Louise Flyer: The Price of Pride - Part 9

She ran. Although she wasn't used to exerting herself that way, she used her little legs to run as fast as she could. Cold winds invaded her airways and she felt something crack inside her throat. The trees swayed strongly and the leaves fell in piles.

"Urf... urf," she gasped.

Suddenly she stopped. She couldn't take it anymore - she had been running for almost ten minutes. Her legs ached, her lungs burned, and her mind was a mess. She asked herself several times why she was doing this, but the answer was always the same: because she needed to, it was what had to be done. Innocent children were in danger, she had heard their screams...

"But... urf... why did only one of them scream? If both of them disappeared, why did I only hear one scream?" she wondered as she caught her breath.

But it was true, besides hearing only one scream, she hadn't heard anything else since she passed the barrier. So, as usual, she tried to organize the information in her mind. While her body rested, her mind worked.

Options that could have happened according to Louise:

1st Only one screamed after her sister was attacked. Shortly thereafter, something also happened to her, preventing her from screaming again.

2nd One of them was hurt, in some way, severely. Thus, she screamed in pain.

3rd They both separated for some reason, and then, after showing some danger, she screamed with the intention of calling the other.

Louise knew that these were the main things that could have happened, but it also frightened her. The options were the worst of the worst, always ending in tragedy. Of course, she was confident in the face of situations. And, on top of everything, she didn't even know if she would find them or not. All she had was a distant scream she had heard a few minutes ago.

Her confidence and determination were slowly evaporating. It was as if they were leaving her body along with the air. They were still important... But...

"But, if they still haven't shown up..."

Hope had nowhere to go, and her lack of conviction was still visible in her mind. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to take the first step. Where did she have to go? And what if she had been going the wrong way from the beginning? The worst of the questions that wandered through her mind at that moment was that there were no answers to any of them. Or rather, Louise couldn't come to a conclusion. She had no clues. At first, she tried to look for footprints, but found nothing. The pain that had been corroding her heart moments before seemed to have come back even stronger - she hated that feeling. What Louise hated most in the world was being unable to do something.

She clenched her fragile fists until they turned white. Something watery was contained in her eyes, and her teeth were grinding. She was frustrated. She couldn't save anyone. She didn't know what to do, and there wasn't much confidence left inside her. She thought about going back, but... she didn't want to. She still had to come to a conclusion.

She looked at her own hands as if she was looking at herself, the same hands that were unable to do anything - Louise was unable to do anything. There was nothing she could do. It was useless...

But then:

"Ahem?"

Something shiny appeared in front of them, from those thin and delicate hands. It was shining, like a bluish star. A small, shiny ball was in front of her lonely hands as if it was warming them and saying "it's alright". For some reason, she felt something like happiness emanating from it. As if it was warming her heart and elevating her motivation.

She quickly remembered what that should be:

"A fallen spirit... I thought they disappeared in the winter. Well, we're not completely in winter yet, but still..."

Undoubtedly, beautiful. She had never held one before. There were few people who could even see them. The feeling of being so close to one was immeasurable.

"But what does this do to... - she widened her eyes as she came face to face with what was around her - ...!!!"

Dozens... no, hundreds of bright lights of various colors were everywhere. If just one of them was capable of awakening something like happiness in someone, then all of these... She couldn't quite explain what she was feeling at the moment, but it meant something like if the pot of hopes in her heart was finally full. Divine. She didn't even know words to describe how beautiful the scenery she saw was. The phosphorescent glows emanated a gentle warmth. Somehow, she felt like all problems had disappeared. The heart, as well as the soul, was at peace.

"This is... beautiful," she said.

For some reason, she was happy. A sweet smile could be seen on her childlike face... What was she even doing? It didn't matter. She was there. She wanted to be there and continue to be there forever.

But suddenly, she heard something:

A "TRACK" sound was heard.

"Hm?"

The noise was like a stick breaking from someone's step. So naturally, Louise immediately looked to where she heard it.

"Who's there?"

Could it be them? - those children? - For a moment her heart wished for it. In fact, since she passed through the barrier, she wished they would simply meet by coincidence. It was a childish hope that she couldn't forget until then. She wanted to find them as soon as possible and resolve this situation once and for all.

But...

"Grrrr!"

Very differently from what she imagined, she heard a canine growl. Immediately and instinctively, her mind reacted. She staggered back a bit, but didn't fall, she stood firm. What she saw in front of her was a magical beast, a being whose only goal was to satisfy its hunger for mana, which was infinite.

