"That walk was brutal. My legs were lost in thickness."
Alice acted weird when nervous. Leaving her alone, and she started singing like a mockingbird. Lanert let her alone for a while, focussing on the strange object at the center of a wide circle.
Lanert easily touched on ancient Cubix. Smooth like baby skin and shrouded with cold dark energy, the Cubix used the same material as a wall. Without vines, mushrooms, and bloodstain, this cubix differs from its surrounding. Why is this cubix so strange? What made it special?
A strange crescent moon emblem with a dot in the center glowed dark at the top of Cubix. The emblem spread an eerie aura. Even the flying orb dared not move close. Lanert never saw a crescent emblem before, not from the library or his father's book collection.
"Whoah, strange emblem. Let me push it."
"No, Alice, wait." Lanert pulled Alice's hand away from the Cubix. "Don't touch anything before consulting me."
"Chicken."
"No, I am not. I tried to be careful in making decisions. We don't know what happen if we push the button, right? Let's return for a while."
"Scared?"
"We need to think about it with a cool head. Don't rush it, or we will be sorry later."
As they left the circle, sudden cold air shrouded them from nowhere. A strange shirl noise came from the darkness. Lanert and Alice pulled their respective weapon and readied for everything.
"I don't like it, Lanert. Watch out, there." Alice tapped Lanert and pointed to the thin layer of mist from the darkness. "You see?"
"Yes, be careful."
"Lanert! It came from everywhere!"
They are surrounded by thin cold mist. The hissing noise is louder. The mist formed a knight who carried swords, spears, and shields, and they wore ancient armor. No voice came from them.
"Don't move!" Lanert trembled, pointing his Acerose to them. "Stay away!"
But they didn't even slow. They kept striding and penetrated Lanert like he was nothing. Instant cold bite his skin. Lanert saw a flashback.
A humble wooden house on a green grass hill. Lady in white dress drying clothes. A strange voice echoed in Lanert's head. "Good luck, darling."
Everything was gone as the strange entity dashed off. Lanert trembled back and almost fell. Luckillt Alice holds him back.
"Did you see that?!" Lanert shocked.
Alice exhaled. "Yes, yes. What is going on? Who are they?"
The strange entity of mist entered the circle. They face off against another warrior. They fight like a gladiator. They faced an Elementalist master warrior that controlled elements. They were no match for those elemental masters and were butchered like sheep by the wolf.
Another mist entity-shaped men and women dressed in robes, armed with books, staff, and even barehanded, entered the carnage. Now, they were facing the same entity. They use elements and fight each other.
The men being burnt. The women were iced and shattered by the enemy. The man in the robe was no luck. He got struck by an electro element and then brunt before being beheaded by an enemy. They all lay dead.
Then other entities would step in. The same happened repeatedly, but the men, the women, and the weapons were different; everything recycling.
The agony, war cry, cry of death, everything seemed real. Lanert and Alice are confused and shiver, yet they can't blink to see everything that happened in the circle.
Was it a sign that tried to make them stay away from there? Or challenge Lanert and Alice to enter the circle?
"Should we enter the circle?" Alice woke Lanert from his reverie. "What's wrong, Lanert? You seem intense."
"Nah, I'm okay. Do you see what just happened?"
"Horror of the war." Somehow Alice looks lamented, with eyes glinting and a rueful smile.
"Alice?"
She returned to normal, Alice. "Yes, sorry, I... I lost in my mind."
It was not good. Their mental were shaken. If they continued, it would end badly for them. Lanert decided for took another rest, away from the circle.
Away from that craziness.
They sat in the room with blue petals. They eat mushrooms like always. But now anxiety swaddled them.
"I am not sure what we will face in the circle," Alice commented uneasily.
"We have two choices," Lanert explained. "Stay here, forever. Or try our luck in the circle."
There was a long silence. Even Lanert started doubting what they should do next. The vision of battle made him goosebumps. He was facing a dilemma.
"What do you choose then?" Alice asked.
"How about your choice?" Lanert asked back.
"I am a woman. As a man, it is your job to make a crucial decision.
Lanert didn't want to be blamed again. "Uhmm, but my instinct is dull. As a woman, you have a sharp instinct. Use it."
"It doesn't matter whether it's sharp or not," Alice argued. "You are the man, Lanert. Take responsibility as a man."
"So when I made the wrong decision, you could blame me, huh."
"Now, what do you choose." She pushed him, nudged him. Sometimes Alice could become a jerk.
"Alright, I got it. We enter after we have enough rest. How about that?"
"If that's your choice, then okay. Remember, this is your choice. Blame yourself if something bad happens."
I knew it! "Okay. Now, rest."
After taking a nap and fresh themself, they returned to the circle. Lanert and Alice put their hand on the ancient button together.
"Are you ready, Alice?"
"Yes, I am ready."
They nodded and gazed at each other with confidence. They pushed the button, and a strange swirly, warm wind hammered them.
Seven emblems of elements on the wall glow bright with their respective colors. Then after a while, five elements of the emblems faded, leaving two emblems shining brightly.
"Anemo and Pyro," Lanert murmured.
"Lanert, did you make a wrong choice?"
"Oh, now it's all my fault, then. Where 'we' go?"
"Stay back, Lanert. Let me handle everything." Alice pulled out his winter sword while Lanert raised his Acerose.
Puffs of mist formed around them. It formed the slender body of a rapier-armed man in red and a girl figure in Cyan colors carrying swords. The mist thickened, and two figures became more apparent, resembling Alice and Lanert.
"Stay behind me, Lanert." Alice shielded Lanert with her body.
Lanert realizes the hand of another Alice in Cyan color created a whirlwind, just like his father did three years ago, before striking anyone with the Anemo element.
"Alice, watch out!"