To Cross a Bridge

> ”Not a prison, not exactly. A record by yours truly. One that I endeavor to keep unblemished and true. One that will serve Brymeia when hope is lit anew.” ~Alphazzel, Faunel of History and Disasters

Frill woke up back in the training facility. She was lying in the middle of her quadrant with Katherine sitting beside her. The Lady of the Void was deep in concentration, maintaining some sort of shimmering barrier around them. The Aria tapped her friend’s knee.

Friend. Frill smirked at the thought. Katherine was pretty much her big sister. Everyone’s big sister.

Katherine’s eyes lit up, and she immediately Drew Samesia. “How are you feeling?” she asked before looking towards the other side of Frill. “She’s awake!”

The Aria turned her head to see Kristel standing in the middle of her quadrant. She had one hand on her waist and another holding her M.O.B.I.L.E. and was about to make a call. They met eye to eye and the Princess forgot about everything else, rushing over to Frill. She pushed past Katherine’s barrier before the Lady remembered to remove it.

“How long was I out?” Frill sat up, causing mild nausea. She noticed Norazzel sleeping on her lap.

“About an hour and a half,” Katherine replied. “That’s abnormally long for an integration,” she implied, looking at Frein on his quadrant, asleep in his meditative sitting position. There was another Norazzel sleeping on his lap.

Frill noticed someone was missing. She looked around to find Xiv on his own quadrant and also meditating. Mining or Smelting, she struggled to recall. The dizziness was slowly fading, but it hurt to think at the moment. The Vyndivalian faced away from her and was surrounded with his own barrier.

“I had to keep him away. He was too worried,” Katherine explained. She looked at Kristel and back to Frill. “Tried to keep her away too, but she begged me not to.”

Kristel took her hand. “How are you feeling, Frill?” she repeated.

“I’m okay. I have a lot to talk about, but I need to get my thoughts organized.”

“Should I tell Xiv the date is off?”

Frill smiled and struggled on her feet, carrying Norazzel with one arm. The two ladies beside her lent a hand.

“No, I think we’ll go still. But maybe we should go for a simple dinner for now.”

“I thought you wanted him to make plans?” Katherine asked.

“Doesn’t look like he had time to prepare any.” Frill gestured over to Frein. “He should be fine. We met as Dream manifestations in the Keeper’s Isolation.”

“As a what, where?” Kristel asked. Katherine nodded, clarity and relief surfacing on her expressions.

“Who did you meet?” the Lady asked.

“I’ll explain in full detail later, Princess,” Frill replied before turning to Katherine. “I met Palar’gog and Su’karix.”

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“To be clear, if your manifestations sustain a significant amount of damage, you’ll be returned to your bodies. The Tether will pull both of you back if either one of you are forced to return, so keep that in mind.”

Frein sighed.

“I wish she would’ve told us that first and foremost,” Elizzel complained, reading his mind. She busied herself with constant Milling. A bit of her frustrations seeped into the Tether, causing a mild disturbance in Frein’s focus.

“I know you don’t like Palar’gog, Eli. But you don’t need to hate on Su’karix just because they’re buddies.”

“Yeah, I know…”

Crossing the bridge felt like a balancing act despite the wide horizontal clearance it provided. The fact that it didn’t have any railings or barriers to prevent anyone from falling to the eternal darkness below contributed the most for its eerie atmosphere. Not to mention the entire island’s altitude brought about an excessive amount of wind.

Or maybe that’s part of the challenge? Frein did only start to notice it the moment he crossed the bridge. He decided to walk and take his time, ensuring his footing, rather than sprinting as fast as he could. Siffera could help him cover the distance within a few seconds, but something was constantly trying to throw off his instincts. Something he couldn’t quite explain.

Cautiousness always helped traverse the unknown.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “As long as we don’t get hit, we’ll be fine.”

“That’s what people say before bad things happen, right?” Elizzel asked before Frein unconsciously dragged her attention through the Tether.

He could see it, slowed down through the help of his Siffera. A hurricane of wind meiyal spiraled towards the bridge. It came zooming past from the corner of the Tower, its trajectory aimed straight at the bridge where Frein would have been had he decided to run seconds earlier.

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It blasted through solid stone, chipping off fragments with its sheer force. The impact exploded and caused the entire bridge to shake as the hurricane itself dissipated. Frein was fortunate enough to be far away from the collision, feeling only a strong breeze that pushed him a few steps backwards. He didn’t know if he could withstand such a thing. Survive, sure, but he could imagine himself getting swept off his feet and plunging down the darkness below.

He ignored the chill that ran up his spine.

“In most stories, yeah. I didn’t know you read books,” he said casually as if he didn’t almost fall to his failure. He resumed his steps, focusing his Siffera into his survival instincts. The sudden alertness made him a little jumpy and more prone to feints, but he betted on the fact that the environment wouldn’t be that cunning.

“I don’t. I watch your memories.”

“Hey. Just because you’re living rent free in my Mind Palace, doesn’t mean you get to watch movies of my past too.”

“I don’t live rent free! We have a contract, remember? Besides, I won’t pry on your deeper memories.”

“Yeah, I know. Just wanted to say something along those lines.” Frein felt relieved that Elizzel respected his privacy, despite the Tether making it difficult. “I’ll tell you about them some other time.”

