Chapter 102. Guilt

Alaric did not bother to inform anyone. At the moment, Sarah was telling him that he was five kilometers away from Aurora's location. One could wonder then why he had stopped.

Alaric was standing on a hill. From his vantage point, he could see the hundreds of interconneted hills with sharp valleys between them.

Trees very tall encasing the hills. But something about this place gave an ominous feel. Just looking at it made the hair on the back of his neck rise.

It felt like something crawled under his skin when he thought of entering this forest. A cold shiver running down his spine. He was not the kind to get intimidated easily.

But something was happening in these woods. Something that brought an unknown feeling to him called fear. Alaric could not remember the last time he felt fear.

Something else he had noted was the absence of beasts. All this time he came across none. But something told him that if he dared enter the forest, he was not going to be safe.

After getting rid of his fear, he leapt forward and jumped to the bottom of the hill. He landed with a small thud leaving a concentric circles from the point of impact .

He had crouched and bent forward with the right hand touching the ground. His eyes shone as he stared at the almost dark surroundings that were staring at him a few meters away.

He stood up and started walking into the forest. When he stepped into the forest, the feeling he had been feeling on top of him encrouched him again.

He steeled his heart and headed forward. He was stretching his perception to the limit making sure that everything in the immediate 500 meters was under his grasp.

But who could have thought that he could be this limited. It felt like his perception had been reduced by a half. But that was still better.

He walked cautiously with all his senses alert. He was glad that there was nothing in his reach but as he moved forward, he could feel a few beasts away.

The feeling of fear he kept suppressing kept rising everytime he took a step forward. He had no choice but to ask Sarah what was happening.

[... This place has been cast with a spell that creates fear. You could say that it is an illusion but this illusion will stop working after you reach a certain distance.

Its amazing that you are still able to stand and have not experienced an illusion yet. Your mind is strong but once you get overwhelmed by fear, you will start experiencing illusions and only after you surpass them can the path clear for you]

Alaric nodded. It was better to have a heads-up of what he was experiencing. At least he was going to be ready for anything. As he went forward, he felt the fear in his heart start disappearing.

He could not have believed that he had easily evaded the effects of the illusion. He could only thank his soul for that.

[...Alaric, you should head to the left after you reach fifty meters. You should have already picked something there with your perception]

Alaric was happy that she had called him by his name again. He suddenly picked up something with his perception just as Sarah had informed him.

He hurried and took the left direction after he reached the fifty meters mark. He rushed forward and whatever he had picked up seemed to be on the move.

He used his lightning to chase after it. Around 249 meters away from his current location. That was almost the weakest of his reach currently.

He did not get discouraged as he used his wind and lightning at the same time. He was finally bridging the gap and he could tell that the person was now almost 200 meters away.

It was like he or she had stopped moving. He quickly crossed the gap but when he was around fifty meters away, he saw her move. He also noted her movement with his perception.

He quickly tried to bridge the gap but it started getting longer. Then at the 100 meter mark, she stopped. Alaric quickly bridged the gap again and he saw her seated on the base of a tree.

He was standing few meter away from her. She had her legs crouched leaning her head on her knees. He could hear sobbing sounds coming from her.

He usually did not meddle with other people's affairs but he wanted to know why she was running after she saw him. She was wearing a white dress and her hair was... violet.

He felt his heart skip a beat. He hurried towards her and knelt infront of her. He cupped her chje6ks and lifted her to look at him. Her violet eyes glistening.

She had almost cried herself dry. Her cheeks seeemed to be shiny probably due to the dry tears. He felt a mixture of emotions.

At first he did not want to believe that he had found her but when she started crying again, he could not hold himself anymore and he pulled her into his embrace.

She cried on his shoulder and drenched it in seconds.

"Its okay, I am here. No one will harm you," he soothed as he stroked her hair. He kept repeating the words every now and then.

But the words instead of calmimg her seemed to only make her cry more. She actually let out a louder cry. Alaric could not help but wonder whether it was him who was doing it the wrong way.

He then pulled her away and held her by her shoulders. He wiles the tears from her face and he did not even seem to realize that he too was shedding tears.

He suddenly felt her fingers on his face as she brushed away his tears. This action made him shed more. He felt guilty for her current condition.

He could not help but wonder just how much pain she had been going through all this time. It had been a week and a few days.

This place was full of illusions. Just how many times had she found herself in the past reminiscing about her mother's death? Just how cruel could someone be to put her through such torture?

"Its okay," her voice came to his ears as if she had read his mind. He looked at her more intently and another tear fell. She also cupped his cheeks and her tears had stopped flowing.

"Sorry I have failed. It is all my fault that you are like this. I should have come sooner. I promise that I am going to protect you well," he said and removed her cheeks from his face.

"Its not your fault at all. It's my fault that you were almost killed. Don't dare say that its your fault. We are just weak." She said with a smile. Alaric could only smile back. She appeared very cute at the moment with the moon lighting her face that he could not hold himself back.

"I will make sure that they pay for this..." Alaric said as he shed another tear. He had a pained smile as he watched her complexion change.

Her eyes paled and she started crying too. She fell on his shoulder and he hugged her back. His right hand had a dagger on it and it was drenched with blood.

"I promise to get revenge for you. I will do alot more for you after I find you," Alaric said and another tear fell. He watched as she started disappearing with white bubbles.

He then stood up with an angry look. He was going to make someone pay for that. It should be prohibited that someone used his heart to try to disillusion him.

He was angered by the fact that he had to kill her so that he could get out of the illusion. He also realized that he had greatly underestimated the power of the illusions.

Especially when he had almost fallen for that one. He could only thank his system. Had the system not called him by his name, it would have taken longer for him to realize that it was an illusion.

Also, when he had ran after her, he had maintained his top speed and yet, he was unable to bridge the gap and their distance had remained 249 meters for a while.

He had connected some dots there. Also when he saw that it was her, he had felt so much joy that he had forgotten that it was an illusion.

The actions the illusion had Aurora do were probably generated from his mind. He was 100% sure that it was an illusion when he saw her wearing the white dress.

It was the same dress she had worn for the party. To him, whenever he visualized her in his mind she was always wearing this dress. The fact she was wearing it when she was supposed to be wearing a battle suit just told him all he needed to know.

But he could not get over the guilt of killing her.