The inside of the grand oak was massive to say the least. Spanning around a kilometer, the giant tree encompassed a truly wide area, and that was not to even mention the upstairs. Hunters all around gathered their belongings, counted their people and embarked on their journeys. Matthew walked by quest boards, a bar area, an equipment store and a potion shop, eyes dancing everywhere all the while. The most eye catching thing for Matthew, though, had to be the people. A party of hunters that were celebrating something off in the distance, looking really cheerful. Matthew knew that being a hunter was really dangerous, so he found it really inspiring that even though death loomed over these people every day, they could still find reason to laugh.
The group moved forward, eventually reaching what looked to be the reception area.
At the front, Elias spoke with a woman that stood behind a long, elegant desk made of the same wood as the tree. Matthew was too far behind to overhear, but he could see Elias smiling and lightly laughing. A few moments went by with the two just talking, and then Julius finally intervened and got the conversation moving. A short while after, the children were led up some large stairs and into an even larger area than downstairs. It looked to be the lodgings area. The entire upstairs was barren and empty, it seemed that the school had rented the place out for the time the children were here.
It was getting pretty late now for the kids, so as soon as they were all up, Julius asked for them to bring out their paper notes with a letter and number on them, then find the door that corresponded with the letter number combination. Matthew looked at his. A1.
A little while later, Matthew finally found his room. It was at the very far end of the lodgings area, probably because it was the first room. Not surprised, he saw that Lauren, Demitri and Zayne were already there.
"Hmm, it seems this is where the student council will be staying," Demitri quickly concluded.
Matthew shrugged, it was too coincidental to be a normal coincidence, so Demitri was probably right. "Probably, Constance did say that we had a job to do in Calonia."
Zayne groaned, rolling around in the air. "Ugh...work, work, work, I'm really regretting joining this stupid council." Accidentally, he kicked Demitri on the head. "Oops..."
Whilst Demitri and Zayne were fighting with each other –Demitri was the only one attacking, Zayne simply flew a little higher and watched–, Lauren entered the room.
"Brother." Lauren's eyes twinkled with the slightest hint of emotion.
Matthew decided to ignore the two and head on in with Lauren, again, not being surprised with what he saw. Inside their incredibly spacious room were five people, four being familiar and one being new. It was Dylan, Orion, Hedrick, Madoc and a new person.
Whilst the four boys sat across each other on a coach from a table, the fifth person sat on their own separate chair next to a window that overlooked the Iron City.
She had bright red hair, emerald eyes and freckles that dotted her petite face. Her attention turned away from the beautiful city and onto the four newcomers.
Matthew blinked a couple times to confirm if she was real or not. Illuminated by the light of the moon, she looked like an apparition. The door behind him shut, startling him.
"Apologies for being late, Lazellia, there were a group of boys that didn't want to share a room with girls." Julius Zoran took off his coat, smiling at Matthew who was surprised by this.
"You're just in time. Please, have a seat, we have much to discuss."
.
.
.
A thick air of tension hung in the room. After all of them sat down, Lazellia joined the table and caught them up to speed.
"I was sent here a couple of months back by Grace and Arthur. As they were too busy dealing with some crazy new cult, they asked me to come here in their stead. The reason is because recently, there have been reports of strange ongoings. Strange noises in the night, a sudden increase of missing persons cases and a spike in the economy to name a few. The Calonian Police Department have cooperated with me a little –I had to throw Dad's name around– and gave me these."
Lazellia placed some photographs of crime scenes on the table. Before Matthew could take a good look, a hand covered his eyes.
"Hey!" Matthew shouted in protest.
"Uh-uh, children should not be looking at these types of things." Julius tutted, standing up and blindfolding Matthew, Demitri, Zayne and Lauren for the moment.
"What! I'm not a kid!" Demitri complained, getting a chuckle from his brother.
After a few seconds of grumbling, the conversation continued.
"These pictures...they...can't be real." Matthew could hear Julius' voice, shaky and in disbelief.
"What is this, Lazellia," Orion sounded frustrated.
Matthew heard the scrunching of paper, followed by a deeper voice. "This is impossible." That must have been Hedrick.
Lazellia spoke. "I know its hard to believe, but all of these pictures are real. They were captured around the Center. You can unblindfold them, I have taken away all the pictures."
Vision returned to him, Matthew could finally see the troubled faces of his seniors...especially of Julius'.
Lazelia continued. "Police have found this at one of the scenes," she placed thin shard of glass on the table. Though it looked unassuming and completely inconspicuous, Matthew instantly frowned.
"In a city of iron, glass this thin is weird. That, and the mana coming off this is...creepy."
Lazellia smiled. "Exactly, a wonderful observation! Say, what's your name?"
"Matthew Hertzia, a pleasure to meet you."
Madoc furrowed his brow, leaning forward to get a closer look at the shard. "Hey sis, do you get demon vibes from this as well?"
"That's impossible, young man, demons vanished from this world a millennia ago along with their king. This is probably something else...it feels completely evil." Julius quickly interjected.
Orion frowned, staring a hole through the glass shard. "Nothings off the table."
Lazellia sighed, "Yes, this is all just conjecture. It could be demonic, it could be something else-"
"Most probably."
"Yes, most probably, thank you Julius. The fact of the matter is, these things have been found at the scene of every photo and all the scenes take place in places near the Center, meaning the Center might to be connected to all of these coincidences."
Suddenly, the door behind Matthew swung open.
"Not might, IS." Elias walked into the room, face cascaded in shadow. "The glass shard you're talking about is something called "blood". Its a new doping drug being spread around the black-market...one of my guys a few weeks back took some. He didn't know the after effects, only that it boosted your strength incredibly. He got addicted quick, didn't tell anyone about it until it was too late...now he's one of those photos."
Lazellia was quiet.
"What are you lot being sad about, we're not here to grieve, we're here to get some bloody answers. I promised to get you in, the rest is up to you."
Resolutely nodding, Lazellia gestured for Dylan, Orion and Hedrick to get up.
The five of them left swiftly, not wasting any more time...leaving Matthew, Demitri, Zayne, Lauren and Madoc behind.
"...What?" Matthew was confused now, he was so hyped up just a moment ago.
Demitri was equally confused, looking at the door, bewildered.
Julius broke out into a giggling fit, only stopping after Matthew and Demitri glared daggers at him. "Apologies, children, but did you really expect to go on such a dangerous mission? In time, children, in time. You are only to observe and learn." Julius got up and went to leave, looking back at the five one last time before leaving. "Don't stay up too late, tomorrow we are going to observe mana beasts!"