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Leurheart 2

Chapter 1: I Am On My Way

It was raining, just raining. There was no wind, no lightning, no thunder. Just rain. I felt the chilly air on my skin as I sat there next to a corner of an abandoned building. It was cold and my breath formed small misty clouds in front of my face every time I breathed out. All I could hear was the sound of rain around me, there was no signs of life either, since everyone must have been sleeping. The full moon was out and it shined a pale light down trough the tree branches on the other side of the street.

I rubbed my arms and shivered a little as I squeezed my eyes shut. I suddenly flinched as the jar I was holding nearly tipped down from my lap.

I quikly grabbed it and held it tightly when I carefully looked trough the glass of the small jar that used to be filled with some jam.

Inside the jar was a small glittering golden butterfly flying around, hitting the sides of the jar, trying to break free.

I sighed deeply and my breath fogged up the glass on the side of the jar.

"I will find my way back..." I mumbled and lowered the jar.

"Like I promised, I will not give up this easily..."

After I had returned, I went straight home, but my parents were sleeping. That was good, because I wanted to leave without a word. I only left them a small note, saying: "Don't worry, I'm alright and as happy as I can ever be where I am right now. I love you, Michael." after I had picked up everything I tought I might need.

I tought it would've been cruel to suddenly appear and then dissapear again, I didn't want them to suffer the same thing twise. Besides, if they'd found out what I was up to, they wouldn't believe me and they would just stop me anyway.

I saw some "Missing Person: Michael Henley" -posters on the table as I was about to leave after I had used the spell again.

"Good bye..." I whispered at the doorstep before I closed the door and left.

And this brings me to where I am now. Alone, in the rain without shelter, tired. I'll probably catch a cold too, but that wouldn't matter.

I had cycled and walked for almost the entire day and night before it started raining. My bike got broken on the way and I had no idea where I was, I had just been following the butterfly I managed to make with the spell up until now.

'I wonder how far I have to go before I'll be able to find another gateway...' I tought.

'Who knows, maybe there are just two or tree of them in the entire world, Rildel never mentionet anything about that.'

A small feeling of despair made it's way to my mind, but the tought of being able to see him again, no matter how small the chances were, made me feel a little more braver and optimistic.

I smiled as I looked at the butterfly fluttering in the jar.

"I hope it'll stop raining soon... So I can continue looking." I muttered.

"Hey. You'll catch a cold if you stay out here in the rain like this..." I suddenly heared someone say.

I got startled and I jumped up stuffing the jar in my backpack quikly.

"Wh- wh- Who are you? Why are you out this late?" I studdered and looked at the person in front of me.

He was a boy, about my age. He had dark hair that was just as long as mine was, altho his face was a tad paler.

The person tilted his head and rose an eyebrow.

"I should be the one asking you that..." He said and smiled a little.

I looked at the ground and felt embarassed.

"I just like walking around at night, especially when there's a full moon. The rain's not bad either if you have one of these." The boy said and looked at the umbrella he was holding above his head.

"Now tell me, what on earth are you doing out here in the rain this late?"

I bit my lip and looked both ways. I couldn't tell him, but I didn't want to lie either. Even if I did, I couldn't come up with an excuse.

"Well... If I told you, you wouldn't believe me anyway." I mumbled and sighed.

The boy just looked at me suspiciously and then turned to look at the street corner.

"Do you live near here? Shouldn't you just go home?" He asked and turned to me again.

I shook my head.

"No. My home's not anywhere near here and it'd take me atleast a day to walk back." I said and rubbed the back of my neck.

The boy sighed and shook his head.

"Well..." He said and handed the umbrella towards me a little.

"My parent's are away for a week or so, and since you've got no place to go to and it's raining and all. You could come to stay at our place for the night if you like." He said and smiled a little.

"Wh- what? No, no no. I couldn't possibly-"

"You got nowhere else to go to, right?"

"Well, yes... But-"

"No buts. Just come on. You'll probably catch a cold anyway but it's still better to get you out of the rain."

We began walking up the street supposedly towards the boys house.

"By the way, my name's Dylan, what's yours?" He suddenly said.

"Eh? Me? I'm- My name's Michael. Pleased to meet you." I studdered back and tryed to smile. Dylan just nodded.

"Well, here we are." He said and stopped in front of an appartment building. Dylan slowly pushed the door open and we walked inside.

"My room's this way. You can go in there and wait while I get you a matress." He said and pointed at a door on the left side of the small hallway.

