The Aftermath

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina woke up with a splitting headache. She could feel the rough, cold cement floor beneath her left cheek. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. The chill from the floor she was laying on was slowly leaching the warmth of her body away from her and she shivered. She sat up with a groan as her aching head protested the movement. She rubbed the bump on the back of her skull, grimacing at the sticky feel of blood.

She vaguely recalled searching through some rubble that was near an old crumbling building. She had been looking for something she could use in her travels and then someone had hit her from behind. Maybe they had hit her with one of the bricks that had been laying around the area. If that was the case then she should be thankful that she wasn't dead. But what was she doing here? And where was here?

She squinted her eyes into the gloom as she looked around, trying to determine more about her surroundings. Vague moonlight shimmered through barred windows, creating more shadows rather than illuminating the area. Just seeing the bars however was enough to give her a good idea of where she was. Suddenly, her breath stopped in her throat as she spotted a dark shape in the farthest corner of the room.

As she rose to her feet, she moved one hand quietly around to the small of her back where she kept a dagger, only to discover that there was nothing there. She suddenly realized that she had been stripped of all her weapons. They, whoever "they" were, had even taken her jacket and shoes! She was wearing only her shirt and jeans. Damn!

"Who's there?" She called out, trying to sound braver than she actually felt.

[Painless]

There's this strange idea people have, that ice is cold. Even Nolan used to think that, though he was having real trouble remembering why. The truth is, nothing is cold. Everything else is just far too warm. Like this floor. Hard stone, slightly porous, it would rapidly take on the temperature of the surrounding area. It was greedy stone, the kind that would absorb anything you fed to it. And it was drinking.

Finally, the pain registered, and he forced himself to his feet. Even that was exhausting, and the effort left him lightheaded. He reached out, using the wall to steady himself. But instead of more solid, thirsty stone, he found bars. These weren't cold, but they were at least not so burning hot as the stone, and he rested his head against them, trying to clear his mind. He'd been stalking his prey. A deer, starved and pathetic looking, but alive. It would have made a good meal. He needed a good meal, he'd been living on nothing but dried out fruit and rotten vegetables. Anything he could eat raw. He couldn't bring himself to cook.

Whatever they had done to him, he couldn't remember. But it left him with frozen blood caked on his head, matted in his hair. That, he realized, was what he was feeling, not the bars. The bars weren't cool at all. In fact...

He leaped back, hissing. The bars of his cell were burning hot. Too hot to touch, and getting hotter. He backed away, shrinking into a corner, trying to get cold once again. That was when he noticed her. She must have been there the whole time, but when she got to her feet and spoke, that was when she actually got his attention. Her turned to her, and tried to get a look. Female. More than that, he couldn't really gather. Was she a threat? Was she the one who put him in here, or was she a fellow prisoner?

"The name's Nolan. Who the hell are you?"

[Olivia Cycien]

Her body instantly tensed at the harsh sounding voice. She had forgotten about her aching head but it was happy to remind her as she turned to look in the direction of the voice. Trying to ignore the pain in her head, she stood with her feet slightly separated. She kept her arms down, trying to appear relaxed, but she was ready to strike at a moments notice.

She could see a shape moving in the corner and she narrowed her gaze, trying to see better. The darkness hampered her efforts. She frowned as she began to wonder what sort of trick this was. The idea that this person had been watching her as she lay unconscious all this time was creepy. Who did he think he was?

Then she realized that she could shed a little light on the subject. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers together. Instantly a small fire came to life between her thumb and forefinger. She raised her hand higher so that she could see into the corner. She saw a man with a nasty gash on his head and blood stuck in his hair. It looked like she'd gotten in a couple of good licks before losing consciousness. That made her feel better and she took a step closer.

"My name is Lina." She put her other hand on her hip and narrowed her green eyes at him. "Now, do you want to tell me what the hell is going on? Or do you just like pain?"

[Painless]

When her abilities flared up, so did his fear. He hissed once again, and shrank away from her. "Stay away from me, you freak." There wasn't enough room to get away. And she had fire. Fire was death.

He tore his eyes away from the flickering flame, though it kept calling back to him. It was hard not to stare at something so small, yet so deadly. He forced his breathing under control. In... out... in... out... Just like that. Each breath soothed him, and each one seemed to draw the warmth out of the room. He could already see his breath, hanging in the air like smoke. It was good, wet air. There was water everywhere, in the stone, in the air, in the walls. He raised a hand to his head and drew away the frozen blood, shaping it into a crude dagger. Could he get this embedded in her neck before she burned him to cinders? He wasn't sure.

"I don't know why I'm here. I was out hunting, and someone attacked me." That's right, keep talking. Keep the room getting colder and colder. So cold that even these red hot bars would shatter like icicles. So cold that the floor would grow slick with a thick layer of ice. Ice made water, and water killed fire. Ice was life, fire was death. "I don't know what's going on. If I did, I would tell you."

Was it his imagination, or was her flame beginning to flicker and die? It didn't matter. The whole room was chilled. He was starting to get comfortable.

"You're bleeding," he observed. Presumably, the same people who had thrown him in there had gotten to her as well.

[Olivia Cycien]

"No shit Sherlock!" She replied, still glaring at him. "Since you're the one that did this, you ought to know!" Was it her imagination or was it getting colder in here? She frowned and looked around. Yes, the air was starting to get colder and the walls shimmered where the light from her flame was hitting them.

There was movement and her focus returned to the man in front of her. He was shaping his frozen blood into some sort of weapon it looked like. Wait... frozen blood? What the hell? The room was colder than ever and she shivered. The flame between her fingers was growing smaller and sputtering. Soon it would go out. She frowned. Only one thing had any control over her fire ability and that was ice and snow.

Her gaze settled once more on the man. "You're an Ice Mage aren't you? Well I guess that explains why you conked me on the head but it still doesn't explain what I'm doing here." Her anger flared up again bringing the flame back from weak sputtering life to a more brilliant light. She decided that if he tried to attack her again, she'd go for the ice thing--it looked like a bloody dagger--and melt it.

[Painless]

"I keep telling you, I don't know why you're here." He ran his hands through his thick, dark hair. Ice crystals were starting to gather on the edges, and it was a simple matter to shape them into a helmet. Not very effective against a fire freak like her, but at the very least, it was easing the pain in his head. More importantly, it wasn't hot. The room was finally manageable. And the flame was definitely flickering. If he could weaken her enough, she'd be helpless.

"Besides, you're a fire freak. What possible reason could I have to not only keep you alive, but lock you in a room with me? A room that's way too hot. So either I'm crazy, or you're an idiot, and I know I'm not crazy." It probably wasn't a good idea to antagonize her, but Nolan didn't really care. She was doing plenty to antagonize him.

The dagger kept growing. It was more like a sword now. It was a simple matter to pick up the moisture in the air and add it to the blood. Of course, if it came to blows, she'd have an advantage too. The dry air would make it easier for her fire to burn. The best thing to do would be to get her encased in ice. Not an easy feat, of course. When she'd gotten pissed at him, the air around her started to steam. She was melting all the ice that would have caked on her... and turning it into mist. Good job, idiot.

[Olivia Cycien]

She rolled her eyes. Her glare sharpened even as the fire between her fingers strengthened. What arrogance! What nerve! Why she ought to fry him where he stood! Ice mages, they never learned. You had to practically beat them over the head with knowledge before they realized the truth. Her thoughts were interrupted as the other things he said began to sink in.

He had said the room was hot. Of course to him it would be hot in here. Maybe he was telling the truth and maybe he wasn't. Either way she had to get them out of here before they got into a long discussion. Besides this was not exactly the ideal spot for a sparring match if that was what things came to.

An idea was forming in her mind. If he was willing to help her out, then maybe they could work out a deal. She wasn't thrilled about the idea but surely they were both better off if they worked together. Of course, it was possible that he had his own agenda and this was all some sort of sadistic trick. How could she possibly be sure of her safety?

Another question occurred to her. If what he was saying was true and he had nothing to do with the attack on her, then the blood on the side of his head would mean that he had also been attacked. But why had they both been put in the same room? Had someone wanted to provoke them into a fight? She shook her head, causing another flare of pain to arc across her head like a dagger.

This wasn't the time to stand around asking questions or waiting for the answers to become clearer. If he was the thug who had attacked her and brought her here then she would know soon enough. She eyed the bars as the idea she had became clearer, then focused once more on Nolan. She looked at him and arched an eyebrow.

"Ok, Let's say I believe you. You want to get out of here or what?"

[Painless]

"Get out of here? No, I want to sit in a burning hot cell for the rest of my life. What do you think?" Stupid fire freaks. They were always getting angry when they should be thinking. Nolan knew the value of thought. Hell, he even knew the value of a fire mage. They had abilities that could be useful to him, so long as they weren't directed his way. It was something to consider, for the moment.

He wasn't sure whether to trust her. Sure, if she needed him, she'd use him. But what about after that? When he'd outlived his usefulness, she'd be perfectly ready to abandon him. It was a damn shame, especially because he wouldn't do the same to her. He wasn't really that much of an idealist, but he believed in pragmatic altruism. Help his fellow man, or woman, in this case, so the both of them could live to fight another day.

He wondered why she even needed him. If she'd been in the cell alone, she could have just escaped, melted the bars right off the walls. Then it clicked. "Whoever put us in here, they wanted us to fight. They knew we could get out on our own, so they put us in here together." It was amazing what a little brain power could do.

Which meant he had to make a peace offering. Unpleasant as it would be, he eased up on the cold front. The room would take a while to warm up again. But at least he had his ice. He dispersed the dagger into a sort of vest to keep his body cool. If Lina got to close, the thing would detonate and fill her with ice shrapnel.

"Yes, I want to get out of here. If you melt the bars, or I freeze them, the temperature will be intense enough to kill us both. But if we keep heating and cooling them over and over, they should get brittle enough to break on their own."

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina gave him an odd look and smiled. "That is exactly what I was thinking." Maybe a truce wouldn't be so bad after all. Of course he still didn't know much for an Ice Mage but that was ok. Maybe he'd figure it out. She wondered how long after they got out of here that it would take him to go running off. She didn't mind Ice Mages, they were pretty useful, but that didn't mean they could be trusted. She'd have to keep an eye on him.

