Illusion

Nerton, 1873. A forest on the outskirts of the city.

Hidden in the treetop and worried I'd be discovered, I began searching my cloak for the black paper Eden had given me. However, at that moment, I stopped. I heard loud footsteps below me.

I stopped breathing and moving. The sound got closer, but thankfully, it soon began to fade.

Once the sound faded, I didn't waste any more time. I had to get out of here. I resumed my frantic search for the paper and finally found it. I took it in my hands, but when I focused on it, it seemed to vanish; it was completely invisible.

The strength of this illusion would have easily trapped me if I hadn't considered its workings beforehand.

Then I was going to press on the black paper, but I stopped. What if it teleports me high into the air? Eden said she can't use her wings, so she wouldn't be able to save me this time.

It was all luck. Should I use it or not?

However, using it was the better choice. I know it would be a gamble, but them finding me and Eden was worse than anything.

I pressed on the black paper, thinking of myself and Eden, and then the paper started burning slowly.

It made a crisp sound, and everything around me blurred, churning like a violent sea.

Then, opening my eyes, I started breathing fast. I saw a river in front of me.

"Did you use the paper?" I heard a voice from behind me.

Looking at Eden, whose eyes locked onto the river, I nodded. "I guess I got lucky this time."

Eden turned her head to me. "Don't do anything reckless from now on."

I know; it's not like there was a choice to begin with. "Ok, so what do we do now?"

She pointed at the river. "There's no snow here, which means we are in the north of the kingdom. We will follow the river until we find a path with merchants, and we can pay them to take us to Carleone."

I nodded as we both started following the river. Eden was unusually silent. I guessed the magic had taken its toll.

After walking for a bit, we found a path, and we stopped, sitting on opposite sides of a large tree to wait.

Nighttime was approaching, yet nobody had come to this path.

"Taro, how did that chicken from this morning taste?" Eden asked randomly, and I was confused.

She did this before as well at the restaurant, but I don't get the point of it.

"Why are you so interested in that?" I replied, looking at the setting sun.

She stayed silent for a while before replying, "We vampires can't taste food; most of us don't even need it, as all we have to do is drink blood to live..."

I didn't look at her, then I asked, "What does blood taste like?"

I couldn't see her face, and her tone was hard to read.

She answered, "Delicious."

As darkness covered the whole sky and snow started to fall, Eden still hadn't talked yet.

I was about to say something, but I couldn't bring myself to. On the opposite side, what is she doing now?

Clenching my fist, I got up, and slowly I walked to the other side, and I saw her.

Her red eyes were even more crimson than before, and she was biting her thumb to the point of it being crushed, yet no blood came out.

Her eyes turned to me in an instant, like a predator looking at its prey.

I uncovered my forearm and offered it to her; she didn't hesitate one bit to take a bite.

It was painful, but I ignored it. After a few minutes, she took her fangs out, her eyes looking calmer now. She didn't say anything, going back to sitting under the tree, not looking at my face.

I covered my arm and went back to my position.

Eden helped me a lot, and even if she's being annoying about it, I can't really ignore her if she needs something.

I held my forearm with my left hand; I couldn't move for a bit, and I slept.

Feeling the ground moving, I opened my eyes instantly, and then I saw Eden sitting opposite me.

"Huh?" My eyes blinked open. The ground wasn't ground; it was the rumbling floor of a carriage. Across from me, Eden watched as the scenery rolled by.

Eden's eyes were back to green. She fixed her hair and explained, "I didn't want to wake you up, but we're going to Carleone as we speak right now. You can continue sleeping if you'd like to."

I shook my head. "No need to; I am already awake."

I looked to the side to see an old man with grey hair leading the horses. Turning back to Eden, I asked, "Why did you give me the black paper? You could've used it yourself, no?"

Eden shook her head. "Just using it once depleted most of my magic. I was counting on you to use it and run away. Even if an average person doesn't know how to use magic, they can use magic artifacts as long as they're not empty." She explained, then went silent for a bit before saying, "Thanks to you, we survived. I don't think I would've been able to last long against a knight of the Froste family."

I smiled. "No, I should be the one to thank you for trusting me. Eden, I want to learn magic. If people like Gilbert come around and try to kill me for whatever reason, I don't want to die without putting up a fight."

Eden didn't change her expression before turning to the old man and saying, "Hey, sir, we'll stop here, please!"

The old man looked back. "Are you sure? You paid me to take you all the way to Carleone."

The carriage stopped, and Eden jumped out. "Don't worry about it. Thanks for the lift!"

I followed Eden and jumped out as well, then the old man nodded and continued.

Confused, I asked her, "Why did we stop here?"

She then looked at the forest and started walking while explaining, "My family's mansion is not going to be in the capital; it's simple: why would we be in the public eye?"

I nodded, following her deep in the forest.

Nerton, 1873. In a manor's banquet hall.

In the large hall, there were a lot of chairs, yet one person was eating. His long, black hair made his silhouette unique.

Gilbert Bradforde Froste was cutting his steak without even moving his hands, looking beside him at a paper from the Duke of Nerton.

Then a young man with brown hair and blue eyes walked in, wearing the clothes of a knight with the Froste family emblem embedded in them.

Stopping beside Gilbert, he bowed and said, "Sir, we failed to capture the two undead you ordered us to." As he bowed, sweat came out of his forehead.

Gilbert looked at the paper and then nodded, looking at the young man. He replied, "Who?"

The young man didn't dare to ask and explained, "The two that you met on the pirate ship show and wanted us to capture them."

The black-haired man had a small part of a steak fly into his mouth and ate it. "The zombie and vampire? I don't care about them. Arrange a meeting with the duke soon. I want to get back to Carleone. What a tedious waste of my time."

The young knight stopped bowing and replied, "Yes, sir," before leaving the hall.