His brown curls swayed softly through the dark streets as he walked, his green eyes examined each corner, each bench, each car, trying to find her…
His companion— Leyla— followed him closely, as she nervously played with her blond curls.The fires burning inside the street lamps illuminated their path, but something about them felt wrong. With every step they took toward their destination, the orange flames seemed to grow redder and redder.
William suddenly stopped in his tracks.
His green eyes widened.
He finally found her.
It seemed like she was blending in the shadows… her red eyes seemed to glow in the night as her gray hair framed her face.
William hesitated at first, but he forced himself to speak up anyway.
''H-hello ma'am… My name is William, and this is my sister Leyla.'' He says, his voice shaking as he gestures towards his companion. ''And we were wondering if you were a lady called Silver…''
The young woman— if you can call her that— 's eyes closed, as she started silently listening to them. William took a shaky breath and kept speaking.
''Whether that is your name or not, we would like to ask you if you have any information about… the Goddess of the Sun.''
His eyes darkened, his hands clenching into fists.
The young woman's ears twitched at the title
At last, she stepped out of the shadows, her hair swaying enough to reveal the shape of her pupils: one sharp and black almond in the middle of each eye, like a cat's.
Her hair, which had a light purple shade to it, was actually tied down as a low ponytail.
She blinked at them before walking off as if nothing happened, her red sweater elegantly swaying in the wind.
William stared at her, dumbfounded.
He took Leyla's hand and ran off.
''Hey!'' He yelled after her. ''So, you are Silver. Please, we just have a few questions-!''
She turned a corner. When he arrived there, she vanished. She was nowhere to be seen. He helplessly looked around, but nothing…
No… he was so close. So close to find the only person who could've helped him. The Sun Goddess, also known as The Greatest Hero, was his and his sister's only chance to survive.
He looked up at the starry sky. He could see the endless galaxies above them due to the thin atmosphere they had. It was as thin as his hope, but he wasn't about to give up yet.
His hand turned into a green light as he snapped his fingers, causing some green footprints to fade in. Most of them were on the walls, but there was a lot of space between them, she probably jumped while climbing it up. What surprised him even more is that she didn't use her hands… It was weird.
He looked at his sister, who responded by creating a small cloud to appear in front of them. They sat on it as they flew up to reach the flat roof. They jumped off the cloud clumsily before following the path. She couldn't use the cloud eternally. She wasn't powerful enough for that yet.
As they walked, Leyla suddenly crouched down to look at a small bug, William huffed a small laugh and knelt down beside her.
''Come on, Leyly, we have to keep going…'' he said, a soft smile plastered on his lips.
She looked up at him with her big, green eyes before sighing and gently leading the bug to walk onto her hand.
''But you promised we would find her thirty minutes ago… and we don't even know what kind of powers she has. She could have super speed, and we wouldn't even know about it.'' She stated, the innocent light in her eye slowly fading… or was it hope?
He sighs and wraps an arm around her shoulders, the other helping her stand up with him.
''And we will find her, but first, we have to keep going…'' he smiles reassuringly. ''We could use a bike to get there faster… And you could use your wind powers to get there faster.''
Leyla hesitated before nodding.
And they did just that: buying a bike and following Silver's trace.
The city's wind was already strong enough as it was, but their speed only increased it… it was getting harder and harder to stay on the bike.
William yelled over the roaring wind .
''Okay, using your powers wasn't the best idea….! Maybe it would be better to stop using them!''
Leyla clumsily did as asked and gradually stopped using her powers, but even so, the wind was too strong… did Silver have some super strength in her legs—?
A sharp whistle of wind tore through the street.
Leyla's grip slipped.
She lost hold of William.
She was thrown into the air with a scream.
"LEYLA!"
William slammed the brakes and spun the bike around immediately.
Silver could wait.
His sister couldn't.
He drove off, the wind helping him by pushing him towards her. Before she could reach the ground, a black figure caught her.
Leyla felt an arm scooping the back of her knees, a hand on her back. Her arms were clutched against her chest as she fluttered an eye open to look at who caught her.
A soft blush spread across her cheeks as she opened her other eye.
A young man with pale skin and a black suit was looking down at her with intense, cold eyes. His purple eyes seemed to glow in the dark as his face remained neutral. She could feel something hard press against her knees… probably a watch. His neatly brushed dark hair fell over his eyes as he looked up at William who was slowly driving their way.
William's eyes were wide as he came to a stop. He dropped the bike and ran towards Leyla, gently helping her down before hugging her tightly.
''Oh, Leyla, I should've been more careful… I am so sorry…'' he pulled back enough to cradle her face before looking up at the man with a polite smile. ''Thank you, sir…'' he sighed in relief. ''Thank you for saving her. What's your name, by the way?''
The young man arranged his suit before shrugging, not bothering to look at him in the eyes.
''Just don't expect me to do it again.'' He answered coldly before looking around with a sigh and mumbling under his breath: ''Where did she go…?''
William's ears perked up at that as his eyebrows lightly frowned in concern.
''Did you lose somebody, sir?''
The man shrugged and kept looking around.
''Yeah…'' he grumbled.
William just smiled and looked down at his sister.
''May we look for her with you to thank you?''
The man froze and looked at them suspiciously: ''Sureeeee… she has pale skin, white gloves, black boots and pants, white shirt in a red sweater, red eyes, grayish hair—''
William's eyes widened for two reasons… the first was…
That that man was oddly direct. It was obvious he wasn't one to beat around the bush. They didn't even know his name…
The second reason was obviously that they were all searching for Silver.
