“seier detected,” I heard an artificial deep voice of a machine, “new owner acknowledged!” That wasn’t all. “PASSWORD,” it said. Loud and clear, this voice was coming from each direction.

  “What password?” Puzzled I asked.

  “PASSWORD…accepted” there was a clicking sound. Immediately, a large hologram of horned skull turning on its center within a ring of black fire appeared in front of me. Yeah..when I said nothing could surprise me anymore, I was wrong.

  That machine was loading. Red. The black nothingness turned red, a siren followed suit. I had to close my ears with both my arms and still the ringing was unbearable.

  “Access denied,” it was that same mechanical voice.

  That didn’t sound so great. I tried to stand up and run. Too late. I fell.

  This time, the fall was longer, more painful too. The walls were rougher, tighter than before. It felt like some sort of water slide tunnel minus the water and it being fully perpendicular to the ground, if concept of ground even existed here. My hunch was telling me there was, at least there was a sort of gravitational pull.

  I was free falling, accelerating downward. The further down I went, the narrower the place became. It was getting uncomfortable. It had to stop. I stretched my legs, gripping onto the wall as I pushed my back against the opposite wall or whatever that thing was.

  All I saw were the illuminated parts of cylinder above me and darkness below. It hurt like hell. My bare feet and hands were great at creating the necessary friction, slowing my descent; unfortunately, all this friction was pulling at my skin, ripping it. It worked, I stopped.

  “Ouch,” it was that glowing ball, catching up to me, hitting me in my stomach, causing me to slide down a bit. It was gradual, but I felt it. I was slipping.

  “What now?” I thought.

  “Hey, you AI Siri thing,” I yelled, trying my best to grip onto the walls.

  It was dead quiet.

  “Hello?”

  “PASSWORD”

  Here it was.

  “Ok, ok. Hold on. All I need is a way out. Can you give me a clue? Isn’t there anything like a recovery security question or maybe…” my plea was cut off by the same alarm from prior. “So damn loud!” I cried, unable to close my ears.

  Silly me! I thought this was the worst it could get. Ha, oh my was I about to be proven wrong. Back then I didn’t know, something worse was coming. Rumbling. There was lots of rumbling! I felt walls vibrating. Whatever it was, this sound was getting louder. It sounded like water?

  Drip. A single droplet of water fell on the tip of my nose, making me look up. I was starting to miss the wailing sovereign of Pravi. This was too much. I closed my eyes. Last thing I remembered was plunging under the pressure of an incoming stream of water.

  I didn’t notice how my consciousness faded. Black everything was black.

  Meanwhile, the upper echelon of Pravi was in turmoil. Buzzing, yelling, and screaming on the verge of full-out physical confrontation; they, the immortalized humans, one by one materialized into existence. Each had their own chair levitating in a perfect circle formation around a single tree.

  Twelve chairs, there were a total of twelve, unique chairs floating around a translucent trunk of the world tree, its leaves aiming for the light above. Dazzling in said light was a golden chain wrapped around the branches. On it sat a cat with giant book within his paws.

  Chatter was echoing throughout the hall.

  “What now?” one of the ministers said, “not only was the sovereign of Navi murdered the heart of Navi was lost.”

  “I told you all, I told you, that human was a ticking time-bomb!” another interfered.

  The argument resumed, getting more heated by the moment. There was a single member quietly observing, looking through the written records of the past. “Quiet,” he said.

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  The hall was getting louder.

  Angered, his fur stood up as he arched his back, popping in and out of existence within the confines of the golden chain.

  Vizer, the overseer of three realms, the black cat, snapped, “QUIET!” He hissed. His voice resonated through every corner. All talking ceased.

  “You all know the rules as well as I,” he said, “She crossed the boundary and is outside our control now.”

  “What if she passes?” the youngest member of the council asked.

  “She isn’t worthy,” another interfered, “she will die.”

  “Sun Wu is right, she will die. Why even worry about some bug? We need to put all our efforts into getting the heart back…”

  Another voice chimed in, “I would like to use my given right as member of The Twelve to bring the sovereign of Pravi to court. I believe her actions undermine the balance of our realm.”

  The chatter resumed again. This time, the honorary members were ready to kill each other, each trying to prove their point, trying to out yell their opponent.

  “Q…” Vizer hesitated.

  The sovereign of Pravi was here.

  “Who dares take me to court?” she asked, coming from the dark corner of the hall.

