Chapter 7: Chapter 4 – Fateful Encounter

That definitely could’ve gone better.

The drain on the batteries of my augments was higher than I thought. If the estimate is right, the time I have until I die went down from half a year to three months. Now I need to find a way to recharge my augmentations in half the time!

Still, better than the alternative. Whatever those eyes belonged to, it didn’t run after me. That means I didn’t have to try to deal with it. At least they couldn’t outpace me when I’m running at full speed.

And hey! I’m no longer in the forest It only took me around ten minutes of running to finally reach the forest edge. Running at breakneck speeds did really lower the amount of time wasted in there. Had I walked, I would’ve probably spent another hour or two.

A sigh.

I dust myself as I slowly walk away from the forest and into the plain expanding in front of me on this uncomfortable road. Some small branches fall off my clothes. If the road had been a lot longer than I hoped it’d be, I’d be literally on death’s door by now. In the end, couldn’t stop myself from panicking, could I.

There’s a crossroads ahead of me. Or more like, a road with this unmaintained extension coming off of it. Unlike this messy cobblestone road, if I’m seeing correctly, it’s made of bricks in neat rows. It also has some sort of streetlights. That’s really good, it’s getting pretty dark. My clock’s obviously off here, the Sun stayed up a lot longer than it would’ve back home. Although, come to think of it. I can’t be sure if our clocks were working on outside conditions or not!

Anyway. I guess that road is some sort of a major route through whatever?

There’s a sign on the opposite side of the neatly kept road. I have no idea what the sign says. Which way should I go? The letters are completely alien to me. I start feeling a bit nauseous as it looks like the letters are moving.

That can’t be right. Maybe I’m just tired? I close my eyes, lower my head and pinch the bridge of my nose.

I’m snapped out of my thoughts by yelling. I have no idea what any of it means, the words are entirely inscrutable and mean literally nothing to me. I find myself enjoying the sound of her voice, though.

I turn to stare in the direction of the source of the shouting. A cloaked figure, running towards me at this hour down a road I’ve never seen before? This wouldn’t happen to be one of those really old gags, would it…? I turn my head to check if someone’s behind me, and there’s no one there.

At least it wasn’t that.

She stopped shouting as soon as she noticed I had turned to face her. Uh huh, that probably confirms that she had been yelling at me. It didn’t sound like she’s mad or anything. So, she probably just wanted to get my attention for whatever reason.

 I wonder what she wants? I’ve never really tried to communicate with someone I couldn’t talk to before.

She stops around a meter away from me and rests her left hand on her knee while holding her right index finger up, trying to catch her breath.

Her hands look so delicate and pale. In fact, even though she’s wearing a cloak, I can tell “delicate” describes her entire existence perfectly. It feels like a strong breeze could blow her away. She doesn’t seem to be an outdoorsy type.

After a few minutes, she stands up straight, takes a step closer and speaks to me. Complete gibberish. I have no idea what she’s saying.

She has a nice melody to her voice.

As she just keeps talking, I raise my right hand. Okay, I got the meaning across, she stopped talking.

I cross my arms. “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

She looks confused, but it’s not the kind of confused I expected. She raises her index finger up for a second again and pulls something from under her cloak. It’s… An amulet of some sort? She extends her hand towards me, gesturing for me to take the amulet.

This time I take a small step closer to her, and I take the amulet. It seems to have one of those weird crystals I found earlier as its centerpiece. It’s surrounded by strange inscriptions. How could this help me understand her?

I look at her quizzically. It seems like she wants me to put it on.

“Aren’t you forward,” I mutter as I put the amulet on with a smile on my face, not really caring if she hears me. Talk about giving a strong first impression.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, this is the first time we’ve met…”

Oh. Oh. I understood what she said, clear as day. I couldn’t hide my confusion. New entries were being added in language recognition to match the words she said to me. What the hell is this, an Amulet of Language Comprehension or something?! … That’s probably exactly what it is.

“I see,” she said, giggling to herself, “Do not worry, my motives are pure. I gave you that amulet so we could understand each other.”

“Right,” I say, letting out a sigh. I have so many questions, but first things first. “Anyway, could you remove that hood? I’d like to see the face of the person I’m talking to.”

“Certainly. My hope is to show you that I am not here to cause you trouble. In fact, I wish to help you.”

