Adam raced across the forest ground towards the tree the girl had climbed.

He used a notch on the tree to boost himself up to the first branch and clambered up it swiftly.

Adam prepared to jump to the same branch Mana did, but his brain stopped him. If he had tried to jump like the girl did, then he would have face-planted against the ground. Instead, he spotted another large branch four feet above him. He decided to take the safer route and jump up to the higher limb. It would cost him time, but falling would lose his chance to get to the girl.

Adam bent his knees and pushed off the branch as hard as he could, or so he planned, but halfway through his jump, the sound of metal and tree branches snapping made him lose his balance and nearly fall off the tree. The plane wasn't going to stay much longer. Without thinking, he leaped toward the limb he felt he couldn't reach earlier and hollered mid-jump involuntarily.

"Umph," Adam said as his chest crashed against the branch, knocking his wind out. Several smaller twigs broke underneath him when he hit the tree branch, and two of them stabbed him pretty hard. Adam was genuinely surprised he made the jump, but his excitement faded quickly when he started to slide down the tree branch.

Adam pulled himself up the branch and continued. The plane was still several feet above him, but it was all smooth sailing after the first big leap. The rest of the way was just a matter of keeping his balance as he jumped from one limb to the next. It wasn't long before he made one final jump onto the plane's front end. There was a clang as Adam's foot hit the metal, and before he proceeded, he fell onto his stomach, hugging the plane. It would be just his luck to slide off the plane at the last moment.

Adam crawled his way to the rear of the plane, where Mana was, and carefully stared down into the other half of the aircraft. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and when they did, he sucked in a deep breath in panic.

Mana hung upside down with her leg tangled inside a safety belt. She twisted and pulled, trying to free her leg, but her body was in a bad position to do anything but make things worse. Mana yanked hard on the safety belt, using enough force to make the plane creek and turn.

"Mana, stop," Adam bellowed. If she kept up with what she was doing, the whole plane would fall. Him included.

Mana stopped what she was doing and stared at him. She started to yell something at him, but in her panic, she forgot to use English, so he had no idea what she was saying but got the gist of it.

She was asking for help...or she was cursing at him. Either way, she was not having a good day today.

"Okay, stay calm. I'll get you out of there, I promise," he said. Something in his tone must have calmed her down because the tension in her body relaxed, and she nodded slightly.

"Okay, I'm going to find something to cut the belt with; you just don't move, okay," he said, waiting for her to respond. She nodded again, and he took that as a sign she wouldn't try anything while he searched for a sharp object.

Adam lowered himself into the cockpit of the plane, being careful not to cut himself on the sharp metal edges. With only a small cut on his hand, he slipped into the safe half of the plane wreck.

He searched the inside for something sharp when his eyes caught sight of something that made him pause. It was his rucksack. It must have gotten tossed to the front of the plane from the crash. Adam shut his eyes for several seconds in disbelief. Why didn't he think of that? If he had just asked Mana to search the front of the plane first, then none of this would have happened in the first place.

Adam shook his head; this was no time for regrets. He grabbed his Swiss army knife from one of the pockets in his rucksack and returned to the other half of the plane. Mana stared up at him expectantly when he poked his head down. He quickly nodded, letting her know he had found what he was looking for.

Adam lay on his stomach and reached for the belt with the knife, but it was too out of reach. He lowered himself, hanging upside down, when his body slid forward unexpectedly.

"Holy crap," Adam yelped, his heart skipping a beat. He took in a few breaths, calming himself before getting back to the task at hand. He stretched his hand as far as it would reach, and the knife tip brushed against the strap.

Adam moved the knife back and forth, trying to cut the strap holding the girl's leg, but he couldn't put enough force into the cut. He kept at it for what seemed like hours, but in reality, it had only been a few short moments. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he worked, and unfortunately for Mana, she was directly beneath him and was getting soaked from the water leaking off of him.

Adam did his best not to notice where his sweat was going while he worked. Right now, Mana's pants in the crotch area were completely soaked, and a stream of water flowed down her stomach. Honestly, it looked like she had wet herself. If she was annoyed by this, she didn't let it show. He secretly hoped Mana was too focused on her dire situation to pay attention to something like that. Adam was just thankful Mana wore pants and not a loincloth as he did. Otherwise, this situation would have been extremely awkward.

