Entering the cave, the duo quickly found themselves surrounded by darkness once again. Though the only source of light might have been the scarf now glowing as brightly as ever, they motioned tentatively.

The cave was dark and silent, save for the scarf’s energetic glow and their hesitant footsteps. The duo approached a wide alcove that grew brighter when the two got closer. In the notch of the cave-like corridor were a patch of crystals that began to glow as brightly as the scarf did, as though resonating with it.

A wide smile accompanying eyes of wonder made up Klaus’s expression as he marveled at the crystals’ emanating, lustrous energy.

In this diverting section of the cave was an older sedan sitting beside a young woman; she looked like the one being harassed in one of the previous memories. Accompanying her was a woman resembling Jade's mother.

She was shaking hands with whom appeared to be Raina whilst her free hand held a slip of paper that looked almost like a car's title certificate. The two watched as the paper was handed to the young brunette.

"From what I’m getting, this car was passed down to Raina.” Klaus shrugged. He turned back to the memory, almost looking like he was analyzing it, as though looking for something. “Where's Jade, though?"

“Beats me,” Skye answered. “So Raina has a car now. Who’s this Raina girl exactly? She seems important if this place wants to show us her image time and time again.”

The duo took one last look at the scene before strolling further into the cave. As they did so, the light from the crystals tapered off. Meanwhile, a new patch of crystals ahead of the travelers had started to respond.

In another notch on the other side of the corridor were two women; Raina and Jade staring into a vibrant sunset on a grassy hill. The twilight horizon was as filled with cityscape as it was the colorful sky and stars. Skyscrapers coexisted in harmony with reddish clouds while and a highway in the distance crawling with traffic complemented the golden rays of sunset.

"Even after a whole year, I still can't believe that we're together like this.” A familiar brunette looked up towards her tall friend. “It's almost hard to believe that I'm spending my commutes with my best friend."

Jade held her close and chuckled. "If I had to go with anyone, I'd rather go with you,” Jade looked down on her friend with a warm smile that morphed into a soft frown as her direction turned towards sunset. “Mother would be proud of the woman you’ve grown to become.”

She rubbed her smaller friend’s head as she was leaned on her side. "I wish I could have helped her more so she could tell you that herself.” Jade stopped for a moment to sniff back tears. “Ever since Faith's death, my mother's health rapidly declined. All she ever did was smoke and drink her way to the grave.”

Jade hung her head as she whispered, “I’m sorry, Mom, Faith. If I had been more persistent, we all could’ve stayed together.” Raina could only think to place her hand on Jade's shoulder, but said nor did anything else.

"Poor thing,” Klaus sympathized. “Reminds me of my aunt, only it was an illness that did my uncle in. He was a cool guy, you see. I long for the days of peaceful fishing trips and nights camping out under the stars.” He sighed with a breath full of nostalgia. “So, do you have a sense of nostalgia for someone?”

“Don’t we all?” Skye turned round and proceeded to head further into the labyrinth. “We don’t have the time to be sentimental. I just want to go home.”

Klaus frowned as he watched her walk away. He gazed at the scene for as long as the luminous crystals would let him, but his study was cut short when they dimmed when out of range of Skye’s scarf. “Are you coming or what?”

The protege too walked away from the alcove and rejoined his mentor. They took a short stroll down the corridor to find another crystal lit stage.

This time, it was a still life of Raina wearing a square hat with a red and black tassel hanging off of it along with a long, black cloak to complete her ensemble. She held a scroll wrapped in a red ribbon. As for Jade and members of their family, they were depicted with rejoiceful grins.

"I remember when I graduated from high school. I wonder if Raina felt as lost as I did?" mused the mechanic’s protege. Skye looked down at him with an almost sympathetic expression. “What about you? Have you ever felt lost career wise?”

Skye shook her head. “I had a plan before the end of my sophomore year. Gotta focus on the future while you’re still in the present, right?” Skye walked away from the massive canvas and Klaus followed.

As they traversed the labyrinth, massive canvases of memories lined the walls’ alcoves. These included Raina shyly talking to a police officer through her car's window, while another large canvas portrayed Raina and Jade looking through piles of papers that looked a lot like job applications.

