“This is amazing!” Lily said, joyfully popping a couple of floating bubbles in front of her. Each burst released a puff of mist that materialized around them, creating a foggy atmosphere.

They emerged one by one from cracks in the ground.

“Kalumi’s border ends here,” Eiji informed her.

“Huh?” Lily said, realizing a sticky substance had glued her fingers together.

“Bubblemist vines,” Eiji explained. Digging his hand into the ground, he yanked a thick vine out. Tiny holes along the vine were the source of the bubbles. “Rosa’s Minus originated from these roots.”

Curious, Lily asked, “What kind of Minus did Rosa merge with?”

“I believe they’re called Bubble Nymphs. Nasty little critters,” Eiji said, shivering at the memory.

Plu enthusiastically ran over to one of the vines, popping a bubble and encouraging it to continue running through many more.

“Cut it out, Plu. You’re making it harder to find our way out of here,” Rai complained.

“Plu.” Ignoring Rai, it continued to run around, covering its body in the sticky substance.

“That’s it!” Rai snapped, stomping after Plu. However, the mist that formed made it hard for him to see, resulting in him running face-first into the branch of a tree.

Running around Plu tripped, stumbling into a tree.

“Where did you go, you little… ” Rai grumbled, rubbing his nose.

“Plu…”

Rai found Plu fixed to the tree from the leftover bubble’s residue. “Hah! That’s what you get,” he said, teasing it.

Lily and Eiji carefully made their way beside Rai, following his voice.

“Stop it,” Lily scolded Rai, leaning over to Plu. “We’ll get you off,” she promised.

“Plu, you’re a genius!” Eiji said, running around through the bubbles, before disappearing into the jungle.

“What’s got him all riled up?” Rai wondered.

Lily shrugged her shoulders, uncertain herself. Suddenly, Eiji’s triumphant roar echoed through the jungle as he swung in gracefully on a vine protruding from the trees above, yelling, “Ya-Hoo!” A loud splat followed, and Eiji found himself stuck on the same tree as Plu, but higher up. “That hurt more than I’d like to admit,” Eiji said, wincing.

Rai and Lily were lost for words.

After, Lily contemplated how to help Eiji while Rai tugged away at Plu.

“Come on,” Rai grunted, tugging relentlessly as Plu slowly detached from the tree. With a final determined jerk, Rai successfully freed Plu, causing him to stumble backward. “Wha—” Both Rai and Plu’s screams faded as they fell from a cliff shrouded by the bubblemist effect.

“The fog’s clearing up,” Lily said, seeing it disperse.

“The bubblemist vines’ effects only last for so long,” Eiji said. Seeing the sticky substance, steadily melt, Eiji dropped to the ground. “I know more than Birchet thinks.”

“Go you,” Lily said, giggling.

Eiji blushed. Frantically, he looked around. “Where’s Rai?”

“Down here,” Rai’s exhausted voice resonated from the cliff’s end. They rushed over and looked down.

Lily held a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a smile.

“Looking a little wide on the hips there,” Eiji joked, referring to Rai’s current condition.

A gigantic bubble inched upward bit by bit. Rai happened to be wedged waist-high into the giant bubble, and Plu sat upon his head, blinking cluelessly.

“Why is it me that always ends up falling into some pit of death…” Rai said.

“Plu,” Plu responded, folding its arms.

“No one’s asking you!” Rai barked back, approaching eye level with his companions.

“Hey, are these the things Rosa told us about?” Lily asked.

Before they left, Rosa had informed them about enormous bubbles that arise from the waters below.

“That’s right. ‘Shortest path to the empire’ is what she said,” Eiji remarked, using a stick to reach out and poke at the bubble Rai was in.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“Cut it out!” Rai yelled in disbelief.

“Don’t worry, these bubbles are too thick for something like a simple poke.”

“Pick another!” Rai argued, steam racing out his ears.

Beneath Rai, waves crashed into the sides of the gaping canyon within the forest.

“This world never ceases to amaze me,” Lily said, staring at the waves thrashing around between the two land masses. What was such a body of water doing in the middle of the forest...

Eiji looked ahead to a giant wall that stretched a mile into the sky. Taking Lily aside, he gulped before saying, “Do you trust me?”

“Uh, sure,” she replied.

“Still going up over here,” Rai said.

Gripping Lily’s hand, Eiji pulled her along, jumping off the cliffside!

Lily’s scream faded as they dropped. After a moment, she opened her eyes, looking around, Lily realized she was in a bubble, just like Rai. A little above, her in another bubble was Eiji, wearing a large grin. His bubble was rotating upside down, so his head was near Lily’s.

“The bubbles don’t pop so easily on first contact, since the flux within them helps maintain their shape. Now we wait,” Eiji announced, but, unexpectedly, Lily smacked him across the face.

“Are you crazy!?” Lily shouted, glancing down she let out a sharp yelp, covering her eyes.

“Great, now we’re all stuck,” Rai’s voice reverberated from above.

“Not exactly,” Eiji said proudly, his face bruised. “These bubbles are going to take us straight to the top,” he explained.

“Yeah, and what do we do with the other one hundred feet between us and the wall over there,” Rai said, pointing to the towering cliff on the opposite end of them.

