28 Into An Illusion.

An hour of distance from Rifton to the north.

Miraak, Asa, and Iphislia could be seen riding their respective horses on a road in the middle of a forest.

The beautiful sunlight passed through the leaves and it shined on their cloak.

Their cloak made of black wool danced on the air.

As they advanced, they started talking with the horses' footsteps sounds as background.

"... I hope you're ready." Miraak said seriously.

His training will be hard, to say the least.

As Asa and Iphislia were staring at each other in confusion, they finally arrived at their destination.

A vast and stunning open field appeared to them.

Slowly dismounting from his horse and walking to the center of the field, Miraak smiled at the duo.

"The first training starts now... You need to arrive where I'm in any means you want." He said tilting his head seriously.

Tilting her head, Iphislia dismounted from her horse and suddenly sprinted toward him.

Miraak just shook his head.

"Wai-" Asa was to stop her but it was too late.

Iphislia who took her first step on the field widened her eyes.

"... Ah." Iphislia said stunned before flames exploded under her.

She couldn't even scream before the flames melted her.

From skin to muscles.

From muscles to bones.

Before Asa could wake from her shock, another Iphislia appeared sitting on her horse again.

Iphislia kept staring at her hands and her body with wide eyes.

Soon, the duo understood.

Before they could say it, Miraak said, "Looks like you understood."

Continuing speaking while smiling, he said, "You two are inside an illusion. A dream world."

"Time doesn't exist here. You can stay here for centuries that in the Real World wouldn't even pass one second." Miraak said seriously.

Seeing them stunned, he continued, "... Before you ask... No, you can't become stronger here, in the meaning that you can't increase your Magicka pool or your stamina here."

Seeing them confused, Miraak said, "Here, you can only train limited things.. Such as..."

"Reflexes, intuition, tactics, teamwork..." He continued tilting his head smiling.

They immediately understood.

He wanted them to grow.

Nodding as if he could read their minds, Miraak said, "Yes, that is exactly right."

"There is an extremely precise path around here that doesn't have Empowered Runes... By the way, It's better if you don't trigger them through Magic..." He advised.

"... Good luck." Miraak said as his body started to disappear like fog on the wind.

Asa and Iphislia could only stare stunned to the vast field.

One step wrong and they will begin from the beginning?

One step wrong and they will experience death.

One step wrong and they will experience pain.

"... Looks like it's gonna be difficult..." Iphislia said staring at the field's ground.

The runes were not only empowered but were 'invisible' to the naked eye.

"... Ah... Iphislia! Punch me!!" Asa said smiling like she found some secret.

Staring weirdly at her, Iphislia punched on Asa's right cheek.

As the pain spread on her face, Asa started to stare at nothing, stunned.

"... Did you think that we could leave by experiencing pain? Did you already forgot that I died earlier?" Iphislia said shooking her head.

"... Hmmm..." Asa pondered, lowering her head.

After all, they were still children.

Although Iphislia was very mature to her age, because of her 'Abnormal' background, she was still young.

Even if they tried to detect the runes through the Arcane, they still didn't found any trace.

Since it was a dream world, Miraak did go all out.

"... Wait... Maybe..." Iphislia said suddenly as a spell appeared on her hands, clearly forgetting what Miraak's said earlier.

Flames.

One of the most basic spells that existed since the dawn of time.

If she remembers correctly, it was perfect to trigger trap runes.

Raising her right arm with the pulsating Flames spell, she cast it on the nearby field.

But, she saw it.

Like a spider's web, the trap runes started to 'Connect' with each other.

And then, it happened.

just like Domino's Effect, the duo couldn't even think before the world inside the Illusion shined like the sun.

They couldn't even shout in surprise before the energy of nearly thousands upon thousands of trap runes disintegrating everything.

As if the world was destroying itself, it trembled violently as the energy continued disintegrating everything.

Trees.

Mountains.

Even the sky itself wasn't spared.

Suddenly, Asa and Iphislia woke up again, sitting on their horses.

They were sweating profusely and panting hard.

It was like they saw the End of the World and survived it.

As they were panting, they stared at each other.

Nodding at each other, they swore to each other to never again use magic inside the field.

"... How can we find the path?" Iphislia said pondering.

...

As days passed, it turned into weeks.

As weeks passed, it turned into months.

As months passed, it turned into years.

The beautiful sunlight passed through the leaves and it shined on the world, two figures could be seen running through the forest.

Running like ghosts all around the field.

Finally stopping running, they arrived at their destination.

Revealing themselves, the duo stared at the field.

One of them had beautiful long blonde hair, exquisite blue eyes, and a perfect hourglass body to be envious of.

The other had stunning long black hair, glowing black eyes, and although it had frightening scars on it, she had a perfect hourglass body too.

They were, of course, Asa and Iphislia.

"... I wonder how much time has passed." Asa said sighing.

"... I think... It passed 2 decades..." Iphislia said sighing too.

21 years.

They stayed inside the Dream World for 21 years!

Years upon years, they tried everything someone could think of and they finally found the right path.

The only problem was that... Miraak omitted something.

The path wasn't completely 'Runeless'.

The path made them walk only around 3/4 of the distance from the center.

All around the center was full of traps runes.

It was such a cruel joke that made Asa and Iphislia want to punch Miraak in the face.

"... The only way is 'That', huh..." Asa said seriously.

"... Yea..." Iphislia responded tilting her head seriously.

"Well then... See you outside," Asa said as she ran to the center through the right path.

Iphislia sighed as she ran behind her.

They discovered the only way to leave weeks before.

Sacrifice.

Sacrificing one, so the other takes the opportunity to leave.

For weeks they discussed who should do it.

Die for the other.

It was absolute trust.

After all, the pain of dying wasn't something you can get used to, even if they died uncountable times already.

One wanted to do it in the other's place.

So, finally, they did a Paper Rock Scissors match and Asa lost.

Shooking her head, Iphislia continued running behind Asa's dancing blonde hair.

They were like twins.

Where one stepped, the other stepped right on it perfectly in sync.

Their breathing patterns.

Their muscles control.

Asa seemed the future version of Iphislia while Iphislia seemed the past version of Asa.

Like a snake behind its prey, they ran.

Sometimes, there were extreme turns and other times there were no turns.

Finally, they arrived at their destination.

Before Iphislia could notice, Asa stepped on the last trap rune.

Lightning exploded, slowly disintegrating Asa.

From skin to muscles.

From muscles to bones.

But she didn't shout in surprise or panic.

A smirk could be seen on her face.

As the lightning disintegration arrived at her stomach, Iphislia finally appeared.

She ran through Asa, literally.

But, it didn't matter.

Because Iphislia finally entered the center, finishing the training.

...

Back to Reality.

"... You... I understand the reason why you did it... It... It's just frustrating..." Asa said frustrated to her and Iphislia inability in helping Miraak.

"... And that's why we're gonna start the intensive training." Miraak said smiling.

Suddenly, a reddish and purplish spell appeared on his left hand.

Before they could ask what was that, he threw it at them.

Less then a second after the spell impacted on them, as they were falling backward, Asa and Iphislia opened their eyes.

Miraak, who was sitting on the table, felt it.

Their Aura.

Their pressure.

Everything about them changed.

As if... they matured overnight.

But, he didn't notice, something aggressive was happening on their Aura.

They were like bombs.

And they were ready to explode.

"So, it work-..." Miraak said but before he could finish, two fists were impacting on his face.

Of course, he could have evaded, but he knew why they wanted to do it, so he just let them.

As the fists impacted on his face, he could see their face red in anger and their teeth clenching in frustration.

Sighing, Miraak just let them.

Whatever happened, it just happened.