a beat as she felt them pick her up. Thankfully, she’d semi-planned for such a scenario, but if she moved too early, she’d blow her only chance at escape. The picture Kilhan gave her was still pinned to her thigh, held in place by a garter belt.

“Who knew lingerie could be used for more than just risqué looks?” she thought.

If her hunch was correct, the photo had something to do with why she’d been transported to the summer camp—some kind of magical glitch. Reaching the photo, however, was going to be a challenge: her arms were bound to her feet, suspended in the air. She clenched her teeth in frustration—just a finger, that was all she needed.

“All of this magical teleporting business is growing old.”

The two men adjusted their grip, knocking her against the side of furniture pieces and the cabin door; it was just enough to loosen her poorly-done bindings, allowing her to sneakily move a hand down her thigh. Their hold on the rope had also created a light sway, widening the slit of her dress, subsequently exposing the picture—the opportunity she’d been waiting for.

“Just in case we’re wrong and screw this up, Ahzef said she can use magic—that is, if this really is the Iliern girl and we’re wrong,” the second voice said. “If we just throw her in and leave, she might still get away. Best to make sure we finish the job. I’d hate to make that guy mad if we mistook the girl’s identity and ruined his plans.”

They stopped moving. Lacia could hear water lapping against the shoreline as anxiety chased the blood through her veins. Was this the nightmare she used to have? The one where she was drowning? If her hunch was wrong, was she doomed to a watery grave, after all? It didn’t matter who she was anymore. They were going to throw her into the lake and drown her anyways!

“Then use this neriolite stone or whatever. I don’t know why, but it’s supposed to have a negative effect on her. Secure it to her body, and it should ensure she drowns successfully. Can’t have anyone getting word of this, even if it is the Iliern girl, but I’m certain it’s not—it can’t be. We have one shot at getting this right.”

“Understood,” the second voice said nervously. “So, we’re died either way if he finds out, then?”

Lacia felt her stomach hit the ground. “God, I hope those useless crunches we used to do in Gym class come in clutch.”

She freed her arms and legs the rest of the way, lunging forward as she tried to pull herself close enough to reach the photo. At the same moment she reached for the photo, a sharp pain tore through her hand and thigh. Blood flowed from fresh stab wounds, but she managed to grab the photo, funneling her mana through the now blood-stained image. The world began to morph into a fuzzy depiction of her room where she’d left Kilhan. Freedom from the hellish camp was in sight—the one time she wouldn’t mind teleporting somewhere.

“More,” she demanded. “More!”

She took a deep breath… of water. Her eyes shot open. There, at the shoreline, the two bickering men stood; they’d thrown her in the water without hesitation! Air bubbles filtered to the surface as the morning light faded into watery darkness, ensuring her single-worst nightmare: she was going to drown. She tried to kick her legs, but it was no use. The neriolite had been tied around her ankle, and her hands had been bound at the wrist again—there was no way to swim to the surface, even if she wanted to.

The deeper she sank, the colder the water became. Her lungs screamed at her, but what little oxygen remained was useless, and she didn’t have gills. The more air she lost, struggling, the faster she sank until she hit the lakebed, expelling the last of the oxygen in her lungs. How could water bring the gift of life while taking it away all the same?

There was no sense in trying to free herself. By the time she even got close, she’d be seconds from drowning, but if there was even the slightest chance she could escape with her life, it was worth a shot. She rubbed her arms and legs raw, rope digging into her skin, but it was resilient: she couldn't loosen her bindings underwater.

“Dammit, Lacia, think! There has to be something I’m missing here…”

Suddenly, an unexpected, gargled static played in her ears: “La… c— Can… hear …e?”

“That sounded like Licht, but how?”

A large bubble formed around her, displacing the water as it filled with oxygen, creating a clean pocket of breathable air. Whatever was happening, she didn’t care; she no longer at risk of drowning, and, since she was hidden beneath the water, she could wait for the two men to leave, unseen by either one. She mashed her knees into the muddy earth as water expelled itself from her lungs. Gross, but she was happy to be alive. She struggled with her bindings for another minute before giving up.

“There we go. Now I have a clear signal,” Licht’s voice came, this time much clearer.

