Chapter 5 - Catch Me If You Can

Aqueo still had time before the time Hermina gave him, so he walked around the part of the townsquare that he hadn't reached yet. He found himself at the far end of the place that he couldn't see clearly from the elevated road because of the high buildings that were blocking this part.

There were more shops here but they were located way too closely with each other. The whole place was actually a wide road that the merchants just occupied, so the pathways were narrow and convoluted. Despite that, the place was livelier than the rest of the townsquare. The bright light of the day reflected the energy and the noise of the people buying and selling things here, including the occasional waving of the colorful fabrics that were used as the ceilings and decorations of most of the shops caused by the strong breezes of wind.

Aside from live animals and magical beasts that Aqueo couldn't recognize, there were many interesting things here that he didn't find at the other side of the townsquare, like whole meats of animal carcasses, giant fishes and other seafoods, fruits and vegetables, foods and other products that were completely new to him even with Aquifer's memories, and things he had seen in the memories but didn't know what they were for.

But there was something that had been bothering him for a while. Three people seemed to be following him. Whichever corner he turned, the three would follow. In fact, there were only two of them before. And they were all wearing similar clothes—brown fabrics that even covered their heads and faces as if they were in a desert.

Aqueo moved faster, away from the townsquare in the hope that more people around would deter them. He was quite sure it wasn't part of the townsquare anymore, the pathways here were getting wider. The merchant stands were now neatly arranged into four lines unlike the convoluted arrangement of shops where there were even dead ends in the middle.

Aqueo stopped when he noticed that there were four of them now. They didn't even try to be discreet the way they were looking directly at him. If he wasn't being tailed right now, he would have tried the meat that was being roasted on burning charcoal in front of him. The smell would've been too appetizing to resist. And then he got an idea. Food. There were restaurants all over the place. Betting everything to the chance that they won't follow him there, he ran himself to the nearest one he saw.

The door shut loudly behind him when he entered and Aquifer just passed through it as if it wasn't there.

The waitress, Aqueo was sure because of her attire, approached him immediately. "I'm sorry, our dear customer. This restaurant is for reservations only!" the waitress kindly said.

"Don't you have an empty slot for today? I'll pay for the inconveniences I might cause," he said while looking warily outside. His stalkers weren't trying to follow him inside.

When he looked at the waitress again, it looked like he didn't need to try so hard to convince her. She was holding two of the flowers that the merchant didn't buy and was looking at it so intently, she must've taken them from his shopping bag. Aqueo wasn't quite sure if she recognized them.

"H-hey! I'll give you a hundred of that flower, just let me hide here for a while," Aqueo said in a rushed negotiating tone.

"H-hu-hundred?" Her eyes widened. "No way! You already have a bunch of them here," she exclaimed. Now, Aqueo was sure.

Her reaction was understandable. Aqueo knew they were rare himself.

"Yes, a hundred. I'll give them to you free of charge," he smiled at her while glancing a bit at the glass window behind.

Her mouth fell, but she recovered quickly. She remembered she was in the middle of work. "Come with me," she said and led Aqueo to a slightly hidden compartment farthest from the entrance.

"You said hide here?" she asked after she made him sit on a chair next to a table. She sat at the opposite side. They were now well hidden by walls of plants and other decorations.

"I-uh...," Aqueo suddenly hesitated. He was in such a hurry a while ago that he didn't even consider that he might put the young woman in danger. "Yes," he still answered.

"From whom?" she asked as she held the flower on the table and the invisible Aquifer hovered around it.

"From a girl," he quickly answered. "Yeah, my girlfriend! She was mad at me."

It would be best if she knew nothing about him. Those people after him might be dangerous and decide to come after her because of him. He didn't want to repeat his past. It would be too unbearable the next time it happened again. Just what did they want from him anyway? Now that he finally managed to run away from his godforsaken life.

"I see," she smiled. "I don't want to take this free of charge. I know they are too rare to just be given away for free. My name is Wyrfena Lovenclove. Forgive my manners, but are you a noble? You don't have a noble insignia and your clothes aren't something a commoner should be wearing in a place like this . . . or at all," she trailed her last words when she suddenly thought he was very likely a noble.

"I'm not a noble." Aqueo was hesitant to say his name.

Wyrfena sighed in relief, "Oh! I almost had a heart attack. What's your name again?"

"I-uhh, Aqueo. Aqueo Harp."

"A Harp? Never heard anyone with that family name before. You said you have a hundred of these flowers?"

"Yes. You know what that is?" Aqueo asked, curious how she recognized it when the merchant didn't.

"I do," Wyrfena said excitedly. "I saw it from an old book I found. The book is a secret," she whispered. "The description and the diagram match the real thing so well. I did some research, asked a lot of people, and no one has ever seen the flowers before. Or even knows."

"Really?" That was another confirmation for Aqueo that something was off about the ten years gap. Maybe he could find the answer from her book. "How old is the book? Like . . . when was it last known? Did it say anything about it?"

"Yes," she said excitedly, "It was written over a hundred years ago. The book is actually a journal of an alchemist. A diary."

"H-hu-hundred?" Now it was Aqueo's turn to be surprised the same way she did.

