The door opened, revealing a compact room, with a small metal table in the middle. Cydney was sitting down, back hunched and clad in an orange jumpsuit. Her hair was pulled into an uncharacteristically messy ponytail, but she seemed clean and unscathed otherwise.

"Cinna!"

Cydney spun around, relief washing over her dark, round eyes.

"Lyn," she said with a small smile.

As Lyn approached, she tried to stand up, but chains rattled—her hands were cuffed to the side of the chair, gluing her to her seat.

Lyn's eyes twitched. She turned to the guard standing behind her.

"Hey, release her," she snapped.

The guard shrugged. "Sorry, ma'am, protocol."

"Did you not hear what I said?" Lyn clenched her fists and stepped towards the already cowering man. She definitely would have landed a punch on the guard if not for Cydney's hurried comment.

"It's okay, Lyn. Let's- Let's just talk."

Lyn relented and plopped down on the chair opposite Cydney. Leaning forward as far as she could, she asked, "How are you, Cinna?"

"I'm good."

Despite saying that, Cydney looked as though she had not slept at all; her eyes were puffy and droopy, while her body was curled up like a clam, making her appear even smaller than normal. "I'm just... tired and hungry, that's all. They did get me food and a bed, so I guess it's not too bad."

"I'm sorry it had to be like this, but I swear, Cinna, I swear I will get you out." Lyn stretched her arms out towards the petite woman. "Emily managed to get her guild to sponsor a team of lawyers. They're Dawn Avengers, so they definitely know what they're doing. If there's any group that can go against the QA, it's Dawn Avengers."

"She did? That's so nice of her," Cydney said, her eyes remaining lifeless as she forced out a smile.

That wasn't a reaction that Lyn had expected. She frowned. "What's wrong, Cinna?"

"Nothing, it's just..." Cydney let out a sigh. "It's just that nothing is going according to my plan. Nothing ever goes according to my plan. It's too exhausting. I don't know what's gonna happen after this, and I'm too tired to try and figure it out. I just..." She closed her eyes. "I just want this whole thing to end."

Cydney's quivering voice—filled with so much grief and resignation—pierced into Lyn's heart. "Cinna, I promise you. I'll get you out, and then I'll get you home. I promise. This is all my fault, and I will make it up to you, no matter what."

A soft chuckle escaped Cydney's throat. "What are you talking about, Lyn? How is any of this your fault?" Her dark irises glazed over. "And also... there's nothing you can do to get me home."

Lyn wanted to argue, but she did not know what to say. "W- Well, the least I can promise you is getting you out of here. We have a team of lawyers from Dawn Avengers, and I am willing to supplement more if needed, so we're ready to get you out. Afterward, we... we will figure it out together, okay?"

Cydney nodded, even though she did not look like she believed in it. "Sure, but you're here about something else, right? Did they ask you to convince me to take the truth serum? To help them with the case?"

Cydney's knowing remark stunned Lyn for a while. Swallowing a lump of guilt in her throat, she admitted, "Y- Yeah... I'm so sorry, Cinna... I- I really didn't want to put you through that but they told me..."

Another amused chuckle, this time paired with raised eyebrows. "It's okay. I understand," Cydney said, leaning backward on her chair, "but sorry, Lyn. I'm not going to take it. There's no way they would believe me anyway, even if I take it."

"Why not?" Agitated, Lyn leaned towards Cydney even more, her butt lifting off her seat. "Is it because of your previous experience with it? The- The last time was completely my fault, Cinna! I- I was stupid, I didn't talk to you beforehand, and I hurt you because of that. But this time, we can choose the questions you answer! We can make sure that you won't be thrown off guard like that time! If you could just answer the right questions with the serum, we can help you win against the QA—"

"Would you believe me," Cydney cut Lyn off, her gaze averted, her voice almost a whisper, "if I said I'm from a different world?"

Lyn blinked. "What?"

"I'm not from this world, Lyn. That's why I can't do basic magic, or any magic, for that matter. That's why I can only do magic on things from my own world. That includes my sword, my body, and the entire island..." —She paused a little, swallowing down a ball of regret.— "And also Han's body... I... I could do things to his body too. I didn't like it but I did."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

A muddle of confusion, panic, and turmoil rushed into Lyn's head. "I still don't get you... By world, do you mean, like, a different continent?"

"No. A parallel world. Another dimension. Not from this Earth." Cydney's head turned back to Lyn, black eyes boring into a pair of emeralds. "If I said that, would you believe me?"

"Cinna, I really don't know what you mean..."

Cydney's eyes fluttered. With a strained voice, she muttered, "See? Even you don't believe me, how can anybody else?" She looked away again as if it physically hurt her to look at Lyn again. "So, no. I'm not taking the truth serum."

"No, Cinna, you have to—"

"Or what? You're gonna force-feed it to me again?"

A thousand swords rained down on Lyn, striking her everywhere in the heart, and plunging through her throat as well.

She wanted to apologize, she wanted to hold her hand, to repeat over and over how much she had regretted doing that. But she sat, speechless and motionless, as Cydney called to the guard, "I'd like to go back, please."

Then, she watched as Cydney's petite back slowly left the room, disappearing behind the door, fading into a blur of tears.

