When the nausea settled, I immediately covered my ears. Wherever we were, it was pitch black and noisy. It reminded me of New York on a particularly busy night. The crashing noises, especially.

  "I would say welcome to Etopia, but our time here certainly won't be welcoming. Follow me." Sorine walked forward before turning around what I soon found out was a corner. It was then that I realized we had been in some sort of back alley. The tall buildings next to us had their lights turned on, and there was some neon sign in the distance that spelled something in a language I couldn't understand.

  I watched Zuri, Lumi, and Dimitri's expressions as they seemed equally mesmerized. Zetta wore her usual bored expression. She must have seen this place in a vision, or something. If she was this relaxed, that must mean that we succeed, right?

  "Our goal is to get to the oldest part of the continent and use your Ether Recollection," Sorine explained, not bothering to look at me as she continued forward. "Even though it looks quite different now, it should provide some sort of clue as to where the conduit is.”

  “Okay, where is that?” I asked. Sorine motioned with her head to Zetta, who was already sprinting ahead. Okay, she wasn’t actually sprinting, but with how fast she was walking, she may as well have been.

  We continued in silence. Well, our group was silent. The city, or wherever we were, was not. To my surprise, Etopia had cars. Or what looked like cars, anyway. They were more rectangular-shaped, and mostly comprised of windows, save for the back where the trunk was. The design was probably a bad idea in retrospect, as most cars had their windows broken in. People in hoods holding sticks were continuing to break said windows in. The crashing and the car alarms were the only sounds I heard as we continued walking.

  “So… What can you tell us about Etopia?” I asked, hoping to drown out the unpleasant noises.

  “Not much,” Sorine answered. “Etopia is the most technologically advanced nation in Etheria. Magic still exists, but it’s rare. Mages, as they’re called, are often sought after for their power. Many of them are also in a position of political power. Typically, ether is passed down through bloodlines, but with many mages being killed in the past, the number of mages alive is scarce. Ether has since returned to the land in abundance, meaning ether corruption is on the rise.”

  “So these people,” I gestured to the hooded figures in the distance, “are suffering from ether corruption?”

  “Yes. A much milder form than what you saw in Vafir, but more pronounced than in Meridia. Violence has increased, and Etopia’s Minister of Excellency has given up on quelling it after many failed attempts. Once ether corruption has been identified, the afflicted are sent to live in sectors that have high concentrations of corrupted ether, where they’ll eventually either turn into monsters or die.” Well, wasn’t that just peachy.

  “Why would they send them out here?” Lumi asked. “It would be more efficient to kill them immediately.” I winced as I recalled what happened to her family… Of course she would feel strongly about this...

  “Yes, well, even with as much power as the ME has, convincing everyone to be on board with mass murder isn’t an easy feat,” Sorine answered. “Look out.” She summoned her whip and lashed it over Lumi’s shoulder, hitting something behind her that let out a loud screech. After she recalled the whip, I ran to take a closer look.

  The monster was human-shaped, save for the torso that was a wide upside-down triangle. Their skin, or whatever flesh they now possessed, was a liquid-mush-like texture that appeared dark blue in this lighting. Its eyes were glowing white, like they could see deep within your soul, just like that toy I had as a kid! I hated that thing… I never thought it would come back to haunt me— Actually, yes. Yes, I did.

  I glanced back at the group, watching as they walked away. Zuri had her arm wrapped around Lumi’s head and shoulder, like she was shielding her from the sight of the monster. Right, I should catch up with them.

  ——

  “How far is where we’re trying to reach?” I asked after what felt like a half hour of walking.

  “No idea. I’ve only been here once, and it was centuries ago,” Sorine answered. Thinking about it, she had to be older than Sylvis. It made me wonder how many years she had left.

  “Should we rest for the night?” Dimitri suggested. “Our search may be easier in the daylight.”

  “It’s midday. Due to Etopia’s placement, there are only about two hours of daylight at around O four hundred.” Wonderful. Not only did Etopia have limited daylight, but it was at a time I didn’t understand! I missed having a mind reader who could conveniently relay information to me without me having to ask.

