As we walked, the rain continued to fall harder and harder. It grew to the point where I had to make a new shield using a lot more mana because I feared the relentless pounding of the rain would knock down the other shield. The sound of water falling had created a roar, and there was absolutely no hope of hearing whatever creature might be stalking us.

I had to rely on my Danger Sense and the reassurance from Xin that this wasn’t a dungeon where one would be attacked. However, it still left me uneasy. My visibility had dropped to nearly zero. Even with my Light magic, it couldn’t cut through the falling rain. I could only see as far as the little shield over our heads. The little girl held tightly to me, and we continued down the cobblestone path.

Like before, my sense of time grew a bit strange. I wasn’t sure if we were walking for ten minutes, or several hours. I had a feeling some time had gone by. The girl clung to me, shaking nervously. I occasionally stroked her head, but any words I could say to soothe her would have been lost in the noise of the roaring rain.

Finally, after what felt like both a few minutes and forever, the rain started to lighten up. We had managed to get through the worst part of it. That was good because I was pretty sure I was going to have to make another shield soon.

“Mister. Thank you for staying with me,” the girl said politely.

I slowed my step and turned to her. “We’re not home yet. Um… where are you going, anyway?”

“That… away…” She declared.

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“Away? Do you mean your home is far away, or you’re trying to get away from your home?”

“I…”

“Sis! Where are you, sis?” A shout could be heard in the dwindling rain.

“Ah! Th-that’s my brother! He’s found me!” She sounded slightly scared, but also somewhat happy.

“You have a brother?” I asked, feeling just a bit surprised.

“Oh! There he is! I don’t want him to think anything bad, stay right here!” The little girl pulled away from me so suddenly that I wasn’t expecting it.

She ran straight off the cobblestone path.

“Hey, wait!” I took a step forward and tried to grab her.

As soon as my hand reached the end of the cobblestone, it slammed into an invisible barrier. I just missed the little girl as she took off into an area that I could go. Her brother appeared. He was wearing a traveling cloak, leather gloves, a hood, and he had a bow in his hands with a knocked arrow. He was a tall man who looked to be much older than she was. If she was only about twelve, then he was likely in his twenties. He’d be about my age, although I probably looked older now, thanks to all the things that had happened to me.

“There you are!” He cried out, walking toward her and slinging the bow back behind himself.

“Brother…” She immediately had a slightly scared look.

“You shouldn’t take off like that!” He snapped. “Wandering around alone in this kind of weather. You could have gotten eaten up!”

“I’m not alone! I was with…” She turned and looked at me.

Rather, she didn’t look at me, she looked through me. Her eyes turned left and right, and a confused expression appeared on her face.

“What?” He asked, finally reaching her and grabbing her arm.

“He was right here…” She gestured to roughly where I was standing.

“There is no one there, sis.” He sighed. “Come on, we need to go home.”

I realized that I couldn’t go into the world beyond the cobblestone path. I even attempted to use a Portal, but the area seemed to be blocked. It appeared like the cobblestone path was invisible to that world as well.