The Throne Descends
Jonah jumped through the open door.
No, that was not the term. The best, refined way to describe it is "a white-haired boy, in a panic, scrambled into a house."
Landing on the wooden floor that created a loud 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥 that made him cringe internally, the boy can hardly take one quick look around him.
But he did.
Just one entire, complete second.
What lay before him was just a simple vast, normally dark, lifeless, and empty house like one would expect when entering many other buildings.
Then, his body moved before he could think.
His feet took him to the left.
Through a not-so welcoming short hall, he arrived upon a living room.
There, he also took a moment to take a look around. However could the boy have the time to do so?
A faint light filtering through the window covered by curtains, a couch, a couple chairs, a hearth, and a table with a lamp.
Jonah darted-ran-slid towards the wall beside the window.
There was a wall between the window and door, many feet apart, and so the boy just sat in the shadow of the corner.
In a matter of around…five seconds?
Yes, five seconds. In these five absurdly slow seconds, the white-haired boy found where he could rest-no, hide.
As Jonah sat down, the boy quickly and quietly dropped his metal staff-thing from his left hand. With his right,he covered his own mouth.
If his attempt at stifling breathing worked at all, he wouldn't even know, for his heartbeat that thumped in his ears many, many times was much louder.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
Nevertheless, he sat there, still as a statue, and silent as a mouse hiding in a hole.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
The boy tried to keep his ears open, but his loud, beating heart didn't help.
Cursed beating hearts.
It's not like they were important other than pumping blood into the body to keep it moving and alive.
Anywho, the poor boy tried to breathe as calmly as possible, but nothing helped.
His own damned heart wants to beat erratically all it wants, and he felt so tired he just wanted to take a big, long breath.
To breathe in that deliciously, delightful cold dusty air.
Jonah felt his back somehow became sticky and wet. In the middle of an empty, desolate, snowy town, he felt his entire body becoming uncomfortably warm.
He knew this was the horrible thing called sweat, as shortly after, a few drops of these salty drops of liquid dripped into his eyes.
Just like an onion hitting his eyes, just a touch will sting and burn…the eyes.
Going against not all odds, instead of instinctively cursing, he simply pursed his lips and wiped the sweat off his eyes and forehead with his free gloved hand.
Just like the tense seconds that passed when he entered the house, it felt as though a long time had passed.
Even if it was only just under a minute.
Fortunately for the boy, in the span of many, many more seconds, nothing happened.
He heard nothing. He felt nothing.
No, he did feel something, but he didn't feel as though anything was haunting him.
That was when he noticed his heartbeat no longer thumped as loud, and his breathing calm.
HIs shoulders, tense, became loose and relaxed.
It was almost enough to make him exhale a sigh of relief.
Relaxing his stiff head against the wall, he closed his eyes.
A momentary bout of a much needed relaxation after such a horror.
So, as Jonah opened his eyes almost lazily, they immediately shot wide open.
His body stiffened, and the boy would admit he almost screamed.
In the shadows, where he darted in from, away from the dim light shining through the transparent curtains, there was a shadow darker than most.
Just a few feet away from him, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 almost right next to him, it 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 at him
And Jonah…he stared back at it.
Unfortunately for the poor boy that momentary bout of relaxation ended there.
…
There were many shadows hidden in the corners throughout the many houses the boy had broken in and looted.
And each one Jonah saw were all the same.
Except for this one.
Even when it was so close, he couldn't even discern its figure.
The boy then felt his boy become hotter and hotter as his heartbeat began beating even harder.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱-
"𝘚𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩…" the shadow whispered, and Jonah shivered. It then slowly raised a finger over its…mouth?
"𝘏𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘩𝘩…" it whispered in its deep, bass voice. This time, the voice was comfortable, like the voice of an audiobook reading to someone in a relaxing manner.
There was no fear. There was no panic. There was no remorse.
There was simply…only the white-haired boy and the not-so-visible shadow.
"You must hold your tongue, for the Apostle draws closer."
'Apostle?' Jonah thought.
"Yes, Apostle," it said. Just like earlier, the shadow moved in a way that looked as though it was…nodding?
"That you're about to face one of your worst nightmares?"