William didn't think before asking: ''We're searching for her too! She's called Silver, right?''
The man froze, his eyes widening at William's words. He didn't speak. He just looked at him as if to gauge wether he was a potential threat or a friend.
''How… do you know that…?'' The young man's voice was soft, carefully analyzing William's appearance and eyes to see if he was lying.
William just shrugged.
''Long story short, our parents got kidnapped by Chocland's king… we don't know why, and we clearly don't have the level to fight him. My sister Leyla and I wanted to find The Greatest Hero due to the lack of strength heroes on our planet have. Apparently, she's here. Silver apparently knows about her and her hiding spot.''
The black-haired man listened intently, frowning softly. William could tell he was still tense, but he slowly started relaxing at his explanation. It… sure made sense.
Chocland was the strangest and most mysterious planet ever known in the magical world. What was even more creepy was that their royal family was particularly powerful. They were known to have never loosen a fight. Ever. Even as babies…
He sighed before a playful smirk spread across his lips.
''Well…'' his voice was smooth and effortlessly steady as he stood straight. ''I also know where The Sun Goddess is.''
William's eyes widened.
''Really…?
-Yes.'' The man answered without hesitation.
Leyla's eyes lightened up.
''Where is she, sir?'' She asked excitedly, trying to stay polite, even though it was getting harder with so much hope to contain…
The man grinned and ruffled her hair playfully before holding it out to William.
''First things first, the name's Adam~'' he calmly said.
William smiled softly and took Adam's hand to lightly shake them.
''Where are my manners?'' He chuckled softly. ''I'm William. And as I already mentioned, this little gremlin here is Leyla.
-Hey!'' Leyla pouted.
Adam chuckled and gently brushed her cheek.
''A lovely name for a lovely specimen~''
He pulled away and smiled back at William.
''I'll tell you about the hero's hideout and answer all your questions, but… you have to do something for me first.'' He smirked.
William raised an eyebrow.
''What kind of thing?''
Adam laughed softly. ''Nothing much.'' He nodded towards the city. ''Tell me where you last saw Silver. That's all I'm asking you. Or better yet, help me find her.'' His smirk faded, his eyes darkened, turning more… intense as he turned to look at the city as if it owned him money.
Behind him, William took Leyla's hand as he slowly nodded.
''If you promise to tell us everything we need to know about the hero…'' his grip tightened lightly. ''Then yes.''
Adam smiled and turned around to look back at them.
''Then it's settled.''
William nodded and walked past him, his sister following close behind.
Adam waited a few meters to build between them before starting to walk too.
They all started following Silver's green footprints and asking people who walked by if they had seen her. Soon enough, Leyla's stomach growled. They had to take a break. William and her had been walking for days without eating properly… so, they stopped at a restaurant.
As they ate their bowls of machister (an animal that terrorizes cities but is also quite popular in culinary terms), William frowned softly and looked up at Adam.
''What does she look like…? I mean, the Goddess of the Sun…''
Adam paused, before looking down at the ground, as if his memories were unfolding before his eyes.
''She's… quite elegant if that's what you want to know. She has long, brown wavy hair, yellow piercing eyes, quite pale skin for a pirate…''
William's jaw drops. Did he hear that right? A pirate? How many titles did she have?
''She wears a red coat with lots of white ruffles… but that's only when she's on a solo mission. Most of the time, she wears a black tailcoat with golden borders, a hat that matches it with a longggg white feather attached to it.'' He chuckles softly, looking quite fond…
He rested his chin on his palm as he kept going.
''A white shirt underneath and some brown pants and boots. She has a sense of style like no other.'' His smile widens as he trails off.
Leyla looked at him in awe. ''She seems so cool!'' she exclaimed, her eyes glinting with curiosity.
Adam chuckles. ''Not as cool as when you shut up.'' He glares at her, his old persona returning.
Leyla pouts, and William? He would've probably laughed if he wasn't so lost in thought… what kind of relationship this Adam guy and the pirate could have?
''What's her name?'' he asked.
Adam gripped one of the machister's cut tentacles with his chopsticks before looking at William with an intense gaze… before shrugging.
''You'll find that out yourself.'' He mumbled, then shrugged again. ''She's quite… talkative. I'm sure she won't mind telling you all about it… she'll kill me if I say anything too… personal about her. And it's not as if I knew her personally or something.'' he tucked the tentacle in his mouth and kept eating.
William wanted to glare at him so badly, but he held back the urge. He was wondering why Adam was being so mysterious. What he knew for sure was that Adam knew much more on The Greatest Hero than he'd let on…
He decided not to mention it for now as they ate.
They eventually got back on track. Back on Silver's path. How thrilling. They just walked. In silence, towards their destination. That's when William's eyes widened.
He hadn't noticed earlier, but things were incredibly quiet since Adam arrived, and the wind… it had stopped.
They couldn't hear it's annoying whispers in their ears now. It was pleasant, sure, but other people and objects around them still could feel the wind in their hair, face, and such.
Was it caused by Adam…? Probably. But how could he be sure?
They walked towards a group of people who were drooling over some juicy, and delicious view called… chicken!
Oh wait, I wrote that wrong…
CHIKEN, WOOHOO!!!!!!!
But as their gazes shifted towards the homeles- civilized group of friends(?), their eyes widened as they slowly moved to let them walk.
William raised an eyebrow. Pottam, the planet they were on, was known for their best chickens. Tourists could kill just to have a bite. So, the fact that they still had manners towards strangers was weird…
Just…
Who was Adam….?