"AHH!"
Reena and Amber tumbled downward through the dark, ominous spatial tunnel. It was impossible to tell left from right in the pitch black passage, though it wouldn't have mattered. Space itself warped and bent around them in ways that defied logic. All they could do was fall... endlessly.
Fortunately, the fall wasn't endless. With a heavy thud, they both hit the ground.
Reena tried to stand, but froze the mont she felt the cold edge of a blade at her neck.
Amber pressed her dagger close. "Take us back."
"I—what—who even are you?!" Reena's mind spun, trying to make sense of what had happened. She didn't know who this stranger was or why she had tackled her into the black portal, until it clicked. "Wait... you're the third intruder! Another human—!"
She didn't get to finish. The blade pressed harder.
"Take. Us. Back."
"I—I d-don't even—" Reena stamred, too overwheld by the absurd situation, and the threat to her life, to form a coherent response.
Just as she looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown, another voice broke the tension.
"Amber, let her go. Give her a mont to breathe."
Amber obeyed, removing the dagger. Reena collapsed to the floor, panting heavily.
With a few precious seconds to collect herself, Reena finally took stock of her surroundings. They were in a black, cubic space just a few ters wide in each direction. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all the sa murky black color.
At the center of the cube was the source of the voice, Solwyn. Still bound by the glowing magic chains, they were unable to move, left only to watch from a distance.
Seeing that Reena had cald slightly, Solwyn spoke.
"So... now that you're down here with us, care to explain where here is?"
"Where? If I'm right, we're—" Reena began, but suddenly cut herself off.
"Wait! Why am I answering you?! I'm not telling you anything!"
They humans were their enemy, after all. The last thing she should be doing was answering a human's questions.
Still bound, Solwyn sighed. Helpless in their current state, the most they could do was silently shake their head at Amber, who was already unsheathing her dagger again.
Amber sheathed it, reluctantly, she clearly had a preferred thod of obtaining answers.
Solwyn turned back to Reena. "Look, you're stuck here too, right? How abou—"
"Stuck? Hah. You might be, but I'm one spell away from getting ho. [Gateway]!"
She raised her hand confidently to cast. But... nothing happened.
Confused, she tried several more teleportation spells in rapid succession. Still nothing.
She stepped back, eyes narrowing, and glared at Solwyn. "Hey! Stop suppressing my magic!"
Solwyn shrugged, their expression innocent. "Nope. Not doing anything. Looks like you're in the sa boat as us."
They weren't lying. When Reena had cast the portal spell earlier, Solwyn had used [Lesser Channel Control] to suppress her magic. But now that they were all inside the cube, he hadn't needed to, yet.
Reena knew he was telling the truth. She felt like she could cast normally... but her magic simply didn't work.
Solwyn continued, "We can work together to get out of here, or we can stay. Forever. Your choice. Personally, I'd rather not spend the rest of my life here."
"No! Jendar wouldn't want to help you escape!" Reena said firmly.
She had watched the battle from afar while preparing her spell and had seen how Solwyn had defeated everyone easily. Letting soone that powerful loose again was the last thing Jendar would ever want. And she wasn't going to let him down now.
After a pause, Solwyn asked awkwardly, "Umm... who's Jendar?"
Sol hadn't bothered using [Analysis] during the fight as it was easily blocked by A-Rankers, and besides, looking at their tethers gave him more useful in-depth and useful information anyway.
Reena narrowed her eyes as she considered answering the question. "...The one with the bow."
Solwyn's eyes widened. "Seriously? We ca to an understanding, right before you teleported behind and cast this spell. He even agreed to accompany us to the end of the Great Forest."
"Haha! Yeah, right!" Reena laughed. It was the funniest thing she'd heard all week. "He was right about humans being liars. I might believe you if you said that about anyone else, but Jendar? He hates humans so much he won't even go near the ones allowed in Sylmasera because he can barely resist the urge to kill them!"
She turned her back on the two and tried more spells, to no effect. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, she sat down cross legged. After shooting Solwyn and Amber a glare, she huffed and looked away.
"Hope you're comfortable in those chains, 'cause this is your new ho!"
Solwyn raised a brow. "So you're fine dying here with us?"
Reena scoffed. "Heh, that's not happening. No way I'm dying here with you humans. I'll figure sothing out eventually. You two—or three, I think—can stay here. Maybe spend so ti decorating, this place looks pretty bleak."
A tense silence followed, broken when Amber turned to Solwyn.
"Can I kill her?"
Reena jumped to her feet, raising her fists in a clearly inexperienced fighting stance. "Don't even try it! I might not have space magic, but I can still fight!"
Solwyn could see through her bluff imdiately. "Amber had a knife to your throat a few seconds ago."
"Sh-she got while I was caught guard down!" Reena stamred. "It won't happen again!"
Amber remained unfazed as she repeated her question again. "Can I kill her?"
Solwyn slowly shook their head and used [Telepathy] to relay Sol's thoughts.
–No. If she dies, we really will be stuck here. We've got to convince her sohow...–
But that was easier said than done. Unlike Jendar, Reena wasn't acting on her own feelings. She was doing this for him. Without Jendar present to confirm their story, it would be nearly impossible to convince her.
With nothing else to try, Solwyn activated [Analysis] to at least learn her na.
But instead of the usual status display, an odd ssage popped up.
[Error. Connection to network lost.]
"Huh? What's this?" Reena muttered, seeing the sa ssage.
Solwyn turned to Amber. She, too, was staring into the air at what they believed was the sa invisible prompt.
[Attempting to reconnect...]
A few seconds passed. Then two more ssages appeared.
[Attempt failed.]
[User has left the range of the network. Activating security protocol: D-3AT4.]
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