"Almost...have it," Adam said between deep breaths. There was only a small thread holding her up now, and he was a bit annoyed it wouldn't just break already. He swung the knife at the belt several times before it finally snapped, dropping Mana with it. The girl twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet like a gymnastics pro. He would have been super impressed at the display, but the moment Mana's foot hit the ground, the plane groaned.

Several things happened all at once suddenly. Adam could feel the plane move as it groaned, and for some reason, Mana seemed to be getting further away. But that wasn't even the worst of it. The sudden shift made him lose his grip, and he slid forward fast.

Adam spread his feet apart and lodged one of them between something before he fell. Now, he dangled almost completely out of the front half of the plane with one leg dangling in the air.

"Mana, move now," Adam yelled.

The girl stood frozen, looking up at him with fear. His words seemed to shake some sense into Mana because her body shook slightly before she moved into action. With swift, agile movements, she leaped from obstacle to obstacle until her foot hit the lip of the plane. With one last push, Mana vaulted out of the wreckage straight toward him.

Adam stretched his hand toward Mana, who reached out to him simultaneously. Their fingers barely touched before the girl started to fall. Her eyes grew with fear as they slipped further away. It wasn't just a simple fall to the ground anymore. Soon, there would be a metal graveyard beneath them. He couldn't stomach watching a girl fall to her death. Without a second thought, Adam released his leg.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Adam's hand clasped Mana's, and with a quick tug, he wrapped her into his arms.

Her eyes grew like saucers as he squeezed her into his chest before twisting his body so that he would take the brunt of the fall.

Adam squeezed his eyes shut, dreading the pain that would soon come. Even if he got lucky and missed all the debris from the plane, the fall was still far enough to hurt like hell.

Adam waited and waited for what felt like an eternity for his back to hit solid ground, but after a while, something seemed wrong. He could feel the hard floor beneath his back already. But that was impossible unless, of course, he hit the dirt so hard it gave him a concussion. That wasn't likely, though, because he could still feel Mana wrapped tightly in his arms.

Adam mustered up his courage and opened his eyes to look around. The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was Mana staring at him worriedly. The next thing his eyes lighted upon was the plane wreck some twenty yards away. It took him several seconds to determine what was wrong with the situation. The tree he had just fallen off of was a stone's throw away somehow.

"What?" Adam said dumbly. He tried to get up, but a wave of vertigo washed over him, and he fell back to earth while his grip on the girl slackened. Adam no longer had the strength to keep his arms up, and they hit the dirt like dead weight. It was as if every ounce of energy had left his body at once, leaving him an empty husk. 'Maybe I'm already dead and just don't know it yet,' Adam thought slowly as his vision darkened.

"Adam...Adam...you must not..."

Adam thought he heard his name being called, but the voice sounded miles away. 'Why can't you just let me sleep,' Adam sluggishly thought. Wherever he was right now, it felt like heaven. There was no pain or suffering, and everything was peaceful and quiet. He no longer wanted to return to reality if he could live like this forever.

"Adam...Adam...you need to wake up," the voice said, only this time much louder.

"Go away," Adam tried to say, but no words came out. It was as if no sounds could exist in the empty void. Now that he thought about it, he didn't have to breathe here either. The Void beckoned him further into the darkness with silent promises of solace. Adam felt a pull toward the endless depth and let himself glide forward without resistance.

"Adam, you must stop. If you go any further, I won't be able to save you." A golden light suddenly appeared before him, taking on Mana's appearance. Adam stopped gliding forward, mesmerized by the golden light in the endless darkness.

"Come closer," the Void beckoned. Suddenly, the light pull became a tugging sensation that was pulling him closer by force now. Adam attempted to fight the Void but soon gave in to the sway into the darkness. Why was he trying to fight the endless void in the first place? It was where he belonged.

"Adam...come back to me," the light said in a worried voice that was also filled with warmth.

'Come back to me?' Adam thought slowly. The words were so strange to him that he froze in place. 'Back to me..? Does that mean I don't belong here?' Adam thought, his mind becoming a bit more clear. It had been a long time since Adam had ever had someone to return to. Ever since his parents had died, it was just him for the longest time.

