Abyss

Piip… piip…

Clack!

Brissia folded up a cellphone as the soft ringing of the outgoing call ended itself. She looked at two numbers that didn't respond to her calls before handing the phone to someone standing nearby.

After the person received his cellphone and her thanks, she then walked away. Her gaze swept in all directions, landing briefly on every passerby as Giovarro's words replayed in her head.

"Nowhere?" she repeated in a mumble the last word the deputy police chief had said to her.

When the lights started to creep down the road, she went to a cafe to sit solemnly behind the large window. Giovarro's offer sometimes rang in her ears, reminding her of the emotional faces of her parents upon her arrival.

"Do you have nowhere to go?"

Her gaze turned to her back as soon as she heard a woman's calm, firm voice. Seeing Mrs. Olivia walking toward her was like déjà vu for her.

"These coincidences are starting to get diverting, aren't they, Brissia?" Mrs. Olivia spoke cordially while sitting in the chair next to her.

Brissia rose quickly, causing her chair to fall to the floor and managed to capture the attention of the entire cafe's visitors. She turned her head as she heard a soft chuckle. But seeing Mrs. Olivia didn't say anything and just smiled faintly, she finally walked out of the cafe.

Just as Brissia was about to stop a passing taxi, suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder, making her look back in surprise. Moreover, the black-haired lecturer was somehow already behind her.

"Where are you going with those empty hands?" she asked.

Despite the feeling of horror that was welling up inside her, she answered as calmly as possible, "I'm looking for my friends."

Mrs. Olivia stared at Brissia for a moment before turning to lament the road. Lights that passed as fast as a gust of wind flashed in her emotionless eyes.

"Haven't you wondered where I vanished last time?"

Brissia looked up. "You've vanished countless times, so, no. Not at all," she replied shortly before straightening her head again.

However, her eyes widened five seconds later. As she turned to behind with her mouth half open, she gaped even more when she couldn't find Mrs. Olivia's whereabouts.

"Brissia."

The sound of a car horn sounded along with a woman's call to her. After convincing Brissia to come with her, Mrs. Olivia drove her black sedan to their campus.

***

"Your friends intruded into my room."

Brissia, who was walking through the dark campus corridor beside Mrs. Olivia, froze in an instant.

"What?"

The black-haired woman glanced at Brissia flatly as she heard her tone of disbelief mixed with anger.

"What did you do to them? They had nothing to do with any of this!"

When they stopped in front of the door to his room, Mrs. Olivia sighed.

"I didn't want to send them away in a hostile manner at first, but they've seen something they shouldn't have and also accused me of harming you," she explained while still maintaining her composure.

Brissia's eyebrows furrowed. "What have they seen?"

She turned the doorknob to her room. Her gaze splattered with purple light as the door opened wide.

"Harris's fall."

Mrs. Olivia glared as Brissia suddenly preceded her in there and nudged her shoulder. With her hand outstretched to her, she shouted, "Brissia! It's not ready yet!"

She gritted her teeth. Her call was swallowed by the distance as Brissia ran further into the grayish white hallway.

"Ji! Nico! Where are you?"

Her face turned pale as there were only silence and bewildered expressions on the faces of those wearing blue uniforms. She just kept running, looking left and right, until she finally bumped into someone at the hallway intersection.

"Brissia?!"

She raised her head with a small grimace. A blonde girl was standing in front of her, looking at her with a hint of surprise, while a girl with dark ruby hair was following close behind, appearing to be in great surprise as she approached them.

"Gosh, we've been looking for you everywhere!" Debora hissed as she pulled Brissia's arm, taking her in another direction with the blonde girl. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Brissia replied, glancing around. "But why are they staring at me like that?"

Debora and Fayrl were silent, making Brissia sharpen her ears. One to two of the agents who crossed her and her two colleagues said the words "hall" and "Harris". She gave them a quick glance and noticed that they shared the same uneasy expression as the staff of the editorial office she had seen before.

"How fatally was Harris injured, by the way?"

"Unutterably fatal."

Fayrl glanced sharply at an agent who signaled her to stay away from Brissia. Then she continued, "You should see it for yourself when we get there."

Brissia walked in silence. She who was completely fine when Harris fell down the hall with her certainly would not spare her from everyone's suspicions and fears. And when the image of the teaching assistant who was injured while saving her replayed in her head…

"Did you enter the hall?"

She nodded slowly at Fayrl's question, causing her to snort with a slightly cynical expression on her face.

"I can't believe the person who recruited you didn't inform you of it, as if they were looking for a scapegoat."

"H-hey, Fayrl! Watch your words!"

Debora turned with a worried look at Brissia. "We've been warned not to enter the hall unless it's for official occasions, like welcoming new agents or commemorating the headquarters' anniversary. So, it's not entirely your fault, Brissia."

"Technically, she had lured him there."

As Debora glanced fiercely at the straight-faced Fayrl, Brissia stood between them. "I'm sorry, but... why did they forbid us?"

"An agent once fell from there into the river."

Fayrl's indifferent words sent shivers down Brissia's spine. She remembered seeing a dark river next to the building when she and Harris fell from a great height, which they had been prevented from falling into it by a mystical portal.

"They died?"

"Should have."

It stunned her. However, her attention soon shifted to a brown-haired man on the gurney as soon as the glass door in front of her opened.

The IV tube connected to his wrist and the nasal cannula that plugged his two nostrils sank Brissia's heart. She approached him slowly as her legs became weak.

Her gaze never left his face for a second. She longed to look into his warm, hazel eyes, but all she saw was a sleeping prince surrounded by medical equipment.

"Harris…"

Brissia's fists clenched on the edge of the bed. Harris opened his eyes slowly, glanced at Brissia who looked down with a somber expression on her face. Seeing the girl wasn't wearing a dark blue uniform, his heart was somehow filled with relief and guilt.

"Gabriel was right…"

Brissia looked up slowly.

Harris continued with a faint smile, "…You look prettier without that dark blue cloak, Brissie."