Ordering some alcoholic drinks while Hyeon ate some meat dish with sauce in front of him. Looking around the establishment, nobody else was there; Norbert wondered where everyone else could be before dismissing it, a useless thought.
“So, do you know where you received the mark?” Norbert asked Hyeon, sitting at the opposite end of the table.
Shaking her head, she began to explain her story, having appeared in the middle of a village up north, falling into a river and going through it, explicitly cushioning her fall. Once there and waterlogged, she made her way there, where she was apprehended, and knocked out, only to wake up with the mark on her wrist, on a train to Vesivan, where she has stayed since assisting Tashen.
Nodding along, Norbert asked about her powers and how she received them. She said she didn’t know how and just picked up when falling in the river, cushioning her fall slightly. The last thing Norbert asked was what she saw between the jumps, hearing she saw only darkness before she was back on Earth.
Tapping his chin, Norbert leaned back, wondering if there was anything she wasn’t telling him. Wishing he could get in contact with Elizabeth or Sally to confirm the information about not having a god following you.
Shaking his head, Norbert told his adventures so far, the forest and how he received his powers from the drink and going with the Frontier pushing back monsters and drinking elixirs. By this point, the meal had been finished, and the two were sipping drinks as they chatted idly.
Finishing, the two went back to their room. With the door creaking shut behind Norbert, confirming the backpacks of items still there, Norbert sat on the window sill, seeing Hyeon curl up and sleep.
The idea that she might know how she received the mark failing; taking a coin, Norbert flicked it in the air; not liking how it felt, he put it back, hoping he could pick up his stuff and the extra coin he had.
Waiting for Hyeon to sleep, Norbert took out one of his daggers instead, flicking it into the air. “Hey, Luck,” Norbert said, looking out the reflection and whispering his words not to wake his roommate. “Do people jump across without being a champion of a god or whatever?” Norbert asked.
Staring outside and seeing a single mote of light appear, zipping around, Norbert nodded. Wondering how Hyeon didn’t say anything, wondering if that was why she had the power.
“Then does that mean they have assistance through other means instead?” Norbert asked. Thinking about all that he had been through, the difficulty he had even with a bit of luck. The single mote of light still staying there. Norbert nodded his understanding, probably how she could use that darkness barrier; I guess it was something like an ability he was told of in scout camp.
He was staring at Hyeon lying there, stomach rising and falling while dread pitted in his own. Changing his vision to magic, Norbert stared at her and the mark on her arm. The usual glow of her body was darkened around the tattoo, and she could see it perfectly, even under the clothes. Confirming it didn’t reach anywhere in her body, the only way forward Norbert began wondering for an escape, knowing that he was somehow being monitored here.
Ticking off the options of escaping, Norbert thought about using the lava lakes. Needing to try again tomorrow and find something to use to get close enough; otherwise, he would be left with option C. But as he sat there, staring at her sleeping form, Norbert thought about plan D, leaving her behind and making out alone.
He was shaking his head, dismissing the thought as quickly as it came. He agreed that he would stick with her as long as she did him; they were partners for now. And having someone that could stop him so thoroughly was a benefit—not wanting to imagine the annoyance she could cause himself later on.
Flicking the dagger in the air again, Norbert caught it, waiting for the night to end and the day to begin, a new day to come and new changes awaiting them.
***
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Once more, sitting on the ledge, Norbert waited for Hyeon to fall asleep. The day was spent exploring the caves underneath and around it, drawing what he could of the spell formations inside, knowing he wasn’t doing an excellent job but trying his best anyway.
Trying combinations of items, positions and dunking themselves in liquids at the same time only allowed Norbert to stray near the lava, and only for a short time. After one use, the positions wear off, and the equipment burns out. That didn’t include all the lava there.
He was annoyed at the task Tashen had given him, not wanting to see what would happen if he failed, no clause of such was instilled and shivering at the thought of having a tattoo and being locked away in this volcano for who knows how long and possibly never seeing Obsius again. Norbert shook his head at the thought.
