Chương 34: The Girl in the Fog (2)
Revelations were peculiar. Prior times they lasted for a scant few seconds, flashes of scenes and warnings, and at other times, longer.
Noah did not know how long this particular revelation would last, but time flows differently. What he experiences here may only be a fleeting moment in reality.
Even so, what was short for him, may as well have been an eternity for others.
The town of Amaranth, surrounded in black fog where a masked and older version of Leah dwelt, was a possible future that revelation had thrust Noah into. As it wasn't merely from the perspective of a watcher, but as a participant, there was likely something Noah had to accomplish here before he could return.
What that would be, pertained to something he could change in the present. The nature of this 'gift' of revelation felt more like a trial, a punishment. For more often than not, they revealed the consequences of choices Noah would have made without adequate foreknowledge.
Not healing the Duke of Everbright, running away, Noah had seen the subsequent events.
It was as if the Lord was both mocking him and giving him a chance.
But here?
Noah shook his head, and stared quietly as he watched the masked Leah rouse from crying herself to sleep.
She appeared disoriented, unable to process her surroundings as she shook her head and then sat up into a seated position. It was as if she'd been waking from a dream, and then she froze when she made eye contact with Noah.
He was still there.
Noah refrained from reaching out hastily to the masked Leah, recalling the first time.
"Morning," he said softly.
"..." The masked Leah swallowed audibly and then turned her gaze away, unable to face Noah directly. However, she kept shooting him glances, unable to stop herself even if she wanted to.
Evidently, she was in a more rational state than before.
Good, hopefully she would listen even if she was short on response.
"That mask doesn't suit you," Noah muttered dryly while staring absently at the masked Leah. "...it must have been hard."
The masked Leah pursed her lips, the action noticeable through the crack on the mask Leah wore, revealing she'd tried to remove it numerous times before.
"You don't have to say anything. I know," Noah admitted, recalling the information he had on the witch of the slums, Margaret.
A former War Wizard on the front lines against the black fog and its denizens, she employed a controversial magic that enabled her to break free from the Royal Family's strict control of War Wizards.
Morality wasn't a word one would associate with Margaret.
Those masks…
"It wasn't your fault." Noah said to comfort, but the masked Leah started trembling instead, hands cradling her head.
"I-I killed John," Leah began scratching at her wrists, her tone breaking into a warble. "H-He let me. C-Couldn't bring himself to attack this worthless excuse of a sister too scared to resist. Stupid. Stupid! Stupid! He came to rescue me!"
Noah opened then closed his mouth, seeing the madness clouding the masked Leah's eyes. The emotion, the despair, the grief, it was all there.
Leah had finally stopped referring to herself in third-person, but this wasn't how Noah had ever envisioned it.
"You did too!" The masked Leah stared in guilt at Noah. At this point, she didn't care if this was real or not. "You went berserk when John died and nearly killed the witch yourself- but, b-but, it was me. Y-You should have just killed me. You hesitated at the last moment, and got killed."
Left unsaid, but it was on that day that the masked Leah learned that she could control blood as well as water. The sheer despair had activated an instinctive defense mechanism that became the key to Leah's escape.
Staring at the masked Leah, Noah balled his hands into fists.
At some point, he understood something that the masked Leah wasn't purposely saying.
"Where is she?" Noah got straight to the point.
This older Leah would not be wearing that mask on her face if the witch was dead. The cracks and broken pieces hinted that Leah had likely escaped rather than defeated the witch.
The masked Leah refused to answer.
Noah closed his eyes, and when he opened them next, the fury in his expression could not be hidden.
His current intention could not have been any more obvious.
The masked Leah froze as Noah got up and moved towards the exit of the old bakery hideout.
"N-Noah?" She sounded terrified while calling out to him.
He continued on.
Noah would not force this older Leah to confront the object of her fear.
What older brother would do that?
"NOAH WAIT! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" The masked Leah bolted to her feet, chasing after the figment of her brother she knew was already dead.
But by then, Noah's figure had already vanished in the black fog.
The masked Leah began to hyperventilate.
Not again. Not again.
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