Daniela couldn't help but hide her own bewilderment, unrealised at the fact she had went with a stranger for simply the fact that he had helped her. 

"You read too many novels," he spoke in low hush. 

At these words, she peered at him. 

She watched him carefully, not because he was seen as a threat, but rather because she wanted to. 

No other reason. 

Why was she this drawn, this pulled by someone she had just met, going so far as to please and tease him with her child-like charm. 

Love at first sight? 

The idea seemed fascinating, but she did little to agree with that idea. 

Daniela muttered out a late reply, "Maybe... I do..." 

"We all do, but my colleagues tell me I'm too old to be reading children's romance." 

'?!'

This piece of information was quite surprising. 

The intimidating man read novels, and romance at that?!

'By the way he had referred to it as children's romance, it could only mean he read young-adult.'

She concluded based on the piece of information she had obtained, like a detective digging for answers. 

"Single," she hushed, and turned away, unwilling to meet his gaze. 

"You little—"

The word once more had the desired effect; "a reply."

He paused, deciding not to indulge the little girl with her questions. 

They continued through the garden. 

A certain silence loomed around, which Martin broke, saying, "We're here."

He raised his hand, gesturing at a nearby tree past a broken metal gate, cracked walls and torn grounds. 

It was a tree with red leaves, which seemed to shine bright. 

Almost contradicting the alive leaves above were the dry and crumbled leaves on the ground, some whole, some broken. 

She soon felt her gaze moving towards the small architecture below the tree; a small fountain, with one metre radius. 

Unlike the cracked area around her, the fountain was alright, but the distributer, tuning, and tiers were broken. 

Running a hand through the polished surface of the spider web like crack marred stone, she sat down. 

At that moment, she felt a phantom gaze, sharp and piercing. 

She turned to meet the gaze, only to be met with another pair of ruby eyes. 

The red eyes felt tender, his expression felt tender. 

It seems like he had been waiting some time to show this beautiful place to someone. 

"This looks great," Daniela said, ever so nonchalant. 

He waited a moment before replying. 

"It is," he continued, a small grin around his lips, "but are you sure you're not telling it to simply make me feel good?" 

"I do not make such careless comments," she replied. 

She did mean it. 

Rose was not one to utter empty words, she had always placed great emphasis on words. 

[Once spoken, not to be taken back. That is my rule.]

Her own words came to her mind. 

'That was kind of cringe.' 

She thought back, positioning herself around the spider web like cracked marble fountain. 

The polished stone seemed to have had lost its smooth edge. 

Running her finger over the coarse surface felt similar to a grindstone. 

She eyed the small architecture, and noticed it had the cracks plaguing it at certain intervals. 

With this details on her mind, she looked around, only to find similar cracked mark around on all of the well laid out stone pathways. 

"What happened to this place?" 

She turned to face the tree with the red leaves, noticing the nasty gnash that made the inner bark visible. 

The mark was not fresh, the inner bark seemed to have assimilated with the external bark, but if one stared at it, the difference was easily discernible. 

'Something seemed to have struck it,' she looked at it longer. 

"A Rift. There was rift break here, about fifty years ago." 

He walked to scarred tree, placing a hand on it. 

"A rift..." 

Rift's are cracks though which beings of unknown origins emerged from another world, beings known as 'Eonborn.'

"Of course, I wasn't even born at that time, but my uncle told me all about it."

He slid his hand through the bark, a small blue hue covered the tip of his long fingers. 

The colour resonated with the silver and black rings on his middle and ring fingers, respectively. 

"This place was never restored?" 

It was strange, there were no signs of settlement, maybe a tourist spot? 

"The effects of rifts are spontaneous and dangerous. This was a small rural area, but along with appearance of the rift, the town disappeared."

The words came out heavy. 

"Disappeared without a trace? I've heard of this before, structures disappearing, like they were never there."

She recalled a scene from the novel, a town that had disappeared from the map, Kanor. 

Martin raised a brow before turning to her, "How do you know about that?" 

The charismatic gaze disappeared, replaced by one of scepticism. 

'Ah... shit! It would be pretty strange if I knew about this. I can't tell him I'm the Princess, right?' 

"Well...uh...my father," she cleared her throat, bringing her curled up fist close to her mouth, "...told me about a case, h-he works at the...palace." 

His sceptic expression softened, but it did not disappear completely. 

"I see." 

"What is that blue light around your fingers?" 

She pointed at the fingers that were in contact with the tree bark. 

"Oh! You saw that?"

He expressed his surprise, never having thought the girl would notice it. 

"I'm not blind you know." 

Placing the soles of her boot the other way, she turned to the water, dipping her finger. 

The water rippled, sending miniscule waves across the now disturbed surface. 

"It's called 'Force,' you might have heard about it." 

"Force...wait! Did you just say 'Force'?!" 

Her eyes widened at his words, but before she could look at him, the red leaves that seemed dark in the reflection turned deep crimson. 

The reflection seemed like the sky had turned deep red. 

She looked up to notice all the leaves had indeed turned deep crimson red. 

Daniela muttered absentmindedly, "Beautiful!" 

"Straight out of a novel?" He asked, a tint of teasing edged around his voice. 

"Maybe," she shot him a sharp glance. 

Their ruby red eyes met, before her eyes shifted over to his hand still on the bark of the tree, but the blue hue, now deeper, continued to flow from his palms into the tree. 

"So, force, huh? Your a pretty bigshot." 

She commented on the blue energy. 

Martin made a simple gesture with his hand.  

When Mana and Qi successfully condensed, it formed the fluid energy known as Force. 

But this only happened if the awakener, was able to breakthrough to the Sixth-star, a difficult milestone. 

The number of Six-stars in the entire continent of Aurumae were minimal, something below forty. 

This was one of the reasons Daniela was surprised to see Martin wielding Force. 

'Blue hue, black hair, this guys looks familiar.'

She tried to remember, but it was hard to distinguish him from the numerous characters she had read of. 

She got up, dusting off her black pant, "So, Mister Bigshot, what's our next—ouch!"

A sharp sting hit her ankle, falling headfirst to the stone floor. 

—Thump

But, she fell against the soft fabric of the bright red shirt, her hand alongside her head feeling the soft flesh behind the red shirt. 

"Are you alright?" 

The voice came in, welcoming, sweet and warm, just as she had imagined. 

"Um...yes." 

Her cheeks flushed, but Daniela tried to cover it and stand up, but she slipped once more, landing on him again. 

"It seemed like you sprained your ankle."

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he guided her back over to the fountain to sit. 

"Let me see." 

He kneeled down, and firmly picked up her left foot, inspecting it. 

He looked at her leg. 

Taking a deep breath, he pressed around few spots. 

Every action was controlled and maintained as he placed a tapped on specific spots around her leg before sending a small amount of the blue energy to her ankle. 

'Ah! It's cool...it's filling. I can feel the pain go down.'

She glared at her foot which no longer seemed to hurt her. 

But when she tried to stand up, she felt her balance slip once more. 

"Careful now. I used a little force to keep it together, you shouldn't be walking yet." 

Martin said, his expression more controlled, but with a small tint of worry. 

Noticing this, Daniela couldn't help but chuckle, "Hahahaa!"

"What's funny?" 

"No. It's nothing."

She waved him off, before looking down. 

"How am I supposed to go back if i can't walk?"

"That can be arranged." 

He turned, still kneeling, showing his back. 

"Are you—"

"Yes." 

"Bu—"

"No complaints."

_________________________