'I'm gonna die here!?' Jonah yelled.
Internally.
He yelled internally, and a flurry of thoughts ran rampant inside his childlike mind.
'I'm not ready yet,' the boy thought in a desperate manner. 'I don't know where dad is. I don't know if Chaya is safe. I don't know if Anna is keeping her promise. I don't know if that freakin blonde girl actually left me to die-'
"No no no. You dimwit," the voice suddenly said, intruding into the boy's thoughts.
"You're gonna face it. That's what you're gonna do."
Jonah blinked. Then blinked.
And finally, he blinked.
"Wha-"
"𝘚𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩…" the shadow whispered again. "Did I not say hold your tongue? If you cannot comprehend such a simple task, then at the very least keep your voice down."
The boy just nodded. The voice in the shadow looked to have nodded as well, albeit very, very slowly.
"You ain't some prissy little boy," it said. "You're not just a boy, who's not even a teenager yet-"
"But I'm not a teenager yet-"
"-that will just hide like a rat in the sewers. You are a human. Face your fears to grow stronger or something. Look for a better tomorrow!"
Saying that, it stood taller. Just like in the super department store, its height grew in a strange manner, the shadow growing taller and taller.
"That's what mankind has ever done. And that's what they will 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 do. Mostly. Also, you're one of 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 descendants, so you really have no choice."
"...who?" the boy whispered to it. "One of the what-now descendants?"
"Never mind that," the voice waved the questions off.
"Now then, why did I appear in front of you again? Hmmm…"
As it said that, the voice paused in a sudden manner.
Perhaps it didn't take into consideration the awkward and tense silence that accompanies its sudden silence?
Jonah was the poor victim.
Sometimes, he quickly peeked through the opening of the window curtains nearly above him.
Sometimes, he tried to put his ear against the wall, only to hear the sometimes howling winds.
But most of all, he kept his eyes on the shadow.
It was just standing there…menacingly.
But all things come to an end, and so to did the silence that now soaks up the entire living room. After what felt as though it had been more than a minute, the voice spoke.
"Hmmm...let's see…ah, that's right," it said.
"Believe in yourself to get out alive. Believe that your…blonde-haired friend of yours wants to get you out. Or something. I don't know. How do humans raise morale again?"
"Um…" Jonah's mouth gaped. "What-"
"Let's see, let's see…" the shadow murmured. "Yes, I think I know what to say…𝘬𝘶𝘩𝘶𝘮. 𝘒𝘶𝘩𝘶𝘮!"
"..."
"If you're gonna keep…hopping, keep hopping till it gets…better?" it said?
Jonah doesn;t know. The end came off as a question
Then, just like before, it paused. The boy felt the urge to just do something.
Anything.
Almost anything.
Even when his heart was thumping, even when he can feel his ears ringing-
"Hmm, this is harder than I thought..." the shadow said in a thoughtful manner..
"..."
"𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩," it…coughed. "Well. uh, yes. Keep on…uh something…for all tigers have stripes…yaddie yaddie dah…and every rose…has its thorns?
"..."
"..."
Just like before, another round of silence with the exception of the cold howling wind through the windows and walls besides the boy along with his own breath.
'That's it?' Jonah couldn't help but think.
"Oh, look there!" the shadow suddenly said, somehow extending its shadow and…pointing towards somewhere with its…somehow not-so-visible finger.
Jonah's eyes drifted towards where it was pointing.
"Do my eyes deceive me? A convenient way to leave the conversation!"
"Wait what-?"
The white-haired boy quickly looked back, but the shadow was no longer there.
"Good luck, child. I, your friend, shall keep rooting for you…"
Even when the voice in the shadow was gone, its voice echoed in his ears, dissipating and fading away only moments after.
Then, at last, the silence accompanied Jonah once again. Well, as much silence as there be with Jonah's breathing and heartbeat.
At that moment, the poor boy decided to give himself a well deserved free semi-curse coupon out of the profanity filter jar. It's at a full capacity of about…three coupons if he remembered correctly.
It should be fine.
Covering his mouth, he took in a deep breath of that good ol' cold fresh air, held it in, and let it out.
'...I cannot comprehend the amount of crap I just heard,' he thought.