Waiting for the time to go and for the night to lengthen, Norbert slowly unsheathed his sword, making sure not to make a sound as it came out. Rolling up Hyeon’s sleeve Norbert slowly moved it away from her body. Resting it up in the air, Norbert brought the sword up before slashing down with all his might.
As the blade sliced through, not a sound came out of Hyeon. Norbert instinctively covered her mouth. He just stared as she looked back at him, only a handful of tears going down her face. Getting a bandage, he quickly tightened around the arm, just where the elbow was, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.
Taking out a healing potion, Norbert brought it to her lips, and Hyeon gulped it down as quickly as possible. Norbert looked around, knowing he was on a time limit until something terrible happened. There was no way someone like Tashen, from what Hyeon had told him, wouldn’t have contingencies.
Placing his backpack on the front, Norbert put on Hyeon’s own, being careful of the arm. He placed her on his back, knowing that speed would be crucial and wanting to stop it as quickly as possible; having Hyeon running around wouldn’t help.
Walking down the stairs, Norbert took the arm with him, holding it in his hands as he went, wanting to dispose of it somewhere it couldn’t get tracked back to them, knowing there must have been some compulsion or something like that. And it wouldn’t help with re-attaching as by then it would be days and start to smell anyway.
Dropping both of his keys off, Norbert left a handful of silver coins on the front desk, Norbert knowing that Krrrasna would know it was from him. Nodding as he left, Norbert hoped he wouldn’t get in trouble for housing runaways.
As Norbert hit the street, he looked around, seeing people stare at him at what he was doing. Knowing he looked suspicious, Norbert tore down the street, getting away from the ravine and into the poorer section of the city.
Rushing out of the city, Norbert hit the fields; at this time, nobody was around them now; cutting to the left, Norbert headed in the direction the pay drop should be, hoping someone had left him some items.
Running up the crater hill, Norbert slid down the other side, slowing down as he looked around, trying to find the two trees leaning together with the mark on them. Changing his vision the world became greys in the dark, the moon coming and going behind the clouds as he silently crept around.
Ears perched, Norbert pushed a bit of energy into them and his sight, not wanting to miss anything, being sight or sound. Quietly walking through the scrub, Norbert backed over and re-traced it. After walking around the area three times over he spotted it, the mark on it.
Leaning forward Norbert saw the ground disturbed here, starting to dig Norbert kept on going, stopping when he found a backpack. Opening it up, Norbert found a note inside, wrapped up and protected. Taking his glove off, Norbert forced energy into his palm, reading off the purple light.
“We made it out. Heading back to the gate. Go over the mountain. Compass for directions” Was what Norbert could read of the message, a start and an end that he couldn’t read. Moving further in the bag, Norbert felt a small metal object. Feeling the buttons on the side, Norbert brought his hand over it; clicking them, Norbert saw only the first one changed directions, the other one would stay fixed wherever he pointed it.
Clicking the first one, hoping it was pointing at the expedition Norbert saw it was in the direction of the mountains, pointing a bit to the right of the train track on his left. Probably having taken the train all the way to the mountain Norbert assumed they went off before hand, either finding a passage through or over the mountain range.
Holding it in his hand Norbert put the glove back on, covering the hole again as he took the bag that the letter came in. Staring at the moon, Norbert was happy that nothing had gone wrong with their escape. Running in the night, Norbert was happy that he had his sleep before departing, not wanting to stop until they were on the other side of the mountain range, remembering what happened last time he took it slow.
***
Tashen stared at the symbol, no longer shining light. Smiling to herself, she continued with her paperwork. Happy that the human was finally out of her hands. Now it wasn’t her fault when the king came to collect her. The woman having quite deftly slipped through her clutches.
Taking a sip of tea, she looked at the rest of her paperwork, now this entire fiasco having wrapped itself up quite nicely. The only thing that could stop it was Arzlan. But he would be distracted by the tournament coming up soon. Now, how many more people would she need?