Day 13 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

Nighweald Village, Goldburg Province

IT was a struggle to get out.

The darkness they were in was truly, utterly, dangerous. It was like a maze designed to kill hapless victims that fell into it. Victoria couldn’t count how many times they both pulled each other back from falling into traps. Thankfully, they were very alert to danger, otherwise… Victoria shuddered remembering the perilous slicing machine they just went past.

When they walked slowly past another section of their path, there was a sudden spray of air from above her. Startled, she almost fell down to the sharp spikes in front if Dev didn’t stop her. Were there even sharp spikes?

“Hey, are you okay… Hey!” The voice sounded so far away…

Victoria blinked. The Major looked blurry in her eyes. Where was she? Huh?

No, where was that dark maze basement? She was now all alone, with nothing in sight. She looked around frantically. It was just white. The white was so bright that she almost couldn’t help but cover her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she was somewhere else. The familiar place… No. No, it can’t be. She closed her eyes again, refusing to open it. It must be a dream. It must be…

“Help us!” Someone screamed.

She held her fist tightly. No one was holding her back now.

Without meaning to, she moved.

When she did, though, someone hold her back. She saw no one. The castle garden was empty. Where were those who screamed for help?

“…cta! Victa!”

She suddenly opened her eyes and felt her whole body shaking. No. Not real. Definitely not real. The face of someone who should be a stranger to her felt comforting, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move and it scared her. Something gripped at her. The pain. The fear. The…

She widened her eyes. Behind you… She wanted to say, but her voice wouldn’t work. Her whole self was paralyzed. The air basked them over again, and this time, Major Dev looked dizzy and fell.

Something was in the air of this corridor. It wasn’t good, certainly. She was suddenly in the throne room, feeling small, looking at the figure of her mother next to the coffin. The dark coffin. It was fuzzy—perhaps because her memory of it was fuzzy. She never looked in. Her mother prevented it, back then.

Back then… Is this a memory…? Was all of this not real? The sobbing she heard from her mother sounded real. She could almost smell the flowers around the coffin… The chatter and whispers of the nobles around her…

She fainted back then, and she fainted now.

Afterwards, she lost consciousness multiple times, and when she was awake, she was always somewhere else. Occasionally it was the barracks, when all the heavy training caught up to her, and she cried in her dorm, almost giving up. Before she could get used to it, the scene changed to her childhood bedroom, when she was awake and overheard the maids talked about her father’s corpse—that was mangled and miserable.

All of these changing scenes started to muddle her head. Where was she really? Was she dead?

The consistent thing was the castle garden, the place where that happened. No. No, she knew. Her worst nightmare. It replayed in front of her many, many times…

When she finally resurfaced somewhere that she was quite sure was reality, she tried moving, but she couldn’t. Despair filled her heart. It would be so peaceful to just let it be… After all, her life had been borrowed for so many years. Perhaps it was time for her to return it.

But she saw the Major beside her, trembling and screaming. He looked to be in pain, so much in pain, that it reminded her of her own pain. No, she couldn’t die… So many people were still waiting for her. What about her mother, if she died? What about her friends?

What about the Kingdom?

And what about the young Major who looked to be much worse than her?

She tried to move again. Her hand tried to reach him. Would he be awake if she tried…

No, it bubbled her under again. Despair. She couldn’t. She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t do anything properly.

But if someone died because of her again…

She couldn’t die. Despair could back go to cold hell where it belonged.

By the sheer power of will, she sat up. It was… grueling. It was almost as hard as the training that the Great General put her before, and at the same time, three times worse. No, the despair wouldn’t win.

She won.

But her body felt like she had been flattened by a dragon.

She had to keep moving. The Major groaned in pain, and she had to move him. The air in this corridor wasn’t good. They couldn’t stay here.

“Major, snap out of it!” She tried slapping him, but it seemed to only caused him more pain. She winced. She could barely move herself. The air… What was in it? A poison? A potion? Could she detoxify herself?

She could feel the bubbling despair tried to pull her under again, but she refused. Move, damnit, move! She needed to think. What toxin would do that?

Hallucinate. Yes, it caused her to lose consciousness and hallucinate. She needed a way to get rid of it so she could move…

But she had nothing on her. She was, after all, kidnapped.

When she tried moving her hand once more, it suddenly hit the spikes next to her. Her eyes widened at the pain and blood that came from it. But it made her more sober.

She stared at the spikes.

Holding in the pain in her hand, she started to move. Yes, at least she felt her head cleared. She tried moving Dev, too, but he was heavy. “Wake up!” She screamed, her voice a bit hoarse.

Dev groaned and opened his eyes. It seemed like he was still somewhere else for the moment. Wincing, she bit his arm.

He yelped in pain, but it seemed to get the haze in his eyes away. “Wake…” He said slowly.

“Yes, wake up! We have to get out of here!”

“Wake…” He tried to move, and under her help, they finally stood up together. The corridor seemed so long. And they had to evade the spikes underneath…

After a long, suffering while, they went past the corridor to another one. This time it was a bit wider. She gritted her teeth. The feeling of despair still bubbled there, but receded after they got out of that weird corridor.

“Are you okay?” She asked him.

He nodded. “Yes… you?” He seemed pale, like despair could swallow her anytime.

