Eirin gasped.
Tears welled in her eyes and sweat dripped out of her temples. Her heart thumped so loud she could hear it in both ears. The bloody appearance of Ava terrified her, but what were her last words all about?
The teenage girl looked around, afraid to have disturbed her roommate's sleep. She heaved a sigh upon seeing Coleen still in a deep sleep.
'Everything's fine. It wasn't real… Ava did not look like that,' she told herself as she pulled her blanket and curled her body, trying to warm herself more.
Despite the continuous attempts to fall asleep, Eirin's mind was wide awake, and every time she closed her eyes, it was not the mercenary man she saw anymore, but Ava's face.
'This is not good,' she thought to herself as she removed the blanket and stared at the space for a while until she decided to go out and get some fresh air. She tied her messy brown hair into a ponytail before sneaking out of the tent.
Eirin heaved a sigh as she looked up. The clouds filled the night sky, covering the moon, and causing darkness to swallow the whole campsite. Despite that, Eirin felt at ease. The dark never scared her; what scared her was what might be hiding in the darkness.
Eirin rubbed her palms as she walked towards the huge rock near the fire woods they collected earlier. Her almond-round eyes surveyed the whole place, causing her to take notice of someone leaning on the tree near the rock.
Eirin jolted, hearing a man scoff, and immediately clutched her chest, staring at him with wide eyes. On realization of who it was, a frown formed on Eirin's face.
"Why are you awake?" Eirin decided to start a conversation with the young man.
"Are you stupid?"
The teenage girl's mouth went agape. "W-Wha—what's wrong with you? Why are you always picking a fight with me?" She soon saw the man rolling his eyes.
"You should start thinking before asking obvious questions, idiot."
Eirin exhaled. She could not utter any words back. It's unbelievable to her how awfully rude the man was. Silence enveloped them until she finally found the courage to speak.
"Why do you have to talk like that? Didn't you learn not to be rude when you were younger? Did your mom didn't teach you that?"
Shade flinched and glared at the teenage girl. Realizing her words, Eirin gulped nervously. However, the young man did not respond and closed his eyes. This caused Eirin to bite her lower lip while the guilt swallowed her whole. Shade's upbringing is a taboo topic, and she just said it with little thought.
"I—"
Eirin swallowed a lump, but she could not speak another word, afraid of making the situation worse. Instead, she walked deeper into the woods, trying to think of ways to apologize to the man. Seeing her walk away made the young man stand.
"Hey, Luxfield."
Eirin turned around. "What do you want, Cromwell?" She knew she didn't have the luxury to act like that, but she got used to Shade's arrogant tone that she had an automatic response.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The teenage girl sighed. "What? Do you want to accompany me while I pee?"
Shade's face turned red as a cherry, causing Eirin to blink thousands of times. "The hell? That's disgusting." He hid his face with the back of his hand.
'That caught me off guard,' Eirin thought as she retorted, "You're more disgusting."
Their bickering ended after Shade turned his back on the girl and walked away. Eirin shook her head as she struggled to find her way. The darkness caused her to be wary of her surroundings, and as she walked back to the camp, something rustled in the bushes near her.
"Hey, Cromwell!"
Eirin could not see a thing in the dark, thus deciding to rush back to the camp after not hearing a response from the young man. The soft voice of a man produced an eerie feeling and then forced Eirin to hurry. She ran back to the camp and arrived huffing for air.
"What? Did taking a shit make you feel tired?"
Breathing heavily, the teenage girl glared at the man.
"Could you—stop spouting vulgar words like that?"
Eirin sat on the ground while looking around. "It feels like eyes are watching us here. It gives me the creeps," she said while hugging herself.
The young man did not respond and only averted his gaze. He did not bother asking what happened to Eirin. However, because of the odd feeling, Eirin could not fall asleep anymore and stayed outside the tent with Shade.
"I'll keep watch. You should get some sleep," Eirin said, yawning.
Shade scoffed. "I don't want to die yet."
Eirin bit her pinkish lower lip and said, "What? As if I'm going to sneak into your tent and kill you?"
