Alana had been running for days now. She wasn't sure what had happened to her homeland; it had all occurred so quickly, almost all at once. Sighing, she slumped against the tree trunk that she had chosen to rest by for just a minute. For now, it seemed like the strange creatures had lost her trail. There looked to be no way out of this place, so she resigned herself to remaining under the cover of the forest for now. Just as the girl was debating climbing a tree for the night, she heard a crack behind her. Whirling around and pulling away from the trunk tree, even as fast as she moved it wasn't enough. The zombie that had been slowly sulking towards her quickly lunged forward, chomping down on her shoulder before she could pull away. Alana gritted her teeth to prevent herself from screaming and potentially attracting more of them. She wrenched herself away from the being before stumbling backwards and running for her dear life. Luckily, they didn't seem to be too fast; instead, they lumbered around and could only move with short bursts of speed for a couple seconds before slowing down again. The girl panted as she rushed through the forest, finally coming to what looked like a large clearing, with a cabin in the center. Hesitantly, she took a step forward into the clearing. It would be dangerous to go through; anything could spot her running into the open area without cover. However, another noise of footsteps behind her quickly had the girl rushing forwards as she glanced over her shoulder. There were at least four or five of the ghoulish monsters headed towards her. Taking a deep breath, Alan ran into the clearing. She was about to go past the cabin when a voice from inside caught her attention.
"Hey, come in here, quick!" She swiveled her head to see a pair of eyes peeking out from the window, set in a pale face, the body of which was covered in a dark cloak. The girl was abotu to turn away when she noticed at least ten of the undead waiting for her on the other side of the clearing. "They've been waiting for me. They can't break inside, it's enchanted. You can only be let in by a willing person who gives you permission. Quickly!" His voice became higher and higher in volume as the urgency came through. The monsters were nearing closer, and she had no choice, so Alana reluctantly slipped in, squeezing herself through the space in the door that had opened up after the man unlatched it. Afterwards, he slammed it closed, bolting the entrance. Inside, it wasn't necessarily a small place. In fact, it seemed to be a decent home, the kind of vacation cabin where a wealthy individual might vacation for a week to enjoy nature temporarily. Sighing, the girl collapsed onto a nearby red couch, while the man hovered hesitantly closer to the door. "This is my sister's place," he mumbled finally, before sitting down a few meters away from her, but still on the same long, L shaped couch. "I was living here to practice my magic when sh*t went down. There's not much food left, but I was hoping..." he trailed off. It was clear enough what he'd been hoping for, though. That someone like her would come along, most likely, and be able to get the both of them out of here.
"I live maybe twenty kilometres or so to the west, I've been running for days," the young woman finally answered, her green eyes dull with tiredness. Alana hadn't eaten in at least forty hours, after running out of the dried meat and fruit that she'd kept on her for emergency purposes only. Just then, her stomach grumbled, and she turned away, embarrassed. "Hey, I have plenty of food," the man said, before getting up and heading into another room. In what seemed like only seconds later, he emerged with a plate, on which there was a simple sandwich. "I dunno what you like, but since this is an enchanted place, we'll never run out of things to eat." That was an up side, she guessed, and Alan accepted the food gratefully. She would normally have been suspicious of such generosity, but with the situation outside, there was no time for distrust between them as two survivors. As she was lifting it to her mouth to take a bite, she winced at the pain in her shoulder. "Hh," a small noise of discomfort came out of her mouth, and the man looked at her with concern. "Are you alright?" He asked, and she nodded, moving the sandwich to right hand only so that she could try to rotate her left arm experimentally. "One of those things bit me," she said, and his face suddenly went grave. "Will you... be okay?" He asked, worry coming through. The young woman shrugged. "I got bitten by one of them too," the male stranger suddenly said, holding up his left hand to better show that two of the fingers, the pinkie and ring finger, were bandaged. "I can't tell if it's doing anything, they're not as bad as yours. Maybe I've had a fever, nothing worse."
Alana finally finished eating her food and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before letting out a faint sigh. "I hope you're right and it's not anything worse. You got any ideas on how to get out of here?" The other looked like he was thinking for a moment, before his eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, I actually know a friend who's pretty strong. If I could find a way to get in touch with him... I'm sure he could clear out this area in no time at all," he said brightly, trying to stay positive even though he'd already mulled over ways to reach the other man, and the options were none. "A contact, huh?" Alana muttered under her breath, before she stood up, brushing her hair away from her face. "Well it just so happens that I'm a summoner. An' I got a guy who can take any package to any place in Earthland, s'long as it's not any bigger than about twenty centimetres on all sides." The girl fumbled around with the belt at her waist for a little bit before finally triumphantly pulling out a ring of keys. She flipped through them, her lips moving under her breath, before she finally seemed to find the right one. "Yeah. Here we go, Dapper, come out," she said, in a normal speaking voice, her fingers rubbing the key at the same time. In a blink, a pale figured with indescribable features and a very formal style of dress appeared in front of them. "Dap take this nice man's letter and send it to whoever he tells ya to," she said, gesturing in the direction of the kind stranger.
