Running, running very fast, faster. Everytime faster because she needed to leave. There was so many things that she was leaving behind and it wasn't only negative but particular postive was something else. There were many reasons why she was leaving. There were many things that she didn't want to see again. For one there was the Guild of Phantom Lord. She didn't mind the members, Yami and Bianca was alright too. But she hadn't met many others and definitely didn't see a reason to stay for only people.

Alice had always been a person to be on her own but no longer since she got her little pet and friend Ophelia. Now it was but a baby and definitely needed some education but it was very interesting to how close she got to the Cleffa that she called Ophelia. She had never wanted to be close to anyone but it all changed when she bumped into her cousin. There was still a lot of time when she doubted Selena, how would she knew that she was her cousin? Alice couldn't remember or well not much. There were things there, the moment she heard Selena explain something but they only met twice, that wasn't enough times to understand, to remember, to know.

Alice and Ophelia had left in the early morning, it was right before dawn that she had lifted Ophelia in her small little backpack and another bag of her shoulder. The rest she had either sold or stowed into her dimensional pocket which came with the magic that she was able to use. Or well for as long as she would call it magic, the only thing she was able to do was summon and stow things in an invisible dimensional pocket. That's where she now held some books and her straight spear, some food but that was it. It wasn't actually made for that but she didn't care for now. Otherwise it would be impossible to carry everything, which it already was, it was painful to leave books behind. She had left them in the library.

As she prepared to get out of the town, she was getting more and more nervous. The tension in her body was completely back and it made her almost nauseous. That's when she started to run, which was a difficult job when you had two bags and one contained a living being. But Ophelia didn't make a complaining sound so it was alright, she even started to hum and when Alice calmed down and stopped running, she joined the humming that was familiar and so calmed her down.

"I heard there was a sacred chord.
David played and it pleased the lord.
But you don't really care for music, do ya?"

She started singing once she left the forest around Oak, there was still the tension, yet a sense of calm coming over her. Ophelia seemed to be glad about her singing and Alice couldn't help but smile as she switched her backpack to her stomach, so she and Ophelia could look at each other and thus use interaction.

It would be an eleven day journey which was the longest she had made. From Crocus to Baska had taken eight days and besides, at that time she had been alone. She should definitely fix her endurance and hold on. Sure there were moments that you had to rest but Alice didn't plan to sit and wait for accidents to happen. For bandits to pick her up, to call her a whore or anything else of the sort of adventures that she had participated in. She didn't feel like doing any of that at the moment.

~

It was halfway through her journey, six days had passed and she was dead tired but not even there. The songs were over and done with, the nightmares gone, Ophelia sleeping. She couldn't really think of anything to do or say to keep herself motivated. Finally she sat down against a tree and took a nap. Which wasn't that easy but it happened sooner than she had anticipated. She woke up with a startle when someone woke her up. She cursed under her breath for the idiot thing she had done. However the man simply invited her and her pet for dinner. She looked around and seemed to have slept longer than she had wanted. With a suspicious feeling she followed the man and ended up in a weaponary shop. She looked left and right and actually let go of the suspicion. It felt great to look at the weapons. She put Ophelia on the ground and wandered around the store. She and the Cleffa joined the man for dinner and they talked about the weapons he made and sold. In the end she bought one of the haunted blades from him. He wanted to have it out of his shop and she was willing to help him. He told her everything he knew about the blade and she thanked him for the food. She picked up Ophelia and stored the Haunted Blade in her dimensional pocket and left the store with a happy feeling. She waved the man goodbye and thanked him one more time.

Yet there needed to be more travelling and five more days. Alice wondered out loud sometimes to herself why she had been so stupid to pick a town so far away. There had been reasons, and yet, she stared to doubt herself. But she would continue because it would be some sort of automatic pilot right now. She had followed the man his instructions to work with her new weapon, the haunted blade and use the spells. Especially when she fell into traps of bandits. It was easy to hit and see the effect that the sword had on people. There were probably better swords but she liked the katana a lot.

It wasn't that far anymore when she arrived at the eleventh day. She could see the city Marigold already in some ways, the road was getting better. There were merchants on the street and traders. They all were very friendly to her, which was a 180 on the behavior of the people in Oak. She could only raise her eyebrow and mutter thanks. The city was so close and the steps to arrive got more and more heavy. Ophelia was walking in front of her and even the little pet could take more steps than Alice could but she would have to continue anyway. When she finally arrived, it was around midday but she was too tired and too hungry to worry about the right times. She went to get a place at an inn that was called the Crossroad and ate the last of her ration before she simply fell asleep. She had no idea if the room was Ophelia safe but she kept her hand around the Cleffa hoping the pet wouldn't be able to leave the bed.

1185 - 1100 = Arrival in Marigold