A small vibration tickled the back of Lacia’s hand. She jumped, but it was just the leyliner. Still, never in her wildest dreams did she think Licht would be the one saving her, and at the bottom of a lake, of all places. She squeezed the water from her hair before pushing her bangs out of her face—the dress could come later.

“Licht,” she croaked, “how the hell did you find me? I thought I was about to drown. I’ve had nightmares about this kind of thing!” She tried to stand, but the stab wound in her thigh still hurt. Sighing, she returned to the muddy lakebed, knees caked. “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to be able to cut these ropes, would you?”

“It’s not that I didn’t know where you were,” he said. “It’s that I couldn’t get a strong-enough signal to reach you.” Lacia’s binds snapped as they fell into the mud. “I don’t know where you went, but when you appeared on the leyliner again, I knew I had to find you.”

She rubbed her wrists where the rope had dug into her skin. “Let me be more specific: How did you know I was drowning and where this place was?” She paused. “Actually, where is this place, and what happened to that neriolite? Did it just… disappear after you cut the ropes?”

“Can’t say. I’ve yet to actually see one, but I also don’t have a visual feed, either. As for the leyliner, it’s always sampling the environment around it, so when it detected an abundant field of water, I deployed a small mana field to create a pocket of air,” he explained. “I don’t know where we are, but something tells me that, with a better look, you will.”

“What makes him think I’ll know where we are?” she wondered. “I don’t know. I mean, maybe but,” she stared at the wall of water sloshing against the mana bubble, “there’s a lot you’ll be explaining later. For now… How do we get out of here?”

“The same way you went in.”

She looked up, wondering how deep she was. It had taken at least a couple minutes to hit the lakebed. Swimming back to the surface might kill her even faster: she would have to expend more energy than she had, considering the stab wound in her hand and thigh.

“I’ll have to try and heal it myself when I get out of here,” she mumbled. “Whatever good that’ll do…”

Without warning, the air bubble lifted her from the mud as it slowly ascended to the surface. A school of fish swam around her as she peered through the transparent pocket of air. She felt like a child in an aquarium on a school field trip, mesmerized by the watery sunlight reflecting off the fish scales. Moments later, she broke the surface. Water slid off the sides of the bubble before it abruptly popped, depositing her back onto the rocky shoreline, wincing as she landed on her tailbone.

“Fair warning, the current OS has a bug that can read your thoughts. Be careful what you think while you have this line open,” Licht cautioned. “The operating system itself is still in its early stages, but I think I’ve isolated the code that’s causing the bug.”

“Normally, I’d hit someone for saying something creepy like that, but since you just saved my life, I guess I can’t be too upset.” She looked around, nervously scouting the camp for her attempted killers, but they were nowhere to be seen. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

The sun was already high in the sky; midday was in full swing. Just how long had she been in the water? The sun had barely risen when she found herself dumped in the center of the camp, and she’d been tied up not even thirty minutes later. How did so much time pass between then and now? Shouldn’t she have drowned hours ago if time really was passing that fast?

“Licht. What time is it?”

“A quarter to ten. Why?”

“Ahzef sent me to another world, another dimension, like ours. While I was there, I watched as the sun was devoured and the moon crumbled into dust. Ahzef doesn’t want to just change the world—he wants to destroy it and rewrite it.” Lacia wrung the water from the skirt of her dress before finishing. “This world,” she emphasized, “is next on his list, and we’re running out of time like crazy fast.”

“As soon as you figure out where you are, let me know how far you are from Seria.” Concern had crept into his voice. “If what you just said is true, we need to regroup with Brendan and the others. We definitely have a lot to talk about, absolutely.”

“To answer your first question, by the way,” she replied, “I asked because the sun is too high in the sky for it not even being ten yet. Something is happening to our sun and day-night cycles,” she clarified. “Unfortunately, to answer your other question, I’m still not sure where I— Actually… Maybe I do.”

The rusted remains of an old metal sign glinted in the sunlight. She pushed aside the tall grass to find it half-buried in the earth. The sun had faded the once-orange and blue sign into a rust-colored heap. She couldn’t help but note the irony of the undisturbed cabins and the disheveled appearance of the camp sign. The camp’s very identity had been reduced to nothing more than useless scrap metal.