  Mind reader... I wondered how the others were doing… I wondered if Sylvis would intervene, or if she had seen where I was, along with my willingness to conspire against her. I wondered if Rosalie had seen my future and told Sylvis about it. Rosalie never seemed to like me much anyway. Though she still seemed to tolerate me better than Zetta…

  It was difficult to tell how much time had passed with the lack of sunlight. It was only now that I realized I had shifted from overly relying on a clock to tell me what time it was to using daylight as well as the people around me’s routine. If everyone else was going to bed, I was going to bed. Now, I was yawning every few minutes, completely at a loss for what time it was.

  I also couldn’t help but miss having conversations. It had mostly been me asking questions and Sorine answering, with someone else pitching in with their own question or answer, save for Zetta, who remained silent the whole time. I missed talking with my friends, wandering off the beaten path, or I guess in this case, dystopian road, to check something out, and making a much bigger deal out of it than it actually was.

  If I called for Sylvis or Maverick, would they come? …I probably shouldn’t do that. Maverick would probably try to kill everyone and then get killed in the process.

  I fell back a little bit, allowing Dimitri to catch up to me. Maybe Zetta didn’t want to have a conversation, but there was still something bothering me that I needed to ask him about. “Why did you run away?” I asked once he was within earshot, quiet enough not to stir Sorine and Zetta’s attention.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  His posture slouched for once, and I took that as an indication that it bothered him too. “I was wounded, and Finn was the better fighter. There was no need for me to stick around and find out how the battle ended. It was obvious which side would win.”

  I wondered how hard that was for him to admit. He and Finn didn’t get along, after all. “What were you doing there to begin with?”

  He placed a palm over his forehead, parting his hair back. “The police came to investigate your apartment shortly after your magic show went… not as expected. Thankfully, I was already in my dog form, so they didn’t suspect a thing. Once I realized what had happened, I followed you from a distance. I was split up from you and ended up finding Zuri. From there, it became certain that a battle would break out if she couldn’t talk your group out of it.”

  “I see…”

  I watched as in front of me, Lumi began to sway back and forth, her eyes closing and struggling to stay open in the process. Zuri instantly rushed towards her, her arms extended, ready to catch her no matter which direction she fell. She eventually fell to the right, with Zuri crouching down to sit on her knees. “We need to take a break.”

  “Where?” Sorine gestured to the rubble around us. We hadn’t seen anyone or anything in a while, but remnants of fallen buildings and destroyed vehicles lined our path.

  “I don’t know, but Lumi can’t continue any longer—”

  “It’s not safe, and there’s nowhere to sleep. There is concrete beneath our feet and literal skeletons in that closet.” Sorine pointed to what appeared to be some kind of locker or wardrobe that had bones falling out of it. It definitely wasn’t setting the mood for sweet dreams. For good measure, Zetta threw a stone at one of the vehicles, and an alarm started. Lumi must have been in a deep sleep if that didn’t wake her up.

  “Well, now we definitely can’t sleep here.” Zuri glared at Zetta, who simply shrugged.

  “Where’s the closest town?” I asked, hoping we could maybe walk a little longer and stay there.

  “Technically speaking, this is it,” Sorine answered. “I would imagine the next closest town would be many hours away to prevent contamination.” Seriously? She couldn’t have teleported us any closer?

  “Dimitri?” Zuri asked as she placed Lumi down on the ground, carefully setting her head down.

  Dimitri shifted into something that looked like a wolf, but more dog-like. Enough that your first instinct was to pet it without worrying it would bite your hand off like my grandma’s Saint Bernard would have… That dog was old and moody.

  Dimitri crouched down as Zuri placed Lumi on his back, situating her so that her arms and legs straddled him, ensuring she wouldn’t fall off. Or at least immediately fall off. If Dimitri had to take off running, I doubted she would stay on.

  “I told you it was a mistake to bring her.” Sorine’s voice was low enough that I almost missed it. I probably wasn’t supposed to overhear her from where I followed behind them.

  “I know, but she insisted and… I couldn’t just let her stay home by herself. She doesn’t have anyone there. Not now that the two of us are gone,” Zuri replied, a sadness in her voice.

  “They’re just people—she’d get over it. There’s no telling what dangers we’ll face. If something happens to her, I know you’re going to spend the rest of your lengthy life blaming yourself for it.”

  “I won’t let that happen. I’ll protect her.” The determination in Zuri’s voice was convincing.

