Wandering the full, yet silent streets was incredibly unsettling but even that didn't keep my focus as much as the pure white line connecting heaven and earth in the distance.

Periodically some things flew out of it, flashes of light, torrents of flames, reality fracturing like brittle glass, all mixing like gods were at war.

My breath caught in my throat every time the strike seemed to come our way, but it always dissipated as quickly as it appeared, even as the effects seemed to travel faster than the blink of an eye.

"Are you sure it's safe?" A wave of ravenous beasts flooded out of the light, seeming to overtake the skies, before disappearing as if it never existed.

"Yes, we are not going so close enough to get affected by it. You'll get accustomed to it."

Despite seeing the dangers, I still felt a calling every time I saw the pillar of light. I felt like a moth being attracted to a light even if I knew that nothing good awaited me if I got closer but the desire only got stronger after every peek.

After leaving the park, Vortex made us walk through out-of-view paths. That meant we walked through alleyways, jumped over fences and he periodically detoured to invade shops so that Vortex could loot or eat something that caught his eye.

Right now we were in the bakery. A quaint place with rustic decoration. The tables were all different, made out of uneven wood that gave personality, and plants suspended just out of reach and providing some strange smell that made me salivate.

When we got here, Vortex pulled three tables together, setting them together before moving between the frozen patrons and taking one of the backpacks.

Dropping some money at the cash register, I take one of the croissants and a cup of mystery coffee that was being given to one of the customers.

"Can you take me one?" Vortex asks, patting the backpack before resting his head on it.

My head snaps to him, my eyes closing to slits as I try to vaporize him with my stare. "Take your own," I say as I sit, drinking the mystery coffee.

"Think of this like an internship. If I don't see you working, how can I see where you will fit?" His eyes open slightly as he lets out a long, drawn-out yawn.

We set a staring contest, his eyes are calm as he lazily stretches while I continue trying to kill him with my eyes. Vortex has the gall to close his eyes, before getting comfortable and turning around, turning his back to me.

"I'm not gonna go around stealing from everywhere we go through."

"If the problem is money," Vortex pulls out a wallet from his pockets, before pulling a few stacks of cash and waving it in my direction, "Just shove it on the cash register or the tip jar. I like my coffee very sweet, I believe this place has honey, so use as much as you can."

Not moving, I keep sipping my coffee. Diann got somewhat comfortable around Vortex, the fact that she seemed deaf certainly helped as she was currently exploring the kitchen, leaving only me and the seemingly vulnerable Vortex.

Taking one last sip of the black coffee, I cock my arm back and throw it at him, but it's stopped as a wave of water slaps the coffee out of flight. He still has the bills in his hand and keeps shaking them, waiting. Calm, deep breaths, you've dealt with his type before. The situation involved less supernatural, and you didn't have blood in your hands, but you survived it, I stayed silent for a few more minutes, before giving in, getting up, and ripping the money from his hand.

"See. You're already proving that you can be a valuable asset to the organization," He sounds incredibly condescending with every word.

While I'm grumbling I suddenly hear the sound of glass breaking, turning around, I see Diann froze mid-motion, her arm crushing the fried pastries. She gingerly lifts her hands, giving up jumping over the counter and deciding to stay on the other side. With a small smile, I grab her arms, get a firm grip, and throw her over my shoulder in something close to a wrestler's suplex. Diann lands on her back with a muted thud before quickly jumping to her feet and making grabby motions at me, asking for me to do it again.

Mouthing the words 'later', I start looking through the coffee cups.

There are quite a few cups ready, and after finding a disgustingly sweet one, I pour the honey packets until the coffee becomes an almost solid disgusting slush, before spitting inside and jumping over the counter, almost slipping on the broken glass.

Vortex extends his hands when I get close, ignoring his extended hand, I place the coffee behind him, where I hoped he wouldn't reach before walking to sit by the window.

I hear shuffling from Vortex, "I would not stay there, you never know when someone may be watching," He warns me, looking at the coffee before putting it on the ground.

Stopping, I turn around and go sit in the middle of the shop.

What do I do? I stare at the ceiling, extending my hands to touch the edges of the hanging plants, I'm alive. Where do I go from here? I killed, helped, I... Someone died because of me. Should I go to the police? Would they even believe me? The scene forms in my mind, me barging inside and declaring everything that I saw, magical powers stabbing and magical healing, Would this count as self-defense? He attacked me first. What will happen to Diann? I can't leave her alone. She's certainly not leaving my side after today, I can make some excuses for her missing classes, and maybe even homeschool her from now on.

My thoughts are cut by the sound of tables scraping against the floor. Looking at the source of the noise, I see Diann getting tables together the same way Vortex did. After more than ten tables are together, she lies down, looking at me with her almost empty screen, and starts tapping.

I watch amusedly for a few moments, before standing up and walking to her. After lying down, Diann's cold arms wrap around me. The liquid appears again, stretching her arms, thinning them but turning them wider and forming a cocoon that leaves only my head out.

It was weird being the small spoon, yet the cold plastic protection made me feel weirdly safe. Looking at Diann's screen, I see barely a few drops. It didn't seem like a leap of logic to see the liquid as a form of energy and her strange modifications.

Without the sun it was hard to keep track of time, but based on Vortex's phone, we had walked for close to three hours, yet it didn't tire me too much, another side effect of The Colosseum. But whatever that powder did to me, it certainly healed and made me fall into a dreamless sleep, but didn't let me rest.

