The Empire's Descent (First Draft)

Chaper 36: Naxos

Lia darted over, under and through the ruins, via the Thread that basted before her. The constant threading had Lia breathing heavily as she hooked her arms to the Thread. As she was tugged in every which way as her path seems to change every so often, Lia could feel it about to break so she cut the connection and fell from the augmented reality that guided her to Kaito.

"Shit!" Lia lay sprawled on the ground, reserving her energy for keeping up Marabella's illusion. Hearing shuffling from the direction she was headed, she quickly hides her figure behind a boulder and then manipulates the reality an inch around her body to camouflage herself.

"Kaito!" She exclaimed happily as he emerges from another corridor. He smiles at her softly and slings a bit of energy towards her before she could rebuke it.

Having regained her strength, she jumps up and rushes to him.

"What the fuck, stop doing that! Do you know how important you guys are?", she admonishes him.

"Yes, how could I ever forget I'm a protected species on the brink of extinction"?, he returned flatly.

Lia scrunched her nose and grinned as if she had tasted something sour.

"Sorry...," she mumbled.

"It's okay, let's just get me out of here, please".

"Right. Uh- I think I can like transpo- I mean, carry you in a sefa speca so, you'll be safe 'til we can actually get out of here... is that okay? Bear in mind, I dunno what the space I place you in will look like," she sought his consent. (Sefa Speca [noun] is a safe space, an imperceptible space designed to safely transport whatever it's transporting.).

"Well... I don't think I have much choice," Kaito concluded.

"That's the spirit!", Lia smiled and quickly teleported him into the Sefa Speca and set off to go back to the others.

"Oh, shit, are these fucking corridors shifting"? Lia wondered aloud, incredulous. How is anyone meant to get out?!

They weren't.

Lia heard a soft feminine voice emerge from within her mind.

"Eryedna!"? Lia exclaimed in surprise.

"I prefer Arianna, please," she corrected.

"Okay... but, where'd that come from?" Lia was curious about her new friend.

"I had a friend a long time ago, she was Italian. She helped me rewrite my story and create a version of me that was healing, and the first thing I did was change everything that was assigned to me by people I resented. However, I did like my name and I wanted to share a culture with her so I chose the Italian of my name, Ariadne. Thus, Arianna," she explained.

"Wow, cool, I have a friend who did that too!", Lia shared.

"I'll be glad to meet her later, but let's go save our friends," Arianna redirected.

"Oh, yeah, shit, yeah," Lia agreed.

"We need a plan. We'll eventually run out of energy and I am against using a juvenile Vampyr to recover," she said pointedly.

Lia opened her mouth to respond, but finally retracted.

"Is there any way to recover natural energy?" Lia instead asked.

"Hmm... there was a really long time ago, when natural elements and energy was more prolific. Everything was. Oxygen levels were unfathomable, humans were massive. Everything was... oh! What a time to be alive!" Arianna lamented fondly.

"...okay, how do I do that?", Lia answered.

"You have to meditate. Actively feel that the pressure in your body is the same as the atmospheric pressure. Hear your heartbeat... and then feel each pulse as it comes. Hear the quiet susurration of your blood, it holds a lot of information, if you only have the ear for it. Hear the echo in the bone, as it rings true tales. Open the eyes of your heart and let them gaze upon the wonder of creation. Everything is fearfully and wonderfully made. We have dominion of the Earth, reclaim it," Arianna guided.