Parallel Realities

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The trio made their way back to the city and headed in the direction of the Rusty Inn.

"Hey, just how much longer is it going to take for us to get there?" Mae grumbled, holding her tummy.

Mae was hanging on to Leona, slumped over. "There, there," Leona said with a sympathetic smile, giving gentle head pats to Mae. "We're almost here, so just a little bit longer."

Esther, who was walking up ahead, stopped for a second and pulled out her pocket watch that was dangling on her neck. "I think... two more hours," Esther said, closing the pocket watch.

"Eeeeeeeeeh..." Mae slumbered back onto Leona, her steps wavering.

"Mae... I've been tolerating this for some time now, but please walk. My legs are literally giving out now because I'm carrying you." Leona said, turning to Mae with an exaggerated pout, her face a bit disgruntled.

"But I'm too tired to walk." Mae said, with a deadpan face as she continued to lean on Leona for support, her steps wavering more, wrapping Mae's arms more onto Leona.

Esther now turned to face the duo and started to walk backward. "God, you two." She groaned and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Better haul ass because I am hungry and I will not look back." She said, twirling around and making a run for the inn.

"Wait, Esther!" Leona and Mae screamed in unison, but Esther disappeared out of view, rounding a corner.

"We have to catch up too, that bitch," Leona muttered under her breath as she pulled Mae by her collar.

"W-woah!" Mae's head jerked as Leona launched forward with speed she didn't expect.

"I didn't want to do this, but since we're going to be resting after this, let's go all out!"

"Wai-" Mae could feel some of her energy returning as Leona's aura glowed brightly around them, and Mae's pain was gone.

Leona and Mae now ran, zooming past the buildings and other establishments in their way, passersby around them giving way as they continued to run.

"Wow, how did you do that, Leona?" Mae asked, her eyes wide from surprise.

"I used a little something called 'transference,'" Leona said, smirking. Her hand grabbed onto Leona's tightly, and Mae felt a tingle up her hand.

"What I'm doing is transferring part of my magic to you, and that is what's making you run. Don't be all delighted though; this relieving of the pain is only temporary, so it's like numbing your pain by overstimulating your body." She said it with a serious face.

Mae nodded along curiously, her eyes wide with fascination. "Can you heal with magic?" She asked, placing her hand on one of the gashes that Leona had received on her forearm.

"It is possible, yes. But it is incredibly difficult, and only people with a very good understanding of magic can actually heal." She said, sounding a little bit off, which bothered Mae.

"You can't heal yourself or others, Leona?" Mae asked curiously, in awe, as she was genuinely surprised by how magic could make the pain go away.

"This is great! What else can you do with magic?" She asked with a curious voice as they continued to run.

"I don't really know myself, but that's kind of the beauty, you know? It's an endless sea of possibilities." She said.

They turned street after street, skillfully weaving their way through the crowd, and Mae was starting to get dizzy from all the movement.

"Just how much longer, Leona?" Mae inquired as a certain feeling of queasiness welled up in her stomach.

"We're almost there!" She screamed with a little bit of excitement, and Mae's eyes caught hold of Esther, who was running along just a little ahead of the duo now.

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[Zeq'arr, Olau]

As Edmund Reinhart maneuvered through the tightly packed crowd in the city's main square, the air grew thick with anticipation.

The evening show, typically cheerful, now seemed ominous as he felt the suffocating pressure of the people around him settle in like a dense fog.

The celebration had transformed into a claustrophobic maze.

No one in the crowd had noticed, but a shadowy figure was closing in on him amidst the sea of people.

Edmund bumped into person after person, with the crowd slowly taking note of his weird behavior.

Finally, Edmund bumped into a man with a tall frame and lost his footing.

"Are you okay, sir?" The man bent down and immediately helped Edmund up, and a small circle gave way for Edmund to recover.

Panic set in as he glanced around, his head feeling dizzy. Edmund's heart stopped for a second as the big man shook Edmund.

"Sir, you seem to be out of it; are you drunk?" He asked with a very caring and concerned tone.

Edmund's eyes were fixated on the shadowy figure. even though he couldn't make out any facial features. Whatever it was, it was staring into his soul.

"Do you see him?" Edmund asked, his hand pointing to the place where it stood.

The man and a couple others turned, took a good look at that place, and turned back. "No, sir, are you okay? Do you need water? Do you want to go to a nearby doctor's place and maybe get checked up?"

"No one sees him?" Edmund asked, his voice cracking,

"How does no one see him!" he exclaimed, a mixture of frustration and terror in his eyes.

As Edmund wiped his eyes in disbelief for a moment, the silhouette vanished. The man returned, now holding a jug of water. "Here, sir, have some water. I think you should be fine; don't worry."

But Edmund's paranoia overrode his reason, and he knocked the jug out of the man's hands and started to run without so much as saying a word.

Never before in his life had he felt such fear.

As he turned to glance back, he saw the silhouette atop the central square tower, slowly descending.

A bone-chilling aura surrounded it, and as it reached the level of the people below, it defied gravity, hovering above them, walking on air.