Rosalind's eyes fluttered open.
She imdiately sat up, panting heavily. The dream this ti did not feel that dangerous yet her heart was still racing, her hands trembling. She patted her chest as she looked around.
Quickly she realized she was in a cave, surrounded by tall walls that seed to stretch up to the heavens.
She could see glittering pearls embedded in the walls and ancient relics scattered about the floor.
The soft crackling of a fire and the sound of the at sizzling from being cooked caught her attention.
Turning her head, she saw Lucas, calm and collected, as he tended to the roasting at.
A sense of comfort washed over her at the sight of him. However, seeing him like this imdiately reminded her of her dream. Envy rushed inside her.
Again, she turned to look at the large space in front of them, trying to distract herself.
To her surprise, however, he was no longer there when she turned towards him again.
"Hey..."
Her thoughts were interrupted by his voice. She flinched in surprise. Lucas had quietly taken a seat next to her, his gentle gaze fixing on her with concern. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"A cave..."
She frowned. "Sorry.." She had just asked a very stupid question. The vortex swallowed them earlier and that was the last thing she could rember. She looked around the cave, noticing the pearls and relics scattered throughout. "What is this place?" she asked.
"I saw a few relics nearby but these are ordinary ones used to illuminate the place. We should be able to find more if we go deeper into the cave," he eyed the dark pathway that seed to lead deeper into the cave.
"Do you know what happened?" Rosalind asked.
"I am not certain."
"That vortex..."
"Is a portal, a teleportation portal that was triggered by sothing."
Lucas paused for a mont as if searching for the right words. "It's not sothing to be taken lightly," he said gravely. "Portals like that can be incredibly dangerous. They can lead to other worlds or dinsions, and so of them are ho to creatures that are not at all friendly to humans or sorcerers."
Rosalind nodded, understanding flashing in her eyes.
"We should eat sothing," Lucas said. She agreed.
"How did you get the at?" she asked.
"I just found one nearby..."
"You an a beast?"
He nodded at that.
The two soon started eating, both of them were engrossed in their own thoughts.
"What happened when I was away?" Lucas asked.
"We- struggled." Rosalind could not find the words to describe what they had been through earlier. The only word that would co to her mind was 'struggle'. "It was chaos."
She then looked at him.
"There are demons here," she said.
"I am well aware."
"Then- just what is this place?" she asked.
"A place that was not supposed to be visited by humans."
"Yet we are here."
"To get stronger, one must face countless challenging battles. One must struggle. It is the only way."
Rosalind nodded at that. Again, she was reminded of her weird dream.
"I have to tell you sothing," Rosalind said.
"Hm?"
"I think I quite like you," Rosalind finally said what has been bothering her since that dream.
"Huh?" Lucas seed surprised at her confession.
"Does that bother you?" she asked.
"What?"
" liking you. Does that bother you?"
"This-" For the first ti, Lucas looked speechless. He blinked at her as if he could not process what he just heard.
Rosalind watched as Lucas tried to form a coherent response, his brows furrowed in confusion.
Finally, he let out a small chuckle. "No, Rosalind. It doesn't bother ,"
"In fact, I quite like you too," he said with a smile.
They both fell silent for a mont, unsure of what to say next.
"It was not ant to have a response," Rosalind said. She said it because she did not want to keep it inside her like a secret. In her past life, she was already an older woman.
How could an older woman act like a teenager, hiding her feelings from soone that she adored?
In the midst of danger, Rosalind realized that she had been naive after all.
First, she realized that she had no right to be jealous as they were not exactly a couple.
Their arrangent was quite different.
Second, she realized that feeling jealous because of a dream was... absurd. It was naive.
She had been telling herself that she was older than Lucas and that she should act her age, but this was not the action of a woman who had been through so much in her past life.
This was the action of a child.
Third, this was a very dangerous place. She did not know what was going to happen next. That ant that her future was uncertain. With that ca the realization that she could not waste her ti.
She needed to tell him her feelings.
"But what is with this sudden confession?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
Rosalind took a deep breath, her heart beating faster than usual. "I had a dream," she began. "It was a dangerous dream. You were there and we were in danger, but you saved . And when I woke up, I realized that I couldn't imagine my life without you. I know it sounds crazy, but it's how I feel."
Lucas's jaw dropped.
"Did you expect to say that?" Rosalind chuckled, noticing the relief in Lucas' eyes. He seed scared that she would say sothing crazy.
Her low chuckle soon turned into an uncontrollable burst of laughter, its sound echoed against the walls of the cave. Her shoulders shook.
It was a strange feeling, but for so reason, she felt a sense of relief, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"I just felt that it was best to tell you now, while we are both still alive," Rosalind explained. "Considering how dangerous this place seems to be. So there you go. I like you."
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