Levels

The Pact

Slowly, Allessa opened her heavy eye lids.

Her whole body was aching.

As her vision stopped being all blurry, she could make out a recently familiar face. Dayl was inclining over her, looking directly at her face.

Finally, her eyes were completely open. Dayl looked away and turned to the entrance.

She needs her time to recover. Damn, but we don't have any time left to waste. If I would have just reacted earlier... that girl wouldn't be hurt right now. Damn it.

Allessa sat up straight, her body struggling with her movements.

"Wa...Wait.." her words were muffled. Her mouth felt dry.

But Dayl turned around.

"You are finally up, How are you feeling?"

"I feel like I got dropped of a skyscraper, the hell happened after we killed the hydra?" Allessas voice seemed to come back.

"You instantly passed out, I dragged you back to my ship. No. Wait. Our Ship."

"Our ship? What do you mean?"

"We got bounded to a companionship the moment I took you in."

"Oh great..." she rolled her eyes in a sort of despised manner.

"Listen, I don't like it either, but unless you want to kill me or want to get killed by me, we have to stick with it for now."

"Great...Besides what is your name anyway?"

"Guess I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Dayl. Dayl Riley."

"Nice to meet you Dayl Riley, I'm Allessa Solon."

"You are one of the Sapiens right? I can tell by your sword skills and tunic" Dayl said, glimpsing at the white and grey tunic hanging over the chair next to him, wich was completely ripped apart from the battle.

"Yes I am, you are from Explos right?" she asked in return.

"Yeah, but how'd you know?"

"Your Talent is material transfiguration, isn't it?"

"Not only transfiguration, I'm able to form materials, expand them, shrink them, split them, and shatter them. It's a common talent amongst Explos, but no one was as talented as me."

"Show me" Allessa said with a tone of finesse in her voice. She got up and walked to his side waiting for him to do something.

"If you want us to be companions, I have to know your strengths and weaknesses" she explained while she took him outside the room.

For a few moments, Dayl looked at her curiously, the way, like she might have been up to something.

"Fine." He said after a long pause of consideration.

Careful, he placed both of his hands on the nearest wall he could find and closed his eyes.

He concentrated, feeling the cold hard wall underneath is warm skinny hands. The smooth surface began to turn slightly yellow.

Allessas eyes widened as she saw the new appearance spreading in little circles from the palm of Dayls hands.

After seconds of lingering, half of the wall was now painted in a splendour gold.

"You turned the whole wall into gold?!" Allessa ascertained with a deep consternation in her voice.

"Yes, but don't let yourself get fooled, it may look and feel like real gold, but it's not one hundred percent the same as gold formed by nature, otherwise Explos wouldn't be one of the poorest worlds. "

But Allessas amazement didn't seem to ease. "Still though, you could turn everything into the hardest materials... By the way, how long have I been unconcious?"

Suddenly Allessa seemed kind of worried and that apprehension couldn't have been unreasonable, the way Dayl reacted, his skin went pale, just like he had totally forgotten about something really important.

Oh,shit. I entirely spaced out about time.

"You have been away for almost 23 hours..." An anxious voice creeped out of Dayls mouth.

"Wait, what?! You mean that leaves us with less than one hour to get prepared for Level 1?"

And now, not only Dayl seemed worried, even the yet so nonchalant Allessa implied to be on the verge of freaking out.

With a certain hurry both of them started to get ready.

Allessa rushed to the little bath room she spotted next to the door with "Killing Room" sign on it and took a shower. Every muscle in her body finally relaxed, even though most of her movements still hurt a lot. After she was done, to her immense curiosity she even found a wardrobe with woman clothing in it and got dressed.

After the companions were finished with nearly every precaution both of them were standing close to the starting platform.

Dayl dared a look at her. His cheeks directly started to turn the colour of a pinkish red, as he saw her still a little wet but flawless, glistening hair, her curves underlined by the sharp thin tunic that wrapped her body in a perfect perception and her brown leather boots, which made her seem like a hero of a science fiction movie.

"You look—"

"Are you ready? Let's check our wristbands if they work alright. If I'm not mistaken you should see a second heartrate at your screen now, that's me. From now on we are able to see each others pulse... Wow what's wrong with your heart?!"

Allessa looked at his heartrate, while she showed him the new number on his display and an astonished grin marked her face as she gave a little chuckle.

"Quit staring! I'm just excited for the next level that's all!"

Dayls face turned red like a big tomato.

"Of course you are" Allessa replied, still having a broad smile upon her face.

The familiar robotic voice appeared: "Attenders, place yourselfs on the starting platform, Level 1 is about to begin."