Chapter 4

A sapphire butterfly glided over his head as he roamed a busy shopping district called "Grimwald Cross"… He felt an inclination to follow after it… So, he did.

"Help!"

An ethereal childish voice asked within his mind… it didn't belong to Askr and it felt like a temporary outside intrusion into his own.

'Where are you?' Askr internally inquired but was ignored… so he can't be heard?

"Okay." Tenma agreed before violently stumbling and nearly falling over onto the floor before grasping a nearby wall with one hand and his heart with the other.

"…!" He shut his eyes tightly as his senses were stimulated intensely—as if his heart and eyes were being doused in increasingly agonising blaze.

"Are you okay?" At this mere question a bystander asked… it all vanished like a shadow to sunlight.

"Yeah." He reassured the blond bystander who looked relieved for a moment before continuing on his own way… why was he lugging a coffin around?

Tenma's eyes throbbed internally violently… before he felt as if he had obtained a new ability.

'Focus.' Whatever, he had other matters to take care of.

It was instinctual, but he knew for a fact that he had obtained it.

He tapped into his ability and everything took on a mossy tint with small footsteps laid in front of him that became ignited in an emerald glow.

"…?" He switched his ability off and those footsteps ceased to exist with no clear sign of them ever existing, and switching his ability back on supported his hypothesis that someone was in danger and thus he should follow to save them.

Maybe he should contact someone to accompany him in his investigation?

Tenma took a moment to think about it. Would they help him in the first place? The voice sounded young and he was expected to come back by nightfall whilst currently it was the evening.

He sighed… he chose to…

[LINE BREAK]

"Where is the child in need of protection?" Dan Heng examined the area with his spear gripped in hand before refocusing back onto Tenma whilst pausing before intently glancing at his eyes… or rather the colour of them. "Your eyes… they're illuminating."

So when he's using his new ability, his eyes glow?

Tenma briefly explained the circumstances to Dan Heng's confusion.

"You heard the voice of a child requesting for your assistance, and you have found a hidden trail with an ability granted towards you after accepting their plea for help?" Dan Heng sighed. "You shouldn't so callously be accepting deals and contracts… especially if they suddenly appear in your mind."

'He has a point.' Askr was promptly ignored.

"Not gonna help?"

Dan Heng's voice was slightly strained. "…I didn't say that—I'll help you out but we have to inform Mr Yang and Himeko about this."

"Deal."

And so after a brief message they followed after the trail.

…

"This is…" Dan Heng's mutterings were lost in an avalanche of people. "—Malfoy Street."

Tenma's eyes scanned the area; the surroundings were quite vibrant as there seemed to be a large quantity of greenery from a nearby park and outside the park were numerous foodstands, souvenir shops and a couple refined statues here and there… hell, the floors seemed to have switched from the standardised soft metal into something resembling cobblestone.

"This is Edinop Station's district which is targeted towards tourists as the nearby park "Potter Park" was personally created by the aforementioned trio who established the foundations of Imaginary Storage… and so everything nearby was created to honour them and obtain additional profits to support Edinop Station." He continued. "Potter Park itself had been renovated a few months ago to increase tourism."

"…The trails seem to lead to Potter Park." Tenma noted.

"…Hm," Dan Heng scanned the area. "I believe we should split up for now… I'll contact you to inform you when and where we should regroup."

"See ya later."

Thus they split up… Maybe he should take a closer look upon the walls of Potter Park? He first walked to nearby stalls and exchanged credits for foodstuffs as he was feeling quite peckish… he momentarily glanced at the neon-lights attached to parts of buildings that illuminated the facade of Edinop's night sky.

This place seems quite busy despite the night.

After storing a couple more foodstuffs in his storage, he decided to refocus on his current task. He approached Potter Park and followed the walls whilst his grey eyes turned silvery-white… he paused in the world of green.

There was an area in which the small footsteps started from, as well as a slight trace of blood scraped onto the walls… someone cut themselves accidentally as they escaped the park. Switching off his new ability showed that the blood did not exist.

So the voice climbed the walls of Potter Park in a hurry?

Tenma glanced around his surroundings and found that no-one seemed to be particularly paying attention to him… he flicked his hood on and climbed the park wall.

He was in a murky forest… he can't see anything. At least with the naked eye.

Switching his eyes on again showed that there seemed to be numerous footsteps around this area, but only a single pair of the footsteps alighted heavily… This is definitely the voice's footsteps.

"Help…!"

The desperate scream resounded within Tenma's mind, forcing him to stabilise himself with a nearby tree.

"Got it." He agreed.

Tenma followed the trail within the all-consuming dark that not even the lights of Edinop seemed to reach.

"…It hurts!"

Tenma didn't flinch this time as he immediately began to hurry his pace… there seemed to be blindly bright light in the distance.

He paused.

'…A portal?'

"…A donut?"

'…'

"…"

Tenma valiantly fought the judgemental stare of his other self by placidly ignoring the condemnatory glare he gave himself.

Small issues aside, it seemed that Tenma found himself in front of a (donut) portal that had a vibrantly green glow emanate within its recesses.

Should he proceed?

He took a moment to think it through.

"…Let's do this."