The Plane

“Are you okay?”

Cold shifted her gaze around the landscape in front of her.

“I... I think so. I'm kind of scared.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Nervously tonguing her lips, Cold tried to make sense of the sensation of foreboding which seemed to have accompanied her birth into this world.

“Do you know what's happening?”

“No.”

Cold shuddered. Something was about to happen. Something... bad? No, that wasn't quite right. Something... dangerous. A challenge.

And it was happening now. Right now. With a shriek, Cold backed away from her current position, under which the ground had just taken on a pale shade of red. Moments later, its color saturation intensified drastically, only to then fade entirely.

Although she had felt nothing from the process right in front of her, Cold knew that residing within the area at the time it lit would have resulted in her immediate death.

“We have to dodge it.”

Cold nodded. This time, with her eyes focused on the ground, she noticed the color change ahead of time, and quickly stepped into an unaffected location. Ready to repeat this maneuver, Cold awaited a third strike, but it didn't come. Instead, a slowly spinning orb emerged from somewhere ahead of her. Just like the enchanted areas prior, its color changed from pale to deep red, and it went on to flip between them with consistent frequency. This lasted a few seconds, then the orb sprouted rays which followed the same color progression. The rays went far beyond Cold's position, which made it so the orb's rotation forced her to step over the rays during their pale state. It was a fairly easy task, but the looming penalty for failure was threatening enough for Cold to dedicate this exercise her undivided attention.

Less than half a minute into the task, the orb disappeared entirely, and Cold could feel the danger fading.

“Is this a game? Are we being toyed with?”

Cold swallowed. “I have no idea.” She looked around, trying to make sense of what she saw. It was a large hall of sorts, or a plane. Below and above her, everything was blue. It was impossible to tell whether or not the place had a ceiling.

“Do you know anything?” she asked.  “Anything... else about this?”

“I'm... well, I don't think I existed until right now. I don't have my own body and seem to be tied to you, but I have a separate mind. That's pretty much all I know.”

“Can you listen to my thoughts?”

“No, you have