"Thanks." I said and went inside. The bed was a little messed up and there were many notebooks on a desk in the left corner of the room. There were posters with pictures of wolves on the walls and there was something that looked like an native american dreamcatcher above the bed. There was also a bow hanging on the right side wall of the room.

I sat down on a chair next to the door.

I was looking around the walls when Dylan suddenly stepped inside the room.

"I can't find a matress but I guess a sleeping bag will do for now if I put some cushions on the floor for you."

I just nodded as Dylan walked to his bed and sat down.

"Don't you think it's a little weird..." I said quietly and looked at a picture of a wolf under a moon.

"Hm? What?" Dylan asked and blinked.

"That you end up meeting a total stranger in the middle of the street, in the middle of the night in the rain, and you decide to take him to your place for the night." I said and smiled.

"Well yea, a little. Why? Do you?" He said and leyed down on his back.

"I think it's really generous actually." I said and dag out the jar from my backpack and placed it on the floor.

Dylan sat up.

"So, now... Tell me what you were doing out there." He said and waited for my response, looking a little anxious.

"It's a long story... And like I said, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you." I sighed.

Dylan looked a little dissapointed.

"But we've got nothing BUT time, and try me, who knows. Maybe I will believe you."

I smiled a little and shook my head.

"I guess there's no helping it then. But I'm warning you, you're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you."

So I told him everything from the point when I first found the book, to the point where we are now.

Dylan looked at me for a while quietly then suddenly smiled.

"You know! You really should be a writer or something! That'd make a great story!" He said and stood up.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me." I said and sighed again.

"Yea yea... I believe you.." Dylan said and waved an arm while walking towards the door of the room.

"You sure don't sound like it." I said and grinned.

"Well anyway, want to have something to eat? Maybe a sandwich?"

"Yea sure." I said as he dissapeared trough the door.

I lifted up the jar again and looked at the butterfly.

'I wonder if I'll ever find another gateway...' I tought and I could have started crying right there.

Then suddenly, I noticed that the butterfly was acting weird. It was constantly hitting the same side of the glass, but not like before. It was like it really wanted to get out and fast.

"Huh...?" I tought outloud and opened the lid on the jar. The butterfly flew up and towards the bookshelf in the room. I stood up and followed it when Dylan came inside the room again.

The butterfly was now fluttering in front of the bookshelf.

"I brought the sandwiches, I hope you like- What the heck is that!?" Dylan screamed as he saw the glittering golden butterfly.

"Oh this? Well, think of it as some proof of what I told you just now... Is there something behind this book shelf?" I asked and examined the shelf closely.

Dylan came next to the shelf and looked at the butterfly curiously.

"Yes there is." He said and pushed the shelf aside. There was a smaller door behind it.

"It leads up to the attic... My mum put the shelf there because she tought that the door looked ugly."

"I see..." I mumbled hearing only half of what Dylan had said.

I tryed to open the door but it was locked.

"Yea the key was lost a long time ago..." Dylan said again and came next to the door.

That's when I remembered the necklace Blaine had given me. I quikly grabbed it and held the clef next to the keyhole.

"I need a key." I said slowly and firmly. The clef slowly began morphing and twisting.

"-! The hell!?" Dylan yelled again and stepped back.

"Think of this as ANOTHER proof." I said and laughed a little.

I inserted the now-turned-key clef into the hole and turned it, and sure enough, the lock opened.

I slowly pushed the door open and the butterfly fluttered inside and up the stairway. I quikly followed it and pulled my self up trough the hole in the end of the staircase. The attic was dark and smelled of dust, but you could make out some old boxes and books. I saw the butterfly flying towards the other end of the room and quikly followed it.

Dylan wasn't far behind me.

He walked next to me and stared at the butterfly.

"Ok, now this is freaky." He said quietly as the butterfly suddenly vanished in thin air with a bright flash of white light.

I took a couple of steps forward and looked around and suddenly noticed that all the dust on the floors and boxes and shelves slowly began to rise and move towards the point where the butterfly had vanished.

"Um, Dylan..." I said and turned to look at him.

"Yea? What is it?" He said and looked around.

"I think... You should leave the attic, now, if you don't want want to end up FAR away from here and never be able to return..."

"What?!" Dylan yelled and stepped back.

The dust was already flying like there was a giant vacuum in the other end of the room. I covered my eyes and Dylan did the same. The same white light came back, and it was so bright that I couldn't see anything. I suddenly felt like my body was lifted up into air and a bit by bit it began to go numb. Slowly I began to lose consiousness and I couldn't hear anything going on around me anymore.

