It happened in the blink of an eye.
Literally.
In less time that it took for him to even make a sound and warn Nidea about the figure pointing a gun in their direction, the distinct sound of a gun was already echoing through the empty street.
But despite the sound, no bullet ever reached the two.
For at that same instant as the gun had been fired at them, a pulse of some sort of blue energy exploded outwards from where he and Nidea were standing, rocking cars and shattering windows as it continued in its outwards trajectory. And a second later, the street was filled with debris and the sound of multiple car alarms going off, making it all but certain that curious bystanders and police would soon flood the place.
A thought that their mysterious assailants must have shared, because after exchanging some words amongst themselves that he couldn’t make out, they hightailed it out of there.
“Who were those people?” Daniel asked dumbfoundedly, feeling his mouth dry and his heart beating so loudly that he was sure the elf holding him against her could both feel and hear it.
“What makes you think I would know?” Nidea raised an eyebrow at him. She then pulled him away, looking straight into his eyes as she spoke with an expression that matched the serious occasion, “Can you take us back to the train station? Preferably through a path with as few people as possible?”
“I…I’ll try but it’s New York. There’s always people around here, and there’ll probably be even more the closer we get to Penn.” For the second time today, his body was moving and responding despite the shock he was in.
“Please do so.” Nidea succinctly replied.
Giving her a nod, Daniel began making his way back towards Penn Station, trying his best to pick streets that seemed as empty as streets could be in New York, and not thinking about the jumbled mess that were his current emotions.
It wasn’t long into his journey back towards the station that he noticed a few odd things with how Nidea was acting. The first of those he hadn’t thought much of at the beginning, not paying much mind to the way Nidea would pull him away whenever he walked too close to someone else and just thinking that she was trying to save time. But as this kept happening more and more, Daniel began to catch on to one thing.
The people they were walking past couldn’t see them. Or at least didn’t react to their presence.
Perhaps, employing the same kind of magic that was keeping her ears hidden, Nidea had managed to make the two of them invisible. Or at least made the two of them completely unnoticeable to the people around them.
The second thing, although perhaps it was incorrect for him to call it odd considering the situation, was the frequency with which NIdea would stop and begin to look around at their surroundings as if searching for someone or something. And it was this that was particularly alarming to him for one simple reason.
Because if they really were being followed, then it meant that the people following them had the capability to track two ‘invisible’ people. And that meant that the people that had attacked them earlier weren’t some thugs who had tried to rob them.
He wasn’t sure if this meant that people in his world had such powers, but the thought that had been planted in his head from the moment that Nidea had appeared in his home was beginning to grow in size.
And a part of him hoped that it was some supernatural group. At least then he wouldn't have to explain to his family why the government was after him. And on that note he put away the thought of finding police at his door tomorrow in case the earlier event was captured on camera.
Thankfully, the two managed to reach Penn Station without any issue, and were soon inside of it.
“Let’s get on a train right away.” Nidea said, now firmly holding onto him and guiding him around the sea of people that were inside the station.
Daniel looked up at the large board, finding the next train back home on it and said, “Uhh, the next train back to our place doesn’t leave for another thirty-five minutes.”
The look she gave him at that moment was one that told him how bright she believed his statement to be, which was not very much. Although it wasn’t hard for him to see her point. Just half-an-hour ago, a group of people had made an attempt on their lives, and here he was worrying about catching the wrong train when there was a chance he might never make it home. Although in his defense, this situation was not exactly the kind of thing he was used to dealing with.
“Can we take another?” Nidea asked in a patient tone, which Daniel was grateful for.
“Yeah. Let me see…” He looked back up, trying to remember which train wouldn’t leave them in the middle of nowhere while still departing as soon as possible. In the end, he just gave up and pointed to the one that was soon to depart that didn’t seem to be going away from his home state.
“There’s one that’s boarding right now.” He said.
Nidea gave him a nod, and followed him as he took them to the stairs to head down to the track the train was at.
