The woman stayed completely hidden in the shadows of the alleyway. I stood frozen on the damp cobblestones next to Reika.
My chest pounded with a dull and heavy; almost sharp ache from the cheap mana suppressors we bought earlier today.
They were clearly doing absolutely nothing to stop my draconic core from leaking all over the street.
The air pressure in the narrow passage kept changing in ways that made my ears pop. One second it felt like a physical boulder was sitting directly on my lungs, squeezing the oxygen out of me. The next second the pressure vanished completely, leaving behind a hollow vacuum that made me dizzy and sick to my stomach.
Reika leaned close to my shoulder. Her voice was barely a rough whisper. "I cannot track her. Her heartbeat is just gone. Then it comes back. Then it fades again."
That made my stomach drop into my boots. That should not be possible. Even high level monsters had a rhythm you could follow.