Her facial features were even more delicate than I expected. She looked almost otherworldly. Like someone who came out of a dream. Her hair is light blue, but it doesn’t look dyed. Her brows are the exact same shade of blue. I’ve never seen a natural blue hair color before. Regardless, it fits her.

She is smiling, but her smile couldn’t have been more insincere. Her beautiful, piercing blue eyes have a cold and calculating look to them. The way she's staring at me feels as if she is appraising my worth. I haven’t felt this kind of a stare since the beginning of my career. It kind of feels like I’m being interviewed for a job or something. She isn’t very good at hiding her intentions, is she? I don’t hate that.

I guess I’ll be coy. I use the back of my right hand to support my left elbow, and raise my left hand to the height of my chin.

“Help me, huh? With what?”

“I know you are not from here,” she says, her pretty-but-insincere smile twisting more into a wry grin, It doesn't fit her at all. “I could help you get acquainted with this world.”

I had assumed as much. There was absolutely no way someone would just happen to show up at the exact moment I was right here without some kind of foreknowledge of my arrival. Oh, and actually want to talk to me instead of giving me a wide berth. Given what I can see of what she’s wearing, I must stand out like a sore thumb. Not that I have any other points of reference but her.

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But hey, at least she doesn’t seem to want to attack me or something. That's a definite upgrade from the forest. I'll take her before those monsters any day.

And now the grin is gone, and back is the insincere smile.

I nod, grab the amulet on my neck with my left hand and ask, “Could you start by telling me what this amulet you gave me is?”

“Oh,” she says, sounding a little bit disappointed, as if hoping me to ask something else first. “That old thing? It is just an amulet for children before they learn how to use magic to do the same.”

Wait a second… Magic?

“You mean to tell me it has some kind of a fantastical enchantment on it?”

Her confusion showed on her face for a fleeting moment, and then it was gone. As if she had expected me to know what magic is and what it looks like by default. I’ll have you know, I’ve read plenty of fantasy literature, but I have never actually experienced magic!

But if there’s something I have, it’s a perfect poker face. Beyond that one moment where she really got me with the amulet, she isn’t going to see any unintended emotions on my face!

“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.”

I nod, taking a look at the amulet I’m still holding in my hand. I look at her again and release the amulet.

“You see, where I’m from, we don’t have magic,” I tell her, matter-of-factly. It’s not like this should be a huge surprise to her at this point. She already knows I'm from elsewhere.

“You do not…?”

What, she doesn’t look just surprised, she looks shocked! Why?

“I mean,” she continues, still looking strangely shaken by this revelation, “I could tell your coming was not magical, but I always assumed you people naturally had magic!”

Um, why does this feel like the sort of thing she wasn’t supposed to divulge?

“What do you mean by ‘you people’?”

“Oh, right,” she raises her right hand up to her mouth for a moment, “I mean outworlders like you. I just always assumed you had magical powers coming in.”

Outworlders like me? So I'm not the only one. No guarantee they're from the same place I'm from, though.

“Nope, not me,” I say, shaking my head, “Never had any special magic powers. I wouldn’t know how to cast a spell to save my life.”

“But you do have magic power right now,” she says, sounding a bit incredulous.

What does she mean?

“I do?”

She nods. “Yes. It is not overflowing or anything, but it is there. You mean to say you did not notice anything being different when you got here? No divine providence or anything?”

“I don’t know what else to say.” I shrug. “All I ever noticed was that first I was going home from work, and then I was here. Wherever ‘here’ is.”

She seems to go deep into thought. Weighing options, calculating, calculating…

Just as I thought about saying something, she is all smiles again, but this time it looks as if she means it. She looks even cuter than she did before. I guess whatever realization she came to helped her reach some conclusion?

I can tell her heartbeat is elevated, and it looks like she’s steeling herself for something.

She suddenly takes a step closer and lightly grabs hold of my raised left hand with both of her hands, making me lower my right arm to my side. Our gazes meet, and I blush. Dammit.

She caught me completely off-guard! What is she doing?!

“Would it be okay for me to tag along with you?”

I stutter out a “Sure.”

She releases my hand and looks at me with that earnest smile of hers. I try to regain my composure and process what’s going on.

And that’s when I notice that she’s even closer than she was before.

“Thank you,” she says, as she leans over even further and hugs me, resting her head against me. I raise my arms up a bit in surprise.

Completely stunned, I just end up hugging her back.

She sure smells nice.

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