Chapter 18

I pulled away from the square, my hand still clasped in hers as the dizziness began to subside. I looked around, disoriented and unable to place myself—the streets here were far older than any I'd seen during my stay, worn and neglected. This part of the city lacked the magical ambiance that had permeated everywhere else.

I came to a halt and released her hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked, bewildered. "And who are you?"

The girl lowered her hood, revealing her face. She was the same girl I'd seen in the park yesterday.

"You're the girl from the park," I said, startled.

"We need to keep moving. We're not safe yet," she replied urgently.

"Safe from what?"

"I'm being hunted."

"By whom?"

"I'll explain everything once we reach somewhere secure."

She glanced backward, and in that instant, something plummeted from the sky with terrifying velocity, slamming into the ground and creating a crater. The girl raised her hand, which began to glow brilliantly, and suddenly the entire area filled with thick fog. She seized my hand, and we bolted into the mist.

After what felt like an eternity of running through the murky haze, we arrived at a dilapidated building. Its windows were boarded up with wooden panels that allowed only thin slivers of light to filter through, casting everything in a pale, eerie glow.

"Can you please explain what's happening?" I demanded, my voice strained. "What happened in the plaza? Who are you? And why in God's name are we being hunted?"

"Too many questions at once," she said, catching her breath. "Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Cristal. What happened in the plaza was nothing more than a trick to impress the crowd. They extract a pleasant memory from you and then distort it, filling the air with a fantasy scenario—pure illusion, nothing more."

"Then what was that dark figure staring at me?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"That's what I'd like to know. I've seen that illusion technique many times, and never has anything like that emerged from someone's mind. I had to expose myself to make it disappear. Who on earth are you that something like that came from your head?"

"I'm just an ordinary person," I replied nervously.

"Just ordinary?" Suspicion flickered in her eyes.

"Regardless, we're not talking about me. Why are people hunting you?"

"I ran away from home. My parents probably hired them to bring me back."

"Based on that attack, they didn't seem particularly friendly," I pointed out.

"It seemed like they were aiming towards you; they also saw you in the park with me."

"I have nothing to do with this," I said defensively.

"I know. I'll take you to the city guards. If you explain the situation to them, they should be able to protect you."

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Cristal said, her tone shifting to confusion.

"I don't have an identification card. I'm here to get one."

"You don't have one?" she said, exasperated.

"Can't I just leave and have everyone forget about me?" The moment those words left my mouth, something felt wrong. A pressure crushed my chest, and strange words invaded my thoughts.

Will you run away?

It was like the forest again, when those words had prevented me from fleeing. Where were they coming from? I couldn't concentrate.

At that very moment, an object shattered through the window with explosive force, splintering the wooden boards. Two figures in long robes that concealed their entire bodies entered, their faces hidden from view.

"You're coming with us," one of them commanded.

"If we get rid of them, we'll be free, won't we?" The words escaped my lips in a whisper, as though I were speaking to myself. Cristal looked at me in surprise—she'd heard me.

Before she could respond and stop me, something inside me snapped. My entire body erupted in arcing electricity, my hair turned white at the tips, and my eyes blazed blue.

"I'll handle one. If you can't beat the other, hold on until I get back," I said, my words laced with a confidence that seemed absurd in the moment. Yet somehow, I felt certain I could defeat them.

With that, I lunged at the figure who'd entered first. Unable to react, I seized him and drove him forward with tremendous force. We crashed through the building's walls and burst out onto the rooftop above, both of us tumbling into the open air.

"I'm going to stop you," I declared.

"You're awfully sure of yourself, kid," he replied, pulling off his robes to reveal a man in his late twenties—rough, street-worn, and dangerous-looking.

The roof beneath him began to rise and contort, forming a baseball bat. The rooftop itself warped further, creating spheres of compacted earth. He swung the bat, and the spheres shot toward me like projectiles. They must have been the attack that had shattered the window earlier. But in my trance-like state, my reflexes had sharpened dramatically, and I dodged them with ease. I closed the distance rapidly, moving so fast he couldn't react. According to what Aedric had told me, mages were accustomed to distance combat—get close enough, and most of them would be defenseless. I connected my fist with his face with such force that he flew several meters backward.

"Dammit, who is this kid coming at me like this?" he coughed from the ground, blood streaming from his nose.

"My name is Navnlos. You'll remember it."

"Tch, don't get cocky," he snarled, pushing himself upright. This time, he created three spheres of earth and batted them toward me with added force. They were faster than before, but still easily dodgeable. I tilted my head to avoid the first, and the other two seemed to follow simpler trajectories. I prepared to accelerate again, but then one sphere collided with another, changing its trajectory entirely. It struck me directly in the stomach.

The impact knocked the wind from my lungs, leaving my mind blank. I fought back the urge to vomit, steadied myself, and prepared to accelerate forward. But then three more spheres came hurtling toward me. All three hit me directly—one on my shoulder, another on my chest, a third on my leg.

Pain exploded through my entire body. It was so intense I nearly blacked out. I gritted my teeth and charged forward anyway. He looked startled, attempting to dodge to the side, but he didn't have time. I plowed directly into him, destroying the rooftop beneath us as his body scraped against it. We both went flying into the street below. Civilians scattered and ran as they saw us crash down.

"Damn it, your magic is seriously problematic," he groaned from the pavement.

I remained on the ground myself, coughing violently. Every inch of my body ached, and my trance state wasn't giving me the endurance I needed. I had to finish this quickly and help Cristal.

I struggled to my feet and began running toward him. To the eyes of onlookers, it must have looked like a beam of light approaching. I poured everything I had into this attack, determined to knock him unconscious with a single blow. Suddenly, he managed to grab my head from underneath. How had he reacted to my speed?

"It was obvious you were going for my stomach," he said with a strained laugh, though pain clearly made speech difficult.

He kicked me away, but what shocked me most was that my electricity was condensing, forming into a sphere of pure lightning. He seized his bat and swung it directly at my electric sphere, sending it hurtling back toward me. I couldn't dodge in time. It felt like a lance had pierced through me, and searing pain consumed my entire being. Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision. I had to stand up.

"Damn you!" I screamed with every ounce of strength I had left.

But the pain overcame me, and my world went black.