Addictive Feeling

With a loud boom, their vehicle sped even faster as it arrived at the open area in front of the Tower, they had stopped in the sky and were hovering before they began to slowly descend — to make sure there weren't any people in the way moved and it landed smoothly.

They got out of their seats and prepared to step off, they couldn't enter the Tower perimeter straight away as they had to prove their identities; especially since today was an important day.

Their mothers got out first and waited for the girls to follow after them – as Karma was also about to step out she paused and looked at Lulu who hadn't moved an inch. She hadn't even unbuckled.

– "Come on Lulu. There's no need for nervousness or fear, I'll be with you all the way, ok?"

With one foot out of the vehicle, Karma had her hand outstretched for Lulu to take hold of.

Gazing into Karma's eyes she noted how full of confidence and assurance. Lulu looked outside and at the tons of people occupying the area before once more looking into Karma's eyes.

Taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes she calmed herself and made the resolution to do what she needed to do and took hold of Karma's hand.

– "O-Ok, thanks"

After stepping out Lulu felt countless eyes on her causing her to tighten her grip on Karma's hand, seeking a sense of security and safety from those childish hands of hers — slightly smiling as she felt her hand being gripped as well.

– "Ignore them."

Hearing her mother's advice, Lulu kept her eyes away from all the people; she instead put them on her feet. All she wanted was to quickly rush over to where they needed to be and then rush back to her bed but that wasn't possible. She couldn't handle moving at fast speeds so she had to move moderately and carefully while watching her every step – so she had to move slowly under the piercing gazes.

After the gazes, soon came the muttering and mumbles of disbelief and disdain. They weren't even bothering to hide their distaste for her, her hair, just her entire being.

– "Get. Out. Of. Here. Now."

Latia shot a sharp glare at the many people staring as she emphasized every word of her sentence causing them to back off unconsciously. They knew who both Lulu and Latia were and didn't want to risk offending Latia however they would not change or forget the disdain they hold for the blue girl.

Most of the spectators diverted their attention and turned to focus on different things, such as their children who were also here to visit the Mirror, in hopes of being able to Transcend.

Due to many families and children wanting coming out with high hopes, the area was packed to the brim as there were races of different varieties spread all about – even though she was quite nervous and wanted to hide herself Lulu couldn't help herself from looking around with a curious gaze.

This was her first time outside in many cycles and due to that, she could barely remember what the city looked like. She was just a small child back then, she practically couldn't speak back then; she also didn't have any insane memory – so it makes sense that she had forgotten.

She caught sight of a large family of people full of smiles, but their smiles weren't the reason that they attracted her gaze.

They reminded her of the most traumatizing event in her life, no flames were coming from them – they just looked strikingly familiar to the man that had tried to kill her; they were a family covered in light gray stone-like casing instead of skin and they had tops of black hair on the tops of their head, somewhat miraculously coming out of their head.

Upon her seeing them, thoughts and images began popping in her head, causing her to start shaking uncontrollably. She knew that she was fine right now but the mere thought of the event brought her great and uncontrollable emotions slamming down on her like a waterfall.

Seeing Lulu's head drop down and feeling the hand in her grasp start to shake along with her entire body out of nowhere, Karma put her other hand on Lulu's shoulder.

– "What's wrong?! how come you're shaking? Miss Latia–"

Worried, Karma was trying to speak to the shaking Lulu before she was pulled away from her by Latia, who got on one knee staring Lulu in the eyes – her eyes were shaking.

– "Lulu!"

Her already weak legs buckled, causing them to give out; she was quickly caught by Latia as she stroked her head of blue hair – looking around at the cause of her daughter's distress she caught sight of the family she was looking at as her eyes widened.

Seeing the family reminiscent of the man that put her daughter in this state, scooping Lulu into her arms she quickly brought her to the guards for them to quickly get verified.

– "Wait!"

– "What are you doing!"

Instead of waiting to get verified, Latia rushed past them – she wanted to quickly get to the base of the Tower and sit Lulu down somewhere so that she could calm down.

