It was alredy week since Hildebrant disappeared with part of the city and its inhabitants. This event made Darius blood boil in pure rage but also made him helpless. Such thing made him remember his brother who went to war fight for golden emperor but never returned.
He never understood why he wanted to become a soldier even when he could live in the comfort and happiness of their home. Each day he prayed to Solaris for his brother to return home but all these prayers were never answered and now even his niece's only connection that he had to his brother disappeared.
Where?
He did not know and it made him grasp his head in frustration. In one such moment, Morgana entered the room and calmly put the cup of hot tea on his table and with a worried face she patted his back.
"Don't worry he will be alright, he is a good and intelligent kid."
But what if he will be not?
He wanted to ask but remained silent.
Different from his children, Mina and Maria he knew about the existence of ascenders, god-like beings with powers to overthrow even the emperor himself if he wasn't one. Their powers could wipe a normal person like him from the ground and the event that happened surely was the work of one such ascender.
Powerful one to that if he was able to travel through seas unhindered with his crew without fearing retaliation from the golden emperor, gates, keys, and nobles of the empire.
"We need to find him quickly or I will have not a good sleep ever again."
He said with a tired voice and stared into papers on his table. There were invoices he needed to pay, ownership papers of the new building, and even a list from Haniel who said he already talked to Adel and tried to find out what happened before Hildebrant disappeared.
The interrogation the young man went through was rough but the way he kept cooperating it looked as even he felt responsible for what happened. Each day he would come and ask not just teachers but also soldiers if they did not find missing people and when an answer was no he returned home to finish the prototype of the ship he and his son invested in.
Such great work should take years if not decades but under the pressure of missing a friend it would not take even a month before the ship was finished. But such great technology made no one happy, not even Darius could celebrate such creation without his dear niece next to him.
How much he wanted to bring him back with his own hand but could not. Not even money could help him become an ascender and paying one was an impossible endeavor that could make his family go on the streets.
There were some low-level ascenders who worked for him but none of them would venture beyond the sea to bring his family back. None of them dared and he could understand the reason. The sea was just too dangerous, too harrowing to traverse without experienced crew and powerful people or technology.
If not for the prototype of a ship not even he and his son would dare to transport merchandise from the east gate to the mainland. It would be suicidal otherwise for him and all the people who would venture on the ship to a faraway land.
Plus who knows where did these pirates take his niece?
With a sigh, he took a sip of now already cold tea and shook his head.
"How long until the coronation?"
Morgana patted his shoulder and massaged his tense muscles.
"Five months at most, we will need prepared gifts for the new Key of Everlast."
She then hugged him and her warm touch made him relax even more.
Through her beating heart, he could tell she was worried too but because of him and their children, she controlled himself and the way she acted so others would calm down, most importantly Mina who cried the entire two days before she fell asleep.
"Yes we will prepare in the meantime can you call Adrain that I need his help?"
Morgana lifted her head and looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
With a hardened face he nodded.
"Yes."
"In that case, I will send the list tomorrow."
Putting her face on his shoulder they both closed their eyes and relaxed together. Even if he was not ascender, he refused to lose another member of his family to some unknown force. Fate could play with him but he would shout back even if his echo would be never heard.