It was quite surprising how many tall buildings that Crocus had. The one where Hyōen was located had a very fancy, almost gothic-like top with lots of signs of elder architecture. It wasn’t damaged during the last attack, which was unreal itself. However, he bothered not that it wasn’t reduced to a pile of ash, because he was finding his seat there whilst writing lots of interesting things down in his notebook. Coda was flying around the top, looking like one of those guardian hawks from elder holds, and enjoying the cold yet heavy winds that led the way for her brilliant wings.

He could still feel it. There was something stupidly different when he tried to focus his magic power. Out of pure curiosity, he had discussed the feeling with a few other wizards out there, but his mind just wouldn’t get sate. His stomach was more than sate after a rabbit leg from the nearest slaughterhouse, but he was overfeeding his head with both worries and anticipation. It would be dangerous to be stuck in the same thought all the time, especially whilst needing to interact with the other world. Who knew if he would end up stumbling into a stranger all so awkwardly?

One of his pages accidently left the notebook as it was a rather old notebook that he was using. The page contained a drawing of Coda, and ever so slowly, it would make its way down to the middle of one of the streets in Crocus. Surprisingly, the Fire Wizard didn’t notice it yet…

Huh… something was odd. Coda hadn’t returned. Her majestic wings had disappeared from the air around Hyōen, and it worried him quite much. Where had the troublesome raptor gone now? It was uncommon for her to leave his side… then again, it had happened before. Did Coda, by any chance, meet someone befriended? Perhaps a recognizable face? It would prove that, truly, many wizards had gone to Crocus in these times, and among them would be people whom the Fire Wizard knew of. He quickly closed his notebook, only to notice two other pages that were about to fall off. He really ought to buy a new notebook soon…

Coda was having a good time flying around when she spotted a familiar appearance. From her angle, it didn’t take long until she made it to a lower terrain and perched upon an old postbox, simply gazing upon the beauty in front of her. Hyōen was but an amateur when it came to recognizing such art, and the bird had a feeling that Alisa thought the same way. She couldn’t but flap her wings excitingly when Alisa approached, clearly signing to the crystal wizard that it had been a while since they saw each other last time.

Coda heard her name being spoken up, and she joyfully basked her wings in response. She had spotted the interesting creature next to Alisa afterwards, throwing a glance over it before tilting her head the way that only birds can do - a totally neck-breaking fashion. It was a very strange creature, but perhaps it was just as strange to her as Coda was strange to the creature. Therefore, she would peep a little to catch it off guard for fun. It had a very gloomy glow on its heads… or wait, did it have multiple heads? Why were the throats so slim? It looked like a… well, for the raptor, it looked very much like a black spaghetti scarecrow more than what Hyōen would think that it looked like - which was, to some obvious extent, a sort of chandelier.

What was he even drawing right now? The sky was way too blurred to be drawn on a piece of paper, so the Fire Wizard had to call it a day and close his notebook. It was taking its toll on him too, and he was getting a bit hungry. Focusing on the growls in his stomach, Hyōen missed out on the sight of a stranger on one of the other roofs, a person that was eyeing him down like a scavenger. Although, he remembered the lack of Coda in the air, and he would quickly take a look around instead of noticing this specific entity that disappeared as soon as she appeared.

Upon looking down on the streets, he would see the strong colors of Coda’s plumage as well as a more familiar presence… or rather, her hair looked very recognizable. Curious, he moved his view to the right and to the left - confirming the lack of people and buzz - and leapt off the building, using the balconies and wall bricks to soften his fall like he used to do when climbing trees back home. Once when he found his foothold on the surface, he clarified himself that it really was Alisa - her wine-red eyes, black diamond hair and facial features factored a lot in confirming it. However, it was a funny suit that she was wearing, but nevermind that. “Hey again, Alisa!” he finally greeted happily, before Coda suddenly assaulted his head and pecked it rather violently, even though she meant no harm and Hyōen was used to it, “I figured that I wasn’t the only wizard who answered the call.”