ϟ☁ϟ☁ϟ

Lyn lifted her head from the dining table. It was now nighttime; the entire living room was dark and empty. Several beer cans—one crushed, some toppled, all empty—stared back at her.

Irene was staying over at Cameron's tonight, but she would kill Lyn if she ever saw the current state of the apartment.

Groaning, Lyn pushed herself up. Her arms throbbed from having her head lean on it for hours, while her face stung from the chill of her dried tears.

Cinna...

That conversation did not go as she'd hoped. Not only did she fail to convince Cydney to take the truth serum, but she also managed to make her mad. Lyn gulped down a lump of regret.

The frown on Cydney's face, the purposeful avoidance of eye contact, the stiff voice, dripping with anguish—they etched into Lyn's mind. She slumped onto the table again, her forehead slamming into the glass surface as her hands dug into her hair.

"Won't you look at that? The great lightning mage, crying alone in her apartment."

Lyn jerked up at the voice. "Who is it?"

Silhouetted against the dim moonlight, a tall, feminine body sauntered towards the dining table. Lyn squinted her eyes and gasped.

"Sybil Dalman," she growled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to say hello." The Witch smiled serenely, the wrinkles on her face matched the wisps of platinum blonde hair jutting out of her braids.

"How did you even get in here?"

"It's not that difficult since I've been here before." Sybil shrugged. She took a seat opposite Lyn, swiping the empty beer cans away from her.

"This is my apartment." Lyn brandished her clenched, charged fists. "How could you have been here before?"

Eyebrows raised, Sybil let out a chuckle. "Oh relax, quester, I'm on your side. Or, to put it more accurately, I'm on your girlfriend's side."

Lyn's anger dissipated in an instant. "You mean Cinna?" she asked, sitting back down and staring at the Witch. "You're going to help her?"

"Of course I am." Sybil rested her face on her hand, her grey eyes seemed to buzz like a stormy rain cloud. "Cydney is great. She's sweet, kind-hearted, very talented, and so young with so much ahead of her. I want to help her in every way I can." Her lips twisted into a smirk as she challenged, "What about you?"

Ire and jealousy welled up inside Lyn.

"I'll do anything for her," she snapped. "Anything you can do for her, I can too."

"Oh really? Are you willing to sacrifice your life for her?"

Lyn frowned. "What?"

"I knew it, you're full of lip service." The blonde woman laughed. "You know, I don't know what she sees in you. You're pretty and very dedicated, I have to admit, but that's it. Otherwise, you're stubborn, useless, and just so incredibly dense. I bet you didn't believe her when she told you she's from another world, did you?"

Lyn did not reply, but her expression was enough to earn another chortle.

"And to think she trusted you so much, but you don't even trust her." Sybil shook her head, still chuckling. "I told her you were a terrible choice. I told her you'll be her downfall."

"Shut the fuck up!" Lyn slammed her fists on the table. "I support Cinna no matter what! I just don't understand whatever coded language you Witches use, okay? Another world, or whatever it really means, tell me, don't fucking play games with me."

"Coded language?" Yet another round of derisive laughter pierced the air. "Oh, Lyn, oh you utter idiot."

"What did you call me?" Lyn bellowed as she lunged forward and grabbed Sybil by the collar.

"Calm down, lightning queen." Sybil held Lyn's hands and peeled them away as if Lyn was a pesky child bothering her. She took out a palm-sized crystal ball from her pocket. "Here, since you're so dense, I'll just show you what we mean by another world."

Lyn stared at the crystal ball—a small glass sphere, with a mix of green, blue and white, as if one was looking down on the ocean from above the clouds—and then back at Sybil.

"What the hell is this?"

"Go on, touch it," Sybil prompted. "I promise it won't kill you."

Grumbling to herself, Lyn placed her hand on the crystal ball reluctantly. In a blink of an eye, the world around her swirled into darkness. And in another blink, the world swirled back to existence. Except the world was different.

It was now daytime. Sunlight blinded Lyn momentarily, but no matter how much she squinted and rubbed her eyes, her vision remained hazy as if she was in a dream. Chatters and laughter filled the air of an unfamiliar building, while teenagers clad in white tops and green dresses or pants strolled around her. The scene reminded her of a boarding school.

"Where is this?" Lyn asked, turning to Sybil next to her. "Where did you take me?"

"Sīn-Sīn!" shrieked a high-pitched voice.

Lyn snapped her head to the voice. An unfamiliar girl was dashing towards her, grinning, her ponytail swishing around playfully. Before Lyn could react, the girl ran through Lyn.

"What the f—"

Then, Lyn's heart leaped to her throat and stuck there.

Behind her, smiling to greet the approaching girl, was Cydney.

Not just Cydney, but the one from the eye-fone. The Cydney with the happiest smile and the brightest eyes. The Cydney with her chubby cheeks spilling out of her face, almost covering her large, round eyes. The Cydney from the past, the Cydney Lyn had longed to see in real life.

"Claudia!" she squealed.

The two uniformed girls tackled each other into an embrace before bursting into spirited chatters.

Lyn swore her heart melted on the spot. Cydney's voice was so energetic, so melodious, so... happy. It never occurred to her that the petite woman could ever sound like this. She was so absorbed in the scene that she jumped when Sybil placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Welcome to Cydney Yen's memories."