2 - Fate's Pull

            The magus did not stay asleep for long quickly waking up not even an hour after her nap. As drowsy as she felt, she instantly tensed up as her hands grabbed hold onto a thick fur blanket that was not supposed to be there. She looks around and notices a girl tending to a small burner between the two of them. The girl looked the same age as her, but she gave out a very soft aura as she stared at the magus fondly. The girl wore a simple white dress with a deep black robe over it.

            ‘Good evening’, the magus greeted not quite sure on what else to do.

            The girl took a second to respond as she seemingly hesitates to reply before giving out a faint chuckle.

            ‘Good evening to you as well’, she replied; adding absolutely nothing to the conversation. Though she did not mind too much the awkwardness, unlike someone else.

‘…thank you for taking care of me.’, the magus spoke awkwardly trying her best to not make the air so stale contrary to what the stranger was doing. For now, she observed the girl as they spoke about nothing while the stranger’s gaze intensified more and more.

I swear she’s doing this on purpose. What is she wearing, even? Or better yet what is she doing here? Is she a runaway princess, a rebellious daughter?

The magus had many questions in mind but did not voice out a single one of them.

‘I was able to witness your bout with the chimera’ the girl spoke seemingly out of nowhere. 'I highly commend you for that.’, she congratulated her sincerely giving out a short applause to the magus.

‘A chimera? Is that not a wyvern?’, was what she wanted to say but only did so in her head for she had more oppressing matters to worry about. For one, she was glad to find the satchel still on her lap underneath the blanket. The worries of the girl being a thief was now washed away not that thief would lazily wait around for the owner to wake up. Though she had her concerns, she felt no danger from the stranger and so guarded she might want to seem, she was quite lax.

 Now she realizes other than the burn marks on her clothes; her entire body was left entirely unscathed not a single blemish or mark that she could find. She could smell a faint sweet aroma coming from her skin and quickly realizes another deed the stranger did.

Before she could give her sincerities, the girl asks her: ‘What plans do you have with this creature, miss magus?’

The magus was quickly taken aback from the brief mention of her job. ‘A-Ah. I’m not a magus. I’m a magician, so you don’t have to be court.’. She replies in a hurry as she realizes what implications the stranger might have had with that assumption.

‘I see. I see. I do apologize for the incorrect naming.’ The stranger takes a solemn bow but the magus irked back a bit as she felt the apology to be insincere for some reason.

It was easy to equate her identity to a magus for her attire and most definitely the display the other had witnessed was certainly leading to that as it was meant to be. Though the magus�"ironically enough�" did not utter a lie as she definitely wasn’t a magus but more so someone pretending to be one.

While a magus and a magician were both wielders of the arcane, magus is a term specifically for members of a widespread cult whose beliefs consist of obtaining power through unethical ways. Many are quick to arrive at assumptions towards magi, and one couldn’t blame them as their loud and public ideals have made them a heavily refuted group with some cities outright criminalization of it.

 ‘But about the wyv-… chimera you were talking about’, she says trying to steer the conversation away ‘I’m not really sure what to do with it. Would it be that bad of an idea to leave it as is?’

The only reason she had hunted it down was due to it being a tamed beast of the Magus Marin. It was the magus whose robes she now wears. Not really sure on what to say or do, she asks the girl instead.

‘If it wasn’t to hunt it for materials, I do wonder for what reason you have for putting it down’, the stranger returns the question with another one with the same innocent tone she had. While the magus was caught in a fumble in what excuse to give.

‘I merely stumbled into it.’, she gives a short excuse trying to make it sound as less of a lie as possible. ‘Is that so’, the stranger simply replied as it would seem that she saw right through. Though it mattered not at all to her as she was only trying to make conversation; no more no less

‘Then would it not be a hassle if I purchased it from you?’, the girl proposed as she gave out a slight giggle.

‘If that’s alright for you’, the magus looks at the corpse to see it in tatters. Blood painted the corpse while it’s scales were all disfigured with its hide ripped all throughout. She highly doubts there would be a lot of eager buyers for it adding to the fact that it still had to be transported to the city.

‘Then, here’, the girl gives her a small purse as if seemingly on a whim. ‘this should be enough’

‘I-Isn’t this too much?’, the magus opens the purse just to immediately close it afterwards. She planned to give it back, but the girl merely waves her off as if it was of no consequence to her at all.

‘Thank you so much! I actually really needed that.’, she grits her teeth as she releases a quick sigh and pockets the purse. Though she had wanted to turn back the generosity, it did not mean that she did not need it for she actually needed it direly.

‘As for getting this back to the city…’, she says while looking a bit embarrassed, her concerns quickly arose along with the guilt she just had. ‘I really need to go somewhere quickly. So, I can make up a set of treants to have them carry it for you.’, she proposed, trying to make it even slightly more favorable to the buyer.

‘The gesture is enough, pay not too much heed to me. The transaction is already done.’, she spoke in a stern manner. Not allowing any form of follow-up from the magus while still retaining her gentle tone.

The magus was readying to part ways when she felt a small echo coarse through her body. She halts momentarily before another much stronger echo shook. She looks around the forest to see the trees rustling in a uniform. Before she could say anything, the stranger rushed beside her and quickly drags her into a bush.

