Chapter 48: Whispers of Time
I ran along the path we had taken together in the previous days, with my [Lunar Senses] active at full power. I could see every detail, feel every presence, every insect, and even the wild animals running through the forest, but no matter how much I searched, there was not a single trace of Lira. I went back along the entire path, passed the battlefield, and ignored the corpses and the beasts that were devouring them. My only goal was to find her, but it was as if she had vanished into thin air.
My mind began to panic. I stopped and opened my system panel; there had to be some option that would let me determine her location, like in games where you can put a pointer on a target. Desperate, I searched, but there was no such option in the guild skills or in my own personal skills.
I opened the main guild panel and saw Lira’s status. A shiver froze me when I saw her health bar. It was at 1/4 and her life was blinking a bright red color like an open wound. Worst of all, it was slowly decreasing. "Damn it, what can I do?! If anything happens to Lira, I’ll exterminate everyone who had anything to do with it!"
I activated Forge Mode, hoping I could see people, but it only showed objects, minerals, trees, and rocks, with no single indicator, no pointer that would tell me where she was. The system was powerful, yes, but useless in this situation. My desperation grew. There had to be some way. I searched my guild skills one more time, praying they would appear like a gift from the gods... but there was nothing. Sometimes, no matter how much you beg, no one will grant your wishes.
"Damn it, I don’t have a single useful skill!" I cursed out loud as Lira’s health bar continued to decrease.
Desperate, I ran back to the battlefield. Maybe she looked for me there while I was ’playing’ with Jayde...
"It’s all my damn fault. If I hadn’t let my dick do the thinking, I wouldn’t be in this situation and Lira wouldn’t be missing. I would have found her on the way back and nothing would have happened."
I arrived and started running around the battlefield like a headless chicken, looking for a trail, a piece of clothing, a shoe, anything I might have missed. Lira is very smart; if something had happened to her, she would have left me a clue to find her. The adrenaline made me scream and curse at the wind. How could this have happened? I told them to just stay at the entrance. I wanted to wash away some of my guilt, but an even deeper voice reminded me of what I didn’t want to think.
"Was it her fault? They worried about you while you played with your new ass, so why are you acting like a saint?"
The guilt was consuming me, but I didn’t stop searching. I went back to the goblin village; when I left, that was the only destination I had told them, so she must have come here to look for me. When I arrived, I looked at my panel one more time. Lira’s health was even lower. Desperation made me fall to my knees, screaming with impotent rage.
"Aghh...!!! Damn it...!!! Gods, help me find her, don’t let her die!!!"