She moved over to the bars and held up her flaming fingers. The bars already had a few cracks and looked rather rusty. She didn't think it would take long for the plan to work. Before she tried anything at all, she wanted to get a good view of the area. It wouldn't do them any good to break out only to get attacked again.The window was too high to just look out of. She needed something to stand on.

She looked around the ratty interior of the jail cell and saw a rusty looking bed with a decrepit mattress that looked impossibly ancient. It was set against one wall and stood about six inches off the floor. She thought it would be good enough to use. After a moment of concentration, the flames on her fingers grew smaller and faded away.

When she was sure her hand was cool enough she used both hands to grab the rail. She tugged and dragged the bed until it was beneath the window, then she stepped up onto it and peered out through the bars. The area appeared to be entirely deserted and she frowned. She looked over in Nolan's direction. He was only a dark shape once again.

"The area looks deserted. Something is wrong."

[Painless]

The dark suited him just fine. Dark and cold went hand in hand. More importantly, dark meant that the fire was out. If he wanted to take her down, now would be the time. She had her back turned, he could get the dagger in her before she could even blink. But they had a truce. She was helping him, so hopefully that meant she wasn't all bad. When she wasn't lit up, it was harder to make himself feel threatened by a girl like Lina. She didn't look so tough.

"If it's deserted, that means everyone else has somewhere to be. That means they're distracted. We have to take this slow, figure out where they went." As long as she kept the fire out, Nolan didn't mind staying here a little while longer, long enough to make sure that their escape could succeed. Part of that meant learning the patterns of whoever had taken them, the better to exploit them.

He went over to the wall, though he didn't stray too close to her. She was standing on a bed, the only bed in the room. If they had to stay here, he'd gladly yield it to her. Not out of any sense of chivalry, but simply because he had less control over his powers when he was asleep. If he spent the night in that bed, he'd wake up to find the frame frozen solid, and the bed definitely wouldn't survive that level of stress.

She was clutching the window, still, though much more easily than he had. The bars were probably just as hot as the ones on the cell door, but unlike her, he didn't have to touch them. Ice was solid, and that gave it some major advantages over fire. A quick turn of his hand, and he'd have a nice little ice shelf to stand on. He hesitated, though. No reason to alarm her.

"Step back for a second, let me get a look."

[Olivia Cycien]

She moved off the bed and backed up so that he'd have plenty of room. Why were Ice Mages so skittish all the time?

"I don't think we're going to figure out where they went while we're stuck in here. I don't like how quiet it is though. Why would we be left here unguarded? Maybe it's a trap." She frowned and bit her bottom lip as she considered this.

What was going on? Her head ached fiercely and she was tired. Her thoughts felt muddled. She would not rest until they were out of here though. Until she felt safe enough to rest. She eyed Nolan's shape in the dark and wondered if she'd ever feel safe enough to sleep again. Her anger flared momentarily. Who ever had done this was going to find out just how pissed she was! She was in the mood to knock some heads together.

With effort she tamped down her anger. Now was not the time to put it to good use. Her father had taught her that self-control was the most important thing a Fire Mage had to learn. She tried hard to emulate him but there were times, like now for instance, that she felt more out of control than ever. Maybe she got it from her mother's side. Her musings were cut short as she heard Nolan move.

[Painless]

He let the ice flow down off his body and pool on the floor, where it shaped itself in to a small pillar with a wide top. Perfect for Nolan to stand on. It would never support the weight of a normal human, but he had no such problem. It was ice, so it was his. He never slipped on the stuff, and on the rare occasions that it snowed, he was able to run on top of it without punching through the crust. He'd heard about the idea of nuclear winter, but whatever that was, it had passed before he was born. Or at least before he was old enough to remember.

But just like Lina said, the place was deserted. He couldn't see anything. "Hmm..." He shaped some ice into a flat plane, shiny like a crude mirror. A very crude mirror. He was still learning to control his powers, and while he could get ice into virtually any shape he wanted, the fine details were still hard. But it was enough to show movement, and even outside their field of vision, everything was perfectly still.

"If this is a trap, it's a pretty elaborate one. This place looks pretty big, and if they captured us, they must have been confident they could hold us. That means there'll be a lot of them. They already have us, so instead of trying to trap us, why don't they just keep us under guard."

He wondered where they had gone to. It was a little worrying. Whoever got them could handle an ice mage and a fire mage, so if something had made them run away, he didn't want to deal with it.

[Olivia Cycien]

If there were no guards then it meant something had happened to make the guards disappear or run away. The thought that there might be something out there mean enough to scare the guards away made her hot blood run cold with fear. The cowardly part of her wanted to suggest that they just stay right where they were until the situation clarified but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

She straightened her posture and lifted her chin in stubborn defiance, calling on every ounce of her father's blood to get her through this. She pictured his face in her mind, smiling and kind. She felt her fear fade as she thought of his quiet strength and proud determination. When she spoke her voice was calm and collected.

"We have no choice, we have to get out of this place. What ever is going on right now won't be nearly as bad as whatever they have planned for us. We'd better get started." She took a step toward the bed. "It will go faster if we do this together as quickly as possible."

[Painless]

"Okay. Stay as far away from me as you can. This is going to take some concentration, I don't need to be worrying about you getting hurt." Still standing on the ice, he breathed out, slowly. It was a wide, slow breath, intended to cool the air a little so he could get started. Then he blew right on each bar, running his breath up and down each one. Water started to condense on each on, then ran down the sides.

When the room started to get just below unbearably hot, he stepped down, pulling the ice away with him. He knew that even this temperature would probably be too much for a fire mage. It was just below freezing, as the ice crystals now settling on the bars proved.

Now it was her turn. He said as much, backing away to let her work. She was probably going to bring up the temperature until he felt like he was melting, so he got as far away from the window as he possibly could and tried to stay cool. "Remember, you're not trying to melt the bars, just heat them up. And the faster you do it, the better."

[Olivia Cycien]

She backed away and stood near the door, watching as he worked on the bars. She felt the room growing colder and colder and shivered. She concentrated and gave herself just enough warmth to keep from freezing. While she worked to keep warm, she watched as water started to condense on the bars, then hardened into glittering ice crystals.

When he stepped away from the window and told her not to melt the bars, she rolled her eyes. What did he think she was a complete idiot? She was not a child and hadn't been a child for a long while. Really, what right did he have to tell her how to do anything when it was obvious he couldn't even control his own powers?

A voice tried to pipe up in her head reminding her that she was still learning too. She ignored the voice and ignored Nolan too as she stalked past him. Her hands were heating up as she moved toward the bed. She stepped up onto the bed which creaked alarmingly under her weight and touched the bars. Instead of making the room warmer, which she could have undoubtedly done, she focused on her hands, bringing her fire and heat into them.

The ice on the bars began to melt. Before it could fully transform into water it began to hiss and steam. The metal of the bars began to glow red hot. She released the bars and called to Nolan.

"Quick blow on it again and freeze it. Never mind about me. Just hurry!" She moved her hands behind her back to keep them a safe distance from Nolan.

[Painless]

It took another round or two, back and forth, before the bars were brittle enough that Nolan thought he could break them. They were black with soot and looked like they were cracking already. He cooled them once more for good measure. He rubbed his hand, building up a thin layer of ice. The bars might well still be hot, and he didn't need any more injuries.

He pulled back and hit as hard as he could. One of the bars cracked, with a sound like a gunshot. Nolan jumped back; he hadn't expected it to be that loud. More importantly, the sound was going to attract the attention of anyone near enough to hear it. There was only one bar broken, and even that one was still in place. They'd have to try harder if they wanted to get out.

"You give it a shot this time. Maybe you can hit a little harder. I don't know why, but even after I froze them, those bars are still really hot." As proof, he held up the ice on his hand, which had melted partially where it touched the bar.

He stepped back, getting away into the corner, and taking the ice with him.

"And watch out. If there's anyone around here, they definitely heard the sound of that thing breaking."

[Olivia Cycien]

As if she didn't already know that, Lina thought sourly. Between the two of them they had been able to make the bars more brittle. She thought for sure that he'd be able to break the bar, but she could see that he wasn't able to put his full force into the swing. He was probably getting weaker from the lack of nearby water and ice. She'd have to make sure he got to a river or something soon.

Instead of paying attention to the bars she looked around the room. Finally, she saw what she wanted. An old crumbling brick had fallen out of the wall some time ago and was resting on the floor. She went over and picked it up turning it in her hands. It looked sturdy enough to do the job.

She returned to the bars and stepped back up on the bed. She peered closely at the metal and was satisfied with what she saw. The bars were covered with cracks and still frozen from Nolan's last job on them. She moved her arm back and swung with every ounce of strength she had in her. The brick slammed into the bars hard enough to send reverberations up her arm. There was a loud metallic splintering sound as two of the bars shattered.

Steeling herself, Lina repeated the swing once more on two of the other bars. The results were just as noisy. Now four bars were missing out of the window. It looked like more than enough space for them both to squeeze through. She turned to Nolan.

"Come on! Let's go!"

[Painless]

He scrambled up out the window, ice platforms appearing under his feet to help him make the climb. It was easy enough to fit through the window, and it helped that he could ice over the sharp parts of the splintered bars. He was about to offer a hand down to Lina when he remembered her fire. A single touch would probably burn his hand off.

Instead, he waited for her to come up, looking around all the while. The whole place was still deserted, though he could get a better look from this angle. It was some sort of compound. Part of the walls were old stone, probably pre-war buildings. But there were also a lot of newer walls, made of wood or scrap metal, bolted and welded in place. They looked thin enough that either one of them could break through easily.

The downside was, it was far warmer out here than it had been in their little cell. And in such an open area, if would be difficult to cool things down enough to matter. Instead, he just pulled the ice in around him, looking around for a source of water where he could gather more.

"Come on up," he called to Lina. "I don't see anyone around, at least not yet. Let's get out of here before they do show up."

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina hoisted herself up into the window frame and looked around. The moon was a bright silver orb in the night sky. The amazing thing was that the sky was so clear. Usually, bruised looking clouds covered the sky day and night, a remnant of the Old War. She could see the area pretty well. She frowned at what she saw. It looked like some sort of military compound. Who would have a use for such a place? Just what in the heck was going on here?