“Camp Solsummer,” she read aloud. “So, I think that’s just a little outside of Seria?”

“Got it,” Licht said. “Stay put until I get there and, preferably, try not to draw attention to yourself. It’s going to make this a lot harder on me if you get caught,” he joked.

“Honestly, I kind of feel like making a run to the convenience store. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find Ahzef there while I’m paying for my snacks,” she said sarcastically.

“Do you tease everyone like this, or…?”

“Seeing as you’re the only one I can tease at the moment, just you.”

A shouting match suddenly erupted from the other side of the lake, and by the sounds of things, someone wasn’t very happy. Lacia crouched down in the tall grass as she listened to the ensuing shouting match. The thick reeds and tall grass concealed her figure as she crept around, trying to get a better view of the conversation. The damp green and muddy brown splotches on her dress made for perfect camouflage.

“I think you jinxed me,” she whispered. “Someone’s fighting on the other side of the lake, and they’re super mad. Any way you can enhance my hearing with this thing, too? I’d like to know what’s going on.”

With a small chirp and tiny click, the shouts were suddenly much clearer. She almost wished she hadn’t asked Licht to boost her hearing, though. There were multiple voices, not just one, she realized, and it sounded like one of them was desperate to defend themselves. To make matters worse, she recognized the voice: it was one of the two men who’d thrown her in the lake.

“We stuck around for twenty minutes to make sure she didn’t come back up. We even tied her hands, feet, and threw in that weird stone you gave us for good measure. Besides, if there’s no blood trail anywhere, how do we really even know she got away, and we just didn’t see her corpse?” It was the first man’s voice.

Another, familiar, voice joined the fray. “I explicitly warned you two idiots that she was no ordinary girl and to keep an eye on her. Not dead—alive! I don’t care if there was a ninety-nine percent chance she would have lived. You were supposed to bring her back to me unharmed!” A series of loud swears travelled across the water. “Why could have possibly compelled you to try and drown her?”

“We’ll go back in and look again. We just must’ve missed ‘er,” the second man from earlier said.

“You do that and when you come back up, explain to me why there’s a giant wet spot over on the other end of the lake that’s about the size of a human girl.”

“Licht,” Lacia whispered, “there’s three other people here. Two of them include the apes that tried to drown me. The third, I’m almost certain, is Ahzef.”

“I hope you’re not referring to all men as oversized monkeys when you say ‘apes’.” He sounded almost hurt. “Man, I feel like I’m in a Grand Prix or something with how fast this car goes! I should be there in a couple minutes. I’ll idle at the entrance to the camp, so try to make your way there as quickly and quietly as you can.”

“We’ll talk about my ‘apes’ comment later… I’ll meet you at the front as soon as I can.”

More shouting skimmed across the lake. Good. The tall grass and thick reeds would also help dampen the sound of her footsteps. She crawled through on her hands and knees until she reached the closest cabin, creeping around the side. Once she made her way around to the back, she’d make the sprint towards the front of camp.

“Tell you what,” Ahzef’s voiced thundered. “You two can join her supposedly overlooked corpse at the bottom of the lake. In fact, I’ll even give you an assist!” A series of loud splashes broke the glassy composure of the water’s surface. Lacia spun around as she watched the bodies of her attempted killers hit the water… piece by piece. “If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself, I guess. Isn’t that right, Lacia?” he shouted.

“Why mention me specifically? I don’t kill people when they get something wrong,” she cringed. A tinge of cynicism crept into her voice. “Maybe I should start a podcast and call it Lacia’s Cynical Thoughts or something. Lord knows I’m hitting my petty era.”

“Did you forget my little insurance policy? Tell me, Lacia, where is it that you think you can hide?” he continued shouting.

She approached the backside of the cabin, out of sight of the waterfront and Ahzef. The front of the camp was just up ahead, though it looked like Licht hadn’t arrived yet and there were no signs of any approaching vehicles. She expected to hear an engine, tires on gravel—something, but there was nothing. She couldn’t outrun Ahzef forever and, without Licht, she was stuck.

”Licht, where are you? I’m nearly to the entrance gates,” she hissed.

“Sorry— Had to make a detour. I’m still a couple minutes out,” the leyliner crackled.