Slowly it approached, but Louise, swallowing dry, prepared to give the first attack. The Magical Beast looked like a wolf, a bit larger than her, and its eyes emanated an intense red glow. On top of that, it drooled incessantly, and that saliva seemed to melt the ground on contact.

"Explosive rock. Air on the ground!" Louise didn't wait for it to get closer, and then quickly conjured a huge rock and threw it at the animal. The impact was strong enough for dust to be thrown to all corners and a crater was formed in the impact location.

But...

"GRR!!!"

"D-did I miss?!"

There was nothing where the "animal's" body should be. She soon realized that it was next to where Louise had thrown the rock. In fact, she hadn't missed... it had naturally dodged the attack.

"How is that possible?!"

It was an irrational being, an uncontrollable animal, it shouldn't be able to dodge that. Even a person would hardly be able to react. So how?

"GRRR!!"

It was clearly irritated, the saliva from its mouth now flowing uncontrollably, and it growled to the point of its own throat trembling. Louise quickly thought of giving another attack... but that was the strongest magic she could use.

And besides, she grew tired when casting something. If the exhaustion from the rush had already fatigued her, then this last attack was like using up her last bit of energy.

There was no other choice, even with pain, she needed to run. She didn't know if she could run as fast as the wolf – probably not – but it was her only option at the moment.

But as she took a step back, about to run, something invaded her ears and made her heart freeze.

"GRR!!!"

"GRR!!!"

"GRR!"

"GRR!!!!"

She quickly looked to where she heard the growls. More and more wolves appeared behind her. There were probably about ten of them.

It couldn't be true, it couldn't be happening.

"What?! It's the beginning of winter, there shouldn't be so many! You should be hibernating!"

"GRR!"

"GRRRR!!"

Of course, as irrational beings, Louise's words were nothing more than the last screams of an easy prey. But as she desperately wondered why there were so many, she couldn't find an answer. In the winter, they rarely appeared because they mainly feed on mana, which disappears along with the...

"The fallen spirits! Don't tell me...!"

Their main source of food was the fallen spirits, as they contained mana. And at that moment, there were hundreds of those lights around Louise. They were probably attracted to them.

"What... what can I do now... I... am I going to die?"

Something was dripping down her thighs. She was scared, for the first time in her life, she felt something like this. Actually, this feeling now immeasurably surpassed the word "fear." Perhaps "terror" would be better described. Her legs trembled, her heart began to beat wildly, and her heavy breathing wouldn't stop. She didn't know what to do. She was surrounded by thirsty Magic Beasts who would soon attack. What could she do in this situation? She had nowhere to go. She didn't even have the strength to run anymore. The mana was at its limit.

Cold sweat filled her. Louise, without a doubt, was going to die at that moment. There was nothing more to do.

Suddenly, something moved behind her – the first wolf that appeared – and then turned back to it... but...

"Where did you go?!" exclaimed Louise, her voice filled with desperation as she looked around frantically. There was nothing there. Fear coursed through her body from her spine to her fingertips, her heart pounding faster and faster. She felt like she was about to be attacked, but didn't know from where. The beast that had been in front of her had disappeared, leaving her surrounded and vulnerable.

Louise searched frantically in all directions, knowing it was futile but unable to stop herself. And then she heard it - a low growl that was growing louder by the second. She felt something approaching, something dangerous. Suddenly, a wolf lunged at her, narrowly missing her as she clumsily jumped away. The force of the jump sent her tumbling into a nearby tree.

"Ah!" she cried out, feeling a sharp pain in her side. She looked up to see the wolf that had attacked her before, its teeth sinking into her coat and melting the fabric with its acidic saliva. The creature's red eyes were like death made flesh, and it was joined by other wolves as it closed in on Louise. She knew there was no escape, that she was going to die there. No one was going to come and save her; this wasn't a fairy tale.

Tears streamed down Louise's face as she tried to crawl away, but the tree blocked her path. She knew it was pointless to resist, that the wolves would kill her regardless. But still she screamed and struggled, desperate to live even a moment longer.

"No! Get away! Go away!" she cried, her voice trembling with fear. But the wolf didn't listen - it was a creature that killed for pleasure and hunger, and Louise's words were meaningless to it. As it prepared to attack her, she closed her eyes. Was this the end? Would she die here? She was sure of it. There was no knight on a white horse coming to save her; this was a cruel world where terrible things happened to ordinary people like her.

She refused to accept it, though. She wanted to live, to see another day. She opened her eyes again, hoping it had all been a nightmare. But it wasn't. The reality was cruel and unforgiving, and Louise was trapped in it. The last thing she heard was the sound of the wolf's paws getting closer, and the stench of its breath as it prepared to attack.