In the main cathedral of the Guild, Igo propped himself against one of the many giant pillars supporting the grandiose structure. Compared to the lean and fit men and women walking the halls of the Guild, a slightly fat man like him stood out like a sore thumb. The only people who wandered the cathedral were either Guild Members or people related to them, so for there to be a man who looked like he could ever be a Guild Member based on his shape and wasn't going anywhere or waiting for anyone was peculiar indeed.
However, Igo was waiting for something. News; news from anyone no matter how bad or good. Just, news. News of the missing boy who had been gone for just over two weeks now. The missing boy Avo, Gulliver and Lucan were all looking for; but by now, most had given up.
The only one who still bothered looking was Avo, Gulliver thinking it irrational to look for a single boy that could never be found not just because of the amount of time he was missing for, but that even if they found a corpse it would be more than likely in ashes in one of those Lower Alandriel piles, and Lucan thinking it had been too long like Gulliver, now nonchalantly stumbling around Lower Alandriel with barely a scrap of hope left for the boy's safety.
Despair. A fitting word. A word that could not just explain this situation but the entire world. The entire world plunged into a deep vortex of despair, unable to see the light it once basked in. No saviour. No hero. Just... despair.
Although in that pool of anguish a single man withstood it all. A man who embraced that despair and engulfed himself with it. A man born in it; a man who thrives on it. A man who's reign of terror sends shivers down anyone's spine if they dare think of it. And that man now stood in the entrance to the Guild bearing news.
Igo had never seen Lucan so anxious or stressed in his entire life; nor had he ever been in such a rush. What news did he bear to make him run to the Guild? Good or bad? Any news would be adequate. Any news on that missing boy. Yet, it just so happened that the missing boy was that very news, and he was being cradled in Lucan's arms.
"Lu-Lanyon!" Igo screamed, panicked and loud enough for even those far away in the academy to hear. Lanyon had taken a leave from work in the academy in order to look for Daniel, with the last day of that leave being today as well as Victor looking over his class for him, "How is he?!"
"He's in dire straits. I can't even fathom how the boys still alive, " Lucan said alarmed, meeting Igo in the middle of the Guild hall, grabbing the attention of the Guild Members there and even some of the office workers in the back of the structure in addition to the tellers who organised transactions for Guild Member accounts, "We need to go to the infirmary and hope there's space for him; you know the place is always full."
"Got it. I'll grab the boy and try and keep him alive why you get a room in the infirmary, right?"
"Yeah, here," complied Lucan, handing over the half-alive half-in-smithereens boy to Igo.
"What on Alium-"
"Just try an' keep him alive; see you later!" issued Lucan, taking over command, as he ran at break-neck speed over to the right side of the Guild, and the infirmary. As per Igo's reaction, the boy was in a worse state than he had initially thought. Limbs falling apart at the seems, a completely bloodied and ruined face and a cold dead stare as if his eyes saw not the light that radiated the Guild halls. Daniel was, to say the least, in a state that could be hardly called living.
Iago couldn't even figure out what to do. His Duskwalker Arts had no use here except from a possible Memory Transfer, although that could possibly kill him in this state, on top of the fact that he had minimal knowledge of healing or even keeping someone alive. Iago knew basic first aid from when he worked as a Guild Member, but not only was he rusty on them, he never had to perform them because of his luck as having a Spirit Art user as a teammate. Lucan was now gone, somewhere in the infirmary by now, his only hope for keeping the boy alive vanishing.
Asking other Guild Members would cause too much of a stir if Iago's suspicion of who did it was correct, which might cause him to investigate Lanyon, which was not only the very worst case scenario but something that spelt doom for the entire human race; after all, a battle between the second and third most powerful mortals in existence with one of them being guaranteed to be lost in the process, is a too heavy a loss to risk taking. All Iago could do, was hope that the two men's wrath for each other didn't consume everything in it's path. And all Iago could do now, was keep a boy alive long enough so that their confrontation wouldn't happen early; and try to catch up to Lucan, of course.
"Please just call the head nurse!" Lanyon begged to an assistant, who was preparing a bed for a boy she was told about by this panicked man. This very man came running in, with another older friend carrying this half-dead boy, and begged for help from the head nurse, Cynthia herself! How preposterous, after all-
"I keep saying, she's busy dealing with a mass expedition failure! We can't afford to let her come and take care of this child!" the assistant nurse retorted, while also trying to keep the boy alive who now lay on one of the infirmary beds, "We will try out best but-"
"The best isn't enough right now!" Lanyon screamed.
"If you aren't going to co-operate then get out and let us nurses do our work!"
"You-"
"Lanyon." a soft voice from the side rung out; Igo, "You know what the nurse is saying is true. They can't do much more, and neither can you."
"Of course I can do so much more," moaned Lanyon, retreating towards Igo, distraught.
"Let's not spoil their focus, and just let them do what they do; their best."
"..."
"Come on, lets-"
"No, Igo. I can... do something." said Lanyon stalely.
"What're you-"
"Igo. I'm sorry but..." Lanyon interrupted again, a look of sadness on his face, "I- I think it might be time for him to return."
"What?!" Igo exclaimed, stunned that Lucan would actually risk exposing himself to everyone for the sake of Daniel, a boy that he seemingly couldn't care much at all about, "You can't- You just can't do that. Do you really want-"
"Goodbye, Iago. Lanyon's going to sleep." another voice spoke from somewhere. It was not from Lanyon or Igo or even from the nurses. It was from Lucan.
"I'm sorry. I-"
"Do not apologise for making me do this, father. It was Lanyon's wish," that same disturbing voice said in an almost emotionless tone. It was then that the other nurses in the room realised that that voice was coming from the same man who begged for the head nurse, "I shall see you later."
Lanyon, or rather Lucan you should now say, disappeared. He simply... vanished. Vanished off to somewhere, from right where he once stood.
"I would like to request to see the head teller, so I can manage my account."
A man appeared in the teller's quarter of the Guild hall at that moment(situated roughly at the back half of it when coming in through the entrance), seemingly out of nowhere, and in front of one of the teller booths. That man was swathed in darkness, fitted with a sturdy and war-torn tunic, an assortment of blades along his belt, two weapons in particular standing out; a jewelled golden dagger alongside another one, this time made of black steel with a name imprinted on its pommel and complex engravings on the blade itself. When the man had appeared, anyone even remotely a part of the Guild was put on guard, after all, if even some that were Gold ranked didn't see him enter the room, how powerful could this man be.
"Huh?"