Elysia in Another World

Ch13: Year 5 Begins, P1

Chapter 13: Year 5 Begins, P1
~13.1~
*****

"Alex! There's too many!" said a blonde girl carrying a rifle.

A group of four ran down a long hallway with stone walls as fast as they could. The one in the lead was a redheaded girl named Alex. Behind her was the blonde girl, Lita; followed by a light-brown-haired young man, Jaden; and a purple-haired girl with long ears, Elasha.

"What do we do?" Jaden asked frantically, running with a pistol in each hand.

"This is crazy!" Alex shouted. In her right hand was a broken sword and a pistol in her left.

"We have to get out of here!" Elasha said calmly, her staff swaying as she ran.

Chasing the group was a squad of armored knights. They turned corner after corner, ran up and down staircases, and lost the knights, but another group was always around the corner ready to take over. Soon, the group of four found themselves in a throne room where a blonde woman with long ears was battling a tall, dark-haired man.

"How did we end up here?" Alex said. "This is where we started!"

"This castle is riddled with magic matrixes," Elasha said. "I couldn't even tell where we were going."

"What? Alex?" said the black-haired man. "What are you doing back here? Hurry! Get out of here!"

"You will not!" the long-eared blonde shot a large ball of blue mana at the group.

"No!" the black-haired man quickly fired a mass of mana of his own at the group to protect them. They braced themselves and were engulfed in a bright, silvery light.

*****

"NO!" Kye jumped out of bed and slammed her back against the far wall. A wave of bright, silvery light exploded from her, and it continued through the walls as if nothing were there.

Alethea, Adele, and Michelle quickly woke up and jumped out of bed. Seeing Kye across the room on her knees with her back against the wall, they rushed over to her. Allison and Layla suddenly appeared in the room, too, with weapons in hand.

"What happened?!" Allison shouted.

"Are any of you hurt?" Layla asked. She saw Kye on her knees and rushed to her. "Kye, are you okay?"

"I... I'm okay," she said. "I think it was a dream."

"What was that burst of aether?" Allison asked. "It felt like yours, but... different. As if-"

"Burst of aether?"

"It was a wave of white aether... but it was... luminescent. Silvery even." Allison and Layla returned their weapons to bracelet form and shared a glance. "You said something about a dream? Can you show us?"

Silver?

Kye nodded and cast memory magic to replay the scene she witnessed in her dream.

"That's..." Allison turned to Layla. "Call mother. I want you two to look at her together. I don't know what that wave of aether did, but it was extremely powerful."

"We haven't had any actual battles since Atlas, so we haven't really seen her power at full force in a while... but that wave was... nevermind, I'll call mother. You three lay her on the bed. It'll take a bit for Hannah to get here."

"Perhaps we should consult with Alfia, too."

*****

"There's absolutely nothing wrong," Hannah said. When they arrived, Kye was sitting in a chair next to the tea table. She hadn't had any yet, though her wives and attendants had empty cups in front of them. Liliana gathered the dirty dishes and went to make more tea for the guests while Hannah and Layla examined Kye. Alfia waited silently, even when Kye showed the new guests the dream she'd had via illusion magic. "Your body is quite healthy. Your mind might be unsettled from the dream, but I don't see any issues with continuing your daily life."