Missing Pieces

Horis leaped from shadow to shadow, a bead of sweat flowing down her face. Her tiny frame seemingly blended into the surrounding darkenss.

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Shit! How did they get here so fast? Was it the guards? Or maybe a random passerby? Shit!'

She could not help but be frustrated, anxious, and confused. But she did not panic. That only served to ruin things, especially for operations as big as this.

It was Horis' biggest score yet. Her entire livelihood was on the line… as well as her actual life. But she did not care about that. Compared to what her life in this dumpster of a city had been up to a couple of weeks ago, a life sentence or two was nothing.

…Not that she wanted that either, mind you. Life was a commodity in New Mireton. Especially in these parts. But that did not mean to say that nobody valued their life.

After all, what was the point of all the world's pleasures if you can't even enjoy it?

Angry shouts resounded just a few meters away from Horis:

"Get her, you idiots. If I don't see a severed head by dawn, it will be your empty noggins rolling!"

...Well, so much for that life sentence.

'Right here should be fine.'

Horis held her breath at a dark corner, bathed by the deep black shadows reigning over the nights of the rotten city. It was as if her very being had turned into a shadow itself, masked by the dark world.

Her heart palpitated like a rabbit's, beating furiously and angrily. She did not like this one bit.

One of Hatter's goons stood right in front of her, trying to peer into the darkness.

The world grew deathly still.

"Nobody here. Get moving. She could not have gone far."

The goon shrugged as he turned away from Horis. The young woman, Horis, sighed.

…Her second mistake of the night.

The guard jumped, his eyes darting in every direction.

"She's here. Everybody gather!"

"Shi—"

Before Horis could even make a move, dozens of goons surrounded and pinned her to the ground, immobilizing the young woman. One of them pushed a white pill into her mouth, forcing her to swallow it.

She could only curse within as she felt her mind wane slowly, fading.

'Curse you, Lieren.'

◇◆◇◆◇

A dreamlike expanse of melted-down light spread for as far as Lieren could see, stretching past the horizon.

A voice resounded beside him:

"Hey there, kid. You doin' well?"

It was his Aegis. He, too, was looking at the hazy horizon. For some mysterious reason, his figure was the only one not blurry and melted together.

The boy tried to say something:

"…Fyan, I twank"

He failed horribly.

Lieren's face flushed in embarrassment.

'Why can't I feel my tongue?'

It was as though all his senses had been reconfigured like a machine, remodelling him for a new purpose. Luckily though, his mind and hearing was still intact… barely.

"You seem to be fatigued. Probably from expending too much mana."

Harita's voice was soft and comforting, soothing the boy's ailment. Not physically, of course. He would need to be a Cleric to perform any feats like that.

"You should get some sleep. I'll see if we can get us a ride in the meantime."

Then, his Aegis stood up and left. Off to find any method of transportation left, so they could leave the forsaken forest once and for all. Instead of feeling lonely, Lieren felt ease and comfort soothe his aching body.

At least he had somebody.

As Harita's figure grew farther and farther, the boy's mind slowly sank deeper and deeper, eventually lulling into a full, rhythmic stop.

A voice echoed from the forest:

"Sweat dreams, Lieren. You're gonna need it."

◇◆◇◆◇

The constant tossing and tumbling of a rickety carriage shook Lieren violently like a ragdoll, waking him from his deep slumber.

"Huh?"

The familiar ceiling of a lavish carriage filled the boy's vision like the bright, white lights of the Sky Beyond. Except it was much more dour, dull, and bland. The former beauty that the wooden cage held had been stripped and varnished, replaced by the simple elegance of a common ride.

Lieren felt at ease seeing that view, pleasant and bad memories blending together. His brows furrowed as his lips rose, switching back and forth like a tossed coin.

"What is it now?"

Suddenly, the cage came to a halt, and Lieren jerked forward with a scream. He quickly reoriented himself, looking around.

There was nobody there.

He wiped his brow and muttered exaspertedly:

"Phew~ Good thing nobody saw that. It would have been really embarrassing."

He took a deep breath and sighed. In the spur of the moment, he activated Manavision, seeing the world in a new light. There was the multi-colored streams of mana as usual, as well as a couple few prevalent sources, most likely people… or monsters. You can never be too careful. Some of the latter had the ability to mask their presence like a Rogue's.

The noise outside suggested it was the former:

"Huh. That's weird."

Augmenting his ears with mana, he felt for the noise outside. The walls were thick and he found listening through it quite difficult, even with mana-enhanced hearing. There was, however, enough legitimate words for him to make something out.

"A town? Mireton? Why is called new? Did they lose the old one or something?"

Piecing together whatever snippets of the ongoing conversation that he could, Lieren tilted his head. Now he was even more confused.

"…!"

Lieren stood up suddenly. There were footsteps approaching the carriage, with it the gait of the mighty. Somebody powerful was about to come… somebody he knew.

He sighed and slumped back to his seat, suddenly extremely exhausted.

The side door cracked open at the same time. A familiar voice said:

"Oh. You're awake. Good, good. We're just about there."

His voice was hoarse and exhausted, devoid of its usual carefree quality and lackadaisical nature. Like Lieren, he too had suffered a blow large enough to entirely possible alter his entire life.

In fact, it already had.

The boy looked to the side. His eyes were barely open.

"Just about where?"

Harita sighed and looked to the side. His brows were knitted. Somebody was yelling, and now that the door was open, Lieren could make out what it was saying much more clearly:

"Hey, ya' bollocks! If you're not planning ta' go anywhere, then move out of the damn path. You're congestin' the road 'ere!"

Lieren laid down on the leather seat and mumbled aloud:

"Go. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Harita nodded and closed the door. There was an audible creak as the door was swung. Cracks and claw marks were strewn about here and there as if somebody had fought some kind of predatory beast.

Lieren was too tired to investigate any of them.

With another sigh, he closed his eyes once more. Not to sleep, no. He already had enough of that. This time, it was to think. He barely had the time to do that lately.

"Red. Where are you?"