Knock knock
"Miss Devina, are you okay in there?"
I saw Luna, one of my teachers, standing outside of Devina's office, asking worriedly for her. It had been weeks since Devina shut herself in that room. We hadn't seen her leave to eat or even use the bathroom. All of the teachers were getting anxious due to the absence of their Head Principal. But every time they approached her office and tried to talk with her, they would only get a furious "GET OUT OF HERE!" from inside the room.
But this time, when Luna knocked and asked, there was no screaming Devina, just silence. Being worried for her friend, Luna pushed the door handle, expecting it to be locked. But to her surprise, it wasn't locked, and when she opened the door just a slight bit to get a glimpse into the office, a sudden burst of green paper came pouring out of the room, slamming Luna against the wall and pouring out all over the floor.
I ran up to see if my teacher was alright and looked into the room, and my jaw just dropped entirely. A wall maybe 2 meters high made entirely of green paper covered every square inch. I picked up the green pieces of paper from the floor and realized that they looked exactly the same as the piece of paper Aylin had wished for. Luna dug herself out of the green pile of papers and just looked around in shock.
"What on earth is this?" She picked up the green map and looked at it with puzzled eyes before calling out to Devina.
Was Devina perhaps buried underneath all of this? Was that why they couldn't hear her? I pushed the papers aside and walked into her office as if it was a thick jungle.
"Devina? Are you alive?"
I didn't even know where I was in the room anymore, and that's when I felt a hand grab my ankle. I dug through the green and found the blonde hair I was searching for.
In her hand, she was holding two pieces of green paper.
She stared at me with narrowed eyes before sighing and continuing on with analyzing the two things in her hands.
"HEY, ARE YOU JUST GONNA IGNORE ME?"
"Be quiet. I'm analyzing the exact atom alignment of the original map with forests across the world to find a carbon match."
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means searching for a grain of sand amongst trillions of others, now shut up and let me read."
"How about you clean all of this up first? Are these the ones that didn't match with your whatever carbon thingy?"
"You could say so."
"Even if I have the Aeon of Dexterity actively search for these exact atoms across the world, the lox domain is constantly changing the structure of the atoms. Making it nearly impossible to accurately pinpoint where this place truly is. I thought I had found the place a few days ago, just to realize that the atoms on the map had changed their structure and number. Whoever designed this lox domain must have been a genius like I. But whenever it comes to humans and machinery, there is always a pattern. Things in this world are never random, everything makes sense once you understand it. Nothing shall get by the eye of Landia!!!"
"Yeah, yeah, how about you eat some food and go take a shower? And how do you even use the bathroom while being stuck in this room? You know what, I won't even ask."
She stuck her hand out and reached into a blue vortex in the air and pulled out some corn.
"I have things stored in my pocket dimension for occasions like this," she said, munching on her corn.
A thought then came to mind, just a random thought. My brain just zoomed out and I muttered some random words that made no sense.
"What if the one who created the lox domain is the same person who snipped away the part the Aeon of Dexterity cannot see?"
Devina stopped for a second and turned her head to stare at me as if I had just said the stupidest thing ever.
"Well, that wouldn't be impossible by itself," Devina pondered.
"Can the Aeon of Dexterity do something like that? Cut a part of history away?"
"Erm... not from what I'm aware of."
"So you don't think the first Aeon of Dexterity could be behind all of this?"
"No, the Aeon of Dexterity itself values truth and knowledge. It wouldn't knowingly delete facts out of existence, no matter the cost."
"How about we leave the office for a little bit so you can clear your mind? How about some grilled corn instead of boiled ones you have been eating for days?" I asked, trying to get her out of her room.
"How cunning you are. But you won't trick me with such simple words."
"Nautilus is hosting their harvest festival today. There will be grilled seafood and corn served in a multitude of ways."
Devina coughed.
"Let's go then."
She threw the two pieces of paper behind her and cheerfully walked out of her room, walking past Luna.
"Miss Devina!!!"
"Oh hi, Luna!"
