A girl wearing a flowy skirt and tank top appeared behind the trees. She smiled at them with her blue eyes and showed herself to them. “Hi!” she excitedly waved to the two. Her long, wavy hair moved with the wind and hit it with the sunlight, revealing her shiny raven hair.

“Nice, you must have been a good boy, and Santa gives you your early Christmas present, a friend,” Nova said while looking at the girl. “Hi!” she waves at her. “Just a precaution; he's accident prone,” she warned. Lucas turned his head toward Nova and gave her a furrowed look. Nova just pretended to be oblivious. The girl approached them with a smile and gave them a hug. 

“Oh, a friend. It’s been a while,” she said, then let the two go from the hug.

“Why? Don't you also have friends here?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, I have, but they left already. What I mean is that it's nice to have you guys here, although a bit sad,” she said. Nova just looked at her suspiciously.

“Why?” she asked.

“Oh nothing, I supposed Solari hadn’t given you a proper tour to Luminary.” She walks, then stops when she remembers something and faces them back again. “I forgot to introduce myself; I’m Kai. I live here and hope you enjoy your stay here, Nova, Lucas,” she said happily.

“How’d you know our names?” Nova asked.

“Oh, Solari told me. Let’s go?” Nova just nodded. Kai started walking, and the two followed. Lucas is looking at Kai and realizes.

“But... we never said our names to Solari,” he whispered to himself.

“Hey, what are you whispering over there? Don’t you dare think something stupid,” Nova threatened. 

“I’m not!” he denied. The three of them continued walking and ended up at the beach. The clear water was glistening in the summer heat. Kai ran towards the water and turned to face them. 

“Speaking of friends, I’d like to introduce you to Axl,” she said, gesturing her hands at the water but the two didn’t see anything.

“Where?” Nova asked. 

“Here,” Kai replied and pointed to the water.

“The sea?” 

“No! I mean, yes, I mean...” Kai sighed. It’s been a long time since she formally introduced Axl to the visitors. “Its name is Axl; watch.” She turned her back and smiled at Axl. “Axl! Greet!” she commanded. The two were still clueless about everything.

“I think she’s ment—AH!” a sudden burst of water hits them. It’s like a gallon of water just poured at them.

“Ugh.” Lucas coughed. The water just hit her face forward because she was focused on looking at Kai. Water entered her nose, and he tried his best to get rid of the itchiness because of what happened. On the other side, Nova is safe because she has to tilt her face to the side to avoid the impact.

“The heck was that?!” Nova asked.

“It’s Axl,” Kai explained. “Axl said hi.”

“I didn’t know you guys greet each other by pouring loads of water,” Lucas said while coughing and blowing his nose. Both of them recovered from the sudden water splash and faced Kai, but this time a water wave as tall as Kai was standing beside her.

“T-that’s Axl?” Lucas unbelievably asked. Kai happily nodded. “Cool!” He runs toward Axl and attempts to touch him, but another batch of water is thrown at him, making Lucas cough again. He opened his eyes, and Axl was now on Kai’s right side.

“It’s normally friendly but probably just acted because you guys are visitors. Axl is kind of a guard and is off limits until the 28th."

“Then why are we here?” Lucas asked.

“It’s fine; you guys are with me; no one can complain,” Kai said assuringly.

“Wait, are we going to ignore the fact that water is able to understand commands? What place is this?!” Nova confusingly asked.

“As I’ve said, we’re in the Luminary,” Kai said, stating the fact.

“I know that! Wait, is this just a dream?” Nova asked herself and tried waking herself up by slapping her face softly. 

“Uhm… ah.. Kinda?” Kai said unsurely. Lucas also started to question everything.

“A dream? But... it feels so real,” Lucas muttered to himself.

“Haha, enough with questions, guys, let’s go. To the next destination!” Kai announces, drags the two away from the sea, and starts walking. They entered a forest and walked into the deeper woods. After walking for almost 10 minutes, a trickling sound of water can be heard. Later, it is soon to reveal a beautiful spring. Lucas and Nova gasped in awe at the view.

“It’s beautiful. Another water; don’t tell me it’ll throw us water as well.” Lucas said. Nova then immediately covered her face, which made Kai chuckle. Axl might have left an impression on them.

“I agree that it’s beautiful, but don’t worry, it’s just normal water,” Kai explained.

“Just taking precautions. We don’t know; Axl might have had a brother or something.” Nova said. Kai chuckled.

“No, silly. I bought you guys here to have fun,” Kai said. Nova proceeds to admire nature, then Kai turns her head towards Lucas. “Hey Lucas, do you remember everything?” Lucas looked at her, confused. “I guess not. I’ll help you out of here.”

Suddenly, a group of people in black clothing arrived across the spring. Shock is visible in Kai’s face, and then she drags the two towards the big rocks to hide.

“W-wait, what?”

“Shh.” Nova’s question was interrupted.

“Bad guys?” Lucas guessed.

“No, but it’s going to be bad if we’re caught,” Kai whispered. She peeked and saw her fellow people, who looked like they were looking for something, perhaps someone. Kai became nervous enough to hold her breath and went back to hiding. “We need to get out before...”

“Kai.” Kai gets the shivers as she hears her name being called. She started raising her head slowly and met the eye of the owner of the voice. “H-hi, Clay,” she said, smiling nervously. Kai then stood up and nudged the two to stand up too. The two finally saw the guy who called Kai’s name. A tall, pale guy with slicked back hair with a few strands falling on his face, wearing a long black coat, was still looking directly at Kai.

“Escort them back to their huts, Kai. Now,” he sternly commanded. Despite his command, Kai remained at her place and slowly collected herself, gathering courage. Her attention was caught by Solari, who was just behind Clay, gesturing to her to just obey.

“No,” she declined.

“Solari,” he calls.

“Yes, I’ll escort them.” Solari went to them. “Let’s go back now, Lucas, Nova. Kai, go with Clay,” he said. They started walking when Kai spoke again.

“Solari no,” Kai stopped. “Just this one,” she begs, but Solari just avoids eye contact. 

“Don’t be stubborn, Kai; let’s go.” This time, Clay grabbed Kai by her arms and pulled her away from them. Kai resisted and forced his hands to let go of her. “Don’t resist, Kai.”

“I can walk, Clay; let go of me.” Meeting each other's eyes, he decided to let go of Kai and walked again. 

“There’s nothing you can do, Kai!” In a span of minutes, Kai managed to run towards Lucas and push him to the deep part of the spring. 

“Lucas!” Nova called.