“You are alive,” he stated emphatically, wiping her tears away. Her tears, instead of moistening his hand, disappeared off his fingers as if they were never there. “You’re right here, aren’t you?” Though, even as Vir said those words, Ekanai’s ominous oath blared in his head.
I’ll consume her.
Vir shuddered, and Maiya felt the goosebumps on his skin.
“Vir?”
“No. It’s nothing,” he replied. “Maiya, what’s important right now is that we’re both safe. I… I’ve been doing alright. Er, why don’t I fill you in on all that I’ve been up to? But we should leave this place first.”
Maiya nodded, wiping away her tears, then looked around, as if for the first time.
“Do you know where we are, at least?”
“Yeah…” Vir replied. “Kinda. I think we’re in the Ashen Realm, from the prana density. Believe me, I’m just as confused as you are. This cave leads out to a volcanic wasteland with magma, and…” Vir paused when he saw Maiya’s mounting bewilderment. “Actually, why don’t I just show you?”
Maiya looked away. “I don’t know if I should be walking much, Vir. To be honest, I feel really weak. Weaker than I’ve felt since… well, since Brij. It’s such an awful feeling. Like I’m naked. Like all the work I’ve spent training myself was for naught.”
“It wasn’t,” Vir said. “There’s clearly something strange going on. We’ll find a way through. Together.”
Vir proceeded to scoop her up in his arms. Whether it was because her translucent form was lighter than usual, or because of his enormous strength gains, he hardly felt her weight at all.
A part of him still wondered whether this was all real, or merely an elaborate illusion—some trick the realm was playing on him. There were far too many oddities, yet Maiya felt so… real. The more he saw, the more his confidence waned.
“V-Vir!” Maiya yelped, flushing furiously. “What are you doing?”
“Well, since you can’t walk, I’ll just have to carry you, won’t I?” Vir said with a smirk.
“I didn’t say I can’t walk! I just said—!”
Vir bounded down the corridor, retracing his steps. Maiya squirmed in his arms for a moment before accepting her fate and wrapping her arms around his neck.
Just as she was getting used to the sensation, Vir Blinked, eliciting a startled yelp from her.
Her expression went from bewilderment to suspicion, and finally darkened, landing on grim acceptance.
“How can you move so quickly?” she asked. “Blink isn’t supposed to take you this far! This is cheating!”
Vir’s tension eased. Whatever happened to her had spooked her to her core. He was glad to see a bit of her usual demeanor resurface.
They soon reached the magma fields, and the heat hit them in the face.
“This… might actually be worse. Is there anywhere cooler?” she asked.
“Well…” Vir said, looking up.
Maiya followed his eyes and promptly gasped when she found the floating islands.
“Are those…”
“Yep. Don’t ask me how, but they are. And that feeling of wrongness you’re experiencing? It’s because that isn’t a sky up there. We’re underground. This whole… world… is underground.”
Maiya went silent as her eyes meandered around the stunning scene.
“Are sights like this common in the Ash?” she asked softly.
“‘Not quite like this,” Vir replied. “But I’ve seen some things you wouldn’t believe.”
“I’d like to hear about it. If you don’t mind. But, y’know, maybe after we get out of this oven?”
Maiya gave him a small smile. He knew she was forcing it, but was glad to see it, nonetheless.
Gods… I’ve missed her.
Vir’s heart clenched. What if this was all a deception? What if he was dreaming and none of this was real? These moments they were sharing together… Would they remember them after? What did it all mean?
Vir shook off the thought. “Just leave it to me,” he said.
“Look at you! Talking so big. Since when did you become so dependable? Is this the Ash’s doing?”
Vir stared into her eyes, smiling. “I’m not the same person I was when I entered this place, Maiya.”
Maiya, still cradled in his arms, blushed furiously, but she didn’t manage much more than that, because Vir High Jumped to the sky, sending them soaring three hundred paces into the air.
Maiya gulped and tightened her hold around his neck, leaning in closer against his chest, which made Vir feel very… nice.
Can’t get distracted, he thought, his eyes threatening to slip down to Maiya’s.
The task at hand required intense concentration or it’d be a very long drop. The few hundred paces he’d managed, while impressive, was still nowhere near the height of the floating island he’d initially fallen from. Those hung about a mile in the air.
Luckily, there were intermediate islands he could use to bootstrap his way up. Enough of them to allow him to reach each with a single Leap or High Jump.
There was just one issue.
It was why he hadn’t spotted them earlier, and why he couldn’t just rest atop one of these islands—most were tiny. So small, in fact, they were barely islands at all. More like floating pieces of rock in the sky, hardly wide enough to stand on.
Vir landed on the tiny sliver of rock he’d aimed for, then balanced on one foot, taking a few moments to locate his next target. How the miniscule island didn’t fall from his weight was beyond him, but so was a translucent Maiya. This whole place was one nonsensical thing after another.
Locating his next target, Vir Leaped, aiming precisely so he’d land exactly where he’d intended. The margin of error was small, but he’d had a lot of practice getting used to his abilities in the past year. He wasn’t about to miss.
Maiya stared up at him inquisitively but kept quiet, fully aware of just how much concentration he had to muster.
Vir made his way up, leapfrogging off of each rock, sometimes bound for a distant rock that he could only just barely discern with Prana Vision.
They climbed higher and higher, the volcanic basin falling away into the darkness. Eventually, they found themselves atop one of the massive floating islands, and Vir set Maiya down.
“We should be safe here for now. We should be able to—?”
He let her go, but she didn’t. Grasping his arms, Maiya brought her head to his chest and leaned against him.
“I’ve missed you,” she murmured.
With just three simple words, Vir’s mind went blank.
78
REUNITED (PART TWO)
“No way!” Vir seethed. “Princess Ira made you go through that awful ritual? When I saw you in the Ink of Clarity—”
“You saw that!” Maiya cringed, her toes curling reflexively. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she covered her face with both hands. “That was the worst! Oh, gods! The whole time, I kept thinking how lucky I was that you hadn’t seen! It was that thought that let me weather the ordeal!”
Vir patted her back awkwardly.
While he was relieved she hadn’t lost her way and actually fallen in with those cultists, another part of him resented the princess for forcing her into such a demeaning ritual.
Princess or not, nobody should have had to endure anything like that. Least of all her personal operative.
Through it all, a small voice in his head whispered that everything—all of this—couldn’t possibly be fake. It was far too detailed. Too real.