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As I fell into unconsciousness, I found myself falling. The world spun around me in a Kaleidoscope of mind-bending colors and shapes, following it was the sound of glass being broken against skin, the screams of wood being broken against a head, and a cacophony of errant voices. I kept falling without control as the colors became more vibrant and the sounds became worse.

While being assaulted, I hear the sound of shattering glass different from all the others, feeling personal, unique as it was trapped inside of me, echoing inside.

My whole being shook as I felt myself being cut and torn from inside. The noise only got worse until I felt myself shattering, the echoing inside stronger than what I could deal with. I was shattered, many yet a single one, all connected by the same origin. Then I finally saw an end to the fall, a small black star that started getting closer.

As I got closer to the start I felt my pieces starting to gather, yearning to reconnect. They simply stayed close together as a fraction of the sound that broke me started again, stopping their yearned reunion.

When I was finally swallowed by the star I felt a strange sense of dread coming over me. The longer I fell, the worse the sense of dread grew. After a few seconds, I felt myself approaching the end. Then I impacted something and a wall of sound followed.

My eyes snapped open, and my body shot up or at least tried as I was stopped by the cold cocoon. Diann's body was still in the same position. The first thing I noticed was that there seemed to be more liquid on her screen, and I could swear I saw it wabbling, slowly filling up.

"I knew you were dragging your feet while we walked. I see why," Vortex's voice startles me as memories of the day flood back, pushing the nightmare to the corners of my subconscious.

Shifting my body towards him, I see sugar coating his cheeks as he shoves a glazed donut in his mouth while holding a cup of coffee on the other. He walks to me, before pulling one of the tables so it's out of reach, placing the coffee on it.

Wriggling, I try to free myself, but accidentally break off the plastic around my neck, leaving shallow cuts as I pull myself out of Diann's embrace and reach for the coffee.

With the coffee in hand, I Look outside; the sun still has not moved, and people and cars are still frozen. Taking a deep breath, I sip the coffee. It's sugarless.

Sitting on the other side, finishing his donuts, Vortex speaks again, "Relaxing is over. We're gonna see what you're made of."

"And that means?" I cautiously ask, coming from him, that could mean anything.

"We're walking towards the light."

My eyes go wide, "You can't be serious."

"We're not going at it, just in its general direction. Even if we were going to it, that's a big if. We couldn't, you'll see when we get there," He points at Diann, "How much longer will it be resting?"

"I don't know. I think when the liquid refills," I say as silence fills the gap between us.

Sipping coffee and munching on donuts are the only noises while we wait.

Vortex seems comfortable, but questions swim in my mind, and now would be the time to ask them. He wouldn't have any excuses to not answer them, like saying we shouldn't make noise or redirecting my attention.

"What is this place?" I ask, straightening my back.

"The Colosseum," I nod my head, waiting for him to continue. He stays silent.

"And? I want more than that. Where are you taking me, why are you taking me there, why is this happening, is this the reason for building crumbling like sand castles?"

"To the first threshold, to test your will, I don't know. Yes and no," I stare at him, wordlessly asking him to elaborate. Silence follows for what feels like hours before some seriousness finally seeps into his posture, "I'm taking you to see what you're worth. The chance of you getting hurt is low with me nearby. I don't know why this happens, it took me by surprise as well, and lastly, it depends. It could be an effect brought by another competitor or an effect from a higher layer."

Seeing me open my mouth, he continues, "I'm not talking about layers. Not now, this will have to do. Or you can leave."

I'm on the verge of calling his bluff when I see Diann moving. He could be saying nonsense for all that I know, but right now we needed him. My hands touched the patch of new skin, pinkier than the area around it and smoother than a newborn's bottom. Why us?

The liquid in Diann's screen was close to full, being eighty to eighty-five percent filled.

We left the bakery as it was, the food display was still broken with glass forming a carpet on the ground around the baristas' and the customer whom I took the black coffee from.

I follow quietly behind as Vortex continues taking us between out-of-view areas. One thing that I noticed about this place is that it's utterly odorless unless I focus on it. I need to want something to smell and movement seemed to follow a similar logic, that was the only explanation for why things didn't burst the instant we moved them.

Vortex's carefree persona takes a back seat as we walk. Which in turn makes my heart palpitate in anxiety.

A strange thing that I also notice is the lack of water orbs as we walk. Thinking back, the only times I saw him use it was when he was stationary. Is that maybe a limitation? And staying on that line of thought. Why don't I have any 'gifts' as he calls it?

The urge to ask is great, but I decided to stay quiet for now.

As exhaustion took hold, Vortex looked for a more fancy-looking building and marched in.

After finding and barricading an area where we three could comfortably fit in, I finally put to words the questions that swam through my mind through our walk. Starting with the why of our route.

"I know that people are moving around, but isn't this too much? Until now I only saw you and the boy who stabbed me."

"We did not find anyone because of the routes we were taking. You never know what competitors may do," His voice holds finality as he fluffs a pillow before setting an alarm on his phone and closing his eyes.

"Why don't I have a 'gift'?"

"That golem is your gift," He yawns, turning his back to me, "It's a companion-type gift."

"She's not. She's my daughter," I explain, stopping his misunderstanding.

He twitches, turning to me with a serious expression, "Explain."