The room grows silent as the woman named M introduces herself with a bizarre greeting. Sensing that everyone is still processing things, Ashlin steps forwards and bows a bit “Acclodia Una, Senira” She replies back with the same courtesy back. “You speak Ravine, Miss...M?”

“Yes, of course.” M speaks back to Common. “Got to learn the native tongue of this world after all.” She slowly raises her hand and a small crystal appears from the ground and carves itself into a stool. M then walks towards the stool and sits on it.

Selica is the first to react to M’s simple display of power. “Wait! This place is your magic?” Selica has been trying to feel out the crystal chamber they are in ever since they’ve finished her friend’s debacle. She knows that the place is magical, but it felt more like an inherently magical place rather than a magical spell. To see M effortlessly manipulate the place makes Selica conclude that this entire place is hers.

M looks at Selica and smiles. “To be specific, I can access this…place with my magic. Think of this place as a house, and my magic is its only key inside.” She puts her hand down once again and picks up a crystal piece and places the paper on top of it. “Now enough about that. We’re here to talk about what happened a few days ago.” She starts jotting down things on the paper.

“Few days ago?” Gallian asks. “How long have we been out?”

”Around three to four days from what they told me.” M continues to write on the paper. “The sleeping gas Caspian used seems to be pretty potent.”

The moment Selica realizes they’ve been asleep for a few days, her stomach begins to grumble. Suddenly hunger takes hold of her body as she gets woozy just by standing up. It’s not just her as well, Gallian and Selica also start to notice the effects of hunger the moment M mentions their time frame.

M, quickly noticing her effect on the girls, immediately stands up and walks toward the wall. She places her hand on the crystal wall behind her and it begins to open. “Come on, I have some food for you all.” She starts walking outside towards the corridor.

“Can we trust her?” Ashlin asks, despite her hunger she still seems to have a bit of rational thought beside eating.

“Do we even have a choice?” But Gallian seems to not have bothered to even entertain such thought. “You heard what she and Selica said. She owns this place. We might as well follow her.” Gallian starts walking out of the chamber.

Selica sighs. “Gali is right.” Selica starts walking as well, but waits for Ashlin to move with her. “If we ever fight her, I doubt any of us stand a chance. Besides, I can't even argue back when I’m this hungry.”

“Alright, fine.” Ashlin reluctantly lets go of her worries and walk beside Selica to chase after Gali and M.

As Selica and Ashlin walk side by side in the crystal corridor their grumbling stomach continues to alert them. It’s strange, if M never told them that they were asleep for a few days already, their bodies wouldn’t have reacted at all. After a few minutes of walking, Selica and Ashlin are able to finally catch up to M and Gallian. They are standing by a huge crystal wall blocking the path. Looking around the corridor Selica notices that there are also myriads upon myriads of other chambers and corridors translucent enough to be seen through the crystal walls. If she squints even a bit, she can see that some of these chambers have something inside them as well.

”Come on, I’m so hungry!” Gallian grumbles as she holds her hand, shaking Selica back to where they presently are now.

“Is everyone here? Great!” M places her hand on the wall and it slowly opens up. Revealing a small pantry full to the brim with provisions. In a brief glance Selica can see bread, preserved meat, vegetables, condiments, and even live fishes neatly packed in their respective areas. But what makes it unusual for Selica is that they’re all real. None of them are created from the blue crystal mineral they’re all standing on. M goes in and grabs some of the bread openly laid out in the pantry. “Here!” She throws the bread at the girls which they immediately devour. The moment Selica bites on the bread, she instantly realizes that it was freshly made. The soft plump texture of the bread reminds her of the time her mother decides to bake bread for them.

”How is this possible?” Selica takes a couple more bites before finally releasing her hungry mouth from the bread. “Why is it so fresh?”