She gauged the distance to the ground and then jumped. She landed cat silent below the window. She stepped to one side to make room for Nolan to land while she looked cautiously around. The night was eerily silent and she felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise. Something was definitely out here, but what was it? More importantly, where was it? A moment ago, the night had seemed brightly illuminated, but now it seemed dark and threatening. Shadows seemed to spring up where there had been none before and she shivered.

She looked to the right along the wall and saw something that made her feel faint hope. Under a strangled and blackened tree there was a well. Where there was a well, there might be water! She looked up to where Nolan was still perched on the ledge and frowned. Did he think they had all the time in the world to sit up there? Impatiently, she motioned for him to come down.

[Painless]

Nolan jumped down, a little louder than Lina had. On snow, ice, or even frost, he could be quiet as a mouse. Even quieter, actually. Mice could be unbelievably loud, tunneling through the snow and kicking up an amazing racket. But even on soft ground, he was much less comfortable. Still, it wasn't enough to attract attention, he hoped. Certainly it wasn't nearly as loud as the bars were.

He followed her gaze, and spotted the well. Water! He ran towards it, not a care in the world. The ground was just a little wet here, and that was enough to get it frozen beneath his feet. He took light, bounding steps over to the well, not being careful enough to watch for a trap. Leave that to Lina.

When he reached the well, he peered inside, but he couldn't see the bottom. He dropped in a chunk of ice to see if it made a splash. But it didn't. In fact, he didn't hear anything at all. Either the well was so deep that he couldn't hear it hit the bottom, or there was something soft down there to muffle its fall, or there was just no bottom to hit.

Warm as it was, he shivered.

[Olivia Cycien]

She barely had time to register that Nolan had landed beside her before he was running. His had obviously seen the well and was now running toward it oblivious to anything that might attack him. She hissed his name and reached out to grab him, not caring if she burned him in the process. Better a little burn than a lot dead! But he was too quick for her.

Muttering a curse under her breath she chased after him, trying to look everywhere at once. She reached the well seconds after he did. He was bending over it and peering into the darkness hopefully. She watched as he dropped something into the well. There was nothing. No splash. No clunk. Just a vast waiting silence.

Suddenly, she knew. Something was in that well. Something bad. There was still no sound from the well but she knew just the same that something was rushing up from that silent darkness. She looked over at Nolan her eyes wide.

"Run!" She shouted at him. No point in bothering with stealth now. They had to haul ass out of here and fast!

[Painless]

Something had spooked Lina. He had no idea what. Usually, anything that scared a fire mage was good news for an ice mage. But this time, he wasn't so sure. Whatever was in that well wasn't good news. It could... He wasn't sure what it could do. Kill them? But not just kill. Something worse.

He didn't know what was worse than death, but he wasn't going to stick around and find out what.

Fortunately, there were plenty of ways out. He looked over to a wooden wall. It looked a little rotten, a little warped. Hopefully that meant there was water in the wood. He breathed hard onto his hands and arms, cooling them, even as he reached out to the water in the wood, willing to to turn to ice, to expand, to shatter the weakened wall. He slipped past Lina, hoping she'd have the sense to follow him through.

The wood shattered as he burst through. He had just enough time to tuck and roll before he hit the ground, and he came up running. They were still in the compound, but he saw what looked like an outer wall and made a break for it. He looked back to make sure Lina was still close.

"Come on!"

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina didn't wait around for an engraved invitation. She ran as fast as she could, keeping close to Nolan as he ran toward the wooden wall. When the wood shattered, she grabbed some of the pieces that flew by without slowing down, and began to eat them. Fuel for the fire. From the look of that next wall she would need it.

From behind them came a terrible roar. It sounded like nothing she had ever heard. She did not look back to see what it was. She focused on making it to the outer wall. Running faster than ever she felt her hands beginning to heat up. The blood in her body was heating up to the boiling point. No human alive could live with those temperatures... unless they were a Fire Mage.

"Nolan! Move!" She shouted. Wanting him out of the way so she could blast the wall they were rapidly approaching. She moved her hands out in front of her and formed a circle with them by pressing her fingertips and her thumbs together. A ball of fire began to grow in the center of this circle. It grew bigger as she spread her hands apart, until it was the size of a basketball.

[Painless]

Nolan jumped away. He didn't want to, but running back towards the wall was the only way to get a safe distance away from the fireball. He did his best to shield himself with ice, drawing up as much moisture from the surrounding area as he could. Even so, when the fireball went off, it vaporized the first layer of protection, and left his whole body steaming. He screamed in pain, but after a moment, it passed.

He caught a glimpse of... something. Whatever the thing that came from the well was, it hurt to even look at it. He ran toward the hole in the wall, vaulting through the center, feeling his skin start to blister as he passed through the partially molten corona of rock.

And then they were out of the compound, running across solid ground, running away as fast as they could. He caught up to Lina, but maintained a safe distance. She was still burning hot. He tried to reform some of the ice, but it was proving very difficult.

"What the hell is that thing?"

[Olivia Cycien]

That was exactly what she wondered too, but she wasn't going to turn back and find out. She had the horrible feeling that just looking at the creature would sap her strength and make her legs turn to jelly. She was panting heavily from running but she could see that Nolan was in much worse shape. She had to get him somewhere cold fast.

She didn't bother to answer Nolan's question. Now was not the time for contemplation. She raced across the flat dusty plain at breakneck speed, not caring if she should fall, only wanting to get away from what ever that thing was.

The ground beneath her feet looked somehow naked and lost. In some places it was hard and cracked as if it hadn't seen water in centuries. The moonlight shone on something in the distance. It appeared to be in constant motion as it rippled and moved in a sinuous dance. She smelled moisture in the air.

"Nolan!" She pointed. "Look! A river! Can you make it?" The dirt suddenly changed from the desert hard pan to softer more resilient soil and she nearly tripped over her own feet at the quick change. By some miracle, she managed to stay upright and keep running.

[Painless]

"A river?" The soft ground was much more inviting to him than the hard stone of the cell or the dried out dirt in the compound. The moisture in the soil instantly froze under his feet, and he drew up as much of it as he could gather, forming thick boots that nonetheless made his feet feel even lighter.

"I can't go anywhere near large bodies of water. Too much radiation locked up in there, it's dangerous. You have to remember here, I might have these powers, but I'm still human." He wondered if the same was true for Lina. Obviously she was as immune to heat as he was to cold. Does that mean she's cold all the time?

Even so, something had to change. They had to get as far away from whatever was in the well as possible, and that meant either crossing the river or following it. And they had to decide now. Making an ice bridge over the river would have been possible if he was alone, but not with a fire mage slowing him down.

So, along the river it was. He took off sideways, running away from the compound but not getting any closer to the water.

"Come on. We'll have to find a bridge!"

[Olivia Cycien]

There was a loud cracking crash as the outer wall of the compound was smashed into oblivion followed by another terrible roar. What ever was chasing them sounded seriously pissed. They were running out of time. They certainly didn't have time to run downstream looking for a bridge. Her mind was racing as she tried to think of a way out of their predicament. It was hard to think when the thing chasing them roared again making her heart pound with fear.

She might be able to hurl a fireball at the river causing enough disturbance that Nolan could make a frozen bridge. If she crossed the bridge after Nolan she might be able to make it. Then she had a flash of inspiration. She had seen him making ice boots for himself. Perhaps he could do it to her feet? It was true that it wouldn't feel good, but her body temperature would go down far enough that she wouldn't melt the ice bridge. If they did it quick enough, then it just might be possible.

The radiation was something they'd both have to take a chance with. It was better than confronting the source of that hideous roar. Trying to ignore the thought that the thing chasing them was getting closer with every step, she called out to Nolan. "Wait! Stop!" She would just have to hope he would listen. If he did listen to her idea, would it work?

[Painless]

Nolan, not being a mind reader, had no idea what Lina was thinking, so when she told him to stop, he looked back only long enough to see that she was still running, and kept up the same pace. If she had something to say to him, she'd have to say it on the move. He kept following the river, hoping she wouldn't fall behind.

The run was starting to take it out of him. Rather than run under his own power, he'd been manipulating his ice boots. It allowed him to run much faster than his legs would carry him, but it was very tiring. Still, a little extra exertion had to be worth it if it let him escape their pursuer.

When she kept calling after him, he forced himself to slow slightly, so she could catch up, and he turned to her. "I'm not going to stop running from that thing. If you want to, go ahead. But if you've got anything else to say, you'll have to say it while we're still moving."

[Olivia Cycien]

She doubled her running speed and caught up to him. Her red hair was falling in a disarray around her face and neck and her cheeks were flushed with high color. She was terrified of the thing chasing them. She was angry that she had to work together with this rude man. Was it possible she was also having fun? She thought maybe she was. She felt more alive than she had in months.

She moved closer to Nolan, so that she could tell him her idea. The longer they ran in this direction the closer that thing could get. Hell, it was all flat land back there, the beast could simply angle toward them if they kept following the river. They had to get across.

"Nolan! Can we make an ice bridge across the river? We have to chance the radiation or we'll be killed...or worse!" She gestured behind her though she didn't look back. "Maybe if you froze my feet the bridge wouldn't melt and we can get away from that thing!"

[Painless]

"Okay, I think I can do that, but it's going to be complicated."

It's not fair. If I so much as touched her, I'd probably die, and she can have her feet frozen and come out of it just fine? But that was how it was. Fire and ice powers worked differently. She was more of a mage, manipulating fire to her advantage, while he was more of an elemental; on some level, he was ice.

Still, that meant he had a much higher degree of control over his powers, from what he'd seen so far. It would be tricky, and they'd have to be close to the river. He cut across diagonally, heading toward it. "I'm going to start making the bridge when we get close. Don't slow down, just keep running. I'll make the boots for you as you go." He'd have to keep reforming them, as her body would no doubt do its best to melt them away.

The river was looming close now, it was the moment of truth. Nolan summoned up his energy and made a wide, flat ice bridge. For once, he let himself slide, thankful for the extra speed it gave him. More importantly, it let him face back so he could keep an eye on Lina. "Hurry, I can't do this if you get too far away."