It appeared that Alisa had arrived here due to the attack that had taken place prior to this day. It was relieving that she hadn’t gotten hurt herself given that she seemed safe and sound… that also reminded Hyōen of his previous companion during that day, the tall elf, who got ambushed. If he met whoever executed such atrocity again, then he’d surely obliterate them without leaving himself open again.

“Me and entrances, you know,” he joked with a grin, crossing his arms in a slight fashion of pride, “And yeah… I was at the castle along with others. Truth be told, we got ambushed by someone who left just as quickly as they came…” It was always sour to accept defeat, even though the Fire Wizard hadn’t really engaged in combat against this disappearing bastard… but the mere fact that he got to hurt one of his allies successfully was enough to sulk about.

“I think you did better than me… or I hope so,” he assumed as his eyes met Alisa’s. A moment after, Coda would stop pecking and suddenly turn her head around like an eagle, signalling someone’s presence nearby them. Someone unfamiliar, that would signal. Hyōen noticed it directly, but they were quite alone in this part of the street, so he didn’t know why Coda was getting worked up like this. “B-But still, they won’t lay a scratch on anyone next time! I’ll crush them all..!”

A certain figure was nearby, indeed. She decided to stay within the shadows, though, pretending to be some random citizen, although her eyes were fixated on the two wizards down the road. A strange object was on her hands as she held it like some kind of… camera…

It felt inevitable. The fall of the king, that was… maybe things would’ve been worse if he was still around, though? Hyōen had little knowledge about the royal family - truth be told - so he couldn’t really say that things could be better with him around or not. That was the dilemma of the deceased; you’d never know if their absence was for the better or for the worse. The world only travels down one road, and dimensions aside, you couldn’t just change things… but you could set things in stone. That was what the Fire Wizard believed, deep inside…

“… At least you’re safe. There’s a future for both of us who survived this,” he replied at last, turning his eyes to the side where the shadow had briefly shown itself earlier. He made sure to appear discreet with it, but what was his or her deal? Why had mentioned just stood there all this time? Could it be, by any chance, a sort of… spy?

The figure… its figure was visible for a brief moment, but then it dashed away soundlessly. Hyōen barely managed to follow its track with the edge of his eye as he found himself a bit lost. Just who was that, anyway? Maybe a curious citizen? A threat or a harmless individual? “… Wait a second,” Hyōen spoke up and turned his eyes towards the Lampent. He didn’t recall Alisa having such a companion alongside her last time. He began inspecting it in a classy way with a hand on his chin and a focused look on his face as he caught all sides of the new creature. “… Hmh, I’m pretty sure that this is… uhh, what was it called again?” he mumbled a little. He knew a fairly good amount about animals, so he found it awkward to not know this type’s species. “… Lement, is it?”

A voice would suddenly chuckle a little from the same corner where Hyōen looked at before. It was a young laughter… and it gave away the girl’s location again.

Hyōen had inspected the creature too much for his own good, seemingly embarrassing it given by Alisa’s words. However, it had rather too bright eyes to show any signs of shyness for the Fire Wizard, so he had to assume by her words that it was truly feeling embarrassed by him eyeing it everywhere… or well, until it let out a giggle alike the strange giggle from the shadows too. He had a bad feeling about the reason that it giggled, and Alisa confirmed that thought - he was close, but he didn’t hit the bullseye concerning its name.

“Lumen… nice name. It suits its appearance too, luminous flux and all,” he complimented joyously. It wouldn’t take long until the figure in the shadows finally moved out. It was so sudden and casual that, at first, Hyōen didn’t think that it was the same person that he grasped a sight of earlier… but it sure felt like it as she approached them, holding what looked like a camera in her hands. “U-Uhm… h-h-hello,” she tried to greet the two wizards, a voice so insecure and childish that Hyōen was taken by surprise. So much for making such a gloomy atmosphere with the hiding and everything, it was a little child.

“A-Are you two, perhaps… maybe, m-most likely, uhh… wizards?”