They were lucky to find the way down not too packed so as to give them space to head down. And as soon as they did they quickly entered the train where Nidea dragged him to an empty row without people nearby.
“I’ve ended the spell.” She told him once he was seated. “People can see us again.”
“Alright.” Daniel said and gave her a few nods, not sure what else to say. Although a second later, he remembered something.
“Fuck, let me see if I can still buy them.” He mumbled under his breath.
“Hmm?”
“Remember when we were headed here I gave two tickets to the guy that was walking on the train?”
“I do…do we need those? Should I make us invisible again?”
“Not if the internet still works down here.”
And thankfully it did, and Daniel was able to buy two tickets for them to some random place that seemed far away enough.
The train soon took off, and the outside world once more disappeared as the train moved underground and away from NYC. The ride following that was done with the two of them staying in silence, with both of them having a few things to sort through their minds.
It was about fifteen minutes later that Nidea spoke again, telling him, “Say, how many people can use mana in this world?”
“Mana?”
“Mana, you know, what’s used to cast Magic? Or whatever you guys call the energy to do so here?”
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“Uhmm…As far as I’m aware? None.”
Nidea looked at him in silence for a short while, then asked,“None? Like you don’t personally know anyone who does, or you’ve never heard of anyone using it at all?”
“Second. No such thing as far as anyone is concerned.”
Well there were a few people who believed in magic, but that wasn’t the same as having people that could actually use magic.
“But you know of magic?”
“Yeah…but it’s not considered real in this world.”
“And you’re sure of this because…?”
“There would have been some proof of it by now. Some sort of evidence on TV or the internet.”
“And you’re certain of this?”
“Yeah. If someone could use magic it would be all over TV or the internet. Trust me.”
Nidea didn’t seem to fully buy his story, so he explained once more.
“Look, the internet is something everyone in the world has access to. All seven billion of them” Not exactly true, but saying it that way helped to better get his point across. “Everyone can share any information they know, or look up whatever they want to. So it’s hard to believe that we wouldn’t know of someone who can use magic.”
An hour ago, Daniel might have been certain of the veracity of his own words. And before he had met the woman capable of magic before him? One hundred percent sure. But right now, even as the words left his lips, Daniel found himself having a few suspicions that perhaps information about mana or the supernatural, was being kept hidden from the public at large.
Nidea fell silent for a moment, then turned to him and asked, “You said you can look up whatever you want to on the internet, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Does that mean on your little monitor too?”
It took Daniel a second to figure out she meant his phone, which he had used back in the restaurant.
“Yeah.”
“Show me then. Show me about this world, about its people and history. And show me how the people in this world fight.”
Daniel nodded, took out his phone, and began to search up for some video that would have the kind of information that would most answer her questions. He ended up settling a video about the evolution of warfare over the past two thousand years, from Rome to the modern world.
Daniel showed her the video, grateful that there weren’t people around so as to not bother them due to their lack of headphones, and Nidea watched it intently. After the video was done, Daniel could see Nidea deep in thought, although what she was thinking was unknown to him. She stayed that way for another few minutes, until she eventually turned to him and asked, “Can you show me more? About the kinds of weapons people use in this world.”
Daniel quickly agreed, and found another video that showed a bit more about how modern warfare was carried out.
When that video had finished and Daniel turned to see NIdea’s expression, he found it to be a hesitant one. He wondered if she was that shocked by modern weaponry, but was surprised to hear the words that next left her mouth. “I’m positive that the people who attacked us earlier did so because of my actions, so I need to apologize to you. Sorry.”
Daniel looked at her with a puzzled expression. He had been with Nidea the entire time, and he couldn’t think of something in particular that she did that could have attracted such attention. Unless she was referring to when she first showed up in his room.
And it seemed that his confusion was clear to see on his face, because Nidea clarified with the following words. “I was sending out pulses of mana to locate living this when we were walking earlier. But as my senses picked up nothing…I began to send out stronger and stronger waves in a rather reckless fashion. Which is what must have attracted attention to myself and you. Sorry.”
“Really? I didn’t feel anything.”
