Sofia watched, slack-jawed. This fucking kid is crazy. Batshit insane. Like actually ridiculous.
He’d spoken every word that she’d been thinking, but how stupid can you be. Just go with it and find the way home later. Everyone else in this room was thinking the same thing. All he had to do was play it cool, and they’d all get out of this alive.
The seven other people in the room shied away, turning their eyes to the floor. Sofia couldn’t. The woman raised her hand. Sofia realized her heart was racing. Faster than it ever had. Faster than when she sat on the edge of that building.
Pressure raised in her head, and she raised her hands to clutch it. She shouted in pain, "Stop!" Every head in the room turned to her, and her stomach flipped. She puked all over the floor.
The woman laughed, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I am not cleaning that.”
Sofia looked up.
“Well,” the woman said. “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
Sofia’s face flushed red. She hadn’t meant to shout. She hadn’t meant to become the center of attention. All she had to do was play it cool, and she’d get another shot.
She looked at the boy standing in front of the woman. His legs were trembling. Sofia straightened her back. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I have to.”
“I’m sure that you think you need to,” Sofia said. “But given another chance, you’ll realize that you don’t. There’s no reason to kill him.”
Sofia blinked, and the woman stood directly in front of her. She jumped backwards. "It seems like none of you ever learn," the woman said and pressed her hand into Sofia’s forehead. Her eyes turned black for a brief second, and then they turned back to their normal blue.
The woman’s glare softened, and she coughed. “Well, that was certainly unexpected.” She hesitated, “It seems today is about second chances. So I’ll let you both live.” Then she looked to everyone else in the room, “But I swear if one more person interrupts me, I’m going to kill everyone.”
Sofia sighed and relaxed. Her drunkenness had passed, and the only headache that remained was that of a hangover. She would take that any day of the week.
“You two, however,” The woman pointed at Sofia and the boy. “You cannot be allowed to stay and listen. You have disrespected me. And your punishment will be ignorance. Ignorance, and forfeited choice.”
Sofia’s blue box started to glitch, and the words changed. She did not get to see what it said.
The woman raised both hands in the air, and a storm of wind ripped around her body. Her hair and coat billowed furiously. Sofia was not sure why, but she had the feeling that the wind was not necessary for whatever the woman was doing.
Pillars of light formed around Sofia and the other kid, exactly like the ones that carried them to this “bridge”. This was the first time she’d gotten a good look at it. The light at the bottom glowed brighter, and wisps of light bounced around in the solid barrier.
“Good luck,” the woman said, and her lips curled into a devious smile. “May we meet again.”
And then they were gone.
***
Sofia opened her eyes and she was no longer in the bright white room. She lifted a foot to step forward and when she put it down, it fell further than she expected. In fact, it didn’t hit anything at all.
She looked down and her eyes bulged. There was no ground. Only a fifty-foot drop before a pool of water.
She leaned all her weight backward and dropped to her back, stopping her fall. She took a deep breath, and her legs dangled over the edge of the cliff.
“Holy shit,” she said. “A fucking cliff.”
“’A fucking cliff,’ is right,” a voice beside her said, laced with anger.
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Sofia did not have the energy to move. Only to shift. She turned her head in the direction of the voice. And her heart fell. It was the boy. Miraculously, she found the energy to shout.
“You! What the fuck is your problem? Who the hell yells at someone who can make people disappear? And she was flying too! Are you dumb? She could have killed all of us!”
“Uhh…” the boy said.
The blue box flickered in front of Sofia’s vision. She held out a hand. “Shut up, I’m reading something. Take this time to think about what you did.”
“Hey!” the voice shouted, but Sofia had grown a real talent for ignoring voices she didn’t want to hear, during her many nights at clubs.
She read the box: “[CLASS FORCIBLY ASSIGNED: Moonwitch]”
At least that sounds cool, she thought. The corner of the box blinked and her attention was drawn to it. It expanded into a larger screen.
“Sofia Tolstoy
Age: 20
Class: Moonwitch (base)
Level: 1
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 8
Intelligence: 14
Vitality: 10
Health: 100/100
Mana: 140/140”
“What the hell?” Sofia said, the words meant to be a thought.
“I know, right?” the boy said.