The small girl would spark her worried eyes a little as she looked up at Alisa, the tall and voluptuous lady spreading awe across the child’s face. She didn’t look like a classic, medieval wizard at first sight, but she did confirm that both she and the dark boy were, in fact, practitioners of magic. From her frog perspective, the dark-hyacinth-haired madam looked confident and reliable. She didn’t know why she was wearing a onesie/pyjamas, but her face expressed maturity and steadfastness. The young man was more… primal. He looked like as if he constantly focused his gaze like some kind of eagle with apparent pupils, staring right down at the younger girl. It was as if she could hear the sound of leaves waver against each other and voices of meat getting ripped off by the beaks of vultures.

“U-Uhm… about my parents,” the girl stuttered in fear of what she knew up until now, “They… they’re trapped inside. Back at home… I can’t open the door, because there is someone scary in there…” She began shaking in her legs, clearly terrified in the eyes of the Fire Wizard. “O-Oh…” he let out surprisingly, “Then show us the way-“

He would cut himself off right there as his deep eyes noticed tears falling down from the girl’s face. In an instant, he would catch himself off guard.

“A-Ah, don’t worry, don’t worry…” he would try to comfort her, even grabbing her shoulders lightly and getting down to her height by kneeling. It sounded worse than he could expect…

It sounded like the beginning of some kind of Ouija horror story… but things like this were to be experienced thoroughly in order to ensure the best possible result. That was why Hyōen had to find out about the location as he asked: “So what address?” The girl would look up with a single drop of tear hanging on the edge of her lower eyelid, sniffing a little as she replied: “D-Domus Alley… i-it’s under Domus Flau…” She would lift up her hand and point towards the large construction that could be seen from afar, “I-I have a flag outside there… if… if that helps… please…” With a quick nod, Hyōen would turn his gaze towards the bird, making sure that it understood where she meant. Its wings would lift it up and take it across the air, leading the way to their specified location. “Let’s hurry, then,” he spoke as he would grab the girl’s small hand firmly, “Don’t let go, okay?”

Upon reaching the place by foot - surprisingly for himself - Hyōen spotted the flag that showed some kind of cloudy, yellow arc with a white background. The girl’s nod towards him confirmed that this was the house… surprisingly, there were still people around them, civilians who lived their lives as if nothing had happened here.

A brief blaze emitted from the Fire Wizard’s eyes as he took a deeper look, his facial expression growing more shocked when he locked onto two heat signatures beneath the house… it was strange, they didn’t seem to move. He could only assume that it was the girl’s parents, so he said: “I think that they’re stuck in the basement of yours, somehow… well, time to-” He would approach the door as soon as possible after saying that, but his motor nerves simply began to shut down by a horrible feeling that enveloped him the moment he made it less than 5 meters from the front door… nothing was there in his eyes, but something had taken a hold on him and he couldn’t see what.

Yeah… the madman behind this was probably both stupid and bold. That combination, however, spelled doom for anyone who expressed them. Now, if Hyōen could just realize what exactly had grabbed him in that instance - an empty breeze manifesting what felt like a huge hand immobilizing him for a brief moment - then he could have stopped sweating over the mere confusion. He even heard the clacking sound behind him, but he bothered not to look at what Alisa was up to given his confusion… this was a very bad feeling…

Her words, though… they seemed to truly reach his ears as his sweating calmed down. Maybe Alisa wasn’t taking the atmosphere as a threat? However, was it merely the atmosphere? Hyōen couldn’t but assume so… he found it more reasonable that he just got surprised by it rather than something specifically happening to him. That was why her words calmed him down in the end. “Y-Yeah…” he spoke back to her before they opened the door slowly and soundlessly, entering what looked like a lively room with warm light tones around… but if your eyes were sharp enough - thanks to Hyōen’s spell - he would have realized that the very lightbulbs in the room emitted no heat at all. Not the slightest… as if they had been turned off for ages… but that couldn’t explain the warm light that, seemingly, covered the room?

His questioning mind was filled with more mystery as they had fully entered. The theme began to change by their very eyes. Instead of warm light, the room was now as dark as it should have been with the door being locked… if it was locked at all. That was just as weird as the previous hallucination, but it did scream magic… and Hyōen hadn’t lost track of the two heat signatures downstairs.

