Alan scratched his head. "What's that?" he asked slowly.
Lyra finally looked at him. Her bloodshot eyes were confused, though a look of realization dawned over her. "I forgot that not a lot of people have left Magnes…"
They had started to make their way to Auren, but they had to walk around a hill to do so. Luckily, there was a path through a forest that they could follow.
"Do you know what Flux is?"
"I've read books before," Alan huffed. 'Is she treating me like a child?' he thought. "Though… I never really understood it fully."
"So basically… You know nothing?"
Alan fiddled with the strap of his bag. "...Yeah."
"I don't blame you. It's confusing. My knowledge of the subject is limited. So… Why don't you tell me what you do know, and I'll tell you what I know."
"I know that flux is a sort of energy, and that the people who can use flux are called flux users… Yeah, that's it." Alan followed her gaze, but his eyes lingered on her.
"A Conduit is a flux user that's employed by the government, by the way. And do you know how a person becomes a flux user?" She asked, meeting his gaze.
Alan looked away awkwardly. "Uhh… you have to go through the Reflection, right? Most authors skim through it in the books."
"Yeah, well… most authors haven't experienced it, so they don't know what it's really like."
"Do you know what it's like?" Alan asked after a pause.
Lyra remained silent for a minute. "Mom told me about her Reflection... She said it was literally a reflection of your true self that your mind itself creates. Hers… was brutal. But even as she recalled it, she kept smiling…"
Lyra remained silent before taking in a deep breath. "She went into detail about it. It's… scary. Or at least it was to a 7-year-old me."
Alan's eyes landed on her pained expression. "Let's stop here. It's almost sundown."
Lyra looked up at the sky, which was now dyed crimson with a hint of lilac. She hadn't noticed it getting dark at all. She put her travelling bag next to Alan's, who was already picking up sticks for a fire.
Out of the two of them, Lyra had the most experience with the outdoors, so she was in charge of the fire and picking berries to eat.
She went to nearby bushes to forage. Her dad had taught her how to identify edible berries early on, so she was able to pick some that she knew were safe to eat. Still, she wondered if she was doing it right.
Lyra put those thoughts behind her. She had to be strong for them. She had to… didn't she? But she could let herself be weak in front of Alan, couldn't she? He was her best friend, after all. But he was also her only friend now.
Lyra reached into her bag and silently ate her portion of the berries along with Alan, who did the same. Not a word was uttered.
Once they finished, they just sat, watching the fire dance. Should they have felt fear or resentment of the fire? Neither of them was sure. The fire that destroyed their village was shining white and felt alive in a way.
After a few minutes, Lyra muttered under her breath, "Are we cursed?"
Alan kept looking at the fire. "Do you think we are?" A tense silence stretched, so Alan continued, "I think so."
Lyra's head snapped towards him. Her face was illuminated by the orange glow of the fire, and yet, her bloodshot eyes were easy to make out.
"Unfortunately, we are all that is left of Magnes. We… We will have to carry on the expectations, the legacy… no, the hopes of our people. That… is a curse," he continued.
Lyra grit her teeth. "You speak as if they aren't dead…" she hissed.
Alan frowned. "I watched them burn right beside you, Lyra," he said with a quivering voice. "When you were frozen with fear, I moved. I believe I know of their deaths as much as you do."
"And was I wrong?" he continued. "We are cursed. If we do go through with our Reflection and become Conduits, we'll be cursed with trying to either avenge our village or amass enough strength to make our village proud. If we don't, then we'll live our days in regret and sorrow. Both are rabbit holes… though, the former seems optimal."
Lyra didn't reply, opting to take her sleeping bag out and lie down. Alan did not know if she did or even could sleep, but he remained on watch, wrapping a blanket around himself.
Alan
Midway through the night, my ears perked up. I glanced around. Everything was fine, but something felt amiss.
I didn't hear the crunching of dry leaves, or anything for that matter.
Not even the chirping of a cricket, despite the fact that the two of us were in a small clearing in the forest, which was about four meters in diameter.
I glanced down at the fire that separated Lyra and me. We had put it out, but some of the smoke still lingered. Perhaps starting a fire had been a stupid move.
But what even was there? 'It' was either the sneakiest animal or nonexistent.
But ignoring it was an even bigger risk. I slipped out of my blanket and crawled over to Lyra.
"Lyra," I nudged her, "we have a small problem."
"Go away," she said immediately.
I nudged her again. "I hear nothing, Lyra."
"That's nice," she muttered. "Now go away."
"No!" I whispered calmly. "That's terrible! Trust me and wipe some berries on yourself."
That made her get up. "But-!" she said in a slightly loud voice, so I put my hand over her mouth. Once I let go, she scowled. "But I worked so hard for those!"
I waved her off. "You can lick it off yourself later. We just need the scent on us."
Her eyes twitched, and yet, she listened. She crushed a few berries in her hand and rubbed them on herself. After we wasted a few of them, I gestured for her to pack the sleeping bags, which she followed after a quiet curse.
