Chapter 79, Autumn

"Okay, we'll be staying here for tonight." Will said as he stood in front of hotel's entrance. "It'll be two people rooms. Is everyone okay with that?"

"Just so you know I won't be sleeping with you." Van said and went off somewhere while waving his hand.

After drawing lots the pairs are Lucas and Ethan. Reinhardt and Liam, Adele and Lia, Alexis and Alistar, Andrew and Zhen, Adonis and Mitan, Leon and Me Angie and Rachel and Theo and Will. We each head up to our rooms and wait for dinner. When we head to the dining hall, there's an array of people. Many fighters and armed people.

When we sit down to eat, I order fried chicken and a salad as I gazed around the area. As I'm eating, I see the girl with the same orange hair from earlier on the table adjacent to ours. Since I can't lose her I send one of my Petals to follow her. After she finishes her meal she leaves her table and leaves the through the door without further notice. After we eat we return to our rooms, the others seem to be doing their own things and as I'm exhuasted I go to sleep. But my sleep is interrupted when I jump awake feeling extreme pressure coming from the streets. Though it has little effect on the others. I slowly, quietly approach the window and look out to see the orange haired girl running about searching for something. I don't hesitate. I leave one of my Petals and have it replace me on the bed as I jump outside through the window.

"Can I please talk to you!" I called out to her but when she sees me she immediately runs away.

I chase after through the streets and corner her but she jumps unto the roofs and so I follow. We spend an hour or so chasing each other throughout town but I finally manage to catch her when I toss a piece Medusa Rope at her.

She stops running and is cornered. She stands up and as the moonlight shines on both of us, I see the fear in her bright golden eyes.

"Please don't be scared, I won't hurt you." I told her.

"Y-you... won't?" She asked timidly and I nodded, I even take off the Medusa Rope to show her my sincerity.

"What's your name?" I asked her gently.

"Autumn, Autumn Breeze." She answered.

"Autumn, my name is Arata, can I talk to you for a bit?" I asked her.

"You're not afraid of me?" She asked and I nodded.

"You're the Magician of Fallen Leaves, right?" I asked.

"Yes. How does Arata know?" She asked.

"If you're the Magician of Fallen Leaves, then the White Tiger should've told you about the Le Fleur." I answered her.

"Yes... he had told me about you. But... if you're looking for the White Tiger I'm afriad I can't let you meet." She said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"The White Tiger has gone missing. It started a couple weeks ago, the two of us were happily playing in the Forest of Fallen Leaves when we saw something fall from the sky." She answered. "What we found at the spot it fell at was a black rock, all the plants near it wilted and slowly black ooze came out of the rock. When the White Tiger touched the rock... he... he..."

I pat her back, she must have been scared and I can actually work on what happened from there. The White Tiger touched the black ooze, the black ooze currupted him, he tried to either save or attack Autumn before disappearing.

"What happened to the black rock?" I asked her.

"The black rock...? It was gone when I had come to." She answered.

"Could the White Tiger have taken it?" I mumbled.

"Where... could that rock.. have come from?" She cried.

It must've come from the Chimeras. Probably a compressed form of Chimeras corpses. It would feed of organic matter and then produce the black liquid that would destroy and currupt anything it comes across.

"Autumn, let's head back to the hotel I was staying at. You can stay with us, we'll help you search for the White Tiger." I told her.

"Really?" She asked with bright eyes and I nodded.

It's already daybreak when I walk with her back to the hotel and find a group of people standing at the entrance. She gets scared of them but I calm her down by telling her it's fine and that they're my friends and they're only angry at me for leaving at the dead of night without a word which calms her down but she still hides behind me.

"I'm back." I smiled.

"Where have you been?" Will asked in a measured voice.

"I was searching for her." I answered as Autumn hid behind me. "Her name is Autumn, she is the Magician of Fallen Leaves. I'll tell you more back in our room."

We head up to our room and as we all sit down Autumn is still scared of them but Adele and Lia manage to coax her to sit beisde them. Rachel then gently braids her hair and she smiled. I tell them everything that Autumn told me and as I'm finishing Van knocks at the window. Lucas opens it and lets him in.

"You might want to see what's outside." He says and so we do and find a large group of familiars flying high above the city.

"There are so many." Angie said as she gazed at them.

"Out of the way." I said and jumped out the window. "What are you standing there for, we need to hurry and get rid of them!"

"Um... Arata is right, if we let them be... they'll kill everyone here." Autumn said and one by one they jumped out the window.

We all take arms as we prepare to fight all the familiars that have gathered above us.