After walking for what felt like an eternity, the duo came upon a light at the end of the cave. Skye chose to walk faster towards the exit while Klaus maintained his own pace.

Looking towards the final alcove, curiosity froze him in place. “Skye? You might want to look at this.”

His mentor was mere feet away from the exit when he called out to her. She froze before entering the light spilling into the corridor. She groaned and turned away from her exit back into the dark labyrinth. “What’s the hold up? This had better be good.”

When she didn’t get an answer, she begrudgingly accepted that her only choice was to gaze at this memory with him. She sighed and looked at it. The first thing that caught her eye was it was bigger and separated by rocky dividers. Not only that, but the memory looked akin to a hologram display than a painted portrait.

One section had Jade, Raina, the old woman, and three other friends of Jade’s drinking at what looked like a boisterous party, but the music was muffled. They clumsily swayed with each step, their words were slurred, and they were even getting touchy with other partygoers.

The next section portrayed them simply getting into the sedan.

The last section of the display portrayed a destroyed car with seats filled with slumped bodies with scarlet splotches all over them. Despite being just a memory, Skye gagged at the realistic portrayal of the accident. Klaus simply felt his consciousness trying to slip simply from pure shock alone.

The mechanic stopped gagging long enough to catch Klaus swaying with his eyes rolled back. “H-hey! Snap out of it!” She could only think to grab him by his shoulders and shake him back to awareness.

“I-I’m up! I’m up! Stop shaking me!” Klaus’s heart jumped out of his chest as he worked to get out of her grip. He made a note not to look at the memory again.

Skye was back to gazing at the memory. She was frozen in place, hand over her mouth in shock. Her eyes were widened, glued to the cruel fate each life had been dealt in that moment. "Come on. Let's get out of here." He led her out of the cave by the hand into the corridor's bright exit, narrowly avoiding looking at the display again.

Even when the light faded, Skye's eyes remained closed with a lump in her throat forming. She wiped her eyes with her arm as they reopened after they walked into the light.

Once their eyes readjusted, they found themselves in a massive cavern lit by crystals on the other side of their exit.

The scarf shone brighter than it had ever been. The duo gazed at all of the gems that were stuck to the cave's walls as natural light fixtures. Gems of all colors entranced the travelers until they looked down towards the center of the room.

In the center of the room was the exact same old sedan; utterly destroyed, beyond saving by even a master mechanic's standards.

"Help..."

"Was that you?" Klaus whispered.

"I thought it was you." she replied.

"Please.. help me.."

"I think it came from that." As Klaus theorized, the two of them gazed at the car before them.

It couldn't have been this machine, yet it sounded almost like it had Jade's voice, only digitized. No, no it's not like that. This is just silly. Jade’s human. I just have to find her Skye thought to herself.

Maybe she hid behind a glowing gem big enough to conceal her tall form, or maybe she was so far in the background that it was hard to notice her at first.

Maybe she lied in waiting somewhere in hopes to ambush her prey, or perhaps she was by chance hanging from the ceiling. No matter where she looked, no other human beings other than herself and her roommate stood in the cavernous chamber.

"I just want to live!"

It was that voice again. Was it coming from the sedan? “I’m not liking this.” Klaus looked around. “I don’t know about you, but I think we should approach the car.” Klaus caught an eyeful of Skye’s sharp, disapproving glance. “Hey, I hate that suggestion as much as you do, but what if that’s our ticket home?”

Skye’s expression softened slightly. She gazed around the cavernous chamber of crystals. There wasn’t an exit in sight, nor was there any other soul to aid them except for the car. “If that voice is really the car’s, it’s calling for help. I don’t see any danger, though.”

Skye began to walk out into the room, only to be stopped briefly by Klaus. He inched his hand towards hers; they clasped them, but her hold was loose in great contrast to Klaus’s tight grip.

The duo exchanged uneasy glances and approached the car.

All of a sudden, the room darkened slightly, stopping the travelers in their tracks. A dark aura quickly surrounded the car. The pair stumbled back upon seeing a malignant energy emanate from the machine.

Save me!"

That was the last thing the voice uttered before being silenced by the wispy, dark aura that surrounded the vehicle. The aura formed streams and collected itself into a mass of energy not too far away from the vehicle.

