Chapter 10

I stepped off the carriage and into the fog-filled street.

Everything was quiet. Too silent. Not even a bird chirping in the distance. Even the breeze felt strangely still.

I narrowed my eyes and looked around carefully. Nothing seemed out of place. Everything remained calm. As though nothing was wrong.

But something definitely was. Something was very wrong. And it wasn't just the silence. The air was heavy. Heavy, like the sky during an approaching thunderstorm.

This isn't normal. This doesn't feel right.

I took a deep breath, and tried to steady my nerves. I need to figure out what's going on here. I'd never felt this alone since I woke up in this world.

First things first; I needed to locate my siste-

Suddenly, there was a flash of light in the air, causing me to make the most undignified squeaking noise.

Lori appeared in front of me next to the carriage, like she'd come out of a portal. She was covered in blood, and holding the severed head of a monster. It looked awfully similar to the monster that almost ate me in my hallucination.

Her sword was drawn, and I could see four runes along the blade glowing a bright silver.

"Lori?" I asked hesitantly. "What's going on?"

She looked at me with cold, serious eyes. I shivered. Those were an uncharacteristic eyes for her in the time I'd known her.

"Tread very, very carefully right now, Alice. Keep your eyes open."

"What?" I trailed off nervously. "Where are we?"

"In Halton, of course," she responded calmly.

I shivered. This was wrong.

"Halton? What?"

"Yes." She answered curtly. "Sorry sis, looks like my Party's past is coming to bite us in the rear. This is an ambush. Likely, specifically for me."

I swallowed hard as my fear kicked up another notch.

"What do we do?" I asked frantically.

She gave me a strained smile and said nothing.

Then, a small red bird fluttered down from above and landed gently onto Lori's shoulder.

"It seems my visions were correct. He's not as dead as we'd thought."

I blinked. The bird spoke in the mystery woman's voice.

"Be careful, old friend," The bird cawed quietly, turning its head toward the distant horizon. Its wings rustled slightly, and it hopped onto Lori's other arm.

The two of them exchanged glances, then nodded to each other briefly. Then they turned and began walking away quickly.

The bird shifted into the woman who'd been on the carriage. Except, she was dressed in an outfit out of a Wuxia film. She still had a veil that covered most of her head.

What in the actual fuck?

"Wait! Where are you going?!" I shouted after them.

"We must move," the mysterious woman called back without looking over her shoulder. "Follow along quickly, child."

"Lori?! Wait a second!!!" I screamed out at their retreating backs. They didn't even turn around to acknowledge me.

I sighed heavily and started following behind them.

There was something very wrong about this entire situation. My heart was beating furiously, my skin tingling with goosebumps. A chill ran down my spine.

I stopped suddenly when I realized why I felt so uneasy.

There was no wind blowing through the streets.

I glanced around cautiously, and saw that there was also no movement anywhere nearby. Even the birds and insects had disappeared completely. There was nothing but silence everywhere I looked.

This is wrong. Something is very wrong here.

I took a deep breath, and focused on calming my nerves. I couldn't let my fear control me anymore. I needed to get a hold of myself and think clearly.

Okay, okay. Calm down. Think rationally. What should I do next?

I continued to follow close behind the mystery woman and Lori. My feet moved mechanically, and I stared straight ahead without really seeing anything.

This is too much to handle right now. I'm not ready for this. Not yet. I don't know enough about magic or monsters to fight properly.

I clenched my fists tightly as I walked.

I shook my head slowly as I thought about what to do next. But before I could come up with any good ideas, Lori suddenly stopped and drew her sword. I heard a faint sound from behind me.

A low growl.

I whipped my head around to look behind me, and froze in place.

There was a large creature standing between me and the carriage. It was huge, easily three times as tall as me and twice as wide. Its body was covered in black fur, and its face was humanoid in shape.

However, it had sharp teeth protruding from both sides of its mouth, and a long tail that swished back and forth ominously. Its hands were tipped with claws, which dripped with blood.

It growled again, baring its fangs at me threateningly. It began to slowly approach as I scrambled for my wand.

"W-what is that thing?" I stammered out nervously.

I took aim at it, but I was too scared. The symbols wouldn't form in my head. I stared in terror as I tried again and again but it just wouldn't work.

Lori just shrugged her shoulders, and raised her sword into the air. A bright white light shot from her sword, and struck the monster square in the chest. The beast roared in pain, and stumbled backward. It fell to one knee, and clutched at its chest with its claws.

"Lori..." I whispered softly.

Ok, that was, admittedly, really damned cool.

She ignored me, and kept attacking the creature. Suddenly, it struck out, shredding Lori's breastplate in a single hit and launching her in the air. But another blast from Lori sent it tumbling backwards once again.

She drove her momentum forward in the air, and swung her sword down hard onto its neck. Blood splattered across the ground like rain.

"Lori!" I cried out, rushing towards her side. "Are you alright?"

She spun around and glared at me angrily.

"Don't touch me!" she growled.

I recoiled in shock, and stared at her in disbelief. Where did that come from?

"What's wrong with you?" I asked incredulously. "Why are you acting so weird?"

Seriously, what was wrong with this girl?!

"Weird? Weirder than you? You're the one who's been acting strange lately," she snapped back. "And what happened to your magic? That was an easy shot. I nearly got killed just now because you've been a dipshit about your problem!"

"What? I don't know what you mean."

"Don't bullshit me. You lost control of your magic after Rivershire," she said accusingly. "What did you do to yourself? Be straight with me, Alice. I've never seen you struggle with something as basic as a Mana Bolt. I felt something was off when I saw those books but that just confirmed it."