Wyrfena was about to say yes when a bell suddenly rang. "Oh, I'm needed in the kitchen. Wait for me here."

Aqueo's still surprised gaze followed Wyrfena until she was gone. 'A hundred years? Then what's with the year calendar at the townsquare?' And then Aqueo realized that he couldn't really recognize most of the characters written on the huge calendar. Some characters were similar to his earth language but there were characters that he couldn't recognize. He pulled out the book he bought and found that even this one had characters that he couldn't understand, although he was sure it was about magic because the characters used for 'basics of magic' were the same with his earth language characters.

But what about Aquifer? What was the spirit doing in that time gap? He wanted to know. And his initial thought that the spirit was over a hundred years old was definitely wrong and it was actually older. So if that ten years in the calendar that he wrongfully thought was actually a hundred years, then the spirit should be over a thousand years old. But Aqueo couldn't be sure because he didn't know the exact dates and the actual meaning of the numbers on the calendar.

Even the greetings 'noble master' used by the son of the merchant wasn't in the memories. And the thought of him being followed by creepily clothed guys, things were now turning grim in his head when he remembered the thing implied by the merchant when he said something about 'the situation right now' and 'the King's soldiers'. Something bad must've happened to his mage employee when he said he lost them. It made Aqueo slightly nervous that it might be dangerous for him to stay in this town.

Stolen story; please report.

Wyrfena came back carrying a tray of food. It smelled so heavenly good when she laid it in front of Aqueo.

"It's made with the flowers you brought," she said then quickly went back to her job.

'Those flowers are food ingredients?' Aqueo had no idea.

He tasted it and it was as heavenly as its smell. He just ate there and he could've forgotten his stalkers when he suddenly saw two of them walking inside the restaurant and picking an empty table. They were glancing around and it looked like they couldn't see him because all the tables had walls of plants and decorations.

Aqueo sped up eating while trying to think of a way to escape from them. Now, he was more afraid that they might do something to Wyrfena.

He placed the book back inside the shopping bag and he suddenly saw the uniform of Hyndrel Academy. An idea suddenly formed in his mind. He quickly changed into the new clothes inside the plant compartment, ducking down to make sure they wouldn't see him.

When he was done, he took out the book and decided to just leave the shopping bag including the flowers inside. He thought of giving those to Wyrfena anyway.

He opened the book and pretended to read it too close to his face, then walked carefully towards the door. He wasn't sure if his stalkers didn't recognize him because he was hiding his face from them. When he finally reached outside he was relieved that they didn't try to follow him.

Thankful, he greeted the strong breezes of wind as if they were an old friend and continued walking along the pathway between merchant stands while holding the book high on his face. He was walking, until he made the mistake of turning into a corner and the book was just half-covering his face. He made a full stop and so was Aquifer, but the spirit wasn't aware that in front of them stood one of Aqueo's stalker just half an arm's reach, looking intently at him.

. . .

Wyrfena laid the trays on the counter and proceeded to walk toward Aqueo's table. It would be some time before she would be needed again, so she was excited to see Aqueo and talk about the flowers. There were so many things about the flowers she wanted to talk about. But she was disappointed when she couldn't find him there except his shopping bag on the table. She approached it and her eyes brightened up when she found out that the flowers were there.

'Why did he leave this here? He was serious about giving these to me for free?' she thought while looking through the windows in the hope that she'd find him there. 'I'll try to look for him later.'

. . .

Aqueo sprinted the moment his stalker tried to grab him. He couldn't count how many food and products he had ruined and broken from running around. The other three stalkers had joined the other. He tried shouting for help but the people didn't seem to care. The most baffling about it was that they were saying things like:

"They're after someone again?"

"They're catching someone again!"

"They're hunting someone again!"

And other words related to hunting people, 'again'. But Aqueo was even more baffled, and disturbed for this matter, when somebody shouted "cage him" and "catch him" repeatedly and were echoed by other bystanders.

As the chase went on, the disturbing cheers seemed to pull up Aqueo's horrible past even though some people gave him a sympathetic look.

It felt like he was back on Earth again, being shunned by almost everyone around him. Repeatedly calling him delinquent, thug, addict, and other unspeakable things that weren't even true, or things he was just forced by the human traffickers to do. He felt like crying. Did his past follow him here? No. There must be a reason for this. He steeled his heart and said he'd get through this. He just needed to get back to Hermina. They were a noble family and must be holding some kind of authority he could count on. Maybe. He wasn't sure because they kept saying that no one should discover him.

Aqueo ran and ran. He felt like he was running in circles. There were four of them and when one tried to block his way he would change direction. Aqueo couldn't keep track of how many times he almost got caught, they grabbed him, tackled him, trapped him, but he fought back over and over again and still managed to escape. He felt hopeless until he finally managed to outpace them.

The stone road pathway widened even more and the merchant stands became fewer. Aqueo could slightly see something bright behind the merchant stands in front of him. With Aquifer's memories, he knew what was beyond there: the Hyndrel Port, where ships dwell. He also remembered the chanting of the people almost every time Aquifer visited here—or more likely lost while randomly following people.

