Evelynn~
Xavier drifted from me and our intertwined hands unravelled against our will. I attempted to reach for him but my body refused to respond. His calming eyes stared back at mine, and for a while, I found myself melting in his endearing irises. Then his eyelids shut out my only hope, leaving me alone in the darkness...
I felt my body slam into a wall and I instantly recoiled from the impact. The wall probably had a me-shaped hole in it now. My eyes fluttered open, blinking back everything into focus. They met with a pair of shining silver orbs, much like Xavier's, except it wasn't his.
"Who are you?" The girl asked. She looked so similar to Xavier. Maybe she was his sister. Had he even mentioned that he had a sister before? I couldn't remember.
"I'm Evelynn, and I think I'm in wrong place-" I began as the girl narrowed her eyes. "Don't look at me like that, I promise I don't bite."
"Could you elaborate further?" She inquired, keeping her fiery gaze on me as if I would attack her at any moment. I would never, seriously.
"Well I was..." I trailed off, catching strands of flashbacks before being slammed so harshly into the wall. "I was swimming with a friend when this portal appeared magically in front of us." I wasn't sure exposing Xavier or me as supernatural beings was safe, especially in the circumstance where I myself did not have much knowledge on mythical species. Hopefully this girl couldn't detect lies...
"Portals don't just appear out of nothing. Were you sure you didn't know how it appeared?" She questioned, without lifting her heavy gaze from me.
"Affirmative, I don't know how it happened." I quickly confirmed.
The girl appeared to be deep in thought, before responding. "Well you could be right. Portal magic can do strange things..." She trailed off, lost in her thoughts again.
Questions were ignited in me like sizzling fireworks one after another, but now wasn't the time to ask them. I had to somehow get out of there and find my way back to Xavier before something bad happened.
"Hey uh...I'm Evelynn, what's your name?" I broke the silence of the room.
"Esmé." She immediately replied, accenting the letter 'e'. Time seemed to freeze for a couple of seconds.
"Can we get out of this building? I don't know why but I don't like it in here." Her words set me free from my frozen time-lapse. The swords were gone. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I hastily replied, "Me neither. Let's go."
Whatever it was, something was off about this place and I instinctively knew I had to get out there and then. I believe Esme felt the same, although I wondered why she was here too in the first place. If she didn't want to be there, could it mean that she just came from an unexpected portal too?
"Evelynn, we need to go! NOW!" Esme's cry sharply brought me out of my trance as reality hit me. We weren't in a room at all, we were in a cave, and the roofing was collapsing in on us.
I sprinted right after Esme, praying that she was leading us in the right direction to exit the caves. But the further I went, the more sceptical I got as it grew darker. And perhaps deeper underground, since I could hear water dripping ever so slightly from somewhere beneath. My legs became weak and wobbly as each foot landed in front, and I prayed again that I would not trip and tumble over only to be crushed under the crumbling caves behind.
My heart almost leapt out of me as I abruptly halted in front of a misty lake. I scanned my surroundings, searching for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found. The rumbling of subsiding stones deafened my eardrums as I plunged into the lake with no other option.
I let myself drown helplessly in the deep lagoon and held in my breath for as long as I could. I kept my eyes open and searched aimlessly, barely adjusting to the pitch-black space. As I struggled with keeping in my breath for the last moment, I felt myself sink into a gentle whirlpool. I released my breath and attempted to scream to no avail. It didn't matter what I tried now, since I was going to die anyway. Even if the caves didn't kill me, the lack of oxygen would. I closed my eyes and let the water gush into my lungs. I involuntarily coughed and spluttered, coming to the conclusion that I was no longer in charge of my body.