[Olivia Cycien]

The pain in her feet was intense and immediate. It felt as if razor blades were scoring her skin and digging deep into her flesh. She screamed and almost stumbled. She held her arms out to the sides for balance and ran as fast as she could. Every move only increased the exquisite pain, but it was working, she felt her body temperature beginning to drop rapidly.

As soon as she hit the ice bridge she copied Nolan and slid. She had a brief image of herself as a girl learning to roller-skate. She called upon the memory of how she had moved in the skates --slipping and sliding everywhere-- and used it to move herself faster across the ice bridge and toward Nolan.

She could feel the cold seeping into her, taking away her strength and her will. There was another furious roar behind them. It sounded almost on top of them now and she felt her heart race faster. She struggled to get to the other end of the bridge. Her legs felt as if they were encased shards of glass and the shooting pains were starting to move up the trunk of her body. If she didn't get over there soon she would die!

She made a final desperate lunge and fell onto the ground just past the bridge. She was gasping and shivering. She could barely raise her head and had no idea if she was going to make it. Was the creature coming? Where was Nolan? She couldn't see anything. She struggled against the darkness.

[Painless]

He heard Lina scream in agony, but he couldn't stop to help her. All he could do was keep sliding along, reshaping the bridge with a stray thought and a wave of his hand each time she came too close to the edge. The whole thing was steaming wherever Lina was, but the thin layer of water let her slide that much easier. That, combined with Nolan's guidance, got her to the other side of the bridge.

Even then, he kept his eyes locked on her. If he looked away even for a second, he'd have to look towards... that thing. Whatever it was. It had probably been human once, he'd figured that much. Like them. But instead of taking on properties of fire or ice, it had become some sort of cloud. Cloud of what, though? Smoke? Water? Radiation.

It came from the well. No doubt, someone had fallen in there, or even jumped in to escape the bombs. And it had worked, in a sense. But he'd been changed, as the water boiled away and the radiation washed over him, mixing with him. Nolan had never understood the science behind these transformations, if there was any. All he knew was, if he was right, and he desperately hoped he wasn't, coming toward the river had been a very bad idea.

He dispelled Lina's ice boots. She was still there, fallen. Too weak to even stand, from the looks of it. Nolan cursed. He couldn't leave her behind, and he couldn't shield himself without hurting her.

Taking hold of her hand, he dragged her to her feet. "Run, dammit."

The pain was agonizing, and he could feel his skin blistering just from the slightest touch. But he dragged her along for as long as he could, before he had to let her go and hope she could still keep up.

[Olivia Cycien]

Her hand felt as if it had been encased in a glove of ice. She was too weak to scream. How she managed to get to her feet even with Nolan's help was beyond her. She stumbled forward, trying to make her legs go, but there was no way she was going farther.

Nolan's hand was relentless however and she was dragged along. The pain was starting to travel up from her hand and she felt relief when Nolan released her. She kept trying to run. Her legs were clumsy at first, they felt like rubber and didn't seem to want to listen to the commands of her brain. She felt colder than she had ever felt.

Her head throbbed and ached where she had been hit and her heart was racing with terror. How were they going to get away? They were going nowhere with her in this condition. Nolan would have a better chance to get away with out her. He deserved to live, after all he had helped her, whether she liked him or not.

"Go on Nolan!" She called to him. "Run, don't wait for me, just go!" She flapped her arm weakly at him.

[Painless]

"No. I wouldn't have gotten out if not for you. I'm not leaving you behind, and whatever that thing is, I'm not letting it get you." He still wasn't that big of a fan of Lina, either, but he owed her too much. They never should have tried to cross the river. Now that thing was going to get them.

More importantly, his hand felt like it had been burned down right to the bone. He was not going to let her go down, not after he'd suffered that much trying to save her. It wouldn't be easy, but there had to be some way out of this. Think, Nolan. That thing is water vapor and radiation. You can use that...

Of course. Water. It was made of water. It was huge, angry, and far more radiation than water. And that was assuming he was even right in the first place. But he had to give it a shot. Had to breath deep, try to feel the water in it, to freeze it, to...

"AAarrgh..." The scream he let out matched the one he heard from it, but while his was quiet and died off quickly, the thing's cry seemed to split the very air in two. It was unbearably loud, unbearably painful. He fell to the ground, unsure if it had even worked. His hand was aching, his head was aching, everything hurt. Except the ground. The ground was soft and cool...

All I have to do is lie here, and it will all be over, right? Either it ran away and we're safe, or it didn't and we're dead.

Too much running. Time to just lie down and let someone else sort it out.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina heard the beast cry out and saw Nolan fall to the ground. She was shaking with cold as she stumbled toward him. She didn't bother to look back. If the thing was going to take them, there was nothing she could do about it, she was too weak to attack it. She fell to her knees and for a moment she thought she would pass out.

When the dizziness passed, she crawled over to where Nolan lay. She knew touching him would be a bad idea. Instead she grabbed the shoulder of his shirt and pulled. She crawled and dragged him at the same time. She had no idea where to go, but it seemed that staying here would be a bad idea.

She heard a strange clumping dragging sound behind her and looked over her shoulder. The cloud creature was partially frozen. Some parts were misty looking but there were jagged chunks of ice bristling randomly from it's body. The ice had caused the creature to fall to the ground where it was less mobile, but it was still attempting to drag itself after them.

She turned away from the sight of the creature and continued to drag Nolan, trying to be careful not to touch any part of him except for the shoulder of his shirt. As she crawled, she began to notice there were small twigs and leaves on the ground. She picked these up randomly and began to eat them, still moving them forward at a distressingly slow snail's pace.

Gradually her strength returned and her body began to warm up as she ingested more of the leaves and twigs. When she felt strong enough, she turned so that she was facing backwards, her hands gripped both of the shoulders of his shirt tightly as she pulled and tugged, dragging him with her.

She saw that the creature had stopped moving. She had left it farther behind as she crawled and ate and now it lay still.  Was it dead? She didn't know. She only knew that she wanted to get help for Nolan, but where? She had no idea.

[Painless]

The motion shook Nolan from his stupor. He hadn't been unconscious, not really, but he also hadn't been moving or processing anything, so it hardly mattered in the long run. There was an uncomfortable tension in his neck. He reached up, trying to find the source of it, only to realize that someone was pulling his shirt. Someone uncomfortably warm.

"I'm up," he said weakly, pulling himself away from her. He could barely crawl. The ground was dry here once again, with no water to nourish him. He was feeling weak. The ice he'd used to protect himself had long since melted, and his skin was starting to redden just from being around Lina for too long.

"Water. I need water. Just a little bit of water and I'll be okay. I can put some ice on this burn and I can get up and I can drag myself somewhere cold and I'll be fine." He groaned, but forced himself to stand. Only to fall down again. There was nothing to support himself with, so he could only sit on the ground and try to recover some strength.

At least the thing wasn't chasing them anymore. Apparently he'd been right about what it was made of, or close enough. Freezing it had been a good move, and they were safe for the moment. At least he'd die in a normal way, overheated and dehydrated, rather than consumed alive by some monstrous radiation cloud.

He looked around, and saw one gnarled tree, black wood with a few leaves. Leaves? They'd have water in them, not much, but something.

"Lina, we need to get to that tree." He crawled towards it, finding it easier to move with a goal in mind.

[Olivia Cycien]

"Alright. Are you sure you will be better then? Is there anything I can do to help?" Lina looked anxiously at Nolan's burnt hand. He had done that trying to help her. She had to find a way to help him out.

The short distance from where they were to the tree sapped some of her strength, apparently she still wasn't up to speed. It would probably take her a couple days at least to recover. Her feet and hand still hurt like a bitch but it was a small price to pay for being alive!

She saw a second tree nearby and sat down next to it. It was far enough away to assure that Nolan wouldn't be damaged further by her and still close enough that they could talk without having to shout. She also wanted to be close enough to help if he needed it.

[Painless]

The tree was sturdy enough for him to support himself on, and he grabbed a leaf off a low hanging branch. There wasn't much moisture in it, but there was a little, and he felt better almost instantly. Going for another one, he chewed it before spitting out the resulting pulp. That was the best way to get the water out of it, he'd found. Just chew the leaves, absorb it all, then spit out the dry chunk of plant matter. Once he'd cleared off an entire branch, he actually felt strong enough to stand without resting along the tree.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't do anything whatsoever for his burnt hand. He could usually ease the pain of injuries, and even heal it fully if it was just a light scratch, but any injury caused by heat or fire was there to stay until it healed naturally. And that was an extra slow, extra painful process. At least he could ice it to keep infection away.

"Are you okay, Lina? I think we should try to find some shelter for now. I feel a little better, but I need some rest before I'll be at 100%"

[Olivia Cycien]

She frowned and stood. Shelter was all well and good but there were other things they needed. Like food. His burnt hand and how tired he looked only made her feel more agitated though she wasn't sure why that was. She put one hand on her hip and gestured to the wasteland around them.

"Where do you think we're going to find shelter? Do you think something is going to magically crop up? There isn't even anything to eat nearby."

She ran a hand through her hair in frustration and let out a sigh. She turned her back to him and crossed her arms over her chest in an unconscious gesture of self comfort. She gazed out over the barren land hoping to spot a light or some smoke. Anything that would indicate a sign of life.

[Painless]

"If I had some water, I could make an ice shelter for me, but right now there's barely enough in these leaves to keep me standing." He joined her in looking around, wondering what there could possibly be. He didn't see much of anything, and the ground was pretty flat. Though, there was what looked like some rocks over in the distance.

He pointed them out to Lina. "They might not be much, but they'll at least keep the wind off. And they'll make us a little harder to spot." Right now, they were the tallest things around, aside from the trees, Lying down by the rocks would make things a little safer, or at least that was how Nolan felt.

Pausing only to strip off as many leaves as he could carry, he struggled off toward the rocks.

[Olivia Cycien]

Muttering under her breath, Lina broke off a couple of small branches and followed Nolan. She chewed on them as she walked. She hated to admit that Nolan was probably right. That still didn't solve the food problem. Maybe after she'd had a bit of rest, she'd see what she could do about hunting up some food. She was fairly decent at foraging.

As they drew closer to the boulders, she noticed that they seemed to be sparkly. Maybe they were some sort of quartz? When they were almost to the boulders she sniffed the air and smelled ... water!! Probably the only kind of water she could be near. The quartz boulders indicated that there was a hot spring somewhere nearby.

