In a moment, everything turned into a deep blue. A simple day with plans of lounging with the one he had been traveling with and growing closer to turned into chaos as a character who had built-up distaste for the pair snapped and flung them into the ocean below. Hands were still wrapped together, tighter than ever before just to ensure one was not lost from the other. The ocean water was freezing cold, and the shock took a lot of air out of his lungs. Douken acted fast to trace the Breathe rune upon his neck, letting him catch his breath before doing the same to Mazerine. He checked to see if she was okay, which for the most part, was suffering the same fate as he: freezing in the dark drink.

Breaking the surface of the water, Douken looked around, looking for any kind of shoreline, but alas, everywhere was a was of sky and sea. "Man, which way do we head?" He complained, checking left and right on where to head. However, what was not seen was a massive wave rolling high into the air until its shadow engulfed the pair, ensuring it was too late to even attempt to escape and crashed over them, turning their world from blue to black as the pair tumbled through the deep sea.

It was hard to tell how much time had past before Douken woke up, body washed over with aches and pain before an even more painful cough escaped his lungs. Sure, the rune saved his lungs from being flooded with water, but the trip itself was plenty of force to cause pain. After a moment, though, his eyes refocused to see Mazerine near by, laying on the beach they washed up upon. "M-Maz…" he tried to call out, but the aches prevented his voice from actually being very audible. Still, he pushed through the pain to pull himself over to her side, checking her over. It seemed she had the same luck, as when he got close, she too had a rough awakening.

"There you two are," rang in the air as a figure glided down upon them: a female humanoid with very decorative and designed wings with purpleish-pink skin that hinted with a bit of a sparkle, ears longer and sharper than any elf they had seen before, exotically bright blue eyes, and wavy blonde hair falling down to her hips. "The moment we noticed the spell, it was too late, and the two of you were thrown out of the ship. I followed the wavelength over to the other side, but that only lead me to the middle of the ocean. Luckily, another wavelength was traceable and led me here to you two." The voice and clothes were familiar, but nothing else.

"Um… Who are you again?" Douken forced out before coughing once again.

"Oh, right. You two never saw me like this. Allow me to fix that." With a wave of her arm, her features changed. Her skin turned more pale-tan, hair shifted to black, and the color of her eyes dulled out quite considerably… By the time the spell had taken full affect, it was clear who it was: The staff member who was in charge of the dojos.

"… That explains so much…" escaped his lips.

Mazerine let out a yell, though it was cut short as the pair hit the hard surface of the water, the cold and impact stealing the breath from her lungs. She gasped, though found it considerably easier to breathe once Douken had drawn the rune on her throat. The cold still took the breath from her lungs, but at least she didn’t have to worry about accidentally inhaling any water. She clung to Douken’s hand as best she could, surfacing and looking wildly around with him. “I don’t know,” she said, defeat clear in her voice as she realized that there was nothing to be seen around them but more of the sea.

“Maybe if we just try to swim in a straight line, we’ll make it to sh-” Mazerine’s words were cut short but the massive wave that encompassed the two of them. Though she could still breathe as the water pelted her face and body, the cold overwhelmed her and she soon lost consciousness.

Before she opened her eyes, Mazerine was somewhat aware that she was lying on sand. She could feel the roughness on her skin, and feel it sticking to her soaking wet clothing. She heard Douken’s voice, and soon she was sputtering. There was no water coming from her lungs, thanks to the rune that Douken had drawn on her, but the pain of being tossed around so violently while unconscious had certainly taken its toll. “Douken?” she asked, shoving herself up into a sitting position. Before she could say anything else, they were interrupted by the arrival of a new being.

Mazerine stared at her rather blatantly, attempting to discern who or what this thing was - it seemed to know them, and she was fairly certain she had never seen this… thing a day in her life. After Douken asked who she was and her appearance changed, Mazerine looked at her with even wider eyes when she realized who it was.

“Please tell me you’re going to punish that despicable lech,” said Mazerine, her voice still somewhat strained. The fae, now back in a form that Mazerine found to be much more familiar, nodded.

