Chase

WHOOSH!

The winds constantly echoed within the cluster of trees around the group as they silently advanced forward with resolute faces. The playful atmosphere they had upon first arrival was nowhere to be seen, everything replaced by quiet determination as their thoughts unanimously focused on one thing.

'The mission… nothing but the mission.'

Theo silently observed all of this, including the way every member of the group advanced forward. They had been running all night, and dawn was already breaking, yet there seemed to be no sign of halting.

'Mister Drake is flying… same as Dinah… while Jake is, he's gliding with his shadows?' Theo found it difficult to explain how the hooded person was moving, as it simply appeared like he was surfing on black shadows that propelled him forward.

The rest—Fae, Terra, and Damon—were running normally, just like him.

'We've been running West for a while now, and based on the estimated distance we've covered, I'd say we're nearly at the border of the Capital, but what's waiting for us after?' He reasoned calmly.

Sarvos was right next to the Great Nation of Roehel, and they were affiliated. What if they requested help from the Great Nation? Would he and these people be able to escape from Sarvos before their pursuers caught up to them?

'I'm certain they would have already dispatched pursuers at this point.' The fortress that Shen Ak'ashi blew up held a lot of assets for the Sarvos Nation—both Arcane Instruments and Arcane Vessels.

There was no way this wasn't a high-priority case.

'Not that I'm complaining, since I was rescued… but I expected them to have a more sophisticated escape plan.'

Something much better than running away on foot—especially since there existed a plethora of Armaments with a specialty in tracking. Theo worried about so many things that he didn't notice that he was slowly falling behind the rest of the crew.

Then—

"Let's stop here for now." Fae said as soon as they arrived at a small clearing, surrounded by nothing by nothing but tall trees.

"H-huh?"

Theo was stunned by the abrupt stop, and he wondered if it was due to him falling behind. 

"I can still keep going." He tried to protest, but Fae shrugged and insisted. The rest of the group also agreed, and before he realized it, everyone was settling down, loosening up after their long run through the night.

'Why are we stopping now? Especially when our pursuers should be hot on our tail?' He silently wondered, but decided not to say anything.

Instead, he watched as the group started a campfire and even brought out food from seemingly thin air. Considering the diverse and mystical abilities of Armaments, Theo wasn't too surprised by this, but he felt concerned that they wanted to eat despite their dire situation.

"Want some?" Fae offered him a meal—hot toasted bread, eggs, and milk.

His worries immediately dissolved as he stared at the dish, unable to resist the urge to smile and slightly bow his head in gratitude. "I do, thanks."

He enjoyed his delicious meal with everyone present, silently observing them as they conversed among one another. By doing so, he learned quite a few things about each and every one of his benefactors.

'That man, Damon… I think he has a thing for Fae, but she won't give him a break. Then, Terra seems to despise Damon, and the old man Drake… he acts so childish. I think he might be a little crazy. Dinah likes to dote on me… and I don't know why. Do I remind her of her younger brother? Did she have a kid and now sees him in me? I don't know…'

The only person he couldn't quite understand was the person clad in darkness—Jake.

'It seems he's a loner, and everyone already understands that, so they don't involve him in any of their conversations.' Theo reasoned, ensuring he didn't stare for too long.

"I'm impressed, Theo… being able to keep up with us for so long." Damon suddenly shifted the topic to Theo, a playful smile on his face as he spoke.

"Right? I was surprised too…" Dinah added.

Fae simply smiled while Terra and Drake stared in Theo's direction with curious gazes.

"How did you do it? You don't look athletic at all."

'Neither do you!' Theo wanted to say to Damon, but he stopped himself. It was equally surprising for him that these people could run for so long without a hint of exhaustion, but Theo already figured that they were using Armaments to supplement their physical abilities.

"Well… I've always had heightened physical abilities for as long as I can remember." He finally admitted with a sigh. "I'm stronger, faster, and more durable than the average person… so yeah."

"Could it have something to do with being an Arcane Vessel?"

"Maybe." Theo shrugged. "But other Arcane Vessels in the fortress don't have these abilities."

Then again, none of them could fill as many Arcane Instruments with Ne'sh, and their quality was lacking compared to his, so perhaps he was different in some other way. 

Theo didn't know why, though.

"How was it, though? Refilling Ne'sh in a place like that had to have sucked, right—ow!" Damon was smacked by Fae once again, most likely because his question was insensitive to Theo.

However, the boy didn't mind talking about his experience at all.

He told them everything.

From the disgusting and tasteless slop they were given as meals—filled with a lot of nutrients so they wouldn't expire too quickly—to the inhumane quota every Arcane Vessel had to fulfill each day before they could return to their rooms… and then the horrible living state they were subjected to in their cells.

The more Theo explained, the more horrified the faces of his audience became.

Dinah was especially alarmed, and she even started to cry at some point. Seeing this made Theo uncomfortable, so he decided to wrap things up without delving into further details.

"… So, I'm really glad you rescued me. I would have most likely rotted in there if Lord Shen hadn't taken an interest in me."

"Yeah… It is indeed a relief."

"I can see why he took an interest in you." Drake muttered. "Your ability to produce Ne'sh is simply extraordinary. It also seems like the energy has somewhat influenced your physiology, which is why you're able to keep up with us."

The old man continued, talking more about his theories and his ever-increasing interest in Theo, his eyes slowly bulging like a madman with his voice growing ever so loud.

"Don't mind Mister Drake." Fae nudged Theo, noticing how creeped-out he was by Drake's overenthusiasm in studying him. "He used to be one of the best researchers in the Great Nation of Haiaiel, which is why he gets like that sometimes."

Theo nodded, his understanding shifting as he mulled ato recollect everything he knew about the Great Nation, he suddenly felt the mood around him change.