If she could find something to scoop the water out with, it could be set aside until it cooled enough for Nolan to use. Or perhaps he could freeze it!

"Nolan! There is a hot spring here. I can smell it and the boulders have quartz in them I think." She began looking around near the boulders, hoping to find something she could use as a makeshift bowl. "I know you can't be near hot things, but its the only kind of water I can touch. If I can find something to scoop it up and a container to put it in, maybe you could freeze it and use it?"

[Painless]

"Hot spring?" Of course. a spring would have water that constantly bubbled up from below the ground. So, it wouldn't be irradiated, or at least not as much. Rivers stayed irradiated because they drew from mountain lakes and glaciers that had been hit at the time of the bombs, but maybe a hot spring wouldn't have the same problem. And then they could actually drink it. That would be great.

"Right. Yeah, I can do that. Here, let me try..." He focused, trying to draw up some ice, to cool the water, but it wasn't working. Clearly it was too hot. He was sweating just from being this close, and he couldn't afford to be losing so much water. He crawled around to the other side of the rocks and leaned against them.

"If you can get a little bit of it separate, then I can freeze it no problem. But when it's all together like that, it's too hard. I can't manage it."

He looked out onto the plains, hoping to see something they could eat. But there was nothing. No animals, at least. Maybe some of the plant were edible. People had a tendency to eat berries the second they spotted them, but there were roots and that sort of thing, that might go unnoticed. He said as much to Lina. Roots wouldn't be much of a meal, but it was better than nothing.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina looked around the immediate area and spotted what looked like a stone that had been scooped out in the center. It made a perfect bowl! Pleased, she moved over to the boiling water and dipped the stone bowl into it. When it was full she lifted it to her mouth and took a long refreshing drink. The boiling water slipped down her throat and into her belly where it sat like a hot coal.

Feeling much better, she filled the bowl again and walked over to where Nolan was sheltering on the other side of the rocks. She placed the bowl a little bit away from him so that the heat wouldn't get to him. Then went back to the springs to look for some food.

She found some nice fat looking roots growing close to the water and began plucking them. After collecting several of them she washed the dirt off of them in the hot spring and then returned to where Nolan was. She sat down and laid some of the roots next to the stone bowl.

"This will have to do for now. I'll try to scare up something better tomorrow."

[Painless]

It took a while for the water to cool, but once it was separated from the source, it wasn't hard for Nolan to speed up the process considerably. The water still felt lukewarm when he drank it, despite being just above freezing. But it was enough, and the second it touched his lips he could feel his strength returning. "More," he said. He'd get it himself, except he couldn't go anywhere near those hot springs.

"Thank you," he said when she laid the roots down next to him. They were bitter and not very filling, but that didn't really matter. It was nice of her to share them in the first place; he wasn't used to that. Out here it was every man for himself, and while he'd troubled to help her when he could, he wasn't really expecting her to do the same.

There was a small space between two rocks, just big enough for one person to lie down comfortably. One rock was sort of overlapping the other, leaving a very sheltered space. It was still uncomfortably warm this close to the hot springs, but the humid air felt good on his skin. He did his best to cool it off, concentrating the resulting frost in his burnt hand.

He wasn't really in any condition to sleep, but it was nice just to lay there, and when Lina returned with more water, he decided to talk a little.

"So what's your story?" He asked. "What do you do when you're not being locked in a cell or chased by monsters?"

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina shrugged and chewed at a root. "Not much to tell really. My parents are both dead. My father died last spring." She looked away and stared out into the desert as she spoke this last bit. She swallowed hard trying not to think too much about what had happened. When she had regained  control again, she looked back over at Nolan.

"He taught me a lot of things. He was pretty smart. I've been on my own since then. You know, the usual survivor stories. Everyone seems to have one. One lesson dad didn't teach me was not to trust people. I guess I learned that one the hard way." She popped another root into her mouth and chewed it slowly before continuing.

"So anyway, I guess I'm what you'd call a forager. I like to look around in old wrecked buildings and stuff, to find things I can use. I can hunt pretty well too. For a little while, I lived in a small shelter that I'd built myself. But its not a good idea to stay in one place for too long.  I made my own coat from a deerskin. It was pretty cool. I could carry all my tools in it."

She frowned remembering that she no longer had a coat. "Those people who conked me on the head, they took all my stuff. Now I'll have to go foraging again. I can't always go around depending on my fire abilities. Dad always said it was best to do things the hard way and not to use my abilities unless I absolutely had to." She looked curiously at Nolan. "What about you? What did you do before all that fun back there?" She gestured in the direction they'd come from.

[Painless]

"I guess I was a forager, like you. I tried to stay north, but there's just nothing up there, so I had to come down here. I mean, obviously, I like to be where it's cold, but I can only eat plants and stuff. Nothing you have to cook. I can't be around a fire long enough to even get one going, much less cook something." He stared at his burnt hand. It was starting to become a habit.

"I don't really remember my parents. I think they died when I was little. But I was okay for a while. I learned to control my powers on my own, and now no one can mess with me. I learned a lot of stuff from books. I found an old library once, and I just stayed there for months. There was a well, but... not like the one here. It was safe, and I stayed there until it ran dry, learning from all the books that hadn't burned up." He'd survived on edible moss and mushrooms that seemed to thrive on moldy books.

"Anyway, when they got me, I was trying to hunt. I don't know what I would have done with it once I caught it, but I thought I could figure something out. It was a deer, and I was just about to kill it when they got me. I guess they probably killed the deer too. Maybe it was back there. Then again, the thing in the well probably got all those guys, so we probably wouldn't want it now anyway."

Sharing their stories hadn't really provided the comfort he'd been looking for. He chewed on another root, thinking. There were more questions to answer. Despite their incompatibility, he liked Lina well enough, and thought that so long as they kept their distance, they might be able to help each other.

"So, what do we do now?"

[Olivia Cycien]

She shook her head and stared at her last root. "I don't know. We can't stay here. The sun will be up in a few hours and you'll get cooked." She set the last root down near him and picked up the stone bowl. It was still cold from the last time he froze it but not enough to cause severe pain. She moved to the hot spring and refilled the bowl, letting the hot water rush over her hands.

She returned and set the bowl down near him again before resuming her spot on the hard ground. She looked over toward the river. There were several trees in the area. Not all of them were black and dead. Some of them looked younger, as if they were newly grown. She had read somewhere that radioactive soil was pretty fertile.

She looked back over at Nolan. "Can you make an ice weapon that you can throw?" She pointed to the trees that were closest to where they were. "There may be a few deer in the area. If you can kill one I can cook it for you and all you'd have to do was cool it down enough to eat. I know how to cure meat and we can use the skin. I can also make a water bag for you if you want?"

[Painless]

If it wouldn't have killed them both he might have kissed her right then. As it was, he contented himself with a smile and a "Yes please." The idea of being able to store water was the best news he'd heard all day. It would mean that he wouldn't have to travel so close to rivers and lakes and risk radiation poisoning. And meat, that would be good too.

"I'll need to work up some water first. Maybe if I dig a ditch from the hot spring, I can run off enough to gather it up to be used. Once I've had a little more water, I can make just about anything. You saw what I did in the cell, right? But that was porous stone, soaked with water, and in an enclosed space. Still, if we see a deer, I can catch it, no problem."

He pick a tree at random and got a good look at it. Sure enough, they were young and fairly green. He'd be able to get a lot of water out of the leaves. Clearly they drew off the hot spring for water. Radiation wasn't exactly good for plants, but the ash from a nuclear exchange, that could be an excellent fertilizer.

[Olivia Cycien]

She smiled back. It was the first real smile she'd given anyone in a long time and it made her look younger and kinder, despite her red hair and flashing green eyes. "I think I can find something to use as a temporary shovel. I can dig the ditch, probably that would be safer for you anyway." She got up and searched around until she found a nice rock with a spatula-type edge.

She began digging near the hot spring and while Nolan was examining a nearby tree. As she dug she made a mental list of what she would need to make a few simple tools. The bones of the deer would be helpful, and she could make a very serviceable water bag from the bladder. She worked backwards, creating a small channel and finishing with a pit in the ground near the tree he'd been looking at.

The water flowed smoothly from the hot spring and filled up the little pit quite nicely. She figured it would be just small enough for Nolan to work with. She stood up and stretched her back as she examined the horizon for light. No sign of the sunrise yet so things would be ok for a while. She nodded with satisfaction and looked over at Nolan. "Ok, done. What's next?"

[Painless]

He liked her smile. Seemed that it didn't come as easy to her as his did to him, though. Well, it didn't really matter. For the moment, she was helping him, if she smiled, that was just a nice little bonus. He watched her dig the trench and let it fill before going to work. The water cooled down a little, but it made a big difference.

He drew it off a little bit at a time, slowly gathering more and more, until he had a big ball of ice floating in the air in front of him. Enough to fill most of that space between the rocks. "I'll need to take some of this for me. So long as I have a little extra, I can survive in the daytime. Though, it takes a lot of energy to keep this up. I really hope we get a deer."

He brought the ice sphere to his chest, where it broke as though it were water again, shimmering into the form of a thick icy layer. Something to keep him cool even near the hot springs. "Do you want to try hunting now, in the dark? Or should we wait til morning? Either way, we need to decide where we're going to stay for the night."

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina watched with interest as he covered himself with ice. It was fascinating to see an Ice Mage in action. She'd seen them in action before but it never ceased to interest her. Maybe because their powers were so different from hers. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded more mellow than she'd heard it before.

She yawned and thought a bit of sleep wouldn't be a bad idea. "I think we'd better wait until morning to hunt. We'll be more alert. Besides the deer are probably all sleeping right now anyway." She yawned again and looked more closely at Nolan. He looked beat. Sleep was definitely on the agenda. She figured after a few hours of sleep they would both be ready to face the day.

She stood up. "I think I saw a spot just past the hot spring. Its not much really, but its got an overhang that would give you some shade. I can sleep next to the spring." She still wasn't sure what to make of Nolan, but she thought it would be safe enough to sleep. She paused at the edge of the rocks and turned to look over at him.

"Goodnight, Nolan."

