Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

A good time later, Gerald came back out of Madam Daisy's Funhouse and his face was beaming with health.

It was like he became years younger in a single day. He stretched his back lazily and took a deep breath through his nose.

"Aaah~ That's what I needed," he exhaled and then flipped out his new pocket watch. "Almost two hours? Wow, who knew Swiftness Potions could be used in this way as well. Next time I should demand more compensation at the Golden Pouch. Hehe…"

A satisfying smile hung on his face, "Perhaps I should rename them to Energy Potions, or maybe Stamina Potions? Too bad they only work for ten minutes on me…"

During his fun time inside, Gerald tested the effectiveness of the Swiftness Potion and to his surprise, his vitality recovered almost instantly, allowing him to play with the two ladies for almost two hours straight!

It was a shame he had to stop after starting to feel sick from drinking so many potions.

"I hope those two will be alright after all that..."

Just as he was mulling over his new plans, Sera came walking by on the road. She did not notice him, so Gerald waved at her, "Hey Sera, over here!"

"Oh hey…" she replied, but the rest of the words remained stuck in her throat. Her pretty and happy face morphed into an angry one. Seeing him standing at the entrance of Madam Daisy's Funhouse gave her a weird sensation in her stomach and a hint of jealousy was born in her heart.

"What's wrong?" Gerald noticed the sudden change, which surprised him quite a lot.

"Hmph!" Sera turned around and stormed off without giving him a second glance.

Gerald lifted his eyebrow in a questioning manner and rubbed the side of his nose. "Did I miss something?" He turned around to look back at the building he had just come out of. "Hmm, is she angry because of this? But we aren't even a couple?"

***

The way back was awkwardly silent. Gerald tried to start a conversation a few times, but Sera did not respond and pretended like he wasn't even there.

Seeing that there was no reaction, he eventually decided to give up and just walk. A long silence was nothing new for him.

Before leaving Auralba, he met up with members of the Silver Phantom, but they were still waiting for Gelen who happened to be having some stomach problems.

Derrick didn't want his team to be a burden, so he told Gerald to go ahead and that they would catch up with them soon enough.

And so they went. The road back led almost straight to Geldern. It was quite a bit shorter, but also not suitable for vehicles. It was a dirt path across the hilly area, just enough for two people to walk side by side.

Without the donkeys slowing them down, they were able to travel much faster, going at a light jogging pace. The whole travel would come to just over ten hours, almost three times faster than the alternative.

Gerald had to drink at least one Swiftness Potion each hour and cast a healing spell to be able to keep up the pace. Sera did not seem to be having the same problem, though.

After a while, Gerald spoke once again, "Hey, Sera…"

There was no response.

"Sera!" Gerald called again, but she still just ran in front of him, ignoring his calls.

Finally, he wasn't able to hold back and grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her.

"Leave me alone, I'm not talking to you!" She tried to shake off his hand.

'Oh for god's sake, girl! Why do you have to be so difficult? I didn't even do anything...'

Gerald rolled his eyes and then grabbed her with the other hand as well, "Stop squirming around and just listen!"

She stopped resisting, but she still wore an angry expression on her face. She turned around and loudly asked, "What?"

"I'm telling you to listen…" Gerald turned around and surveyed their surroundings. "What do you hear?"

"Hm?" She similarly looked around and listened intently to the sounds around them. There was only one problem; there were no sounds. It was deathly quiet.

"I don't hear anything," she answered after a while.

Gerald leaned closer and whispered, "Exactly, that's the point! It's too quiet! Something is wrong, I can feel it…"

They were currently on a rocky part of a hill. A few dozen meters away was the start of a dense forest, but there were no sounds of birds or insects. Even the wind was barely blowing, making the place seem quite eerie.

"What do you think it is?" Sera whispered back.

"You tell me, isn't that your area of expertise?"

Sera pushed him away and grumbled, "Fine, fine. I'll see what I can find." She went to check out the soil, maybe there were some clues.

But soon Gerald noticed that something was wrong as Sera wasn't moving. He ran to her, just to see her petrified, with fear across her face as she was looking at the floor and letting out barely audible words.

"No… Please… This- This can't be happening…"