It was early evening. Dinner had just ended and the people were inside their lodgings. Saira was in her room sitting on top of her bed, staring at her palm where her black mote was set afloat. A knock on her room jerked her up, surprising her- sending the black mote in a frenzy around the air like a frightened bird until it settled back again on her palm. She dispersed the mote into mist then made her way to the invisible barrier, finding Kristine behind it.
"Hey, what's up?" She gestured for the barrier to let Kristine inside.
"We need to talk." Kristine said as he let herself in, with Saira ringing a small bell to call for her fairy.
"What's it about?"
"Andrei."
The tone shifted in the air, with Saira unconsciously biting her lip. "What about him?"
Kristine sat herself down across the room on a wooden chair as Saira made for the bed across it.
Saira's fairy arrived quick, leaving almost as quickly as Saira asked for some snacks and drinks.
"Did you know?" Kristine said.
"Know what?"
"Of his girlfriend."
Saira paused before answering.
"I did."
"Then why are you still bothering him?" Kristine said as he stared daggers at Saira. "You know what you're after, and he knows that as well as you do, and yet he isn't pushing you away Saira."
A regurgitating silence overcame the room, with Saira choosing her words carefully inside her head.
"I know that."
"And then?"
Saira's eyes started to itch but tried to keep her composure. "I know I shouldn't, but I can't help-."
"You should help it. You're playing with a person's relationship here. Of course, I've already had this same conversation with Andrei."
"What did he say?" Saira asked, however knew that the answer wouldn't come out of Kristine's mouth.
"Why does all this affect you anyway? You're not exactly a close friend of his, unless you're out for him too-"
"Because the girl Andrei's dating back home was a good friend of mine. Andrei and I were already acquainted even before all this, and I just can't watch Andrei go breaking what they have built up. You need to help me with that."
The fairy came back with a large tray in hand, not knowing what he was getting into. The tray was brimming with food and drinks that seemed too much for a person like him to be able to carry.
He paced himself into the awkward tension between the girls in the room, carefully setting the food down onto the table then left almost as quickly as before. The silence was slow and painful, almost as if they both were choking hard on their own thoughts.
"You're right." Saira finally broke the cold air, clapping her face in between her hands. "That was a shitty move, and I shouldn't make Andrei's feelings any more mixed up than it already is."
"Wait, really?" Kristine said with a surprised look.
"Yeah, I get it." Saira said. "Being friends will be the height of our relationship, I promise that. Sorry for causing trouble."
"No, not at all… I mean, Andrei's already having mixed feelings as it is with him on a tipsy scale- I just didn't want you adding weight to that. He has to make his own choice, not get influenced into one. To be honest though, I thought you'd be more against it."
"Come on, I won't go that far." Saira snorted a laugh. "I do like Andrei- a lot actually, but after hearing you list all the bad things I'm doing, my conscience would never forgive me if I still pushed through."
"So you just realized that you're a douche." Kristine gave her a flat look as she took a drink from the table, taking a sip.
"Pretty much." Saira said with a smile growing on her face. "And Nico warned me about it too."
"He knows about you and Andrei?"
"I don't think so, but what he said stood out to me. He said that he was going to change himself now that he's been handed a clean slate, and I should too. I'm guessing this will be the starting point for me then."
"Nico does seem like a person with issues." Kristine said as she grabbed a sandwich from the table, taking a bite. "Have you seen those tattoos and piercings of his?"
"I thought they're kinda hot."
"They kinda are. The problem is he's very skinny, too few muscles and fats put on him. He'd break like a twig a hundred times over if I ever did it with him."
"Don't forget about his hair." Saira said, munching on a sandwich. "I don't even know what style he's going for."
"Right? He looks like a love child by parents that were clearly overdosing on Iron Maiden albums."
. . .
Nico let out a sneeze as he was idly chatting with Andrei, Kai, and Jason- up on a suspended bridge hundreds of feet above on the giant tree, with the cold moonlight gleaming against their hair.
"Bless you." Andrei said.
"Thanks." Nico said as he rubbed his nose. "You too."
Andrei and the rest gave him baffled expressions as Nico then took back his words, realizing what he said.
"Man, all that training earlier really gave me the sores." Kai stretched, then fixed his eyes to the crescent-shaped moon in the night sky. "How long have we been here again?"
"Four days." Jason said.
"Wait really?"
"Yeah." Nico said. "How long did you think it was?"
"At least two."
"Days?"
"Weeks."
"The magic must be tampering with your sense of time, you're way off."
"Is that my fault?" Kai said, gesturing to the moon. "Look at it bro, it went from full moon to crescent in just four days!"
"It's a fantasy world Kai, of course it would be different." Jason said. "I'm surprised we even speak the same language as the fairies."
"Oh right, Mathis told me about that." Kai said, wagging his index left to right as if he was teaching something and had to make a point. "She said that when the other races came to this world they also spoke English, with the name itself the only thing different."
"I've been thinking about that." Andrei said, wrapping his hands together. "What's the actual reason why we were brought here?"
"I remember Mathis saying that the god of this tower needed something on the highest floor, requiring us so-called chosen ones to go fetch it for him." Kai said. "I'm calling it bull honestly."
"Right?" Nico said. " Why would a god who built and runs the entirety of the tower need the help of us, and us specifically out of all the people? Couldn't the god like, you know, called for Dwayne Johnson specifically?"
The group snorted a laugh.
"What if we died -and this world would be heaven? Makes a lot of sense actually. You remember those people coming back to life showing up in the news and TV?"
"Nobody watches TV bro." Kai said. "But yeah, I've heard of them. Many of them would mention something about meeting up with angels and whatnot."
"-and the fairies are the angels they were talking about?" Andrei said with a doubtful look running over his face.
"Yeah. It holds up, right?"
"Come on." Jason said, raising his arms in surrender. "No way they magically forgot about the part where they woke up naked in the middle of the woods. Not one of them mentioned that- no one. Plus all the people we were with are all in their twenties, while those people you mentioned were all of different ages."
"Thinking is hard." Nico said.
"Agreed." Kai said as they bumped fists. "And I thought for sure you got it right."
Kai then hung his head to gaze at the stars, the group falling silent as they followed Kai's lead, lying on the bridge stargazing without a single word since. "Why we were brought here doesn't matter- to me atleast. The only thing on my mind is getting home, and that's through reaching the top of this tower."