Eight Intertwined

80 - Wolf

"Huh?"

Ophilia stopped walking after she and Derryl descended the stairs down to the area where they had last seen Emil searching. Ophilia had been planning on continuing to move forward for a few more seconds, but she was cut off when Derryl came to an all too sudden halt as he glanced around the area, expression twisted with confusion. "What's is it?" she questioned carefully. 

"He's gone," Derryl murmured, and a quick glance around the area told Ophilia that Emil had vanished from view in the few moments that she and Derryl hadn't kept their eyes locked on the area. Ophilia silently wondered just how distracted she had gotten while talking to Tressa on the way over here. Derryl, meanwhile, took another step forward to try and see if he could spot where Emil had gone off to. His eyes were full of confusion and heartbreak, like he couldn't understand why his friend would suddenly abandon the search so soon after his faith in Emil had been restored. He didn't say it out loud, but Ophilia could sense the betrayal deep within Derryl's heart. 

"Oh, Derryl! What are you doing here?"

Ophilia shifted her attention at the sound of a voice that was familiar to her in a way she didn't quite recognize at first. She eventually found her eyes locking on Nate, and the blonde boy approached her and Derryl carefully. 

Derryl, for his part, didn't seem to know how to answer, and he fumbled in silence for a moment. When he did finally find words, they hardly even seemed grounded, instead rolling clumsily from his tongue against his will. "Oh, I... I just... Um..."

Ophilia was quick to cover for Derryl's moment of distraction, taking a step towards Nate as she spoke. "And you're Nate, yes?" she asked gently. 

Nate seemed almost stunned that she was speaking to him at all, but he nodded a moment later. "Yeah. What's it to you?" he questioned, voice immediately verging on defensive. 

"We were looking for Emil," Ophilia explained, not wanting to accidentally upset Nate. He seemed to be in a rather delicate position emotionally if his wariness was anything to go by, and Ophilia could only assume that Derryl's recent tension had been rubbing off on him for better or worse. "Have you seen him? He was here just a short while ago."

Nate nodded. "Oh, yeah. I saw him running off after some dog," he said, the anxiety in his body starting to melt away when he realized that Ophilia meant no harm. 

"A dog?" Ophilia echoed, confusion writing itself across her features. She didn't know what she had expected to hear as the explanation for Emil's sudden absence, but she certainly hadn't factored a dog of all things into the equation. 

Nate nodded. "Yeah, just a few minutes ago. There was this dog, and it had something shiny in its mouth," he went on. "Emil was saying something about how he was sure it was the brooch, and he went running off that way..." He pointed over Derryl and Ophilia's shoulders towards another path that led off to the east of Saintsbridge. In the distance, Ophilia could see trees lining the horizon. 

"That way? Toward the Murkwood forest?" Derryl questioned, immediately proving Ophilia's suspicions about Emil's destination. 

"The forest?" Ophilia hummed to herself. 

Nate nodded once again, and Derryl let out a strangled gasp of shock. "Is he crazy?!" he cried out as he whirled around to face Ophilia. "That forest is full of monsters! We're not allowed to go anywhere near it!"

All of a sudden, Ophilia felt her heart skip a beat. She was on the verge of saying something about chasing after Emil, but she was cut off when Nate took a step forward and shook his head. "Ah, it'll be fine. Just think about it," he began, and Derryl turned to face him with a small frown. "Emil's a total coward, right? There's no way he'd go into that forest on his own. I bet he's running home now, crying all the way!"