“Yes, my family - the rest of the staff on the ship, if you didn’t know… which I would prefer you kept to yourself - will be dealing with the… duke,” she said, pausing before speaking his title. “He has broken the rules of our ship time and again and has now put more than one of our guests in mortal peril. He will be dealt with accordingly.”

Mazerine expressed her pleasure at this comment, but did not speak just yet as the fae continued speaking to them. “You know… the Valley of Vada isn’t too far inland from here. We’ve heard that there’s some strange building and arena-type structure that has appeared. There are people flocking to it from all over,” she said, rather contemplatively.

Mazereine gave Douken a bit of a look before a somewhat pained smile spread across her face. “I mean… we’re already here. Maybe we should check it out?” She could tell Douken was hesitant, but in the end he agreed. Mazerine looked back to the fae. “How difficult would it be for us to delay our trip back to Iria without losing our belongings?” she asked.

The fae looked rather contemplative. “In theory, it’s not all that difficult. Your belongings can be safely held in Iria upon the airship’s arrival… but it’s getting the pair of you back to Iria that would be tricky. Of course, I am capable of doing such rather easily,” she said, trailing off somewhat. “If you were to hire my services, perhaps, I could be sure that these things happened. After all, we are a royal family… we just prefer to travel in an airship rather than lounge in a castle. We are used to taking odd jobs to pass our down time. I suppose this would be no different.”

Without missing a beat, Mazerine spoke up. “You’re hired!” she said, though she frowned momentarily. “Except… my money is back on the ship,” she said, trailing off. With a flash, the fae was gone, leaving Mazerine and Douken standing alone on the beach. Moments later, she had returned, holding each of their travel packs. She handed them to their respective owners. “Nevermind,” said Mazerine, and fished out her coin pouch. She handed it to the fae. “Take what you think is necessary,” she said, to which the fae did.

“You won’t be able to see me, and I won’t be able to see you… but I’ll know if you need me,” said the fae, and suddenly she was gone again - though this time, she did not reappear. Mazerine turned to Douken at that point.

“So this has been exactly the opposite of what I wanted today to be…” she said with a sigh. There was a path leading into the trees from the beach, to which she could only assume lead to Vada. “Well,” she said. “Shall we?”

"Maybe, but at least they are willing to cooperate with us and give Karma is just desserts," Douken was quick to comment, Mazerine giving a simple nod in return before asking if they should depart. "Yeah, standing around here would only help us get sick in this soaked clothes." As if on cue, though, the pair found themselves suddenly getting surrounded by tornadoes of flame, forging themselves inside their pillars. The walls were hot, but thin and far part to ensure they did not jump into it on accident, draining away most of the water stuck in their clothes, drying them out quickly, and warming themselves up. Not a perfect job, but enough for them to be able to handle themselves up to Vada. "Thanks, uh…" Douken stated, though unsure what to call their new hire.

"Jasdiin," echoed in their minds as a tear in the fabric of reality opened to show the fae's true arm, giving the pair a thumb's up.

"Right. Thanks, Jasdiin." With that, the arm pulled itself back in and closing the tiny gate before a chuckle escaping him. "Well, at least she's not as strict as our butler," he commented before the two headed down the road, using healing magic on themselves when they took breaks to fight off the pains from getting tossed about.

It took some time, but when the pair finally arrived in Vada, things were very busy, especially around the new tower that forged itself. Before they even stepped foot into their, the pair knew they had to better refresh themselves: Warm, dry clothing, food in their bellies, and making sure any damages left over (especially internally) were handled. During this time, though, their curiosity got the better of them and asked what was even happening at the tower in the first place. Apparently, it was an event being hosted by the Goddesses of Life and Death… Something that made Mazerine's eyes sparkle with curiosity, and he knew exactly why: the flower. However, when the actual challenges themselves were brought up, some of that light was a bit lost. Still, knowing them, it would not be enough to really stop them from trying.

"So then, which aspect should we tackle first?" Douken asked her while eating a meal of sandwiches with tea in a local cafe. "I mean, from what we have heard, Life and Death is not a starting place we can go to, if that even if the last trial."

