Three Spheres

Chapter 105 - Wings

Johan runs through the houses in the middle of the night. He hears the quick footsteps and hurried voices of his pursuers. Another terrible night, without a moment of rest. He climbs walls and roofs of small houses in the agricultural town.

As much as he tries to hide in the shadows of the chimneys, the damned Knights of the Ecclesia always end up finding him. It isn't difficult, however, to understand the reason for this: An outlaw man over 6,5 feet tall, wearing a dark hood and a white mask. Impossible to be more suspicious. "Tsk... Bastards!", he thinks, jumping over a fence.

Moments before, he was approaching the meeting point with Keisha, but for some reason the security of the hotel where she, Fayola and Shina are staying was simply too high. He turned away when he noticed the large number of Paladins and Rangers at the door, armed as if waiting for him to arrive. Even so, one of them identified the shadow lurking and gave the signal to begin the search.

Moving in the dark is easy. Johan is agile and manages to sneak through the alleys, jumping and dodging the guards. However, he is already exhausted. This is the third day in a row he has had to run and hide. To make matters worse, he hates having to steal food from people, and the hunger, an unusual enemy, attacks him simultaneously... "How hypocritical", he thinks about himself, again crawling under a fence, "I feel bad for stealing... even though I've killed so many innocents... I'm the worst..."

_ Over there! He can't escape this time!

He hears someone. His heart feels like it will explode. Everything is confusing, but he still runs, trying to remember where he has been and where he should go.

As he passes a narrow alley, in front of a storage of firewood, a dark claw captures him by the face and drags him with it into the shadows...!

The aggressor hugs him around the waist with an extraordinary force and, with the other hand, covers his mouth. He shivers when a feminine giggle echoes in his ear. He breaks free then, pulling one of the daggers to...

_ Hi, Johan!!!!!! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

_ P...Penan...?

He recognizes the Midnight City Vampire, by her bright eyes and immense straight black hair. She smiles showing her fangs and embraces him in a tight hug. With a new whisper, she says, "I'll help you out...!"

When one of the guard's comes closer by, a woman at least 80 years old shouts:

_ A-Ah! Help!! Help!

The Knight asks what happened. The lady points to a shadow that moves into the distance:

_ T-That man attacked me!!

At the same moment the pursuer runs towards the target, blowing his whistle to call the others. The decrepit old woman then turns to the wreckage, transforms back into the jovial, smiling girl that is Penan, and says:

_ Everyone trusts human grammas, see?! In a little while my illusion will disappear and they will realize we tricked them heheh! (*ΦωΦ*) Let's get outta here!

They leave their improvised hideout and head to the outer basement of a virtually abandoned house. Once alone, Penan can't contain her joy and hugs the boy once more, feeling his coal arm. The two remain silent for a few seconds until Penan speaks:

_ Sorry for showing up out of a blue... I heard that you were arrested and that your Unit's... gone... _ She lowers her eyes _ I was worried, y'know. I was thinking, like: "This must be a mistake, the Johan I met was super nice and even saved me"... Why would you have saved me if you were an "evil guy"? So I decided to look for you! _ She pauses _ After my sister disappeared and all that happened in Midnight City, I left my post and... I'm just kind of wandering. That's why I came to help...