NEMO: Into The Depths

Chapter 7: On to the Other Side

As the carriage gradually came to a halt, Alex gently shook Elyza's arm, coaxing her to wake up. Her eyelids fluttered as she blinked away the haze, wondering why he had dragged her to Surasho, a village at the fringes of Luminae's land territory. It was so inconspicuous, so unassuming, that most maps didn't even bother showing it, yet it had been chosen by him as the place of her training.

It was for that exact reason that Alex seemed to like it. A village that he could bring his clients to disappear for a while, a safe haven for those whose presence itself could cause trouble anywhere else. It wasn't only he who called it that. So many high ranking individuals visited the leftovers of the previous empire to disconnect for a while, that the villagers themselves had decided to change the name to 'Surasho'—roughly safe-haven when translated from the original dwarfish dialect. They even had an unofficial rule: 'Never reveal who had passes through.'

However, Elyza's chance to explore the village would have to wait for another day. Without warning, Alex agilely leaped off the moving carriage, signalling for her to follow suit. They disembarked before even crossing into the village territory, finding themselves amidst a sea of evergreen, but the carriage, used to the kinds of her new teacher, continued on its path.

"Come on, this way," Alex beckoned, flashing his grin as he ventured into the thicket of green.

Even as she tried to silence it, Elyza's scepticism started to show, the words blurting from her lips, "Why endure two full days of travel only to end up in a forest identical to the one surrounding Bakelv?"

"Oh, ye of little fate," he responded without answering his question, his smile wider than it had ever been before, gradually quickening his steps as they got lost deeper into the forest.

Elyza released a resigned sigh, already second-guessing her decision to join the man, yet she trudged on through the verdant sea, following Alex, who seemed to navigate the forest with the whims of his mind. Erratically switching direction every few minutes, she did not know what lay ahead of him, but the farther they ventured, an unsettling sensation began to stir within Elyza, her heart beating ever so harder than it should've been.

With each step, the feeling intensified, morphing into a warning, a dull pounding echoing in her skull, a voice in her mind telling her to turn back, that the path she was on would lead to her demise. Initially dismissible, it was quickly growing louder with time, slowly drowning out her steps, then her own thoughts, battering against her mind. Two minutes into the unnerving ordeal, sweat starting to form around her forehead, and it felt as if it would never go away. Her pulse quickened, her breath becoming shallower, sapping away her energy, and her focus on putting one foot ahead of the other faltered. However, she was able to surge her energy against the storm brewing in her head, clutching Alex's arm desperately before her strength gave way, falling to her knees.

Although Alex was accustomed to this peculiar sensation, having bypassed it through teleportation in the past, he had intended to guide her through it. But he had been distracted, thinking of what all he had to teach her. When she grasped his arm, it snapped his mind to the present, and he remembered what he had suffered in the past.

Alex kneeled down with her, trying to get her to focus on him, waving a hand in front of her eyes till they met his. He contemplated using the most reassuring voice in his arsenal, but he decided against it, speaking like he would to her if it was any other day, "Listen to my voice, the feeling inside you right now, that anxiety, it's fake, it isn't you. I forgot to prepare you beforehand, sorry about that, but I know you can power through that whirling storm of doubt. That voice is something you will encounter regularly on this path, telling you that there is no way through this, that this is the end. But as long as you breathe, there will always be a chance to overcome it. Focus, calm your mind, and think. If only for a few minutes, and on anything that comes to your mind."