[Painless]

She was probably talking about the spot he'd discovered earlier, and even if he wasn't, he liked that spot just fine. "Good night Lina. Be careful, sleep close to the rocks. Otherwise you might get spotted, and I... I don't want anything to happen to you. You helped me a lot back there."

He curled up in his little alcove, letting the ice spread out a little more. It brought the heat down a lot, and he felt much more comfortable. Rather than keep the ice along his body, he used in to plug up the entrances to the place, with a little room for air to get in. In such an enclosed space, it was that much easier to get it down below freezing, though the ground remained uncomfortably hot.

He closed his eyes and laid back, then drifted off to sleep soon enough. As he did almost every night, he dreamed of snow. Soft white blankets coating the land, something that hadn't been seen since the nuclear winter he couldn't remember. He wished it would snow again. Wouldn't that be nice?

That night, for the first time in a long while, Nolan slept like a baby.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina woke the next morning stiff and sore from last night's adventures, but at least her head had stopped hurting. She sat up slowly and gingerly touched the lump on her head. The blood had dried and her hair felt sticky. In the light of day, the rocky area looked more inviting. Steam rose from the hot spring into the morning air. Bright green moss and yellow flowers were growing near the spring. The nearby boulders sparkled brilliantly in the morning sun.

She knelt by the spring and carefully wet her hair down, trying to wash the blood out of it. She used her fingers as a make shift comb. Then she used the heat from her hands to dry it. The sun seemed to caress her hair and bring out its bold colors. She shook her head from side to side and ran her fingers through her hair once more, making sure it was dry.

With a sigh, she looked down at her bedraggled clothing and her bare feet. She hoped they would come across some new clothing soon. She dismissed the thought from her mind and got to work plucking some more of the bitter roots. Then she filled the stone bowl with some more spring water and walked over to where Nolan was sleeping.

She couldn't see more than the shape of him through the thick layer of ice he had put up to keep himself cool. Not wanting to wake him, she set the bowl of water down nearby in a place he'd be sure to spot it. She put the roots next to the bowl.

After wandering around near the spring for a bit, she found what she was looking for, a few stones with sharp edges. They would be good enough for cutting but not for the actual killing of a deer. She shaded her eyes and squinted into the trees. She could see a couple of the creatures nibbling at some of the low hanging leaves.

She smiled and sat down on a small boulder. It was good to know that there were definitely some deer around this area. She nibbled on a root while she waited for Nolan to wake up, She sat there thinking about nothing, just enjoying the morning quiet and trying to prepare for the day ahead.

[Painless]

When Nolan awoke, he was feeling much better. The wound in his head had long since frozen over. Fortunately, his injuries never swelled up, and never got infected. Being an ice mage had some very distinct advantages, as he could keep his wounds constantly on ice. And the cold was great, though the out layers of ice had melted and refrozen over and over again.

When he parted the ice with a wave of his hand, the pain from the burn came rushing back. It still hurt like hell, and no amount of ice was going to heal it faster. Though, it did ease the pain by quite a lot. He surveyed the damage. The burn went pretty deep, but as far as he could tell, everything important was intact. Just had to wait for the skin to come back, which could take weeks or months.

He gathered the ice up around him, though he dispersed it again as soon as he saw Lina outside. She was staring into space and didn't really seem to notice him, so he drank his water after cooling it, and ate a root, slowly. He desperately wanted some real meat. Lina had awakened that craving in him.

"I think I can get one of those deer. Heck, if they're eating the leaves like that, all I have to do is get close. They'll be distracted, and I can send an ice spear right through one." He'd done it before, and ended up with a deer he couldn't do anything with. Hopefully this time would be different.

[Olivia Cycien]

She looked over at the sound of his voice and grinned when she noticed how unenthusiastically he was chewing the root. It was obvious that he would love to get his hands on some actual meat. He would of course not have been able to cook meat that he caught. She was glad her abilities could do something useful for an Ice Mage though she never could have imagined such a thing was possible.

She actually didn't use her fire abilities when hunting. She didn't want to prolong the agony for some poor creature. Nolan's ice abilities would be very useful. He could kill the deer almost instantly and it wouldn't suffer. That made her feel a bit better. She stood up and tossed her root away, then brushed her hands off.

"Sounds good Nolan! Let's do it!"

[Painless]

"Stand back, it's going to be pretty cold." He summoned up the ice sphere, siphoning off a chunk of it until he have a rod about 6 feet long and 2 inches thick. He let the rest of the sphere splash against him, forming armor. Maybe he was showing off a little, but she was a fire mage, and that made him want to seem tougher. Fire made him nervous, even if he didn't think she'd attack him.

The deer he chose never even saw the attack coming. It was too busy chewing the leaves. Nolan just had to lay out a track of ice in front of him, and he could glide along without a sound until he was in range. He hadn't had this much ice to work with in years. Usually it was all about stretching the little bits to get as much done as possible, but this was easy. It was fun.

The ice spear went clean through the deer's eyes, right in one and out the other, sending the other deer scattering. He took pride in the kill, and didn't feel bad about it either. Back where he was raised, deer were a major problem. Seems even a nuclear war couldn't knock them out.

"Got it."

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina jumped up and down and clapped her hands together with delight, setting off little sparks from her fingertips that she barely noticed in her excitement. She thought the armor made Nolan look very dashing and heroic, but she would never have admitted this in a million years.

"Great job! A very clean kill Nolan!" She praised him with a smile and then moved towards the deer. She knelt by the fallen animal and took a few seconds to melt away the ice spear. Then she used her make-shift rock knife to slice the deer open. She worked quickly, removing the hide and the innards. She gathered up the innards and wrapped them in the hide. She quickly took the hide and set it near the hot spring before returning to deal with the meat.

She dragged the deer away from the trees to a nearby clearing and rinsed the blood off of it using the stone bowl. Then she knelt by the deer again and placed her hands on it. In moments the animal was steaming and the smell of cooking meat wafted through the air. When she was sure it was thoroughly cooked, she began using the make-shift rock knife to cut pieces of it off. She set some in the stone bowl and looked over at Nolan.

"Breakfast is served!" With a grin she returned to cutting up the meat to be cured. She paused every so often to have a bite or two as she worked. Mmmm delicious!

[Painless]

He probably should have pulled the ice spear back before she melted it. That was a lot of water he could have used. But oh well, the hot springs were right there. It wouldn't be a big deal to get more. Then, after a moment, he smacked his forehead as he remembered.

Oh, right, duh. Ice powers. He headed over to the sight of the melted spear, then froze the water and drew it out. It was tricky to get all the dirt off, but he managed, and he only lost a little bit of the water in the process. Having some real meat was definitely worth a price like that, though.

By the time he was finished, the deer was already cooked, or at least enough of it for him to eat. It took him a little while to get it properly cooled in the bowl; he had to cool it without ruining the flavor too much. Fortunately, it was okay to eat warm. Warm for him being maybe 40 or 50 degrees.

It was indeed delicious. He climbed on a rock, looking down at Lina. It was very relaxing to sit there eating his breakfast as he watched her work.

[Olivia Cycien]

When Lina had gotten as much meat as she could off the deer, she began going over the bones, deciding which would be most useful. She set aside the rib cage and a couple of smaller bones for later use, then she made a fire pit and started a small fire in it. She used the leg bones from the deer and a large twig as a spit to skewer bits of meat on.

While the meat was being cured she went over to the spring and rinsed off the deer hide and innards that she had saved. She returned with the rinsed items and sat down near the fire. She picked up one of the smaller bones and used the make-shift rock knife to carve the bone. It was hard work but she was happy to have something to do. She managed to carve a point on the smaller bone, making a "needle" that she could use to sew things. With a couple of the bigger bones she made knives. She got them as sharp as she could and added curved easy-to-grip handles. She kept one for herself and set the other aside for Nolan.

She used one of the smaller bones and thin strips of deer skin to sew pieces of deer skin together. In a short time she had made a sturdy traveling pack out of the rib cage and deer skin. She cured the bladder of the deer and gave it a drawstring closure. It would make a great water bag. She filled the water bag and set it aside to cool. Next, she filled the intestines with meat pieces and set them inside the new traveling pack. The cured meat she also put into the pack. They'd have to find a good salt lick somewhere to season the meat.

She worked as quickly as she could but it still took several hours. She wanted to be ready and armed before anyone found them. She didn't think that the people who had conked her on the head and kidnapped her would be ready to give up that easily. Though they had gone a long way last night, they were still too close to the area for her comfort. Besides, she had to do something about Nolan's hand, and it wouldn't get done sitting around here. She put the make-shift utensils and the remaining deer hide into the pack and stood up. She took time to kick dirt over the small fire, then shouldered the pack.

"We should go. Do you have enough water in that bag?"

[Painless]

It was like a sauna up on top of the rocks. So amazingly warm it almost made it hard to breathe, yet not quite hot enough to hurt. The steam coming up off the hot spring rendered the air hot and humid, and whenever a cloud drifted up to where Nolan sat, he'd freeze it around him, and just let more and more water condense on the ice.

He felt like he could spend an eternity up there, though of course he couldn't. Much as it might not feel that way when his powers were at their peak, he did need to eat some time. Which was as good a reason as any to stick around with Lina. He could catch a deer and she could cook it, and it was delicious.

Finally, Lina finished with her work, Nolan drifting in and out of consciousness the whole time. He kept having to drift further and further from the spring itself. Even encased in a constantly thickening layer of ice, he felt exhausted and lethargic. It was almost enough to make him think he was in danger. Falling asleep that way for too long could very well get him killed, after all. The ice would melt, and the end result would be absolutely awful. Cooked alive like a lobster in a pot. Wonder if I'd turn red?

He shook away such thoughts, hopping down to take the water bag. What part of the deer had she made this out of, anyway? Didn't look like it's stomach, but beyond that, Nolan knew nothing about hunting.

"This should be plenty. I agree, we should get going, but where to? I don't want to run into those guys again. Or... other things." He thought of the thing that had chased them the day before and shivered, despite the unbearable heat.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina agreed with him about not going back the way they had come. She definitely didn't want to run into those people or that creepy thing again! They could be looking for the two of them even now. The thought alarmed her so much that she looked around nervously, as if expecting to see them leaping out from behind nearby rocks and trees.

