Inside the Memory Trance.
The creature just ran through him, right through his body that Kevin fell down on the road. It later sprang up the hills and Kevin laid there, his body completely numb and almost paralyzed.
A few seconds later.
Kevin gasped out loud, sitting up straight as his heart almost stopped beating for a while. He coughed out loud, rubbing his chest as some weird energy started spreading in his body as a result of that evil creature going right through his translucent self. Taking a few deep breaths, he sighed out loud relieved that at least the worst part was finally over. He was glad to at least be alive, though he was still trapped inside the trance.
His eyes then landed on the dead girl, blood washing out with rain and he sighed again, helplessly this time. Walking in front of her, he squatted down and looked into her black eyes, apologetically.
Kyra was right! They needed a Grim Reaper to catch that culprit. It was not something they could catch easily and they needed those powerful people from hell. With their magical devices of tracking lost souls, he was sure it would be easier and faster to track her soul and give her the peaceful ending, the one she deserved!
But they were running out of time and that thought only made him sigh out loud. Getting up, he looked around placing his hands on his waist. Chills ran down his spine as he recalled that creature passing right through him.
"Ahh, I need to get out of here!" He mumbled, shuddering in displeasure as that scene continued to play in his mind, again and again.
"But how the hell will I get out of this trance?" He grumbled, looking around the empty highway.
He had to wait until a doctor, a warlock to be precise from SCD's medic team to create a magic herbal shot that could withdraw back his inner self from that trance.
But will anyone find him on that empty highway before some wild creatures tasted his flesh? He was literally doubting that part!
----
While outside on the highway.
Kyra who had anxiously teleported worrying about Kevin's safety was now regretting her decision.
The highway was completely empty, and those weird howlings started creeping her out as she continued waking up the unconscious Kevin, at least that's what she believed.
"Damit, wake up! We need to get out of here!" Patting his cheeks, she tried again but he was busy roaming around in that memory trance, asleep on the outside.
Soon a pack of wolves arrived, running in her direction with a dark grey wolf leading the pack. They halted a meter away from her, everyone transforming to their human form and bowing to her as Kyra was superior to them according to the Knight's hierarchy.
Basically, KNIGHTS had several branches working together as one, and the SCD Detective branch settled on the second spot in the table whereas Defence Branch stayed at the 4th spot in the ranking orders.
"Pack Rowers reporting to JD Yang at Chief Adam's order!" The alpha of the pack came forward and saluted before rushing to help her with Kevin.
"Glad you are here!" Kyra sighed seeing the familiar leader, Liana who was also her high school mate. They both had joined the KNIGHTS organization in the same year, where she chose the Detective Branch and Liana went into the defense team.
"What happened to him?" Liana asked squatting down while her team surrounded them in defense. Some even started checking the surroundings as they felt some mixed smells of creatures around the area.
"I don't know! He isn't waking up at all!" Kyra answered, tapping Kevin's cheeks again.
"Why is he paling out?" Liana asked touching his forehead, "Did he get attacked by something?"
"More sort off got freaked out seeing a troll maybe?" Kyra muttered, holding him up and Liana helped her to help him stand straight.
"Can you manage to do it all alone?"
"Yeah! I think I can!" Kyra answered struggling to hold Kevin straight and later added, "You guys just search around the hills. CT's are speculating that the culprit is still around here!"
"Yup, don't worry! We have received the GPS, we will look around the hills." Liana answered, moving back as Kyra got ready to teleport back to the headquarters.
"Be careful!" Uttered Kyra, before spelling out the teleportation spell, "Detorquere Ianuae!"
And with that spell, she vanished through the thin halo and managed to land in the sectors of Knights building. Seeing her fall with a body in hand, people present on that ground floor immediately rushed to help her and some contacted the Medic branch for help.
Breathing out loud, Kyra got up with a senior's help and later thanked him for the help.
"Kiddo, which branch are you?" Asked the elder maybe around 800 years old as he passed her a bottle of water.
"Detective branch, Team Delta!" She managed to say and he nodded impressed by her teleporting skills. It was rare to see someone accidentally land with an unconscious body and they were amazed to see a newbie like her perform it flawlessly.
"Thanks for the help!" She bowed to everyone, as the medic team arrived and started moving Kevin to the medical unit.
Bowing to them once again with a smile, she rushed behind the team emptying the bottle that the old man had given earlier. Too bad, she didn't notice that he was actually the deputy director of the entire detective branch in the SCD division!
---
An hour later.
