"He isn't that sick," Daniela put her hands on the sick boy's forehead, "but, this fever... it's not normal."
"I tried to get a priest, but they didn't respond to any of my requests," the Marquis watched his son with sadness.
"Why is that, Marquis?" Daniela continued examining the boy.
"I... I did not let the church establish their faith here, their methods weren't quite normal."
"Was it the Church of Hel?" Finn who was scouting around the room asked.
"Yes, how did you know, young man?" the Marquis looked at him, impressed at his deduction.
Finn walked back to where them, towards the bed, "They're the only ones with odd practices, and call me Finn."
"Finn, so what were you looking around the room for?"
"You must be able to feel it, a faint black cloud around your son," he looked at the boy's disturbed visage, although sleeping his face wasn't one of comfort.
"I can," he looked at Finn with a glimmer of hope.
"What is it Finn, I can't feel it?" Daniela asked him.
"It's not strange you can't feel it, but I slightly feel the qi, and the Marquis can see it because he is a Five-Star, it's only natural for him to sense it."
"Well, this fever is also associated with a type of mind demon, if a person takes on more stress than the body can handle, it triggers a fever as a self-defense mechanism to cleanse the body, but..."
"But my son, he's just a ten year old boy, I've never let him take on any kind of stress," the Marquis said, his voice filled with concern.
"Then, it could only mean one thing, a case of possession," Finn pulled out a yellow tag with red writings on it.
"A possession?" Daniela looked at him.
"But possession isn't the only way, it could be a legacy left by the spirits."
"Legacy..." the Marquis seemed to know that it was.
"Excuse me, but aren't legacies left by living people?" Daniela shot a look at Finn.
"Whatever it is, let me try something," Finn stuck the yellow tag atop the wall above the bed. "Marquis, can you give me some Force?"
"What do you mean? If I were to let the energy flowing into you, your body would be torn apart from the pressure."
"It's alright Marquis, I don't think I'd make that request if I couldn't do it," Finn smiled with confidence.
"Are you sure, I... I don't want—"
"Marquis, trust him," Daniela reassured him from the side.
"Alright, but I will stop if you can't handle it."
"Thank you, Sir," Finn nodded in agreement.
"What are you going to do?" the Marquis asked Finn as he placed his fingers on the tag. The red writings on the tag shone bright before fading.
"See this," he looks back at the Marquis, "this is a warding aura tag, but with the purity of my current qi, it'll never activate its real ability."
"So you need my Force to keep it active, if that's the case, should I just do it myself?" he asked out of concern for Finn.
"The thing is, it requires a bit of netherane, and so I'll run the Force I receive through my core to activate the tag."
"Fine, let's do it."
_________________________
"Out of the thirteen children that went missing, four of the children are from this orphanage," the three stood before an extended mansion, children running around in the sprawled out garden before them.
"Yes," Ren took a glance at the piece of paper in his hand, "the kids that went missing are each seven years old."
"Hey, can you feel anything odd here?" Nichole shot a quick glance at Xióng.
"Hm, no..." he took a deep breath,
"I think we should head in," Ren went first.
"Hey, Senior, have you done a mission before?"Nichole walked up to Ren, looking at him from the side as they walked.
"Well," Ren flashed a smile, "in Nexarion it is compulsory to complete a mission every semester, and since we have two semesters a year, this is my third mission."
Ah, this guy is way too handsome that his smile is flashing my eyes, Nichole momentarily squinted her eyes.
"And I have to say, this is the hardest one yet," Ren looked straight, missing Nichole's gaze.
"Really?" Xióng cut in, slightly bumping Nichole's shoulder, "we had to pick a hard mission on our first one, eh?"
"At least we can tell tales of the time we had the hardest first time mission ever," Nichole dramatically said out loud.
"Your batch sure is a bit unlucky, the missions this time are hard as ever."
"What do you mean, Senior?" Xióng asked as one of the little boys playing around came up to him.
"You guys heard of the Genderless Transcendents?" Ren got down on his knee as he tousled the kid's hair. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Yep, we heard," Nichole let out a dry chuckle, "what kind of a stupid name is that, right?"
"Kind of... it's not even childish."
"Martin," the boy laughed.
"Alright, Martin, can you tell me where the head is?" Ren pulled out a small candy from his suit, handling it over to her boy.
The boy's eye shone at the colourful candy wrapper. He took it, and pointed to the first floor of the mansion. "The room at the centre."
"Thank you, Martin," Ren got back up , dusting off his knee.
"Senior, isn't it kind of strange that no one was there at the entrance, and the fact that there are almost no caretakers here?" Xióng pointed it out, looking around for adults.
Nichole notices it and starts looking around along with him, but fails to find any. Kids were freely running around, but not a single grown-up around.
"That's odd, I don't think it'll be left this unattended," Ren continued straight.
"Hey, isn't that a caretaker?" Nichole pointed at a man walking towards them.
The man wore a white shirt along with white trousers. He wore a small smile, as he approached the group.
"You must be here to investigate, allow me to guide you in," the man exchanged a small smile as he walked towards the entrance.
"Hey, why isn't there any security even after the incident?" Ren asked the man.
He replies without turning back, "We've encountered quite a loss, it's not that we're not doing anything, but rather were short on hands."
"Couldn't you guys find security?" Xióng put a hand on the man's shoulder.
"We put up an application but, no one..." he paused, "anyways, the head had gotten sick at a rather bad time."
"The head is sick?" Ren said.
"Yes, ever after more than ninety percent of the faculty quit, he's been working to get everything done, it was only a matter of time before he fell sick, we tried to tell him to take a break but he wouldn't listen."
