Neige continued walking for a long moment in the eternal darkness. An eternity seemed to pass before the black fog suddenly formed shapes in front of him. Neige immediately recognized the scenery, it was the inside of the church, with Ada praying like usual. Except that she seemed older, closer to his age. The door of the church opened, and the other Neige entered but wasn't alone. A young girl with pointy ears was following him. He seemed older too, it could only mean that a few years, maybe a decade even, passed.

The nun noticed the two and went toward them. Her calm face suddenly filled with shock as she saw the girl, and immediately closed the door behind them. She turned toward her Neige and seemed angry at him for some reason.

"Neige! Is it an elf?"

"Yeah, she's cute, right?" Neige chuckled a bit, but his friend on the opposite still looked mad at him.

"You know that elves are supposed to be extinct! It's against the Gods' wishes to shelter one, so you can imagine that they'd never allow her in a church!"

"Come on, the Gods have forsaken us. They just do whatever they want, and then leave."

The nun was about to argue back but was cut short by the elven's little voice.

"Please, you need to listen to me."

Ada looked at her friend, who had a serious expression on her face. She figured that she wouldn't have a choice but to listen, and it was true that it would be unfair to just let her go back to the cold outside.

"Very well, what is it, my child?"

The girl smiled cheerfully, before taking a serious tone back.

"Ten years ago, all the elves have been decimated by the Goddess of time. I managed to escape, but I'm scared, even after all those years. I want to go talk to her, I want to talk to Fubuki. Convince her that she's in the wrong. As a nun, I think she'll listen to you. Can you come with me?"

Neige stared at Ada and gave her a challenging smile.

"So, scared of meeting your precious Goddess?"

"No, it's not that." Answered Ada "But she made her decision, and I don't think it's worth it. If we bring the elf there, Fubuki will just... You know..."

"I'm ready to take the risk!" The girl said with confidence, trying to convince the nun.

"Come on Ada, we could ask her why she hates the elves! And it would be a fun adventure!"

Ada was curious about Neige's behavior, was he doing all of this just for this girl? She knew him for long enough to know that he was hiding something, but she believed in her friend and reluctantly agreed.

"Alright, we'll leave tomorrow, you can spend the night here."

The scene vanished once more, like the other times. Neige walked around the void for a moment, still thinking about what he just saw.

"Tomorrow... If it's really Ada's memories, then..."

Neige kept thinking about the worst that could happen, all he could do was continue to wander in this space. A faint voice could be heard, it was echoing everywhere, and at the same time, it was coming from nowhere. It was hard to tell, but Neige could recognize this voice he heard so much before.

"Silva?"

Every contestant was given a dragon, but all of them seemed way weaker than the one Silva had, leading to jealousy from the others. They were all trying to get used to their new partners while waiting for the tournament's organizer to finally arrive. The three friends stayed together, thinking about the best way to act.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"So it's not a group trial, but it doesn't we shouldn't help each other. But at the same time, only one of us needs to win the tournament, so if you feel like it slows you down too much, don't hesitate to be egoist, it's for the greater good."

Silva and Sepide nodded their head to the leader's order. Silva raised her hand and asked a question curiously.

"What's a dragon? I remember that I found a few of them, but I don't think they were really fast."

"Not when they walk, but when they fly, they-"

"Fly?" Silva said, cutting the leader in her words "We're going to fly?"

"Yes, it's a race to the core of this planet, so it's more practical that way. What's the problem?"

"So I'm going to be in the air, with no ground and the sound of the wind in my ears?"

"Yeah." Answered the leader, visibly not understanding the problem.

"How am I going to know where I'm going? I can't fly!"

Before they could find a solution, the organizer of the tournament arrived. She checked her notes and nonchalantly explained the rules once more.

"Sorry for being late. Anyway, nearby is a hole that leads to the center of this world. The twelve first to get there win. But it's a really dangerous place, so be careful down there and keep your eyes open."

Everyone took place around the deep hole that seemed to stretch toward infinity. The heavy silence weighted the contestants. Opal slowly counted down, one by one. Silva held the reigns of her mount with all the strength she had, her heart beating faster and faster as the seconds passed. The countdown finally reached zero, and everyone jumped into the hole as fast as they could.

The leader and Sepide both managed to stay ahead, controlling their dragons wasn't easy, but they were doing much better than the others. Sepide looked around, but couldn't see any trace of Silva anywhere. She wished she could help her, but her priority was to win the race before all, and she knew Silva could manage by herself.

The caves were dark for a long moment, and the path was straightforward. Sepide started to wonder what was so dangerous about this cave in the first place. They managed to make smooth progress until her mount suddenly shifted to the left, dodging an axe attached to a chain from behind. When she looked behind her, Sepide saw Kairo, attacking her directly.

"My aim got bad, I would have hit before."

Sepide tried her best to pay attention to where she was going, while still making sure that she wouldn't get hit by Kairo's attack. She tried to take her firearm by reflex but remembered that she didn't have her usual weaponry, realizing she instead would need to find another way to get rid of him.

"Why are you doing that? Were they not your friends?"

Kairo spun the axe with the chain, preparing for another attack.

"I'll forever be grateful for what they did for me. But we're dealing with matters that are beyond us. I'll reach the real world, and if it requires some sacrifices, then so be it."

As Kairo was about to throw his axe, he suddenly was blinded by a shard and bright light. The cave was filled with luminescent crystals on the walls. Sepide took this opportunity to escape her opponent as fast as she could, but even despite her best efforts, she still couldn't get rid of him.

"Why are you attacking me? We're among the first ones! We can both win!"

"You don't understand, I'm not trying to win this race. I'm just making sure that you won't cause problems down the line."

Kairo threw his axe once more, Sepide managed to dodge it at the last moment, but she knew it was only a matter of time until she got hit. It seemed like the man wouldn't let himself be convinced easily, but she knew she had to try at least.

"I'm trying to save Neige, don't you want him to be safe?"

"I wish it was possible, but sadly, he'll have to go too someday."

"Why are you doing that? Do you really think you're superior to everyone else?"

"No, I know that my time will come too. I just want to see her one time, see the truth with my own eyes."

"Her?" Sepide asked, still trying to escape from him.

"The Goddess, the creator of all. We merely are pawns, and she is the player."

"Now I understand why Silva said it was hard to understand you!"

Kairo laughed happily, visibly enjoying hearing those words.

"That's something that she would say, I'll miss her and the others."

The cave was still wide but there were a lot of crystals on the way, making it hard to navigate. She finally found a way to get rid of Kairo, and suddenly braked, letting him go before her.

"Now you won't be able to attack me, or else you won't see where you're going. And if you're going slower than me, you're taking the risk of letting others go ahead of us!"

"Not bad, I can understand how they managed without me now."

Even despite Sepide's strategy, Kairo still tried to attack her. But it was easier for her now, since she could see where she was going and dodge his attacks more easily. The cave started getting dark again as the crystals were getting rarer and rarer. Kairo finally decided to stop his offensive and focused on the way instead. The cave was getting tighter and it was getting hard for them to navigate now. Sepide was getting worried for her friend, she hoped that Silva would manage.