“A couple minutes is a couple minutes too long, and I have a funny feeling Ahzef isn’t taking detours.” More cynicism.

“Keep moving, Lacia. If I stop the car and he hears the engine start again, he’s going to know we’re both here, but if he doesn’t, there’s a chance we avoid his detection entirely.” His voice was stern. "I can slow down, but you’re going to have to jump in. If you miss—”

“Have I told you what happens if you miss? We all die. That’s what happens,” she blurted out. “I will hang from the doorhandles if I have to—just don’t be late.”

She sneaked past several other cabins, finally reaching the front entrance of the camp a minute later. Ahzef was still kicking mounds of flesh and blood-soaked dirt into the lake like an angry child—there was time. The longer he spent on his temper tantrum, the better.

She knew Licht wouldn’t drive off without her, but if she missed the car, she would lose precious time. If he had to loop back around, it would take at least another minute to reorient the vehicle and throw the doors open.

“I didn’t get to use my other toys against you during my fight with Hika. I wonder how she’s doing now, considering she exploded like an overstuffed pig,” Ahzef taunted from the other side of the lake.

Ignoring his heartless taunts, Lacia hid herself behind a tree closest to the road, anxiously waiting for Licht. Her heart pounded against her ribs; she tried to steady her breathing but her whole body shook with anxiety. To make matters worse, Ahzef was now walking across the water, which was terrifying in of itself, but what frightened her most was the inhuman, disjointed curl of two of his fingers. Her heart rate jumped at least another twenty beats per minute.

“Let me hear you scream, girl. If I can’t contain you, then I’ll just kill you and steal that lovely little gift of yours that way.” The devil’s voice oozed with malice. “This was supposed to be over and done with already, but you and that bratty Miruna girl have managed to prolong your lives for another two years! It’s incredible! Incredibly irritating.”

Lacia watched, panicked, as he dragged his fingers across the palm of his hand, curling inward over and over like some kind of finger gymnastics. She felt herself up and down, expecting to find either a missing body part, a bleeding gash in her stomach, or more broken bones, but nothing happened. Was she just immune to his attacks now, or was he only able to use his “insurance policy” when she was within a certain range of him?

The steady hum of an approaching car instilled her with renewed clarity: she needed to keep moving and increase the distance between her and Azhef. She would leap through the air, slide into the backseat, promptly pull the doors shut, and tell Licht to gun it—that she wanted to be as far away from this god-forsaken place as possible. She watched as the vehicle began to slow, passenger doors flying open.

“It’s certainly no carriage, but it’ll have to do. This princess is not about to be locked up for a third time.” She sprinted for the car, calculating its speed, her momentum, and how much force she’d need to jump into the back seat at just the right angle to avoid being splattered like a bug. “I guess Ahzef bought the knockoff insurance because it’s clearly not very helpful,” she said smugly.

She could see Licht in the driver’s seat, motioning for her to hurry, but what was that look of panic on his face and… was he mouthing something?

“Don’t… turn… around?” she mouthed back.

He nodded fervently.

A sharp sting tore through her ankles, causing her to stumble mid-sprint. Something dark and shapeless shot up a nearby tree as the leaves began to brown, trunk rotting away. With a crash, the rotted tree fell across the path behind her, kicking up a cloud of dust and dead leaves. Ahzef really was intent on killing her this time, and it didn’t seem he was going to take “no” for an answer, either.

Despite her stumble, she managed to regain her balance just in time, finding herself parallel with Licht and the car, but she was still too far to make the jump. She reached out, fingertips just grazing the edge of the backseat door. Instead of catching a ride, she caught a face-full of gravel and dirt.

“Dammit!” she stomped. “I missed it by an inch… There’s no way you knew what we were planning. Was it just a lucky coincidence?” There was no sense in trying to hide at this point. A kicked rock skidded by her, clacking up the gravel drive. “I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? You knew I was still here.” Her hair whipped in the wake of the car as she turned to face Ahzef, standing behind her.

“Perceptive as always, Lacia,” he clapped. “Last chance! Either come with me, or rot away like that tree.”

