*Layla's POV*

San looked at me with furrowed brows, a smear of my blood marking his forehead. "Will this work?" he asked.

I pressed on the cut on my hand, forcing more blood to flow out. "Don't underestimate magic. How do you think I got here?"

"But we're on the first floor. They even gave us the room key."

After I coaxed San into showing his powers to the researchers, they made several changes. They moved us to more comfortable rooms, returned our original clothes, and allowed us to roam on the first floor. Clearly, they realized that leaving was only a matter of time for us. So, their strategy was to make us comfortable.

"Does it make sense for us to wander around at midnight?" I asked while concentrating, feeling the Atma—pure energy—starting to interact with the Atma from my blood. "Besides, there are a lot of surveillance cameras. I don't like being watched."

San tilted his head, trying to see the bloodstain on his forehead. "How does it work?"

I waved my wounded hand, and the blood on my hand and San's forehead started to glow with a bluish light. Slowly, the blood evaporated, turning into blue light particles floating around the room. "Are you ready?"

"Will this work?"

This time, I didn't answer. I grabbed his arm, opened the door, and ran down the corridor. We passed one or two guards at each corridor's end, in the main hall, and in the stairs or corridors leading to the elevator. They couldn't see or hear us. With the magic activated, that was possible.

I did this every night. Removing the handcuffs and unlocking every security door was easy. If I wanted it, I could have found San on the first day. But it wasn’t the right time. So, every night, I spent time exploring, mapping out the entire facility in my head. Every hidden room. The guards' schedules, and the blind spots of all the surveillance cameras. Usually, I would go to the file room on the second floor and read all their research results. Most were just simple data and hypotheses. Nothing special. Nothing was helpful. But because of that habit, I found a special place in this facility.

The corridor was narrower and unguarded. At the end, there was a stairway with a closed iron door at the last step. The door wasn’t locked either. I opened the door and passed through it.

The night wind immediately hit us, tossing my hair. The place was the roof—a flat, square-shaped quite spacious area. The night sky stretched beautifully above us, displaying a thousand stars some were covered by clouds.

I released San's hand and walked to the center, closing my eyes to enjoy the piercing night breeze.

San walked and stopped beside me. His face looks tired, but also awestruck.

"Listen," I said. "From now on, you have to bring me here every night. Next time, you should pick me up with teleportation."

San didn't answer. His eyes were still fixed on the view of the sky. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what?"

"Earlier, you tried to kill me. Now you're being nice."

I laughed. "You really think I would kill you?"

"I don't know. You're not doubtful at all"

"Of course I am. What if you killed me instead?"

San fell silent.

"I'm not a good person, you know."

"Then why are you being nice to me?"

I walked a few more steps, thinking about what answer I had to give. "Maybe because I owe you."

"Owe me what?"

"A debt because you did the same for me." I turned and our eyes met. "Now tell me, what do you want to know?"

***

I was nine when I first met him, a boy only a year older than me but more sensible than he should be. Mother brought him to me one day. After that, Mother never came back.

Mother always came every night, bringing food and leaving money for me. She always asked the same thing every day—about what I saw. Then, I would tell long stories about everything I saw that day. About the other children throwing stones at the house. About the old lady struck by lightning after I warned her two days earlier, or about the summer storm I also told them about before.

Later, I realized that wasn't the answer Mother wanted.

The boy, older than his age, took over Mother's role after that. With some cash I had, he bought a lot of food supplies for a month. He was good at cooking delicious meals. Every morning, he always did various jobs for money.

In winter, when others didn't have enough money to provide jobs, he taught me to steal. We always went to the carnival at night, running through the cold air and the people shopping. Our hands were trained to grab things while running—jewelry or some peculiar items to purchase, either food for us to eat at night or during the day.

Three months after the boy came, I had a vision. I saw my village burning and a boy who was smiling before running into the flames.

One year since he came, that vision came true. The last time I saw him, he was smiling.

Someone took me after that, forcing me to learn magic. For the first time that night, I have done magic, opening a portal to Solaris.

***

San sat cross-legged beside me, his brows furrowed as I explained everything I knew about Enigma. How that power had existed since the land of Solaris split into two, appearing in the form of one Weaver in each generation. How that power worked with a mysterious cycle. If the previous owner used the Enigma power to destroy, the next owner would use it to rebuild.

I also told him that the previous owner was born in the rebuilding cycle—a piece of information that apparently made him quite worried.

"That's all I know," I said while stretching my body.

San was silent for a long time afterward, bowing and staring at his fingers. "Mala said the same thing," he muttered.

"What?"

He looked at me with a serious face. "About my power. She also called it Enigma."[]