We walked through the Dragoon Academy, passing by some relatively large crowds and long, winding corridors. I noticed the Sir Laksa was very frequently greeted wherever he went. People stopped him to stay hello which slowed us down significantly.

“I’m very sorry,” Laksa said, smiling at us.

“No matter. You’re very busy,” my mother replied.

“It’s this place.” He took out some keys and shook the loose knob. This room seemed to have been forgotten save for moments of exception…like now.

When we went inside, we were confronted by a bunch of devices stowed away behind glass displays. Some were pushed against the wall, covered in purple blankets to be protected from the dust. The place resembled a museum of a sort, just that it felt like everything was crammed into one place. The good thing was that it looked somewhat organized.

Sir Laksa led us to one device that had a considerable space to itself. It seemed as though this thing, no matter how it had probably lost its purpose, was still respected. It towered over everything else in the room. The cloth that covered it could not hide the bulky and titanic form.

My brows furrowed as I wondered what could be under it.

I didn’t have to think for very long. Sir Laksa stepped forward, grasping at the purple cloth and dragging it away to reveal…something incomprehensible. It had large networks of metal. Gemstones would dot some hands. The frames that supported it was thick. And it didn’t look like a very refined machine.

Before it was a wheel—a roulette of some sort—divided into nine slabs.

“Is this…” my mother trailed off.

“It’s the very first artifact to determine which element one has—if they ever had one,” Laksa said. “It is old, bulky…the newer devices are much more streamlined, and details have been deleted that people no longer think we needed. Those details…may be the answer to our questions. Now, Evy, would you mind?”

“With that?” I asked. “Will it be okay?”

“Of course. This one is old, but it still technically works.” Laksa stepped forward and fiddled with the machine. He pushed some buttons, pulled on some wires here and there, before beckoning me to come.

Hesitantly, I obeyed. He guided me to stand in front of the wheel and then patted my shoulder. “Let’s do this again, shall we?”

He brought out the cloth from before and blindfolded me again. When he was sure I could no longer see anything, he stepped back and instructed me to do the things I had done like before.

I held out my hand, felt the same suffocating rush of energies—the same fleeting sensations under my fingertips.

Except, this time, there was direction.

And I found a sensation I had never felt before.

The ringing bells that I had heard in my previous attempts came back. Their hypnotic rhythm echoed in my ears far stronger this time. I felt myself falling into the sound—farther, farther.

And then, silence.

A familiar melody rolled in. It was the kind of music so easy to be absorbed into—something hard to forget. At the same time, it was hard to replicate. It was akin to trying to recall the very exact details of a dream. Some of the notes would be lost in oblivion. I would not know it until I heard it again. I tried so many times to translate it into this world; to sing it with a simple hum but I had always failed. Perhaps it simply wasn’t meant to be heard by the living. Or be sung by one.

But why was I hearing it now? I didn’t think this happened to everybody.

In the darkness of my blindfold, behind my closed eyes, I could see the cosmic colors exploding. The song…the sight from the place…the in-between—everything was there. However, the ground was muddy. My ankles sank in cold water. The clay inched between my toes. I walked forward and around, lost in the current world. The water gurgled and splashed around my feet as I moved. Something was calling me. It wasn’t the river that I was supposed to drink from nor the cliff I had accidently been washed into.

It was something else.

Then the coldness cut in. One with teeth so sharp it bit straight into my bone. I knew this feeling. It was the feeling I had gotten from that limbo before coming to this world. I shivered away from it, but it remained present in every direction.

“Little aberrant,” I heard a whisper. The voice didn’t belong to Laksa. But it was something I knew all too well.

I twisted around and saw fading amber eyes. I tried to catch his shirt but came to feel a cold, almost freezing surface under my hand instead. Because of the startling sensation, the vision stopped, and I was plunged back into the darkness, sweating and shivering.

I heard a machine powering down.

“Evyionne?” Hellenia’s hands pulled the veil from my head and untied the blindfold.

It was then that I came to reality once more. I realized my hand was on the wheel. I did not see which slab it had landed on before I was pulled away. My mother’s green eyes came to meet mine, fingers brushing back the rebellious curls of my honeyed red hair.

“Good grace, you’re freezing.” She took my hands and brought them against her lips, blowing warm air to my fingers. “Come here.” She took me into her arms and wrapped me in the warmth of her embrace. “This isn’t supposed to happen, is it, Laksa?” she inquired, looking up at the man as she pulled my head to her chest.

I didn’t see Laksa’s face, but a tension snapped in the air.

“No,” Laksa finally replied. “No, it isn’t.”

“The results?” my mother breathlessly inquired.

“Let’s bring Evyionne to another room to rest first. I will talk to you.”

“Is anything wrong?” I asked, voice muffled by my mother’s clothes.

“No. Of course not, darling,” she told me. “But I do not think you’re well. Let’s go see the doctor, okay?”

“Okay.” I nodded.

“Here. Let me carry her.” Laksa swooped in and took me into his arms. “Come here, little one.” My chin came to rest on his shoulder. In spite of his slimness, he actually bore some strength.

I rested my chin on his shoulder. My eyes came to rest on the table I had been facing and I saw a black dragon eating its own tail, forming a perfect circle. It was glowing—brighter than any of the other slabs on the wheel.