Chapter 9: A Failed Escape
The Sun fell, and the last ray of sunlight slowly faded into oblivion, plunging the entire world into darkness. Somewhere in the Floating World, a deadly silence engulfed the whole land; even the birds and animals seemed afraid of making noises.
In the empty grasslands, a girl who looked in her late teens was running with all her might. Her face was pale, and her eyes bloodshot. She was short on breath and gasping for air but did not dare to stop. The grass on the ground was long and thorny and was nearly reaching her waist, her long school dress was already tethered, and there were many bloody wounds on her legs. Suppressing the pain in her body, she clenched her fists and ran with her life, 'just a little more. The forest is near,' she muttered to herself as she looked forward.
At the end of the grassland was the forest, filled with hundred-meter-long black color trees. The forest was called the 'Black Lone Forest,' there were many stories passed down from old times about this Black Lone Forest. One of the most famous was an old tale. In the older times, there was a high-level evil wizard who liked to study curses and undead. One day, while doing some experiments something went horribly wrong. A raging fire engulfed the whole forest, and despite the fire burning for many months it did not burn the forest but transformed the wizard and his servants, everything from living to non-living into hungry undead spirits. Who still roamed the forest to this day, unable to escape the torture. From then on, no one dared to set their root inside the forest, and if one entered accidentally it was advised not to use magic inside the forest boundary, or else the magic-hungry undead spirits would capture you.
This was Aiane's idea. Her goal was to enter the forest, and whoever came looking for her would not be able to enter the forest, or even if they entered they would not be able to use the magic, and given enough time, she would be able to escape her predicament.
Aiane ran in the silent and dark night. Only the sound of her gasping for breath could be heard in the surrounding. She was reaching the boundary where the forest started. A sense of relief and happiness started to well up in her heart when she looked in front seeing the forest. Seeing the forest she ran faster, faster than before, but her running did not last long. Suddenly she was hit by a ball of dark mass which caused her to fall. Instantly her face paled, and blood leaked out of her mouth. Her heartbeat increased, and her pupils dilated. The horror she was hoping not to come finally came, two figures enshrouded in black fog wearing long black robs floated in the air not far from her.
'I can reach it, it is not much far, I can make it, I can definitely make it…' tears rolled from her cheeks as she roared in her heart. It took her two years to plan this 'how can I fall here perfectly…' she thought.
Still, in pain from the hit, she stood up and looked back at two figures shrouded in fog, calculating something. She started to run again with her life in her hands, but this time she moved in a zig-zag motion so their spells could not hit her.
Two figures had a smirk on their faces. 'How naïve…' they thought
'You little girl wants to play, let's play then…'.
'let me see how far you can run…' the black figures thought as they laughed evilly in their hearts.
Finally, after running for a few minutes, Aiane entered the forest. The long black trees gave her some sense of safety. She had only learned the theoretical knowledge about magic, not how to weave spells yet, so she did not have to worry about getting attacked by hungry spirits. Entering the forest, Aiane ran deep inside and tried to hide behind trees and cliffs. Hiding behind a tree, she hoped for black figures not to find her. From behind the tree, moving her head to the side, she peeked with narrow eyes trying to find the figures, but suddenly out of nowhere, a black ball hit the tree, which she stood behind. The impact caused the tree to fall, revealing her location.
Aiane ran again and tried to hide behind another tree. 'Why! Why! Why!...' Aiane cried, 'Why are the spirits not attacking them…' she had so many questions right now she tried to find the answer in her heart. The final hope in her heart was slowly being diminished. 'bang!' 'bang!' 'bang!' ball after ball of dark energy hit the tree where Aiane hid, making them all fall. Aiane ran again in her final struggles. She entered a cave under the cliff. There was no hope left in her eyes. She already knew she was too naïve, naïve to think her plan would work. 'How naïve of me…' she laughed in her heart. Her tears were already dried, and the last hope of escaping she had was gone.
"Let's finish it now; it had already taken us a long time. We don't want to get attached by those dark spirits," the black figure said to another as they stood in front of the cave looking inside.
Aiane hid in a corner, her head was in between her thighs, and her hands were rolled around her legs. She sobbed silently; she did not have any hope left of escaping. Suddenly her eyes caught a black crystal die with weird symbols down on the ground. Unrolling her hands, she picked it up and put it in her mouth. She did not have time to think about it.
The black figure slowly walked inside the cave; every step he took caused Aiane's heart to come into her mouth. Standing in Infront of Aiane, whose head was in between her thighs, his eyes lingered on her body for a few seconds, and finally, his hand reached on her head and grabbed Aiane with her hair. He dragged her out of the cave by pulling her hair ruthlessly Aiane endured the pain. She tried to hold back her cry of pain. Dragging ruthlessly, the man brought her outside the forest. Aiane was floating in the air, and her head was tilted backward. She had passed out from the pain caused by the black figure ruthlessly dragging her out of the forest. The two figures stood on the edge of the forest outside and saw black fog converging inside the forest. Their forehead was dripping with cold sweat. If they had been a little late, it could not be said if they would have been able to escape safely after that.
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It was early morning. The bright Sun was slowly rising from the north. The morning was unusually colder than normal, and the dew on the grass was yet to evaporate. Eon, who likes to wake up early in the morning, was standing outside in the garden where he planted the plants for the flower shop, but right now, his brows were furrowed, his fists were clenched, and his expression was unsettling.