He would point towards a staircase that led downstairs, possibly being the one that would lead them to the assumed parents. Hoping that Alisa could see his movements within the gloomy room, he made his way towards the stairs slowly… but as Hyōen approached the stairs, his body would slowly fade away the closer he got from Alisa’s point of view…

The staircase wasn’t even that deep. It was certain that they would bump into the two organisms below them if they just walked down, but because of the heat-vision, Hyōen hadn’t noticed the transparency that his body was undergoing as he approached the stairs. Even if he looked at his own arm, it would be difficult with this spell on, but Alisa caught his attention as he turned his head around to respond. “…?” He turned his face around a few times to try and fathom what she stopped him for, but the crystal wizard was clear with her message. Understanding, he moved back from where he was heading at, and alas, the fading body reversed its transformation.

He had half a mind to turn off the heat-vision and get a good look at Alisa’s facial expressions - if he was able to see them properly in shelter of this gloominess - but his ears demanded that he focused on the sound of shaking furniture. Not only that, but as the Fire Wizard lowered his spell’s effect in order to fathom the objects that he could scarcely see, a voice caught his ears. It was a breath… or rather, the sound of someone breathing heavily and constantly. It felt as if the source of that breathing came directly from behind the two of them, but no signs of presence was shown other than that. Was someone trying to scare them away? It was a bit too late - they could have tried last Halloween - but that also gave birth to more question marks than anything.

Light began lighting up the staircase for some reason. Footsteps made their way towards the two wizards, and through his eyes, Hyōen noticed that it was the presence of the two heat signatures from before. Was it the parents who were making their way up to them? It would prove the task easier if they came to embrace their rescue on their own, but something was odd when they finally reached the main floor. Not a second would pass before the father and the mother each dashed towards one of the wizards - the father aiming for the crystal wizard, and the mother aiming for the falconer. If not for his heat-vision, Hyōen would’ve had trouble parrying an impact efficiently, but this had turned much worse now. They hadn’t said it out loud, but it was a strong feeling within himself that convinced him that these two were, certainly, the parents that the young girl missed… the hell?

The illusion revealed quite a troublesome situation with the very parents of the little girl attacking the two mages. Why did they attack them? It was most likely because of the spell that was thrown over this house, but would they have to undo it in some way? Maybe they could null the spell thrown on the parents? It didn’t seem possible for the moment as the mother suddenly aimed a fist towards Hyōen’s jaw, but his neck and body moved back simultaneously, resulting in a swift evasion that would leave her open for a counterattack. He had to subdue her with his own body by locking her arms with his and make her face the ground as he didn’t mean to cause harm to her. He was convinced that she could snap out of whatever she was bewitched with.

This area that they entered, though… it served for more than just making them go transparent. No, he could feel it now… the mana that ran through his eyes to adapt to the focused enemy - in this case, the mother who was locked down by his arms - began to leak out from his eyes. Somehow, the mana was making its way further across the hallway into a locked room. The same thing was going on with Alisa’s crystallic chestplate-like cloth slash blouse as its mana foundation began to get leaked; however, the level of mana leaving her was different. That was the last thing that Hyōen saw before his spell was completely absorbed… but it wasn’t the case for Alisa’s spell.

The two parents had entered a state of calm when that happened. Their furious, hostile faces turned dull in the dark room when the only source of light was the leaking mana. That gave Hyōen a thought… the mana made it into a specific room, and if they had to put an end to this, then their target was most likely in there. Although… maybe it was the trap. They had already gone down here, and they had found the parents… but in their states, this wouldn’t solve anything. The little girl wanted her parents back, not these seemingly soulless individuals. As much a trap as it appeared to be… well…

“I don’t think that they’ll listen to us… unless if we fix the error behind that door,” he spoke to Alisa. It was rather obvious, but silence was unneeded now. He could feel it… their mana was but a few fractions of all the mana that was gathered in there. It smelled trouble… huge trouble. “My spell just disappeared… all its mana… into that door. So using magic feels burdening-“ Another light emerged from the door, but this light made its way towards the parents. A little bit of mana to power them up as a part of the plan, and yet Hyōen was oblivious to what was behind that door and the plan. However, he hesitated not in moving up from the lady when she suddenly began emitting the same type of mana as him - along with the father, things were bound to turn for the worse…

Darn, couldn’t they calm down a little bit? Being controlled and all that appeared exhausting - in his mind, that was. To not have any power of your own actions and to subdue to another force that wields you like a puppet… surely, they wouldn’t have wished that. Now that he thought about it, to do something to obscure without catching the attention of the neighbors, guards, or all of Crocus, stank of something far greater than the Fire Wizard could assume at first. It wasn’t the ordinary thief or berserker this time… upon entering the house, he thought not of the outcome other than that of a victory. Was there even time to worry in the midst of all of this?