"I didn't do anything! And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" She shouted furiously. "I might not be the smartest girl in the room usually, but I have damned sharp eyes. Look, I'm your sister. You can talk to me about this stuff."

"Lori!" I exclaimed in horror, taking a step away from her.

Where was all this coming from?

"What else am I supposed to say?" she demanded harshly. "You're always so calm and collected, and so damned smart, and now you're the one who's been acting like an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!" I yelled back. "I'm...I'm just scared!"

"You're scared?" she scoffed. "Get your shit together sis, this is serious right now."

"I'm still trying to figure things out," I screamed. "How can you be so calm when we're surrounded by monsters?!"

"Calm?" She snorted derisively. "You're the one who's being stupider right this moment than I've been acting on our baby adventures."

"What?" I gaped at her in surprise.

"This is serious. Before this? That was all small fry to antagonize and get you experience. This is our first real battle," she explained impatiently. "If you want to survive this, you need to focus on the enemy, not your sister."

She scowled, her eyes darting around, "The only way for us to win this fight is if you stop thinking about me, and start focusing on fighting back."

Her eyes suddenly shifted my way. "Duck."

"What?!" I gasped as I suddenly felt something approach.

"Duck!" She repeated urgently.

I ducked instinctively as a large ball of fire flew over my head. It slammed into a monster's chest, and it burst into flames instantly. The creature howled loudly in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Lori turned to the air next to me, and nodded with a stern expression. "Good work, Haigha."

A man with brown bunny ears popped out of thin air beside the burning monster. He was wearing a blue suit with an orange bowtie and he had a wand drawn. He smiled cheerfully at us, then looked behind him curiously.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked in a soothing tenor voice, before he turned to look at me with wide eyes, "Oh dear. Alice...you've gotten so big!"

"Yeah, we're fine," Lori answered quickly. "Where's the chief?"

"Oh, just...just erm, give him a minute!" the rabbit-eared man replied nervously.

I jumped slightly when I saw a giant demonic-looking bear standing behind him. Its body was covered in thick black fur, and its face had sharp teeth protruding from both sides of its mouth. A long tail swished back and forth menacingly. It growled deeply, showing off its impressive fangs.

"Blasphemers..." the bear said gruffly, glaring at Lori threateningly.

Lori sighed softly, and raised her sword into the air. A bright white light shot from her sword, and struck the bear square in the chest. The beast roared in pain, and stumbled backward. It fell backwards to the ground and didn't move.

"Lori..." I whispered softly.

Ok, that was, admittedly, really damned cool. I was MORE than fed up with her shit at this point, but that was still cool.

The red woman suddenly transformed into a wolf and pounced onto the unconscious bear. She sank her teeth deep into its neck, and shook her head violently. Blood splattered everywhere, covering the ground like rain.

What the heck. This was horrific!.

I needed to get out of here.

Another creature appeared on the scene, and rushed towards me. It was a huge humanoid frog with three heads. One head had two horns growing out of it, while another had four eyes. The third had no eyes or nose. I screamed and pulled my wand out of reflex, and fired a mana bolt at it. The spell hit home, and it let out a high pitched squeal before dissolving into particles of light.

I blinked in surprise. I did it! Under pressure!

My mind raced as I tried to figure out what was going on.

The wolf transformed back into a woman next to me. "And THIS is why you're taking my place, Alice..." she spat, coughing out the bear's blood. "Screw this life."

Huh? Take her place?

A loud growl made me jump again. A large wolf with eight eyes stood before me, looking at me hungrily. Its body was covered in dark brown fur, and its face had sharp teeth protruding from both sides of its mouth. A long tail swished back and forth ominously. It growled again, showing off its impressive fangs.

But then, it got hit by a....molotov cocktail? Yes, that's right, a molotov cocktail.

Except, it was less of a liquor bottle and more of a glass orb.

The wolf creature burst into flames and began to thrash and howl. And then suddenly, a rain of a dozen arrows began to strike its torso. With a whimper, it stopped moving.

I turned to the source, and saw a tall elf in a green tuxedo with puffy orange hair and a ridiculous top hat. He had a ludicrously packed utility belt, and he was juggling three red balls similar to the one he just tossed at the wolf.

"Hey!" Lori called out cheerfully. "I'm glad you could make it, Chief." She turned to look at the roof with a wink, "Dinah!"

"Uh..." I stammered out nervously, staring wide-eyed. My eyes followed my sister's eyes, only to land on a bow-wielding catgirl on the roof with long red hair and blue eyes. She flashed me a grin when she met my eyes, and a thumbs up.

The elf waved his hand dismissively, "No need for formalities here, dear. Sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances, Alice."

"I don't think this is quite the time to be worrying about formality," Lori snapped back. "We're in the middle of a fight against one hell of a warlock and his monsters. Anyone see Friar Dodgson?"

"He'll turn up," The elf acknowledged slowly, before turning to me. "I am sorry that we couldn't meet again under better conditions, Alice. We've been eager for this moment since we heard about your graduation!"

"Wait," I asked confused. "For what?"

The elf took a step forward, and placed his hands on my shoulders. His touch felt warm and comforting.

"This moment for you to join us," he explained softly.

"Join you?" I asked blankly. "Wait..."

I suddenly remembered what Lori told me when I'd first woken up in this world. This situation was really, really messed up.

The elf pumped his fist, "Yes, Alice. Please. Join our little group!"