"I don't know how to control my power yet," I said and Sai looked at me.
"Don't worry. You will get the hang of it," he said and I just nodded.
"All you have to do is think of a spell and mean it. Think that you want to strengthen your comrades. Do not overthink because if you do, the effectivity of your power won't even work, and it will drain the energy out of you," Sai said as he folded his arms.
"Being a synergist takes time. You have to relax and take things easy. Do not panic. And besides, Klein and I will do the dirty job while you and Dionne focus on the party's welfare. Mumbling your spell is effective, too," he said finally and some of it made sense to me already.
"The formation would be like this. Dionne and Cevin, you stay at the back. I would be 3 to 4 meters away from you so you enemies would come up to me first. Klein, you attack them as I draw their attention towards me. I would observe and tell you their weakness as you attack. I have fought some enemies for 5 years and we may've encounter them again," he said as we formed our formation.
"Let's travel west from our camping site. From there, various enemies would appear. I doubt that there would even be machines there," Sai said and we all started walking, with Sai taking the lead.
Sai and Klein were talking as I walked alongside Dionne. We were not talking much with each other. The Calm Lands is so beautiful, I could feel the breeze and I admired the flower petals as it flew in the air.
Dionne was looking at the petals and from time to time, would touch it. I looked at her. It was like I'm looking at the most beautiful woman in the most beautiful place. It kind of reminded me of the promised land where Rinoa and Squall promised to meet.
"Cevin, what's it like in your world," Dionne suddenly asked and got my attention.
"There are a lot of people. A lot of people involved too much in the government and whatsoever. Our world is invaded by technology. People grow stupid because of it day by day. They are important, yes… but it's as if people couldn't even live without it.
"We have a thing called internet, and it's like oxygen to them. Our world is nothing like yours. Our world revolves on money, too. Unlike here which you can get most of it for free and people would take care of nature properly," I answered and just forced out a smile.
"Most people demand for more, actually. Power and greed… it's too much for me. I don't appreciate our world much, but hey… Sai and I are from that world. We wouldn't be here if our world ceased to exist," I just said and she just giggled.
"It seems as though you hate your world," she said and she wasn't wrong about a part of it.
"That's the problem of our world," Sai suddenly spoke because he overheard our conversation. "As new generation came, it's becoming worse by the second. Sometimes, I even doubt on the saying 'The youth are the hope of the future.' Not that I'm impatient and negative and all that... but I wouldn't want to live forever in that world, not seeing any good progress. That's why I chose to stay here and felt some deeper responsibility and felt peace here rather than staying there," he said and we still continued to walk towards our destination.
"It's like your world is falling into ruin," Klein said and Dionne let out a sigh.
"And if I don't ask soon, maybe our world would fall soon, too," she said and I got into some thinking.
Everything will fall into ruin if we fail doing our responsibilities whilst in this world, it will fall if Dionne completely failed her responsibility. To think that the people of this world only rely on one person so much, they even cooperated with her in keeping the world beautiful but we can't be really sure if everyone's helping.
Because of our conversation, I noticed that Sai and I have something in common; to stay in a peaceful place where we could start anew, willing to protect what we can for the safety of the world. Even I was doubtful at first but being here even for a short time, made me realize a lot of things. Maybe if I got a chance to make a wish, I'd stay here with my family…
With my father's existence.
We suddenly came to a stop when we heard a rustling sound from a bush in front of us. We were all surprised when a snake jumped in front of us and tied its body around Dionne's ankle and started pulling her. Surprisingly, it had the strength to even drag her body away.
"Klein, cut its body!" and Klein acted quickly the moment Sai shouted the instruction.
We noticed that it's another kind of machine that we just encountered now. It multiplied as soon as Sai cut its body. The moment Dionne escaped, she ran and hid behind us.
"What is this? A new kind of machine the enemy made? I thought there were no machines here," Dionne said and we were all surprised when we saw another woman in front of us.
The woman was flying. She was wearing a white dress that would flow with her movements. She looked beautiful like a goddess but in spite that, we sensed evil because of the black aura she had been emitting from her back. Her hair is long and black and it matched with her red eyes.
Behind her were two beast-looking machines, waiting for her signal of attack. We just looked at her as she sneered at us. The machines suddenly ran to us and Sai was quick to run in front of Dionne to protect her with his high defense.
"Do as I say! The real enemy is right in front of us," he shouted and Klein ran to attack the machines in front of us.
He attacked the machines that looked like snakes but it kept multiplying. Dionne started singing to heal both Sai and Klein as they were both being attacked.
I closed my eyes and started to think of our protection—for my comrades' protection. I will strengthen their stamina so they won't get tired easily. I don't know if it would work, but it is better than nothing. Things are about to get worse when we least expect it to.
The enemy just showed her real self, right in front of us.