Mazerine nearly screamed when the flame tornadoes surrounded them, until she realized that they did not seem to be harming the pair. She could feel her clothing and her hair drying rapidly from the whirlwind of heat. When the tornadoes subsided, her clothing was still slightly damp, but her hair had dried completely, the heat causing rather voluminous curls to have formed where her hair normally fell in loose waves. “Oh, no,” she said, rather annoyed, and reached in her pack for a strip of leather, which she promptly used to quickly braid her hair and tie the end off.

When the pair had made their way to Vada and gotten into dry clothing, they found out a bit more about what was happening. When it was mentioned that the Goddesses of Life and Death were both involved in what was taking place (what the fae had told them about), Mazerine’s curiosity was indeed piqued. The artifact that they had found back in Occultatum clearly had some connection to the goddesses, and when it had begun glowing the night before it had become even more curious. The excitement she had felt began to transpose itself into an anxious nervousness, however, as they learned more about the actual challenges that people were facing when they chose to get involved with the events the goddesses were sponsoring.

She took a sip of her tea, her eyes looking anywhere but Douken for a moment as he questioned her on what she thought they would be best off to attempt first. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, sighing rather heavily and setting her teacup down. She poked at one of the sandwiches in front of her. “I’m starting to think this might not have been the best idea,” she said, giving Douken a kind of awkward laugh and smile as she looked back at him. “But, we’re here - and we’ve gotten through some pretty… ridiculous things already,” she added. “What’s one more… welll… five more?”

Falling silent for a moment, Mazerine thought back on the information that had been given to them when they had first arrived in Vada. “Easiest first, maybe? That man that told us about the mazes, he said the one that focuses on Love and Life is the easiest, but takes the longest. We’re smart though… I bet we could get through it quickly.” When Douken didn’t object to her suggestion, the pair finished up their tea and sandwiches and made about going through the preparations that would be required for them to get through the maze.

When they made their way to the large, circular shaped building that the goddesses had erected, Mazerine stayed close to Douken as she was completely unsure of what was going to happen. The room held the stand that would take two orbs, and there were four orbs available to take. She picked up the Life sphere, and placed it in the stand. Next, she grasped the Love sphere and walked back to where Douken stood in front of the stand. She held it out to him. “Why don’t you do the honors?” she said, giving him a forced grin, preparing herself for whatever it was they would face when they were transported to the first maze.

"Right," Douken quickly replied, taking the love orb in hand before resting it upon the pedestal. The air remained still, causing him to look back at Mazerine to make sure it was done right. However, the moment he caught sight of her, the two orbs began to glow, before a ray of green from the Life Orb shot out to the Love orb, which it did the same in a pink color, almost as if testing heir compatibility with one another. Once acknowledged, emblems forged themselves underneath the apir's feet before whisking them away from the current area and the orbs moving back to where they were before for their next guests.

The pair were lost in a cloud of white for only a moment before a new world forged around them, leaving them in a tight corridor filled with silver, reflective walls, each one bouncing off an imagine of themselves and what the other mirrors thought were their guests. However, it was quick to get ignored as a glaze washed over the reflections, transforming the world's silver to… greenery? To Douken, the maze had turned itself into a countryside that rested near the mountains… It was his small home… and in it, a familiar face that he could recognize, but had never seen in person… After all, one can only see themselves in a reflection. However, it was clear that this was more of a younger self, probably around his preteens. Douken raised his left hand, and the young, reflection version of him raised his right. "Now this is something I did not expect," turning over to look at Mazerine… though it was almost as if he wanted to see how she looked younger.

However, as she stood next to him, there was no reflection of her own body, probably because he had no history with her until a while ago. That brought up a new thought, though. "Hey Maz, what are you seeing in the mirrors?" he asked her, waiting for her response. If his thought process was right, then the two should be seeing different worlds while they shared this one.

As the emblems glowed beneath Mazerine and Douken’s feet, Mazerine felt a slight pang of trepidation as she realized just how unaware they were of what they would be facing. The white cloud that enveloped them caught her by surprise, and she felt that bit of terror heighten ever so slightly. When their surroundings were visible once more, Mazerine realized they were surrounded by mirrors - mirrors that did not seem to be showing anything currently.

That did not seem to be the case for Douken, however - when Mazerine glanced over at him, all she could see was his reflection in the mirror - the reflection of who he was now and what he looked like now - but he was enamored with whatever it was that he saw in the mirror. She tilted her head slightly as Douken spoke of the unexpectedness of the scene before him, and she found herself rather curious as to what it was he was seeing.