“I’d honestly rather try my luck at making friends with a yeti, but thanks for the offer anyways,” she said smugly. “It looks like I’ll have to buy my own time this time—” The sound of squealing tires and burning rubber infiltrated her senses. “That idiot… He turned around. It’s too bad for you, Ahzef. I won’t miss my ride this time. This princess’ carriage awaits!”

“Then I won’t miss either,” he sneered. He pulled the string of a makeshift bow, firing another decaying black mass at Lacia—faster than she could blink.

Time seemed to drag on her like wading water: she watched the string on the bow vibrate, the leaves on the trees ripple with the wind, and the lingering dust cloud settle. It was like a hypnotic dream. The weird, goopy mass streaked past her in a blur; if it hadn’t been for the strange time glitch or whatever, she would have been killed, but she’d have to figure out that mystery later.

While she’d only been grazed, just how much damage had been done? Would her flesh start to rot away like the tree from earlier? Did it matter where she’d been hit? She allowed an onslaught of panic to overtake her as her face erupted in a flurry of blisters and searing pain. She pressed her hand against her cheek as hot flashes tore through her body like seismic waves.

Tears streamed down her face, the salty sobs stinging her cheek, but she mustered up the courage to sear the rotting flesh away—another time she could conveniently use magic. The pain was agonizing as she cauterized her own cheek. Her knees plunged into the gravel. Dizzy from pain, she attempted to catch her breath. How long had she been holding it? When did she stop breathing?

“We could have avoided all of this if you’d just been cooperative. It’s too bad I have to kill you now.” Ahzef’s voice rose in pitch, overjoyed at the chance take her life. “Too, too bad.”

She stared at the ground, hair dangling in front of her face like thousands of hyper-thin needles. The pain from her cheek had spread to her temples and across her forehead. She felt like she’d just returned from a jog on a chilly autumn morning: the pain was numbing her senses and her lungs felt like they were inhaling fire. Or… was it pain? What was she feeling?

“Not only did you destroy my makeup by having those stupid, nasty, ape-like men throw me in the lake, but you also forced me to tear my own face up with whatever you shot at me,” she muttered, hand pressed against her face. “I’m not some fragile—”

A hand wrapped itself around her neck, lifting her off the ground. She kicked her feet as she grabbed at her neck, struggling to breathe, but she couldn’t free herself. Her eyes watered from the strain, teary images obscuring her vision. The trees and gravelly road had become obfuscated blurs of green, brown, and grey. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her eyes continued to water.

“It’s true you have a wonderfully pretty face,” Ahzef said, “but that won’t matter once you’re dead now, will it? Just think: no more fighting, no more suffering; you won’t have to worry about a thing,” he soothed.

She continued to squirm as Ahzef tightened his grip. “You won’t gain anything from my death,” she choked, “but by all means—sabotage your own plans.”

Azhef tightened his grip further. “I’ll crush your throat right here and now. Don’t tempt me, girl.”

Something in her peripherals suddenly caught her attention, and it had started moving, scurrying around in the underbrush, but she couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe a bird or a squirrel? Her eyes were watering so much she wondered if they would float out of their sockets. Whatever it was, she knew better than to draw attention to it; if it was Licht, she could put his life at risk. Regardless, she just had to hope he had a plan, but she wasn’t sure how long she could keep Ahzef’s attention.

“Before I kill you, why don’t you tell me how I can find this so-called Omnis and that second halipher. If you do that, I’ll be merciful and kill you quickly instead of making you whimper at my feet as I break every bone in your body. Deal?”

“I don’t know what… you’re… talking about.” Her voice had been reduced to a hoarse whisper. “I never… had it. Aria—”

“Wrong answer.”

“I swear—”

He sucker-punched her in the stomach, forcing the last of the air from her lungs. “Those are beautiful nails you have. The polish looks expensive, too. It’d be a shame if one were to… get torn off.”

Lacia’s eyes grew wide. She didn’t want to imagine the excruciating torment that would come from having her fingernails pulled off, and she had a feeling Ahzef would relish every moment of her pain. Her cheek was one thing, but having to endure her own fingernails pulled from their beds was another. The mental pain alone was enough to make her writhe.

