4 The group (2)

„Eh? N-no! ...W-why are you asking?", Aya answered slightly panicky.

„Then why are you standing on your toes all the time?"

„Huh? What do you mean? I'm standing totally normal?", Aya reacted confusedly.

„Urgh, what the heck is going on now!?"

„Well, I can't say it with certainty but didn't Ishikawa become larger? Come and stand beside me."

A few moments later Aya stood beside Allan who already continued:

„Originally Ishikawa reached only barely over my shoulder if I remember correctly, but now her head already reaches my nose."

„Now that you say it... I didn't realize that myself..."

„Look down, she just stands on higher ground than you."

Looking down Allan answered:

„Certainly."

Crouching down to take a closer look he said:

„But as far as I remember there shouldn't be any steps or slopes..."

Allan touched around on the floor, trying to find the step. Suddenly he finds his hand under Aya's foot. When he lifted his hand, trying to find the platform Aya was standing on they suddenly heard a loud shriek.

„Iiiieeek... urgh, please stop, my feet are extremely sensitive!"

Still standing on one leg after she lifted the other one, she looked around herself, seeing that everyone looked weird at her. To be exact, at the place where her foot was originally. Looking down she saw that Allan waved his hand up and down through that place.

„Th-The floor! What if the rest also disa- aaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

Reaching down, Allan threw himself on the hard floor, bellyflopping painfully. But still, he had managed to grab Aya arm barely in time, preventing her from falling any further. While he reached down with his other hand as well, or else, he wouldn't be able to hold her for long. He cursed inwardly at himself for not working out like he had planned so many times before, or he would be able to pull the small and light Aya up without any problems.

„Stop! Be careful, we don't know if there aren't any other holes!", Julias voice sounded out, stopping Cale, who wanted to rush over, right in his tracks.

A moment later Cale started to move again, this time slow and carefully as to not fall into a hole as well, as there would be no one to save him.

When Cale finally reached the two, he helped Allan to pull Aya up. Just as they wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, they almost dropped the still panicking Aya again, as she kept „falling through the floor".

After trying out some things they decided to resolve the problem by letting Cale carry Aya in his arms. Making Aya blush and panic because of completely different reasons as they both were still wearing only a single piece of fabric.

After around ten minutes of walking around in the same area, to show her that there indeed was a floor, Aya had finally calmed down enough to stand again on her own. And this time everything went well, without her „falling through".

They sat down in a circle to discuss what happened earlier. But when they even after a long time didn't get to any plausible conclusion Allan spoke up:

„So, no one has any ideas anymore?"

„Hmmmmmm..."

„Julia? Have you found something?"

„Maybe, but I'm going crazy if this actually works!"

Saying this she stood up and closed her eyes as if to be able to concentrate better. A moment later she took a step forward, or more like, upwards, and continued to do so as if she was walking up a flight of stair, only to jump down after four steps again. She opened her eyes.

„How the f*ck did you do that right now?!"

„I was about to explain when you interrupted me. The answer is imagination, it seems that things are just as we imagine them. Remember what happened with Aya before? Because of some reason, she imagined the floor to be higher than everyone else. So, when Allan „proved" that there actually wasn't a floor where she stood before, she started to doubt herself. Then, panicking, she probably imagined the floor to disappear, and you know the rest."

„And only when she calmed down and we convinced her that there actually is a „floor" she was able to stand on her own again.", Allan completed the story.

„So you basically just imagined that there were stairs and then walked up? That's how this place works?"

„Of course that's how it works! We are in a mindspace after all! That's the problem with uneducated people like you! Well, since you figured that much out on your own you aren't totally stupid after all!"

Four heads whipped around to find the owner of the new voice.

„So you know what's going on here?", Allan asked the handsome youth.

„As I said, this is a mindspace. I won't explain much more since it's too much of a hassle. But if you want to know who or why they did this, even I don't know that. However, they will show themselves eventually, or else this whole thing wouldn't have much use. In actuality I'm more interested in how they did this, I should have been protected more than good enough!"

„May I ask who you are?", Julia asked.

„But of course, my name is Loras van Fordan, first prince of Fordan forest on the great continent of Farenhas.", Loras answered while putting a strand of his smooth blonde hair behind his ear.

„Pfff... Hahahahahahahahahahahihihihihihi!", Aya burst out, laughing.

„Oh my god! And i -hic- Ahh sh*t! And I actually believed you -hic- at first! Why the -hic- heck are you cosplaying as some elven prince in this kinda -hic- situation? You even nailed the ears!"

„Cosplay? What's that? And no I don't have any earrings if it's that what you mean."

„Hahahihi, Roleplaying! Acting! Choose what -hic- whatever you want!"

„Acting? I don't have any reason to lie! Why are you suddenly accusing me of being a swindler?"

„Ok, kid, like seriously, who the f*ck are you and what do you know about this sh*t!"

„Everyone Silence! Calm down and let's talk about this like civilized people! And you Cale! I tried to ignore it, but stop it with those expletives all the time! It was already annoying before but right now it's everything but helpful!"

When Julia suddenly got loud everyone became silent in an instant, and you could only hear Cale answer meekly in a weak voice.

„Yes. I will try."

When everyone finally calmed down again, it took them almost an hour to talk everything trough.

„So you three are saying that you are from a world where there are only humans no magic at all? I totally can't imagine that!"

„No no no, I'm even more shocked that Julia actually knows magic! I thought you were just like the rest of us!", Aya countered.

„I would like to forbid the usage of terms like magic and miracle! Those are just a branch of science that we still can't completely explain, nothing else!", Allan interjected.

„I know what you mean but just see it like this that that branch is called magic, also, that's totally beside the point! Well, I'm sorry that I didn't mention it beforehand, but since I'm a doctor I thought it obvious that I know magic. Also, I never heard of something like this mindspace before."

„But still, that we are supposed to be from three different f*-„

„Expletives!"

„*cough* Three different worlds is still f-*cough* pretty astonishing!"

„To be precise, considering the discrepancy's in our arrival time that I mentioned beforehand, we are probably all from different... worlds? dimensions? possibilities? If we were to discuss historical events we would probably find differences sooner or later. However, that's not important right now. A new guest just arrived."