After dispatching her attacker, Safa had spent some time in a tower of sorts. The dimension she was in was strange. The footpaths were large stone-like bridges that seemed to be in the air.
She assumed this based on the high clouds she could see covering several of the areas. It was also why during her fight, she was deadly scared of falling off the wall edge. The bridges connected to each other, and every once in a while, as one would walk, there would be more pathways one could choose from to head to an unknown location.
There was no way to tell where they would lead to, at least not for her. However, after being attacked, she had decided to stay cautious. Every once in a while on the same bridges, there would be a tower of sorts attached to the side.
They were fairly large, and the design of them reminded her of what she had seen in the Demonic Faction. The roofs were slanted, and there were several sections that would go up higher and higher.
Entering inside, there were large staircases and an empty open space. There was next to nothing inside of them, apart from barrels by the side. She had gone over to the empty barrels to check if there was anything inside, but there was nothing.
'I've heard this is the case with these dimensions. It has signs of a world with life at one point. Of life similar to that of humans, but now there is nothing left, although from time to time, special items can be found.'
Thinking of special items, Safa held onto the pendant around her neck. It was one of the enchanted items she had been given by Raze, but Raze himself hadn't exactly told her its use unlike the others.
She wondered why that was, but she didn't question it. During the fights, it had yet to help her as well.
Thinking of this, she continued to go up the stairs and eventually reached the top floor. From here, she went through sliding wooden doors that led to a balcony on the outside. She thought she might be able to get a better view of things there.
"This dimension is quite beautiful in a lot of ways," were the words that came out of Safa's mouth. She could see the intertwining bridges, some of them going over and under from each other, but she was still unable to see any real landmass. A part of her wondered what would happen if she took a leap of faith and had decided to jump down through the clouds.
Would she fall to her death, get caught by something on the way, or would she even be transported to another place?
"I wonder what happened to this world, and the people that lived in it; I wonder if there was a way to see it," Safa thought to herself. Before, she only wished for a life where she would be happy to fill her belly.
It was the reason why she had pushed herself to try her best to study at home. It was the only thing that had gone through her mind, wishing to better her situation, to go a day where she didn't need to think about food.
Now that she was a Pagna warrior, in the academy where food was the least of their worries, until the last assessment, she was starting to think; what was it that she wanted to do?
Raze was obsessed with gaining power for one reason or another. Simyon and Liam, the two of them had always wanted to become a Pagna warrior. A while ago, all she wanted to do herself was follow her brother and protect him.
It was why she was happy to go with the flow, but Raze… although he looked like her brother, he was no longer her brother. Due to the life they lived at the moment, she felt indebted to him and wished to help using her powers of magic, but what was it that she was interested in?
Maybe now, she could start to think about her own wishes.
'When I was younger, I taught myself to read, from the thrown-out books I collected. Most of them were history books, about the past of Pagna, and some just seemed like fantasy books, but a lot of what I read, some of the worlds, felt like these ones.'
When looking out, images started to appear in Safa's head. She was trying to make a connection with those fantasy stories and the dimension she was in now, imagining what it would be like if the life inside it was thriving.
Soon though, the images of the people, they were filled with terror. In her mind, she saw beasts attacking them, part of the structures they had built up being destroyed, and the people around her dying.
Finally, it resulted in what she was able to see now.
'I wonder what happened to these worlds and the old civilizations. It would be good to know what happened in these worlds. After all, if there was one thing I learned from those history books, it was that we can learn from the past mistakes that we had made.'
'If we don't know what happened to these worlds and how they had fallen, then there is a good chance that the same thing can happen to ours as well.'
A loud screech was heard in the air; hearing this, she turned to her right and could see a winged creature with a pointed head coming right at her. Immediately, she pulled out her spear and pointed it toward the beast.
"I didn't quite get to try out my other magic spells just yet; I wanted to try out a few more. I know one thing I definitely want to do, and I don't want to disappoint Raze; I don't know why, but each time he teaches me magic, I feel like there's a heavy expectation on me, as if he's relying on me!"
Holding out her spear, the tip started to glow slightly. A magic spell, infused with her Qi; it was something for her to test out. Something that hadn't been taught to her, nor was it in the books; she was figuring out how to combine things on her own.
Outside in the world of Pagna, deep in an area filled with dark hills, there was a dimension portal that was open. Standing on the outside, there were two staff members from the academy, as well as a man standing with his arms folded, wearing half a mask covering his face.
They were covering the portal, that was until, holding onto their arm, was a dark purple-haired female. She was holding onto her hand slumping.
"Help, help me! I was attacked in my dimension; I need help quickly!" The girl called out, as she moved closer towards the teachers.
"A student, she has the red headband, but she's not from this dimension?" The teachers said, as they went forward to check on the person anyway.
As they reached her, one of them quickly started to check on the cut on her arm. While the other was looking at her suspiciously.
"You're one of the Red Headband students taking part in the current assessment. If that was the case, then shouldn't there have been teachers waiting outside the portal?" One of the teachers asked.
"When I got out, just after being attacked by a beast, there was no one there." The female student claimed.
The teacher looked closer at the wound; the cloth was cut, and the wound was a large single strike.
"This wound… it doesn't look like it was done from the claws of a beast; it looks more like it was a cut that was made," the teacher suspiciously said.
"Arghh!" A grunt was heard from behind them.
When the teachers turned around, they could see the man in the mask had fallen to the floor, and a large hole was seen dented on the outside of the chest. Standing there was a man with long black hair.
Afterwards, the man dashed forward, and with one of the teachers, he grabbed onto their head, and with a twist, turned it more than 180 degrees; a loud snap was heard, causing the person to fall to the floor.
Immediately after, with the teacher right next to her, he readied his fist punching it again with a powerful blow denting the chest causing the next teacher to fall, and just like that all three of those guarding the portal had fallen.
"Is it really necessary to kill them all?" Violet asked as she stood up putting pressure on her wound; it was a real one after all.
"You have to remember, these teachers were the ones that allowed us to take part in that assessment from before," Dame replied. "They were happy for your lives to mean nothing. If we don't get rid of them, then we will be the ones taken."
Right then, from over one of the hills, Simyon, Joe, and Tinson were seen rushing over. They were waiting until their plan was complete and were now rushing over.
"Alright, we can't waste any time; let's head into the portal before someone ends up dead," Dame said.
The group agreed but couldn't help but look at the dead bodies. Violet felt a bit bad because the teacher was trying to help her, but she remembered the words of Dame. As the group was running past the portals, trying to head inside.
That was when Simyon had stopped at the body just by the portal, the masked man. He was looking at his chest, and the wound in particular.
'A large indent… isn't that the same as the students that were killed in the assessment, wasn't it Dame that took out this person?' Simyon thought, getting a shiver running through his whole body.
