On a crisp night beside The Superstition Mountain Range, a man took his routine job among the hiking routes that rested aside the mountains. He was in his mid-thirties and wanted to do his best to maintain his health to the best of his capacity. The stars shone in the night sky while the moon provided enough light to guide his path, however, he soon came to feel the presence of some kind of entity. With this feeling beginning to spook the nightly jogger, he searched across the desert surroundings to find it while pulling out a handgun from a hidden holster underneath his uniform. "Hello? Who's there?" He shouted out into the night as cold sweat formed on his forehead, "Please tell me where you are before I accidentally shot you out of self-defense…" The Jogger announced as he held onto his sidearm, finger on the side of the weapon yet close to the trigger in case. However, there was no response as The Dark Presence grew more apparent to him as fear built up within him. He began to ready his weapon as he felt a chilling cold beginning to surround him, making The Jogger even more terrified until the voice began to ring out from The Dead Silence.
"It is about time that the sins of your past came to collect their debt, Rutilo…" Spoke a voice engulfed in pain, twisted from a husk belonging to a corpse. Rutilo spun around in pure fear as he fired the gun in a panic, yet there was no one there. Confusing him even more as his body started to shake until he came across the entity which was toying with him. With a scratching and distorted laughter, Rutilo saw someone he believed he would not encounter again. A literal ghost of his past, Bernt Johansen. "Surprised to see your 'old pal' again spineless coward?" The figure was engulfed with some kind of Dark Aura, like an infection or venom which had taken his life. With a single wave of The Wraith's hand, Rutilo felt his very life force being ripped out of him until he was nothing more than a decayed empty husk.
On the next day, local police and state troopers were looking over the scene where the dead body lay. Trying to find anything that would allow them to solve this mysterious death, yet coming short in their search. Soon, Khnem walked past the yellow tape and was accompanied by two others. One was a Chinese young adult with red colored hair as if it was colored by an inferno. His skin was a shade of brown and he wore a coat over a sleeveless turtleneck shirt and basic jeans. He carried a case that held the equipment that assisted with investigating crime scenes such as this one. Readjusting his squared glasses, he looked over the scene to determine where he should begin. The other was a woman who wore a typical detective uniform, one bearing a trench coat, a white collar shirt, a vest that held her firearm, and finished with black pants over polished brown shoes. Her hair was long as well as colored black and her eyes shone with a unique grayish blue, as if they held knowledge untold. She removed her sunglasses and approached one of the officers that were already present, pulling out a badge that showed that she was an investigator for The FBI. "Hello, Officer Ryan. I am Federal Agent Penelope Bouleli," She introduced herself while making sure the officer can thoroughly see her badge, "These two are my associates Agents Khnem Safar and Agent Han Wuhan. We will be taking over this investigator from here out." Penelope declared as Han opened his case to bring out some of his gadgets. Officer Ryan however was not fond of the idea that The FBI had shown up, as it was like your parents coming in to take over your weekly allowance or overseeing what you post online without your permission.
"Seriously?" He remarked as he groaned before taking a sip of his coffee, "Why are The Feds getting involved with this?" The Officer questioned as he looked over the three Agents.
With a small chuckle, Khnem began to explain their arrival while fixing his suit: "That iz zimble, Officer Ryan. Az you can already zee." He began while gesturing to the odd condition of the body at the center of the scene, "Thiz barticular murder iz one unique in itz very nature. A body left as a rotten huzk dezbite the victim being their best health requirez a groub that iz better zuited to zolve the caze." Khnem finished while placing his walking cane beside him.
"Exactly. I can already tell that you haven't made any real progress with your investigation." Announced Han as a few drones flew out of his case and began to take virtual images of the crime scene and uploaded them into a handheld tablet that he carried. "We have dealt with similar cases before and have developed equipment to analyze them. Better for us to be the ones to fall apart if there isn't anything to find than the local police, right?" Han declared with a smudged smirk as he glanced over to Officer Ryan, who was quite annoyed by this as he rolled his eyes.
"So, anything you have found regarding this case will need to be handed over to us as soon as possible, Sir." Penelope announced with a small gesture of her hand, "That will be very much appreciated, Officer Ryan." She ordered kindly as Officer Ryan and his team walked off-site to collect the needed items.