'I'll just take another coupon. Why not? What the duck just happened?'
No, that was too unrefined. The boy shook his head.
What a waste of a coupon.
There goes the two semi-curse coupons. There was only one left.
One day, he'll have to refill the jars with the amount of bs each time it happens.
Anywho, no matter how much he thought, he couldn't understand what just happened.
So the poor boy just sat all day, in almost a daze-like manner.
Jonah just couldn't describe it.
It was really irritating.
He wanted to do something, to get up.
But his butt just wanted to stay on the floor.
Holding in a long exhale, Jonah adjusted the beanie and pulled the coat's hood over his head.
'That girl on the floating chair thing should be gone about now…'
So he took another peek at the opening between the curtains on the side of the windows.
Just like the last time he looked out, it was just snow, more snow, gray skies, and a pair of sunset-colored eyes.
Very, very beautiful eyes.
It was just like a beautiful painting, standing out in a lifeless, white-gray landscape.
Jonah almost sighed again and looked back to look at the shadows of the house. Nothing was out of place, just like before.
Was the voice in the shadow a figment of his imagination? His paranoia?
His stress?
The boy let his back sink into the wall.
"..."
Wait a minute.
He looked back at the window.
A beautiful hue of blue, a bit of purple, orange, and then finally a tiny shade of red merged seamlessly and fluidly.
Such a sight was only mere inches away from Jonah's own eyes.
Only the blurry, frozen windows were the barrier between their eyes.
The boy didn't blink, even as they began to stung from the sweat that is now puring like a raging river.
He kept staring into the eyes, and the sunset-colored eyes stared back at him.
It would be heresy; blasphemy to look away from such a beauty-
Wait.
Jonah tried to stand. Tried to run. Tried to even move.
But he felt something was holding his head and neck tightly in place. Something chaining his entire body down.
No matter how he strained his neck, he just couldn't look away.
He could only stare at those eyes.
Then, as abrupt as it was, a wave of some unknown invisible force washed over him. It was extremely, extremely, uncomfortable, and it made him feel as though his stomach had just flipped over.
The boy almost groaned as he held his stomach with his other hand.
'Of all the time, I get a stomachache now!?'
Even then, he never stopped staring at those eyes.
Even as sweat dripped into his eyes, even as he felt he was growing delirious; Jonah held on.
A long time has passed in his eyes, and the feeling slowly abated, fading away…
The white-haired boy let his arms drop onto the wooden floor like ragdolls.
At that exact moment, the invisible force washed over him once more.
He gritted his teeth and closed his mouth as hard as he could.
It was akin to being wholly unprepared to be hit by a truck.
How did Jonah know getting hit by a truck? Well he doesn't exactly know, but he thought it was similar to getting smacked by the fire monster in that superdepartment store.
The boy writhed in agony.
As he was in agony over the sickness, something whispered into his ears.
Indistinguible, incomprehensible, nor understandable, the voice…it was cold and dreadfully empty.
Without a will.
It whispered, echoing into his ears like…a whisper. Then, it grew in strength, and multiple voices looked to have joined in along with the whisper.
Even among the chaotic chorus the poor boy was forced to hear, he can make out one amongst them all.
'It was the voice of that girl,' Jonah realized.
The owner of the voice who will most likely smite him atop her floating chair.
His beating heart joined with the background, fading away like the dim light that once flowed through the window.
Jonah's hand slowly rose, and it felt as though it was moving through water. It pushed against him, resisted him.
Trying to prevent him from simply covering his mouth.
𝘏𝘶𝘧𝘧… 𝘏𝘶𝘧𝘧… 𝘏𝘶𝘧𝘧…
A sense of faintness washed over him.
A sense of dizziness consumed him.
The world around him became darker in his eyes, and the various shades and shadows steadily merging together.
Now, it was all one blur.
Is this how it feels to not wear glasses? To have one's vision impaired?
Even then, even then-!
The white-haired boy's eyes never left the sunset-colored eyes. But his body didn't care, for he felt his eyes slowly begin closing.
Just before it closed entirely, there was a blue light, and the eyes vanished, disappearing forevermore.