Kevin gasped out loud, his eyes went wide open while his body sat up straight reacting to that strong magic shot.
"Finally!" The doctor, a warlock in origin sighed as Kevin finally took to his herbal shot, after two failed trials.
Few of the delta team, actually one assigned to this case sighed in relief along with Chief Adams who was nitpicking the doctor till now.
"Here, have some water!" Anna poured him a glass of water and he just looked at her, then at everyone in a daze.
"Am I Am I out of the trance?" He questioned, touching his face that wasn't translucent anymore.
"Unfortunately, you are!" Kyra, who was sitting on the empty corner bed, mumbled with a fake smile.
"Thank god!" Kevin pressed his palms and sighed in relief unbothered by her comment.
"Here," Anna passed him the glass and he gulped down as he had many things to convey to them, especially the culprit's race. Instead of ideally staying in that time-lapse, he had managed to track the culprit's race, and luckily, he could in that hour-long stay.
"I saw the creature, it has this bluish fur when it like feeds on its victim, and yeah even golden eyes and also a dark blue tongue," Kevin explained moving his hands and later continued, "I think it is a,"
"Wendigo?" One of the teammates asked and Kevin nodded with a smile.
"Kyra had already managed to find that part!" Another one, none but Senior Goerge mumbled with a smirk and that turned his smile upside down.
"Did you see anything else? Like any characteristics that portrayed its Soul Eater's traits? Or something you know while it fed on her soul?" George asked and when Kevin shook his head, others sighed out loud.
"It's fine! You just recovered so no need to stress out." Andrew tried to comfort him as everyone else just looked disappointed that he couldn't track anything else. They needed more than the culprit's race to track down the lost soul.
"Here are his memories from the trance. I have tried my best to collect as much as I can, so don't you dare come back and fuss about it!" The doctor came back, glaring at Andrew who actually always had issues with him.
"Thanks, uncle Jane. We will create a medium for it and transfer it to the IA branch." Mumbled Anna, taking the bottle from Dr. Jane's hand who nodded back with a smile.
"Are you sure, you don't need any help?" He asked looking at Kyra for the last time. She had used a lot of magic during her teleportation process tonight and he was worried that she would come back again, almost unconscious like the last time during her mission.
"Yes, Dr. Jane! Thanks for your concern!" Kyra declined with a smile and he nodded with a sigh before walking out of the room.
Everyone looked at the bottle, the one that had blue glistening thread inside sealed with memories and also clues for this case. It was just a miracle they couldn't understand how the witches and IA team in KNIGHTS decades back, came up with that technique of turning those memory threads into videos. And it was surely one of many great achievements only KNIGHTS people could do in their world.
"Create a medium and deliver it to IA Depart! Tell them we need the video asap!" Anna ordered passing the bottle to a 5th-grade witch, one at the same level as Kyra who took the bottle with care and walked out.
"Do we really have to wait until we get orders from those old nags?" Kyra asked, looking at Andrew who just sighed out loud. She needed to learn to respect their higher-ups!!
"Can't we just try reaching the afterlife world by ourselves?"
"How about we first call them and just enquire about the girl's soul? We might get some clues, you know?" Kyra started again with her queries. They all could sense the frustration in her tone, but they were helpless as hell! A strict command was passed to wait until they hear something from their higher-ups and they had to sit tight until then!
"We have to wait until their next statement!" Andrew answered, maybe for the 10th time in a row. Kyra was just not sitting quiet and that worsened his worries.
"Is there another way? Or anything else we can do rather than just wait here?" Even Anna couldn't keep calm as the time was just expiring for that pity soul.
In less than a few hours, her soul would get dissipated and they could do nothing but mourn over her loss as catching that culprit in just a few hours, was almost an impossible task now that even their superiors were being a hurdle.
"Maybe we can just time travel him back into that trance and pull out that creature, haha!" George animatedly joked but that only made everyone stare at him in disappointment. He was going overboard now that even Andrew warned him with his red eyes.
"It's actually possible!" Kyra jumped from the bed and exclaimed, "We can give it try until those old ducks give us orders to proceed further!"
"Maybe we might even manage to catch that culprit!" She added looking at Andrew, who scowled at her, mostly in disbelief!
"Are you insane?" He glowered, his fangs almost ready to pierce her apart.
Time-traveling was literally a dangerous task and was equal to committing a sin according to KNIGHTS protocols. And here she was, talking about traveling through a trance!! And inside a memory that he wasn't sure when would dissipate along with that soul!