Chapter 105: MOVING IN CIRCLES

Alda's POV

I held on tightly to Elba's hand the very moment we got swept into the violent current of the spinning wind, but the more it threw us in circles, the dizzier and weaker I became.

“Alda!” Elba’s warning voice echoed through the roar as I tried to fight the rising urge to throw up.

But the force of the current was moving so fast that I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone make out anything in front of me.

“Siofra, I think it's best you take over!” I heard Elba yell, right before I felt myself being pulled back into the depths of my own mind.

“Oh God, Alda, are you okay?” Siofra’s voice echoed in my head almost immediately as she took control of my body.

“I'll be fine once we... get out of here!” I answered internally, still feeling incredibly nauseous.

“Elba, how long do we have to continue spinning?” Siofra shouted, her voice laced with strain. She was clearly barely holding on herself.

“Oh, please quit being a baby! We haven't even made it to the main current yet!” Elba called back.

Siofra flared up in anger, her grip loosening slightly. Feeling a sudden surge of panic that she might let go of Elba’s hand, I instinctively forced myself out of my body. Suddenly, I was floating, reaching out with my spiritual hands to hold both of theirs in a desperate grip.

“Can you two not do this here?” I barked at them. “We are in no position to argue instead of working together!”

Both of them stared at me with completely different looks in their eyes. While Siofra looked at me in absolute awe, Elba’s eyes filled with sudden panic.

“Wow, Alda,” Siofra breathed, watching me. “I didn't know you could leave your body like I do without one of us getting kicked out.”

That was when I looked back and realized I was staring at my own physical form.

“Alda, you might get pulled deeper into the current! That is a very bad idea!” Elba warned.

But as Elba’s voice echoed, I realized something strange. I couldn't feel the biting chill of the wind anymore, even though I could clearly see it whipping violently around us.

“I can't feel it,” I said, bewildered.

“Feel what?” Elba asked.

“The current. The wind. But how am I still moving with it?” I muttered.

Confused, I instinctively pulled my hands away from the spiritual grip I had on Elba and Siofra.

Elba's warning came a second too late. “Alda, you're not supposed to let go!”

I watched in absolute horror as the current instantly dragged Elba and Siofra away, leaving me behind.

“Uh oh,” I muttered. Within a heartbeat, they vanished into the swirling grey abyss.

It was only then I realized they had been the anchor pulling my spirit along the entire time. Panic surged through me, my eyes widening in shock. Did I just get lost in this void? Am I going to be trapped here for eternity?

Anxiety clawing at my chest, I made a desperate dive into the deep, dark, eerie center of the current, searching for any sign of them.

It felt like I was being dragged into a horror movie. As I drifted deeper, a heavy, suffocating force began pressing down on my shoulders, as if the wind itself was trying to reject me and push me away. No matter how hard I tried to swim through the air, it felt entirely useless.

“Elba! Siofra! Please, help me!” I screamed, but the howling gale swallowed my voice.

I felt completely helpless. Surrounded by nothing but the deafening roar of the wind, a deep, icy shiver ran down my spiritual spine. Am I really stuck here? Oh my God, this feels worse than actually dying.

Just then, the void began to shake violently. A thunderous cracking sound echoed from far above the current. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, another massive vortex collided with ours from above, bringing a chaotic downpour of tree branches, jagged rocks, and massive, uprooted trees crashing down toward me.

I dodged frantically, twisting through the air to avoid getting hit by the flying obstacles. Every single object pulled into the storm kept disappearing down into the dark, eerie abyss below.

Suddenly, an idea struck me. If those physical objects were falling, they had to be heading toward the exit.

I just needed to hitch a ride.

I waited for the next massive tree to hurtle past and lunged forward, grabbing onto one of its thick branches. I held on with all my might as the weight of the uprooted tree dragged us straight down—right into the dark depths where Elba and Siofra had disappeared.

Siofra's POV

Anger flared hot in my chest the moment we finally hit the bottom of the portal. We had landed in a massive, chaotic heap of broken tree branches, roots, and rubble. Looking around, a wave of relief washed over me. The fallen wreckage meant the portal was still actively anchored somewhere in Álfheimr.

But it also meant danger. If this portal kept roaming, it would eventually drift back toward the human realm. A storm of this magnitude would utterly destroy their city and cost countless innocent lives.

I whipped around to face Elba. “I can't believe it took losing Alda for you to finally mention she wasn't supposed to let go!” I snapped at her in sheer annoyance.

“I remember explicitly stating that you two should work as one body, so do not dump the blame on me,” she retorted, matching my hostile energy.

I pulled my hands away from her, pacing frantically through the ruins. “Tell me there's a way we can go back for her. There has to be a way to reach her!”

“We can't go to her. She has to be the one to find us,” Elba replied casually, looking entirely unbothered. Her calm demeanor only pissed me off more.

“Then what are we supposed to do? Sit here and wait for a miracle?” I demanded.

“Yes, Siofra. We wait for a miracle,” Elba said, her voice dropping into a serious tone. “And that miracle is this portal sucking up more trees, rocks... anything physical that can sweep through Alda's path. She is smart enough to realize those objects will lead her straight to us. So quit flaring up, and put that energy into finding your body and your grandmother while we wait.”

With that, she turned on her heel and began effortlessly tossing heavy logs aside.

I swallowed my frustration, keeping my hopes high that Elba’s logic was right. We began digging through the tangled heap, searching frantically. After what felt like an eternity, Elba suddenly called out to me.

I ran over to her, my breath catching in my throat. Laying motionless beneath a pile of shattered branches was a fragile figure.

It was my grandmother.

She lay completely still on the damp earth, dark blood staining the silver hair near her face and trickling down her neck. A cold, suffocating wave of fear washed over me. I froze, terrified that she was already gone.

“Can you help me move some of these branches?” Elba asked, glancing back at me. “We need to see if your physical body is nearby as well, so we can check her injuries and keep an eye out for Alda.”

Elba began gently pulling my grandmother out from under the pile, but I was too distracted to help. A shadow was slowly closing in right behind Elba.

“I don't think there will be any need for that,” I whispered, my eyes locked on the figure emerging from the darkness.

“What?” Elba asked, confused. She turned around, following my gaze.

“Alda?” Elba gasped in shock.

Standing there, dragging a second limp form behind her, was Alda’s spirit.

“Hey, guys,” Alda said, offering a weak, exhausted smile. “Look what I found. Siofra's body. But... I still feel really sick.”

Before either of us could move, Alda’s spiritual form collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily.

A deep, trembling sigh of relief washed over me. I was so glad she was here. She was safe.

Now, we just had to find a way out of this graveyard of ruins. How hard could that possibly be?