'Blaine. I'm coming back to you!'

Chapter 2: The Return

My eyes were stinging. I could see that where ever I was, it was bright. I slowly opened my eyes and breathed in deeply, but I accidentally breathed in sand.

I coughed loudly and sat up rubbing my eyes. As my eyes settled I looked around. I was sitting on sand and next to me was a part of a stone wall.

I shook my head and slowly stood up, cleaning some of the sand off of my pants.

'Where is this...? This place looks so familiar, but I just can't remember...' I tought and sighed slightly. Well, atleast I was back, and that's what's important.

"Ow my head..." I heared someone mumble. I quikly turned around and stepped back.

"Dylan!?" I exclaimed and ran to him. He was sitting on the ground not too far away from me holding his head.

"Where the hell is this place?" He questioned while I helped him up.

"Uhm... Well..." I mumbled and scratched my cheek.

"Welcome to Esperia!" I said and spread my arms while turning around.

"Oh my god..." Dylan said quietly and walked towards the stone wall.

"We really are here. This- This isn't a dream!" He said and rubbed the wall with his hand.

"So you were telling the truth..." He whispered and turned towards me.

"Yea, told you a thousand times, you wouldn't believe me. I wouldn't have believed it either though." I said and walked next to the wall too.

"So, where are we exactly?" Dylan asked and looked up towards the top of the wall.

"I know this place... I just can't remember-" I said quietly and walked around the wall.

My eyes went big as I saw the scenery. Dozens of destroyed houses and other buildings, empty streets full of sand and dust.

"This is... It can't be!"

I ran back past the wall and looked at the whole scene from a distance, there was a part of a large stone arc on the other end of the broken wall.

"This is that one city that Blaine and I had to go around! I remember that arc!"

Dylan looked at me astonished.

"So you know where we are?" He asked and looked at the broken buildings.

"Yes, I do... But what on earth happened here...?"

Then suddenly the tought hit me.

"Oh no... Blaine! Is he alright!? I hope nothing bad has happened...!"

I quikly opened my backpack and checked if everything I needed was still in there, and luckily everything was.

I stood up and determinedly threw the backpack on my shoulder. I walked past the walls and the arc and looked around, there was a building with a half fallen sign saying "bakery" on the left side of the street.

I quikly ran inside while Dylan walked behind me looking confused.

"You sure look to be in a hurry... What are you planning on doing?"

I found some dry bread from the back of the bakery, they were still edible so I wrapped up as many I could in a cloth and stuffed them in my backpack.

"We have to go to the village of the Leurs... Now!" I said with a serious tone as I fitted the final few loaves of bread in the bag.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Dylan exclaimed and shook his arms in the air.

"We? This is all happening too fast! First, I pick up a stranger on the street and he happens to magically transport me to a fairytale world, and now you want me to come with you to some primitive village full of lion people!?"

I just glared at Dylan and then sighed.

"They're not lion people, they're Leurs... And I tryed to tell you to leave the room... Look, I have to get to Blaine as soon as possible, and it seems you now have no choise but to follow me, unless you want to be left alone in this world you don't know too much about."

Dylan stayed quiet for a short while then sighed heavily. He got a table cloth from the nearby table and shook all the dust off of it.

"I guess you're right." He said and started wrapping up some more bread in the cloth.

After we were done gathering all the food we could carry we began walking along the path towards east.

"The rainforest isn't far from here at all, when we get over that large hill there, we'll be able to see the edge already." I said and pointed forward.

"I see..." Dylan said quietly and looked up.

"Something on your mind?" I asked and tilted my head.

Dylan glanced at me.

"There are LOADS of things going on in my head right now, considering our... Or rather my situation. You've been here before so I guess you don't find this place so strange anymore." He said and shook his head a little.

"Yea, a stupid question..." I said and rubbed the back of my neck.

I closed my eyes and lowered my head a little.

'Please Blaine, be alright...'

"So... What's he like?" Dylan suddenly asked. I opened my eyes and looked at him

"Who?"

"Your mate, Blaine. What's he like?" He asked again.

"You didn't really tell too much about him when you told your story."

"Oh him..." I muttered and blushed a little bit.

"Well, like I said, he's a Leur. He's very strong and um... big! He's about 6 and a half feet tall too. He has the most beautiful and hypnotizing deep blue eyes and..."

