A Silver Lucifer Tampers with Time [Part 2]

A luxurious bottle of wine shattered vinous hues on the dawn of this day, with the bits of glass are the stars. The approach of the nightly air had such a complementary aroma as well. Clear, pure, not suffocating and corrupted, like the industrial hubris of Earth. What a lovely evening twilight in this new world. The soothing clatter of dozens of shoes striking the brick road drowned out any excessive thoughts I had. All I wanted to focus on were the street lamps, lighting up one by one. As well as Valaquendë's determined posture.

But my mind is always thinking about something. Distractions are hard to come by in the world of my mind… Time… I was still having some difficulties telling time in this world. That was the distraction in my mind. I had it every time I looked at the moon.

I could more constantly focus on the moon than I was with the sun. I’ve noticed that the moon moves slightly slower than what I’m used to. Which leads me to believe that the days are longer. Another reason why I think the days are longer is it seems quite normal to be out this late. The crowds of people from earlier today have only lowered in size by a small amount. I’m also assuming this world is bigger than Earth.

Before I could even grasp those ideas, I had to switch my focus to Valaquendë because she fell behind me a little. I turned to her and smirked. She is still trying to impress me.

“How about we take a rest?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea...” Valaquendë stated in relief.

We found the nearest bench to sit on. As soon as Valaquendë sat down, she sounded like a deflating balloon. I found that quite humorous.

“Don’t walk much do you, huh?” I asked to make more small talk.

“No, not really. But it’s these shoes! They were not meant to be walked in this much!”

“Hehe… We have been walking quite a bit, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, this city is bigger than I remember. But I haven’t really explored it a whole lot.”

She likes to smile a lot too. That's a good trait to have; it makes people more open and comfortable. Valaquendë also took her shoes off to massage them. I felt a little bad again for her, since this amount of walking was no problem for me, going from class to class almost every day for the entire day. It was even easier since I left my backpack at the hostelry.

I looked at the moon again. Full and lovely it was. Resembling a perfectly round pearl rather than a random rock full of craters and imperfections. Wonder why that is…?

“One moon, huh?”

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing.”

I accidentally commented on the moon out loud. Fortunately, she didn’t have any interest in what I said.

“So Ryosuke, I wanted to ask you a question but didn’t have much of a chance to.”

“What is it?”

I wonder what she is going to ask. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a question from earlier that she was trying to ask me.

“Why did you come here? Was it to join a Guild or something else?”

What a difficult question to answer at the moment. Should I say yes? Or should I fabricate another story. I need to think of something quickly!

“I actually came here to do some research.”

“Oh really?! What is it you are researching?” She quickly responded.

“I’d like to be a map maker someday, so I kinda travel a lot.”

“Oh jeez! I hope that joining our Guild won’t stop your research!”

“Oh no, not at all! Some Guilds travel a bit, right? So I should still get some experience with that.”

“Um, some do… but ours doesn’t really… But!!!” She made her voice change in pitch in an instant. She definitely knows how to get my attention.

“The Infernalior of our Guild has a huge library! So, I’m sure there is some stuff you can research in there!”

Infernalior? That must be the title of the Guild leaders. Even though her intense verbal expression was a little off putting than what I’m used to, she gave me a lot of information within just a short sentence. But I’ll think of the appropriate questions for later.

“Oh really? That’s awesome! That will help me a lot!”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty cool place. Our Guild is kinda small, but the other members are great! They are going to be really excited to meet you! I want to keep talking about it but I don’t want to spoil it too much for you.”

“Hehe, okay! Sounds good!”

She averted her gaze downward, still maintaining a joyous yet reserved grin. She seems pretty happy right now. I’m quite pleased with the information I’ve gotten in this short time. For my first day in this new world, I’d say I got a fair amount of information, all while creating the image that I am from this world… I wanted to touch her hand again.

“Well let’s get going! The quicker we fall asleep, the quicker we get to see everyone else!” Without any warning, Valaquendë swiftly stood up with determination and made that declaration. All I needed to do was just simply nod in agreement with her proposal.

⧫⧫⧫

“Ah! I recognize this area! … And look! There’s the hostelry! We made it!”

I thought Valaquendë was going to fall to her knees in relief. I smiled at her spritely personality, but before I could get a word out. I had that strange feeling again, same as I did back at the eatery. Only for a moment. Everything in front of me was made of dirt glass. Yet, even in that split moment, the sensation was more visceral than the last. Since I am in unfamiliar territory, I thought that it would be wise to trust this feeling. Even though I didn’t know what to make of it or what I should do next. So, I just did the first thing that came to my head.

“Valaquendë?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I know this is kinda out of nowhere and is probably a little inconvenient, but do you think we can sleep at a different hostelry?”

“Oh, um. Sure, I have no problem with that… Can I ask why?” Her eyes showed a curious caution.

“Well, I saw some of those same Guild members that got into that fight, back at the eatery. They just enter the same place we are staying.”

“Huh?! Really? Well then yeah! Let’s get our things and sleep somewhere different.” She commented in shock.

I had to make my voice sound a little meek to convince her of the lie I just made up. It worked at least, but she definitely sounded a tad skeptical. Nevertheless, this feeling, it just had to be recognized.