The village was popularly known for its many skilled craftsmen and women. Ranging from candle wicks to boats and ships, they made it all. This, of course, attracted a lot of wholesale buyers, merchants, and normal civilians too. The village was usually so congested.
It was this close to spreading its borders to officially become a town, but then, the unforeseen happened.
Currently, Brindlewick existed as a husk of its former self. The infrastructure was still intact, but it was completely void of people or animals. Plants barely thrived there.
At the north entrance to the village, a makeshift Sentinel post had been erected that morning. The small structure was made of wood and magically bound with vines. There were only four Sentinels assigned to the post anyway. There was no need for any extravagant spending on shelter.
One of them stood outside the wooden tent with a cigar in his mouth, while the others remained in the tent, chatting idly.
His uniform, like his cohorts, was blue, with a darker shade on his trousers. His cape was black though, covering only a bit of his right shoulder. Most of the cape draped to his left side.
He stood there for seconds, staring listlessly at the distance, contemplating whether to light his cigar or not.
"Ahh..." he sighed after two minutes flickered by. He took a glance at the sky before igniting a wick of flame on his right thumb, which he brought closer to his unlit cigar.
However, at that moment, a sudden gust of wind blew against him, shaking the flame and dishevelling his long brown hair.
"Of all times..." he muttered grudgingly, putting out the flame and cupping his right hand over his head as he looked at the sky once again, his cape fluttering noisily.
Gradually descending from the sky was a four-winged, white horse with no blemishes. Its golden saddle was connected to a purple carriage with golden edges.
"He's here. The Prince has arrived!" the Sentinel bellowed as he took some steps back.
The other Sentinels rushed out of the tent and immediately covered their eyes in reflex to the sand that was displaced by the billowing wind.
The horse soon landed before them, neighing as it settled its wings. The charioteer hopped down and hurriedly opened the right door of the carriage.
Stepping out graciously with finesse, was the blonde Prince Kaiser, donning a neat black shirt, a pair of black leather trousers and a fine pair of shoes. His outfit was overlaid with a red fur coat that barely clung to his shoulders.
With a slight frown, he pulled the coat off and tossed it into the carriage.
"I don't know why father keeps forcing me to wear this at every meeting," he grumbled, shutting the carriage door.
"But you're a prince, my lord. You have to look like one at formal gatherings," the charioteer said with a slight bow.
"Formal gatherings?" Prince Kaiser raised a brow. "All they do is catch up and drink wine. They seldom even talk about politics these days."
'That's because Ostaria is in an era of peace with very few problems,' the charioteer replied inwardly, contemplating whether or not to say it out loud.
The prince didn't give him a chance to anyway. Kaiser patted his shoulder as he walked past him, "Saddle up and go to the Academy. I want you to tell Master Kincaid that we might have a lead on the Dark Druids."
"Yes, my lord," the charioteer nodded before hopping onto the carriage.
The Sentinels turned their faces away as the horse flapped its heavy wings again. It went airborne almost immediately and soared higher till it looked no bigger than a dot.
As the wind died down, the Sentinels faced the approaching prince and bowed their heads.
Prince Kaiser flicked his wrist at them, "Enough of that. What are your names?"
The brown-haired Sentinel with the cigar, saluted as he said, "Aldous Benedict, captain of this squad."
"Henry Sage," another said. He had lustrous white hair and brown eyes.
"Bertram Beaumont," the third Sentinel proudly introduced himself. He had a giant physique and was bald.
The last Sentinel was a lean man with short black hair and peculiar blue eyes.
"Flynn White," he lazily introduced.
"Good. Aldous, Henry, Bertram, and Flynn," Prince Kaiser called their names one more time to ingrain it into his mind. Then he slipped his hands into his pockets and walked past them, "Now that that's by the way, what's the situation over here?"
"We don't really know ourselves," Aldous answered as they turned to walk after him.
Kaiser's steps lessened in pace, and he eventually came to a halt, half-turning with scrunched brows, "What do you mean you don't know? You sent a message to the Castle that you spotted someone related to the Dark Druids and trailed them here."
"Yes, that's correct," Aldous nodded. "We were first assigned to watch that area in the woods where the Princess was almost abducted. We didn't see anyone aside from us breach the premises, but by dawn today, Henry could see the residual traces of foreign Mana in the perimeter."
"Henry's a Descrier?" Kaiser asked curtly.
"Yes," Henry nodded in affirmation.
Aldous continued, "We don't know how the intruder slipped passed us and got away, but they weren't able to completely erase their mana. Henry traced the residuals to this village, and knowing what had become of Brindlewick, we felt the intruder must have something to do with it. That's why we alerted the castle."
"Though we were shocked to receive a letter that you, the prince, would be the one coming to help with the investigation," Bertram added.
"Rallying the castle guards or other Sentinels takes time to process. We don't have that much time to spare," Kaiser answered, turning his back to them. He stared intently into the village, "The sudden disappearance of the villagers happened about a week ago, and the Sentinels that have been sent here never returned. If the intruder is truly here and has something to do with Master Hendrik's men, then I guess you were right about the Dark Druids having something to do with this."
The Sentinels kept silent, internally proud of being indirectly praised by the prince.
"So... Are we to wait for the others to arrive first?" Aldous asked after a brief moment of silence.
"What others? Didn't you hear what I just said?" Kaiser posed a rhetorical question. "We don't have the luxury of time. Let's go."
He lifted his right foot and crossed the northern border into the village. He felt an ominous wind lash against him from all sides, a solemn whisper echoing in his head in quick succession. The whisper instantly multiplied into whispers once he set his other foot in the village. The whispers were laced with pain and anguish.