Devina then skipped away, swinging her arms while grinning. I walked out of the room, and from a distance down the corridor, we heard Devina yell.
"Clean up the paper for me, will ya!?"
Luna frowned before sinking her head into the papers.
Before Devina could make it out of the building, I grabbed her by the shoulder and asked her if she was really gonna leave like that.
"What do you mean?"
"You STINK! You haven't showered in WEEKS! Your clothes are covered in grime, did you really plan on going out like that?"
"Fine, fine, I will go take a shower, but you will accompany me because... I don't know, I'm bored."
With a sudden movement, she warped us. Warm, steamy mist blew into my face as a cold breeze brushed against my skin. Warm flowing water with fancy rocks and wooden buildings, was this a hot spring?
"Where are we..."
"I teleported us to the Luvian Empire's Her Excellency, the Tsaritsa's personal royal hot spring."
"...."
"What? If I'm gonna shower, might as well make it fancy, am I wrong?" She shrugged.
"Could you perhaps tell me why we are in the Luvian Empire, NONETHELESS THE TSARITSA'S ROYAL BATH!?"
"Relax, I know her, she's okay with me using her bath sometimes."
"I sure hope you do... wait what? You know the Tsaritsa?"
"I'm the Head Principal of the Royal Academy, we are a neutral international entity, remember? We have hundreds of students from the Luvian Empire studying in the Academy. Enough talking. Time for me to relax."
She took off her shirt and threw it on the stone floor. She covered herself with one arm while taking off her underwear with the other hand.
"You just gonna stand there? Don't you wanna try the hot springs of the Luvian Empire? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you know. Would suck if you missed it. Or are you embarrassed... getting in with me..."
"You got nothing compared to a girl I know," I responded calmly.
She threw her underwear into my face.
"Yeah, stay on the surface then. I will go enjoy myself."
She got into the warm waters and let out a long sigh of pleasure. She dipped her mouth under the water and blew bubbles before just sitting there to relax.
I took off my shoes and dipped my feet into the water and quickly realized something was off.
"Finally realized it, hm? The water is actually blessed with loxes. The Luvian Empire uses the waters running from the Old Sage Mountain, which contains a high concentration of loxes. It is basically a healing remedy for anyone depleted on loxes."
If only I could bring Aylin here to let her enjoy this too.
"You are thinking of other girls, aren't you..." Devina smirked before dramatically saying that I had one of the most beautiful and prestigious girls in the world in front of me, yet my mind wandered to other females.
As she was joking around in the water, we heard a door open nearby. That's right, we hadn't had much time to look around this place to check if there were any people nearby.
"Wait, you said this was the Royal bath?"
"Yeah," she said, floating naked in the water.
The sliding door connecting the outside to the inside opened, and a pale, tall woman with long white hair adorned in snowflake accessories stepped out with a towel around her body.
Devina sat back up and waved at her.
"Devina, don't tell me that is..."
"Heyaaa, Alyssia!!!"
The pale woman smiled and approached us.
"Let me introduce you, Vivshi. This is the Tsaritsa, Queen of the Luvian Empire and the Aeon of Nihility, Alyssia Nosstriania Nebytiye. You can call her Neby if you want."
I immediately pulled my feet out of the hot springs and stood up to greet her properly.
She didn't seem like the tyrannical empress she was usually described to be. She had this calm presence to her. It wasn't the type you could just sit down and relax around, nor was it a terrifying presence that dug itself into your bones. She felt eerily quiet. Her whole presence itself was empty as a void. I couldn't sense anything from her. It was as if the area around her had been erased. It was as if she was a snow storm and her presence was just frozen away, because she felt cold, very cold.
"Hello, Devina. Long time since we last reunited, how have you been?"
"Pretty tired, from all the administration work at the Academy..."
She smiled before turning towards me.
"Hello, my name is Alyssia Nosstriania Nebytiye. You may address me as Alyssia or Nebius."
"Neby sounds cuter though..." Devina pouted.