Ava was dreaming again.
She remembered reaching the bottom; she remembered sitting against a rock to practice her ability as she waited for them to go to the portal.
But she didn’t remember sleeping.
Was she really dreaming? Or doing astral projection?
Was this because she missed him?
It had been about a month since she last saw him.
She was walking towards Matthew’s room. Her footsteps were light, yet for some weird reason, she could feel the carpet against her feet. Usually, she couldn’t feel these things. She stopped walking and extended her arm forward. It was cold. She doesn’t usually feel cold.
What is happening here?
She walked inside Matthew’s room. Luckily, she could just go through walls as usual.
"Eh?"
Matthew was working out.
Ava blinked. Her eyes landed on his sweat. Alright, not his sweat, but his sweaty upper body. Matthew wasn’t wearing a shirt. Not that she hadn’t seen it before. Ava blinked before she turned her attention towards the pile of paper on his desk.
She approached it, wanting to read what was on it, but before she could take a step, she felt like someone was shaking her whole body.
"Hey, newbs! Wake up!"
Ava opened her eyes and almost punched the face that was in front of hers.
Christoff, this mother fucker, Ava swore inwardly.
"What is it?"
"We are leaving."
Ava nodded. What a waste, she thought.
How could they wake her up while she was watching Matthew work out?
"So, the princess is awake," Alex’s sarcastic voice reached her ears. This time, Ava ignored her. Her mind was still on Matthew’s... workout.
Damnit.
This isn’t helping her at all.
She missed him. She wanted to touch him and talk to him. If only she could find a way to communicate with him during one of her astral projections.
"We’re leaving," Damon said. "The portal is right over there." He pointed at the dark swirling liquid on the ground a few meters away from them. "The movement isn’t so fast this time."
Ava nodded. She doesn’t know what he meant, but the man was experienced enough. It would be logical to say that he would do everything that he had been doing before going inside the portal.
"Remember, everything inside... will be forgotten once you come out. So..." he looked at Christoff and James. "Don’t do anything funny."
"Yes, sir," the two of them answered at the same time.
"Alright. Let’s go."
.....
When Ava heard about the Pits, she thought of a dark place with dead plants and skulls. Lots of skulls.
But she opened her eyes to a bright sunny environment surrounded by greeneries. The sound of a bird caught her attention. She looked around and noticed a small rabbit who had immediately hid away from her.
This looked like... Earth?
"Hey!"
Ava looked behind her. Almost immediately, her eyes widened at the old woman wearing a normal shirt and pants. She’s wearing a hat made of bamboo to protect her face from the sun.
"Are you an adventurer?"
Ava blinked.
"I saw you. You just appeared there. Usually, adventurers don’t even know that they are adventurers until they talk to us. You should come with me so you can register and start doing whatever you are set to do."
"Register?"
"Yes. All adventurers must be registered. Follow me."
"Oh..." Ava nodded. The woman’s emotions were calm. She sounded sincere, too. However, she didn’t miss the different glint in the woman’s eyes. But instead of focusing her attention on the woman, she spread her senses. She tried to sense if Alex and the others were near her.
"You should be more careful, especially since you are a lady. Adventurers here are pretty scary. Especially the ones who decided to stay."
"Decided to stay?"
"Yes. Some people came here because they no longer have any other home. And those aren’t good people. I bet they came here because their world wanted to kill them for their sins."
"Oh. What if they want to leave?"
"Leave?" the woman snorted. "It wouldn’t be that easy. You have to win in the arena and win your freedom. There are other people, locals who wanted to leave and so they fought inside the Arena but they didn’t even last too long. Poor souls."
"So do you have to win a certain amount of times inside the Arena?"
The woman turned and look at Ava. "You just got here. Why are you thinking about leaving?"
"I — I was just curious."
"Curiosity killed a lot of people."
Ava nodded.
"But I don’t know how to answer your question. People who go inside the arena don’t come out. It’s either they die or they got out of here."
After a few minutes of walking, Ava finally saw a settlement. It looked like a village or a town surrounded by tall, black walls. The people walking on top of the walls caught her attention. All of them looked majestic, with their dark red armor that looked like the ones in Europe during ancient times.
Technology doesn’t really work in this place, but why are they wearing clothes like that?
"The guards are all dangerous. People stay away from them." the woman walked toward the guards at the large gate and informed them that Ava was an adventurer. Then a guard escorted them towards the ’town hall’ where Ava was supposed to sign her name and other information about her.
"You signed your name here so I could give you an identity card." The old woman at the registration office said.
"And after that?"
"You can do whatever you want."
"That easy?" Ava asked.
"Yes. That is easy. Come on. Give us your info so you can leave."
Ava looked at the blank piece of paper then she smiled.
"Really?" she asked as she looked at the older woman. "Why do you need my information?"
"This woman is crazy. If you don’t want to sign, then just leave the town. It’s not like the other towns will let you in without that card." The man continued.
"Interesting." Ava met the older woman’s eyes. "Alright, I will give you my information."
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