When teleporting somewhere using magic, you would almost always ´feel´ something. Maybe it was a slight pressure in your stomach, some slight pins, and needles, or maybe it felt like doing a million flips in a single instant.

All of these, I had, at some point, tried out. Using the experience, it had formed a pattern. The more Talented the Mage, in question, is, the fewer side-effects you would feel.

Just before Teleporting to the third floor, I had expected to feel nothing at all. Zet was, after all, one of the more Powerful people I knew. He had intercepted my thoughts directed at whatever being who was supposed to interpret my Primal Mana usage. Even if he hadn't done that, I would have instantly known from looking in his eyes. They were a flowing river, constantly colors and patterns. Looking at them for too long even caused me a headache.

If there was one word I had to use to describe the experience of Teleporting with Zet, it would be Clusterfuck. That single word pretty much summed it all up.

After walking through the Gateway, I was immediately bombarded with concepts I didn't understand, ideas that were pure madness, and emotions I had never felt. All this caused me to instantly lose consciousness… and then be instantly woken up again, only to lose consciousness once more. This continued in again, again, and again.

How I moved forward to doing all this, was a mystery to even myself. How I managed to still hold Elora, even more.

When we reached, what I could only presume was, the end, I didn't know how much time had passed. Didn't really care, honestly. I was simply glad it was over.

Looking upwards, from my resting place AKA the stone floor, I see a Zet sheepishly smiling at me.

“The first time´s always the roughest”, he said, with a reminiscent tone. “Kinda surprised you didn't vomit any blood. I shit my pants, on my first time. Had to kill the witnesses, when that happened.”

Choosing to disregard that particular comment, I slowly stand up.

“And you can even stand. Well done!”, Zet said. “You're doing much better than the little princess.”

Looking over to see where he was pointing, I see Elora lying on the floor, steadily breathing. While I did want to go help her, she could wait for just a moment or two.

“Thanks for helping us out”, I told Zet, feeling rather grateful of him. “We wouldn't have escaped from whatever that place was if you hadn't been there.”

“Oh, it's no problem at all”, Zet said, putting both hands up. “I didn't do it for free. You do still owe me a favor.” By the end, his tongue was figuratively dripping with greed.

… Are you sure you made the right choice?

“Now, that doesn't really matter much, does it?”, Zet said, with a sly grin. “I´ll be going now. I don't really want to spend my time here. Too much of a risk.

Try to remember this, though. In the future, don't try to contact me. I'm not the only one that can hear, what you're thinking. Some have a few grudges, some want to help, and some want to devour your soul for over a thousand years… Cheerio!”

After saying that last line in an almost bitter voice, he disappeared in a cloud of rapidly expanding, impenetrable, golden smoke, which caused me to cough a few times. You are definitely not supposed to inhale that stuff!

I look over at Elora, who still just laid there on the ground.

Briefly checking if she was choking on her own vomit, which she wasn't, I decided to use the ultimate waking-somebody-up technique. A good old heartily slap to the face.

*SLAP*

… Huh. Well, that didn't work.

Don't need you to tell me that.

Maybe you should-

Oh, don't even get started with that shit again. I can make my own decisions, you know?!

Yeah, sure…

*SLAP*

Being the best option available, I give her a slap again. Oh! She moved a little this time.

*SLAP*

Elora instantly opens her eyes and grabs my hand before it even withdraws from her face.

“What. Did. You. Do?”, she asks, a lengthy pause between each word.

“Um… good morning?... Sleepyhead?”, I said, really nervous about her reaction. I knew the rules, yet I chose to disregard even the most important one of them. Was I daring, or was I stupid?

Most likely both.

“Answer me, or I'll cut your balls up, with a pair of rusty scissors”, she said, the seriousness of her voice clearly showing that she was telling the truth. I, of course, decided to do so too.

“I was… Uhm… T-trying to wake you up?”, I answered, a little hesitant to speak.