"They're getting closer." Damon smiled. "The closest ones are a couple miles away… but they're closing in fast."

Theo's heart jumped once he heard that.

"Yeah… they're quite a crowd too…" This time, it was Dinah who spoke, adjusting her glasses as she squinted her eyes and glanced around the clearing.

"There are five teams in total." She added. "Seems they've come from all the nearby outposts and are converging in our position."

"That means they have some way to track us… just as we suspected."

Fae smiled, glancing at the stunned Theo. "We decided to take a break so we could figure all this out, so don't worry."

"Oh, okay." He replied, hiding his stunned state.

'So they intentionally stalled… hold on, was our journey by foot also intentional? Did they want the enemies to give chase? But why?'

"Alright… we'll be splitting up now." The group began to rise to their feet, the fire amidst them going out instantly as they disposed of the minuscule remains of their meal. Theo watched this with pain in his eyes, since he considered the disposed food a waste.

He wouldn't have minded eating theirs as well.

"Three of us should be enough, right? No, I think two…"

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"The lesser the better." Fae sighed. "Two will remain behind, while the rest of us will go ahead."

"I'm staying." Damon raised his hands in excitement. "Wanna stay with me, Fae? It's gonna be fun, I promi—"

"I'll pass. Want to do the honors, Terra?"

Damon shuddered upon hearing those words, slightly glancing at the frowning lady who stood a few steps from him.

"I'd rather die." Terra spat, causing even Theo to feel bad for the man.

However, much to his surprise, Damon was glad that Terra didn't take the offer and sighed in relief. Theo couldn't help but wonder why. He glanced at Jake, a part of him wanting to suggest that he stayed behind since his presence made him uncomfortable.

"I'll stay… just in case." Unfortunately, old man Drake raised his hand and decided to be the second one who would be left behind.

"Alright then… it's settled."

Everyone slowly separated from each other, with Fae and the rest of the ones departing slowly walking away from the clearing. Theo wondered what would happen next, especially since it seemed like they were surrounded—trapped in some kind of inescapable net.

"What now? We keep running?" He asked.

"Pfft! Don't be ridiculous…" Fae grinned, turning to Jake, who brought out a small stone from seemingly out of nowhere—the same way they had caused food to appear.

"We're jumping."

"Jump…ing?" Theo was confused, but he soon understood once the bright blue light of the stone caused everything around them to blur.

He tightly shut his eyes in reflex, and by the time he reopened them, they were somewhere else entirely. Right behind them was a long river, flowing all the way from the northwest to the south, its clear waters slushing and splashing at the bank.

"T-this is—!" Theo's eyes widened upon realization.

"Yes." Fae answered. "We're past the border of the Sarvos Nation."

"A-ahh…!"

In the blink of an eye, they had just traveled from the edge of the Capital past the border of the entire Nation.

This was the power of an Armament!

"Lord Shen let us borrow this Grand Imperial Grade Armament for the mission… makes things a lot easier." Dinah told the amazed Theo. "Takes up a lot of Ne'sh, though."

He nodded absentmindedly.

"In any case, we should have taken off the scent from our pursuers." Terra added. "This way, they won't be able to link the attack on the Capital with the Ak'ashi Guild."

"Yeah. It should be smooth sailing from here." Fae smiled.

Theo heard all of this, and everything instantly clicked in his mind. The fog in his head vanished, and the entire plan became clear as day to him.

"We ran through the night to give the illusion that we had exhausted all other avenues to escape… which let the Nation pour its resources into chasing us down, reducing security on all key locations beyond the Sarvos Nation. We left Damon and Mister Drake behind while we escaped to the Ak'ashi Guild so they wouldn't track everything back to the Guild, and I'm guessing those two will take a longer route to confuse the Sarvos Nation after getting rid of the immediate pursuers so they don't implicate the Guild… am I right?"

Everyone looked at Theo in surprise, while Fae chuckled, rubbing Theo's head in pride.

"One hundred percent!"

"But why didn't you just teleport all of us right from the fortress past the border?" Theo asked. "That way we could have all escaped long before they launched their pursuit."

"Our jump might have left traces which can be investigated by an Armament. Plus, the range of this Armament is unfortunately not very wide, which is why we had to travel a specific distance before we could get right past the border."

"O-ohhh!" Theo muttered, but then his eyes widened once more.

"You're concerned about the trace left behind by our recent jump, right? Don't worry… Drake will take care of it." Fae smiled. "Even if he doesn't… once the fight is over, the energies in the clearing will be a mess, so it'll serve as the perfect cover for any spatial distortions."

"Alright then."

There was still a lot that Theo wanted to ask due to his curiosity, but he understood that now wasn't the time. Even though they had successfully escaped the trap set by their pursuers, they weren't quite out of the woods yet.

"We still have a long distance to cover." Fae smiled at Theo and he nodded, his eyes beaming with determination.

"Let's go!"

*************

FSHUUUU!

Drake sighed, finally planting the heel of his staff on the ground after pointing it in the direction where his colleagues vanished. The orb atop the staff warbled for a moment before growing dull yet again, matching the wry smile forming on his face.

Damon noticed the old man's mood and brought it up.

"What's with the sigh? Don't tell me you're also disappointed you got stuck with me."

"It's not that…" Drake shook his head. "I just… wanted to study that kid a lot more. He intrigues me…"

Once he heard those words and saw the perverted smile on Drake's face, it was Damon's turn to sigh as he changed the topic. "They're near… a couple hundred meters now."

"I hope you don't expect me to fight."

"Naa…" Damon shrugged, taking a close look at his wristwatch. "You just have to hold that staff of yours high when I need you to. I'll handle the rest."