Gone, Like a Fart in the Wind

Joe stood up from his warm spot on the floor, and slowly dusted himself off. He looked around the room, searching for a way out.

He couldn't jump out the window in his current state. He was on the second floor, and he would probably get hurt in his current condition if he jumped out now.

The door wasn't a very plausible option either. By leaving, he would alert the poisoner that he was still alive, since they were likely still in the building.

Joe suddenly turned to look at the wall. It was made of stone. A smile began to curl up on Joe's lips.

'Perfect.'

He lifted his arm, even though he didn't have to, and tried to open a pathway in the stone wall with magic.

He had decided to head over to Amelia's room, to see if she was poisoned or not. However, he had to get lucky. There was a storage room in between their rooms, and he had to hope nobody was inside.

Slowly, the wall began to open up from within, slowly moving the stone bricks to the corner of the wall. After about thirty seconds, the wall was completely opened up.

It seemed that nobody was inside the storage room at the time, as it were silent, save for the low sounds of rumbling stone whilst the wall was opening.

Joe now had to open up another wall, but he first barricaded the door of the storage room with the excess stone he had from before. It would be for the best, so he wouldn't be interrupted opening the next wall.

After closing the door, he began to open up the next wall. Thirty seconds later, the wall was open.

Amelia lay on the ground motionless. Her body seemed to be pale. He walked up to check her breathing. Nothing.

She was gone, like a fart in the wind. Upon this revelation, Joe remained silent for a few moments, before walking away. He had much more important things to do, and he couldn't afford to waste time here.

He stopped for a second. He remembered something. He had a spatial ring on his finger. He had put it on his right hand. He willed her body inside the spatial ring, and he body disappeared.

'She should at least have a proper burial right?'

Joe turned away from the room, and faced the open wall. He walked through before trying to remember the layout of what was underneath the three rooms.

From what he remembered, the kitchen was underneath the storage room. Someone was probably still cleaning up there, so he couldn't make a rock staircase there.

Underneath Joe's room was the butler's room. He had seen him head inside before. He didn't know what was underneath Amelia's room however.

The butler would probably report to the person who had poisoned his food, or directly attack him. He had no way to stop him from shouting, which would alert the rest of the mansion.

Joe had the misconception that the whole mansion was against him, and that if someone saw him outside his room, he would be reported to the poisoner. He was being much more cautious because of this however.

But being cautious could not stop the inevitable. He had to take a chance. He had to go down into the room underneath Amelia's.

He felt that the poisoner would likely check up on him to see if he were dead. They would too irresponsible if they didn't even make sure that their target was dead.

He thought about it for a while before turning back around from the storage room, and heading back into Amelia's. He slowly willed the rock floor-

'Wait. This floor is made of wood...'

He was suddenly reminded of something as a smile crept up on his face.

'Ah yes, this floor is made of floor.'

However, he quickly wiped the smile off his face as he reached a dilemma. He now had to jump out the window, or continue searching for a room on the second floor with a rock flooring.

Joe decided to jump out the window. It would take too long to find a room with rock flooring, not to mention there may not even be one. Joe went back to his room, opened the window, and dangled his leg outside it.

Just as he was about to fall, he quickly pulled himself up. He breathed a sigh of relief before collapsing onto the ground.

'God. That seemed so high up. There must be another way to get down...' Basically, he was a pussy.

Whilst Joe was cowering after nearly falling, he heard a doorknob jiggle. It was coming from the storage room.

Joe gulped before standing up and walking into the storage room. He manipulated the barricade to become thinner, just barely covering the door, just enough to hold the person off.

He began to repair the wall after walking back outside. He left a small hole. When he heard the doorknob stop jiggling, Joe manipulated the barricade to come back onto the wall, reforming it. Now, he wouldn't be found, but his space shrunk.

'Jeez. I just lost a lot of open space. Wait... Space!'

Joe suddenly remembered he wasn't an average Wizard.

'If I use my space element to shorten the distance between myself and the ground, can I negate fall damage?'

Joe put his plan into action. He pushed the dark elements out of his heart, and lightly traced them around his body. He then made a line connecting himself to the ground outside.

'What... What do I do now?!'

Joe suddenly didn't know what to do. He had no idea how to manipulate the space element fluently. He hadn't had many chances to use it, so his fluency was obviously low.

He tried to activate the space element with his mental power, before his mind became a mess.

His head was spinning, and he felt like throwing up. He felt as though his body had shrunk and then grown again.

Joe was crouched on the ground. When he raised his head, he saw the empty sky. There were no stars nor moon on the Artificial Continent. There was only a Saint making a great ball of fire in the sky to light up the Continent in the mornings.

But even at this dark sight, Joe was elated. His spatial magic worked. He had been transported outside. His joy overpowered his dizziness as he quickly regained his wits.

He looked up and behind him. He saw the window he had come out of.

'Could the reason I feel so disconcerted be that I came out of the small window?'

Joe quickly took his mind off that question before he turned around. He was still in their courtyard, and his priority was still to escape.

He looked around before trying to use his space element to teleport again. The courtyard was vast, and he couldn't run very fast in his current condition. There may be guards that could spot him.

Joe once again surrounded himself with space elements, before realizing he had less that before.

'I guess it's only natural to pay a price for good service...'

He inwardly thought this while activating his space element once more. He activated them in quick succession, and soon, there was not enough to cover his whole body.

He was about three quarters of the way out after spending those spatial elements. However, he could still be found by a gatekeeper.

Joe tried something new this time. He covered the soles of his shoes and connected them on the path. He activated the space element.

He had instantly moved to the end of his dark string of elements.

'Is this how people walk thousands of miles with a single step?'

To preserve his space element until getting to the gate, he walked the rest of the way. It took several minutes before he reached the gate.

He swept his eyes over the gate. His eyes had already adapted to the darkness outside. He saw a light inside a booth near the gate.

There was a man inside, whom he could see through the glass window. He was sleeping however, as he had his eyes closed and mouth open.

Joe slowly pulled the gate a bit. It didn't budge. This kind of gate swung inward toward the mansion, allowing people inside.

Joe sighed before slowly materializing an earthen staircase to get over the fence. He made it a two way staircase, and hopped off on the other side. He dispersed the staircase upon getting to the other side, and swiftly walked off in silence.

Just like that, he was gone, like a fart in the wind.