– "That's enough. Leave her be, that's Latia Bavel. Are you new here?"

A man wearing similar clothing to the guards told them to stop and questioned them.

– "Yes Sir!

– "Sir!"

– "Well then, you should remember who that woman is, she works here so you'll be seeing her often. Don't bother her, you don't want to risk angering her family."

Saying this the man gave a slight bow at the approaching Helia and Karma before letting them pass without another word. Once they passed he told the guards to get back to their duties as he felt a gaze on him causing him to swerve his head to look out into the crowd.

"I must be imagining things."

Scratching at the back of his head he stood there in confusion before he returned to looking over the area.

Once she made it to the base of the Tower with Lulu, Latia ignored all the unwanted stares they were attracting as she hastily entered the Tower.

The bottom floor was wide open with a waiting area on one side and a reception desk on the other while at the end of the floor were four large doors leading to elevators of sorts.

There were very few people present on the floor and those that were present were either workers or security. There was a lady with neatly pinned up black hair sitting behind the desk with her a bored expression on her face.

The lady behind the reception desk practically glowed when she saw Latia, lifting her head from her hand she rose from her seat.

– "Hey Latia! I didn't think you were coming in today."

– "Yeah well, there is an emergency, I need to use the back room for a while."

She looked at the blue-haired child that was being carried in Latia's arms and a look of realization dawned on her face.

– "That's fine. Just know they'll be approaching the Mirror of Yuletti very soon, so don't take too long."

Staring down at her daughter who was shaking in her arms Latia contemplated how to calm her down as a complicated expression took hold of her face.

– "...I'll try my best to finish as soon as possible."

– "Call me if you need anything, I'll be sitting out here."

– "Alright, thanks."

Standing at the base of the Tower, Karma stared up at the much more visible black and gray smoke that was seeping from the other side of the Tower; it was giving off a mystical and oppressive feeling, the only time she ever felt something like this was when she stared Tavella in her eyes.

Tavella was quite a strange person, they had met only twice in the past half cycle and their first meeting was in the Bavel estate during the attack. Her personality was unique and random at times, sometimes she'd act very nice so that she could gain favor with people, other times she acts mysterious and confusing.

She liked to speak in riddles while also saying things that were hard to understand. There were a few times in their two meetings where she would speak as if she had known Karma for a long time.

In fact, there was a moment when she did something strange during their first meeting and almost called Lulia by her nickname – and there was this thing that happened with her eyes. They were already beautiful, her eyes were like the very stars were plucked out of the sky and contained in those orbs of hers.

Her eyes were made even more unique due to the fact that when she starts to think deeply the stars in her eyes would begin spinning like planets rotating around a star.

Her eyes complimented her sparkling hair and they would overall just give her a mystical and mysterious air.

She was just a unique person and presence, that's why upon seeing this fog that gave off a similar feeling reminded her of the girl. It also made her wonder if they were somehow related, maybe relating to the Old Lords?

Shaking the unnecessary thoughts out of her head as she felt her mother's gaze on her, Karma turned to Helia.

– "What do you think, Karma? It's quite the unique feeling isn't it, it's like something you've never felt before."

Her mother was on point – it was the most unique feeling she's ever felt. Even though she was reminded of Tavella when she felt it the feeling let released by the weren't the same; the mirror gave off this empowering feeling.

– "Right... I feel stronger just by standing here, it feels addictive... this is a dangerous feeling."

Even though feeling empowered was a godsend for any Detrid hoping for Transcension. Yet this feeling even more so felt like a temporary one, it even stimulated her body – making it crave for more.

That wasn't right.

Hearing her words and seeing the look on Karma's face brought a smile to Helia's face; that was the right thought to have towards this feeling.

– "Right, it is indeed correct that this feeling is dangerous. If you take this empowerment in stride you will fail the Mirror's test and you might even suffer for it. Don't be like–"

Following her mother's gaze she caught sight of parents and their kids that were enthusiastically rushing to the Mirror, the parents weren't warning their children; seeing them she was able to infer what her mother meant.