"Even if you sneak into my tent, you wouldn't be able to kill me. I might let you do other things, though."
"Ew? What the hell are you saying?"
"What were you thinking?" Shade scoffed. "Stop being delusional and just leave me alone, would you?"
The two kept bickering until the sun finally came out.
"Huh? You two are early. What were you guys doing?" Coleen got out of the tent while rubbing her eyes. Her long purple hair was in a mess, and her eyes were still half-open.
"Nothing! It was nothing. We should probably prepare breakfast now," Eirin changed the topic as she held onto Coleen's shoulders.
As they ate their breakfast, the tension in the air and the awkward silence kept Eirin on guard. It became hard for her to even swallow, to create the slightest sound.
"Now that we have finished eating, we need to discuss our investigation of the village's situation to bring Phoenix home with us," Link said.
Shade clicked his tongue, garnering all the attention on him.
"Since the Queen made me lead this group, I have decided that Coco and I would go together, while Eirin and Shade should search together."
Hearing that immediately made the two stare at each other.
"You want me to carry baggage?"
Eirin kicked him in the shin, causing Shade to kneel on his left leg in front of her.
"That's right. Give respect to the lady in front of you."
Coleen's eyes went wide, while Link suppressed his laughter at seeing how Shade controlled his anger. The young man glared at the teenage girl with his balled fists.
"You little shit."
The two bared their fangs at each other while Link shook his head. "Just try not to kill one another, okay? Be discreet, we cannot let the village chief learn about our presence."
Despite the complaints, Eirin and Shade went back to the village together. Shade bore no interest in the village at all, knowing that the answer lay in the prison-like chamber where he met his former master. They walked tirelessly as if wasting time.
"Hey, take this seriously, will you?"
Shade rolled his eyes, thus causing Eirin to keep kicking him on his shin, which led to Shade losing his temper and pulling a punch to the teenage girl, which Eirin immediately dodged.
Eirin then felt shivers down her spine. Noise surrounded the supposedly quiet village, despite the lack of other humans. She pulled the young man's cuff and leaned closer to his ear.
"Aren't those men the same as those yesterday?"
Eirin stared at the men walking on the other side of the empty street, who did not pay them any mind. Her hand still holding onto Shade's shirt and her eyes widened.
"Isn't that Link's tie?"
Shade, who cannot take his eyes off Eirin's lips, followed where she was pointing her finger. He raised an eyebrow as his sight landed on the man. After not hearing him say something, Eirin looked at Shade's face.
"Go back to the camp."
Without any explanation, Shade pulled his arm away and left after that. Despite Eirin's plea for any sort of explanation, Shade ignored her and left. Knowing that she could be in grave danger alone, Eirin walked back to the woods, where they set their camp. However, something continuously bothered her.
'What was that all about?' Eirin shook her head.
A strong, vile wind coming from behind seeped through Eirin's body, causing her eyes to go wide as she turned around. She rushed behind the bushes upon hearing commotion near their camp.
"That girl couldn't have gone far. Find her!"
Eirin's forehead creased while she covered her mouth and stopped breathing. The fading footsteps didn't cause the teenage girl to lower her guard; she peeked to see if anyone remained near the camp.
Her hands trembled as she sauntered to the center of the camp. Eirin bit her lower lip while tiptoeing her way. All their belongings were out of their bags, and the firewood they collected was all destroyed into pieces as if someone deliberately searched for something there.
"Here you are, little girl."
Eirin gasped after instinctively dodging an attack from behind. She backed away after seeing the same men who were holding what seemed to be Link's necktie. Their eyes were out of focus, and they were drooling as if wild animals were eyeing their prey.
"You should come with us if you do not wish your male friend to get hurt."
There was no way Shade Cromwell could get caught by these people in that short amount of time. That only means they got Link.
The men sauntered towards Eirin, but the huge rock floated in the air and landed in the space between them. Loud footsteps caught Eirin's attention, and all eyes went to the person running behind.
Eirin's eyes followed Coleen, and the moment she realized that everyone was looking at her, she screamed.
"Keep running!"