“Stop complaining about good food!” Gallian on the other hand continues to devour the bread until she completely eats it. Then looks around and notices the live fish swimming inside a small aquarium just for them. “Ohh a Snapper.” Gallian looks through the aquarium and notices a red fish with an oversized lower jaw. “Hey M Lady! Mind if I fish this one and cook it?”

M, who has been looking at the girls' food while resting by the wall, is shocked by Gallian’s request. “By all means. Now I’m curious.” M points at the other end of the pantry to show Gallian where the cooking utensils are. Selica was expecting the tools to be made from crystal, but when she looks at it she notices that they are all ordinary utensils one can find anywhere.

“Sweet.” Gallian immediately dunks her hand inside the aquarium and grabs the Snapper by the tail without any problem. She then carries it over to the kitchen and starts to prepare it. She begins by piercing the fish by the gill to kill it. Her method is smooth and painless as the fish simply stops moving the moment she does so. Next she starts to descale the fish as she prepares the frying pan by heating it up at the same time.

Selica, Ashlin, and even M’s eyes are glued as they watch Gallian cook her meal. Everything seems so seamless. It’s like everything Gallian is doing is just second nature to her and isn’t even worth giving extra attention to. After Gallian finishes frying the fish, she places it on the platter and serves it at the table in the middle. “Kalkal, girls!” She says in confidence while doing an eating motion with her hand. The curious eyes of the trio couldn’t help but act upon the fried fish meal in front of them. Its aroma is salty, like a delectable mix of fried fish and the smell of the sea. The Snappers' meaty skin glistens in appetizing red as it invites the girls to dig in. Their hands instinctively move to cut a piece of the fried meat of the once alive Snapper.

Selica is the first to take a bite. She takes a small piece of the fried Snapper and eats it, the moment she does she tastes the same level of freshness she’s had with the bread earlier. It’s like parting a piece of the ocean in her mouth as the simple yet delicious taste of the fried Snapper consumes her senses.

“This is really good!” Selica couldn’t help herself and gave a resounding outburst.

”Of course it is! It’s just a fried Snapper.” Gallian starts to partake as well as she starts eating the fish with her hands. “Anyone in Dangal can cook this. Even street urchins can.”

“So you’re from Dangal.” M, who has also begun eating the fish with them. “No wonder you can catch a fish by the tail like that.” She then looks at the other two. “Then you two are the natives I assume.”

“Y-yes. I’m from Heroes’ Hill,” Selica is the first to answer, then she nods towards Ashlin “And Ashlin is from Mashkanor.” Ashlin promptly nods.

“I see, no wonder you’re fluent in Ravine.” M looks at Ashlin as she stands up and goes towards a large cold container sitting by the side. When she opens it a thick cold mist escapes from inside revealing an assortment of cold drinks and meals. She grabs a few bottles then returns back to the girls while handing out three freezing bottles. “Cold Cactus. A Ben Hallow special.” The drink smells so sweet. So sweet in fact that Selica compares it to candies just by the smell, but aside from the sweetness there’s an underlying scent of freshness unfamiliar to her provincial nose.

“Ben Hallow? So you know Shellon and his gang?” Selica immediately asks the moment M mentions Ben Hallow.

“Who? Wait.” M’s eyes begin to glaze over for a bit before returning to its once yellow irises. “You mean Deringer’s group? Only just now personally. Man are they loud drinkers.” She laughs and comments.

“Wait, what do you mean “just now?”” Selica notices M's peculiar choice of words.

”Oh yes, I’m talking to them right now.” M says plainly. “How do I put this? I’m currently talking to every person who passed during the test . Well maybe not individually, but in groups just like you guys to prevent too much strain.”

Selica is suddenly hit by a pang of ridiculousness after M just utters something preposterous. “Huh, what? How-?”

But M stops her mid sentence. “Like I said, this is my magic. And I won’t lie, it's really powerful. But quite limited in a lot of other aspects as well.” She grabs her own Cold Cactus and starts to drink it. Selica catches herself. Of course she’s a powerful mage. Magecraft City would not leave the investigation of the test to just any grease monkey, despite her looking like one. Selica rubs her temples a bit to try and calm herself.

