The Immortal Façade

2.Run.

The suffocating darkness of the Gate lasted only a second before disappearing, along with the magic holding Pye afloat. He was suddenly left free falling to the ground. His hands automatically shot out trying to catch onto the tree branches, but he only succeeded in getting himself cut.

Luckily, the distance to the ground wasn't too great, and he managed to land in thick bushes without breaking anything.

-It appears your programming have failed brother. There are no magic in the air.- Nair laughed.

Pye's only reply was a pained moan. This was the second time he travelled between worlds; the first being the initial trip to Hell. He had imagined the landing to be closer to the ground.

The sound of flowing water came from his left, and the blond considered staying in his current position for a bit longer to recover. However, the sound of people shouting and dogs barking made him look up sharply. That was when he saw a boy's face amongst the leaves looking at him with curiosity.

The boy had long raven black hair past his shoulders. When he came forward upon being discovered, Pye noted he wore a long black robe with thick red borders.

The boy said something in a language Pye did not understand. Instead, his eyes fell on the sword in the other's hand. Ignoring the protests of his body, the blond slowly hosted himself to stand.

Nair practically giggled in his mind with excitement. -What would be incredibly humorous is if you managed to get yourself slaughtered by this boy within mere minutes of your arrival. I wonder what Neine would say.-

Pye swallowed and quickly took a step back when the human advanced toward him. He could probably fight off this boy, whose height barely reached the Commander's shoulders. But his pointy ears twitched at the approaching sound of more people and dogs. There was no way he could go against all of them and escape this predicament if he waited any longer.

So as soon as the boy broke eye contact, Pye turned and ran for his life.

-How dignified, scampering through the woods like a dirty rat.-

Pye bit back a reply. He had picked the densest path he could find, hoping to throw off the humans and dogs behind him. This also meant he needed all his concentration focused on not getting smacked by branches or tripping over rocks and roots.

His breathing came in uneven gasps, and he scolded himself for relying too much on magic and not working his physical body enough.

It was becoming harder and harder to plunder through the unused path at a running speed. Large rocks covered in moss, fallen branches, and roots forced Pye to slow down. Unable to help himself, the exhausted blond paused slightly and looked back.

Straining his ears, Pye heard the dogs still barking in the distance. Luckily, they didn't sound anywhere as close as they should be if they were chasing him. Perhaps he had too quickly assumed the boy meant him harm. Still, there were no magic in this world, so his inhuman ears would have certainly brought him unwanted attention. After all, it is simply human nature to fear and condemn what they do not understand.

-Or to take it apart and study it.-

Pye didn't want to think down that line of thought, so he quickly turned back to continued onward.

The sun was setting by the time Pye finally reached the edge of the forest. He was sweaty from the physical exertion, his stomach rumbled with hunger, and his whole body was sore.

Looking past the last line of bushes, he saw a horse grazing on the tall grass of a clearing. Beside the beast was a person cutting up firewood with an axe. And a short distance behind them was a small cozy house with smoke rising from the chimney.