Adam just realized it but the girl he just bumbed to is Isabella, the daughter of his father's supervisor in the workshop. He still remembered that every time he visit the workshop and goes to this same exact plaza, he always see Isabela, the girl with her lovely curly, brown hair and eyes.
Other than Jed, who is his childhood friend, Isabella was also his close friend. Whenever he visits here, they always play hide and seek until night, or even tag. It was such a good old days.
Adam sighed as he reminisced the past. He had missed Isabella. It's been 3 years since he last visited this place. His daily routine for all these years were just wake up, eat, go to school, return, eat, sleep. He rarely visited the plaza because it just reminded him of his father, of his sudden disappearance without any warning, or sign.
"Yeah it's me." Adam smiled widely as he shook her hand. "You've grown a lot after 3 years, Isabella."
"Yeah," Isabella barely managed to squeeze out a voice before she looked away. Adam could see her ears becoming red. He also felt embarassed.
"So, uh, how are you?" Adam said, not knowing what to really say.
"Fine," Isabella replied. "I actually…took over my mother's flower business."
"Oh? Flower business?" Adam's eyes lit up when he heard this. If he's not wrong, about a week or so after the closing of the workshop, Isabella's mother, Maris, opened up a bouquet shop which became really popular. He remembered that when the Day of Love arrived, a lot of students in the academy had bought flowers from their store. He's really happy that he have their own thing now.
Meanwhile him, he's just living miserably, refusing the accept the truth for entire 3 years. Adam looked down for a second, thinking that he had just wasted his time rotting his life away.
"I am really happy for you," Adam said, no exaggeration or lies. He's really happy that they shy girl in the past can now manage a business.
"Yeah," Isabella made a big, sweet smile which made it harder for Adam to remove his gaze. "Actually, are you here to visit the workshop?"
Adam narrowed his eyes, sensing something from her voice. "Yes, I do. Is there any problem with the workshop?"
Isabella sighed. "You should see what happened. Follow me."
Adam then nodded in agreement as he began to follow Isabella. Just less than a minute later, there it was, the workshop that his father operated for what? 15 years? 20? He didn't really know but he did hear his father mentioning about this.
Anyway, Adam saw the workshop, with a huge sign The Fletcher written beside it. The workshop looks exactly what he remember. There's even the flowers and plants in front of The Fletcher which he actually used to water back then.
At this point, Adam noticed something. "Wait, isn't the workshop looks too clean?"
"That's because me and my mom are regularly cleaning it. Well, most me."
What? Adam could not believe it. Despite his father's suddenly closing of the workshop, and him not visiting here for 3 years, they still actually took care of the workshop, even if they did not have any obligations and responsibilities to do that. Adam felt warm in his heart. Isabella and her mother are indeed good people.
"But what I want you to see is inside," Isabella mentioned.
Adam nodded his head, his eyes full of determination. Isabella opened the main door and Adam saw the familiar counter where Isabella's mother are always in back then. Beside the counter was two ways leading to two different rooms. The alchemical room to the left, and the runeforge room to the right.
Isabella walked to the left so Adam followed her. It still looked exactly the same. And actually, it looked really clean. More cleaner than when his father was still operating this place. Well, it's probably because there are people working here. And now since it's closed, it was really easy to clean.
Adam and Isabella arrived in front of another door, above it was a sign saying Alchemical room.
"This is it," Adam mumbled. For some reason, he felt really nervous. What did Isabella discover that she made him take a look for it himself.
"Are you ready?" Isabella said.
"Yes," Adam nodded his head. He took a deep breath and now looked determiner, ready to tackle whatever he see beyond this room.
Isabella slowly opened the door, a slow CREEK! sound reverberating throughout the workshop. As Adam braced himself for what he's about to see, his eyes suddenly widened as his mouth became wide open, like a donut, because of what he saw.
What the hell is this? Adam said inwardly. When his father left, he didn't actually removed the equipments and alchemical cauldrons in the workshop. He just left, without taking anything from the shop other than personal things deeply tied to him.
Now, however, he could see those equipments, like beaker, flask, and even mini cauldrons just lying around, shattered, their glasses scattered throughout the room. The tables were also lying down. A lot of things inside this room were all destroyed.
"What happened?" Adam asked.
"I…I don't know." Isabella shook her head, not knowing anything about this incident. "When I entered the room an hour ago, it was already like this. I still have not told my mom as I decided that it would be better to tell about this. I'm actually about to visit you at the academy, but I'm in luck that you're actually visiting today."
Then, Isabella took a scrutinizing look at Adam, then her eyes directed to his Izkaa Academy uniform. This made Adam embarrassed. He does not want to tell her he's late that's why he is here. And so he cleared his throat. "So you don't have any clue what just happened?"
"None," Isabella shook her head, much to Adam's disappointment.
"Hmmm…" Adam began to walk around the alchemical room, inspecting the equipments destroyed. It seemed to him that the culprit managed to enter the workshop without needing to destroy the lock. Maybe the culprit was actually a locksmith or something like that.
Then, Adam saw something, a dark fabric which made him widen his eyes in horror. Isn't this, what that black robed figure was wearing yesterday?
What in the world was happening? Why was this here? Even though it might seem he's not making what happened yesterday a big deal, it was actually a huge deal for him. He still felt terrified and he didn't understand what was the intention of that creature. He also remember something about…eye?
"Adam?" Isabella said, her voice laced eith concern as she patted his shoulder.
"I'm fine," Adam replied as held the fabric. "I'm just a little shaken that something like this happened in my father's workshop. I still can't believe it."
"Yeah," Isabella nodded, her voice becoming noticeable weaker than before.
After few minutes of inspection in the alchemical room, Adam said he wanted to see the runeforge room as well but there's nothing that really changed here. There was no damage in the equipments and whatnot.
Adam was currently outside, his nostrils greedily devouring the air as he took a deep breath. He's trying to understand what was the connection between these three.
1. Rufus Fletcher, his father, the town-renowned Alchemist-Runemaster who suddenly disappeared 3 years ago without any warning.
2. The Ashebournes, specifically Draxus Ashebourne, the Divine Executioner and considered one of the most powerful Arcanist and swordsman in the world.
3. The black robed figure which "attacked" Adam yesterday.
What are their connections to each other? Adam touched his chin as he tried to make a theory, but without proper clues, he can't seem make a connection between those three.
"Father, what in the world did you do?"
Indeed, it seemed that Adam's father was involved in something big, involving Draxus and that black robed figure. Maybe it has some earth-shaking secret that only figures like Draxus knew. But he still did not understand. His father was just an Alchemist-Runemaster, while having a dual profession was impressive, it was actually nothing in the entire Empire.
"Hey!" Isabella interrupted this train of thought. "You wanna visit mom? She said she already missed you."
"Yeah," Adam nodded. "Sure, I mean why not? Right?"