When he got past the last shop, as he anticipated, he was greeted by the mesmerizing bright blue sky and glittering sea which seemed to cast even more hope inside his heart. He had reached the port of Hyndrel Town.

It was such a beautiful view. Aqueo was awestruck and everything seemed to slow down. And since it was a port and the dead end was the sea, Aqueo had to turn left, while making the mistake of not parting his gaze away from the shining sea. He bumped into someone and his momentum made it impossible for them not to fall hard on a fruit crate. There were a few screams, the crate crashed, loud ,and the fruits and wood planks splattered on the stone ground. Some even rolled further towards the edge of the stone road and fell in the sea where a number of large boats and ships were lined up in front of the whole port.

Someone spoke, "It-it hurts. What in the—" The voice trailed off.

Aqueo opened his eyes and pushed the ground to stand, but he was stunned halfway when he found himself looking at a beautiful maiden with pink hair under him with the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. The irises of her eyes, shined by the bright light of the sun, sparkled a beautiful pattern of bright shades of yellows. He couldn't move for a moment and just stared at her eyes. And then it became even more beautiful and mesmerizing when the irises of her eyes started glowing with sparkles of bluish light. Then she spoke in a soft voice, "So pretty!" Aqueo was awoken from his current trance. The maiden was looking at Aquifer that was floating beside their faces, seemingly unaware of him. And it dawned on him that the sparkles of blue light on her irises was Aquifer's reflection and most importantly, there was finally another person who could see the spirit aside from him.

A shout from behind the corner reminded Aqueo that he was being chased. He continued to push himself up but was astounded when he further realized that his hands were actually pressing the maiden's slightly large breasts, as he described how they felt. Accidentally squeezing it in the process of getting himself up, the maiden looked at him. Aqueo was startled so he said, "Y-you can see my spirit!" She just looked at him, still had not regained her senses after seeing Aquifer. "S-sorry!" Aqueo completely stood up and started to run.

He kept his eyes on her as he ran and saw that her gaze followed Aquifer who danced around on top of her first before floating toward him. He saw that his pursuers finally managed to reach the corner and started to gain on him. He looked forward and continued running. But it was only for a few distance when he stopped dead because one of his stalkers was in front of him. He looked behind and realized it was a new one, there were five of them trying to catch him now.

Aqueo had no choice but to turn to another street. He was sure this one led to the stadium. He sprinted because they were so near him already. And the hope that he just gained seemed to diminish because of the new addition to his stalkers.

There were only two lines of merchant stands in the middle of the street and several people were blocking the middle pathway. He thought of taking down the first merchant stand to block their way but hesitated. But his stalkers were going to catch him if he didn't do it.

He decided to do it. He'd pay later.

When he reached the first merchant stand he gripped one of the poles and yanked it. The merchant stand dangled to the side but it wasn't enough to block the way and his pursuers were now just a few yards from him.

Mildly panicking, Aqueo desperately grabbed the crates of fruits from another merchant stand and threw them to the ground. It did little to stop them.

He scrambled when he saw that one of them was now holding a rope. It brought up a terrifying memory from his past and started to actually panic.

No. He didn't want to experience that again.

He started to just throw whatever he could reach to them and to the ground while running, occasionally turning when one of them would block his path. And nervously did he feel when choosing which corner to turn to since he couldn't see where one would appear.

The chase went on and on until a stalker suddenly appeared from his side and tried to grab him but Aqueo, now fully panicking, was quick to punch him in the face.

He ran again. And this time he was so close to breaking down. He had already considered flying earlier with Aquifer but it would make him weak eventually and they would catch him while he was weak. And he wasn't exactly sure if they could fly faster than him. And where would he go? He wasn't sure if he would be able to find Hermina immediately. And now he was hesitating that it might put them in danger because of the shoutings of the bystanders. As a last resort, he considered flying.

After a few yards of running, he stopped dead again. Two stalkers just blocked his way and one was holding a rope. He felt trapped and even more desperate. Everything seemed to slow down when they lunged at him. If he only knew magic just like the mages in Aquifer's memories—that's right! Aquifer. At that moment, he remembered that he had Aquifer by his side this whole time. It was a spirit that had been consuming magical energies for a thousand years. Aquifer was his last hope. Feeling the spirit's warmth, even deeper than ever, he reached for its consciousness in their connection, and betting all of his trust on the spirit, he placed his hands in front of him and shouted with everything he got, "AQUIFEEEER!" The spirit felt Aqueo's overwhelming will and emotion and swiftly moved in front of him, a giant ball of water immediately formed in front of it and blasted at the two pursuers that had no time to evade. The giant ball of water slammed onto them and they flew dozens of yards away toward the straight pathway.

Aqueo had no time to digest what just happened when he saw another pursuer in his peripheral vision that was just standing there as surprised as he was. He took advantage of his surprised state and immediately ran forward.

"Aquifer!" he joyfully called the spirit while smiling widely even though it was already following him. The despair he was feeling a while ago was replaced by hope and joy, which were echoed by the dancing Aquifer. He felt so proud just now. He just did some magic. They just did some magic.