Standing beside it materialized a humanoid figure that looked like a woman. She was not only much taller than the height of the car and the travelers combined, but she was also as tall as the cavernous room itself.

The giantess loomed over the travelers. Klaus was full on embracing the side of his mentor the best he could with clammy hands and muscles that constricted as if his cold sweat emulated freezing conditions.

His consciousness began to slip again, but it was that same fear that pulled him back to awareness for instinctive self preservation. Even if he wanted to run now, his knees were locked up.

Two pairs of contracted, shaky pupils took in the sight of the giant woman. Skye looked beside her and gave him quite the curt expression. "I think you need a new fetish, Klaus."

”Hey, giant women are attractive when they don't have the eyes of death staring you in the face." Klaus’s quip was accompanied by a nervous giggle.

The giant smirked down at her subjects and moved her radiant, emerald locks behind her thighs. "It's been a long while ever since I've seen someone like you." Her voice was gentle, smooth, as though trying to seduce the trespassers.

The large figure’s eyes studied the pair of travelers. The giantess took a single lock of hair, and stroked through it like she was combing her tangle-free mane. She did it carefully enough as to not disturb the black rose blooms that decorated her lengthy hair.

Skye gulped. "Just what do you mean by that? Who are you? The hell is this place? Can you help us out of here? What’s with the car, anyway?"

The giantess laughed wickedly and abandoned her combing. "How funny. It's been decades since I've seen someone with that scarf, and yet you don't know why you're here. Do you even know what I am, child?"

"Hold on, you've seen this scarf before?" Klaus inquired from behind his mentor. His voice was as weak as his knees, but loud enough to travel to the ears of the giantess before them.

She chuckled and knelt to look at them better. "Puh-lease. Anyone smart enough to enter the metaverse would have that scarf. Oh, it's so nice to see it again after so long."

"What does it do other than serve as an accessory?" Skye looked down at it, feeling it between her fingers. The light moved around her hand, though other than recognizing physics to a degree, there wasn’t much else to say about it. “Okay, maybe it’s a pretty cool flashlight too, but what’s so important about this?”

The giantess scoffed at the mechanic's inquiry. "As if I'd tell you. All you need to know is my name’s Evora.” She smirked at the two trespassers. “It’s just too bad that you’ve already failed in your mission." Evora leaned down and picked up the car, wrapping it in her massive palm.

"Stop! Put me down!"

“H-hey! What’re you doing with that?!” Skye's shouts were drowned out by Evora's ignorance. She and Klaus could only watch as she held the tiny car in her massive palm, as though prepared to deliver a philosophical speech.

"To absorb, or not to absorb," she hummed partway. "It's funny how a piece of machinery like Jade could experience life in the way any other being would. Birth, childhood, yadda yadda yadda. Funny how humans and cars share so much in common, yes?"

While Klaus was shrunk behind his mentor, Skye held the ground beneath her firm and narrowed her eyes. So that was Jade.

There were so many questions, but not one answer in sight. Best case scenario, this was an elaborate, immersive dream that they wouldn’t remember upon awakening.

Even so, the ground beneath them was as supportive as the ground beneath their feet in the real world. The scent of rodent droppings mirrored what it’d smell like in the real world. Their terror was real.

"Who are you to be picking on her like that?!" Skye whipped her head to the side to see Klaus, instead of shrinking to hide in her shadow, stood stiff and at attention. His hands were balled into fists and his chest was puffed up, but only Skye could know that his form shuddered and sweated profusely.

"Excuse me?" Evora exposed her sharp teeth when she asked.

Klaus stuttered. "Y-you heard me! Just.. w-who do you t-think you are?!"

Evora crushed the machine in her hand - the screams were deafening and weakened into whines and defeated groans. The two humans were locked in horrified stares; Klaus screeched and ran behind Skye.

“I’m a being beyond your understanding, mortal.” She spoke gently, coldly at him. “You’re in my world now. Nothing and no one is here to save you.”

Was this what witnessing outright murder was like? The horror? The helplessness? In any case, they expected oil to seep between closed fingers or even a screw to plummet to the floor, but nothing like that ever happened. Instead, a lighter aura seeped out of her fist and traveled to her open mouth.

