Khaos Zara and Morn were about to leave city hall when Milly came rushing down the stairs. She had changed from her cloth morning gown to a knee length blue skirt and a black blouse. While her hair was tied into two pigtails.
"Father, i would like to come with you", she said.
"Why Milly?" Morn asked.
"I want to see were my brother grew up. I might never meet him, the least i could do is meet his mother". Milly explained.
Morn nodded, "Fine, but please do not tell your mother were Mider's mother lives. Knowing your mom, she might kill her".
"Okay father, i promise not to tell mother where your mistress stays. But i will have to tell her about Mider", Milly said.
"Don't worry about it, as soon as she comes back i will tell her myself".
"Can we please go". Khaos said, "Ever heard the saying; 'A cultivator's minute is worth more than all the gold on Zylon'?".
"I apologise, follow me". Morn said as the four walked towards the door and took off into the sky.
"Why are the skies so clear?" Zara asked.
"Ever since cultivators began disappearing, father forbade flight for all citizens in Galor city". Milly said. Even though she hid it, her face showed how strained she was, trying to fly at speeds her cultivation did not allow.
Khaos saw through this and began slowing down, which made Zara match his speed, and ultimately the whole group slowed down.
"Why?" Khaos asked.
"Because father believes that it will be harder for the enemy to move without being spotted by The Shield". Milly answered.
The Shield was a guild of trained guards, present in every city on Zylon. It was founded by one of the 10 Lawkeepers and it's job was just to be available for when citizens wanted to pay for protection.
The Shield never accepted missions which involved killing, only defending and or searching. They would only fight when someone attacks what they were hired to protect.
No one on Zylon was allowed to have an army of any sort. Every guard on the planet belonged to The Shield, including the guards at city hall as well as the ones which were protecting the carriage back then.
The Shield's services were vastly cheaper than the Academies, and that was because no members of The Shield could be stronger than the eighth stage, since only the Academies had the resources to push it's members farther.
In fact, only the commanders of The Shield, which were in charge of the city based guilds, were at the eighth stage. Getting to the eighth stage outside Academies was very hard. Getting to the ninth was impossible.
In the global scale, The Shield and the Academy were allies. However, there were incidents which might make them clash in small scale. Like what happened at the Dead Gorge.
There was no helping it though, the Academies could not stop their quests just because they could be going against The Shield. Every job had it's dangers, even a baker could burn himself while making bread. Some jobs just had more lethal dangers than others
There were also other small organisations like; The Spear, but that is a story for another day.
"Has it worked?" Khaos asked.
"Unfortunately not", Morn sighed. "It did not even slow down the disappearances. In fact they sped up a little. I am actually thinking of dismissing The Shield on this matter because they are useless and the city's coffers will run dry at this rate".
"Dismiss them," Zara said. "They might even hinder our own investigations".
Morn nodded as they continued flying over the city. It took less than thirty minutes for the group to arrive in front of an average looking house at the edge of the inner district almost, in the outer district.
Cities were divided into three districts; the outer, inner and core district. Normal citizens lived in the outer district, it was circular and surrounded the other districts, it was also the biggest.
The inner district housed most business and richer citizens' houses while the richest lived in the core district. Obviously the Mayor's house, city hall, was located at the absolute center of the core district.
Mayor Morn walked up to the door and took a few breaths to compose himself before knocking.
"Mider!?" Almost immediately, a shout was heard inside the house, then sounds of shuffling, before the door opened.
Now standing by the door was a middle aged woman with messy blonde hair and white skin. Her eyes were red and dried tears could be seen on her cheeks.
"Oh, Morn." She said after seeing the mayor. Then she noticed the people behind him. "I mean Mr Mayor, what can i do for you?" her voice was raspy and low.
Morn did not say anything and simply walked past her into the house, the rest followed him and the woman closed the door after everyone was inside.
The inside of the house looked like the normal average house. There was a small room which acted as the living room, having some chairs around a woden table.
There were a few cupboards lined on the wall and three doors which led to other parts of the house.
"I guess they know everything, so what are you doing to find our son", the woman said to Morn.
"Remi, this is my daughter Milly". Morn began the introductions, "And that is Academic Khaos and Academic Zara from the Black Academy".
Remi glanced at the group before looking at Morn once more. "What are you doing to find my son?".
"Can we sit down first?" Morn asked. Remi just glared at him, anyone could see the anger in her eyes.
Morn sighed and pointed at the chairs, "Khaos, Zara, please take a seat", he said, and everyone sat down, except for Remi.
"What are you doing to find my son?" she repeated.
"I have commissioned the Black Academy to find all the missing cultivators", Morn said, gesturing at the duo from the Academy.
"Miss Remi we would like to know more about Mider". Khaos said.
Remi moved her death stare away from Morn and focused on Khaos, then her angry gaze turned to one of grief as she sat down.
"What d..do you want to know", she stammered.
"What time did he disappear?"
"Five days ago, a few hours after sunrise. He had gone to buy some bread, and he never returned. It's all my fault, i should have never..."
Morn interrupted; "Nonsense Remi, it was not your fault. You could have never known something like this could happen".
Remi nodded. "You are right Morn, it is not my fault. It's yours!" she shouted, standing up aggressively and pointing at the mayor.
"If you only had acknowledged him, this would have never happened. My son would be safe in city hall, but because you are a coward, afraid of your wife, my son has been taken. You did this, it's all your fault!". She screamed and sobbed at the same time.
"It is not like that Remi! I...."
"Morn you will find us when you and your mistress decide to stop wasting our time". Khaos said and stood up to leave, followed by Zara.