~×°'•Cave..?•'°×~

"so.. what will this "test" be about?"

Lir, the water spirit questioned, he knew humans and spirits were similar to some extent but they still had their own differences

While a spirits education mostly consists of topics related to magic and elves, humans prefer to suffer more with many more topics of learning

The albino thought the term "test" meant exams, like those in every education institute

"The main objective of the test is to escape the illusion but what the actual illusion is going to be, that I unfortunately do not know"

Aradia replied to him, she was pacing around the small room as she spoke, not realising Lir had gotten the wrong impression

"Huh?"

The albino voiced out his confusion albeit subconsciously

"Mhm?"

The red head also got confused by his reaction and glanced over at him bewildered

"Hold on-, what? What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean what I mean? What do you mean?"

Lir looked at her perplexed, although her words had meaning they were a very interesting choice as it was still quite confusing

"These "tests" won't be about our knowledge about a certain topic, like the academy?"

"What-? No!"

Aradia paused and looked at him before smirking

"You thought they were like actual tests? Pfft-"

"Hey! Stop laughing! It.. it was just a little mistake..!"

Lir defended himself albeit very flustered which made the red head laugh more, she enjoyed teasing the albino more than anything, though it would always end with a half-hearted apology by Aradia

While laughing the red head stumbled over her own foot and stepped on the one wood floor panel she was avoiding like the plauge

It was because the test would start after someone had stepped on that very specific floor panel

A purple teleportation circle appeared under the red head's feet, it was, of course an illusion as well, but it seemed very much like the real deal

Aradia looked at Lir and nodded, she had explained to him prior to departure that, if a second person wants to enter the illusion, they have to have hold onto the person standing in the teleportation circle or else they'll be left behind

The albino flew towards her at high speed and barely managed to grab onto her lose crimson hair strand

.

A loud thud noise followed by breathing sounds could be heard in a empty and narrow space

It was dark, really dark, Aradia couldn't see anything however she could feel the ground with her hands that she had plummeted onto

It was very rough and had a slightly wet feeling, she couldn't quite guess where she was without being able to see completely but one thing was for sure

'this is not going to be easy..'

Only after the realisation did the red head finally feel the sharp pain in her scalp behind her ear and the tugging on her hair strand

"Ow.. Lir! Let go of my hair, it hurts like hell!"

Aradia whined, she could feel the grip on her hair strand loosen and the pain ease

Lir had grabbed the hair strand everyone is afraid of, the ones on the side, behind the ears, pulling on them really does hurt

The albino had been holding onto the hair for dear life and after it was pointed out he immediately let go and looked around, every spirit can see in the dark, they have night vision

Lir could see everything clearly, everything was covered in a icey blue light in his eyes

The place they were in now was no longer a part of the illusion mansion but a cave, it had a really narrow path in which Aradia was sitting on right now and the path seemed to go on forever and ever; the albino tried to look as far as his vision would allow, which was a lot more than humans but it was to no avail

Lir looked at the right and realised the absolute danger lurking right beside them

In this narrow space the wall on the right was lined with sharp rock spears pointing out leaving only a little bit of space to move around in

"Don't move"

Lir commanded the red head, she couldn't see anything if the red head didn't move thoughtfully, she would get badly injured or worse.. die

"What's wrong?"

Aradia asked, she could feel something was off and decided not to move since the moment she arrived at this place but getting a warning from Lir made her more uneasy

"Follow my instructions, slowly get up, do not move an inch, stay standing in the same spot"

Lir looked around as he spoke, there was nothing behind them, it was closed off, Aradia on the other hand was terrified, but alas complied to his words and slowly got up making sure she was standing on the same spot she was originally sitting on

"Alright, now, slowly and steadily start moving forward"

"Is it really okay..?"

The red head couldn't help but question, this whole situation was starting to make her nervous

"It's fine as long as you do as I say"

And with that Aradia started to slowly and steadily walk, she was definitely a whole lot slower than usual but it was better than accidentally impaling herself

It felt like forever, the end of the cave was no where near, no matter how hard Lir tried to look, it was endless, but then...

"AhhHHHH!"

"AHHHHHH-"

Suddenly, both of them fell down in most possibly a tunnel, both Lir and Aradia screamed at the top of their lungs

Despite being able to fly, Lir couldn't at the moment, he was getting pulled downwards and the more he tried to resist, the harder he got pulled in

.

The fall was pretty quick, both landed on their faces in no time, it definitely hurt a lot less then Aradia had thought, at least it hurt less then when she first came here and fell on her butt

The red head sat on her knees and groaned, it took a few seconds for her vision to clear; she looked around and realised she could finally see, it was definitely still dark but not to the point of temporary blindness

"That was unexpected.."