“So.” M begins talking. “Now that we’re properly well-fed and full. I think it’s time to start our little talk.” She nods a bit towards Gallian when she mentions “home-fed”.

“Okay. Where do you want to start?” Ashlin is the first to confront the topic with M. “This is really good.” She has also started drinking the Cold Cactus as well.

“Well, let’s begin with an apology shall we.” M starts. “On behalf of the city and every respectable official who manages it, I’m truly sorry for what you’ve been through because of the test. We can assure you that this entire experience is not the norm and is already being investigated as we speak.” M’s voice is very humble and meek as she states her apology.

Selica still feels uneasy about it. Yes the entire test is now over, but the horror of all that has transpired still lingers in Selica’s mind and every time she remembers it a sick feeling wells up inside her. ”I do have a question.” Gallian raises her hand. “Since the test is canceled, does that mean that none of us were picked to enter Magecraft City?”

“Actually, as per demand by the city’s council, everyone who has survived during the test has already passed and is welcome as the new tenants of the city.” M begins her speech. But before she continued she caught herself talking.

“Wait, let me start off by introducing myself.” She fixes her postures and faces the girls. “You can call me M, a mage affiliated-but not part of- Magecraft City. And also supposedly to be the moderator of your test right until Threshold made a mess of things.” Selica notices how particular M was regarding her relationship with the city. “And I’m here right now to act as a third-party investigator on behalf of Magecraft City to support an unbiased investigation.”

”So I’m guessing you’ll be interviewing us-” Ashlin stops for a bit. “Everyone of us who has passed, that is, on what happened during the test? I got to say, the city picked a very convenient interviewer if that’s the case.” Ashlin recalls M’s special ability to simultaneously talk to all of them at the same time.”

“Oh I volunteered.” M answers back, “In one part because I felt responsible for all of this, and second because I also want to personally know what happened with you guys.” M brought out a piece of paper and a crystal pen and placed it on the table. “Now then, shall we begin?”

The girls were accommodating to M’s request and did the interview in an orderly fashion. At first, they had a bit of a problem trying to start the interview as they didn’t know where to begin. But eventually all three decided to tell their stories when they first entered Sillicon City. Selica told her tale as she entered the city when she first met and was accompanied by Shellon. Ashlin talks about the obnoxious road she had to trek through as “fans' ' showered her with attention, and Gallian tells her first experience disembarking in Sillicon City. ”Wait.” M stops the three as they tell their stories. “All three of you just met during the test?” M looks at Selica and her friends with curious eyes. “And yet you’re already this close.” ”Hardship makes bonds build faster, as they say.” Gallian says something insightful for once.

Though their initial tales were disjointed at first, their stories finally converged when they reached the part when they entered Magecraft City’s premises for the first time. Selica was the pivotal person regarding this tale as she was the bridge that connected Ashlin and Gallian together. At the same time, an embarrassing flush reddens both Ashlin and Gallian as they recall their little spat earlier.

“Well what’s done is done, I say.” Ashlin speaks first while still being red. “It’s all dust under the bridge.”

“Surree...” Gallian snickers at Ashlin who is obviously trying to downplay what she did to Gallian at the heat of the moment. ”You’re not exactly innocent either, Gali.” But Selica quickly reminds her friend of her own faults as well. ”Ugh. Fine.” Gallian rolls her eyes. “Why are we getting stuck here, continue the story Sel!” Gallian pushes her friend to talk more as continues eating the new nuts M brought out for them.

By this point, Selica has become the main storyteller for the interview while the other girls are simply adding side comments on what they think during specific moments. The girls got especially rowdy when the test was about to begin.

”...Because I knew that light was a rez light that got me confused!” Ashlin was getting really into depth as she told her side of the story during that time. “It was actually my first time seeing said light blessing me so I was unsure.”