He heard the sharp sound of metal hitting the floor. The father’s iron club had fallen under Alisa’s counter, and the man was likely taken care of. A blade of compassion stabbed Hyōen’s heart as he let go of the woman, realizing that the same, unexplainable pause that the father took enveloped her as well. Their rage and hostility were quenched.

He took a close look at Alisa’s spell. Unlike his mana-discount of a spell, hers wasn’t fully absorbed. It didn’t take much thinking to assume the best theory; this ‘force’ couldn’t absorb all mana in one go. He’d better remember that, if it would prove necessary. And it sure felt like becoming necessary very soon, because Alisa was approaching the highlighted door. He quickly followed troop, not wanting to let her enter the unknown room on her own - her assuring, comforting words reappearing in his head like phantoms.

“!” She hardly kicked the door to pieces, revealing the small room with a chair and a glove on top of a decayed body. The glove was the most eye-catching… a few seconds of observation, and one could conclude that the mana was pouring into the glove. However, as long as it did so, the mana absorbed was very minimal - almost harmless. Would he be able to get rid of that thing, somehow?

“What is that… n-nevermind, let’s get rid of it-“ he would suggest, but the glove reacted immensely. A voice similar to the one that they heard upstairs echoed:

“I am far closer to my goal than ever! You will not put an end to me!”

By sacrificing some of the mana that the glove had built up for a very long time, a burst of fire blitzed towards them. “No..!!!” The intensity and heat of the fires screamed out magic power that originated from Hyōen himself, and upon getting an impact, the Fire Wizard dared not to back down from his own magic. Heck, he had to stop the flames somehow, so he advanced forward in a suicide-like attempt to grab the glove. May he rip it apart and end all this - but unfortunately, it didn’t occur so. The glove attempted to move towards him as well, and as it leapt upon his arm like a parasite, everything turned into anther world or some kind of void. Hyōen was there, he was still conscious, the suddenly non-hostile glove was also there… what was happening?

“… This is less violent,” he commented, taking another look at the glove that was ripped a little by his tugging, “… Ali? Alisa? You there?”

This place was stupid. He just wanted to solve the issue with this home, but it had to take him to another dimension. Great. And it appeared that he was alone, too, which just added a lot of gravity on the word ‘great’ earlier. The glove was still glued onto his arm, too. What the hell?! “Just get of- wait,” he was about to throw a tantrum, but something felt odd. His mana was intact during the contact… it was as if it didn’t bother absorbing more magic from him. Perhaps he really ripped it off good to cause its effects to close down like that.

Dots of light began appearing in the space. Turning his face towards them, Hyōen felt a similar energy signature that resembled the glove’s brightness earlier. In the middle of the foggy vacuum, random lights were pinpointed like that, and they appeared to be far, far away, like observing the stars in the sky. Nothing changed until his vision began breaking apart by the sound of crispy objects falling to the ground - rather, it was the sound of something glass-like breaking and hitting the concrete floor. Alisa’s magic! She must’ve been somewhere if it was her, but… whilst the sound cracked about, the vision of the bright dots began increasing their intensities, revealing phantom images of a few recognizable places…

And with that stored in his memory, he looked over at Alisa as they were inside the small room in the basement; the glove was destroyed by her magic, and he could even hear the pained moans of a pair outside of the door. Upon turning his gaze towards them, the parents revealed themselves - this time, they didn’t try to draw blood or anything. Apparently, the problem was solved, and comparing to the annoying thought that Hyōen had earlier, he was beyond relieved.

“Yeah, the little girl will be totally happy now, won’t she?”

-EXIT-