A young woman stood still while staring at a wall in an alley. She was dressed in white T-shirt, black trousers and trainers with a hooded jacket.
She had the hood on which covered most of her facial features but even with that it would take a blind man for someone not to notice that she was extraordinary.
Her figure was completely perfect and the aura she gave off could make anyone curious about the face behind the hood.
This was naturally Sylph.
She had been searching for the abyssal which had most likely walked into the town.
This search had stretched out to four days and she was beginning to think that Ray might've made a mistake with his evaluation but right now, she was staring at something which cleared that doubt.
There was thin a slash mark on the wall.
This was similar to the similar to the slash marks in the forest which meant Ray was right.
She began walking deeper into the alley to see if she could find any other clues, and she actually did.
She could see some blood stains on some parts of the wall and won't have notice this if she didn't pay some attention. Which was the mistake she and Ray had been making.
They've been searching this and the surrounding neighbourhoods if they could sight the abyssal, but they didn't expect it to actually be working in the shadows. Something the slash mark here proved as people around didn't even notice what had happened.
Now, except from the blood stains, she could also notice a few more slashes which wasn't as deep as the first one she had seen. Her eyes caught a glimpse of something which glittered dully beside a trash can.
She walked slowly towards it before picking it up as it came into full view.
It was a silver locket.
She stared at it for some time and notice little blood stains before taking out a handkerchief from her pocket and cleaning it. She opened it and saw the picture of two women.
The woman at the right hand side looked like she was in her early 40s, while the woman on the left seemed to be in her late 40s. She stared at both of them for some time before closing the locket and putting it in the pocket of her jacket.
She decided to get some clues by looking for either of the women in the locket as she walked out of the alley.
She looked around, not knowing where to start from. "Maybe I'll ask some of the Passersby's," she muttered, before scanning around for who to ask. She made her decision to ask middle-aged women about it, due to more than one reasons.
She sighted a woman who seemed to be in her early 40s, dressed in formal clothing walking towards her direction while constantly checking the time from the watch she had on, so she decided to start with her.
"Excuse me, do...…"
"Please, I'm in a hurry, some other time." She cut in not even sparing her a glance.
A frown appeared on Sylph's face as she was dismissed like that. "Hurry huh." She muttered before shaking her head with a sigh.
She saw another woman who was casually strolling, so she approached her.
"Excuse me."
The woman turned around to look at her and was surprised by the figure and the aura the person in front of her was producing and felt a little wary because she was wearing a hood.
"I'm not interested, go find someone else," she said, walking away.
This confused Sylph as they weren't even letting her speak which was annoying as she didn't like asking people for help but this situation requires it
This time she decided to ask a woman who was selling clothes in a small boutique.
When the woman noticed her approaching, a big smile appeared on her face and when Sylph arrived she was the one who spoke out first.
"Good day dear. Your clothes really looks good on you and you have a very nice shape, I have just the perfect thing for you," she gestured towards the entrance. She wasn't at all worried about Sylph wearing a hoody which covered most if her face which made her seem suspicious, especially with the rumors going about.
"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not her to buy clothes. I just want to ask you a few questions," Sylph voiced out.
"Oh!" She sighed in disappointment. "So, how can I help you."
Sylph reached out to her pocket, pulling out the locket. She opened it and gave it to the woman.
"Do you know any of them?"
The woman was in contemplation before shaking her head. "This one looks familiar, although I'm not sure where I saw her," she said, pointing at the woman on the left hand side.
"Is that so?" By what the woman said, it was most likely that the woman on the left lives somewhere around here.
"Thank you." Sylph took the locket from her before leaving.
"She seems like a nice girl. Maybe she's lost," she muttered with a concerned frown.
***************************
After some minutes of asking around, she finally met someone who seemed to know something.
"W-where did you get that from!" The woman who seemed to be in her late 40s asked in disbelief and shock, barely containing her emotions. She had short brown hair and brown eyes.
Sylph who didn't see any need to lie said truthfully. "I'm on an investigation on something and happened to come across this, so I'm asking around to see if it has something to do with my case.
The woman looked at her in suspicion and doubt. "So you're like a Sentry or police?"
Months ago it was decided that The Police should be established to focus on non-abyssal cases to relieve Sentries from some duties.
So they were police officers in all the regions in Euthopia.
"You can say that," said Sylph bluntly.
The woman scanned her from head to toe. "Then why the hood?"
Why she didn't ask Sylph why she was dressed in casual clothing was because Sentries didn't have uniforms or more better put, they didn't usually wear them because it would end up getting ripped apart if the were to fight.
"I'm not here to answer your questions. If you don't have anything to say, I'll be going."
"Wait!!" She stopped Sylph who was about to leave. "T-that belongs to a girl who got missing the day before yesterday."
Sylph believed this because the slash marks and blood stains looked like something recent.
"The woman on the right is her mother who died during the meteor apocalypse while the woman on the left is the one who adopted her about two years ago, and my close friend." She said down casted.
"What time did this happen?" By what she said the woman in front of her is closer to the family than she had initially thought, so she believed that she had the answer she needed and the woman didn't disappoint.
"I think was around 5pm in the evening." She replied.
"How old is she?"
"S-she's just 15." Her eyes were beginning to get teary at this point as she recalled some of their memories together.
She was a friend to the girl's adopted mother even before the meteor apocalypse and luckily they both survived, although they both lost a lot of things.
They somehow managed to find themselves about three years ago which was about two years after the meteor apocalypse which relieved them a little.
She was present when her friend made the decision to adopt a child which ended up being Alice.
She was a very beautiful girl and acted matured, although she had received a big shock during the meteor apocalypse which was something she never recovered from and spent most of her time in solitude.
She was suicidal at first, and this was the case of not only her but many teenagers and youths and even adults during the first two years after the meteor apocalypse.
Some people just couldn't bare the pain of their loved ones who had died and everything they had lost, which resulted to this.
The amount of people who had succeeded in suicide numbered in thousands and if it weren't for the intervention of the Sentries, it would've been much more.
But she slowly began to recover and embrace life which was due to the first friend she made along with her new family.
Her friend, Alice's mother, also decided to remarry, while she on the other had wasn't interested in starting all over again.
They all loved her like their own as she filled the empty space in their hearts.
But the day before yesterday night, she suddenly went missing after leaving home. This shocked them all to the core and they tried searching for her but to no avail.
This wrecked them all especially her friend who she didn't think would be coming out of this intact.
"I think you should see her parents," she said cleaning the tears in her eyes.
After giving it some thought, she nodded in agreement.
"Follow me," she said as they began walking, and after some minutes they arrived in front of house.
The woman sucked in some air before walking to the door.
"Knock! Knock! Knock."