"Maybe we could head upriver." She looked closely at Nolan. His flush worried her. For once she was grateful for the bruised clouds that blocked out the sunlight. The best thing really was to try to find someplace more suitable that would work for them both. "Let's see if we can find someplace cooler to hole up in for the rest of today. We'll travel at night after this."

She had heard tales of magical places from long ago, before the War. Big cities made of concrete and magical light could be seen in the distance even at night. In these magical cities people had access to knowledge at the speed of light and there were scholars who knew everything there was to know. She wished mightily that one of those scholars was here now to tell her what to do.

It was obvious that they would both be useful to each other with their different abilities, but how could they travel together when they both needed radically different environments to stay safe? If they were going to continue traveling together for a while then they had to find a workable solution. She began walking upriver, keeping her eye out for trouble and trying to keep an eye on Nolan at the same time.

[Painless]

Nolan felt both better and worse heading out from the hot spring. Better, because he now had so much ice to work with, and he could shape it into just about anything. He wouldn't have to feel so vulnerable anymore, not even around Lina. She could make a little steam, but he'd be fine around her as long as she didn't directly attack him. And Nolan sincerely hoped that wasn't a risk.

But he also felt worse after spending so long in that heat. Holding this much ice around was starting to take a lot out of him. If not for the meat he'd had earlier, he likely wouldn't even be able to walk. At least the pain in his hand had eased up a little. The heat and cold combined had somehow done something for it that neither could on their own. That made him think of himself and Lina, and he smiled at the thought.

"Maybe we'll be lucky, and we'll find a cave. That might be a safe place to fortify." That was the goal, eventually. He much preferred living life in a static location to constantly being on the move. It was safer, because you could stockpile food and weapons, and come home to a real bed instead of having to make due with whatever shelter you could find. More importantly, a cave would be cool enough for him if he moved deeper, while Lina could make a fire at the mouth just for herself.

Nolan let some of the ice melt off him, and felt a little better. There was a limit to how much he could hold up at once. Lina had it easier, she could just conjure up fire whenever she needed it.

"Actually, now that I think about it, if we want to find a cave we should go the other way. This river had to start somewhere, and it was probably on a mountain."

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina paused in mid-stride and looked around at Nolan with an expression of horror. "Go back! Are you crazy!!" Maybe that hit he had taken on the head had scrambled his brains. Hadn't they just finished discussing the idea of going back the way they had come? Besides that was downriver which would be heading away from the mountains.

"If you want mountains we've got to go upriver." She pointed at the water which was rushing back toward the way they had come. "The water is going backwards, so if we go forwards we'll eventually come to the source of the water. At least that is what I've been taught."

She frowned in confusion, she could swear that was what she remembered about streams and rivers. She shook her head, either way going back was a bad idea. "Maybe we could find a cave or something somewhere along the way. I just don't want to go back toward where we escaped from. What if we run into that creepy thing again?" She shivered as she remembered its roar and how it had chased them.

[Painless]

Upriver, downriver, Nolan didn't even know anymore. He took a moment to focus. Rivers start at the mountain and go to the ocean. That was it. So they needed to go where the water came from. And that was this way. Although, it didn't really matter if they headed the other way. They'd crossed the river already, so they'd have some decent distance between themselves and the compound.  And whatever else was there.

With a shrug, he headed off in the direction she pointed, not really straying too close to the river. Radiation in the water made him nervous. They'd been so lucky to find the hot spring, but it was only thanks to Lina that he was actually able to use them. On his own, he never would have been able to get too close. Well, unless he had a lot of ice already, but he owed nearly all the ice he had to the hot spring.

"Okay then, we'll look for a cave. Maybe somewhere where you can hang up those skins and stuff and make whatever you're going to make." Nolan could do with some new clothes. He'd never had all that many, but now he had none at all, except for the ones he was wearing. In fact, he had virtually nothing to his name.

I've got my ice, and that's what's important. And I've got Lina. She'll help me, right? He gave her a shy smile as they walked along.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina smiled returned his shy smile. She still wasn't sure what to think about Nolan. He didn't seem threatening and he had helped her out quite a lot. As she thought again about how he'd looked in his ice armor, she felt something strange stirring in her, it was as if butterflies had settled in her stomach. Thinking of him that way was making her feel uncomfortable and nervous. She looked quickly away and began walking again. Now was not the time for thinking silly things. They had more important priorities, like surviving!

They traveled most of the day, stopping only once to eat some of the deer meat and rest for a short while, before continuing on. Lina knew she wouldn't feel safe as long as they were in the open like this. They needed someplace that could be easily defended and shelter them from the dust storms and acid rainfall.

The ground began to rise in a gentle incline and the river became wider. The white rapids had calmed and now there was the soothing sound of water moving over the rock bed. The number of trees in the area grew larger until they were surrounded on all sides by tall thick trees and other lush looking plants. Lina heard strange chirruping noises and saw a fuzzy creature with a very bushy tail scampering up one of the trees.

She noticed something new in the distance. She hadn't really been able to see past all the trees but now she saw a massive slab of stone ahead. It was so tall that it disappeared into the clouds and stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see. There was a fine spray misting up from several sparkling waterfalls that tumbled their way down the jagged edges of rock that jutted from the massive stone wall. Half-way down the waterfalls met and created a larger waterfall that spilled the rest of the way down into what looked like a large pond that fed into the river.

"Nolan look!" She could hear the distant roar of the fall. "I don't know if that is a mountain, but it is the source of the water. Maybe there will be some caves near there!" She grinned at Nolan and began to walk again, looking around as she did so, and making mental notes of things that might be useful to them later.

Finally, they arrived at the clearing where the pond was. They were only a short distance now from the massive stone wall. Lina eyed the pond with caution and kept a respectful distance. Cold water and her were not friends. Suddenly, she stopped short and her eyes widened. A creature jumped up from the water to catch an insect as it flew past. Its iridescent skin seemed to be made of hundreds of tiny mirrors that reflected and turned the light into beautiful rainbows. She gasped with surprise. She had only heard about such creatures from tales the elders used to tell about the days before the War, she had never really believed there were such things. She turned to look at Nolan.

"Is that a fish? A real fish?" Her voice was soft with awe and her eyes were wide with astonishment.

[Painless]

There was something wrong about this mountain. But it was a good kind of wrong, or so Nolan hoped. Everything was so green, and there were even animals. He had seen such things only in the books he'd read at the library. Lina seemed to be a little bit more aware of the creatures of the forest. He followed her gaze, and it would lead to squirrels, a few deer, and even a bunny rabbit, once.

The trees didn't seem like they'd been much affected by the radiation at all, yet they were so tall, at least some of them must have grown in before the war, right? He'd have to look for a stump or something so he could count the rings and figure out just how old they were. He couldn't even remember how long ago the war was, though, so that might not help. He'd ask Lina about it later.

When he saw the fish, he gasped right along with her. A trout, from the looks of it. A perfectly average, common fish, according to his books, but of course he'd never seen one in his life. Radiation killed all the fish in the rivers. The oceans were a little better off, but even so nothing much lived by the coast.

But fish lived in water, and water was just ice waiting to happen. The next time he spotted the fish, he concentrated. He froze it solid, then pulled it up out of the water, bringing it to his hands. He couldn't give it right to Lina without hurting her, but he held it up so she could see it clearly.

"Yeah, it looks like a fish. A trout, I think. But, they shouldn't be able to live here. None of these things should. If they do, I think that means, that water is clear. No radiation." Maybe this really could be a good place for them to stay. Especially if they found a cave. Food, water, firewood for Lina, ice for Nolan. They'd have to find shelter and defend it, but if they did, this place could be a godsend.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina stared at the fish in wonder, her eyes wide with fascination. She turned and looked all around them. As a small child she had heard all the stories about the Land. Land that survived the War and was free of radiation and acid rains. The Land was rich and fertile and full of life. She had searched for the Land for many years. And now, here it was, so green and unspoiled.

It was so beautiful that it brought tears to her eyes. Fire in the shape of water droplets fell from her eyes and left steamy trails down her cheeks before dropping to the ground. "It's so beautiful here!" She exclaimed as she wiped her tears away. Then she frowned and looked at the ground.

Though she had been crying only moments before, the grass beneath her feet was utterly unmarked. She knelt down and touched the grass. It was soft to the touch and seemed quite healthy, but there were no scorch marks, which her tears should have caused.  She looked up at Nolan with a worried expression.

"Nolan...I think we've been caught inside a Mind Trap." She reached around to the small of her back and pulled out the bone knife. Slowly she rose, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings. "Tell me what you see."

[Painless]

As Lina started to cry, Nolan couldn't help but stare. To be sure, ice powers had affected his body pretty heavily, but nothing like that. If he cried, which he rarely did, the tears might freeze before they got too far, but they didn't come out as ice. Still, he didn't have much time to contemplate that weirdness once she mentioned the Mind Trap.

As for what a Mind Trap actually was, Nolan wasn't entirely sure. For all his reading, he wasn't anything close to an expert on the world before the war, much less the world after it. Presumably, if they were in a trap of this sort, it meant that someone was hunting them. Someone with mental powers strong enough to make them hallucinate vividly. But how vividly? Was any of this real? Were they still on a mountain by a stream? Or were they somewhere else entirely?

Either way, it was a bad idea to be anywhere near the fish or the water. That stuff could be radioactive. He sent the fish back to the river and tried to think things over. "What I see? I see what's here. A stream, some fish, you..." He closed his eyes. How deep did this trap go? Could it affect every one of his senses? He reached out to the water, trying to feel anything out of place, but it felt real. It turned into ice just like he wanted it to. He traced the stream as far as he could, drawing a thin line of ice in his mind, until finally he hit a wall.

"There's something out there. It's like, I can go maybe 500 feet and my powers don't get any weaker at all, then I try to go further and nothing happens. Usually my abilities get weaker the further they go. That isn't right, but what does it mean?"

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina stared at the grass and concentrated. Her hands began to heat up. She knelt and touched the grass in front of her. Nothing happened. The grass remained lush and green. It did not start burning. Not so much as a single wisp of smoke rose from the grass. She stood up and frowned as she replied to Nolan's question.