"Her essence is as delicious as I thought it'd be." Evora commented.

"N-no!" The younger of the two buried his face in the mechanic’s side. If this was a dream, it needed to end quickly.

"I'm a monster born from this car's distress." The giantess stepped closer to her prey; they stumbled backwards to stay out from under her feet. They needed to wake up.

Wake up.

"I was born from what killed her in the accident." Skye could just merely feel how her apprentice felt at that moment. She backed up away from Evora, coaxing Klaus to stay behind her too.

Wake up.

"Life was the thing that was given to her when her engine first turned on, then it turned out that life was the thing that beat her down when she was growing up. Isn't it ironic that a tree at the pinnacle of its own life killed her?" Evora spoke down to them, smirking with pure, sadistic glee. It looked a lot like hunger, too.

The fearful pair found their backs against the wall. She looked like she could crush any of the gems in this room with just her hands if she could easily decimate a car. No use hiding.

There was no use running since she could just pick them up and juice them like fruit.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and definitely no way to fight.

Wake up.

"The both of you will also soon find out just how heavy the weight of life can be!" Her threat was accompanied by raising her foot. All the two of them could do was brace themselves for the end, and maybe by some miracle, Jade could explain everything after the end.

The wicked smile on the monster's face suddenly turned into a grimace as a voice ran through her mind. Her form staggered, her hands clenched the sides of her head as she dropped to her knees in anguish, shaking the room and dislodging the gems from the ceiling to rain down on Evora.

As gems shattered against her form, the duo opened their eyes to witness a monster who lost her focus.

Sure, I might be beaten,

That voice made Evora’s eyes shoot open. Where was it coming from? Could the duo hear? No, then they would've been looking around. She was just hearing things. That's all it was. She was okay. She could just ignore it.

Even then, her breathing was becoming hitched and tired, like after running a marathon or enduring a panic attack.

I lost everyone I loved because of you,

"You're dead!” Evora suddenly screamed through her confusion. “I ate your soul! Your essence! You're no more! Quit talking to me!"

Skye and Klaus shrugged as they exchanged confused glances, yet the confusion failed to mask each other's mutual hope. Judging by Evora’s behavior, she was hearing Jade in her own head. There was no other explanation, they thought.

“Wake up, Jade! Fight this giantess that tarnishes my viewpoint of giantesses!" Klaus cheered on.

Skye scoffed at him. She then cupped her mouth on both sides to give her voice distance. "Don't mind him! Just wake up and fight, already!"

I won’t to give up!

"You're supposed to be dead!" Evora was screeching by now. She clasped her head and screamed with horror, hitting her sides against sharp, crystal walls that drew lustrous essence from her skin like blood as her form stumbled.

"Now's our chance to get out of here while we still can!” He looked back to the way they came in. Maybe they could find another way out and find a way to save Jade later, Klaus thought.

He looked over at Skye to share his plan, but his anxiety was soon replaced by curiosity, and yet the nagging teeth of fear didn’t stop biting at his soul. “What's up with that scarf?"

Skye watched as her scarf was agleam with bright light. The gems in the cavern resonated with the fabric, even the ones that shattered into innumerable shards.

"Jade, stop it before I squash your friends like the bugs they are!" She could only scream at Jade. Her knees were wobbling - she was on the cusp of losing her balance.

Meanwhile, Skye's hearing was overtaken by ringing. “Now’s a bad time to have tinnitus.” Skye muttered, but she couldn’t hear her own voice, let alone Klaus’s whimpers of uncertainty nor the monster’s wrath.

A voice of her own called out.

“You have the power to free her, Skyla Rose.” It spoke. “You have an extraordinary gift fueled by a love for cars. So much so that you’ve proven yourself worthy of working miracles.”

Skye’s breathing sped up as she looked around for the voice. She wanted to ask who this was and where their voice was coming from, but her ears rang so loud that she couldn’t hear her own thoughts to finish them.

“Your will speaks loud and clear.” The gems and the shards around the cavern began to dematerialize and turn into pure light. They filled Skye's scarf, so much so that light burst from it. “Claim what's yours, Salvager.