Once the bags were on our backs, I motioned her to continue on our path. The forest we were in was not thick, but our path would lead us into a thicker forest. Still, we heard no noises.
"Lyra," I said quietly. "Are you scared?"
"I'm unsettled, but no, not yet," she said after a pause.
"Whatever I think is there hasn't chosen to attack us yet. If it operates at night, then it can see us, even in this darkness."
"So what now?"
"We…" I trailed off. My eyes were locked onto where we once were sleeping. A giant creature stood in the clearing. It had legs that went backwards, a skull for a head, horns like a bull, and dark brown fur.
It was built like an upright deer and had a thin frame as well. It was inspecting the fire with its snout.
We were just about six meters away, but it hadn't noticed us. Scent was likely how it hunted.
"Lyra…"
"...Yeah?"
"Do we run?"
"Only if it notices us," she replied. "Take one step back. Slowly."
She took a step back to demonstrate, but failed to account for a small twig in her path. The crunch that echoed was satisfying, but also very much audible in the quiet night. The creature's head snapped up.
"Shit," she said in a normal voice. "Run!"
We ran further and further into the forest, which started to thicken, so we were heading in the right direction.
The only problem was that I could hear the urgent flapping of birds behind us, meaning that the creature was following us. And yet, I heard none of its steps.
Unfortunately, the forest was right next to a hill, so the terrain was not perfect. A giant rock blocked our path.
We ran around it and went on in the same direction.
But still, I heard nothing. All the birds had left, leaving the forest silent, save for our panting.
The area we were in was strange. A tree lay on the ground, seemingly cut by something, and that gave way into a ditch that could fit us both. The tree was thick enough to be a stopper of sorts.
I looked back. "Lyra… I don't hear it."
"Me neither."
I put my bag down. "Where… where are we?"
"Who knows? We went off track by the-"
I heard a sound behind us, and before I could process it, I pushed her into the ditch and went tumbling in myself.
I heard a loud 'snap' behind me, and looked up to see the creature's snout above us, right where we'd been.
Its eyes were foggy, while its ears and snout were long. It tried to reach for us by putting its hand in the space between the tree and the ditch, but its claws stopped it.
Seeing no reason to keep trying to reach for us, it pulled away and went out of sight. I knew that this was only the easy part, though.
Ignoring Lyra's dumbfounded face, I reached into her bag to retrieve some more berries, which I crushed and poured over our bodies.
I reached in again and retrieved a photo frame. Information was warfare, and this was a prime opportunity to test it. I took the photo out and put it back in the bag.
I threw the frame out of the ditch and waited. After a minute, I heard footsteps leading away from our ditch. I noted that I had heard the footsteps this time, but couldn't think about it further.
I dragged Lyra up and out of the ditch and led her farther away, this time much more carefully.
Now and then, I'd throw a rock towards our side to mislead it, but apparently, I misjudged its intelligence. It used the trail of rocks to find us. I hadn't even thrown the rocks in a particular direction or pattern, it just knew where we were.
I looked back to see nothing, and after another few meters, I looked back again to see a tree that wasn't there before.
And it was quite strange, really, when its branches started to move.
This time, I saw how it hunted. It waited until both of us were off our guard to strike, which meant that it was cautious as well.
Yet again, I barely processed the clawed hand thundering down on me, but Lyra did.
She took a fallen stick and smashed it against its paw.
I was curious, really. How was it so quiet, even at such a height? The only explanation was padded feet, as far as I could tell.
Padded feet were a boon, yes, but they were also soft, meaning that a branch heading at full force would be terrible for it.
And it was.
I heard the creature groan as it held its hand back. This time, Lyra dragged me ahead as she tossed the broken branch aside.
The creature was still on our tails, however. Perhaps we had hurt its ego, but it disregarded all stealth. Its feet crushed dead leaves as it ran after us.
This time, it was much easier to evade it using sound. The forest had started to thicken further, so we ran until we were just out of reach and jumped towards a tree for cover.
The creature's body was made for stealth, not rapid changes of direction.
But even in failure did this thing learn.
It found that its long arms could be used as a pivot. Lyra and I tried stepping to the side as we had done before, but it grabbed the trunk, causing it to stop moving on that one side alone. But due to momentum, the other side kept moving, causing it to turn as it carried some speed.
To counter this, we both went in different directions while throwing rocks at it. The rock might not have hurt it, but a rock to the head can disorient.
But there was no end in sight. Neither of us could keep going forever, and the creature only sped up. But we had to make it deeper into the forest.
But unfortunately, we couldn't hold on long enough.
I tripped on an overgrown root and fell on my face. I was scared, and not just because of my position. I heard no more noises.
I looked back to see the creature waiting a few paces away. Just two steps on those long legs, and I'd be dead.
But it didn't move further.
It just stayed there, and after a moment, it turned to walk away.
Lyra and I just kept staring at its retreating form.
"I think I know where we are," Lyra said after a pause. "It's pretty thick here. This was our destination."
"Was it? Well, let's get out of here quick."
"Why?"
I got to my feet. "Because that thing didn't want to enter this place. And that makes me wonder what made it stop."