She stared into his eyes, focusing her attention on Ahzef, but she kept up with the movement in the underbrush from her peripherals. She squinted, forcing the excess tears from her eyes as she tried to clear her vision. With a somewhat clearer picture, she realized that what she’d thought was just some animal was anything but. Licht had been crawling around, undetected, which explained why she couldn’t hear the car, and there was an open wound on his hand. Strangely enough, the blood looked as if it had been smeared, like he’d been using it to draw something.

“What is that boy up to?” She was thoroughly confused.

He stayed low, using the underbrush and trees to keep himself hidden. The leyliner must have been reading her thoughts, after all; he briefly popped his head up and gave her a goofy smile before diving back into the greenery and dirt. Moments later, his head appeared again as he gave her an abrupt, and confusing, thumbs up.

“A thumbs up? I’m about to be slaughtered, and he’s playing around in the dirt like some animal—like he thinks this is a joke!”

“Any last words, Miss Amana? Or, should I say, Miss Iliern?”

“You don’t… know me.” Her blue eyes washed over the devil.

A loud snap rolled through the campground, illuminating a series of red sigils that had been slathered on the trees, hidden by the brown bark; Licht had activated something. Several of the sigils took on a honeycomb pattern. Others resembled a series of triangles, woven into the shape of stars. Regardless of their shape, they looked like they’d been drawn by a grade-school child. Each sigil glowed with the intensity of a large flame as they grew increasingly more luminescent, bleaching everything in fierce white light.

“I’ve been hoping to practice my magic a little more,” Licht said, proud. “After all, I had two years to hone my skills, and sitting around in that apartment tinkering with random shit just wasn’t a vibe.” For a moment, even Ahzef was stunned by his sudden situational command. “Hope you won’t mind if I learned a few tricks from a certain someone.” He gave Lacia a wink.

Ahzef hurled Lacia into the air before focusing on Licht, but he was… gone. “Aghh! Why does it keep getting brighter?!” he snarled. “As soon as I find you, I’m going to dice you like an onion—right in front of the little princess here, too! I’ll clean up the mess Lucifero and Kuria created myself! How about that?”

“Well, I’m not sure how you’re going to dice her up if she’s with me,” Licht said. His face was pensive, standing behind Ahzef, Lacia cradled in his arms. “I mean, if you want her that bad, I guess I could just hand her over.” His face grew even more pensive. “Alright. Here— Catch!”

“Huh? Wait! What the hell are you doing, you moron?!” Lacia yelled.
Don’t give me back to him!” A sharp scowl crossed her face. “If Ahzef doesn’t kill you, you had better hope I don’t.”

Ahzef stood there, remarkably confused, eyebrows furrowed. She landed in his arms as Licht disappeared in a literal flash, light from the strange sigils dimming. Lacia was dumbfounded. Her mouth fell open; she couldn’t believe he’d come to rescue her one moment just to give her back to Ahzef like some kind of trade the next.

“So, uhh, how about not killing me—”

“Out of the question,” Ahzef said, promptly breaking one of her pinkies. “I will not play this stupid game of tag you keep engaging me in, but you will play one of my favorite games: how many bones can I break before the heroine dies?” He continued with her right hand, snapping one finger after the other like a twig without even lifting a finger himelf. He tapped on the foot she’d broken two years, though, by now, it had healed nicely, leaving just a tiny scar. “Tell me, does it hurt when I do this?” He twirled a finger around in a circle; Lacia’s foot followed with the same agonizing motion.

For a moment, she thought she heard someone twisting an empty plastic water bottle, but that couldn’t be right; there was no one else around besides Licht and Ahzef, and neither one of them seemed like they were in the mood for microplastic drinks. Then, the pain hit: she vomited what she thought was blood, but the pain was so intense, so numbing, all she could focus on was the ground as she squirmed out of Ahzef’s arms. It radiated up her legs, past her tailbone, and into her lower back. She turned to look at her foot, toes pointing down instead of up, and immediately emptied the contents of her stomach onto the gravel drive, giving it a pale, reddish-pink spot. Ahzef had separated the fibula from the rest of the foot as it laid limp like a rubber toy.

