After teaching Arthur the basics of working in the restaurant, the day soon came to an end. Arthur left home as he chose to refuse the offer of staying at the shop itself. He didn't want to overstay his welcome.
After Arthur left Kael and Lyra finished cleaning up and went to sleep.
…
The night passed by as the morning arrived. The twins completed their morning routine and opened the shop's door for business.
"Sis we still have 10 minutes, why are opening a bit early?" Kael asked with interest.
Lyra didn't say anything and looked outside where she saw a silhouette running towards the shop with a bag hung across his shoulder.
"Got your answer?" Lyra looked at her brother with a smirk. "Hey guys…am I late?" Arthur asked breathing heavily. "No, you are 10 minutes early," Kael said with a smile.
"I wonder where Ruby is?" Lyra said gazing at the empty road outside.
"She'll be here any minute now," Kael said without any worry as Ruby was very responsible and rarely missed a day of work.
As they were conversing Mathew came out of the storage room, adjusting his shirt collar.
"Arthur, this is Mr Mathew, our new manager" Lyra introduced.
"Oh hello Mr Manager, I am Arthur" Arthur introduced himself with a bow when he suddenly thought something and said in confusion
"I feel like I've seen him somewhere"
"Haha, he has got that face right?" Lyra said trying to shift the topic.
"Well anyway, I've got something for you four…wait-" he stopped midway as he swept his gaze across the shop and continued
"Mr. Valerio said there are four of you…where's the other one?" Mathew asked.
When suddenly as if on cue, Ruby entered the shop in a hurry.
"Sorry I'm late guys, got stuck in traffic" she explained hurriedly.
"Perfect timing Ruby" Kael said with a smile.
"Well, I am a perfectionist after all" Ruby replied with a smug.
"Ruby, this is Mr. Mathew, our new manager" Lyra introduced Mathew again.
"Oh.. a new manager, hello Mr. Mathew," Ruby said with a warm smile. She had already seen this man with the owner that night but didn't think he would be the new manager.
"Hello, Ruby" Mathew replied, returning the greeting.
"Well, you said you got something for us?" Kael asked in anticipation.
"Wait let me grab something real quick" Mathew replied as he went back to the store again. The group looked at each other with confusion when they saw Mathew return with a box in his hand.
"What is it, manager?" Arthur asked.
"Wait a second" Mathew replied with a smile.
"What could it be? My brain's not even working" Kael said scratching his head.
"Well, he finally figured it out at last" Ruby teased with a smirk. The group laughed as they saw Mathew take out several pieces of clothing from the box.
*It was a black apron with their names written on them in golden color. At the top corner of the apron, two golden ravens were embroidered neatly*.
"Wow, it looks so cool," Kael said in amazement.
"Yeah, it's like we are professionals" Lyra replied sharing her brother's sentiment. Except for just being the owner in name, Valerio has not done anything for the shop so she was happy seeing Mathew put in the effort.
"It looks amazing Manager, I like it," Arthur said. "Yeah," Ruby said with a nod.
The group immediately adorned their respective aprons, before they could admire it any further a group of customers walked into the shop.
"Time to work, team," Mathew said clapping his hands.
"Yes sir," Arthur said in excitement and nervousness. Today was his official first day so he wanted to not mess it up.
…
Somewhere in another building
It was a dimly lit office room with a sophisticated and sleek interior. A silhouette was sitting in a rolling chair behind a table.
"What happened to Mark and Dave, they haven't returned yet?" the silhouette asked in a cold voice.
"I will check it and report back to you, Mr. Piers" a female clad in a business suit replied. She left for a while and came back after a few minutes.
"Mr. Piers, it seems like they have completely disappeared without any trace, I can't trace their aura signatures" the female replied in a serious tone.
"Kate, what about the nova signatures from the weapons I gave them" Piers asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Our team tried to trace them but they can't find anything on that either" Kate replied.
"What else? Tell me more details" Piers asked, leaning forward a bit.
"Yes sir, even though we were not able to find Mark and Dave, we were able to sense the signatures of two other individuals. One of them had a very powerful signature" Kate replied with a hesitation.
Piers narrowed his eyes as he heard this information. He nodded and replied with a grim smile
"Looks like Mark and Dave found him"
"Sir do you mean, they found-" Kate looked at Piers with hesitation.
"Yeah. At least someone of his caliber" Piers replied with a laugh.
"Are you sure about this sir?" Kate asked again. Piers looked at her with a dangerous expression as she got shivers. She immediately averted her eyes.
"Of course, Mark and Dave are our elites, they won't be taken down by a nobody" Piers replied with a laugh.
"Yes sir, you are right," Kate said hurriedly.
"Report to me if you find anything else, and also alert the other heads to join in swiftly," Piers said as he watched Kate leave hurriedly.
" It's been a while since I went to the mind realm," Piers thought, fidgeting a pen. After a while, Kate entered the office again.
"All the preparations are complete sir," Kate said.
"Thank you, Kate, make sure I am not disturbed," Piers said with a nod.
"Yes sir" Kate replied as she left the room and stood in front of the room to make sure Piers was not disturbed.
After watching her leave, Piers stood from his chair and pulled a lever below his table. Soon the wall behind him opened leading to a hidden room.
The room didn't have any features. It just had a chair and table in the center and nothing else. After his entry, the room lit up automatically. Piers took a seat in the chair and closed his eyes.
As he opened his eyes after a second, he was in a completely different place. He was in a huge dark space that only had a huge round table and large throne-like chairs surrounding the table.
He swept his gaze as he noticed 11 other figures sitting on the chairs, each emitting a different color aura.
"What's the matter Piers, it's not like you to call these meetings" a silhouette with a green aura asked with curiosity.
"Yeah. Normally, he doesn't even attend these meetings" another silhouette with ink blue aura scoffed.
"Haha, maybe he's possessed by someone…scary?" another silhouette with a bright orange aura laughed.
"Well, I don't have time for mockery. I am here to tell you about something very important" Piers said in a harsh tone.
"Please proceed" a dark gold silhouette gestured.
"Well, recently I've sent two of my pawns to go after "that man", but they seem to have disappeared without a trace along with the weapons I blessed them" Piers explained with a calm tone.
"Your pawns disappearing isn't that surprising but the weapons vanishing too? That doesn't sound very good to me. Are you suggesting-" the dark gold silhouette asked in doubt.
"Yes, I think they found Valerio" Piers replied dropping a bomb. Everyone present exclaimed something in shock when a yellow silhouette's aura fluctuated deeply.
"That bastard is still alive? I've got a score to settle with him" the yellow silhouette said in rage, slamming his fists onto the table.
"I get where you're coming from Orion but do you think he is still alone after all these years?" Piers asked calmly.
"Are you suggesting that he has companions now?" Orion asked.
"It's not like he is not capable of that. You, out of everyone should know his capabilities very well" Piers replied.
"Don't you think it's time that we made a move, Ascendants?" the ink-blue silhouette asked.
"Yeah, we are more powerful than before, so it should be alright," Orion said with a proud laugh.
"Well, maybe you are right Orion. Also Piers, where did the aura of your men disappear?" the dark gold silhouette asked.
"I was informed that it was near a shop called Raven's Burgers" Piers replied.
"Haha, Raven's burger, I see," the dark gold silhouette said with amusement.
…
Meanwhile, Valerio who was washing the dishes suddenly sneezed
"Eh, why do I feel like someone's talking about me?" he muttered in confusion.