“Yeah,” she answered shortly, feeling the pain in her hand even more.

He was barely conscious, but he managed to notice the bleeding on her hand. “Blood…” He whispered, trying to reach her hand. “Have to… get out…”

Victoria agreed with that assessment. They had been walking for… hours? The lantern in Dev’s hand had gone dim. Her whole body still felt painful.

On a few seconds that she closed her eyelids, something changed.

“Watch out!” Dev yelled suddenly, and somehow managed to pushed her away in his hazy state. A cage. A bird cage, almost identical to the one they were imprisoned earlier, just smaller. Victoria widened her eyes seeing Dev trapped inside.

“Dev!” She scrambled forward. “You…” He was barely awake. The despair had pulled him under again.

“Leave…” He whispered before closing his eyes.

“No!” She burst out. “No, I’m not leaving!” She gritted her teeth. She would not leave another to die in her stead. Her concentration was all over the place, but she knew she had to do it. There was no gate. No key. So how was she supposed to get him out?

But she had to. She had to, damn it!

She couldn’t leave him behind…

Victoria tried to pry the cage up, but it was too heavy. Of course, she couldn’t do it. No, no, it wasn’t time for tears. But it would move! Why would it not move? She tried her hardest…

The despair threatened her again, this time nearer than ever. No, she would not succumb. She would get out of this Goddess-forsaken place! She would, damnit, she would…

She wouldn’t.

She couldn’t do anything. There was no hole on top of the cage, as it was much smaller. But it was also much heavier. She would need something to lift that up.

What to do, what to do…

She scrambled around the room but found nothing.

Frustrated, she punched the cage and in her utter surprise, it broke down.

What?

No, it couldn’t possibly break down that easily? Was she still hallucinating?

That broke whatever flimsy seal forced upon her. From that pool of despair, she surfaced, right as she felt the hope of escaping.

A laugh resounded, though she could catch a hint of… surprise? “Impressive attempt. But did you really think you can get out that easily?”

Victoria blinked once. Twice. She was somewhere else now. There is no small cage. No other people in sight. In fact, she saw nothing. She was in a small white room with nothing in sight, not even a door or a window.

It was Zindo’s voice, though, she was almost sure of that. The voice made her feel crawly, like some insects were on her, trying to suck her blood. “I would be an idiot if that happened,” he said, huffing.

You’re an idiot either way, she wanted to quip, but found that she had no voice. Where was she? There was just blank whiteness in front of her.

“Now you might be wondering where you are,” he laughed. “It was just a small space to keep you well-behaved. Don’t worry, your friend is still alive. We are keeping you both until Mistress can get you, after all.”

And then his voice faded.

Faded?

Victoria blinked, trying to keep herself up. It was painful. She touched the pendant around her neck and found nothing.

In panic, she turned around in that white space, but there was absolutely nothing to see. It was too white to hide her silver lock, so it definitely wasn’t here. Did Zindo take her necklace?

Damn it! Victoria couldn’t help but curse inwardly. She thought Beth had given barrier spell onto the pendant. But seeing that her enemy also knew magic, perhaps they could break the magic around it… That was bad. Each magic had its own signature—she didn’t want to bring danger to Beth.

Well, perhaps she should think about her predicament first. She couldn’t escape if she couldn’t even see a door. Perhaps they turned it invisible? She felt around the white wall, but it was so smooth.

Despair bubbled in her throat, threatening to drown her once more. She knew it. It was all her fault. She shouldn’t have gone out of the military base without any escort… Now she was dying and dragged someone to die with her. She felt tears forming and fell down from her eyes.

Wait… Despair?

No, this place was way too smooth. Her tears on the floor… It now looked way too clean amongst the white floor. It almost looked like dew in the morning—which, never happened before, for the record. She didn’t have Eldemore-shaking beauty that could cause her tears to become so translucent.

She almost laughed at her own thoughts.

Yes, this place… was also not real.

Right when she thought about it, she felt all around her, everything shook. It was as if she lost her consciousness, but the next second, she was back in that dangerous hallway, Dev next to her.

So their captors haven’t actually gotten to them! They hadn’t found her and Dev, had they? Boosting herself up, she ignored the persistent headache and threw the pain to the back of her mind. They had to get out of here. Out, out, out…

Dragging Dev with her, she swept off the haze. The route was the same. How would she know this wasn’t another hallucination? Pain could even be faked. Pain, and sadness, and the despair could all be felt inside the hallucination. This weird air… Potion… Toxin… Whatever it was, it would intensify the negative feeling that one felt. Maybe she should feel happy—but that was hard when you are literally in a prison.

How did that Zindo talk to her, anyway? Inside a hallucination? It was too weird. He was in her mind for a few minutes… And then she woke up, and he disappeared.

That really should meant he didn’t actually know where they were, right?

That was a good thing. They should escape…

No, the room that they found themselves in was different from before. Then the whole passage shook, causing them to falter and almost fell. Victoria pulled on Dev, pushing him to keep running for their lives. Did Zindo just gave up playing and decided to kill them?

It wouldn’t kill them, she decided, when she found that the rocks that fell down were smaller than a marble. Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, though. Her whole body screamed in pain, but she kept running.

Because if she was good at anything, it was persevering. []