She wasn’t sure what happened next: either Licht had managed to get her back, and she was lying face-up in the back seat of the car, or she was hallucinating from the pain, and she was back inside some secret lab, another test subject. It didn’t matter, either way; she felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to her lower body and swung with all their might, deciding to unleash pent-up fury onto her leg after smashing her hand. She imagined a burly lumberjack pounding her leg over and over like he was trying to saw through a tree, just with a sledgehammer instead of an axe. She didn’t care if it made sense or not; she didn’t care about anything at the moment. Her nerves were telling her brain to focus on the pain. Nothing else mattered—just focus on the pain.

“Hey, devil man. You can’t just go around breaking people’s bones like that, ya know?” Licht stood at the entrance to the camp, feet planted between the pavement and gravel road. “Oh, and I’m taking her with me this time. Thanks for holding onto her for me,” he said, pointing back with his thumb.

Lacia blinked in bewilderment. Did she hear him right? Was she really safe again? She couldn’t tell, but she still didn’t care. Every nerve in her body was feeding her brain with obsessive amounts of pain signals; every thought echoed through her mind like she was lost in a dark cave, simultaneously caught between the confines of a delusional fever. Nothing was making sense. Words went in one ear and out the other. She was so doped up on pain and adrenaline she didn’t realize she was digging holes into the leather seats with her broken fingers.

“Would you care to know the outcome of what happens next?” Licht questioned. “Trees go very bright and big boom.”

The sigils he’d painted onto the trees burst into an array of dazzling white and midnight black as a series of lines swept across the ground, connecting each sigil to its nearest neighbor. They chased each other through the trees and into the underbrush, transforming the cabins, lake, and surrounding environment into a surrealistic version of an 8-bit video game: blocky colors, pixelated, and boxed-in. The real world devolved into a retro void that offered nothing but solitude.

Ahzef lunged forward, clawing away at the new 8-bit, sidescroller-like enclosure, but it rebuilt itself faster than it could be torn apart. The walls fabricated themselves over and over, higher than the stratosphere, as the final pixels filled with more blocky color, an ironic prison of infinite entertainment.

“You’re the next one I kill after the Princess, boy,” he warned.

Shivers bristled Licht’s spine, but the job was done. “He won’t be leaving for a while, but it won’t last forever. Still, it should buy us some good time,” he explained, turning around to face Lacia. “I’m sorry about the fingers and the foot. I didn’t think things through as much as I probably should have, but in my defense, it was all spur-of-the-moment. Algorithms can’t predict the actions of a devil yet,” he apologized, creating a similar 8-bit space around her hand and foot. “This will at least keep the bones together and help your pain levels some. It’s not a perfect fix, though.”

Color slowly returned to Lacia’s face, finally able to comprehend what he’d just told her as she loosened her grip on the seat. Her non-injured cheek reddened both from embarrassment and a lingering tinge of anger. It was embarrassing, going from protector to protected, but she still wanted to strangle him for giving her back.

“Whatever,” she breathed. Her face was plastered with sweat. “I didn’t stand a chance against him still. It just feels like I take two steps back every time I move.” She wondered what it would take to finally be able to hold her own in a fight. “Just… drive.” She gazed out the window, avoiding Licht’s eyes in the rearview mirror as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “I want to get as far away from this place as humanly possible—for more reasons than one.”

He nodded. They didn’t have to exchange words to know what the other was thinking. He’d purposefully disconnected the leyliner to give Lacia as much time with her thoughts as possible. The mood didn’t seem despondent, though. It was more like an acknowledgement of each other’s feelings, their desire to feel useful for once, but it was plagued by an underlying sense of uncertainty. Was it about the future? Feelings of uselessness or not being good enough? Or was it just a moment of awkward silence?

“We’ll head for Buunit,” Licht said. “Seria has become too centralized. Many of the refugees from the earthquake a couple years ago have overwhelmed the city. Government resources have been strained, so it’s become hard to allocate funds to certain things.” He put the car in gear. “Buunit is, well, it hasn’t changed since Mana and Brendan left. It’s a snowy, secluded town at the northern fringes of Alura which will make us hard to track, especially if we can figure out how to suppress your mana.” He watched Lacia raise an eyebrow. “I’ll explain once we’re all together again but, for now, I put our time apart to good use.”