She glanced back at her reflection in front of her, and froze mid-turn. It was still her, but it was different. She was a bit younger, and her hair was done up rather elegantly. She wore an elaborate gown, emerald (as usual) in color, with many different pieces of jewelry adorning her throat, wrists, and ears. She stood in a grand hall, the other folks behind her dressed in similar elegance. She let out a soft gasp, her lips parting slightly in amazement at what she saw before her.

To her side stood a woman older than she was, though the resemblance was certainly there. The woman had the same hair, the same eyes, even the same nose as Mazerine. Her eyes burned as she fought off the tears that threatened to fall. The smile that the woman in front of her wore was something she would never forget. To a human, it would seem to be an awfully long time ago - but to her, it felt like just yesterday that she had felt the stinging pain of loss that came with the death of her mother and brother.

As if on cue, a handsome elven man not much older than Mazerine popped into her view, opposite that of her mother - clearly her brother - and shortly after that, an older man - her father. The tears finally made their escape, flowing down Mazerine’s cheeks. The girl in the mirror - the somewhat younger reflection of herself - cried too, but the family around her rushed to comfort her, the girl in the reflection.

As Douken asked her what she saw, she turned to him, sadness in her eyes. “My family,” she said, her voice hardly above a whisper. She had spoken to Douken of her family in minute detail, but there was a lot of history that she had left out.

Douken was way too taken by the effects the mirror had. It mimicked him as it should, but at the same time, was off by the younger stature. The more he watched, the more curious he got. Next to his reflection was a net, but looking down, there was nothing. Still, his curiosity was peaked enough to pick up the net, and while he held nothing, he could feel the handle within his grip as the reflection swung it around when the real body performed the action. Could this be a part of the maze's puzzle?

The ring of Mazerine's words, however, caused him t lose his attention to it and look over, seeing Mazerine on her knees, tears filled in her eyes as her feelings overwhelmed her. Was her reflection a sad one? He did not know much of her story there, but it was still enough for him to have the reflection drop the net and head over to Mazerine's side, rubbing her back. "Its alright," he assured her, giving her a warm smile as the mirrors rippled. In each other's views, their younger selves were now together, though the other in each of them were translucent, as if spirits in the other's reality while the glow around their scene added a tinge of color.

"Hey, Dou!" echoed through the chamber to his ears, causing him to look up and around, until he caught sight of the cottage. Before the door stood a tall man with a well kept beard. "Supper's almost ready. Come on in and wash up!" Silence then haunted the chamber as he looked on, as if expecting something to happen. "Well?!"

"I–uhh… coming!" he called out, as if guessing the chamber wanted him to respond, but as he called out, it was his younger voice that replied, replacing his own to answer his father who nodded and headed back into the shack. "Maybe we should get moving?" he asked, his voice normal once more before offering a hand to get her back up, along with a shoulder to lean on if needed.

Mazerine finally tore her gaze away from the mirror as she felt Douken’s hand on her back. She looked up at him for a moment before turning back to the mirror where she saw the reflections had changed somewhat, a mirror image of a younger Douken now next to that of her, though the image projected of him was somewhat see through. She was incredibly confused, because as Douken appeared in the reflection, her family seemed to fade away.

She looked around when Douken called out, supposedly responding to something that he had heard, but she had heard nothing - moment’s later, however, she heard the distinct tone of her mother’s voice chiming out against the silence of the maze. “Come, now, girl! The ball will begin any moment! And you can’t come dressed like that!’ Mazerine found herself rather unsure how to proceed, but eventually decided to try a leaf out of Douken’s book and responded to the far off call.

“Right away, mother!” she said, her voice taking on the proper tone of speech that one would expect from a noble, with the intonations of a rather young girl. With a rather confused expression on her face, she took Douken’s hand as he reached out to her so she could stand. “Thanks,” she said, and it seemed her voice had returned to normal as well. She didn’t need to lean on him for support, but her hand lingered in his, as though she found comfort in it.