– "Why aren't they telling them to focus?"

– "That's because they can't. There is an unknown force released from the Mirror that prevents us from us, many see it as the will of Yuletti."

– "Will of Yuletti... but didn't you just tell me about this feeling?"

– "Yes, but only because you realized beforehand. If you hadn't realized it yourself I would have to also watch you go in there haphazardly."

– "Well of course I figured it out, I'm a genius who also happens to be your daughter, if I couldn't realize it nobody else could have."

Karma took out an arrogant tone as she heard her mother's words, the said tone was accompanied by a smug smirk on her face; her actions could only force Helia to sigh.

Helia pushed Karma's head down with her hand and ruffled her hair.

– "Whatever you say; they are coming back now."

Coming out of the Tower were Latia and Lulu who was now back on her feet and being supported by her mother. Her legs were wobbling as much as they were before and she had calmed down considerably.

When they were in front of them Karma could see that even though Lulu hadn't been out of the house for long but she already looked mentally drained.

She wanted to step forward and comfort Lulu but she stopped when Helia put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head. Relenting she watched as Latia looked down at Lulu.

– "Lulu."

Looking at her mother in turn Lulu didn't mouth a word and only stared at her silently, waiting for her to speak.

– "Remember what I said, ignore everyone, don't listen to anyone, don't look at anyone. Don't bother with anything else and completely focus on me and you'll be home soon."

– "Mm."

With a soft hum, Lulu nodded her head as her eyes glazed over; she looked at the fog coming from the Mirror.

Seeing her gaze glued on the smoke Karma spoke up similarly to how her mother did earlier.

– "It's a unique feeling, right?"

To Karma's question, Lulu took her eyes away from the fog and placed them on her, silent for a moment before she tilted her head in confusion.

"This feeling, wait. Do you not feel anything?"

Seeing the blue-haired girl's confusion confused Karma as well, she assumed Lulu would feel something as well, but perhaps not.

– "No, I-I don't understand, w-what feeling?"

Having her question answered Karma looked at her mother in confusion, she didn't understand why she could feel it yet Lulu couldn't. Perhaps it has something to do with what Tavella told Lulu when she asked about Flauna: "There are no streams around you, you are void of any specs of Flauna — but that might be because of- no. I can't tell you about it yet. It's not time yet."

She had no idea what Tavella exactly meant as she was saying confusing things as usual but she got the gist: Lulu was not surrounded by Flauna, she could most likely not sense Flauna.

– "Latia doesn't that mean that she–"

– "Stop, don't say anything more Helia."

Helia looked upset when she heard that Lulu couldn't feel anything, she didn't want anything to happen to her friend's daughter.

– "But if that's true it'd be better if she didn't go–"

– "I said don't. She will Transcend, whether you know it or not it will happen. I don't know how or why, but it will."

Latia looked at Lulu, she was unsure, but she was also completely sure at the same time. The two conflicting feelings were already enough to deal with but now she was overly worried after her daughter just had a panic attack.

– "Haaa, fine then. I hope your intuition is right."

Helia could only sigh when seeing Latia's gaze. When the two women had first seen how Flauna wasn't flowing around Lulu, no, how it was actively avoiding her, they knew it would affect her at some point.

Even the average Detrid that wasn't able to Transcend had Flauna flowing around them, that's the whole reason why they were all naturally strong, even if they didn't have any powers – yet there was not a single trace around her.

They had their expectations for her condition.

Through the short conversation, the girls were watching the two women, Lulu was looking up at them in confusion while Karma understood what they were talking about and were concerned about.

They stood there waiting with Latia paying her utmost attention to Lulu and Karma and Helia were chatting. Soon a loud bell began to ring from the top of Brigid Tower.

– "Well then, let's go now girls."

Latia spoke up as she led Lulu and the other two towards the Fog as it grew thicker than it previously was.