A whole day had passed as Apricus persisted in preparing in various ways for the mission. He went over maps and acquired various items and tools he may need, even asking for information about the village, although it seemed like everyone really hated Sipea Village. Until finally evening neared, as the sun inched closer to the ground, setting the sky in a crimson blaze.
Crimson red hair fluttered in the wind enhanced by the sun itself, as Apricus finally reached Fancy Eats, and there he saw a breathtaking young lady, a cute face enchanted by the glow of the sun, ginger red hair kept in a half up half down, emerald eyes glowing as they spotted Apricus, and large breasts pulling the white tee she wore outwards with black trousers she was indeed quite pleasing towards the eye. As Apricus realized he had unintentionally matched with Tyche, he approached when she spoke up in a gentle voice, a hint of accent behind it.
"Oh! Apricus we're matching!"
Apricus chuckled as he nodded. "Seems like we are, so where do you wish to go?"
Tyche smiled. "Well there is this amusement park near the southern border of the city, I hoped we could try it out?"
Apricus nodded as he let Tyche lead the way. That was when Tyche spoke once again.
"You know it was a surprise when you asked me out, caught me off guard."
Apricus smiled as he responded. "Really why? You're plenty cute."
Tyche blushed with a shy smile. "Well it was out of the blue, quite random as well, and it was perfect timing. I was actually hoping to get certain attention."
Apricus lingered on a few certain words as he spoke. 'A certain attention.'
"Well sorry about that, I was hoping to take it slow but my friend wasn't about to let me go that easy."
Tyche chuckled. "It's quite alright. I'm actually quite happy you asked me."
Apricus nodded with a smile, slowly touching hands with Tyche, until their fingers slowly interlocked. Apricus wasn't as flustered while Tyche looked down with a shy smile on her face. They were both seemingly almost adults so their emotional intelligence was high enough for them both to skip ahead a few stages.
As they talked under the evening sun a romantic atmosphere radiated over them, filling them with warmth and calmness they hadn't felt in a while. "That makes you a year older than me it seems."
Tyche chuckled, answering in a teasing manner "seems like I got pulled in by a child."
Apricus was slightly shocked, stumbling with words. "What no, I'm only 17 I'm no child!"
This caused Tyche to giggle even more until her tone became ever so slightly serious. "Hey Apricus, tell me, why does your personality and behaviour still seem to switch around so much, it almost feels fake. From what I could tell, soul users are immune to diseases, conditions and certain health problems, so why does it?"
Time seemed to have slowed down for Apricus as his eyes opened wide in shock, he considered his words for a moment as he glanced at her, however just then the tense and strange atmosphere was broken as Tyche suddenly exclaimed. "Oh hey! It's the amusement park, we're finally here!"
This caused Apricus to be broken from thought as he nodded, following Tyche as they both seemingly and suddenly forgot what had just happened, or chose to forget.
Following Tyche into the amusement park. His eyes flickered as he spoke.
"So tell me Act, who sent you."
Tyche simply froze, it was her turn to be shocked with wide open eyes.
As she stuttered. "What are you-"
This time Apricus roared while his hands ignited on fire. "Don't play dumb, or I'll kill you. Your memory games can't do shit to me."
That's when Tyche chuckled. "Oh you poor boy it already has done shit to you, and it seems like you still seem shaken by your family, don't worry though I'm here to fix i-"
Then Apricus moved, piercing Tyche in her chest using his bare hands with quick speed and shocking her, however what came out was not blood but pure aura, as it dispersed Apricus thought to himself with dark eyes and a grim and angered look.
'A soul clone, damn it she seems she still loves that soul technique. But was Genso in on it? No he couldn't be unless he knows.'
With a displeased sound, Apricus's body turned bright red as he called out. "Burning Flight" then with fierce speed he turned into a red dot in the sky traveling towards Sipea Village, unfortunately this was not fast enough for Genso as he appeared right in front of Apricus. So he spoke in a grainy voice.
"Where do you think you're going boy? You're supposed to go with Balwork."
A grin appeared on Apricus's face as he said in a dark voice. "Sure, send him right now or I'll leave without him."
Genso nodded as another one of him appeared behind Apricus, this clone however held an unconscious Balwork.
"Don't do anything stupid Apricus, you may regret it."
Apricus took Balwork, nodding with a dark face then continued his flight, thinking to himself. 'Damn it, I get out of that hell hole and suddenly forget what the world treated me like.'
So Apricus travelled and travelled, thinking about various things and regretting others. 'Tch I needed to do a couple other things before I left, but I couldn't risk staying there any longer with that witch being near.'
Half a while of travelling and seeing white clouds Apricus finally saw a large brown landscape, inclining upwards the more he travelled until it finally became flat with hills on the surface. As he landed, easing dust in the air with Balwork on his back, he realized it was a mix of some strange stone and sand causing him to take an irritated sigh as he continued his journey walking.
After a while night fell embracing the world in a blanket of darkness, that was when Apricus stopped and dropped Balwork on top of a large hill, sitting down cross legged as two large backpacks suddenly appeared in his hand, which he dropped, as he took out camps, blankets, food, water, and various other things. Setting up the area to be decently nice and relaxing for a nights stay. As Apricus sat on a stone while watching fly fishes grill on top of a fire, he looked over at the Balwork who was still unconscious. 'Should I kill this kid? But Genso may have measures for that, and entering that Village is too dangerous with that accursed witch messing with minds.'
Irritated Apricus took a bite of the flying fish in his hands as he looked up at the illuminating moon, cursing its presence when suddenly it simply disappeared.
The moon, its illumination, and its presence had all simply vanished under Apricus's very eyes.