Chapter 3 Emily Gray

Dwayne and Emily had gone to a tavern. It was night time but not so late in the night that the tavern would be closed. They entered into the tavern and sat down at a table. Dwayne did not like being here as it was clear that people were weary of him. In the corner people couldn't help but look at him. He couldn't blame them though as the mask he was wearing would drag attention.

Emily was ignoring them as if they were not even there, though the same could not be said for the beer. She had already ordered three cups of them. One she had finished and other reduced to half the size. It was quite obvious she was going to over do her celebration so he had to get answers now.

"What do you want?"

Emily looked at him as if he had asked a stupid question then bursted into laughter further attracting attention to their table. For some weird reason it looked like it was only the men that were annoyed by this.

"Isn't it obvious, I said I needed your help."

"Okay then, what do you need my help with?", Dwayne asked her hoping she would not laugh at the question.

Emily put on a serious face and dropped what remained of the beer on the table even though it was clearly a few drops in her last cup. It looked like she was about to tell a story.

"Few years back, I was living in the town of Omos like any other person. Living a normal life. There I was practicing spells when by accident I broke down part of my ceiling. Strangely a key fell down from it, one that I had no idea of in the slightest. Though for some reason I felt oddly drawn to it. I tried a connection spell to link the key to what it opens and found out it was in Liscon town south of here. After having finding this out, I had a series of flashbacks of things I didn't remember."

"Hmm, that would be strange indeed", Dwayne said in realization.

"That would either mean I had amnesia or I had been spelled."

Emily waved her hand in the air. It seems she wanted to order another round of beers. On ordering another three cups Dwayne knew he was carrying her back. Emily offered him some but he refused, something didn't feel right about drinking beer with someone who broke into your house.

"So you are a magic caster, why didn't you use magic on me?", Dwayne couldn't help but ask.

"You obviously gave me no chance to do that. I couldn't just match up to your speed and power."

"Oh!", Dwayne's tone made it clear to Emily that he had a smug face under that mask. On noticing this she scoffed before speaking again.

"Anyways, I came for your help because of that. I am glad to see you live up to the hype."

Dwayne couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at the direction of the conversation. Hype? There were people hyping him? Those are strange people indeed.

"I heard you were the only survivor of the Draco war, the worst war ever recorded in history. Also I heard rumors that you were the only person to move around the whole continent even with the emergence of the Shadow."

Dwayne on hearing this was surprised at how far rumors could go and was worried at the backlash that may occur from them.

"One more question how did you get your hands on this stone?", Dwayne asked as he had to know if someone made her aware of it, gave it to her or she just found it. Her answer would make him know the kind of trouble he was in.

"There is no way I am telling you that, it's a secret", Emily said drinking her last beer.

It was clear he was not going to get answers from her. He wanted his normal life to keep going on, the last thing Dwayne wanted was to travel around again.

"You should know that even with all of that said I am not helping you out", he said this with no hesitation.

Emily looked at him before looking at the six empty cups in front of her. She then pointed at the cups catching Dwayne by surprise.

"Don't they look like unicorns! I think I would want another", Emily said in a giggling voice.

It sounded so dumb that he just had to assume she was drunk. He stood up held her by the hand and walked out of the tavern. She moved so wobbly that he had to pick her up.

They eventually got home which brought up a question to Dwayne's mind. Should he throw her out in the snow or bring her in? He was not so heartless that he would leave her to freeze. On hearing himself he realized it must have been her command talking.

He laid her on his bed. It was at this moment he actually noted how she looked. Emily had raven black hair which complimented her pale white skin. Her hair laid spread on the bed with some strands on her shoulder. Her training seemed to have made her shape come together making her quite the attractive lady. Dwayne never thought this annoying girl that ruined his life could look this beautiful in her sleep. It didn't matter though as his only goal was to escape from her.

Dwayne covered her with a blanket before proceeding to sit outside on the balcony. He felt sick at the thought of moving to another town or village. It would probably end up causing issues for him. Though it was clear that as long as Emily had that stone it would be impossible to live the normal life he once desired.

Hence he decided to follow her for the main purpose of getting the stone back from her.