Lir too, got up, he could once again flight without any problems, he looked around only to end up awestruck just like the red head

The place they were in now was similar to a cave, only, instead of rocks, everything was covered with beautiful vibrant colourful mushrooms and glowing tulips

The glow from the flowers made it easier to see their surroundings, the flowers were very colourful, even in shades neutrally not possible

The mushrooms on the contrary were not glowing however they too were very colourful with mostly neon shades and black spots instead of white

Both were stuck to neavy blue grass that lined every corner of the new part of the cave, even the walls

Lir and Aradia were captivated by the beauty of this place, lost in the view, slowly forgetting about their purpose, it was so.... not like them

The albino flew over and grabbed a neon green mushroom that was even smaller than him in his pixy form, it was so pretty.. he just wanted to eat it, with every passing second it got harder and harder to not consume the mushroom

The red head on the other hand, plucked a bright glowing blue tulip, it was so enchanting.. so beautiful.. so  breath taking.. so uncanny.. so eerily perfect

The red head had two types of responses going through her whole being, Aradia's body felt at ease, comforted, it wanted to get lost in this beautifully breath taking place but Yeon Haa's mind knew better, her fight or flight response had awaked after a long time

The red head's mind was screaming at her to get out of here but her body didn't want to comply

Torn between her body and mind, the red head decided to follow her heart, whatever it thought was right, she would force herself to do

While it is true, there have been quite a few incidents of where following her heart lead to rather.. interesting situations, this was the only option she had

She knew following her mind was the best option but it had nothing to back it up, her body and mind were going 1v1 against each other right now and either of the two needed backup to be able to win

Aradia's hand shakily let the flower in her hand, letting it drop to the ground, this was what her heart wanted, it wants to follow her mind

The red head's body moved with stiff and shakey movements, still not wanting to comply, it as almost as if her body had a mind of its own, muscle memory paraphrase

Slowly Aradia's hand formed a magic sign as she mumbled a spell under her breath, this particular spell would create a magic repellent barrier

Yeon Haa knew using this magic would definitely cause her problems, the biggest one being, the gate-way inside her system would most certainly will get bigger than it already is, but...

'desperate times call for desperate measures..'

And with that, a surprisingly large light orange magic repellent barrier formed around her and even Lir

The red head slowly felt the transe she was in wash away, once again returning to her normal state

The albino who was close to consuming the mushroom halted, after being inside the barrier, he no longer felt the urge to eat it

Lir looked down at his hand that was holding the mushroom only to let out a surprised gasp, there was nothing in his hand, it was empty..

He proceeded to look around only to realise everything was gone- no, it never existed to begin with.. it was an "illusion"

There were no colourful mushrooms, glowing tulips or navy blue grass, it was all just an empty, dark and gloomy cave

"So this is the true power of the violet witch, huh"

Lir commented, he had never experienced something like this, but he had to admit, this violet witch was no one- or should I say, being, to be taken lightly

"I'm afraid, she is capable of much, much more"

Aradia replied back to him, it was true, there were still many more cards up her sleeves, this was only the start

But right now was not the time to admire her, they had to figure out how they can escape, the barrier, at most would last close to a minute and at least close to thirty seconds

The duo looked in every direction, the barrier would not move around thus they were stuck in the same spot; but they couldn't find anything.. was this the end..?

"Hey, look over there!"

Lir then suddenly shouted, the red head turned to his direction and walked closer to the end of the barrier

"What is it?"

"Look!"

Pretty far away from them was a tulip, a lime green glowing tulip seated on a rock

"That.."

"It's not an illusion"

The albino spoke up, indeed he was right, that flower actually existed, well technically no- but also yes..?

"Do you think, paraphrase plucking it will lead to an exit?"

Lir questioned, although he was the one that found it, he trusts Aradia's judment more

"That's our only hope anyway"

That was true, this was the only hope they had of escape, there really was no other option

"But the biggest question is, how exactly will we garb it?"

The moment the barrier dissolves into thin air, they will once again be influenced by the illusion therefore making them loose themselves and forget about the flower

"Our best shot is to run or for your case, fly, as fast as we can the moment the barrier starts to crumble and hope that one of us will grab it before getting amnesia[1]"

Aradia explained with a monotone voice, this was honestly a little depressing

"But will it work?"

Lir looked at her and questioned

"No guarantee but that's the only hope for escape or else we will stay here till the day we die"

The albino gasped sharply at the mention of death

"Don't say that.."

Lir looked back at the flower, he wasn't actually scared of death, he was just scared of something else..

"You are only fifteen.. you can't be so nonchalant about death"

Aradia looked at him amused before responding

"Fifteen?"

The albino paused, right, Aradia- no the person inside her body was not only from another world but also most probably a lot older

Lir tends to forget about this small fact, Aradia hasn't told him her real name because their deal but even without that the red head hardly speaks about her past if not asked, not to mention she seems to have accepted the name "Aradia" as her new identity giving him all the more reasons to forget about it

At the remembrance of the deal the albino let out a another sharp gasp making the red head frown in concern

'the deal..'

He thought, Lir knew they had only a short amount of time left together, that was also why he didn't prey to much into the red head's past, he was already attached to her, knowing more would just hurt more when they have to part ways..