“Then, why did you slap me? You could have just shaken me, or just dump some water on me instead of freaking slapping me repeatedly!”, she said loudly, her voice making echoes in barren the cavern we resided in.

Wait, why did I slap her? That isn't something I would normally do right.

*Cough*

I look over at Elora and see her trying to suppress a cough. Steadily leaving her mouth, is a golden smoke. If I didn't know any better, it almost seems like it was sheepishly smiling at me. Oh, that damned bastard. Should have known he could do stuff like this.

“Sorry about that. Seems the guy that rescued us saw it fit to play a little prank on us”, I said.

“I'm sorry, but who are you talking about? Where were we rescued from exactly?”, Elora asked, clearly confused. Oh, yeah. She was unconscious during that whole ordeal, wasn't she?

“We were trapped in some kind of pocket-dimension, and the guy, that caused you to cough that golden smoke, rescued us from it”, I answer.

“Oh”. She looks at him, with glazed eyes, very clearly looking into her own memories.

“So”, I said, in an effort to get her out of her dazed state. “How did you get thrown in there? I was fooled, thinking I had found you and Maxime, but it turned out a little different than I was expecting.”

“Same as you”, Elora said in a hasty voice. “Thought I heard something, looked down a corridor, and lost consciousness. Nothing more.”

Right… Nothing more, she says.

Oh, shut up, will you? Best to ignore these things.

Is that you talking, or is it that golden smoke coming out of your ears.

“Is there coming smoke out of my ears?”, I ask Elora.

“No. Why would there be?”, she immediately answered, seeming glad at the change in subject.

You do not understand the level of hatred, I feel toward you.

Oh, I clearly do, though. The same person, remember?

“No reason. My ears just felt kinda twitchy”, I said, scratching the back of my head a little.

“Okay. With that said, do you know where we are?”, Elora asked.

“Good question”, I answer.

Looking around, the place seemed to be made in the same style as the first floor. Only, this one's main colors was grey instead of the red the first floor had been. With almost fifty meters up to the roof, this place was less a cave, and more an open cavern. In a few places on the roof, stalactites were hanging, some of them dropping every few seconds. Echoes of creatures far away could be heard. The sounds reminded me of… a wet sponge being squeezed. Not a sound, I would want to hear often.

“Looks like we're on the third floor”, I say, still looking around, searching for anything alive. Not a single monster could be seen. Only their sounds could be heard, coming from our right. “We were supposed to get past the third-floor boss, right?”

“I think so”, Elora said. “The teachers will be waiting at the stairs to the fourth floor, ready to teleport us out, when we get there.”

“Good. Now, we just need to-”

An explosion to our right stops me mid-sentence.

“Think that's the boss?”

“Seems like it. Let's get a move on. The faster we get this over with, the better.”

One by one, the screens around us fizzled out. Our overview of each student had been taken away. How I hoped that the bodyguards could do their jobs, while we searched for a way to fix this.

“Any progress with breaking the Anchors control?”, I ask Morgan. Sweat had begun to drip off her chin, but she paid it no mind. She was too deeply focused to pay nearly anything mind.

“No. I just can't get any ground on him. It's like he can anticipate my moves before I even make them. We need to figure something out”, Morgan said, her voice strangely distorted.

Her body briefly disappears before reappearing in the same spot, yet again. That doesn't deter her, though, and she just keeps on going. she disappears and reappears a hundred times each second, her body seeming more and more distorted each time. Finally, after a minute of this, she gives up, heavily gasping for air.

“We need to figure something out now! Whoever is doing this is clearly not working alone”, she between breaths.

I sigh. Should have known not to put the silk pant on today.

Bursting into a purple flame, I slowly levitate from the air. Time to find the hiding place of this anchor.

I burst forward, a thin trail of fire left in my resting place. Yet again, I sigh deeply. This was gonna be a long day. If I am right, it's gonna be unpaid too.