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Chapter 2: A fateful encounter
Drake seemed to fall for an eternity before the dreamworld faded away and released him into the real one. His whole body was drenched in sweat, his heart was pounding as if he'd run a marathon and his head seemed like it was about to explode. He'd never felt this awful before and was incapable of standing up, so he just rolled out of his bed and crashed to the ground.
One might assume that Drake's condition had something to do with his meeting in the dreamworld but at least the headache was solely his fault, as could be extrapolated by all the empty beer bottles littering the ground. Emily might have only turned 16 but celebrations like these were rare in a village like Arlin, offering party-goers the perfect excuse to get drunk, especially because Lester, the owner of the pub, was a bit too generous with the amount of alcohol he offered.
“Drake, are you okay?!” asked a worried voice from the bed. Seems like his fall had woken up Emily, who had stayed behind to help clean up the house in the morning. Of course that's only part of the reason as she could have done so without staying behind, seeing as her house was right around the corner.
“My...head...”, is all that Drake managed to utter before he vomited on the carpet.
“I warned you that this would happen if you drink too much! Wait a moment, I'll get a potion and something to clean up the floor.”
Her footsteps vanished in the distance while Drake crawled towards his desk to get away from the mess he made.
“If you don't manage to reach the tower before sunrise everything will be lost!”
The voice of the Alp resonated throughout his mind but in his current state Drake couldn't tell if he had actually met this mysterious person or if he was just a figment of his imagination. Not that it would have been easier to believe if he hadn't been hung over, so he would have to make sure if his father was actually gone or not. However, even such a simple task seemed impossible at the moment.
Emily returned soon after but Drake was too groggy to notice her, which led to a coughing fit because he didn't realize what was happening when she dribbled a potion down his throat.
“Come on, don't be such a baby!” she reprimanded him, concern for his well-being evident in her voice.
As soon as the coughing subsided she poured the rest of the bitter drink into his mouth and even though his stomach grumbled horribly he managed to prevent himself from puking a second time. His hangover didn't magically vanish from one second to the next but he was already on his feet in a matter of minutes and the world stopped spinning soon after. Of course there are substances that could have cured him instantly but no one in Arlin was proficient enough to brew such high-quality potions and buying them was completely out of the question, especially because the village was located in the middle of nowhere and driving across the bridge to Pagan would have taken hours.
Drake sat on his desk and watched Emily clean up the floor while trying to gather his thoughts. If his father had actually left in the middle of the night he would have to follow him as soon as possible without alerting Emily. She might not be much of a fighter but tended to win most of their arguments and would surely tag along if she suspected that anything was wrong.
Obviously there was still the possibility that nothing out of the ordinary had actually happened, even if his father had left the house. Maybe he was just out for a walk, reminiscing about his wife who had died during Drake's birth. Or maybe he was playing poker with the guards, who tended to fall asleep otherwise as nothing bad ever happened in the village.
However, the mere possibility that his father might be in danger was worrying enough. Drake had never seen magic with his own eyes but he didn't doubt that something like the Alp could actually exist.
“I think I'll get some fresh air. I'm still a bit dizzy.”, he said at last and got ready to leave.
“Seriously? You're going to let me clean up your mess on my birthday while you take a walk all by yourself?! You could at least wait for me!” she actually sounded a bit mad now.
“I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you! But it will only take a few minutes. No point in changing into your street clothes again.”
“I'll just take a coat then!” she said matter-of-factly and he knew that arguing would be pointless, so he just went downstairs, stealthily taking his sword with him as Emily went back to work.
As Drake reached the bottom of the stairs he noticed that something was missing: Opposite the door of the entrance hall was a beautiful display case, which normally contained an impressive piece of armor and a sword with a gorgeous golden hilt, both of which were gone now. Checking the bedroom seemed to be pointless but he did so anyway, only to find it empty. The bed appeared to be freshly made, as if no one had slept within it in since the previous night.
Did you really have to take your armor with you?! That makes it even more likely that this Alp told me the truth...
There was no time to waste but he still had to get rid of Emily. He might be able to leave the village before she was done but unless he managed to climb over the walls one of the guards would surely be able to tell her where he went. The bridge to the Paternity-Forest had collapsed years ago and no one had bothered to repair it so there were only three places where he could possibly go and all of them could be reached by going north, so that's all she would have to do if she wanted to catch up to him.
As Drake closed the bedroom door he lost control over his legs, forcing him to grip onto the door knob as hard possible to prevent himself from crashing to the floor again. He regained his footing seconds later but it was obvious that he still needed some time to recover...and with that thought in mind he smiled.
