Whispers of Metal: The Forge of the One Mage

Well, new chapter, I hope you like it, you know, comment and leave power stones.

The bright lights filled my vision, like we were in the middle of a show of pink lights. The ride was so bumpy that, even though it only lasted a few seconds, I felt like I was going to throw up at any moment. It felt like we were about to crash into the ground.

My head was spinning, and for an instant, I felt my legs give out, but before I could fall, a force held me up. It was definitely Adrian.

"Are you okay?" Adrian asked as he helped me steady myself.

"Are you guys alright?" Nora exclaimed, looking worried and a bit dizzy, but not as much as me.

"Ugh… I am, just give me a moment" I said while Adrian held me up. But as he was supporting me, I ended up throwing up on his shirt.

Damn, I'm a mess right now.

"Let me fix that" he said, though I wasn't sure how, given that he still had that pink plate on his face.

"Connie!" Nora shouted as she rushed over to help me too.

Adrian pointed at me with his index finger, and I began to glow white. The nausea slowly started to fade away, and the vomit on both my shirt and his vanished as well.

"Feeling better?" he asked. I just nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed by the whole scene, while Nora sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry about this, guys," Nora said, sounding a bit sad as she referred to where we had ended up.

"Don't worry, despite everything, the trip was exciting" I told her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Adrian was more direct, ruffling her hair as he said, "Don't worry." Nora blushed slightly and quickly moved his hand away from her head.

I stood there, watching Nora and Adrian for a moment, before deciding to speak.

"So, where exactly are we?" I said, spreading my arms and gesturing around.

"I don't know, and I also don't know why this disobedient lion brought us here" Nora replied, first with a worried tone, then shifting to a more playful voice as if talking to a pet. She pointed at the lion, who was now lying on the ground, calmly dozing off after the journey.

"Well, we should probably explore and figure out where we are" Adrian suggested, removing the pink plate that Nora had put on his face with her powers.

"You're right" I quickly agreed.

When Nora saw Adrian take off what she had put on him, she spoke up. "Hey, and who decided that your punishment was over?" Nora said pouting like a child, referring to the crystal plate she had placed on Adrian earlier.

Adrian rolled his eyes, his tone more relaxed now. "I did, right now" he said, as if challenging her.

Nora gave him a look that seemed to accept the challenge, while I felt a bit left out, though I didn't say anything.

With that, Nora's right hand turned pink, and pink muzzles started appearing all around her, aiming to stick themselves onto Adrian's face, but he dodged them with ease.

"Hey, it's not fair if only you get to attack" Adrian shouted, and out of nowhere, a machine gun appeared, shooting confetti… and cake? Since when did everything get so weird?

Nora started laughing. It looked like they were having a lot of fun.

It seemed like Adrian wasn't able to beat Nora at this game, so he called out "Connie, a little help?" while dodging one of the muzzles and offering me a machine gun identical to his.

"Traitor" Nora said, glaring at me as I accepted the weapon, and soon the muzzles were chasing after me too.

"Hahahahaha!" My laughter was genuine as I started firing cakes. In a moment of distraction, I got hit in the face by one of Adrian's cakes.

"Mm, tastes like lemon" I muttered quietly.

Nora started laughing too, though she seemed to be holding it in.

"Hahaha, you should see yourself in a mirror," she said, snapping her fingers as a mirror appeared beside me. I looked at my reflection and thought, "Oh, so that's how we're playing now."

While Adrian was still laughing, I gave Nora a look, and without any words, we agreed on a truce.

I lowered my weapon slowly as Adrian kept laughing. Nora prepared the muzzles and other constructs, and Adrian seemed to notice, dodging them. But he wasn't ready for my surprise shot.

Now, he had apple pie smeared all over his face, and Nora and I burst out laughing.

Nora seemed to regain her composure and said, "Alright, that was fun, but we need to figure out where we are" as she cleaned off the cakes that had landed on her. I did the same.

Adrian spoke up then. "Oh, don't worry about that. It's all just illusions" he said, referring to the mess, which slowly disappeared as if it had never been there.

"What do you mean, illusions? I tasted the cake" I argued, looking for an explanation, and Nora seemed to have the same thought as she gave Adrian a questioning look.

"Well, my illusions mimic reality itself, but they don't cause any permanent effects… yet" he said, but that last part left me feeling a bit… uncertain? More like confused.

"Well, all I see is a show-off who couldn't take his punishment" Nora said as she playfully slapped Adrian's back and messed up his hair.

"Isn't that right, Connie?" Nora asked me. I hesitated for a moment, then thought, screw it. "Yes, a show-off who can't take his punishment" I replied with a smile.

"Injustice! All I see are a tyrant and a double agent" he said, feigning dignity, playfully puffing out his chest as he fixed his hair.

"Alright, we really need to figure out where we are" Nora said, switching to her serious mode.

"Yes, captain" Adrian and I replied in unison.

Now that we were focused on our surroundings, we could see a stone platform with a rose symbol. Nora seemed to observe the symbol closely.

She summoned a pink shield for some reason. Ah, now I see. The symbol on the shield is the same as the one on the platform.

Adrian looked unfazed by this, almost as if he already knew or expected it.

"Guys, doesn't this symbol look exactly like the one on my shield?" Nora asked, more to confirm what we had all seen than anything else.

"Yes" I answered.

"Mmm, of course," Adrian said, comparing the two symbols.

"I don't know where we are, but this is my mother's symbol. Pearl explained it to me when I was younger, so we might be in one of the Gems' resistance bases" Nora explained in detail.

"Nora, may I?" Adrian asked, and neither Nora nor I knew what he meant.

Adrian guided Nora to the center of the symbol, which glowed with a pink light, and a small pillar emerged from the floor with a hand-shaped indentation, like a control panel.

I couldn't help myself and grabbed Nora's hand, placing it on the control.

"W-wait!" Nora said, but it was too late. Her hand was already on the control, and it briefly lit up.

Nora tried to pull her hand away, but it seemed stuck.

"Sorry" I said sincerely.

"Hahaha" Adrian laughed at her.

"Yeah, very funny, now help me get out of here," Nora said, sounding a bit exasperated. I was about to help, but Adrian beat me to it.

"Whatever you say, captain," he said with a tone of fake respect, making me laugh too.

Adrian and I pulled on Nora to try and free her, but it seemed like we were unintentionally tickling her.

"Hahahahaha, stop it! Hahaha, I said stop!" she laughed, catching her breath. "That's better" she said once we stopped, but as soon as she stopped laughing, another pillar rose from the floor and revealed…