Outside The Rain

Under the sheltered metal roofs of certain housing, Claire watched the stranger walking away in his large beige trench coat. The rain became more severe, clanking noises getting louder as the rain grew heavier during the time passed. She found it strange that from the intense rain that the man only walked. Who goes to a meeting intentionally wet? She thought, deciding to follow him because of her curiousity. Walking outside the cover, Claire already felt dragged by the rain, drenching her clothes by the weather. Strong winds resisted her from getting closer to the direction the man called David Esterton was going. However Claire prevailed in her attempt, holding out her hand pulling his trench coat down to signal that she was right behind him.

He turned his back and raised his eyes only to find Claire combating the storms with much struggle and covered her with his trench coat.

"What are you doing? First you are all alone at some dead end street and now you aren't finding shelter from the storm?"
"And you were going to just leave me at a dead end without taking care of someone who might have been lost?" Claire retaliated.

"Okay, no need to get angry. I was in a hurry." The man said putting his arms forward towards Claire's direction shaking them, fingers spread wide apart.

"It's okay… What are you doing out in the rain just walking anyways? It's pouring like crazy and you are here just walking?" The man laughed. "Wearing a trench coat and walking slowly makes me feel cool. As if I'm a solitary warrior or a free spirit. It's the ultimate detective gear that was in the Sherlock Holmes limited edition magazine subscriptions that I got by mail." The man then grabbed something out of his pocket and pulled it towards Claire's face. "It even came with its magnifying glass and barrette! Isn't that great?" the man said hysterically, very proud of his collection of items. Claire remained confused about the man's obscurity over collector's items, but let out a little smile as she thought of him as ridiculous.

"Hey are you making fun of me with that smile? I might be apart of the Magic Alliance, but I'm a huge fan of detective shows."

Claire laughed. "It's funny how magic disregards personality all together. It's strange, you waltz around as a doctor to those with magical prowess, yet you like collectors items from magazine subscriptions?" As she said this, it's as if the rain had never been there, though it was still raining hectically like before.

"The magic alliance… Where is it located? And the curse… What did you do to me before?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, "You tell me." He said, pulling out a mirror from his pockets from his so called "Detective's coat" waving it around Claire's face, particularly around the eyes.

"Stop it, keep it still! I'm trying to see." The man then kept the mirror still, Claire looked towards it, her purple eyes gone and with her natural green eyes replacing the purple.
"The purple eyes… They are gone!"

The man nodded his head. "I put a temporary stop on the curse, so you are able to not feel the curse's symptoms or succumb to the curse's punishment. I'm not going to lie to you, but magical beings who have defied the Magic Empress Mystic have received and died from that curse."
"Died? What happens to them?" Claire asked, her eyes widening and her face gasping for air from the shock. "They are overrun by the darkness, which is evident from the shattered darkness that is contained within purple eyes, the symptom. What the purple eye indicates is that your mentality is losing all signs of humanity and eventually you either experience death or having no conscious, only inside you a hatred of this world that's indicated by the final stage: red eyes, where they only become murdering criminals who kill whoever blocks their path. The curse also provides them powers of malice and destruction, making any effected by the curse natural killers." The man then paused and looked to Claire deeply. "I'm surprised, why would a young girl like you be a target of Mystic's curse? And how on Earth did you receive it? You can only get it by confronting Mystic herself and her casting it on you."

Claire thought about telling the truth, telling the man that she was the Fated Star's Child but she wanted to conceal it. She thought it was too confidential and it would attract more attention towards the man and the Magic Alliance.

"I don't know how I got it… But I'm scared. You're a doctor, isn't there a cure for this curse… I'm afraid a friend of mine has got the same thing."
"No I'm sorry. There isn't a cure for it. We can only temporary stop it for those that suffer from it, but you should really live your life, because it's only soon that the temporary pause will stop and you will eventually experience the symptoms again."

Claire's tears started to fall on face, it was hard to tell with the rain, but the man saw easily how much she was upset.

"Don't worry, the people at the Magic Alliance are sure to find a cure for you, your friend and anyone else that's been effected. You can count on it."
Claire started to look up and gained a little optimism. "Thank you… So much."

The man smiled looking towards two figures of shadow appearing to run towards them. "No worries. Anyways I think your friends are here… Claire."
Claire looked towards the two figures, which appeared to be both a teenage girl and a large muscular man.