All of a sudden, she felt lightweight in the chamber that was this magical aura.

She felt a new array of fabric clothe her body; not too heavy nor did it have any alienating textures - as a matter of fact, it had a degree of comfort to it. It was soft and gentle on her skin while lightweight on her achy muscles.

When the light disappeared, she gazed at her ensemble. Her hand brushed through her longer fringe that covered all of her forehead up to her nose, yet left the eyes unconcealed. The hair itself was tied in a ponytail and did its best to hold up past-waist-length hair. Looking at her body, it appeared as though she was wearing a blue, floral printed kimono stylized for battle.

She felt her scarf slip off of her neck and float in midair. Something took shape in the center of the loop and elongated into the form of a weapon. It was only when the light faded that she discovered the true form of the weapon.

It was a large, silver blade with the head of a wrench replacing what would have been a sword's pommel. Around the grip of the sword, the scarf was tied around it, giving the weapon a multicolored glow.

"What the hell just happened, Jade?" Klaus spoke under his breath after he recovered it when it was stolen by Skye's transformation into 'battle mode'.

"You've got a lot to answer for," Skye muttered to Jade, reaching out for the blade. It felt right in her hands - no, it felt more than right. It felt like it was made for her hands and her hands only.

For the first time, she could finally look up to the giantess with a confident glare. "You've gone on and on about how life was designed to bring us down." She failed to notice the light collected at the point of the blade.

Whether it was because of the speech or the weapon building its energy, Evora began to snarl at her prey. "Well, isn't it? Illness, war, terrorism, hunger, you name it! It ravages your world like a hungry beast.” She shrugged. “I was only doing Jade a favor by giving her the peace she desired. Life was designed in such a way that you end up being its bitch."

"But life was designed to be lived. Yeah, things happen, but what matters is how we overcome them. If we all just sought peace through death, this world could never heal." Evora growled at Skye. No amount of anger was dissuading her weapon from gathering power, however.

"You know not a thing about how life works, child. Can't you see that I, Evora, am life itself? I govern it! It’s my bitch! I've been trying to rework it so it actually fares better for you mortals, and this is how you thank me?” She scoffed and smirked. “I’m Its outer beauty and inner ugliness all perfectly replicated in the most flawless incarnation!" she cackled while Skye just smirked.

"You're wrong." Yes, now he had Evora's attention.

"You tell her!" Klaus rallied.

Skye closed her eyes for a moment, then reopened them, making sure to make eye contact with the giantess. "You're not life itself. You're just a negative perception of life created by the soul you've tortured!"

Evora slowly drew a giant claymore from the essences that were drawn out of her body, healing the wounds caused by thrashing about the room moments earlier in the process.

The claymore’s pommel had its own gems that shone as brilliantly as the crystals in the room. With it, Evora slashed downwards at the two of them.

While Klaus fell and covered his eyes, Skye's sword acted on its own accord and blasted the weapon with a beam of bright light. Evora's massive weapon struggled to reach the humans in due part to being held up by the counterattack. The blade began to crack.

Cracks spread throughout the metal in her claymore as the energy blast from Skye’s sword was relentless in pushing against it. The vengeful spirit cried out when the massive sword was shattered. She could only watch as it all fell in pieces and disintegrated during their descent. As the debris fell, visibility was lowered by gem dust closer to the ground.

Now that the monster was distracted by her setback, Klaus took the chance to alert the coughing sword fighter to the lack of overall visibility.

Skye rushed to get on top of one of the feet belonging to the giantess. Evora instinctively shook her foot in an attempt to get rid of her; however, this proved to be a move that'd cause the flesh of her foot to get stabbed by the blade.

Evora had nothing to say, for she had screamed ever so loudly as liquid, magical essence took the place of blood and trickled out between the metal and flesh.

She yanked the sword out of her foot and held onto the side as Evora curled up her leg to inspect the damage done to her appendage. That too would prove to be a misstep, for Skye ran up her leg and jumped onto the leafy clothing that covered her chest.

"What do you think you're doing?! I need my essence to maintain my size!" Skye smirked at this discovery. For an arrogant one, she certainly did have a big mouth, she thought.

