NINA
And now we're back. Only now that they are gonna destroy the final resting place of my grandpa. Part of me is hesitant about all of this. I mean, as a woman who knew most of my life was an ordinary human, I find it hard to believe that grandpa is still alive. But a small part of me is shouting to me, shouting to my heart, that maybe grandpa is still alive.
My heart is holding on to that last bit of hope that Grandpa Bo is still alive. I miss him. I miss him so much.
"Nina," the chubby councilor said, which I now know goes by the name Choox. "Can we start now?"
I swallowed. I like how he asked for my opinion first. He's like showing respect to my feelings as well as the one who is buried here. I glanced at the two headstones beside my grandpa. Well Mom, Dad, here goes.
I nodded to him. And then he started his magic of removing the soil above my grandpa's coffin.
A couple of minutes, he finally reached it. Magic really makes everything easy. I jumped down and I was the one who opened the grave. What surprised me was an empty coffin.
"Where is grandpa?!" I shouted.
Choox held me and gently said, "Step aside. I'm going to check of magical traces."
I nodded absentmindedly. I really don't know what to think. Usually, when a human's body decayed inside the coffin, all its flesh is gone, leaving only the bones and some hard jewelry he wore during the burial. But this, the coffin is as pristine as a new one.
Someone has probably taken his body out to somewhere. Or maybe grandpa let himself out. But where could he have gone to? Does he not want to see me again?
I was out of my thoughts when Mage Choox said beside me, "There are magical traces. But I didn't detect any belonging to the Great Mage. The magic in here are lightning and spatial, and a little bit of healing magic."
As soon as we got back at the ground, I saw everyone thinking about what Mage Choox said. And being me, I blurted out, "Maybe someone took my grandpa away."
All eyes were on me then. Oh boy, such a huge mouth. And then, Mage Cindy, the mage with red hair said, "That's what we concluded. But who were they? Why did they take him? What's in it for them? Those are the questions we've been pondering on."
"Oh," was all I could say.
"Do you have enemy cities or group or what?" I asked after thinking about what Mage Cindy said.
"Many," Ren answered.
Another 'oh' was in order for me.
"Choox," the Great One broke the silence. "Dig around the parents' graves too."
I started to react, but thought the better of it. If grandpa was a mage, then mostly probably my dad was. Or maybe mom too?
I nodded to Mage Choox who was looking at me as if asking for permission.
My dad's coffin was in the same condition with my grandpa. It was very clean, but there are different magical signatures. While my grandpa's was lightning, spatial and healing, my dad's was fire, healing and spatial.
My mom's coffin on the other hand. were very disturbing. There were too much blood in it. Her bones didn't match the anatomical position. It was arranged in a very random way, as if someone took out and ate a chunk of flesh and threw the bones away.
Oh my god. Was my mom eaten?
Rage bubbled inside of my chest and all I wanted was to strangle and kill the one who did this to my mom.
As if I was poured with cold water, Ren burst out my rage bubble just by squeezing my shoulder. I breathed in to clear my mind and stay calm.
I looked at him gratefully and mouthed a sincere thank you.
Mage Choox finally returned the soil around my parents' and grandpa's grave and then we went back to Agrissi.
We were back in the Council House. The councilors were still silent, thinking about the implications of these huge discovery.
And I was very agitated about this silence. I mean why would you all go silent when you can just say your thoughts out loud to everyone? Many heads are better than one.
Urgh! This silence is killing me.
As if hearing my thoughts, Mage Albus took out a wisp from Mage Choox and shown to us what happened when he was there near the coffins. He replayed the scene in front of us many times before Mage Cindy asked, "Mage Choox, how strong were these signatures? And when did this happen?"
Mage Choox shook his head, "The signatures were there for a long time, probably right after they were buried. And seeing the blood in the woman's coffin, it might be just right after the burial. But I can faintly feel that there magic was on par with us Councilors. As for the case of Great Mage's coffin, I don't know. I can faintly feel the type of magic but the power, no."
"Wait wait. I think I have some idea. I remembered there were reports about people who tried digging my parents' grave. Someone sent me a picture and after that, I stationed guards around the area for one whole month. There was one incident when one of the patrolling teams mysteriously died of heart attack. I believe it was them. Here let me show you the photo."
I took out my phone and searched for the photo, which I passed among those who are present. When it reached to the Great One, he shown a light to it, enhancing the photo to the very last detail.
He looked at all of us, fear and worry evident on his wrinkled face.
"It's Asgard."