  “I will too,” I spoke without thinking, causing Zuri to glance at me in surprise. Oops…

  We continued walking in silence, just as we had before. Part of me wondered if Dimitri would let me ride him whenever Lumi woke up. My legs hurt, though less than they had in Vafir. I must have been building up endurance. Great. I seriously hoped my future didn’t involve a lot of walking.

  I wondered what would happen if I used my Talent here… Would it lead to any hints about the conduit? Well, there wasn’t any harm in trying. I reached out towards the ground, not wanting to accidentally see the memories of the screaming car in the distance. I could see Sorine and the others come to a sudden stop—her leg mid-motion. The gentle breeze that had been blowing against me stopped, and the air felt still.

  Visions flooded me of sunny days and a much quieter town. The buildings weren’t crumbled, and the cars were intact, and there was grass on the sides of the road—something I hadn’t seen since we arrived. The everyday traffic and walking civilians were actually quite peaceful to watch. I wondered how long it had been since then.

  The vision changed again, to a time that must have been long before the previous one. There was nothing but grass, trees, and a few plants and flowers as far as the eye could see. But then I noticed something else… A faint line of light traveled in the direction we were heading. There was something about the light that felt magical and rooted, like it was the source of Etopia’s magic. Maybe it was leading to the conduit. In that case…

  …We had a very long way to go.

  The visions stopped, and time returned to normal. I sighed, remembering just how much my legs ached.

  I didn’t know how long we had been walking when we finally made it out of the town. From the vision I had, it had to have been closer to a city than a town. We walked for what felt like another hour when Sorine decided it was safe enough for us to rest.

  Dry dirt and long, untamed grass surrounded us—the grass poking at my shins threatened to stab me. A few rogue plants and trees were scattered in the distance, but overall, it felt empty and lifeless. A desert devoid of ether, most likely.

  “It seems the ether hasn’t completely left this area,” Sorine said. “Some life yet remains, but likely not for long. I’d give it a century.” Right, a century was nothing to her. And it would eventually be nothing to me… I couldn’t imagine centuries slipping away like childhood, and years feeling closer to days… At least, that’s how I’d pictured it. I wonder how Maverick perceived our time in Vafir or on Earth. Was it just a long weekend to him? Would I see it that way in the future, too?

  Dimitri crouched down, allowing Zuri to grab Lumi from his back. I was thankful that Sorine summoned blankets and pillows, and other things to make sleeping more comfortable. Zuri held Lumi in one arm while using the other to grab a blanket. She grabbed one blanket, then another, then finally settled on a third to wrap Lumi in. Picking a pillow seemed to be even more difficult. She eventually grabbed one and punched it hard enough that it startled everyone in the vicinity before giving it to Lumi.

  Zetta rolled her eyes. “You worry too much about her.”

  “I want to be comfortable.” Zuri glared at Zetta before grabbing a blanket and pillow for herself and lying down next to Lumi.

  “Goddess, I’m tired,” Dimitri groaned as he grabbed a pillow, forgoing the blanket entirely.

  “You’re not cold?” I frowned as I brought him a blanket. Maybe he was just too tired to grab one.

  “No, but I’ll take it to sleep on.” He smiled as he grabbed the blanket from me.

  “Just make sure you stay on your side tonight. I’m not sleeping with you again.” I grabbed a blanket and pillow for myself and huffed as I dragged them across the ground, wanting to be as far away from him as possible.

  “Again?” Zuri pushed herself up so that her arm was supporting her as she turned to Dimitri. “What the hell did you do to her?!”

  “I-I didn’t do anything—" An axe landed inches from his head. “I swear I didn’t do anything!” Dimitri’s voice cracked.

  “He somehow always seemed to find his way to the foot of my bed,” I teased.

  “You pervert!” Zuri shouted as she flung a pair of knives at him, narrowly missing his arm.

  “Stop! I swear nothing happened! Stop making it sound worse than it was!” Dimitri shouted at me.

  “Nothing I said was untrue.” I shrugged.

  “Children,” Zetta clicked her tongue before facing away from the rest of us. It seemed she didn’t want a pillow, or a blanket, or the warmth of friendship. The last one wasn’t surprising, though. Her comment did make me further wonder how old she was.

  I wondered how long it would take to find the conduit once we reached our destination. It couldn’t be that long, could it?