"Urgh..." Sheva groaned weakly as he felt someone nudging his shoulder a little bit violently here. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right decision, as the moment he felt his consciousness was back, he could feel his stomach spinning around and the nausea that seemed to ebb away before he fell asleep coming back to haunt him again. "What is going on? Don’t bother me, Gas..." He groaned weakly, not even taking the eye mask off his face.
"No, Shev, wake up, you lazy bum!" The person next to him, his bastard friend, Bagas, shook his body off, trying so hard to hold back his laughter over his misfortune. "We are about to land here, so wear your seatbelt tightly." Find the newest release on NoveI★Fire.net
Sheva blinked his eyes repeatedly, somehow feeling some sort of déjà vu here. ’Does that mean a moment later, the announcement about us going to land would be on speaker?’ He thought half-asleep.
True enough, just within a few seconds, the sound of the stewardess could be heard echoing throughout the entire plane, just as he expected.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have just been cleared to land at the Kevlavik International Airport. Please make sure your seatbelt is securely fastened one last time. The flight attendants are currently passing around the cabin to make a final compliance check and pick up any remaining cups and glasses. Thank you."
’Oh, this is exactly the same scene as when we were about to land in Hanoi...’ Sheva finally remembered why he felt was some sort of déjà vu. At that time, he was also in such a half-conscious mode, feeling like his stomach was stirred up from inside.
Still, unlike the journey to Hanoi that only lasted for four hours, the journey to Reykjavik was definitely more torturous. First, he had to fly from Jakarta to Doha for almost four hours before having to spend the entire night in the airport, waiting for the second flight for almost thirteen hours. Yeah, the transit in Doha took thirteen fucking hours! The plane landed in Doha at 22:55 and would be flying again at 12:45 the next day, which was quite a long time for one transition.
However, the torture didn’t end just like that. No, after the long wait was over, the plane finally took off once again. However, instead of going straight to the final destination, it went to the London Heathrow Airport for another transition. Just like in Doha, it took a ridiculously long time before the plane was scheduled to fly again, about fourteen hours in total. Yeah, the plane arrived at London at around 6:00 p.m., and it would take a flight once again to the final destination at around 7:55 the next morning.
So, in total, the flight itself only took around 12 hours. However, with the transit time being more than 24 whole hours, the plane finally arrived at Reykjavik after around 40 hours since it first flew from Jakarta, which, honestly, Sheva had never thought would be a very long journey. Fortunately, it was about to be over, so the quicker he could feel his feet on the land, the better his condition would be.
"Has Sheva’s condition gotten better?" Suddenly, a gentle murmur could be heard a few seats next to him. However, before Sheva could answer that, Claudia had already taken over, albeit with a slight mockery in her tone.
"Don’t worry, Sister Irene. He is just a land person. I am sure once we finally land, he will be back like there is nothing happening here."
Yeah, the woman who asked the first question was the IM Irene Kharisma Sukandar. No one had expected the woman to come here, too, but when they thought about it, letting three teenagers fly to the other side of the world without any adult presence was somehow kinda worrying. With Irene being here, this was able to ease Sheva’s mother and Claudia’s parents, as someone responsible would accompany their journey until the end.
Well, that was at least what the adults thought. Anna herself still felt sour about this, especially since Irene herself should be the one responsible for the Southeast Asian Games’ training camp, and yet she still went to Reykjavik without hesitation. However, Irene had the perfect counter for that argument.
"Medina is still enough to handle Anna and Laysa. Also, unlike those three, I haven’t been playing in a high-ranked tournament for a long time. I need to sharpen my edge for a while before the Southeast Asian Games and the Olympiad later, you know?"
Yeah, that was a perfect argument. Even though Anna and Laysa were very strong and talented players, Aulia Medina Warda, the second female IM in Indonesia, was also still in her prime. The woman was still more than enough to handle two teenagers who were still trying to climb into the higher stage.
Of course, Irene herself wasn’t here just to watch. No, she came as another participant, eager to make a noise here. Even though it had been quite a long time since she played regularly, the woman still wanted to fulfil her wish to become the first Indonesian woman to get the GM title, and this tournament was just another attempt for her to get the needed norm to earn that.
Ten minutes later, the plane finally started to descend, and Sheva himself heaved a relieved sigh as he finally saw the land again. He really couldn’t understand why some people enjoyed traveling by plane when human itself was a natural land creature.
Right after the plane finally landed and all the passengers left the giant metallic bird, Sheva finally felt alive again. Even though the temperature was pretty cold and the air was chilly, it couldn’t dampen his enthusiasm even for a second. It wasn’t just because he finally stepped onto solid ground, but the tournament he had been waiting for and preparing for a long time was finally about to arrive.
As the boy stared at the blue sky above, he couldn’t help but smirk, inwardly muttering, "This is the first step for my new journey, huh? Reykjavik... Please, be kind to me!"