Skye let go of the leafy clothing to fall with her arm outstretched to snip at her belly's flesh with her sword, but was quickly caught in a fist that tightly enclosed her body.

"Skye!" Klaus shouted from below.

Skye found her lungs being clamped down on, pinned by not just a giant hand, but also the surrounding organs and rib cage. She spat out a drop of red liquid."What did you say about your size again? You should totally tell us that before you kill us. You know, something to take with us for the road?"

Evora chuckled. "It's simple, really. The more essence I consume, the more I grow. Life is full of essence of the spirits of others, wouldn't you agree?"

Skye thought for a moment, but her thoughts were always stopped in their tracks by a searing pain in her chest. She screamed, but never loud enough, choked up by this tight grip.

Evora yelped all of a sudden; Skye looked down to see Klaus biting her ankle. Another hard bite was all it took for her to open her hand. Skye took in a deep breath, one that set her lungs on fire.

Breathing required all of her energy until the scarf glowed and sent an energy through her arms where she had held the sword. Upon the light tapering off, breathing came as painlessly to her as nature intended. She wiped her lips clean with her sleeve to find she wasn’t bleeding internally any longer.

"Oh, no." This was all Evora breathed before Skye lurched into the air towards her torso.

"It's not your essence to take!" The blade penetrated her soft flesh. Her screams were beyond ear shattering, yet it was a miracle that all the fighters had to suffer was a bout of ringing in the ears that muffled everything else.

Skye ripped the blade out from her torso and released a surge of colorful essence that had to have been collected over a period of time. Evora began to shrink during her anguish.

She had shrunk down to being twice as tall as her adversary, but the latter still managed to land on top of her awkwardly.

Before having the chance to get comfortable, Evora cloaked herself in a dark aura that patched itself against her torso like a bandage. It faded to reveal new skin.

"Get her, Skye! You’ve got this!" Klaus cheered from the sidelines.

Getting up from her knees and drawing claymore once again, she winced with agony from the fiery sensation of being stabbed. She snarled at Skye's beloved apprentice.

"I'm getting really tired of your big mouth!" The angry spirit rushed past Skye and rushed straight to Klaus, only to be stopped by an aura that made her bounce off of him like she hit a force field.

She rolled on the rocky surface to where the fighters made eye contact. "And I'm right here, coward."

Evora rolled backwards, stood up, and rushed Skye with the intent to swing her sword when the mechanic's blade collided with hers. The monster thrust her weapon towards the human, only to have her body shift to the side at the last minute and to swing her blade at Evora's body.

She backflipped away from Skye's swing and jumped back towards her with her sword over her head; however, the mechanic jumped out of the way just in time to evade the blade that made a crack in the ground where her feet used to be.

Evora spun her body around right before her opponent could land a hit; the two of them were locked in a dance of blades with eyes of bloodthirst and vengeance staring into each other's souls.

The swings and collisions between the two blades was a maelstrom of flurrying daggers so swift that anyone watching would have trouble tracking either sword.

After a few swings, both parties’ swords managed to cut skin on both sides. The cheeks, then the arms, and maybe even the clothes would suffer ever so slight disrepair.

Evora smirked and swung horizontally when she found an opening. The claymore licked Skye's forehead just an inch above her eye, cutting her skin and taking away some of her auburn fringe along with it.

Distracted by the shock at almost having lost an eye, Skye found herself smacked with the flat side of the sword with so much exertion that she had lost her balance and her grip on the blade.

She found herself at the point of Evora’s sword and looked up at a grinning adversary. "Any last words?"

Out of left field, a crystal bounced off of Evora's head much to her chagrin. She looked over to see Klaus carrying a plethora of differently colored crystals in his arms and already had another in his palm to be thrown. "C-come get me, bitch!"

Skye’s eyes widened. She shook her head. “N-no! Klaus, what’re you-?”

“Sure!” Evora obeyed the instigator and abandoned Skye in favor of the support. While she was distracted, the fighter took the opportunity to run for her blade and pursue Jade’s assailant.

Skye thrust her blade at a distracted Evora, only for her to shift her body in time to avoid substantial damage, but her arm was still bitten by the sword.