Like a marionette's strings being cut, Jonah slumped, his head cracking against the wooden floor with a 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥.
'At least I don't have a stomach ache anymore,' he thought as he drifted into the merged darkness.
…
How does one know when they're asleep?
Most of the time, one can simply just open their eyes, and they find themselves where they last fell asleep.
Usually.
Sometimes, one can simply forget how they got there, even though they last slept there previously.
Sometimes, they know they're in a dream, and they can simply wake themselves up.
Lucid dreaming, if that's what many call it.
In this case, none of it applies to the poor white-haired boy as he felt his shoulders being hurriedly shaken.
"Hey. Hey. Jonah, you alright? Hey buddy, you okay?" a voice said.
It was as though the voice was speaking to him through a body of water. Faint, murky, blurry and a variety of synonyms related to those three words.
The boy didn't bother to move. As a result, he felt something shaking his shoulder with much more strength..
"C'mon, don't die on me. You've got a bright future ahead. Also, you're not even hurt enough to die from something as measly as a faint cold."
"..."
"I guess it's time to bring out that card…"
Then, through the 'water,' he heard a long inhale, and a long exhale.
"Jonah...your little sister, Chaya…she's-"
Jonah immediately pulled himself out of the water, opened his eyes, and sat straight up.
"Chaya?" the boy looked at the blonde girl beside him. The girl was kneeling on one leg, and her right hand hovering over him as though it was about to reach out to him.
"What's…what's wrong with her?" he hurriedly asked, leaning towards her.
"Um…something?" she said tentatively. "No, nothing. Nothing at all."
Saying that, Avalow waved her hands in the air and tugged the puffy gray cap.
"Nothing happened. I was just…um…thinking about her. Yes, that's right."
She nodded her head firmly and confidently.
"Yes, that's right."
"You didn't need to say it twice," the boy said a little drily.
"Oh, did I not need to?" she asked. "Heheheheh…"
The blonde girl tilted her head and scratched the side of it.
"Anyways, what happened?" Avalow suddenly asked.
"When I ran into the house, I ran to this corner and just hid here," Jonah said. "When I looked out through the opening between the curtains, I saw a pair of beautiful eyes outside the window."
"...mhm…"
"They were wonderfully beautiful…" the boy murmured, "Oh, but for some reason I felt sick when I looked at them. Was I just nervous? Anyways, when it suddenly disappeared, I…fainted? I think? I dunno."
"…just that?"
"Yes…just…just that," he said, nodding his head very berry convincingly..
"Hmmm…" the blonde girl squinted her eyes.
"Um…Avalow?" Jonah asked hesitantly. "Is there something wrong?"
"...alright then," the blonde girl said. Suddenly standing up, she reached her leather gloved hand to Jonah.
"Should we go?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, thanks…"
Grabbing the forgotten metal stick on the ground with his left, he grabbed her outstretched hand with the right. As he did so, the boy felt himself being pulled up by her.
As soon as he was standing up straight, huffing and patting the dust off himself, he looked around.
Nothing peeking out of the halls or rooms, nothing in the shadows and crevices, and-
Wait a minute.
"You…you left me!" Jonah suddenly said, pointing at the blonde girl.
Avalow blinked and pointed to herself.
"Me?" she asked obliviously.
"When we saw that floating girl on that black throne, you just fu-freakin' ditched me!" Jonah shouted. "What the hell Avalow?"
'One more coupon…one more coupon,' he thought. 'Gotta save it.'
"No I-I didn't," Avalow meanwhile spluttered, waving her hands in front of herself.
"I merely…uh…strategically left you! Yes…that's right. Yes, that's right."
"You just said it twice again," the boy said tiredly. "Anyways, that's just another dumb way of saying you ditched me."
"No I didn't-"
"Yes you did-"
"No I didn't-"
"Yes you did."
"No, I didn't-"
"No you didn't."
"Yes I did-hey!"
"Fine then," Jonah sighed. "Did you really not purposefully ditch me?"
"Yes," Avalow said, nodding strongly.
He would've probably taken it without a grain of salt if it wasn't for her hand almost reaching up to scratch her head and her eyes glazed, slightly looking away from him.
"I really, really doubt that," the boy said drily.
