Chapter 27: Chapter 26: a rainy day

Waking up, I feel a familiar calm, almost melancholic feeling. Listening reveals my suspicion. It’s raining, and quite a lot by the sound of it. This would be the first day since our arrival that it hasn’t been sunny. I always liked it when it is raining, everything sort of calms down. It gives you an excuse to not rush outside, which conversely makes it a perfect day for a walk, since no one is going to disturb my thoughts. I dress in a bit warmer clothes, and end up with a blue sweater and some jeans. Thinking for a bit, do I even have proper clothes for this kind of weather? Well, sort of. There is a proper rain cloak in my inventory, but it’s acid resistant and meant for use when fighting enemies that use acids. It’s dark gray, almost black in color. I decide to keep it off until I walk outside. 

There are more people in the common room than usual, probably thanks to the weather. It’s more noisy as well, but people seem to be talking rather quietly. There are just more of them. I eat my breakfast in silence together with Jo and James, who was already here when I got here. I am feeling like eating something bland to go with the weather, so today’s breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal. 

After I finish eating, I tell them that I want to be alone for the day, which they seem to understand by the fact that I remained silent during my meal, despite taking longer than usual. As I get up to walk out, they ask me where I’m going, to which I answer “I’m going to enjoy the weather.” with a smile. I magic on the cloak and walk outside.

My wings are on display as usual, and I also create a cone shaped mana barrier over my head. My wings have slowly attracted less and less attention over time, which I have enjoyed. Their purpose isn’t to attract attention, but to celebrate her life. It’s raining quite a lot, like the noise revealed. There is no wind and sticking my hand out from my barrier reveals that the rain is warm. Looking up into the dark clouds, I see mana swirling about. I can’t see if it’s a lot or a little, partly because of distance and partly because I lack a proper reference. I can tell it’s a lot compared to what people have, simply because of the scale, but I can’t tell if it’s a lot or a little for the weather.

Walking through the streets, I find them mostly empty and most of the people here are rushing from roof to roof in an attempt to remain dry. It’s mostly futile because of the quantity of rain and the ponds forming on the cobblestone streets. There are a couple other rain enjoyers like myself, though. As I walk onto one of the main streets, I turn to walk southwards. It is properly calming, since there are few people and the noise of the rain blankets out all the other sounds. After a bit, I simply let my barrier shatter, and immediately I feel the rain on my head. I could put on the hood of my cloak, but the rain is warm. 

We have been in this world for a week and a half. I am starting to realize that I’ll probably never see my family again. We would have had our quarterly reunion sometime next week, and around this time is when we would usually start to organize. I hope they aren’t too sad at my disappearance. Thinking about it, I am not George. Maybe I am simply a copy and the real George is starting to prepare for the reunion. Being a copy is probably something I should be sad about, but it would actually be preferable. At least in that case, they wouldn’t miss me, and only I would be sad. Assuming that is the case, what of the original Zena? Did I just replace or overwrite her? Or is she somewhere else? Did she even exist at all? Did George exist at all? Is my entire existence just a fabrication? I don’t know. I probably can’t know, because according to David, their existence had the same problem of just waking up with a set of memories.

The weather is at least perfect for questioning reality. It genuinely calms me and prevents my mood from going too far in either direction. Before I know it, I have passed the south-easter gate and am wandering on the road away from the city. I don’t know how long I’ve been walking, but my hair is thoroughly soaked, though the temperature is still fine. 

At some point, my stomach starts to growl, and I take out a pear to snack on. I left the plains a while ago and am now surrounded by a forest. It’s quite nice. 

Further up ahead, I see someone running towards me. Well, after looking closer at them, it appears that they are actually running away from a lone wolf. I kinda just keep walking calmly, flapping my wings a bit to get their attention. Don’t know if that’s going to keep them away from me, or get them to run towards me. Either way is fine. 

Turns out that they chose to run at me and as they get close, I channel a sleeping spell at the wolf. They don’t notice however and try to warn me. Even going as far as trying to grab me to get me to run with them. I don’t really feel like doing it and I could dodge out of the way, but I don’t really want to change my sedate walking pace. Instead I create a slanted mana barrier so their hand sort of slide away from me. Turns out that they didn’t expect that, and combined with their panicked running, causes them to fall onto the ground. Feeling slightly guilty, I stop, turn to them and ask “are you alright?”

They respond by turning onto their back and breathing heavily, though they first tried to get up, but it seems that they simply don’t have the energy. Looking closely at them, they appear to be a young man. I create a barrier above him, to stop the rather large raindrop from hitting him in the face. 

“You are safe from the wolf.” I state, in the hope that he lets himself relax. He just looks at me, then leans up and looks in the direction of the wolf, which lies on the ground. Then he just lets his head fall backwards onto the muddy road and breathe heavily.

“Thank you benevolent fey.” He finally says, and I don’t really feel like correcting him. Instead I ask if he wants me to walk with him to the city, which he happily agrees to.