"Please tell me you're still alive." It was the first thing Theo could hear when he regained consciousness. In response, he could only let out a whimper as he tried to get up from the ground, achieving it only halfway. Kneeling next to him was the mysterious young man who had entered his apartment that night. Like him, he was entirely soaked, and, to his relief, his eyes had returned to their original color.

"Are you all right? Does anything hurt?" said the young man as he examined his face grabbing him by the chin.

“I think I hurt my head..." He replied in a state of confusion. "There's no other explanation for what's going on," Theo thought, "other than that I've gone mad." 

The young man ran his fingers through his wet hair and clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"This is why I don't like using the portal. Here," he said, threw a towel at his face, and walked away, leaving Theo alone in that spacious room. He took the opportunity to inspect the place. In front of him, barely a meter away, there was an old mirror, judging by the details of the frame, where the trail of water started from. Besides the elongated table, which integrated the kitchen into the living room and whose surface was filled with dishes stacked on top of each other, there were no other signs of someone living there.

Theo, hastily, got up as he could and began to look for a way out of that room. He didn't even know how he got there, and he was less than interested in knowing why. The important thing at the time was to find the door and escape before his kidnapper returned from wherever he had gone. He was about to get desperate when he saw it turning down a hallway. A large gate with several latches of different sizes throughout its length. He rushed toward it and unlocked each lock as quickly as his nervousness allowed him. He opened the heavy door with difficulty and hurried down the stairs of what appeared to be a building.

The adrenaline in his system was at its peak when he saw the main entrance, already on the ground floor. However, when he set foot outside the place, he noticed something peculiar about the buildings surrounding it. He had never seen that part of town before. Honestly, he’d never seen anything like it. Frozen in his place, he contemplated the buildings whose styles were a mixture of Baroque and 20th century. They became more imposing as he looked up at what seemed to be the epicenter of that modern city. He looked around and perceived several glances fixed on him. Soaked as he was, he approached a woman passing by.

"Excuse me," said Theo, trying to sound as calm as possible. "Can you tell me where I am?”

The woman, after looking at him from head to toe, hesitated before answering him.

“This is Lumicht, " she said with a confused expression on her face. Since she saw Theo's unsettled gaze, she spoke again. "Are you lost? Do you need help?”

Theo didn't know what to say. Should he tell her they were chasing him? Call for help? But what if she thought he was crazy? In his head, he began to wander and think of the various reactions that his story could generate.

On the other side of the sidewalk, a person watching him pulled him out of his thoughts. Was his sight deceiving him? Maybe it was his disastrous appearance that drew so much attention. When he directed his gaze back to that person, it caught him unprepared to see them smiling at him. "Not today," Theo thought. He had to go.

"No, I'm fine," Theo replied quickly to the woman. “Thank you.”

He had to think of something. And fast. He turned around to the building he came from. Anywhere seemed better to him than out there. He couldn't stop feeling persecuted. As he opened the main door, he found the figure of the young man looking at him agitated and with restrained anger.

“What the hell are you doing?" he looked at him furiously and grabbed his arm to drag him in. Already in the apartment, if you could call it that, the young man sat him on one of the high chairs he had seen before and sat beside him.

"Don't you dare do that again," he said to him now seriously. His situation was so implausible that he had almost given up to go against it. He just needed to know why he was there. And who that young man, who seemed too carefree and jovial to be a murderer, was.

"Sorry?” Theo hesitated before answering as he watched the young man sigh with relief.

“You'd better be," he replied in a better mood. He lifted the locks of his hair again and began to disinfect the wound that Theo had near his eyebrow. "I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you weren't here,” said the young man, half a smile on his face. Theo didn't know how to react.

"So... you're not going to kill me?" Theo asked, looking at him sideways.

He stopped what he was doing and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"What made you think that?"

“I don't know, maybe the fact that you broke into my apartment in the middle of the night," said Theo, looking back at him with the indignation that the young man had directed at him. “Or that you're holding me hostage and won't let me go?”

When he finished speaking, the young man looked at him in astonishment.

"First of all, don't you think that if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't bother treating your wound?" he said, standing up. "And I didn't kidnap you, I saved your life. You're welcome.”

Theo watched as the stranger walked away and came back with a change of clothes in his hand.

"Then," Theo had begun saying before the young man threw his clothes on him, interrupting him. "Can you stop throwing things at my face?"

"Sorry," he said with a forced smile on his face. "You were saying?”

"I don't even know your name.” Theo sighed. "Mine's Theo."

“Yeah, I know. I'm Hayden, a pleasure,” he said doing a theatrical bow.

"Wait, what? How do you know my name?” said Theo, more disoriented than before. "Would you mind explaining what the hell's going on, Hayden?”

Hayden took a deep breath.

"It's complex," he said, taking off his wet t-shirt to put on the one he had brought. Theo averted his gaze and quickly placed a hand in front of his eyes. Several seconds later, when Hayden laid his eyes on him again, he said smiling, "You can look now.”

When he did, Hayden had his eyes fixed on him, entertained with his reaction.

“And?" he said firmly. "You didn't answer me."

“You should change your clothes. You'll catch a cold, ” said Hayden adjusting his belt.