Despite being cut, Evora recovered her focus in time to hack and slash at her assailant, but Skye persisted in backing away and shifting her body left and right to avoid the swings and jabs. Evora snarled. “It’s like you’re learning from me in real time! Just give up!”

She swung her own blade just in time for it to collide with what had been another proper swing. As their weight battled each other, the two of them made eye contact. "You're really getting on my nerves, you pestilent mage. We could've let the Wreckers arrive and things would've progressed naturally."

“Wreckers? Just what are you on about?” Skye inquired. After the lack of response, Skye abandoned her thoughts and kicked Evora in her gut, which took the wind out of her as she grasped her abdomen.

Her ease to succumb to distraction let Skye slash her skin in separate areas before Evora regained her composure. The former giantess rushed at the human with a jab in the gut with her knee.

The mage bounced back a few feet, sliding on the ground with her feet and free hand stopping her.

Evora giggled. "Not bad for an amateur mage.” She smirked. “So tell me, why do you even fight for this car at all? It seems like you’re in a class of your own car enthusiasm, and that’s something that's never been seen in several decades." Evora's speech was seeded with gasps for breath. She looked at her leafy clothing now splotched in the different colors of magical essence.

"There you go running your mouth about something that apparently happened decades ago. What was it, huh?” Still left with no response, she snarled. “I'm only a twenty-six year old pursuing professorship!" Skye held her blade defensively as best she could.

"Why don’t you answer my own question?!" She rushed Skye again, but her motion was stopped by Skye’s blade raising to guard her body. The two of them locked eyes once again as their swords and the muscular support behind them opposed one another.

"I’m not here for car enthusiasm! I just want to save Jade, go home, and forget any of this ever happened!” Evora’s eyes widened, but her strength still pushed against Skye’s. “Look, Evora, I don’t know what the hell a Wrecker is, what essence is, what this scarf’s all about-- I just want to go home."

Evora disappeared right in front of her. Skye suddenly heard a voice behind her. "..You can’t fool me."

She swiftly turned around and let her and Evora's blades collide with rapid succession. Evora was about to thrust her sword into her gut; however, she ducked just in time and leg swept her opponent with enough force to send her to the ground.

The sword fighters swept their weapons into one another, but only managed to clip each other, sending both blades into opposite directions.

In a fit of rage, Evora pulled Skye down to the floor where she pinned her and battered her face with her fists. “You Salvagers were always so manipulative in your ways! It won’t work on me!” After looking for an opportunity, the mechanic clocked her in the neck and pinned her.

“What kind of games do you think I’m playing?” Skye looked her in the eyes, hoping eye contact would somehow prove her validity.

Evora used her bent legs to kick the human off of her in another direction and rushed up to kick her in the head; however, Skye leaned up, turned around, and rushed at her knee to pull her back down on the floor before she had the chance to get punted.

Skye stood up and curb stomped the angry spirit as she silently took her beating as though she was waiting for a good opportunity to attack.

"Skye!" Klaus shouted from the sidelines. He threw the sword back at Skye's feet just in time for her to pick it up. As for Evora, she jumped backwards and retrieved her own blade.

The two of them made eye contact just before they lunged at one another once more. Just when she lunged at Skye, the latter jumped upwards and flew over her assailant. Skye's body was sideways and spun, but before Evora could process her maneuver, she felt a searing pain deep in her gut.

Evora looked down to see the glowing blade impaling her from behind. She dropped to her knees as Skye ripped it out of her. The mechanic walked to the front to confront her adversary. "Why would you go this far for a car? A bunch of metal, plastic, wires, glass - why? What’s your goal?"

Skye frowned at her ailing figure. Essence seeped out like blood from a human, but even worse was her expression. A sense of loss, confusion, perhaps even resentment were told just by quivering lips and tearful eyes.

"I believe she already told you, but you should be telling us why causing any living being all this pain mattered to you so much." Klaus asked as he approached them.

"It's all a part of the natural order set forward by bigger forces millennia ago," Evora gasped, then gulped before continuing. "A long, long time prior to your birth, the laws of nature that apply to vehicular kind were broken. Those forces thought they got rid of your own kind, but you're still here."