Although he will not admit it, he likes Aradia's company, he has gotten attached to her, something he didn't want to do, he sees her as his friend, his best friend and his sister..

Every time the thought of their departure comes to mind he can't help but feel sad, sarrow and angry

Angry at himself for getting attached, for not being able to let go, for not wanting to let Aradia go..

'what..?'

Lir's eyes widened at the realisation, he knew he was in denial about all this but he never expected to not want to let go this badly, he had only ever felt like this-, whatever this emotion was- twice in his whole life, this being the second time

"Hey.."

The red head called out to him seeing his unmoving state

"Ah- sorry about that- the barrier is crumbling!"

Luckily lady luck was on Lir's side, he didn't have to explain why he was acting weird

"Alright then, let's do it.."

Both of them got in position, waiting for the barrier in front of the to open up so they could grab the flower

"Three.."

"..Two"

"..One.."

"Go!"

The duo charged towards the flower, Yeon Haa was a good runner, always being noticeably faster than her opponents

Aradia ran without a second thought but she could still feel anxiety creeping in, from the corner of her eye, the red head noticed the beautifully eerie scene from before slowly take place again, rushing towards the flower to hide it was well

Lir also flew, although the whole scene was less than thirty seconds, he had thirty thousand thoughts going through his brain

An intrusive thought in particular would not leave him alone

'what if...'

What if he did not grab the flower, what if he "didn't" make it in time? He wouldn't have to let of Aradia, the two would stay together..

'no.. no!'

He can't do, he won't do this, the person he doesn't want to let go of will be lost if they stay trapped here and he too, will lose himself, he won't be the same person anymore, no, he would be driven mad by the presence of the illusion

He can't hurt someone all for his selfishness, not when the person is so important

Lir then made up his mind, he would not do such a horrible thing, he will get out of here with the red head

As for the thought of loosing her.. he won't dwell on it for now, he will enjoy the time they have together without any further regrets

And save all unnecessary problems for the future

The albino flew even faster than before, taking Aradia by surprise, he had made up his mind, he knew what he had to do now

The illusion started to get extremely close to the lime green glowing tulip.. but so did Lir and and Aradia, the two of the reached out their hands to grab the flower while the grass also reached out to claim the flower as a part of it

'just a little bit more..!'

And then....

He got it

Lir managed to grab the flower at the very last moment, falling down on his face in the process but his hand still gripped the flower like his life depended upon it

Silence.., there was a pin drop silence, Lir was surprised he had managed to do it, Aradia stopped in her tracks trying to comprehend what just happened and even the illusion stopped..

The albino looked back up at her, the red head who was stunned, slowly nodded

Lir proceeded to pluck the tulip, holding it tightly, slowly the illusion started to crumble, only leaving behind dust

The duo once again saw the empty, gloomy and dark cave that they had seen inside the barrier

"You did it.. we did it..!"

Aradia spoke, her mind and body were still in shock but she was happy nonetheless, the reaction was taking sometime to show up but that didn't matter right now-

"What's that..?"

The red head questioned, though she wasn't actually expecting an answer, she could hear a faint noise, but of what, she didn't know

The ground beneath her feet and even the walls of the cave were lightly shaking, getting more and more shaker as the seconds pass by

A thought crossed Yeon Haa's mind, she gulped hard, prying it wasn't what she had just thought of

She was never a religious person, she always thought, a being that you have never met and talked to, only heard about from humans, praying to them and hoping things will fix itself was stupid

But that doesn't mean there aren't times she subconsciously ends up praying in urgent times

Aradia looked over at Lir, who was silent but his brows were twitching, trying to form a frown

"It's.."

He suddenly started to speak, making the red head all the more nervous

"..Water!"

Bonus:

Best friends:

Exorcist: I'm here to remove the demon that has possessed you

Aradia: I didn't call you

Lir: I did

                                           To be continued...

What's up people? It's me, Yan

How are you all? Hope good

So.. first things first, I'm sorry I didn't post for 2+ weeks alright-? I didn't really have the motivation plus I wanted to try out and explain a lot of things in this chapter (I actually cut out the last part, don't worry, it'll be in the next chapter)

I'll try to post every week again but no promises

Now.. onto the second thing.. WE REACHED 3K WORDS FOR ONE CHAPTER, WITHOUT THE BONUS SCENE LET'S GOOOO, I'M LITERALLY SO HAPPY

I used to be someone who couldn't even get a 1k word count with the author's notes and everything combined but now the chapter alone is 3k+ words, I'm so happy right now

Aside from these, I'm sick, I caught a cold because of how hot it is, but I'm somewhat better than before so yeah

Anyway, I don't really have anything else to say

So once again, please forgive this lowly author for any grammatical mistakes

Have a good day, afternoon, evening or night

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it

And I'll see you all in the next chapter

Bye!

[1] basically referring to the fact they will forget everything

Words: 3,328