“Huh?” She looked over, “Oh I forgot you were here.”
The boy’s face flushed red, “What do you mean you forgot I was here?”
“Figure it out.” Sofia sighed.
For what it was worth, the boy didn’t speak for a few seconds. Maybe he actually had thought about it. Though, Sofia would not have bet on that.
“Oh!” the boy shouted. “I’m sorry! Did you listen to anything that fucking crazy lady was saying. We’re on another planet now. ANOTHER PLANET! Sure, I lost my cool. BUT SHE WAS GOING TO SEND US HERE ANYWAY! Go ahead and blame me though.”
Sofia’s eyes widened, “I- I’m sorry. I’ve had a shit day.” She stood and held out her hand, “Sofia.”
He hesitated and glanced at her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood, and she met his eyes. They were distant, and pearly blue, as she couldn’t help noticing. They looked out at the world like something was going to leap at him. All the same, he cautiously held out his hand, "Max."
His hands were scratchy, marred by cuts, and his fingernails were overgrown. Long blonde hair fell over his face, making him look much like he’d been stranded on an island for months. Scars ran along his arms and were concentrated by his wrists. And he was tall. Several inches taller than her.
He wore a black t-shit with an older band logo, one she didn’t recognize. It was like something she would have seen her dad wearing in a picture from twenty years ago, only it was ripped and had holes at the bottom. His gray sweatpants, for what it was worth, weren’t ripped, but they had a light red stain on the front.
“So…” Max said. “What the hell are we supposed to do?”
“No idea,” Sofia took in her surroundings, and her breath caught.
The cliffside gave way to a massive ocean. Deep blue water, water much like she imagined Earth's Oceans had thousands of years ago, expanded further than her eye could see. Creatures breached the surface, flying several feet into the air, before submerging. A bird soared low to the water, zagging through creatures exploding out of the water looking for a meal.
To their right, the cliffside turned to a mountainside. Rocks, some pristine white and others shining crystal hues, sloped down to the ocean. Trees and plants sparsely lined them, coloring the otherwise white backdrop.
To their left, the land curved inward. There was a massive plain nearly as expansive as the ocean, with tall grass and rolling hills. A wide river roared and led to a large waterfall that fell off the cliff. A forest with trees much like the ones from Earth sat on the far side of the river.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Sofia asked.
Max chuckled to himself, “Not even close.”
“It’s…” Sofia searched for the right word.
“Amazing.” Max finished.
Sofia looked up to the sky and smiled. Crazy thoughts filled her head, and her excitement took over. Moonwitch had a nice ring to it. She held out her hand and took a deep breath. Something in her chest popped. Her flesh became warm, and her heart pounded.
Around her, the air warped, pulling towards her. It pressed against her skin, not like wind, but a tight blanket. Too tight. It constricted her, and she gasped for air. She clung to life. The air pulled back. Around her hand, wisps of moonlight took shape.
Pebbles from the cliff rose slowly, trembling towards her. Tiny and brown, they hovered in the air just over her face. Sofia had to strain to keep them there, and the longer she did, the stronger the headache she received.
The blue box in her vision flashed, “Congratulations. You have little skill with Moonlight and Gravity. Maybe there’s hope.”
Moonlight and Gravity. It appears that irony exists everywhere in the universe. Sofia tried to call on more moonlight, but none came and the wisps by her hand faded. The pebbles in front of her face fell to the ground. Sweat trickled down her forehead and she sat back against a rock.
“H… how did you do that?” Max asked.
“I… I don’t know. I just took a deep breath,” Sofia laughed. “This is crazy. Crazy enough to keep me going.”
“Is there any other option? The only thing to do is keep going. Keep going until we get home,” Max said.
“Home…” Sofia said. “How can you think about home? Look at that ocean. Nothing back home comes close.”
Life is crazy. Just when you think you know how it’s going to go, everything changes. Maybe you drop out of Uni. Maybe your sister dies. Or maybe you find yourself on another planet.
Either way, Sofia had planned for her life to end today. But it hadn’t. And right when she was in that moment where she was certain it was going to, she felt regret. Maybe she didn’t deserve another chance, but she was not going to forfeit what she was given. She would live this life the best she could.