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Anxious, nervous, terrified. Those three emotions, and several others I couldn’t name, were running around inside me. My heart beat out of my chest, the thumping sound within giving me a headache. Butterflies danced in my stomach, as if in competition with one another to see who could get me to vomit first. My jaw involuntarily clenched, grinding my teeth together, which only added to the pain in my head. All of that, and I still had to wait just a bit more.

It had been so long since we had tried. So long since we were able to. I felt old, tired, and weak on the inside, yet my body remained the same. It was a discrepancy that I couldn't wrap my head around. When he told me that it would just be another five years, I was filled with pure joy. What was another five on so many that had already passed? But I was feeling it now. What he had felt so many years ago, before I was even forced to come here. How dare I start to complain when he’d dealt with it for so long? It wouldn’t matter anymore anyway, though. We had finally gathered enough Nex again.

In front of us, four symbols were carved into the black stone floor, arranged on each side of the center pedestal in a square. Each was about a meter away from the center, and all of them pulsated with magical light. One was a deep red that mixed into the darkness of the stone. Another was a light blue, and the third was a deep golden brown. The fourth was the brightest one of them all, at least to me. It was a very faint green, but I could feel its power on a deeper level than the others. This one was attuned to my own Soul, after all. However, these four lights paled in comparison to the one that shone at the center.

On the slightly raised square pedestal, a metal spike stuck out. It rose about a meter in height, then looped at the top, like a giant sewing needle. Tied to that loop was what looked like a string, but it shined with a pure white light, drowning out all the other colors in the room. The shining string continued upwards, rising to half the height of the walls, then disappeared into nothing. It wasn’t attached to anything above, seemingly defying gravity, but I knew it just led off into something deeper. Something far, far away.

I turned to my companion. To my friend. He wore a deep scowl on his face, but it was covered well by his long brown beard and hair. It was strange, seeing someone who looked to be in his mid twenties have a full beard that went all the way down his chest. No man that young could grow such a long beard in such a short amount of time. But, he had had time. Too much time.

“Is it ready?” I asked him, staring deeply at his face.

His scowl turned into a faint smile. “It is. You two,” he pointed at two women in the small crowd behind us, “Come with us.”

They were both old, one of them barely supporting herself with a cane, but their Souls were strong. Everyone behind us was strong. He had spent years finding dedicated followers that would both help him and actually be useful to him. I knew these two women. I’d known them when they still looked young and vibrant, and I was sure he’d known them when they were children. The one with the cane smiled at me, she had always been sweet to me, and I returned the favor.

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Together, the four of us made our way over to the symbols. He took the one with the deep red color, the woman with the cane took the golden brown light, and the other took the light blue one. I stood in front of the pale green one, its power overwhelming my senses. Even so, I still heard when he yelled, “Begin!”

All of our Souls flared with power, absorbing the incredible amount of energy that was stored in the symbols. Then, when so much of it was stored inside of us that our skin began to crack with light, we pushed towards the center pedestal. Every bit of Nex we sent out was absorbed by the pure string, increasing its size and causing it to glow brighter. As we pushed, we absorbed more and more energy, continuing to feed the string.

After about half of the power in the symbols was drained the spell finally began. Where the string disappeared into nothingness, an opening appeared. It was like a crack in the air, nothing but endless white light within, being forced open as we poured more and more power into it. Then, something shot out of it. The object smashed against the pedestal, making a loud clang as it did so. I looked up to him, my eyes filled with tears. “Is it time?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“We need to finish it!” he yelled.

I smiled, continuing to push power into the pure string. I was so close now, just barely a step away. I could feel the power that was left in my symbol. There wasn’t much now, just one more push and I could finally go home.

The opening in the air trembled, wobbling as the last of the power we collected was fed to it. A sound like nails on a chalkboard screamed through the room. It was unnatural, and erupted from the opening. Then, it was silenced, followed by the quiet hum of a woman. It was a cheery sound, like one may make when idly working. The sound was eerily familiar, and sent chills up my spine. It was her.

Power exploded from the split in the air, balls of incandescent light spilling out and flying everywhere. They launched out of the room, escaping through the walls or the ceiling. As they did, the edges began to wobble again, until finally, they cracked. The endless white light from within slowly went away, leaving the room dark, only lit by the few candles that were littered around.

The woman with the cane collapsed, her body rigid, blood dripping from her fingertips. I ran over to her. Her breath was shallow and she was completely unresponsive. “What do we do?” I yelled, but heard no response. I tried to shake her awake, but nothing would work. It was only when her breathing finally steadied that I noticed the thing beside her.

It was a rectangular piece of thin metal, slightly bent in the middle. I reached for it, only for my hand to get singed. The metal was burning hot. I peered around to see the metals front. There, one word, ‘Oregon,’ was printed at the top, and two, ‘School Bus,” were printed at the bottom. In between were five random numbers.

My heart leaped through the air. “We did it! This is it! We can definitely get home! Just… five… more… years…” I trailed off.

I looked over to him again, waiting for him to say something, but he was still staring at the center of the room. I followed his eyes, looking over to the loop at the top of the metal spike. The pure string was gone. I felt my skin crawl.

“It’s just… five more years, right?” I asked.

When he spoke, his throat got caught on something, and he had to stop to clear it, “The pure string is the focus of the spell. Without it, we have no way of connecting to the deeper power. It took me a very long time to create it.”

“How long? How long!?” I begged him.

He stayed silent for a long time. All of the emotions I’d felt when we first started returned, but this time they were ten fold. Anxiousness, nervousness, absolute terror. When he finally spoke, the words felt as cold as ice. “Fifty years.”

I felt my heart stop. Another fifty years. I would have to double my time here, with no hope of getting home anytime soon. That was the only reason I was able to survive the first fifty. I fell to the ground, and wept. I was never getting home.