'These dammed animals…' Eon cursed, he had yet to find who was destroying his plants, 'the thief looks intelligent…' he thought, even all the traps he bought and laid down here could not stop the thief here. 'Well, let me see how you are going to rob my garden…' an idea hit his mind, and he walked inside the house to grab something.
Haze was getting ready for her academy; a week had passed by from the time when she first started her classes. Haze was now more confident in going out alone, the anxiety she used to feel before was becoming less and less with time, and even her relationship with her teacher improved quite a lot, who always liked to remind her if she forgot something. Overall, being an intelligent child from childhood, her study of concepts was going well.
Haze finished dressing up when she saw Eon walking in from the garden. She picked up her comb from the mirror drawer and happily ran up to him, so he could style her hair, which Eon was surprisingly good at. Eon took the comb from her hand and straightened her messy hair.
"Second will drop your school today. I'm a little busy today," Eon told Haze. Haze pouted, hearing that she was unhappy about Eon not dropping her off.
"Hmm, how about we go outside on the weekend later" Eon gently kissed her cheek and tried to make her happy.
"Ok, But you have to take me shopping" Haze placed her condition on the table, to which Eon happily agreed. Hearing that, Haze smiled. She hugged Eon and kissed him back on the cheek. After that, she ran out of the house carrying her red backpack, where Second was already waiting for her. She was already late for the academy.
Eon went inside one of the rooms, and when he came out, he had a thick and almost tall as him wood stick in his hand. Holding the stick, he walked outside into the garden; his plan was simple to catch the thief. He was going to wait all day outside. After the wooden stick, Eon also dragged a reclining wooden chair from the room and placed it behind a tree where it was hard for anyone to see him.
Sitting on a chair, Eon waited; time passed minute by minute. It felt extremely long, but not for Eon, whose plant life was on the death door. He waited quietly like a hunter waiting for his prey. Sun slowly started to rise. It was afternoon already, but Eon did not find a sign of an animal or ghost. But to catch the thief, he waited, sitting hungry on the chair; he did not complain. Soon the Sun started to set, and Eon still had not caught anything. At first, he was hungry, and now he saw all his effort going down the drain. 'What a waste of precious time…' he kept thinking. He felt quite disappointed. But as he was getting ready to call the day off, he heard a noise 'squeak, squeak,' 'it is coming from underground…' he thought as he tried to concentrate on the coming noise.
After waiting silently for a few seconds, Eon saw a mouse as big as the dog itself walk out of the hole and slowly make his way towards the garden. Eon felt astonished 'is it some new species…' he tried to remember if he had seen any mouse big as this one.
'When does a mouse start to eat flowers…' he felt more bewildered. Calming down his mood as he watched the mouse slowly move closer to the garden. There was no flower left in the garden except for some dying plants. Walking slowly towards the garden, the mouse leader, bigger than the rest of the six mice, seemed to have sensed Eon's gaze, but his head was still high, and he walked with sturdy feet. 'I gave you enough time to run, stupid human, don't blame me for being ruthless now…' the mouse felt proud as he thought. He had a righteous air around him and an aura to dominate the world.
Eon walked out from behind the tree, and seven mice and a human stared at each other, 'you can still walk before it's too late. I'm giving you the last chance, human…' the mouse leader squeaked, as he felt merciful letting a human go. Eon seemed to understand the mouse language, but how could he give up now? After so many difficulties, he finally caught the thief, and now the other party was acting mercifully in his own home.
"Only the winner gets to keep the plants," Eon spoke. The mouse leader understood his intentions. The temperature in the surrounding dropped rapidly, and a mouse from the other party stepped up, showing his willingness to fight for his leader. Seeing the small mouse's determination, the mouse leader nodded. The mouse was small as a male cat walked in front and squeaked to Eon.
"whoosh"
The mouse moved with speed, invisible to naked eyes in a second; he was in front of Eon, "creak" a noise sounded in the air. Eon did not even have time to lift his wood stick to defend himself when his leg bone broke. He fell face down on the ground.
Suddenly the chill permitted the surrounding, and the temperature dropped further, which caused all the mice in the group hair to stand up straight, their bodies started to bloat visible to naked eyes, and in seconds they all bloated four times their body sizes. The mouses squeaked like pigs in pain, their voices echoed in the garden, and they felt deadly pressure they had never felt before.
"Second Stop!" Eon shouted while lying on his face on the floor.
"They have eaten my flowers. They have already gained the sentience and achieved some cultivation. It will be waist if you kill them all. Let them go" Second appeared beside Eon, lifting Eon on his shoulder. He caused the mouse to disappear from the surroundings and sent them far away, only God knows where.
"hahaha... finally, my plants are saved now" Eon laughed slowly but still in pain. Being God does not make one resistant to pain. Moreover, he was a human who could not even use any magic.
"What took you so long to come," Eon asked as he felt suspicious Second should have been here early before he was attacked.
"Ahh... master, let me take you to the doctor first" Second tried to dodge the question as he lifted Eon and disappeared from the garden. Eon did not put unnecessary thoughts out of his mind and let Second carry him to the doctor.
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