“Right,” she said, as he suggested that they got moving. “But I find myself a bit worried at what could happen in here,” she confessed. She reluctantly dropped her hand from Douken’s, and looked at the different directions the mirrored maze seemed to go in. “That way,” she said, making a decision and pointing to their left.

As the pair moved on, their reflections in the mirrors changed once again. This time, Mazerine appeared young once more, dressed in rather elegant attire - clearly dressed for the ball that the disembodied voice of her mother had mentioned before they had ventured into the maze. Douken, young as well, stood next to her, and he was, at least in the reflection that Mazerine saw, dressed in just as elegant of attire as Mazerine was. “This isn’t right,” she said, and turned to Douken to see if he was seeing the same thing she was.

Just then, her father appeared in the reflection. “Ah, Mazerine. I see you’ve found the piano tuner. He’ll need the key before he can continue,” he said, beaming at the pair. Mazerine looked confused, reflected in part by the younger version of her in front of them.

“I don’t know what he means,” she said, turning to look at Douken. This caused a strange reaction from her father’s reflection - it was as though someone had hit rewind, and the scene started over once again. Her father’s reflection shimmered away and reappeared.

“Ah, Mazerine. I see you’ve found the piano tuner. He’ll need the key before he can continue NOW,” he said. He beamed at the pair through the first part, though the last added word was shouted, his face darkening somewhat. Mazerine realized that in order for the pair to traverse the maze, she would need to play along so to speak.

“Um, yes, sir. Right away, father,” she said, locking her arm with Douken’s. The younger pair in the mirror reflected the action, and Mazerine’s father nodded.

“Carry on,” the reflection stated, and turned on his heels to walk away, fading from sight the further he got. Mazerine turned back to Douken.

“What the hell does that mean?” she said, looking completely dumbfounded. “Do we need to tune a piano?” It was clear that she was not thinking straight, that the sight of her family had been rather jarring for her.

As their scenes began to end, the scenery around them started to dull away until they almost looked like flat paintings with a reflective finish on them. However, this did not stop their reflections from moving as their younger selves as the two headed down the path they had available to them before reaching a fork. However, each path seemed more like a gate than anything else with each path dipping into darkness quite fast. Choices to be made, but not knowing what the results of each path could entail. All Douken could tell, at his point of view, was that one led to his home while the other was a long road that, if he recalled right, was one that they took to Iria. While they could take down separate pathways, Douken followed Mazerine to his home.

In his view, heading through the gate led the pair inside, though as young Douken remained the same, Mazerine's outfit shifted pretty dramatically. She wore a simple gown from the cloth that was readily available with no real decorations on her except a long necklace, decorated with an emerald charm. Her hair flowed down her back without much dressings to it, giving the born royal a much more commoner look to her.

"My, my, look what the boy dragged in!" an old cackle filled the room. "I knew adventure was in your blood, but who knew it went that far so young!" While this caused the younger Douken to blush in embarrassment, Douken himself could not help but smile. It had been so long since he had seen his kooky grandfather like this, even if he was often labeled as senile. Mazerine made a small comment, but she jumped at what seemed to be nothing? Well, it was nothing until she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, where her world began to mist over his own. Apparently, the large elven man before them demanded something from them before Mazerine asked about tuning a piano, of all things.

"Calm down," he told her, rubbing her shoulder with his free arm, seeing the distress in her eyes. "Things may be rough, but we need to get through it. You said we need to tune a piano?" Talk about a strange request. He could only really think of a couple places that had a piano before he got an idea. Well, a test at the very least.

"Calm down, grandpa. She's simply our neighbor, looking for the tuning key for the piano in the hall. She needs to practice for the festival next month." There was a minor pause  for a moment as Douken gulped in anticipation before his reality rippled a bit before his father reacted.

"Really? I hadn't realized it had been that long since the last one. Guess we should see about getting it topped off. Give me a moment." And like that, he watched his father's reflection walk upstairs as his mother began setting the table for dinner.

"I don't think its us that has to worry about tuning the piano," he told Mazerine, looking at her again. "instead, maybe its our reflections that need to ensure that the items need to get to where they should be."

"Still, bad choice hittin' it off with the piano girl. Whose music would you be dancing to anyways!?" The old man's cackle's filled his reality again.

"Grandpa!"