She sighed. “I trust you, and I don’t blame you for what happened back at the camp. After all, we got away, and I think we can work out the foot situation—again. As for my hand… Honestly, I really don’t know what’s more inconvenient to have broken.” The forested summer camp was quickly replaced by a blur of asphalt and green trees as the car sped up the road. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. The only person who, I guess, can explain all of this isn’t even on Earth, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to find her—to get to Chiipha.”

The outskirts of Seria came into view, sprawling across the landscape. Lacia glued her eyes to the window as she took in the enormity of the architecture: towering skyscrapers, infinite street signs, and rows of restaurants alongside the occasional multi-story hotel gleaming with glass.

“I guess she’s never really seen a big city before,” he surmised. He’d heard Azalea was a small community, comprised mostly of small shops and about a handful of main roads. Even so, people never seemed to want to leave. Maybe it was the community-oriented nature of the town; everyone was pretty close with each other. “Still, should be good for her to finally see some of the world.”

Whereas Azalea was a compact community, nestled between a gentle river and small forest to the south, Seria was more like a symbol of growth and change, something that went beyond the present moment; skyscrapers symbolized opportunity and the ability to reach for expansive dreams: careers in medicine or entertainment, self-starter small business opportunities, even a budding idol industry and underground rock music scene had recently come to life.

A chill snuck its way into the car as a light blanket of snow began to coat the roadways. He couldn’t place what he was feeling, though. It seemed strange at first, being just feet from the girl that could either be everyone’s savior or everyone’s demise. Was she the reason he found himself entangled in the threads of fate and chaos, or was his role something more complex than he’d realized? He searched the archives of his mind, back to before he met Lacia, but nothing stood out to him. He was the one with all the knowledge. There had to be something, some kind of sign, that he’d missed years ago. Everything had happened so suddenly: Lacia, the devils, Chiipha—

He glanced at Lacia in the rearview mirror, cheek pressed against the window. What was it like for her? She was the one both Earth and Chiipha were relying on. He wondered just how much that weighed on her mind.

After Brendan and Mana left Buunit to find Lacia two years ago, he couldn’t help but stand there and watch as their silhouettes faded into the endless night and blanket of snow. For the first time in his life, he’d felt truly alone. He couldn’t imagine being held captive on some boat in the middle of nowhere, used for unethical experiments, away from the only life and people he’d ever known. He knew Lacia would have to grapple with her past eventually, but he could at least relate to her loneliness. He’d thrown his own life away to escape the torments of the world around him, isolating himself in a run-down bar in the middle of nowhere. He never could have imagined his life would change so much so fast, and all because of this girl…

Lacia caught his eye in the rearview mirror and gave him a small laugh which she immediately regretted. She was tired of broken bones and everything hurting all the time. She missed feeling like she wasn’t chained to some universal fate that only entailed more suffering.

“Either we play childish car games, or we get to know each other. Is that what you’re thinking?” she chuckled.

“You got me. It’s a long drive to Buunit, anyways. I’ll fill you in on some of the in-betweens before Ahzef attacked us back at the Gila border, too. What do you say?”

“Well, I’m sitting here with several broken fingers and a broken foot, again, and Aria is the only one who can use healing magic right now, so… help me take my mind off things? I wouldn’t mind hearing a little more about your time with Brendan and Mana.”

“Sure thing.” He took a deep breath. “My name is Licht Hinaar, and it’s nice to meet you, Miss—”

“Ook. Stop right there,” she giggled. “While it’s nice having your last name, we definitely don’t have to start from scratch—or be so formal. Drop the ‘Miss’ and try again.”

The remaining fringes of sunlight fell behind the clouds, no longer able to provide the muscle-easing warmth she’d been using to warm her back. What had been a trial of a day gradually turned into something neither of them had expected, but it was nice. The presence of the other was the one thing keeping them going, and the world was a big place. Trying to navigate the uncharted waters ahead of them alone would only lead to more problems. Dark purple bruises lined the underneath of both their eyes, testament to the trying last couple of years. Still, companionship wasn’t so bad.

“Thank you,” he whispered to himself. “You’re really a one-of-a-kind person, Lacia.”

“Did you… say something?”

“Nah,” he laughed. “So, about Mana and Brendan."