Chapter Text
Toran Republic, Rocktown
The woman with silver hair lifted one of the peaches to her nose. She sniffed—ah, this one was better than average.
Holding it in her off-hand, she reached down into the box once again, lifting up another one.
Hm, this one wasn’t as good. But it would do. She stuck it in the crook between her elbow and torso, and set down some copper coins on the counter of the stand, before continuing her walk along the dirt road.
“Have a good day, miss!” the stand-owner yelled.
The moment she stepped out of the shade, she was reminded of why she stopped in the first place, an immense heat washing over her as the wind carried stray particles of sand which occasionally brushed against her legs.
In some sense, the heat was comforting, and in another, it was oppressing. But she supposed that was what happened when it was summer and one was in a desert town.
But of course, she was here for a reason. And it wasn’t a simple whim, either, although that did have something to do with why she was in the area; no, the True Rune that she held on her left hand had told her the moment she had gotten near. A vampire had been in this area, and it was recent.
She hummed to herself as she walked along to the east, letting the rune guide her.
And so, Sierra Mikain continued on towards Mt. Seifu, eating peaches all the way.
***
Toran Republic, Mt. Seifu
The moment she took the first step up the mount, she felt something shift around her. It felt like a ward, but there was something missing from it. Or perhaps, it was just different. Still, she kept on hiking.
As she went up the mountain, more wards waving around her, with similar composition. The further up she got, the more familiar they got, and the component originally missing slowly returned.
She muttered to herself, “I see. The runic component is missing, substituted with something else.”
It probably came from that place. She’d have to be careful, even if she didn’t think she could turn into a fish.
Something caught her eye, as she went further up. The entrance to a cave, large enough for an adult human to enter. It was probably where her quarry had set up shop, if she had to guess.
As she hiked her way up there, she got a better look at the inside. It seemed to be a tunnel for a while, though light danced off of the walls inside that seemed indicative of lighting from the interior of the cave.
She stepped into the tunnel, and her suspicions were confirmed. There was no doubt about it; there was light coming from inside, and it was certainly artificial.
She began to walk down, when she felt something on the edge of her senses. Instinctively, her right arm thrust behind her, grabbing onto something silken, before wrenching it in front of her.
The thing she had pulled in front of her appeared to be a man of some royal import, judging by his clothes, and quite old as well. In fact, he seemed almost familiar.
...Ah, that was it.
It took her a bit to recognize the face. It wasn’t one she’d seen in person, after all--only in portraits. They were an emperor, weren’t they?
To anyone else, it would seem as though he was alive, albeit withering away and deeply tired. However, to her eyes, it was as clear as day that the man had since become a sort of zombie.
Crushing his throat in an instant, she descended deeper into the cave.
She didn’t need to go far, before it expanded out into a large room—it was rather clearly lived in, a large table in the middle, a bed, and some pots pressed against the wall, but her musings would have to wait, as both her quarry and an unexpected face were there, and the former was turning towards her.
She sent a spike of power into the rune on her right hand, and in a flash, a massive sphere of darkness enveloped the two in front of her.
From the look she got at the vampire, it wasn’t one she had turned personally. It was expected, as most of those had long since died. The other person, she was far more familiar with, though not in any good capacity.
The “unexpected face” was the woman Windy, the bearer of the Front Gate Rune. She wasn’t going to take any chances against her, if possible.
She dashed forward, toward where she knew the vampire still was. They were who she was after, and if she could kill them, she could leave Windy to others. It wasn’t her business.
The moment the sphere of darkness cleared, it was clear she had knocked them off-balance. They were both visibly injured; good, this wouldn’t take too long.
The man's eyes widened, as he deflected the first of her strikes, yelling at Windy, “Do it!”
Sierra’s left hand flew up from her side, clipping his jaw, a flash of electricity flowing through their body. Her other arm sliced downward, taking advantage of the momentary shock, however, the man brought one of their arms up to blunt the blow.
He pushed her right arm out of the way, going for her shoulder. He managed a glancing blow, before jumping back to get some distance—landing right next to Windy.
Sierra leapt at him, but the moment she left the ground, the room filled with the brilliance of the Front Gate Rune.
***
???, Some Town
Her swipe went through empty air, as she landed.
She spun around on her heel, taking a look at where she was.
It appeared as though she had been transported into an alleyway. A light sheet of snow covered the stone path and tops of buildings. She supposed she should have expected this to happen.
Remaining on guard, she walked out of the alleyway, and was met with the sight of many humans walking about what appeared to be a town square. Well, that definitely confirmed that she wasn’t in the World of Emptiness.
…The words being bandied about among the various people that were walking along seemed somewhat similar to a language she’d heard before. Couldn’t put her finger on it, but it didn’t bother her that much.
Though, it definitely wasn’t one-to-one. She overheard someone complaining about “potatoes too much money”.
Hm, she was starting to get some odd looks. How rude of them.
That wasn’t important, though, at the moment. What was important was—
[ ] –finding a place to sleep, firstly. She couldn’t sense that vampire anymore.
[ ] –figuring out what else it was that just appeared on her radar. This city reeked of the undead, from what she was getting.
[ ] –investigating where exactly she had wound up. It had to be somewhere either to the far north or far south. Maybe one of the Island Nations.