Lyra ate the rest of the slightly burnt rabbit paw she had gotten for breakfast. Tenebrus, as a quick and agile fox, had caught two hares in the forest, and then, Aurore had roasted them over the fire.

Now, the sun was high up, and as they finished breakfast, Lyra anticipated her second day of training. She was determined to accomplish what she had to, so she could read the alethiometer at last and get a few straight answers to all this.

"Ready?" Aurore asked, getting up.

The girl nodded, throwing aside the bone, which was picked up seconds later by a hungry raven. Pan climbed her long skirt and then her slightly dirty shirt, before firmly planting his claws into her shoulder. Tenebrus followed them, as they moved away from the dying fire and towards the stream.

Aurore turned around and faced his student.

"Alright. . .so, Pan, please move aside, and we'll begin." He said, nodding lightly and the pine marten.

Lyra watched her daemon jump to the ground, and couldn't help but notice how Tenebrus, currently in a falcon form, seemed nervous. He was sitting on a low branch, stepping from foot to foot, rustling his wings restlessly. The girl tried to ignore him and turned to her teacher.

"So, do I do the same as before?" She questioned. Aurore nodded curtly.

Lyra closed her eyes, and concentrated. She visualized the golden Dust all over herself, and gathered it in three places: her forehead, her chest and her stomach. Then, she scowled, imagining the Dust was agitating itself furiously.

She let it bristle in her mind, before suddenly releasing it all.

But this time was different from the first: this time, instead of just letting go in her imagination, the Dust actually released itself from her.

Lyra gasped, eyes flying open, as a terrible cold shot through her. For a few seconds, she could actually see the Dust particles of ever living thing around them.

She saw it falling in golden waterfalls over the trees, saw it surfing the stream and saw it bristling in the wind. But something attracted her attention; she turned her head to Tenebrus, and screamed.

There was a storm of Dust, swirling like a wild ocean all around the daemon. It was so thick she could just barely make out its falcon form.

Then, she turned to Aurore and saw he had the exact same torrent of golden particles flying around him savagely.

Pan came running at her, crying her name, and saw he was also covered in same, terribly thick storm of Dust. But then, Lyra felt heavy, as if she weight as much as the world, and she fainted suddenly.

She didn't see the victorious smirk on Aurore's face, as he came running to see if she was alright.

(0)

With a roar, Equinox pelted through the air, Solstice following him closely. Will was lying on the female daemon, hugging Kirjava, praying he would survive this, as Aurora rode her own beast with absurd ease.

They were buffeted slightly by a gust of wind, and Will felt his heart skip a few beats. They had been flying like this for the past three hours, and still, sudden changes of movement like these scared him a bit.

And very suddenly, both daemons stopped in midair, flapping their huge wings as hard as they could to slow down. Will dared to open his eyes, and before they disappeared into the trees of a dense forest, he saw what was unmistakably Oxford, a few decencies before his time.

But then, the trees hid the city from view and they landed heavily onto the pine-covered ground. Aurora sighed softly, as the boy rested his head against the griffin's neck, relaxing.

"Will. . ." Aurora was going to say something, but just then, she stopped abruptly and looked up. The boy sent her a look, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" He followed her gaze into the air, but didn't see anything in particular.

Aurora was frowning deeply, following something invisible in the sky. Will waited for her to talk again, knowing something important was happening that he could sure not see. The girl suddenly looked over at him.

"We must hurry. My brother is a step closer to getting what he wants." She told him.

Will blinked. "How do you know?"

Again, she looked at the skies.

"I see Dust, unlike most people. So does my brother. Both you and Lyra have a very high concentration of the particles, and so do Aurore and me. Therefore, if any change happens to that concentration, say, that it is released suddenly, all the Dust of the world reacts to that. You can't see it, but the particles that drifted in the sky slowly suddenly flew towards one direction like a torrential river. I think my brother managed to get Lyra to release a bit of her Dust."

Will scowled.

"Is she alright?"

