Chase

Nero attentively studied the large book by Jefferson Petie when suddenly one of those bizarre green monkeys leaped onto his branch, frantically waving its arms and making eerie sounds.

Nero furrowed his brow.

Slowly, he stood up on the branch he was perched on.

The monkey seemed to be pointing in a certain direction. Nero watched the monkey's gestures closely, attempting to discern what it was pointing to.

It was hard to peer through the dense leaves, but Nero quickly realized what the monkey was showing him.

Annoyance twisted Nero's face as he recognized the presence of people.

On a large hill, about two hundred meters away from him, hundreds of people suddenly approached.

They had a strange, pale grayish complexion. Nero immediately knew they had to be magicians, as their attire resembled that of the magicians at the Ascension Camp.

Nero cursed and swiftly gathered his belongings. He skillfully climbed down from the tall tree. He needed to get away, and that immediately!

The magicians were probably on their way to the Ascension Camp to enforce the order.

Nero was well aware that he couldn't easily explain why he was here in the woods, coming from the direction of the camp.

All they had to do was "talk" briefly with the mortals at the camp to identify him as the executioner and one of the leaders of the revolution.

Nero couldn't allow that to happen.

Carefully, Nero retreated and observed the magicians through the bushes. Fortunately, they hadn't spotted him yet, but Nero remained cautious.

Suddenly, the magicians stopped. There were about a hundred of them.

They dispersed on the hill, setting up tents and preparing food. Some began using their magic, and Nero could now sense their auras more strongly.

He knew he would soon be out of their range.

He turned around and continued running through the forest when a shiver ran down his spine.

Nero spun around again, just managing to discern through the thick undergrowth that one of the magicians was pointing at him and talking to two other people.

"Damn it!" Nero cursed quietly as the two magicians quickly began approaching him in a relaxed manner, chatting as they closed in.

Nero immediately turned and ran.

He wouldn't fight someone without knowing their strength or power.

He ran through the forest, jumping over roots, rolling under branches, and dodging fallen tree trunks.

He hated having to run away again, but he had no other choice. Fighting was out of the question.

He didn't believe the monkeys would or could actually help him in a fight.

Nero was tired.

The restless travel of the past few weeks had taken a toll on him.

But Nero didn't stop.

He ran through thorns that tore at his skin, and branches struck him, but he kept running.

He continued as the forest suddenly opened up.

A path appeared before him, but Nero had no time to wonder, as the magicians were already closing in on him.

They were catching up rapidly.

Suddenly, smoke appeared in the distance over the trees.

Nero headed towards it.

Then, in front of him, a lonely wooden House appeared, standing tall and sturdy. Black smoke billowed from a chimney on its roof.

Suddenly the air behind him distorted.

Immediately Nero threw himself to the ground, narrowly avoiding a small lightning bolt aimed straight at his head.

He rolled away and quickly jumped back to his feet.

He turned around while running and spotted the two magicians who were chasing him.

There was a lanky man with a bald head and a tall woman with blond hair.

The woman was raising her hand, but Nero was quicker.

He flicked his hand, and an incredibly bright light burst forth blinding the mages.

He heard them curse as he shot two golden blades with as much magic as possible from his fingertips.

The skin on his fingers tore open immediately, and warm blood flowed down his wrist.

Nero wanted to send more blades, but suddenly a lightning bolt shot past him. It seemed the magicians still couldn't see properly.

Nero wanted to take advantage of the situation, but suddenly the man reacted.

He clapped his hands, and Nero was thrown back by an invisible shockwave, slamming directly against the wall of the strange house.

Nero spat blood and felt a warm liquid running down his head. He had hit his head hard against the wall.

Nero struggled to get back on his feet.

He saw the magicians closing in on him again. They moved gracefully through the trees and roots, and Nero immediately realized they must have grown up in a forest. They had the advantage as long as he fought in the woods.

He needed to change the battlefield. He turned the corner and burst through the door of the house.

Quickly, he closed the door behind him.

As soon as he entered the house, a sharp metallic smell filled his nostrils.

Blood!

But Nero didn't let it deter him and ran into the house. Everything was dark, and no light came in, but Nero activated his magic to shine the way.

The windows seemed smeared with some film that prevented sunlight from entering.

Suddenly, Nero's heart raced, and an eerie feeling washed over him.

Nero navigated through the dark corridors of the house until he reached a staircase leading upward.

Behind him, he heard the door being forced open. Nero rushed up the stairs and immediately spotted a light seeping through the crack of a door ahead.

The smell of blood was even stronger up here, almost painful, but Nero had grown accustomed to it and ignored it.