"I don't know what it means. I heard about Mind Traps from my great grandfather. He said they were set up with reflective surfaces to make something called a hologram. He said it was a weapon from the war. If we can find these reflective surfaces, we can break the trap." She looked around, how were they supposed to find the things?

She could see how such a thing could be used in war to confuse the enemy, but what other possible purpose could it have? Did people just wander around lost and confused until they died of starvation or thirst? It seemed a rather slow way to kill the enemy in a war. She looked back at Nolan as an idea suddenly came to her.

"Nolan, can you tell where exactly your power stops working? Maybe if we move toward that area we'll find something that can help us."

[Painless]

"It's ice, so I can only test it where there's water. From the way it felt, there actually must be water here, but somehow this thing is messing with my sense of distance. I don't really get it. Anyway, as long as we follow the river, we'll reach the end of it, or at least where things stopped for me. Shouldn't be more than a quick walk away."

He still didn't really understand what a mind trap was or how it worked. From her description, it was some sort of 3D picture, that they were stuck walking around in, but she said it was all done with mirrors. And mirrors couldn't make something solid, like that grass or those fish, right? There had to be something more to it.

Lacking any better options, he followed her advice, heading down the river to the place where his powers stopped working. Somehow, this Mind Trap was, appropriately enough, messing with his mind. It could make him think his powers were going further than they were, but since his eyes were closed, there had to be something more to it than sight.

Bringing a small ice dagger to his hand, he hoped Lina's plan was sound.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina followed Nolan as he walked along the river with his eyes closed. It wasn't long before he stopped. Her gaze traveled along the current of swift moving water. She looked back at the pond which beckoned fetchingly. She wasn't fetched. The water there was hardly moving at all. She frowned and looked at Nolan.

"Maybe the river is real because you can feel the water. So however the Mind Trap got set up they used the river as part of it." She pulled her bone knife out from its sheath tucked in near the small of her back and took two steps further downstream from Nolan.

She cautiously advanced with the knife held in front of her alert for any signs of trouble. It wasn't long before the knife bumped against thin air. She frowned and poked the air again. Clunk! Clunk! It was an odd almost wooden sound. She used the side of her fist to rap hard against the invisible thing.

"Hey Nolan! I think I've found something." She called back to him over her shoulder. She began running her hand along it. The surface of whatever it was felt smooth. There were no rough edges or corners. She wondered what it was and if it would be a way out.

[Painless]

Lina had discovered some kind of invisible wooden wall. That was pretty strange on its own. But in the context of the Mind Trap, he wasn't sure what to make of it. He ran his hands over it, not really able to find any gaps or holes in it. Though, if he couldn't find one, maybe he'd be better off just making one.

He leaned up against the wall, breathing out cold air. Something was off, though. His breath wasn't misting the way it was supposed to. Seems that just like how Lina's fire couldn't burn anything around here, even the air itself was immune to their powers. The only constant here was the river. That had to be real. Which meant... What, exactly?

"I'm thinking that if my powers stop working here, then that means that the river stops here too. This wall must be some kind of dam. It blocks off the river, we just can't see it for some reason. But I think that since everything we're seeing isn't really here, then if we can't see something, that means it's real." That made sense in a weird sort of way.

With that, he slammed his ice dagger down on the smooth surface. "I think we need to break this thing to get out. Try using your fire powers too. Just... Not anywhere near me, okay?" The odd thing was, if this was a dam, they should be in a reservoir right not, since they'd been following the water to get here. He shrugged. More tricks from the Mind Trap, somehow.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina ignored Nolan and continued to feel her way along the smooth surface of nothing. Imagining a great wall, she put her face close to it, turned her head to the left and followed the line of site. There! Not too far from where they stood something twinkled. She turned her head to the right, following the line of sight again. She saw another twinkle, just a few hundred feet past Nolan.

It must be the reflective surfaces that she had been told about! If they could just destroy the surfaces they could get out of this illusion. She knew there was something else her great grandfather had mentioned but she couldn't remember what it was. The water was closer to Nolan, he would have to take out the twinkling thing on that side while she took out the other one.

"Nolan look!" She pointed with her dagger toward the twinkle on his side. "It must be that reflective surface thing my great grandfather was talking about. There's another one over there." She pointed to the one on the left.

"I can't cross the water but you can. You've got to try and break the first one I showed you. I'll take the one over this way. It might be the only way we can get out of this thing." Without waiting for his response, moving slowly to the left and keeping one hand on the invisible wall

She gripped her dagger tightly, alert for any signs of trouble. As she got closer, she noticed a strange humming noise. Troubled, she frowned and renewed her grip on the dagger. She continued to advance but at a slower pace. Step by step the humming grew louder until she could feel her teeth vibrating. She kept looking around her, aware that the noise would cover any approaching  danger.

[Painless]

Nolan figured she must know what she was talking about. She at least knew more than he did. So it would be well worth his while to do what she said if he ever wanted to get out of this alive. He crossed the river, an ice bridge forming under his feet without him having to do much conscious thinking in order to get it there.

He wondered if she could hear the same humming noise that he could. It sounded like technology. Machinery. The sort of things they had in the library where Nolan had lived for so long. He didn't exactly know just what it was, but he knew that every once in a while, he'd cross a wire or two in one of the machines, and something would spark and things would start moving. That hum reminded him of that, though it was far louder and seemed to be rattling his very bones.

Finally, he reached the twinkling thing that Lina was talking about. He wasn't really sure what to do, but he figured that a mirror wouldn't be too resilient.

Hoping that it wouldn't trigger anything too unpleasant or dangerous, he thickened his ice dagger and sharpened it to a fine point. It was hard to see the twinkling clearly, almost as if it disappeared when he tried to look directly at it. And yet, after a moment he got the spot down, took a deep breath, and plunged the point into the wall.

[Olivia Cycien]

At the same time as Nolan plunged his ice dagger into the mirror, Lina approached the other one. She had noticed as she approached, that if she looked directly at it then it disappeared, but when she looked away, she could see it out of the corner of her eye. She had a pretty good idea of the position of the mirror so she wasted no time in shattering it with her bone dagger.

Suddenly, the illusion of forest was gone. The land was as brown and undernourished as before. The sky, no longer cobalt blue, was now a mass of dark and churning clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The humming suddenly stopped and instead a very loud siren issued from the nearby area. She felt her heart jump into her throat as she looked wildly around.

She saw that she was standing next to a high wooden wall. She spun around. Her eyes searched for Nolan and she saw him in the distance, near that other mirror. She began to run along side the wall. When she tried to call out his name, the siren drowned her voice out. She couldn't even hear herself shouting. All she knew was that she had to get to Nolan, they were in big trouble.

[Painless]

As soon as the sirens started, Nolan plugged his ears with some ice. It wasn't much better, as the lack of hearing left him completely exposed to any dangers that might come from outside his line of sight, but at least like this he could manage to think straight. First things first, he had to meet up with Lina. But he couldn't get too close; their powers presented just as much of a danger to each other as they did to any potential enemy.

He looked around and didn't see much worth looking at. Dead tress, sparse grass, and a lazy radioactive river cutting down the middle of it all. He wondered why someone would bother to set up this kind of trap in such a remote area. Maybe it had something to do with this wooden wall. If they'd set up protective measures, whoever they were, they must have something worth protecting.

After he made it over the river, he stopped, and motioned to Lina to come towards him. He started pounding on the wall, trying to break through somehow. This was the edge of the Mind Trap, so if they got through they'd be free, right? It was the only thing he could think of. And even if Lina could come up with a better idea, neither of them would be able to hear it.

He didn't bother with fancy weapons, and just caked ice around his fists as he battered on the wall, trying to break it down.

[Olivia Cycien]

Lina came up beside him, looking frantically around, her dagger still at the ready. She noticed him banging on the wall with ice. Since they'd already had a very graphic demonstration that his powers stopped at the wall, she figured he wasn't going to make much headway. She wouldn't be able to use her powers either.

The sirens stopped suddenly and the ensuing silence was deep and ominous. She felt as if there was a giant weight suspended above their heads by a thread and that at any moment the thread would be cut and the weight would drop, crushing them. She looked up as if expecting that mythical weight to appear, then tensed further as a new sound rang out into the still air.

There was a long drawn out metallic twang, as if something very big and very rusty was moving. A loud crump sound was followed by the ground shaking. There was another crump and the ground shook again. A distinctly metallic clank drew her attention and she shifted her gaze. With a look of horror on her face, she flattened herself against the wooden wall.

"Oh my god!"

[Painless]

With his ears plugged, Nolan didn't notice when the sirens stopped. He didn't even notice when something started whirring and clanking, moving towards the two of them. He was too absorbed in trying to break through the wall, a difficult process. He felt like he was making some very slight headway, but not much. Just enough to convince him that it wasn't a waste of time.

Even if he didn't notice the sound, when something hit the ground hard enough to make everything around him shake, that he noticed. He pulled the ice from his ears and realized that everything was far too quiet. No sound, at least at first. After a moment, he heard Lina cry out, and spun around to look at the same thing she was seeing.

Big. That was his first impression. Metal, was his second impression. A robot, his brain finally managed to piece together. They mentioned them in the books sometimes, but in there, they were almost always small, and usually friendly. Even when he read about the ones that weren't, he'd comforted himself by saying that his powers would be more than enough to handle any robot he ever encountered.

Looking at this one, he'd clearly been wrong about that.

[Olivia Cycien]

Now, when it was too late, Lina recalled the stories about robots her great grandfather had talked about. Now she realized how the enemy in war might have been defeated. Great grandfather had talked a lot about Mind Traps. How could she have been so stupid! By destroying the Mind Trap, she and Nolan had inadvertently awakened the robot that was designed to guard the trap!

She could hear its gears creak and grind as it advanced toward them. Though it moved slowly, it was still moving far too quickly for her liking. Its eyes were flashing menacingly. She could see rust and scratches along the surface of the metal body. Apparently this was not a deterrent for the robot because it kept right on coming.

She knew that they had to get away from the wall. The wall was blocking or putting out some kind of barrier --maybe an anti magic field-- that shorted out their powers. But how were they going to get past the robot? It was blocking their escape. She wasn't sure her powers would work against the robot anyway. How were they going to get away from the wall?

There must be something they could do! Any second now the robot would be upon them! Lina frantically tried to think of some way they could save themselves from this predicament.