  That quiet, gentle voice alone was enough to shut them all. None dared to say anything to her face. Mere seconds ago they were ready to tare her down, but when it came to action, nobody was brave enough.

  Walking from behind, she turned to face the stern man fixing his beard. “Don’t worry, Shakkanakku, you will get your share of souls,” she said with a smile. An otherwise gentle expression if not for the condescending eyes burning with anger.

  Keeping quiet, he almost choked on his saliva. That middle aged looking man was beginning to regret ever raising the question as to her qualifications.

  There was silence. Nobody wanted to face her wrath. Those honorary, mighty ministers were reduced to students avoiding their teacher’s gaze, not wanting to be called on to answer.

  “She doesn’t know the password. The short way is closed to her.” She scanned the room continuing her walk. “But all of you knew that already.” With snap of her fingers she lit the cigar in her hands. Something she always did to calm her nerves. Through a single puff wasn’t enough to make her any less threatening. She breathed out, filling the room with pungent, earthy smell of cannabis.

  “Yggdrasil will judge her. “

  The mention of world’s tree subconsciously forced everyone to look ahead of them. Between those glassy, reflective leaves, new shoots of reddish tint were getting ready to bloom.

  “Can she do it?” Was the question on everyone’s mind.

  Around this time, I started to wake up. My ears were ringing. Disoriented, I couldn’t figure out where I was. Then there was pain, a sharp sensation piercing my hands and feet, making me jolt. My skin was burning from pain, yet the coldness enveloping my body was worse.

  Dazed, scared I opened my eyes only to close them again as I breathed out some of the air. There were bubbles coming from my nose and mouth. I found myself, somewhere, fully submerged in water, ice cold water. Chaotically, I moved my arms. My feet brushed by something cold and slippery. Up, up…up I needed to swim up.

  My leg was cramping. Pulling the toes of that leg upward, I managed to relieve some of the pain, not solving it, only delaying. I wasn’t making any progress, I wasn’t moving up. The added weight from my waterlogged cotton shirt and pants was pulling me down, not to mention the weight of dagger and belt.

  Terror seized me. My lungs were craving for air. Harder, faster I swept my arms downwards. This wasn’t enough. I needed a strong kick to propel myself forward. Adrenaline took over. Ignoring the pain, I pointed my toes while keeping ankles relaxed, stretching out my body in a straight line. My lungs were burning, asking for a breath of air. I couldn’t think of anything else, but that. “Wait for it…keep it together,” my inner voice was trying to cheer me up, I was picking up momentum.

  It was effective. A bit more and I could have finally… Finally, I could have taken a deep breath in. Not giving up, I swam higher and higher. Heavy, something hit my head. Pushing me back. Then I felt a great deal of pressure on my chest. I wasn’t strong enough. Stinging, it was so sudden, water rushed into my nose. I was still trying to swim up. Panicking, my movements became disjointed. I wasn’t making any progress. I was sinking. Disregarding discomfort, I forced my eyes open. Dark, it was very dark.

  Choking sensation was overwhelming. I felt it becoming difficult to breathe in or out, not that it would have made a difference. The little air I had within my lungs was gone. My chance to gasp actual air was gone. Sudden, intense! It was that cramp. Instinctively, I touched my leg, attempting to massage the unwanted contraction away. Sinking, I was sinking. My conscience was fading. Cold, I shivered, it was very cold. I no longer felt any of my limbs. My muscles weren’t listening to me. I gave up.

  Was I hallucinating? My vision was too blurry. Have I died? I couldn’t tell anymore. Maybe, it would have been better for everyone if I did.

  “I am sorry,” I cried, “I let all of you down!”

  “Have you?”

  “Who are you?” I said.

  “Do you know who you are?”

  “You didn’t answer,” said a bit harshly, maybe, but I hated those elusive question dodgers.

  Louder he, whoever he was, screamed, “Answer me WHO ARE YOU!”

  Well, that escalated quickly. I couldn’t comprehend what was up with that tone and who or what that even was. Where the hell was I?

  “Mara…” I said, “Morana Kalinovskaya. Did that answer your question. Now answer mine..." I was cut off.

  “It shall be determined who you truly are. The trial by fire, water and brass pipes has begun!”

  “Brass what?” That was random. I had no clue what was going on. Did everyone experience this when they were dying? How could I talk in water? How could I breathe?

  My life was flashing before my eyes. I saw it so clearly: that day, a year ago, when it all started.