Vivienne stopped as she pointed ahead of them. Norbert squinted his eyes as he looked at what she wanted to show him. He scanned the horizon and slowly came closer. Only noticing the sandy dunes coming one after the other, he looked about again, finally spotting what Vivienne was indicating to him.

Out in the middle of nowhere, with dunes all around, Norbert could only see the dried wooden roof of what he assumed was a shack. Turning to Vivienne, he pointed at it, receiving a nod that it was what they were after.

Walking forward, the two of them crested the last dune as Norbert looked down at the shack, its white roof sun-bleached, and no smoke coming out of the little hole Norbert assumed would be the chimney.

Vivienne slid down the dune, wading her way through the sand, and walked towards the front door. Norbert came in behind her, looking around. There were only two wooden chairs and a table in the centre, and nobody was to be seen in the single room.

Looking up at the ceiling where the hole was, Norbert saw a stone slab on the ground, splotches of black scattered around it. Several pieces of wood remained, having missed being used up for the fire.

Taking a glove off his hand, Norbert held it over the stone slab, the heat not radiating to his hand. Touching the slab itself, the same temperature was present. Whoever had used the fire was long gone by now.

Standing back up, Norbert changed his vision to magic and saw absolutely nothing there. Surprised that no rune was being picked up by his vision, he thought something like this random hut out in the middle of nowhere would have something hidden.

Slowly turning around, looking, and unable to see even a kitchen, Norbert saw no taps there that could be used for a rune as well. Not knowing if something could have been there, he purposefully wiped it away.

Turning to Vivienne, Norbert asked the woman "Is this all you were looking for?" as he scanned the area, making sure that nothing was missed in the little shack. Not seeing within it some item that can help anyone out with anything.

Vivienne shook her head. "There is supposed to be something else here." She said to herself as she started stomping around on the floor.

With each step, Norbert felt the floors vibrate, hearing the area underneath the floorboards echo back to him despite the fact that there was nothing there.

Norbert continued to watch Vivienne prowl around for a moment before taking a chair out from under the table and sitting down in it. Placing both feet on the table, Norbert leaned back on the chair as he rocked back and forth, seeing how far backward he could go before he needed to lean forward again.

Seeing his arms exposed, the clothes torn there, Norbert looked over the other parts of his body. Seeing his white, pale skin underneath exposed, Norbert stared at a patch near his elbow, trying to remember what it looked like before.

Squinting while trying to puzzle it out, Norbert asked Vivienne, "As my skin darker before?" Norbert asked, poking it down with a finger; when he released it, the skin not turning lighter, his tan seemingly stripped away from him.

Vivienne looked up for a moment, talking to herself again. Norbert only grasped the word "theory" before she continued stomping around the room. Shaking his head in annoyance at Vivienne not responding to him, leaning back too far, Norbert could not save himself as he fell backwards, crashing into the ground.

THUMP

The sound dissipated into the ground as Norbert fell, surprised that the chair hadn't snapped with the tumble. Looking down at the floorboards as he rolled over, there were no marks there as well. Norbert saw Vivienne staring at him, the woman looking back as she looked at the floor where the chair was still resting.

Coming towards Norbert, she lifted the chair as she stomped on the floorboards again, making the same hollow sound as everywhere else. Frowning down at it, Norbert watched as she jumped up and down several times, the same sound ringing.

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Turning to Norbert, she pointed to where he was standing. Sighing, Norbert went and stomped down on the ground, putting some energy into the blow to have the same impact as Vivienne could with her jump.

Norbert heard the thud of something underneath it again, and he felt with his hands and clawed with his fingernails on the edge of the boards to see if there was anything to pull up.

CREEEAAAAK

Norbert pulled one of the floorboards up, the nails used to hold it down protesting until finally releasing from its hold. Norbert turned the timber floorboard around, seeing it filled with runes hidden before.

Norbert changed his vision again, seeing it filled up with light generated from magic runes all around him. He is now starting to doubt his power to see magic, not realising that people would have intervened to obscure it. Now, it is seemingly apparent that there would be ways to stop it from being so visible. How could anyone be tracked appropriately otherwise?

