Heather's Adventures: The Search for Maxamus

Chapter 90. Max

Getting ready, sneaking out, portal hopping multiple times, sneaking in and out of the Moonlight Caverns, and planting the flower all were effortlessly easy. In all honesty, I figured it was going to take much more effort and there were going to be lots of issues. But following Heather's commands caused our mission to run smoothly without any flaws. She was good at this leader thing. As soon as she was in charge, it was as if she was a completely different person. She was strong, brave, and confident. Nothing like she was whenever I seemed to end up alone with her. Part of me wondered if it was all her training back from ITBA, but at the same time it seemed she was just a natural at it. Perhaps she was always this way.

Once again we were portal hopping all separately before showing up in Issola. I had finally finished my own portal hopping as I ended up outside of Issola. Only Heather was there. She seemed impatiently waiting, yet relieved when I finally showed up.

I walked up to her, seeing her displeased look melting slowly, "you look less irritated. Did something happen?"

"You took forever. I've been here for almost half an hour. Sheria and Rheannah haven't even gotten here yet. There was a hold up on one of the portals I outlined. I only managed to get through cause I took an alternate route. But even then...we're starting to run low on time."

"We can't just go on without them, what if they show up when we're not here?" I reasoned with her, beginning to sense her motives.

Heather shook her head, "we don't have an option. They know to meet up at my house. We have limited time so we gotta use it while we can. Besides, we need answers. I need to know whats going on with that thing. That dumb prophecy. If we're ever going to get anywhere we need to know more...I just need to know what it wants me to do...and part of me is hoping that it's just not me." And there she was. As soon as the others were gone, so was her strong demeanor. She seemed to wear it like a mask, fooling everyone but me. Or perhaps she knew that I'd be fooled and wanted to make sure I wouldn't fall for it.

"So where do you want to start looking?" Yeah, I was enabling her, but it wasn't like I wasn't curious either. I was dragged into this mess with her too somehow. Maybe this would get us out of it.

"I want to go back to ITBA. I'm hoping I can find Anne there or at least someone who knows what's going on. We gotta find something. Anything at this rate."

I nodded to her, "alright, then let's get going since we're running out of time." Heather gave me a simple grunt of agreement as the two of us began to walk into town. Heather seemed rather quiet, yet determined. That was, until we reached town. As soon as we started seeing people rebuilding their homes and other buildings. That's when the whispering started. The voices of the others noticing her presence. Normally I was the one people noticed. But not here. Here Heather was the local child prodigy—pretty much a low level celebrity. People certainly recognized her by her face, even though she wasn't wearing any ITBA training uniforms anymore.

"That's her, isn't it?"

"She looks fine—not a scratch on her"

"Of course she abandoned us."

"Who's that guy with her?"

"She better not have left us for a man."

"She should know much better than that. The well being of everyone here is more important than chasing some boy."

The stares and whispering only grew louder and stronger the more we walked. Heather's fists seemed to clench tightly at first before she released the pressure, letting her shoulders sink down low.

I reached out my hand to place it on her shoulder to ask her a question when I was interrupted by a man — one older looking mage with clothes that seemed way too tacky for the situation of rebuilding a town. "And just where have you been running off to lately? Thinking you're too good for the rest of us, not willing to help the rest of us out yet we gave up all our time to help train you?!"