Evora gripped the ground in frustration. Her voice was weak and gentle, a stark contrast and yet a breath fresh of air to the fighters from her arrogant undertones.

"I have a kind?" Skye asked before she deferred to Klaus with an expression conveying curiosity, only to get a shrug and the same look from him.

"As I said before, I was born from her loss of hope, but it seems like she reclaimed it thanks to you. Is there really more to life than being beaten down by circumstances and feeling alone?" A tear was shed from one of her eyes - it wasn't made of essence, rather it was clear.

"Maybe you can answer your own question by giving back this car's life and maybe finding some way to co-exist?” The mechanic shrugged. “How will you know what life is truly like if you don't continue? Don’t discount all the good stuff in life too, you know." Skye smiled at her confidently.

Evora returned the gesture to them as she began to fade with a bright aura.

When she disappeared, the sedan returned to the center of the room. The duo watched as the dark, wispy aura turned into one of light and gathered all of its energy into an orb.

The large orb lowered itself onto the vehicle and cloaked the body in waves of energy. The mangled bumper straightened itself out as all of the internal components were mended and put back into place.

The frame straightened out to free the doors from being stuck to the body and the driver's seat was reverted back to its normal position. All of the windows' cracks disappeared as a new rear windshield materialized. The crunch in the back bumper popped back out.

"Thank you." A disembodied voice spoke calmly.

They looked at the car, but all they saw a completely normal vehicle only with a voice seemingly attached. "Whoa, it talked again!" Klaus froze where he stood.

"Excuse me, but I'm not an it!" the feminine, computerized voice scolded.

"It's got no face, but it's still talkin'. Skye, make it stop!" At this point, Klaus hid behind his mentor.

"I told you I'm not an it! If you must know, my name is-"

"Jade, right?"

The sedan couldn't make any expressions to convey her shock, much less move in a fluid way as if to look at the human who saved her life. All she could ask was, "how did you know?"

Skye knelt and answered, "we've had to go through a lot of your memories to get here."

A digitized gasp came from Jade. "You really are one of them."

"One of what, exactly?" Skye sneered.. “I’m so tired of being told shit and not being given answers. I’m starting to not care and I just want to go home. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; you have a lot to answer for if this is really happening.”

The room quaked and shook violently. Rocks fell from their places in the ceilings and gems were knocked loose from the walls, crushing other rocks in their path. Klaus's eyes darted for the entrance they used before, but that too was assaulted by an army of rocks that entrapped their prisoners. "What do we do?!" .

"Put your hands on me. You'll be fine!" Jade urged.

Without a second thought, their palms made contact with the metal. Right before they fell unconscious, Klaus caught a faint glimpse of a giant boulder that was feet away from crushing them.

~ ~ ~

Skye’s hearing was filled by a familiar fan and the blowing of curtains. Her vision swam into focus to reveal the dusty ceiling of her garage along with the sensation of concrete beneath her body.

“Wow, what a crazy dream.” Skye sat up to find that Klaus must've slept on Skye's body the whole time, and that he was still slouched over her torso. “Get off of me!” Skye screeched, pushing him off into the sedan.

“Ow! Hey! What was that for? If you want to go, let’s go!” Just as the two of them were about to face off, they glanced at the car, now fully restored as though it was never wrecked just as shown in their dream. Klaus and Skye exchanged glances.

Unsure if they were still dreaming, and exhausted from their dream, their bodies suddenly felt heavy just from existing. They began to yawn. Skye looked at the analog clock on the wall; it was approaching midnight.

"This was a hectic day. I'm ready to call it a night."

Skye nearly stumbled until she was caught by her apprentice. "You can say that again."

The duo made their way into the house, trudging straight to bed after locking the doors. “Night, Klaus.” Skye only heard him groan the phrase back to her as he headed to his room.

With the lights off, her tabletop fan on, and her phone on the charger at her bedside, she tucked herself into bed. She had hoped that perhaps a cool mattress and soft blankets would take her to a safer place than a monstrous world.

Her mind raced. Salvagers? Wreckers? They didn’t matter anymore. It was all a dream. She was home. By morning, she will have drank away her dreams with coffee before the next customer was scheduled to come in.

With that in mind, she finally drifted off to sleep.