"I…I panicked, okay?" the blonde girl muttered. "I don't do well under stress…"
"...so you just…run away?" he asked dumbfoundedly.
"Um…yes?" Avalow answered with a question. Then, she nodded firmly.
"Yes, that's what I used to do."
"Used to do…used to do?" Jonah said and repeated slowly.
Then, he blinked.
"Wait, so you mean you ditched me on purp-!"
"Now is not the time for this banter, Jonah," Avalow suddenly said seriously. She stood up tall and straight, as unbending as ruler.
From behind her, a light shined.
The boy took a step back.
It was too bright.
"What…what do you mean banter?" he asked. "This is obviously serious-"
"Don't you see? This strange girl is dangerous!" she said even more louder righteously, and a the light suddenly bloomed even brighter.
"We must discuss a way to find solutions!"
Jonah almost hissed, covering his eyes.
Wait, it was just the light that glowed at the tip of Avalow's staff she held behind her.
"Stop, turn off the light, please! It burnsss-!" he hissed.
Avalow immediately turned it off, "heheheh"-ing.
"Oh, sorry. I just wanted to make it more dramatic..."
"Anyways, that's right…" Jonah muttered. "That girl…"
Looking away, the boy began rubbing his chin.
"Hmmm...alright, I'll just give you the win, since this is more important, serious, and you're obviously trying to steer away from the conversation0"
"Wha-what do you mean?" Avalow spluttered. "I'm not trying to, I swear!"
Saying that, the blonde girl wore her usual wide 'U' shaped smile. The boy just looked at her with exasperation…with maybe a raised eyebrow too.
Just to show that 'that's' not going to work.
"…fine, yes, I admit, I tried to…" the blonde girl said after a moment, but then she smiled blankly. "But can you really blame me?"
"...yes, I can."
Avalow exasperatedly looked at the also coincidentally exasperated white-haired boy.
"...anyways, this isn't like those mindless fire monsters,'' she said, shaking her head.
"This is a true threat that can think, probably talk and feel, and also has a floating magical relic-"
"Relic?"
"Um, moving on. Chaya is in danger. If that girl-"
"Oh fudge cakes! Why didn't you say that earlier?! Let's go!"
Shouting, Jonah immediately sprinted out outside.
"Wait, I still have something to ask-!" Avalow yelled as she followed behind him.
...
"So...that's it," Jonah said tiredly.
He rubbed the spot between his eyebrows, his gloves already off and on the table.
The feeling of reading something out loud to an audience for a long time is truly an arduous and tiresome journey.
Respect to those who read for a long and constant amount of time.
At the table, the four of them were sitting around the table. From the almost semi-transparent sliding door, there was still light outside, but it looked as though it would fade.
The black-haired girl looked at Jonah.
"...why did you feel the need to tell me you both argued at the end?" Anna asked. "Must you really argue at the end?"
The blonde girl and the white-haired boy nodded.
""Yes.""
As Anna shook her head, the blonde girl's head perked up.
"Hey, wait a minute. Where did Amor go?" Avalow suddenly asked, looking around. The blue butterfly did not look to be…around.
"He went off to do something," Anna simply responded.
"I see," the blonde girl said.
And that was that.
"Anyways, you just hid?" Anna asked, looking at the tired boy. "And this…girl found you, but she didn't do anything?"
"...yes. Yes, that's right," Jonah said, nodding.
And maybe fidgeting a little.
"I just sat there, hiding till that girl disappeared. Just when I was about to completely faint, there was a flash of blue light."
Avalow and Anna squinted at him.
The white-haired boy wanted to squirm on his seat as the two looked at him.
Then, they nodded and looked away.
The poor boy had never felt so terribly relieved at that moment.
"So," he said. "About that girl…what do we do? Do we just hide here? Don't you two have any camouflage magic or something?"
As Chaya was just sitting there, humming, Anna and Avalow glanced at each other.
They then shrugged nonchalantly.
"Are you guys not worried?" Jonah asked, disbelief filling his voice.
Avalow and Anna looked at each other again for a much longer duration.
The boy squirmed a little and looked at the little girl beside him. Said little girl looked up at him and smiled toothily.