Another hurricane of wind meiyal collided with the bridge. This time it was behind them, pushing Frein closer to the Tower’s entrance. It certainly gave the impression of randomness, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was somehow deliberate. The fact that the hurricanes only started assaulting the bridge after he made a few steps on it was his only proof, which he held on to given that no one else was around to argue with him.

“Were you counting?” he asked Elizzel.

“That was exactly fifty-two seconds. See? Not rent free.”

“It was a joke, alright?”

“Let me rub it in a few more times before I let it go, ‘kay?”

Frein ignored the faunel and attempted to dash, abruptly stopping after a few steps. And just like he expected, another hurricane struck in front of him. This time, he fought through the backlash, determined to stay in place and not lose his current progress.

To his surprise, another blast crashed just behind where he would’ve landed if he allowed himself to be pushed back. All alarms in his instincts went off and he made a mad dash towards the Tower.

A hurricane blast slammed where he had been a second after he kicked off, barely missing his foot. The impact pressed him against the force coming from the front. He leaned forwards, reducing the amount of surface area for the forces to sandwich him with while increasing his speed. More blasts missed him from behind and from the front, but every time one was close, he’d push himself faster.

He couldn’t afford to stop and Elizzel was too busy focusing on Milling both two and four-meiyal and constantly supplying Siffera to even watch what was going on. Frein was closer now when he noticed the hurricanes were coming from both sides.

He could see three hurricanes rushing straight where he would be in a few seconds, covering for if he ever afforded another speed boost. Another one approached rapidly where he currently was, and the rest closed off the path behind him.

In other words, Siffera sped up his awareness for him to analyze there was clearly no way out. Unless, of course, he forced through and made one.

Fortunately, the three hurricanes in front of him were on alternating sides. As soon as he reinvested his Siffera back to his speed, he made a slight shift in his direction, meeting the first hurricane to his right head-on.

He expected the clash, but the sheer weight of the meiyal still took him by surprise. It wasn’t just the wind physically lifting him off his feet, it was also the meiyal ripping away at his reserves.

Elizzel screamed in agony.

“Two more, Eli.” Frein couldn’t afford to check up on the faunel. “Endure it,” he said as he was blasted dangerously close to the edge to the very left of the bridge. He didn’t stop running, knowing that he would be trapped by more hurricanes if he did.

Instead, he met the second hurricane coming from his side. He was thrown away again, meiyal crashing on his core directly. This time, Elizzel was ready for it, growling on clenched teeth.

“Last one!”

Frein rode his adrenaline, pushed it with his Siffera, and shoulder tackled the last oncoming hurricane. His internal companion braced for impact, her determination against the pain binding with his through the Tether.

If there was one thing he regretted in this situation, it was that even at his strongest, he couldn’t meet the hurricane and stay on the ground. But his tactic worked. By moving out of the middle of the bridge and meeting all the rushing wind meiyal, he effectively gave himself enough space to clear as he was pushed back by the force.

Fortunately, the bridge itself dissipated the meiyal hurricane, preventing the entire thing from carrying him into the void below. And the last impact pushed him to the Tower’s entrance. What he didn’t expect was the entire bridge collapsing behind him.

“You alright, Eli?” Frein asked as he took deep breaths and assessed his meiyal system. His training had paid off. Even with the prolonged emphasis and the constant four-meiyal activation of Siffera, he didn’t even feel any hint of Art fatigue. But he was worried for the faunel.

Elizzel was taking ragged breaths. “I’m okay. Everything’s still in place, I think.”

“What do you mean?”

“It felt like your entire Dream Realm was flipping over.”

“Did it?”

“No.”

The safety of success brought a smile on Frein. Even Elizzel afforded a laugh.

“I was so sure we’d failed,” she said.

“Should’ve warned you.” Frein exhaled and gathered himself. “Okay, what to do next?”

After confirming Elizzel was safe, Frein looked at the massive gate before him. A pair of metal doors in an arch made for giants stood on top of a large stairway. He craned up his neck to study the swirling decorations, trying to find a pattern or any inscription he could recognize. There was symmetry for sure, but as far as he could tell, even with Mesiffera, the entire thing was simply designed to be extremely meiyal heavy.

“They expect me to push this or what?” Frein gave it a kick just for fun and he bounced right off, rolling down the stairway dangerously close to the endless pit. He stopped his momentum just before he slipped off the final step. “That’s a bit of an overreaction, isn’t it?”

“I think it pushed against your Siffera,” Elizzel started. “You need to emphasize it and push slowly, or else the barrier will just deflect you.”

The sigh of relief that came out of Frein combined with his exhaustion. He noticed that the quiet had returned, allowing him a moment of respite.

“Let’s take a break,” he said.

“But we might run out of time if we don’t hurry,” Elizzel reminded him.

“That’s fine. I think we have enough time.” He got up his feet and headed for the gate once again. “Those winds took out about half of what we have in our reserves. We can take a few minutes to refill. It’s just a hunch, but I’d hate to enter the Tower unprepared only to realize too late that we can’t Gather and Mill inside.”

“Oh, good point. We are against Nightmares after all.”

Frein Gathered and Milled in front of the gate only to slowly see it creep ajar on its own. Slick, black hands emerged from the darkness, extending into tendrils of meiyal. They lashed at him just as the stairway shot up to the ceiling, blocking his way out and causing the ground to shake violently.

“I guess there’s no cheating allowed.” He sighed and didn’t even bother resisting as the hands wrapped around him and pulled him into the Tower.

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