Once they were gone, Khnem threw up his cane in irritation and caught it. "Every time theze Midgardianz are zo damn ungrateful about uz zbarring them from the greater dangerz ahead…" Khnem lamented while groaning in frustration.
Penelope chuckled a bit as she placed her badge away and looked over to Khnem. "Don't take that so close to heart, Khonsu. It isn't directed to you. More towards the agency which we pose as." She announced while approaching the body as it rotted in the summer heat, examining it to see what she could learn.
"Well, I can confirm this was another Wraith attack… Though, this Wraith is very new compared to the others we have encountered. Didn't think that He was still active after Midgard's First World War… Have any idea why The Conjuror has resurfaced Athena?" Questioned Han Wuhan as he examined the data that was collected so far.
Penelope shook her head, expressing she had no idea why this had occurred. "What is getting concerning is that this all began with The Midgardians rediscovering their Arcane Crystals… How the hell did they even discover it again? I thought any records of its existence were lost to time… Have any theories for how they just happened to find them again, Red Son and Khonsu?" Questioned the Olympian while readjusting her hair so it did not get into her eyes. Standing up with her arms crossed and facing towards her allies.
"Well, White Star did manage to recover some documents left behind by The Atlantians. You should know how well they made sure their records will not be destroyed. Now for how they found there is still a mystery we have yet to crack…" Explained Han as he continued to use the drones to collect more data.
"That izn't the only oddity that haz zurfaced… Abbarently, a creature haz zurfaced that has been modified to be more bowerful than it zhould be. The Zix-Eared Macaque reborted thiz to Hadez after The Forezt Fire took blace." Khnem added on and used some of his Mana to reveal anything that would help them uncover what had happened.
"Well, what I can say is that this was a murder out of revenge. It is what always happens when a new Wraith is made by The Demon Lord. Once they get their revenge, they are made into one of his obedient soldiers…" Penelope bitterly declared as she tried to determine why this Midgardian was selected. Most Wraiths that were created are the results of being defeated by The Demon Lord, but there are cases like this one where the person was hand-picked by Him. Making their suspect important for some reason, yet the question was held in the air between the three. "So... About those kids you visited... Sure that they are worth our time?" Questioned Penelope as she looked back at Khnem as The Aker was a bit surprised by her question.
"Been quite zome time zince you had lazt questioned my actionz, Athena." Khnem replied with a small smirk, "Though, I am confident that theze childern have their boteinal and could even helb uz in the future. Even then, Athena, I doubt that if I did attembt to stob them. They would lizten to the warning. Thoze who zearch for their mizzing loved onez won't ztob when they truly care about them." He added on with a tone of wisdom that neither Han nor Penelope could argue against.
Han let out a small sigh as his tablet finally produced the ID of the victim that had been uncovered, "Alright. We are getting somewhere. The victim's name is Rutilo Lumia. Seems like this guy had connections with The White Star Corporation and he seemed to have been suspected to have been involved with the killing of another employee named Bernt Johansen due to a mining cave collapsing within The Grand Canyon." Han Wuhan explained as both Khnem and Penelope began to understand why Bernt was selected. "Though, the charges about Rutilo having murdered Bernt with using faulty mining equipment intentionally was dropped due to lack of evidence to link him to the cause of the collapse..." He finished as Han gave out a sad sigh, "Midgardians are gonna have a rough time being reminded about the dangers of Arcane Mining... It was one of the biggest reasons why they stopped. Too dangerous to extract such a powerful energy when it is so deep underground and not to mention the difficulties of refining Arcane Energy to be usable and safe." He finished off as the three knew where to take their investigation next.
"I'll be contacting Tyrik and hiz companionz. Thiz zeemz like a zimble enough case for them to get their bearing about the Mythic Underground that they will need to underztand. In the meantime, do what you can to collect az much information az bozzible while I am gone. Underztood?" Khnem questioned with a raised eyebrow as both Penelope and Han Wuhan nodded to show that they understood their orders. With that, Khnem took off to gather the Rookies to help them with their adventures to come.