"The matter is quite serious, and we have no leads," Nichole asked Ren, "what do we do?"
"Hm, we'll decide after the briefing."
_________________________
"Did alcohol always taste this sweet?" Jack swirled around the golden liquid, the small ice cubes making a tingle sound.
"Is this another hobby of yours?" Hailee watched him take a sip of the liquid.
"Sometimes, it's a refreshing habit," he put down the glass.
"I didn't take you for a casual drinker, if I remember correctly, you hated the smell of alcohol, what's with the sudden change?"
"It's not quite sudden, I got used to the smell, before realising I like it."
"Alcohol tastes the sweetest when you truly enjoy life, I guess that's true for you know," Hailee took a gulp of her own drink.
"The taste never felt like this... it was the strong scent, or the bitter aftertaste, but this isn't half bad," he took a look at his glass, the ice cubes floating around.
"Did you hear anything about your buddy?" Hailee's voice dropped to a whisper.
Jack raised a brow in doubt, "My buddy?"
"General Thomas? Your buddy, you two were pretty buddy-buddy according to the spirits."
"So, what happened to him?"
"He... you know how the Radagar family chooses its successors?"
"Eldest child?"
"Nope, are you really his friend?"
"We met a week ago."
"Anyways, they do some ritual of succession and your buddy, didn't quite make it," her voice was loud, but a whisper to anyo—
"I'm here, and I can hear everything," a dry voice came from Jack's side, "and, yes I couldn't make the cut."
"Hey," Jack faked joy as he put his hands over Thomas, "how have you been?"
"If this is your way of comforting, this sucks," Thomas put down his glass.
"Don't be like that, all you need is a hug, come here," Jack pulled him, but to his surprise Thomas didn't resist.
Thomas went with the pull, nestling himself against Jack. His eyes seemingly have lost all its life, yet he never faltered, holding onto a slimmer of hope?
"What's up buddy?" Jack could feel how it had affected his friend. "You aren't one to quit now, are you?"
"Keep it up and I might cry for you," Thomas replied in a coarse voice, his hand extending to grab his glass, but right before he could grab it—
SWOOP
"This fucking book, why does it keep getting cut in mid-actions, it's getting hard to narrate this," a large white tiger roared, it's white fur shining under the full moon.
"Just read, it's not like you don't want to, you're the one who insisted on narrating this one," a man in a black suit said. He was sitting on a sofa beside the tiger who was looking at a book in front of it.
"I mean sure, but this is—"
"Shush," the man rubbed on its white fur, "if you want to be a true narrator, or maybe even grow past this, keep reading."
"Fine," the tiger's eyes went back to the book, "Jack grabbed his glass and pulled it back, teasing his broken—
—friend.
But Jack's attempts to help him were in vain as he quickly gave up trying to get his glass, laying his head down into the counter, as his arms fell silent.
"Hey," Jack whispered to Hailee, "how do I comfort someone who lost the battle of succession because he did not have the skills to do so?"
"That's oddly specific," Hailee shot him an emotionless look. "Why don't you just try talking... to him?" she shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe stay away from pity," Count whispered into their ears, "when someone's sad, I think pity is that last thing they wish to see."
"Ah, when did you get here, copy of my big bro?"
"I've been here for sometime, and that sight looks very similar," Count's eyes shifted to Jack.
"Yup, you got this big bro," Hailee let out a big slap on Jack's back.
"Ouch," he rubbed where he was hit, "I'm not invincible."
"What do you mean, my big bro is amazing, so anyways goodluck comforting him," Hailee pulled back the stool, leaving him with Thomas.
"I'll leave you to it," Count waved him goodbye as a red string connected him to Hailee, extending from his index finger to her's.
"When did you t—"
"Goodbye," Hailee and Count waved him goodbye as they left.
How do I take care of this, he looked to his, only to see Thomas laying on the counter. "Hey, can you fill this?" Jack pushed the glass forward.
"Sure," the bartender poured more of it in, filling it back up.
"So, buddy, get up, this you is so boring," Jack shook Thomas's body, trying to get him back up.
But Thomas didn't respond, but his body simply gave in to the rhythm of the force, "That feels good."
"This isn't you, you're supposed to get up and tell me I might slap you."
"I don't want to, besides who'd want to slap you, your face is so pale, it might leave a permanent mark."
"Aw, that's so kind of you, but I miss the other guy, the one ready to bite me every time I say something, where is he?"
"He's long gone," he replied in a low growl.
"When were you disowned?" Jack asked as if it was a casual topic, one anyone would talk over tea. I don't think I'm doing this right?
"Morning, the news came first, then breakfast, and now some peace."
"Well, if the news came today morning, then it hasn't been long since the other guy left, if you look at it, it's barely evening, so bring back the other guy."
"There is no other guy, it's all me..." he stopped.
"Then where is the guy that could take my spells head on, even counter my spells," Jack tried to tickle him, but Thomas remained unresponsive.
"I can still do that."
"Where is the Six-Star General?"
"I'm still here."
"Well, I don't see him anywhere," Jack pretended to look around. "Hey, mister," Jack poked at Thomas, "have you seen someone called Thomas who stole a high level herb for some idiot he met a week ago?"
"The herb..." he muttered under his breath, "wait, the herb, did you take it?"
"Nope, I have n—"
Before jack could react, Thomas got up in a flash, grabbing him by the collar, "Why didn't you take it?"
"Are you ready to talk?" Jack simply smirked.
"No, tell me this instant, why haven't you taken it yet?" Thomas's eyes gained a piece of its old life, an ember of his former self.
"Would you like to know, General?" Jack gently pulled his hands off of his collar. "Why don't you tell me what happened to you first."
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