While Norbert was examining the piece of wood, Vivienne swooped in, took the piece of parchment, rolled it up, and read it.

Norbert turned to her and saw the broken wax seal, unable to read it as he wasn't behind her. He watched as Vivienne's eyes grew wider and wider, finally distraught. Gazing towards Norbert and seeing him staring at her, the woman quickly hid her emotions, her face deadpan again.

Rolling the scroll back up, she waved her hand over the seal. Norbert saw the red wax become a hole again, unable to see that it had ever been opened in the first place. She shoved it back into the safety box that Norbert had found, grabbed the piece of wood from Norbert, and slammed it back into the ground.

Calling the snakes out from her hand, Norbert watched as they hammered the nails back in again. She went over the four nails required, wiping her hand over it, happy with it, as she stood up and left the cabin. Norbert leaning down, wiping his own hand, did not feel a seem at all there.

Looking around the room, he couldn't see anything with his magic vision still on. With the board secured again, whatever made the shack seem mundane returned.

Changing to normal vision, Norbert looked around the cabin, everything returning to how it was before as he followed Vivienne. Closing the door behind him, the woman was already halfway up the dune.

Pushing energy around him, Norbert leapt up in three steps, catching up with Vivienne. He went past her as he reached the top of the dune, turning around to look down at Vivienne and the shack underneath him. Smiling and giving a wave, Norbert waited for her to reach him at the top.

"Took your time," Norbert said as he turned to where he believed the stadium would be. Vivienne put her hood over her head, and out of the corner of his eye, Norbert saw her golden hair eaten away and covered up.

"Need a lift?" Norbert asked her.

Vivienne turned to Norbert, opening her mouth for a moment before closing it again, mulling it over in her mind and mouth before spitting out her thoughts. "It will be more efficient that way. So, how does this normally work?" she asked him.

Norbert, making sure his sword wasn't in the way, turned his back to Vivienne as he knelt slightly. The woman jumped onto him as Norbert stood up, waiting for Vivienne to get into place and hold on properly.

Receiving a tap on the shoulder, Norbert asked aloud, "Which way to the Colosseum?" Only a finger is pointing out slightly towards Norbert's left. Changing it so it was straight ahead, Norbert leaned down, sending the energy running through his body as he felt it build within him. Leaping forward, Norbert fell down the dune as he ran, his feet not sinking into the sand as before he knew it, he was coming back up the other side.

Vivienne dug even harder into him as he came back up it, shooting forward and into the air. Norbert looked around the landscape, unable to see the stadium or the city in their direction. He was scanning forward, not seeing anyone walking either to the shack or anything else on this side of the desert.

As Norbert continued to run, getting dune and dune behind him, feeling something else within his body start to spin up, something else adding fuel to the fire as Norbert realised he was able to push himself even further, each leap getting a bit more distance than the one previously.

A sharp pain coming from his shoulder, slowing down as he looked towards where the pain was sprouting from Norbert saw two snakes biting into his flesh, making their way into his body, rapping around his bones and tying the witch to Norbert.

***

Looking up, able to see the stadium in the distance, the city just sprawling out over it, Norbert crossed the dunes by going from one to the next, not needing to run down them, each step sending sprays of sand behind him, feeling Vivienne patting on his shoulder where she clamped down, Norbert feeling her pat him again.

Slowing his run down, Norbert fell as he crashed into the dune in front of him, going knee-deep into the dune as he pulled himself up.

Turning his head around to look at Vivienne, he asked, "What's up?" She pointed behind him as she crawled off his body and saw a hole in the dune where Norbert had last used it. He walked up the dune he was on; he saw a trail of ands cresting the top. Semicircles punched out of the top, leading in a straight line to where Norbert's further shack was sitting.

Turning to Vivienne, already waking behind him, Norbert was just quiet, the sun starting to come up over the horizon, looking down at himself and his clothes, hoping he would have enough time to swap them out before going to the colosseum.