He forced a smile and rubbed her head, and she "hehehe"-ed.
The two girls then looked back at the doting brother.
"What will come, will come," Avalow just said.
"No matter if it's early or late, it will still come, and so there really is no need to panic."
Jonah blinked. Then blinked.
And finally blinked.
"...so we stay calm and prepare for it then?" he asked slowly.
Anna nodded her head.
Jonah nodded his head repeatedly.
"So, since she's this close to where we currently are located, it is best not to panic and take the best possible action in order to hide away from or deter this...𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯."
Meanwhile, Chaya just did what she always did, sitting around and looking around.
Avalow nodded her head again.
"That's right Jonah," she said. "You should calm down a bit. The worst case scenario would be if this mysterious person attacked Anna alone with Chaya. Fortunately that didn't happen, and so since we're all here, with more minds, we can rationally plan things out and have a greater chance of surviving."
Jonah saw a lot of merit, but he just couldn't heed her word of advice.
"Calm down?" he asked, digging his fingers into his palms. "How am I supposed to fu-how could I calm down!? Anna, you weren't there when I met her, but that girl…she was frightening. She couldn't possibly be human nor a friend."
His arms trembled as his fingers were dug deeper into his hands.
"That is still yet to be determined," Anna said, shaking her head.
Jonah took a deep breath.
'C'mon me, c'mon…I survived for this long…I need to stock up more coupons in the semi-curse jar. I still don't have a coupon in the true curse jar…this is just another obstacle…'
The boy breathed in deeply, and out slowly. Then he did so again, again, and again, until his rapidly beating heart slowed down.
"This is a guess…but she could possibly be a nonhuman being, right?" he said.
Jonah then looked at his audience…which was just basically just the two girls his age. Chaya was trying to look serious, but she wasn't doing very well.
"You guys, don't you see? Besides the fact that she's sitting on a fu-𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 chair-"
"You mean a floating throne?" Avalow thoughtfully corrected.
Jonah just looked at her.
"...that's not the point," he said drily. "How could she not be the enemy?"
He said almost precisely each word as slowly and clearly as possible, just in case if they didn't hear him right
They did, just not in the way he would want them to.
"We could use magic though?" the blonde girl said in a thoughtful manner. "What makes us any different from her?"
Anna also nodded her head, evidently in agreement with her.
Jonah scrutinized the two girls. While he was examining the two, Chaya muttered thoughtfully to herself.
"I wonder how cool it would be if I was sitting on a floating chair..."
"...I wonder about that too," Avalow also thoughtfully muttered again. At the side, Anna kept remaining silent.
"...never mind."
The boy exhaustedly sank into the pillow next to Chaya.
'That's a free coupon in the jar,' he thought tiredly as he slowly dropped his forehead onto the table.
'No one here but me has common sense...'
As Jonah began drifting into a world free of people with common sense, he heard Anna talking to him.
"Well, you don't need to worry anymore."
Jonah looked up at her.
A strange warm tingling feeling bloomed in his chest. Was this hope?
If so, hope brewed in his chest once again, as though his heart grew bigger.
"What...what do you mean?" he asked hopefully.
"That floating chair girl you were talking about is already coming here..."
Anna then looked up, far at a horizon that wasn't visible to the human eye. Everyone looked that way, but there was only a wall.
"...or at least heading in this direction."
The white-haired boy's felt that hope disappear.
That moment, his heart had grown three times bigger, and shrunk eight times smaller. Then, it shriveled up and died in a ball of fire, leaving only ashes in the abyss.
The poor boy can only look at her with an open mouth..His mouth gaped like a fish out of water, and so many seconds passed.
Before a minute was counted, he just shook his head.
"Sorry, my brain seemed to have malfunctioned. Can you repeat what you said again please?" Jonah asked in a strange, calming tone.
"That floating throne girl you were talking about is already coming here, or at least heading in this direction by now."
"...I see," the boy said.
'+1 coupon. No, this might be…a true curse coupon,' he thought, and he gulped.
It's been so long since he had one.
Before Jonah had a chance to make a legible sound of the common language, the blonde girl spoke up.
"That's right, she should be arriving here soon, which was well in my predictions. I knew she would follow us."
