"Well, that could have gone better." Ted gulped as Narissa yanked him back from the precipice.

The stone they had been walking on had just crumbled in on itself and left a gaping hole down into an inky black darkness. A few small pieces of the ceiling (that they were walking on like the floor), were still crumbling away from the newly formed edge to join the other chunks in the darkness.

Narissa leaned forward towards the crumbling ceiling and nodded as she gazed down into the abyss. "Strange how it just gave way like that."

Ted let out a long breath of air as he shook his head. "Yeah, I'm just glad I didn't fall with the rest of it."

"Yes, but if it was a trap, why did it wait so long to be sprung?" She mused as she knelt down and dragged her gloved finger against the edge of the stone. She scowled and turned towards Ted. "Turn around."

"Huh?" Ted asked.

"I said, turn around. I don't want you looking at me right now." She said coldly as she looked right into his eyes.

Ted shrugged and did as she asked. "Sure, whatever you need."

"Good," she turned her head back and slowly took off the long glove on her right hand. As it slid off, it revealed her hand and she visibly grimaced at the sight. It looked like someone had stuck the hand and upper forearm of an elderly woman onto her arm. It was covered in wrinkles, brown spots, and strange white hairs. The skin itself looked like it had the texture of cheap, worn leather and her nails were a sickly yellow and cracked along the edge.

Narissa grit her teeth and closed her eyes as she dragged her wrinkly finger along the new edge of the stone. Slowly her fingers prodded and dragged along the edge. They explored the various curves and bumps in it intensely, and her fingers pushed down on it with just the slightest amount of pressure. After they had carefully gone over every crevice and edge near her, she pulled her hand back and nodded.

"Just as I thought." She mumbled.

"What was that?" Ted asked as he started to turn his head.

Narissa quickly pulled her hand up against her chest and shouted, "DON'T TURN AROUND!"

Ted quickly snapped his head back away from her. He hadn't quite turned enough to get any real look, and only managed to barely register that she was kneeling down. He flung his hands up and added, "Sorry, sorry. I thought you were talking to me."

Narissa sighed as she carefully put her long white glove back over her elderly hand. As she pulled it tight, it was impossible to tell she had anything other than perfectly smooth skin underneath the fabric. Slowly she stood up and turned back towards Ted as she crossed her arms.

"I never told you to turn back around," she scolded.

Ted started to turn his head towards her again, but as she shouted, "AH! AH!" Ted stopped and turned his head to face away from her again.

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He let out a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, it's just strange to talk to someone without actually seeing them. I'm not really used to that when the person is literally right by me."

"This is a place rich with magic. You need to try and follow my commands better if you want to increase your chances here. Understand?" Narissa explained.

"Um, sure. I guess." he replied with a shrug.

"Not 'you guess,' I need you to be certain. If I tell you to jump, you'll need to do it without hesitation." She continued.

"Can we at least have this talk with me being able to look at you?" he asked.

"No." she said firmly.

Ted let out another frustrated sigh. She seemed so certain. He was sure if he fought her at all, this would just drag on and on. And with how unstable this place apparently was, that didn't seem like a great idea to him. So, he decided it'd be best to go along with her.

"I'll try, but you know I'm bad at acting decisively when things get stressful."

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Poor, sweet little Ted. You don't have to think, just trust me. Just listen to me, and everything will be alright." Her voice was soft and gentle, but her words held an uneasy weight to them. Almost like they were weapons in disguise.

That only made Ted more uncomfortable. "Like I said, I'll do my best. You clearly know more about this place than I do."

Narissa pouted as she slowly shook her head. "I suppose that will have to do for the time being." She clicked the heels of her feet together and strutted past Ted. "Now, keep up with me Ted. We've got a ways to go."

As she walked past him, Ted hurried to keep up with her. "I don't have to look away anymore, right?" he asked.

She tapped her chin. "Oh, I guess that'd be alright for now. As for that hole back there. It seemed unintentional. From some sort of burst of magical energy. Nothing intentional."

"Oh, well that's good." Ted sighed.

"Actually, it's not."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Narissa glanced over at Ted from the side of her eyes and then looked forward again as she continued to press on down the hallway. "Unstable magic is a lot more dangerous than stable magic used by an enemy. You can prepare to defend from attacks. A lot of times you can even sense them coming if you train right. But wild and untamed magic running loose? Well, that's unlikely to do anything that can really affect the world around us, but when it does there's no real way to anticipate it. And with so much of it around here, if it's unstable, then it's only a matter of time before we get hit by a few stray blasts."

"So...that was one of those stray blasts?" Ted asked.

Narissa shook her head. "Oh no my dear. That was hardly an aggressive blast. More of a scenery change than anything else. Just be sure to stay close to me so there's a chance I could counteract anything really bad."

"But I thought you said there was no way to see it coming?"

"So glad you were listening, but of course there isn't. I'd have to react after it started. It's better than nothing, but our best bet would be to find some way to stabilize things here. That or seal it all away, but I don't see that happening."

The ground around them started to rumble, and Ted practically pushed himself up against Narissa.

Ted glanced up at her and asked, "Is this one of..."

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!"

The two of them screamed in unison as they were thrown up into the air. As they flew up towards a strip of faded purple carpet, Narissa weaved her hands around quickly as she drew various symbols in the air.

"Ñoldorin, I call upon your restless souls, embrace the cold, embrace the wind!" she chanted.

As they rapidly approached the stone, a strong gust of air blew from the carpet and towards them. It slowed their descent, but also sent them flying off towards the sides. Ted slammed against the wall and then tumbled down a few feet onto the carpet, while Narissa was caught by the wind, and managed to land on her feet.

As Ted groaned, he rubbed his head and slowly stood up. The two of them looked around and Narissa craned her neck up. It seemed that the ceiling they had been walking on was now the actual ceiling as it stayed firmly above their heads.

"Did...did gravity reverse?" Ted asked as he rubbed a sore spot of the back of his head. It wasn't bad, but it was at that strange point of pain where it is hard to stop yourself from constantly poking at it.

"It seems so..." Narissa mused as her eyes darted around.

There was a loud thumping sound from behind them, and the two of them immediately turned around. They shifted in time to see more of the chunks of the ceiling fall back through the hole and land now where the floor was. As more fell, Ted scooted a little closer to the witch.

"So, was that the wild magic just causing chaos?" he asked.

Narissa took a moment of silence before she answered, "Don't worry about it. If it was there is nothing we can do about it. But it just may have been the magic stabilizing, and turning the rules of this place back more to what they are supposed to be."

"So that's good, right?"

"Perhaps...it is better than unstable magic, but it all depends on who reigned it in and for what purpose. Depending on who it was, then it could be very far from good."

"Right. That's perfectly comforting, and I definitely won't be worrying about that at all until we find out." Ted sighed.

Narissa smiled. "Glad to hear it. Now let's press on. No point in wasting this fine carpet we now have to walk on."

Ted wasn't sure if she missed his sarcasm, but he was sure it would be pointless to try and press her on it. So, he simply nodded and followed along behind her. This place was so strange. It almost felt familiar, but only as somewhere he had visited. Like a place he had walked past before, but not somewhere he truly knew.