"It's Andre and May. They are here! But how did they find me?"
"I'm off! Hopefully I can still make it for my meeting. I'm very late." The man said walking to the other direction. Claire instantly turned around, but found that the man had already disappeared. The road was narrow, with much space and no buildings to the side so he couldn't have ran or hid really quickly. She looked up and didn't see any figures flying… So where could he be?

"Hey, there you are! Why did you run off? Where were you planning to go?" Andre asked, panting.
"I know! We were worried sick about you. Adrian and Lisa had another fight, Lucy isn't feeling well and Socrates is doing all he can to make everything all better!" May said, almost as if she was screaming her lungs out.

"Another fight? Is Adrian okay?" Claire said, in shock.

"We've kept them at different hotel rooms, but Socrates is using his magic so they don't fight again."

Claire looked down at the wet pavement. "I'm sorry… It's my fault isn't it? I just… I just wasn't using my head when I ran off. It was almost if my mind wasn't there at all."
"Well it wasn't! Tomorrow is the hiking trail, we better be prepared for it and we need to get some rest. Some time to get us all worried!" May shouted.

"May, you are being a bit to harsh on her… She's really sorry." Andre said, looking towards Claire and giving her a weak smile.

"I know…" May said repentant of her accusation. "But it's been hard and I'm pretty sure Claire sees how difficult things have been on the group."
May put both hands on the side of her hips and then later smiled. "Lets get out of the rain, it's making my hair all messy!"

Claire and Andre smiled and made their way to the hotel. Claire looking back, wanted to know who that mysterious man was, but she felt as if she was never to find out. But, she no longer fell depressed when she couldn't find an answer, because she knew that she would eventually find it soon.

Morning was so bright; it shone through the curtains of the hotel rooms. Lucy threw her pillows to the opposite wall of her bed, angered by the sun interrupting her dream of a pure romance. May shared the same room; already awake saw the catastrophic anger that was of Lucy whenever a good dream of hers was interrupted.

"Why does every nice dream that I have to always end abruptly by the stupid sun." Lucy shouted out, her head under a pillow drowned in a sea of blankets.

"So what, the sun is your arch nemesis. I don't suppose you were having those dreams as if you have just met your Mr Perfect like in those romantic comedy movies."

Lucy remained silent and then pulled herself out of her bed, rubbing her eyes and then looking towards May who was again brushing her teeth. "Am I that predictable?" Lucy said grinning towards May, they both falling into laughter. To make matters worse, May almost chocked on the toothpaste making an amusing sound that added more to their laughter. Those that lived on each side of their hotel room could hear the laughter, even through the thick walls that serve as soundproof boundaries.

They regrouped with the rest of the ensemble, making their way towards the Inca Trail and then, as if in a flash set their first steps on the Inca Trail.

Lisa couldn't hold in her excitement and jumped around as she set foot on the Inca Trail. "Isn't it exciting that we're actually stepping on the trail of the Ancient Incans? I mean to get a grasp of the atmosphere, it's amazing and surreal."

"It's just a foot path we are taking to a bunch of ruins, there's nothing exciting about that." May said with no interest.

"You wouldn't understand May. Just think of it as a clothes store for historians and those who wish to educate themselves about the past!" Lisa replied.

"Something's definitely changed her, I've never seen her this excited for anything before." Andre wondered.

"Don't worry Andre, it's the happy pills that I made her take after I cleared her memory." Socrates joked, Andre laughing after his comment. Mark had a few marks of cuts on his clothes Claire realized, but as she saw, Mark witnessed her and then wrapped himself around a dark black cape, which he was wearing in preparation of the hike. Lucy grabbed hold of Adrian as she had injured her ankle and had difficulty walking.

"We kept telling her not to wear her high heels but she just wouldn't listen!" Andre told the tour guide. The tour guide, laughed as he walked along with the group during the hike about their responses towards the hike. Whenever there was an uphill steep, the group would furiously get frustrated and noise our yells of misery that would be echoed all over the areas of the trail. Downhill was no better either, as May who held Socrates often tripped dropping Socrates on the ground. As much as Socrates wanted to voice out his pain, he remained silent occasionally scratching May with his paws to his irritation.

It took about 3 days to reach the Machu Picchu ruins, but already the group lost their enthusiasm, apart from Lisa who grew merry in delight as she wandered with her eyes looking at the beautiful scenery. It was picturesque, all the green merged with the misty clouds of white, she could already see other high picks shrouded in white mist adding a sense of mystery and enchantment to her eyes.

Through all the cloudy weather, Lisa's eyes truly shined the brightest out of everything around her, while the trail left everyone else disgruntled. And finally… They had reached their destination: Machu Picchu.