He headed towards the door, hoping to find another exit or an open window behind it.

He quickly arrived at the door but suddenly halted.

Symbols were engraved on the wide wooden door.

Nero recognized some of them, as he once had the same symbols in his castle.

They were meant to ward off uninvited guests and reinforce and secure the door.

But what puzzled Nero was that the symbols on the door were all crossed out with scratches. The symbols were faint, devoid of any magical aura.

They had clearly been destroyed, but it wasn't as simple as just crossing them out.

According to Ramor, there were two ways to destroy a symbol. The first way was to destroy the object the symbol was cast upon.

So, to destroy these symbols, one would have had to tear down the entire door.

The second way was to destroy the symbol with a new one, and for that, one had to know which symbol effectively countered another.

But merely scratching out the symbol, as in this case, usually didn't work.

Nevertheless, Nero pushed forward.

He swung the door open and stormed into the room.

Immediately, he stumbled and almost fell as he tripped over something heavy on the floor.

Once he regained his balance, Nero looked around in confusion.

Illuminated by the burning fireplace, a person lay on the floor before him.

It was a middle-aged man with unnaturally pale white skin, even paler than Nero's.

His eyes were closed, but traces of bloody tears were visible on his cheeks.

Nero didn't need to check if the man was still alive and search for a heartbeat, as the heart lay next to the person on the floor.

Someone or something seemed to have violently ripped it right out of the man's chest.

On the other side of his chest was another large hole, where the magical heart would normally be beating.

"What the hell happened here?" Nero exclaimed.

But he couldn't dwell on the body as he needed to disappear immediately.

Frantically, he looked around for an escape route.

He spotted a window at the far end of the room, but it too was obscured by that strange darkness. Nero raised his hand.

A small golden blade illuminated the room and shot towards the window, but upon impact, the darkness seemed to swallow it up.

"Fuck!" Nero cursed again.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him.

He spun around and saw the two magicians rushing through the door.

The woman let out a short cry when she saw the body on the floor, and the man seemed to choke.

Nero slowly moved back toward the window, but the woman composed herself faster than he expected and raised her hand.

Lightning gathered at her fingertips, causing Nero's hair to stand on end.

Slowly, Nero raised his hands in the air to symbolize surrender.

The woman raised an eyebrow,

"Put your hands down immediately!" she threatened.

Nero lowered his hands. Apparently, things were different in this world.

Upon reflection, it made sense. In a world full of magic, where weapons played little role, there was no reason to raise hands to show that one didn't have a hidden dagger or such.

"What happened here?" the male magician asked.

"I honestly don't know. This is the first time I am here too," Nero replied honestly.

The woman furrowed her brow. "What accent is that? I've never heard it before."

Nero simply looked at her and didn't respond. He couldn't easily explain his accent.

The woman sighed impatiently. "Anyway, who are you? I don't know you."

Nero looked her directly in the eyes. "I don't know you either. Who are you, and why are you chasing me?"

The man furrowed his brow. "Because you ran away. You have to admit that's suspicious. Why would an innocent person run away?"

"Because he's being chased!" Nero retorted. "What do you want from me?"

The woman snapped, "We ask the questions here. So, again, who are you, and where do you come from?"

Nero shrugged. "Not from here."

"So, you're not from the Ascension Camp, which conveniently cut off all contact?" she asked suspiciously.

"I don't know what that is," Nero said matter-of-factly.

The woman let out a fake laugh, "And I'm supposed to believe that?"

Nero nodded again.

"But I don't!" she hissed.

"Okay."

"Okay, my ass!"

The woman seemed to be losing her composure.

The man gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We'd have to request you to come with us to our leader. Just routine, we need to make sure you have nothing to do with the situation in the Ascension Camp."

Nero shook his head, "I can't do that. I need to go on my way."

The woman smiled evilly, "That wasn't a request!"

"But he said 'we'd have to request you,'" Nero replied, puzzled.

"Go to hell!" The woman cursed and raised her hand again.

Nero immediately activated his magic to defend against her attack, but everyone froze in their movements as suddenly creepy laughter echoed through the darkness of the house.

Once again, that panicked feeling surged through Nero, as he had felt upon entering.

It was as if something were pulling directly at his nerves.

Suddenly, a movement swept through the corpse on the floor. Startled, the woman screamed and retreated as the body opened its eyes and stared directly at her.

"SHIT!" The man and woman recoiled from the body.

It writhed on the floor, and slowly, with cracking bones, the man without a heart stood up and stared Nero directly in the eyes. A smile spread across his pale, cold face as blood poured from his eyes.