Adam felt a sharp tug from the Void, but this time, he fought back. He pulled against the invisible rope connecting him to the endless darkness, trying to break the connection, but this made whatever was on the other side angry.

Now, it felt like he was playing tug of war with a truck.

"That's good, Adam. Just keep fighting," the light that was Mana said as it floated closer to him.

"Can't hold it much longer," Adam tried to say, but the void still silenced his words. The closer the light Mana got, the harder the darkness fought back. Adam was putting everything he had against the pull, but he was losing ground inch by inch.

"You're doing good, Adam. Now let me help you," Mana said, inches from him.

Adam watched as the Mana, made up entirely of golden light, embraced him warmly. Adam felt the cold emptiness inside him reside slowly as the golden light washed over him. The warmth he felt was more desirable than the emptiness, and he wanted more. Every part of his being wanted to be enveloped in the warm glow that he stopped fighting the pull and instead embraced Mana. He couldn't stop himself. The warmth was so intoxicating that he couldn't resist anymore. But it didn't matter. Mana was like an unmovable wall that the darkness couldn't break.

Adam thought nothing could ever feel better than he did then, but he was wrong. The golden light shaped as Mana leaned in and pressed her lips against his. At first, he hesitated, pulling away, but Mana didn't let up and pulled him into her waiting lips, and this time, he didn't resist her. Their lips touched, and the moment they did, Adam felt a flood of warmth enter his body. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, and all around him, the darkness faded, replaced with the golden light emanating from Mana's body. Soon, the void receded, leaving only them behind and nothing else. At that moment, it was as though Mana was his only reality, and nothing else mattered in the world.

Adam jerked awake, sitting up abruptly, gasping for air. It took him several seconds of heavy breathing before he controlled himself. He noticed Mana sitting a couple of steps away, staring at him with a relieved expression. Adam felt his face redden and looked away from her.

"What a strange dream," Adam muttered quietly.

"That wasn't a dream. You nearly died!" Mana suddenly snapped.

"Huh?" Adam said blankly. He twisted his body around, testing to see if he had any injuries, but he didn't feel any.

"But I feel fine," He said, getting to his feet.

"How did we get over here anyway?" he curiously asked. The plane was a good stone's throw away from them now, and unless a huge gust of wind somehow magically brought them to safety (which he doubted), then someone must have carried them over here. But if that were the case, then where was their savior?

"You must have used magic without realizing it. Do you know how dangerous that is!?" she said, her voice rising with every word.

"Magic," Adam deadpanned. Now he knew the girl had something wrong with her.

"Magic's not real," he said, rolling his eyes.

Mana's mouth dropped wide open at his words. She gave him a look that said, "Are you an idiot?"

"Magic's not real? Then how do you explain how we got here," she said, waving her arm dramatically.

Adam scratched his head, trying to ponder an explanation for her question. Mana's outburst made it hard for Adam to think, though. Surely, the girl didn't believe in magic. That would be ludicrous.

"Maybe someone carried us over here when I was unconscious," Adam said when nothing else came to mind.

"But I didn't lose consciousness," Mana pointed out.

"Well, then maybe a freak gust of wind blew us over here," Adam said, using his other idea. Although even he felt stupid just saying the words.

"A GUST OF WIND," Mana shouted. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?"

Adam flinched. Being called an idiot by the young girl hurt more than he would have liked. He secretly wished the girl were telling the truth and he could use magic, but spells and witchcraft belonged to the world of fantasy, not reality.

Adam sighed. It wasn't his place to lecture the girl on the difference between reality and fantasy. That was reserved for her grandfather, which he shouldn't have let get this far, but again, it was not his problem. He opened his mouth to apologize to the girl, but a giant branch snapping in two cut his words short. They both turned towards the noise just in time to see something huge and furry land in their clearing.

Adam sucked in a breath. Twenty feet in front of them was the biggest cat he had ever seen and that was saying something since he had seen lions before. The giant cat stood six feet tall on all fours and had dark blue fur that shimmered as if made of water. If Adam had to guess what breed the cat was it would be a panther, only much bigger.

"Shadow Panther," Mana breathed