She didn’t try to resist as for the first time in their entire meeting, there was a serious look in the stranger’s eyes.

‘Shhhh… Look closely’, the girl presses a finger on the magus’s lips as she carefully looks at a faraway location.

‘what is it?’, the magus mirrored the girl’s whisper, though not sure for the exact reason. ‘…A lost cherub.’, she answers her own question as she spots a child-like being floating through the forest. Her eyes glittered as she gasps in awe.

The cherub floated through the forest with much disarray. It’s bellowing cries was most likely what the echoes were from. The magus could feel herself getting dizzy from the constant vibrations, but she could not pass up such a rare sight. She wanted to run away, but her curiosity denied it and planned to run in the opposite direction.

‘Maybe we should help him? It’s quite dangerous here.’, she suggests, though it was merely an excuse to get close to it.

‘No, we mustn’t interfere’, the girl expectedly denies the suggestion.  ‘His master must be trying to find him this very second…’, she pauses a bit and grabs the magus by her arm quickly dragging her away again.

It wasn’t long until a single bolt of lightning struck in the middle of the forest for seemingly no reason at all. A light mist quickly spread through where it struck and the bellowing cries were no more. The magus looks back to see a hunched old lady waving at her from afar. Before she could wave back, she was quickly dragged off into the distance. She wasn’t entirely sure if she saw correctly, but she would definitely be reading up on this subject as soon as she gets the chance.

They ran non-stop for a while until eventually they were able to come across the rugged cobble road that was the pathway to the City of Alguru. Now away from the tall thick trees with the sun now rising, they could see the other much better.

‘Well… that was tiring though I must say though you still seem quite lively.’, the magus interjected as she worked to catch her breath while seeing the girl beside her unfazed by the sudden marathon they just had.

‘Mind it not too much, I’ve had my fair share of running far too many times to be fazed by just that.’, she said so in such a bragging but jovial manner, the magus couldn’t help but chuckle at the remark.

‘Now that trouble has been removed from sight, it should be about time to make myself known.’, the stranger declared all of a sudden. She spreads her arms around in an exaggerated way, fishing for some reaction from the magus.

…...

‘Ah….’, there was an awkward silence that permeated through the air much thicker than before. The magus looks at the girl in front of her and sense a tinge of unease; if she had planned the awkward exchange from before, this one was definitely different.

Is this some fad rich girls these days do?

The situation only got worse for every passing tick of time. The magus panics inwardly, cussing at her weak social skills for failing to pick up what was happening, though she somehow had the feeling that the other party was also at fault. Finally, she decides to go all in and carefully approaches the girl to give her a hug.

‘…Amy. My name is Amy.’, the stranger utters in a dead tone, not even bothering to hug back. She seems disappointed at how the magus responded to her gesture in more ways than one.

‘Mine’s Nova and is it fine if I let go now?’, she asked with a bit of nervousness in her tone. Amy quickly pushed her off as a response while looking at her with a deadpan face.

             ‘By any stretch of the imagination, have we met before?’, quick to become impatient, Amy forsakes any form of subtlety she wanted to have.

            Ah, so that was what that was about.

            ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I’ve ever met you before.’, Nova mutters weakly. She reviews her face and even after sifting through memory again and again, she could not remember anyone by the name nor face as the girl in front of her, only a slight headache arose the more she tried to think about it.

‘Though, you strangely do feel familiar…’, she trails off with a half-meant remark as a small consolation to the girl who was trying to hold back a disappointed look.

‘I-I see… there seems to be an error from my part’, Amy says. ‘I was supposed to meet a magus here today. Have you seen one as of late?’, a small smile formed on Amy’s lips as she scratches her head in this light-hearted confusion.

‘A magus, you say?’, Nova could feel herself swallowing a forming lump in her chest.  Though the atmosphere from their childish talk still hasn’t left, the fact of the matter is, the girl in front of her just said something very serious.

‘What business might you have with one?’, right now she found herself scanning Amy’s every word and gesture.

Is she talking about me in a roundabout way or does she really not know that I’m most likely who she’s looking for?

‘What business might I have with her? Worry not too much about it; for I myself am not too sure.’, she whispers the last part feeling a bit embarrassed about it.

‘I-Is that so?’, Nova responds not really knowing how to interpret it.

Another strange answer!

The irking silence dawned unto them once again. This time though, Nova was prepared with what to do next: she runs away.

‘Well… thank you for helping me back then, but I really need to go someplace else.’, she says in an apologetic tone.

‘Ah, of course. Then you best be going now.’, Amy spoke, still feeling giggly as she waves Nova goodbye.

Nova runs off in a hurry. Her mind too distracted on what matters she has yet to do, she has not yet completely processed what had just come to pass. A small flicker lit inside her mind that made unconsciously stop and look back. She turns to see Amy still calmly waving her off and after noticing Nova glance back she shouts: ‘If you ever remember everything, don’t forget to tell me about it!’

Confused by that and still being in a hurry, she shouts in response with nothing more than: ‘Ok, I will!’

Author's Note

Also rewrote this part. Is it decent? hahahaha. I hope it is.