Our second world- Book two: War is coming

Chapter 16

~Haren~

After sitting in the same spot without eating or sleeping for almost two days, he decided it wouldn't hurt to take a short stretch break.

As he stood, something slammed into the table and knocked all his books and papers to the floor.

With a heavy sigh, he bent over to pick them up. Somehow in the process managing to knock over the chair as well. Sending it tumbling to the floor with an even louder crash. He fell back against the wall in surprise. Cursing himself for being so clumsy as he slid to the floor in defeat. Something made it hard to slide, so, reaching back, he felt a leathery material between his fingers.

"Great! Now I have stupidly large wings to deal with!" He sighed again, burrying his face in his hands.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice the new person in the room.

"H-hey, Haren?" She hessitated," You know, Yuri isn't mad at you."

"She should be!" He snapped bitterly.

Feeling a pang of guilt for lashing out at her, he stood before she could say anything and left the room.

He walked quickly down the halls and broke into a run when he passed the west gate. Ignoring the shouts of the confused guards as he ran past.

Before he knew it, he was well into the forest and finally stopped. Standing in front of a tall pine, he couldn't contain his emotions anymore and chose to vent. Smashing his fist into the tree.

As his hand made contact, a powerful aura erupted from him. Blowing over the trees closest to him with an imense wind. Letting out a frustrated cry, another wave of black aura exploded from him. It uprooted several trees and left him in a clearing instead of the thick forest he'd been standing in meer moments ago.

With his frustration vented, all that was left now was an overwhelming sadness and he fell to his knees. Sitting in the grass surounded by the peaceful forest, he felt so detatched from himself. He wanted to give up. At this point, he couldn't bring himself to care. He had hope after hearing Augusts voice, but now that hope was gone. For the first time in his life, he couldn't figure out what to do.

"H---..." He must have imagined it.

"H--r--n." No. He must be hearing things.

"Har-n" No. No. No. He couldn't bear to have his hopes crushed again. He wanted this too bad.

"Haren! Please, say something!" His eyes wouldn't focus on the figure in front of him. They didn't need to; his ears knew that voice by heart.

"August?"

"Yes! I'm here. I'm back," 

As he was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace, he could no longer hold back his tears. It felt like an eternity as he sobbed while the familiar voice gave words of comfort and strong arms held him.

"Master? Are you awake? Master?" He groaned and tried to roll away from the gentle shaking, but found that something was in his way.

Opening his eyes, he saw that Artemis was standing over him. Arms crossed and cheeks puffed.

"Honestly, how can you sleep all day after worrying us sick by suddenly dissapearing? And who's this boy with you?" She huffed.

"What do you mean? Surely it hasn't been so long that you've forgotten what August looks like," Haren replied in confusion. 

"Then my memory must be faulty. I don't remember Sir August having black hair." She said.

"What are you talking about?" Haren asked, turning to face his partner," He doesn't have---"

Oh, but he did. The person beside him was unmistakingly August, but instead of bleach blond hair like usual, his hair was now a crimson so dark it was almost black.

"What's with all the noise?" August mumbled, sitting up. His eyes widened when he saw the new color of his hair," Wow. I knew the change in your mana was gonna be different, but I never thought it'd make my hair so dark," He mumbled almost to himself. 

"Is that also why you couldn't interact with us?" Haren asked.

"I'm not sure," August sighed," It could have been any number of things. There's no way to know for sure."

"Well that's not very helpful. If we don't know what caused it, we won't be able to prevent it if it happens again," Artemis said. After hearing his voice, she had seemed convinced it was indeed August and had taken to sitting on her bed.

"Hopefully it's just a one time thing and we won't have to worry about that," Haren replied.

His back was turned to August so he didn't see the pained, yet knowing, look in his partners eyes.