The Path of Heroes - A Journey Around the World (English Version)

Louise Flyer: The Price of Pride - Part 9

She ran. Although she wasn't used to exerting herself that way, she used her little legs to run as fast as she could. Cold winds invaded her airways and she felt something crack inside her throat. The trees swayed strongly and the leaves fell in piles.

"Urf... urf," she gasped.

Suddenly she stopped. She couldn't take it anymore - she had been running for almost ten minutes. Her legs ached, her lungs burned, and her mind was a mess. She asked herself several times why she was doing this, but the answer was always the same: because she needed to, it was what had to be done. Innocent children were in danger, she had heard their screams...

"But... urf... why did only one of them scream? If both of them disappeared, why did I only hear one scream?" she wondered as she caught her breath.

But it was true, besides hearing only one scream, she hadn't heard anything else since she passed the barrier. So, as usual, she tried to organize the information in her mind. While her body rested, her mind worked.

Options that could have happened according to Louise:

1st Only one screamed after her sister was attacked. Shortly thereafter, something also happened to her, preventing her from screaming again.

2nd One of them was hurt, in some way, severely. Thus, she screamed in pain.

3rd They both separated for some reason, and then, after showing some danger, she screamed with the intention of calling the other.

Louise knew that these were the main things that could have happened, but it also frightened her. The options were the worst of the worst, always ending in tragedy. Of course, she was confident in the face of situations. And, on top of everything, she didn't even know if she would find them or not. All she had was a distant scream she had heard a few minutes ago.

Her confidence and determination were slowly evaporating. It was as if they were leaving her body along with the air. They were still important... But...

"But, if they still haven't shown up..."

Hope had nowhere to go, and her lack of conviction was still visible in her mind. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to take the first step. Where did she have to go? And what if she had been going the wrong way from the beginning? The worst of the questions that wandered through her mind at that moment was that there were no answers to any of them. Or rather, Louise couldn't come to a conclusion. She had no clues. At first, she tried to look for footprints, but found nothing. The pain that had been corroding her heart moments before seemed to have come back even stronger - she hated that feeling. What Louise hated most in the world was being unable to do something.

She clenched her fragile fists until they turned white. Something watery was contained in her eyes, and her teeth were grinding. She was frustrated. She couldn't save anyone. She didn't know what to do, and there wasn't much confidence left inside her. She thought about going back, but... she didn't want to. She still had to come to a conclusion.

She looked at her own hands as if she was looking at herself, the same hands that were unable to do anything - Louise was unable to do anything. There was nothing she could do. It was useless...

But then:

"Ahem?"

Something shiny appeared in front of them, from those thin and delicate hands. It was shining, like a bluish star. A small, shiny ball was in front of her lonely hands as if it was warming them and saying "it's alright". For some reason, she felt something like happiness emanating from it. As if it was warming her heart and elevating her motivation.