Aurora looked surprised for a moment, and then she smiled.

"Yes. The Dust in the skies is flowing normally now. I think she regained control of it. However, I don't know how long it will take for my brother to fully accomplish what he wants, and that's why we must hurry. We'll travel through Oxford on horse, and maybe someone will be able to point us to where Lyra is."

As if on cue, Equinox and Solstice transformed into two, jet-black horses, and slowly started trotting towards the city, which was dead ahead of them.

Will was worried, but not worried enough to be able to ignore the fact he was now almost galloping on a horse with no saddle.

(0)

Deep inside the Abyss, a pair of eyes opened. Stelmaria looked up at the darkness, which they had been falling through for years, and scowled.

"It is almost time. . ." She growled.

And then, her eyes closed, and she went back to sleep.

(0)

Aurora's two daemons galloped full speed through the forest, dodging trees at a frightening speed.

Trying to ignore the pain that settled itself around his crotch area, Will held on to Solstice's wild mane with one hand, as he held on to Kirjava with the other. His eyes were tightly shut and he tried to fight off the sick feeling he had in his stomach from this journey.

But at that very moment, the feeling in his stomach faded as the two horses slowed down slowly to a walk. Will dared open his eyes and saw they were emerging from the forest, and walking towards a path that obviously lead to Oxford, which lay about a mile away.

Aurora pulled Equinox back and walked next to the boy. Will sat up straight and shifted with a grimace, letting Kirjava down from the horse so she could walk beside them.

"How's it going?" The girl asked, smiling in a pitiful way as Will groaned, trying to sit down more comfortably on the beast's back.

"Well, honestly, I think I'm sterile now. And I don't think I'll ever ride a horse again." He sighed, placing himself crookedly on Solstice's back. The daemon neighed, as if telling him it was his own fault he couldn't ride properly.

Aurora tried to suppress a laugh but failed miserably, and burst out laughing as Will sent her an annoyed look.

"It hurts, alright?" He said shortly. The girl stopped laughing and tried to keep a straight face.

"Don't worry about it. We'll reach Oxford soon enough, and then it's just a matter of time before we find Lyra." The girl told him, nodding.

Will sent her a grave look.

"But just how much time do we have?"

Aurora didn't answer, and bit her lip.

(0)

OMG, I got so many reviews! Thanks guys!

Anotymous: You're welcome. I actually forgot that Dust leaked into the abyss. But hey, they had to get to Lyra's world somehow.

Rozie26: Thanks!

Lobsstaceyters: Hope you read the rest. Thanks for the review, and about Aurore, you're on the right track.

Rj: Thanks. I agree that Pullman's ending was bad. It just get me really frustrated, because that's not how I wanted it to end. But I'll let you in on a secret: I found a solution to the fact that Lyra and Will can't see each other. It'll be mentioned at the end of this story, and it will be subject of the sequel. Yup, I'll do a sequel.

HiPaul736: Will do. I didn't know that mulefas was the plural of zalif, so thanks for pointing that out. Keep reading!

Unnamed: Sorry, but there are just about 4 left. However, I'll a sequel. So watch out for that! I'll start working on it as soon as I'm finished with this.

Quizgirl: Actually, I didn't just decide you were wrong. You actually were. But that doesn't matter. As for Lyra and Will meeting, I assure you that they'll indeed see each other before the end, and they'll even find a solution to their love problem.

Kaiame: yeah, its bomb bad. Cuz if you remember, when Will and Lyra's daemons took a last form, the flow of Dust stopped. That was because their concentration of Dust was really powerful. Now, if one of them were to let go of that Dust, there wouldn't be a 'dam' holding the particles of the world, and the whole problem would start over.

Next chapter, Lyra wakes up from fainting and just refuses to quit. Aurore, meanwhile, feels his sister is close, and knows he has very little time left to accomplish what he needs to. But Aurora and Will just can't seem to find them both, even after talking to several people in Oxford. However, they get back on track and Lyra managed to release her Dust again. . .but this time, are they too late?