Jonah's eyes twitched
"...you...you knew she would follow us?"
"Didn't you say she already found you?" Anna asked. "But for a reason, she simply let you go."
Once again, the boy felt conflicted.
"...why would she let us go?" Jonah murmured.
"So that she could follow you. Luckily or unfortunately, Avalow must've known, and so she didn't cover her mana signature any longer," Anna said.
Avalow nodded in agreement, but the boy was terribly aghast.
"Mana signature, what's-no that's not important right now. You mean you deliberately left your trail open so that the unknown and probably overpowered girl would follow us?" Jonah asked.
That stomach ache is coming back again…
"Well…I didn't bother to hide my trail or my presence, or rather my mana signature," the blonde girl said. "You were already spotted, since she probably had something akin to infrared vision, or rather heat vision, but this version senses mana. "
"That was how that floating girl found you," Anna said.
Avalow nodded and continued explaining..
"So there's no way to know when she would come in the future with greater power or reinforcements. Besides, since the mana quality and quantity are low, that means she's weaker than she probably is at her peak, which is the same with us..."
During Avalow's explanation of her 'well thought out plan,' Chaya had long left for the bathroom.
"So in conclusion, we could end this problem, quick and simple."
Ending it off with that, the blonde girl nodded and smiled.
Then, it wilted as the two remaining people persisted in staring at her.
""...""
"...heheheheh…?"
""...""
"Um...she would've found us anyway, right Anna?"
""...""
"Anna?"
""...""
"...sorry, I'll try to warn you all next time..." Avalow muttered.
Saying that, the poor girl meekly shranked as deep as she could into herself, trying to make herself look as small as possible as two of the four inhabitants of the house left staring at her.
Before Avalow could squirm herself out of existence, someone spoke.
"Here's a different plan…" the boy said seriously. "How about we give up, and we offer ourselves to this being. Of course we make a few changes in a deal or whatever, but all in all we simply surrender…or else we assure mutually assured destruction."
Avalow and Anna looked up with widened eyes at him.
"Wow…I didn't expect that from you…" the blonde girl muttered.
"...what makes you think that would work?" Anna aske.
"She is probably…benevolent?" he muttered. Then, he nodded his head confidently. "Yes, benevolent, for it-no, for she let me off as you guys said, right? Let's ignore that she somehow put pressure on me and almost made me faint with just a stare."
"...indeed," Anna said, slowly nodding her head. "However, the 'girl'' could just be a monster pretending to look like a girl to attract curious and semi-naive people..."
Saying that, she looked at a certain someone seriously.
The certain someone nodded seriously.
"Or on the other hand, it could just be a normal girl," he said equally serious…and maybe a bit hopefully.
"Jonah, c'mon, be serious," Avalow said in a very serious manner.
"But…I am though?"
"Anyways," Anna said. "For Avalow's plan…that was actually a good plan."
"Thank you."
"No problem. Furthermore, it could've been preferably done a great deal better. Well, as said earlier, it was inevitable that we would meet. It was just a matter of time."
Saying that, she looked at the blonde girl, who scratched her head and "heheheh"-ed while looking away.
Jonah sighed again, rubbing his forehead.
At last the semi-curse jar was refilled in a matter of a few hours.
Still, he had forgotten how many times he sighed this week, but it was surely more than an entire year of his life.
"Now...we must prepare."
Saying that, Anna stood up and walked to her room.
As soon as she left, the blonde girl looked thoughtfully at the boy who had just planted his head on the table with a 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥.
Then, a moment later, he looked up at the blonde girl.
"Didn't you say you had something to ask me earlier?"
...
It was a peaceful dark night, and the only light source that existed was the slightly glowing dark gray clouds in the sky, illuminated by the moon above it.
Only, the beautiful moon was hidden by the blanket of clouds.
Although the clouds in the sky appear to infinitely cover the sky, it can't contain the moon's reflected light, for tiny streams of moonlight managed to make their way through the thick blanket.
Then the peaceful, tranquil snowy night suddenly changed, for something arrived.
It descended from the sky and clouds, above and over the empty and lifeless town, floating towards a dark and not-so-welcoming forest.