Pantalaimon nestled up into Lyra's furs to protect his eyes from the bright sky light, as him and Lyra stepped through the Aroura. But the thought of stopping Lord Asriel, and if it was a good idea, still hung in the back of his mind. Still walking, Lyra glanced down at Pantalaimon, she knew what he was thinking, and he knew she didn't like what he was thinking. This was her big idea, stopping Lord Asriel from destroying Dust: the two would be heroes. He gave his companion as quick smile, to reassure her that he didn't mean to offend her, but was just worried about the consequences of him and her traveling to another paradox. And what could be waiting on the other side?
Then something strange happened two the two travellers, which was, or had also happed to Lord Asriel and his daemon too. It was a strange, peculiar feeling that neither had ever felt before. A tingling feeling buzzed in their minds, and then their thoughts between the two were blocked, what one another thought didn't transfer, and for once in in their lives they had some time to think for themselves and not have the other interfering .The companions knew this wasn't a permanent thing, but would only last until they reached the end of the Aroura; which could be many more minutes. Pantalaimon in his deep reddish ferret form, decided to take the short time to discuss with himself his own opinions, without Lyra looking down on him.
He knew he loved Lyra very much, and couldn't think of his life without her. But the problem with her was that the two thought very differently and didn't have the same opinions on people and life and the decisions the two should make. Unfortunately for Pantalaimon Lyra was the human and he was not, her opinion was always the right one, and his was just disregarded- this annoyed him very much. He knew he could change this; it just wasn't the way of life. Another thought that crossed Pantalaimon's mind, was if other daemons thought in the same way he did. Surely many of them disliked their companions decisions, and how the human got to the leading one out of there partnership.
Lyra also took this time to think, she still worried about the form Pantalaimon would settle as. She knew how much Pantalaimon enjoyed swimming around as a dolphin, what if he stayed that way and she had to be like that old man, living on a boat for the rest of her life? This worried her very much, she couldn't be like that, she had so many ambitions. Was that a selfish thing to think? She just didn't know. Something else that annoyed her was how she loved to go on wild adventures (like the one she was starting at that very moment), and Pantalaimon always wanted to do the opposite: he was scared that they would get hurt or captured. How could they think so differently?
Then the strange tingling sensation appeared once again in the youths head, and then their minds merged back together and the pair could once again, be one. The pair looked at one another, although it was nice to be apart, it was also nice to back together.
Then Lyra's boot sunk into the thick snow of the north, and a cold breeze brushed past Pantalaimon's fur and Lyra's hair. Although their surrounding looked the same, they were no longer in the world they were born in, but in another, another so strange, but also so familiar. Pantalaimon could sense that something was so different to his home world, but he didn't know what it was, and nor did Lyra.
The question that troubled the pair could only be answered by one thing- the golden compass. Pantalaimon watched as Lyra reached into her pocket for the object, and held it in front of him and her. She asked it the question, but the needle just spun: not stopping at any point. How could this be? Pantalaimon stared at the compass in deep thought, then realised why it didn't work.
"Lyra, we're in a parallel world, in this world the compass may ever have been created, it worked in our world, but in this one it doesn't. It Useless." Pantalaimon said. He also secretly smiled, knowing he had worked it out before his partner.
Lyra frowned, and shoved the compass back into her pocket, angrily. The two knew that maybe this wasn't the best of ideas, but there was no turning back. The Aurora had closed, and they were stuck in another paradox. Pantalaimon desperately wanted to say 'I told you so' but she couldn't do that to his companion; he knew she was very sensitive and would have hurt her feeling greatly.
Suddenly a familiar sound filled the air, but the young traveller didn't know where it was coming from. Pantalaimon, feeling quite scared, hid under a warm layer of Lyra's furs. She looked down, and rolled her eyes at the small ferret-he could be so frightened at times, when there was no need to. Lyra knew exactly what the sound was coming from, and it soon hit Pantalaimon what it was too. But when it came into view, it wasn't what they were expecting…