I wandered off into my toughts as I watched the fluffy clouds above us in the blue sky.

Dylan tilted his head and snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Oh! Sorry! Yea, he's very handsome and all... And... Altho his exterior might seem intimidating or mean looking to some, I know he's the kindest and most gentle person I've ever met, he really does have his softer side too, altho he might not show it to everyone." I said and turned to look at Dylan with a smile on my face.

"Oh...?" He said sounding interested.

"He sounds like a nice guy." He continued and looked forward.

"He is!" I said and laughed.

"Hey! We're already here!" I said rather surprised. We were already on top of the great hill and the edge of the large rainforest could be seen in a distance.

"See, there it is, their village is hidden in that rainforest." I said getting all exited.

The conversation of Blaine had somehow gotten my hopes up, and I didn't want to think that something might have happened to him.

"So what are we still standing here for? Let's go!" Dylan exclaimed and rose his fist up high while starting to run downhill.

"Hey wait up!" I shrieked and ran after him.

We ran all the way to the bottom of the great hill. Dylan had stopped to catch his breath when I cought up with him.

"We shouldn't waste our energy." I said while breathing heavily.

"Yea yea, you're probably right." Dylan huffed and straightened his posture.

"So tell me again... Where's the village exactly?" He asked and looked at me.

"Heh, you'll see it then. It's pretty amazing I assure you." I said and smiled.

The sun had already begun to set when we finally arrived at the edge of the rainforest.

I looked around and tryed to seek out something that'd look familiar, but of course, with no result. This was a rainforest afterall.

"Hm... I'm pretty sure it was this way..." I said and made my way past the thick bushes.

"Pretty sure...?" Dylan asked with a worried tone.

"Yes. The last time I was here, Blaine led me to the village, but I think I know where to look." I grinned.

Dylan was silent for a while and then huffed.

"Alright, but if we get lost it's your fault." He said and huffed.

"Ah, don't worry." I declared and marched onward.

"There it is!" I exclamed when I saw the large tree a short distance away. The sun had already set completely and it was night time.

"Finally..." Dylan sighed and ran after me.

I stopped at the large hole in the tree and peeked inside.

"Alright, follow me." I said and clumsily climbed trough the hole.

Dylan jumped in right after me and looked up.

"Whoa... A staircase!" He admired and ran to the first few steps.

"You haven't seen anything yet." I said and laughed. After saying that I began running as fast as I could. I was almost there, I was just a few moments away from seeing Blaine again.

"Hey! Don't rush!" I heared Dylan yell behind me but I subconciously ignored him.

I almost jumped from inside the tree-stairway to the village with a bright smile on my face.

"I'm back!" I shouted and looked around. There was no one at sight and I began to panic a little.

"Blaine!? Anyone!?" I shouted again and walked a few steps forward.

Just then Dylan entered the village.

"Holy hell..." He said gasping for air behind me. He looked around his eyes glistening with exitement.

"Hellooooo!?" I yelled from the bottom of my lungs. Then suddenly I heared distant voices, speetch...?

"What on earth, at this hour...?" A familiar peaceful and graceful voice mumbled a short distance away.

My eyes shot open as I saw her.

"Ro- Rozaline?" I said and walked forward. She stared at me for a while then ran towards me.

"Michael!? It really is you!" She cryed out as she came to me. She captured me in a strong embrace before letting me go.

"Michael you're really back, it's so great to see you're alright!" She said and held my shoulders. She suddenly stopped and turned to look at Dylan.

"Eh heh.. Hi." He said awkwardly.

Rozaline turned to look at me.

"And who is this?" She asked and glanced at Dylan.

"I'll explain later, Rozaline. Listen, where's Blaine? I have to see him." I explained and looked in Rozaline's eyes with a serious look on my face.

Her face suddenly went a little dark and she turned to look away slowly.

"Wh- what. What's wrong?" I asked with a shaky voice.

Rozaline sighed and took my hand.

"You two, come with me, to the chiefs house. I will explain everything..." She said plainly and began to lead us towards Mosuke's house.

When we entered trough the textiled fabrics set to cover the entrance I immediately looked around. Familiar faces were all around, but not the one I was looking for. Raynald was there, Mosuke was there and so was Jaze too. They all stared at me surprised and maybe a little shocked.

"Michael?" Raynald said warily and I just settled to nod slightly.

"Where's Blaine?" I asked firmly and didn't move a muscle. Raynald walked to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry Michael, but... Blaine's not here." He said quietly.