“Gah!” Eiji realized his plan of ascension, didn’t include a way to traverse across.

Suddenly, the thrashing water below settled, and large bubbles began to form.

“What’s going on down there?” Rai wondered out loud.

From beneath the surface of the waves, a humongous eruption of air and bubbles sent the group soaring high into the sky, cutting them more than halfway to the top; their bubbles had even moved closer to the wall.

Eiji’s bubble was close to popping against it!

He desperately tried to rotate his bubble, blowing air from his lungs and swimming as one would in the ocean to face the wall – with a light tap, he pushed off just enough to keep his bubble from popping.

“Told you it worked out,” Eiji said, with a sigh of relief.

“Dumb luck,” Rai muttered, right next to them.

“What’s happening?” Lily asked, her head spinning.

In the distance, Rai noticed something, saying, “What’s that?” A spiral wave of tiny bubbles quickly approached.

“Bubble Nymph!” Eiji said.

The bubbles swirled above their heads before descending and halting in front of Rai.

“Um...” Rai wasn’t sure what to do, it was the size of his thumb. “This is a Minus?”

The tiny creature blinked twice curiously before sporting an evil grin, and from its rear, a small stinger made of bark appeared, driving it into Rai’s neck, immediately drawing flux from him.

“Stupid,” Rai tried to smash it using his head and shoulder, but the Minus detached and flew away, however, Plu happened to roll off Rai’s head. “Plu!” Rai said, catching him with his teeth. “This isn’t good,” Rai muttered, feeling the draining effects of the Minus already. The creature stared back at him, blinking twice. Beside Rai, a large bubble collided with the cliff-face, bursting it. Soon, another grin spread across its face. “Don’t you even think about it,” Rai carefully tried to slip his arm out of the bubble without popping it, but before he could the creature darted his way, piercing the bubble and popping it.

“Rai!” Lily called as he plummeted.

Luckily, he landed in another bubble. Plu happened to be on the inside of this one.

“That was a close one,” Rai said looking down, he realized there wouldn’t be another bubble to catch his fall again.

“Lily!” Eiji said. The Minus was circling, now heading straight for them. “Can you use ikken?” Eiji asked, urgently.

“Uh, ik- what?” Lily said, unsure of what he meant.

“Bend flux,” Eiji explained, glancing at the cliffs, they were nearly at the top! “Most Nefarians that have undergone the ritual can at least handle the basics,” he said.

“I'll try,” Lily said, holding her fist out. Aiming at the Minus, she uttered, “Ikken… Nope, not a thing,” she smiled nervously.

Eiji dropped his head in disappointment. We're doomed.

Rai realized that there wasn’t anything to catch their fall. If their bubble was popped, that would be it for them. Lifting his hands, arms pointed straight, he intertwined his fingers. Come on…

The Minus’s wooden stinger surfaced, ready to strike Lily and Eiji. They both closed their eyes moments before the Minus approached their bubble.

Abruptly, a small invisible wave of energy lightly smacked the Minus, making it bounce off the wall. Shaking its head, it blinked a couple of times before looking around.

“No way, did that work?” Rai said aloud.

Eiji, realizing they were close enough, popped his bubble, catching the edge. “Lily!” he said, signaling for her to go next.

“Right,” she said, popping her own and grabbing ahold of the edge. Pulling herself up, she looked over at Rai’s bubble which was still a ways down. “What do we do?”

Eiji watched with a look of frustration.

The Minus, noticing Rai was still alive, snarled. The stinger retracted into its body, and in its place, bubbles pushed out, dashing all over the sky, creating a dense mist as it popped its flux infused bubbles.

“The mist,” Lily said, kneeling to watch Rai before a fog blocked her view. “We have to help him!”

Eiji bit his lip, unsure of exactly how they could. Unsheathing his dagger, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the Minus below. There was a distinction between Rai’s and its flux. If I could just get the timing right, I might be able to get the Minus, but if I miss, and end up hitting Rai or the bubble he’s riding in…

Rai continued to aim his clenched fists at the surrounding shadow dashing around the bubble in the fog. He closed his eyes looking for an opportunity. “Great, now we’re playing hide and seek,” he said. Aiming his ikken, he once again tried to shoot the creature, but nothing came out. “Oh come on!” he pouted. Sensing something urgent, he gritted his teeth. The Minus was going to attack!

Sniffing the air, Lily shouted, “Eiji!”

“There!” Eiji yelled, throwing his dagger. The blade, pierced through the back of the Minus, causing its body to burst into chips of wood and the negative flux force within it vanished.

A tiny colorful seed fell from where its body once was.

“Did you get it?!”

The fog quickly disappeared and when it did, Rai was nowhere to be seen.

Eiji cried, “I was too late!” He leaned over, snot running from his nose, when a giant rumbling made him look over the cliff side. A giant wave of water and air slapped Eiji in the face.

Unexpectedly, rising from the depths of yet another bubble was Rai. He was head first inside of it, meanwhile, Plu was on the outside, resting upon his butt.

“You’re okay!” Lily jumped with joy.

“I’m starting to see why you don’t like heights,” Rai said, holding his hand over his mouth.