The more she thought about it... did she have anyone who might be able to help them? Alana wasn't a very friendly sort of mage, and she had more of a brusque personality than anything. Still, there were a couple of people she'd done jobs with. "And come back over here when you're done," she called out, "Before you leave to deliver that. I got somethin' as well." Juliet Rothschild was an old... friend, of sorts. Maybe she'd be able to help out. Heck, the young woman didn't know whether her former job partner would even want to see her again after what happened the last time they ran a mission together, but the mage knew. That blondie couldn't resist helping someone who was in a tough spot. She might get her to come out of an apparent sense of duty, if nothing else. It was worth a shot. Shrugging to herself, Alana tore a page out of her traveler's note book and uncapped a pen using her teeth. "Dear Old Friend," she began, sarcastically. "I know I kind of ditched you last time and left you to pay for all the damages we'd done, but I need your help now..."
Juliet had been have a fairly nice day already. Her financial situation was a constant struggle, especially with her habits of spending impractical amounts on food, particularly sweets. Even so, the mage usually managed to make enough for the basic necessities. It was a kind of tough living, and her utilities went out every once in a while, but the girl didn't care too much. Today, she hadn't had to deal with anything like that. It'd been a sunny morning of waking up with the rays shining in her face and hearing the birds chirping outside. Juliet could get behind rising early in the morning just to hear the bird songs before work. Finally getting up from where she'd been eating breakfast at the kitchen table and reminiscing about the events only an hour ago, the girl began to wash the dishes. In her little apartment, there were no maids, only herself. A smile played across the girl's face as she wondered what to do today. It was so nice, that working inside would be a shame. All of her thoughts of her daily activities were put on pause, though, when a sharp rap tap tap came from the door. Curious as to who might be knocking at this hour of the day, Juliet turned off the faucet and dried her hands before slowly stepping over to the entrance. She peeked through the peep hole just briefly and saw a man with a disingenuous expression, his features plain and unremarkable. If she'd tried to describe him, she wouldn't be able to, aside from his clothes, which were far too fancy to be standing on a concrete door step with. Either way, he didn't look dangerous. So she opened the door, and stood in the opening, looking at him.
He didn't say a thing, but instead reached into his suit pocket. The movement had the girl tensing up, since now his hand wasn't visible. He could have been pulling out anything, like a weapon, and Juliet prepared to shield herself if necessary. However, as it turned out, it was just a folded piece of paper. Wrinkled, and with a few smudges already visible from what she could see. The strange figure held it out to her, and uncertainly, Juliet accepted it. Before she could even open it, though, she glanced back up at the man. But he was already disappearing down the street, his black pin striped suit distinctive as it turned around the corner. Pressing her lips together in slight consternation, the mage shut the door and sat down at her kitchen table before unfolding the strange missive. It turned out to be a letter... as she read the first actual line, her eyebrows furrowed together and her expression turned slightly murderous. It was that girl! The two had worked together in the past and been decent partners to each other, until one time when Alana had flat out ditched the scene after causing a big ruckus. Part of the reason Juliet was still poor now was because she had been stuck using all her savings to pay off the debt she owed for the destruction of the owner's property. Exhaling sharply through her nose, the mage sped through the rest of the letter. Her expression became more grave as she read through it.
So, Alana was genuinely in need of assistance. She seemed even perhaps afraid, but that was probably a stretch given that the female would never be caught dead with fear visible in any way, shape, or form. Sighing, Juliet finally reached the last line, where she read, 'I dunno where I am. This dude's got a fancy shmancy cabin and it's some place in the middle of the Cursed Lands. But I know how to enchant sh*t, and I been to the edge of these woods before, so... this letter's gonna teleport you to just outside of this forest. There might be zombies, I dunno. Have fun, girlie, love ya!' Immediately, Juliet dropped the piece of paper, but it was too late. Her body was already glowing with light, and the world spun around her as she vanished in a swirl of bright magic, pulled to the new location. Only a few seconds later, the girl was dropped on her butt in the Cursed Lands, right at the changing of a desolate field into a dark forest. Clenching her fists, she yelled loud enough for anyone within a kilometre to hear, "ALANA!" Huffing, Juliet ground her boot into the dirt. She was hardly equipped to deal with a bunch of ghouls all by her lonesome.
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