“Not until you answer me." Theo challenged by folding his arms. He was getting tired of not understanding anything about what was going on.

"I'll tell you after you've changed your clothes.” Hayden wasn't going to give in to his attacks that easily either.

“That's not fair,” he protested, rising from the chair. "I said it first."

“Life is not fair,” said Hayden with superiority. "Come on.”

If it wasn't for him wanting to get home as soon as possible, Theo would have left immediately. But he couldn't. Not in an unknown city. And at least not until he got the answers he wanted.

“All right," he said, dragging his words. "Where can I dress?"

“Right here,” said Hayden without hesitation.

"Hell no. I need privacy," said Theo with a frown. "Where's the bathroom?"

“And leave you alone so you can escape? I don't think so."

“I'm not going to escape," said Theo with an ounce of despair in his tone of voice. Hayden raised an eyebrow slightly and placed a hand on his hip. He wasn't going to move from there. Theo barely controlled his impatience. "Fuck it," he thought.

"Can you at least turn around?” he said.

Hayden looked at him with no expression on his face and finally said, "Okay. But do something to let me know you're still here.” And he turned his back on him.

"You could start to explain how we got here," said Theo as he put on the trousers that Hayden had brought him and rolled them up because otherwise, he was going to step on it as he walked. "How does exactly the "portal" you named work?”

Hayden didn't respond, he just ran his fingers through his hair. "Can I turn around?” he asked.

Theo consented after putting on his sweatshirt and covering his necklace with it. Hayden approached him and gestured for him to sit next to him again. When he did, Hayden started talking.

"It can be hard to believe. But I will try to explain it to you as simply as I can, okay?” said Hayden slowly. Theo only nodded to his unexpected seriousness. "Imagine a coin. Suppose on one side is the Earth, where you live. You have your own sun, moon, and constellations. Now, when you turn it around, you can see a completely different side. We call that world Odsevia. That's where you and I currently are. Both realities share time and space. And in order to go from one world to another, you need a portal.” Hayden paused and guided him to the mirror Theo had seen before. "The most common way is to use one of these mirrors. But technically any surface that's big enough to reflect your whole body works. That's why we used your bathtub.”

Theo admired the mirror trying to understand, not very successfully, everything Hayden had told him. "I should have paid attention to the physics classes," he thought without being able to wipe the frown from his face, which arose every time he became self-absorbed in his thoughts. He couldn't believe him. He didn't want to believe him. But it all fitted together. And it wasn't just in his mind. Everything that had happened the day before did, with the man at the Café, with Hayden in his apartment, with everything.

"Are you all right?” said Hayden worried, taking him out of his state of shock, as he placed his hand on his shoulder.

"For now, yes,” said Theo not very convinced.

“Look, Theo, do you believe in magic?”

"Well, now I don't have a choice,” Theo said, turning his gaze to him. "What are you getting at?"

“My point is that magic is part of Odsevia. Here one is born with the power to manipulate it."

“So you're a sorcerer?" interrupted Theo, leaning on the wall next to the mirror carefully.

"Yes…” Hayden looked at him restlessly. "Do you need to sit down?"

“No, no. It's just... it's a lot to take in,” he said with a blank stare. "Just give me a minute”.

Two knocks on the door made Hayden look away from Theo.

"I wasn't expecting visitors." He stepped away from the mirror and walked several steps to the door. Silence. He went back to where Theo was and asked, "Did anyone recognize you outside?"

“Maybe…” Theo couldn't help but feel guilty. 

“Shit," Hayden said, and began to look for something in the next room. "We don't have time. Follow me." Theo remained by his side until they left the place by some stairs, others than those he had used to escape and, judging by how dirty they were, not much used. "Don't do anything to attract attention," said Hayden as they walked down the main street.

They remained silent for a while until Theo regained his attitude of curiosity about the new information.

“So, you can do magic?” He said much more recomposed. "How do you do it?"

“I was born with the power. But I can't use it for long periods of time. No one can.” Hayden sounded tense but still continued to explain to Theo. "It drains you physically and mentally. To handle it correctly you only need to know the spells.”

Out of nowhere, Hayden pushed him into a space between two buildings and tried to cover him with his arm, resting close to his head. "Don't make a sound.”

From the corner of his eye, Theo could see a group of people passing quickly almost next to him, and then disappearing around the corner.

"We have to be careful.” Hayden moved away from him and rested relieved against the wall.

“Be careful of what?” Theo demanded to know. He's never felt as agitated as he did that day.

“Of the people who are following you,” he said, nailing his light brown eyes to him.

"Who are they?” Theo asked. "Are they from here too?"

“Yeah, they're deserters.” Hayden took an artifact similar to a cell phone out of his pocket and started typing something on it. "They want something you have."

“The necklace?" said Theo, the panic taking hold of him little by little. "Why?"

“I don't know very well. The only thing I could find out was that it appears to be an ancient relic,” he said and looked up at him. "It is said that it allows you to get unlimited magic. A lot of people are looking for it."

“And why aren't you?" said Theo nervously as he watched Hayden put his cellphone back in his pocket and straighten up. He took a long time to respond.

“Actually, my intention is the opposite.”

"What do you mean?" Theo muttered, almost holding his breath because of Hayden's advance.

"I intend to destroy it.”