”And, and!” Gallian interrupts Ashlin’s story with her own tangent. “Those Silencers were hiding amongst the crowd like some kind of assassins! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first noticed them. I thought it was just a trick of my eye or something!” Gallian has moved past the nuts M gave them and has started eating the chips and snacks on the wooden shelves.

“Girls please, one at a time!” M was getting especially overwhelmed at this point and started trying to calm the girls a bit. After the excitement the girls displayed during the start of the test. The mood began to become darker and somber as the test officially began. Selica is still a bit queasy remembering the horrible details she saw when it all began, and has become less compliant in telling the story herself. So in her place, Gallian and Ashlin covered for her and began telling the story alternatively.

Their tale continues slowly at this point. Gallian focuses on retelling what they did during the test while Ashlin was mostly focused on telling their supposed plan to pass the test. All the while Selica is mostly silent and simply answers when asked to.

“And then Selica ran.” The story was progressing gradually until they reached the point when Selica ran. Then silence, the room becomes filled with an eerie silence that even M is confused.

“Huh?” The sudden silence catches Selica off guard as she sees her friends looking at her expectantly. “Oh right!” Selica then realizes why there was silence. “Umm, yes well. After I ran...” She’s been spacing out during the recent parts of the story that she didn’t realize it was her cue to talk about her own departure.

“Wait!” Gallian, again, interrupts her friend. “You never told us what happened to you when Selica ran, Ashlin?” She prods her friend for answers.

“Oh, well.” Ashlin was now the one caught off guard by the sudden turn of the conversation. “When you two left, I released Enyi and her friend seeing as they were not really in the mood to fight whatsoever. Then I chased after you guys. That's when I was able to see- or rather hear with all the gun fire they’re making- Shellon and his group.”

“That’s ballsy, letting your enemy go.” M noted Ashlin’s story.

“At that point, it was obvious that both parties, the mages and Silencers, were being forced in this situation.” Ashlin responds, “So when one of the Silencers obviously shows their disgust openly in regards to their entire operation I think it’s only fair to treat them as a kindred spirit rather than an enemy, right?”

“I suppose.” M answers calmly and returns to writing. “But I do need to ask you, Selica. Based from the story you’re telling, does it mean that you’re not interested in joining the city?” M picks up their conversation.

“I...” Selica is still painfully aware of her statement from before. How she has broken down and stated that she no longer wants to be a part of the city because of how drastically different it was from how she envisioned it. But looking back to it now, and recalling the bravery and trust she has experienced not only from her friends but from others who were there with her during the test. She felt like her initial reaction was only caused by the overwhelming emotion she experienced during the entire situation. The tonal whiplash was frightful, especially for an introvert like her, but now that she is well rested and in sound mind, she is more definitive and emboldened by her decision.

“I still want to join the city.” Selica says with confidence. Both Ashlin and Gallian smile as they watch Selica showcase a determined look towards the question. She didn’t want to say it, but Selica felt more assured with her decision when both of her friends smiled from her answer. They are also a big factor on her decision in staying after all.

At this point the story solely continues with Selica retelling her part after she ran away from the group. Recounting the tale shored up a lot of emotions deep inside which made her eyes swell a bit. Not from sadness per se, but from gladness. Selica recalls herself being lonely during that time, she felt like going to Magecraft City was a mistake, but retelling it now alongside people she could confidently call friends made her realize that doubting them was her mistake on her part instead.

“And then, I saw this man again. This Dimas person.” Selica’s flaring emotions subsided a bit when she finally reached the part with Dimas. ”Dimas.” M said the name again. “Why does that sound familiar?” ”He said that he’s a Tamageres mage or something, maybe that’s why?” Selica adds the title Dimas used to accompany his name. The moment Selica did mention “Tamageres” M’s eyes perked and became serious. “Wait, did you just say Tamageres?”