Illusions

Noah scrambled down the busy streets, running with all his might towards the Academy. His friend was in trouble and he needed help now. He regretted for the hundredth time not finishing his air studies so he could just fly over everyone's heads and over the rooftops and land straight at the Academy.

As he got to the gate, panting heavily, a guard stopped him abruptly.

"Who are you and what is your business here at the Academy?"

Noah somehow managed to not scream at the guard as that would not be beneficial in the slightest.

"I am Noah White and I've been urgently called by Mr. Brown."

"Mr. Brown hasn't announced me of this visit."

'Of course he didn't! If he'd announce every guard on campus, he wouldn't get any visits at all, you idiot!' Thought Noah, but quickly refrained from saying such things. Instead, he brought out his own golden watch, still glimmering with Mr. Brown's name.

"See, I have been called by him. I need to see him now."

"May I see the watch myself, sir? To make sure this isn't some sort of illusion."

Noah didn't have time for this nonsense. Screw all the ridiculous rules the Academy had, he needed to get in. So he got into a role he hadn't had to use in years.

"This is absolutely unacceptable!" He replied, then started briskly walking into the campus. The guard followed him, a brisk "Sir, you can't enter-" which he promptly interrupted:

"Can't enter?!" He said, enraged as he continued moving towards the main building. "Do you have any idea who I am? I am the old advisor of Mr. Brown and future heir of the White fortune." The last part may have been a lie, but the guard probably didn't know that. "You don't get to accuse me of pulling cheap tricks in order to visit-"

He stopped abruptly, the guard almost bumping into him. Right by the entrance, the dirt had deep cracks in it, and a little further east, a big patch was raised up, like there had been...

"...a fight with earth powers. Oh no."

The guard must have noticed this as well, as he grabbed his arm, pulling him back:

"Mr. White, it is no longer safe for you to be here. Our guards will take care of whatever is happening inside the campus-"

He tried to jerk away, but the hand held him firm.

"Please, sir. I don't want to be responsible for a person of your stature being hurt on my watch."

"You think I'm going to let you stop me?!" Noah's voice raged like a wildfire and the guard let go of his hand for a short second.

And that was all he'd need.

Noah lunged forward, hopefully running in the same direction that Mr. Brown had taken earlier. The guard took of after him, but he wasn't alone anymore. Two others had emerged from the nearby shadows, giving chase as well. So the guards had to be people of the darkness.

He quickly turned invisible, lightly moving on the ground, as to avoid being heard. He took on ahead, knowing full well that the guards were now working to make a charm that would dispel his new advantage. Good thing that only the buildings and the main gate were secured with such charms.

He had reached a dusty clearing, with a lone arrow, no blood on its tip, settled down upon the ground. He had to be on the right track.

The grass ahead was trampled by many footsteps, so he ran for a few more minutes, before finally spotting him.

The invisibility faded, but it didn't matter anymore. He ran towards his old friend and would have probably hugged him fierce were it not for the arm that he was clutching.

"What happened?" Noah asked, still worried.

"I fought them off. But they managed to break my arm in the process. I fell from the second floor."

"The guard at the gate was one of them as well. I had to use invisibility to even get to you. You didn't tell me there were so many!"

Mr. Brown grunted in pain. "I didn't know there were so many."

"Let me heal you."

"Not here. It's still not safe." Mr. Brown pointed towards the Misty Wood. "They will have a harder time spotting us there."

"Are you insane? I saw them come out of shadows, they'll be easily able to corner us there! Do you want to get caught again?... Oh."

And in the split hesitation he had, Mr. Brown had grabbed his hand and shook.

-

An all too familiar heat passed from Noah's hand to Mr. Brown's, seeping into his skin. Shadow almost screamed at the contact, retracting her hand as if she'd been burnt by the touch. Yet the heat didn't burn as before, only leaving a tingling sensation behind. A warning of what could have happened had she not been so quick. She hadn't expected for the father to be protected as well.

-

Noah backed away, tears now pricking at his eyes.

"You're one of them now. No no no..."

He ran away, blindly.

And, too stunned by the bad memories, touching her still uncovered spine, Shadow didn’t move.

Noah’s footsteps must have retraced old memories, because he found himself passing by Gardenstar. He could now hear footsteps behind him. So he was still followed.

An idea struck him.

He molded the magic light of Gardenstar, a hundred Noahs taking off in a hundred different directions. The real him took off towards the wall, hoping to find an easy way to scale the darned thing. Behind him, he could hear furious screaming. Shadow had fully recovered from the shock.

With the weird path he took and the other Noahs heading for sunny spots and most of them heading towards the entrance, the real him reached the wall safely. The 5 meter wall was now the only thing that stood before him and safety. To scale the thing with all the protection charms on it would be madness, so he'd need a different way. He reached a cornerstone, quickly looping through the trapped charms so he could weave a new one in there. He traced a few simple lines on the cornerstone with the tip of his finger that he had dipped into his mouth. The wet lines of spit glowed faintly, signaling to him that their magic was now active. The charm would last for as long as the lines were still visible, so he didn't have a lot of time till the magic faded, but he didn't need a lot anyway. Noah pressed his hand against the wall and, sure enough, it wasn't solid anymore. He passed through the part of the wall that had become a measly illusion and then ran towards the White manor.

It was late evening on the beautiful Spring's Turning and he had to get to the White Manor and get Maria out of there. He also needed to consult with Mrs. White immediately, to see which place would be least likely to ruin Maria’s chances at fulfilling the second vision.

So he ran as fast as he could. Not even questioning how or why he hadn’t become part of Shadow’s darkness.

------

How could this happen to her? She crawled in a corner of her void, still unable to process what had happened. This... had felt like when Maria tried- no, almost succeeded in killing her. This had to be because of Maria. Why was she always staying in her way?! If Maria had managed to protect her dad, who knew how many others she had protected as well? Had she protected all her friends as well? She had gotten to one of them, but that... light hadn't felt the same. Was that one also one of Maria's protections? It had pushed her away... It must be. How was she going to reach her friends if she'd risk death for just a touch? How had Maria managed to protect them in the first place? She needed to find that out. Yes, she needed some more information. But taking Maria would unveil her existence and she still wanted that to be a surprise, even for a bit longer. She still had the advantage of a surprise attack, but she needed more information on how to take her down before she could act on it. But taking one of her friends to find out just how Maria protected them… that might just work. She just needed to find another protected by Maria with that same burning light and she could put her plan in action.

But before she would deal with that, she had another guest to welcome. Mr. Brown was starting to wake up from his nightmarish slumber in her endless void.

Then she’d be able to turn her eyes to the Spring’s Turning ball at the White Manor. And towards a lonely little girl walking through the Manor’s gardens.

Edit: It’s a bit short, I know, but the plot was fighting me and I had to fix future chapters because of this troublesome one. I even named it “Chapter 25(ugh)” because of all the headaches this has caused me.