“I know. Nor did any of the other people around us.” She answered. “But maybe there’s something your government has that picked it up, something that probably deemed me a threat based on my foolish actions.”
“I see…” It made sense, in some sort of way. But Daniel wasn’t exactly sure if the appropriate reaction to some unknown energy source was to shoot it on sight. No matter how big of a stereotype about Americans it was.
“And you don’t think it was maybe some sort of group that could use mana?”
Nidea let out a chuckle, “Weren’t you the one who said that there were no people capable of using magic in your world?”
“I mean yeah…but ever since you appeared I’ve been having some doubts.”
Nidea gave him a nod, then said, “I thought so too at first. But then it wouldn’t make sense that I couldn’t feel them at all. Not back in the city, or even now.”
“You’re doing it again?” Daniel asked, looking around or and trying to focus his senses so as to see or feel for some sign of this magic she was using.
“I have been for the last minute. But I’m not sensing anything again.”
“I see…”
“How far are we from your place?” Nidea asked.
“Uhm…Pretty far.” Daniel replied.
“Let’s get off at the next stop then.” Nidea said. “I don’t think there’s any point in us going any further.”
“You sure?”
Nidea took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Yeah. I didn’t feel anyone following us on the way back to the station. And now that we’re far enough from the city, I used my magic to see if there was anyone of interest nearby, but nothing came up again.”
Then she turned to face Daniel, giving him a wry smile as she said. “So in the case there are people following us, it’s better to know now that we’re away from your place. Don’t you think?”
Daniel nodded, deciding to trust Nidea’s judgment in this matter. He was confident that she had experience in such things, while he himself was lacking.
Soon, the train came to a stop, and the two stepped out into a bare-bones train stop, one that was out in the open air, that must have belonged to what must have been a small, not too significant, city.
“Have a particular place you want to go or…?” He asked Nidea who was staring off at the moon.
“For now, let’s just keep walking.”
Daniel nodded, and the two exited the train stop and began to walk aimlessly around the mostly empty town. As they did so, Nidea suddenly began to whistle. It was a tune that was surprisingly alluring, one that kept him from bothering her so as to not stop the pleasing melody.
It was therefore that Daniel found himself slightly surprised when Nidea spoke to him again. And the contents of her words only served to alarm him even more.
“We’re being followed. One person.”
“Not that I don’t believe you, but how do you know? Did you sense someone?”
“Not me, but I had enchanted a few birds to keep track of my surroundings. One of them caught a suspicious person a few minutes ago, and now I’m certain that they’ve been following us.”
“When did you have the time for that?” Daniel asked.
The answer to his question came in the form of the same melody that Nidea was whistling earlier, although she only played a short sample of it this time around.
Daniel wanted to ask if the melody had affected him as well, but decided to save that question for a better time.
“So what now?” He asked instead.
Nidea stared up at the sky once again, looking at the moon as she answered, “Now we go talk to this person and see what their deal is. Stay here, alright.”
Daniel wasn’t sure whether he would have been happier to learn that they were being tracked by the government or some supernatural force. But whoever was following them, he doubted they would be happy to find Nidea suddenly ambushing them. Which is why he had planned on warning her against doing such a thing, but before he had the opportunity to do so, a gust of wind strong enough to force his eyes close suddenly appeared from where Nidea had been standing.
When he opened his eyes again, Daniel found himself completely alone, with no sign of the long eared girl anywhere in sight. Although about thirty seconds later, he was able to spot Nidea walking his way, though not without something on hand.
“Yo.” A girl that was younger than him greeted him with a sheepish smile and a wave as she hung from Nidea’s outstretched hand.
Daniel didn’t respond, instead looking at Nidea who had a serious expression as she kept holding the girl. He looked back at the girl, dressed in a simple black hoodie and equally black sweatpants. But despite the dark color of her clothes, it was clear that she wasn’t some sort of secret government agent. Which meant…
That Daniel was now pretty certain that whoever had been after them belonged to a group of people with supernatural powers.