亚洲综合中美

“Emma, Emmy, where are you?” in the distance, Undrar and the others cried out for it was time to sleep.

“See, you’re not alone anymore,” the hand they grabbed on whilst in despair, pointed in front. “-That’s your new family now, they all care about you both dearly,” two quick pecks on the top their heads later, “-and I do too.”

“Here,” Staxius waved.

“There you are,” she ran out with blankets, “-stay out at this hour and you’ll catch a cold,” she took charge and headed inside with the girls. Each sister stared one another and laughed – their face felt easier, their aura relaxed and emotions; stable.

*Dark-Arts: Sense Personality,* “It’s gone,” he sighed, “-the fear and doubt that hid inside their hearts.”

“Don’t stand there and gawk, get inside, brother,” she gritted the last word and paired it with a cold glance.

.....

“Coming,” with a smile, he walked.

“I must ask, why is it that you do such things? sometimes it’s out of character, why do you want to help someone when you yourself have said that you’re not a hero,” Adete raised a good question.

“I’ve explained this so many times,” the head shook in disappointment, “-I’m not keen on repeating what I’ve said. Therefore, you best scour thy memory in search of the answer. Also, the thing about being a hero – one doesn’t need to be righteous or good to save someone. Even the bad guy in books and stories had something to protect. Though it might have been the wrong thing, the feeling of trying to protect and save a person was there – tis the intent that counts,” that said, now in bed, it was time to call it a night.

“Is that them?” a voice reluctantly asked.

“Yes, KILL THEM,” shouted a girl with black hair.

“You’ll pay,” tied to a tree, “-the DG will get reven...”

“Shut up,” held out on the right hand with long nails, a human-heart, “-killing is messy,” he complained.

“Stop bitching and continue the slaughter,” sat with her legs crossed, Elsa watched under the moonlight sky. It had been a few days since their arrival; the duo employed to assassinate an elusive being went to work. One after the other, people relating to the DG were killed. It was decided that the list that Aiden held would be their primary focus. A large-scale massacre would bring the attention of the guilds and royal guards. It was best to kill the important people before it grew out of hand. Amongst the victims; a well-respected trader, a foreigner, and a little boy that worked as a covert killer for the Assassination sect.

“Hey dragonkin,” after a few minutes, the lady spoke, “-was it you that flew over that village a few months back?”

“I can’t remember,” face and body painted in crimson, he turned with eyes that resembled a beast, the face had partially altered itself into being more dragon-like. “I do have memories of flying over something. Needless to say, it was Desmond that captured me, anything I did prior was wiped from memory,” a spat of disgust followed.

“I guess it doesn’t matter,” she stood, “-are they dead yet?”

“Without a heart, they better be,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Dump them into the sewers, make it look like a murder, or eat them, I care not. Heck, leave them out in the park for all to see – the quicker we get the attention of Shadow, the faster Lord Desmond can bring down the Dark-guild.”

‘Assassins, Lord Desmond, Dragonkin,’ sat behind her monitor, Cake overheard what went on, ‘-it was smart to ask all our members to wear these black-watches. Inconspicuous, none would ever guess that there’s a microphone that will transmit whatever the host is hearing. How I love outsmarting the opposition. UO, I can’t help think that this is a trap – one thing is sure, Shadow is the target and a massacre will follow if they are not given what is due. What a predicament,’ now crouched on her chair, she bit her nails and thought. ‘AHH,’ turned around, ‘-I’m too tired to think,’ she jumped onto her bed and slept.

[Bodies found at different locations] The morning newspaper was covered by a black and white picture of the heartless corpses. The report read, “On Sunday the 20th of January, the cleaners in charge of the sewer and park were greeted by a gruesome sight of several corpses. Paralyzed by shock, it was a passing adventurer that made the call; the bodies were sent to the coroner. There is yet to be an answer, is it the return of the Masked Murderer or has the capital turned to ruin by the invasion of a monster? Time will tell, the issue is being handled by the Royal Guards in collaboration with the Adventurers,” a summary read by Undrar.

“Another string of murders,” Deadeyes voiced whilst eating pie.

“There’s probably going to be a quest related to that later tomorrow,” Achilles added her thoughts on the matter, “-it’s best to wait and see.”

“Worrying about things that can’t be changed is a waste of time,” Undrar said whilst feeding Axius. The Lymsey sisters and Auic remained in bed for fatigue caught up. Lizzie, with the absence of Auic, helped Viola in the kitchen. She learned how to make an omelet. Proud, the latter was handed over to Staxius. “Looks edible,” he took a bite, ‘-salty,’ the eyes twitched subtly after which he gobbled down the whole thing. “Delicious,” a high-five to the cook later, she headed upstairs to take a shower.

“Don’t act like we didn’t see that,” Achilles caught the subtle movement.

“W-what did I miss?” Avon came out of the common room.

“Nothing major, just master eating the saltiest omelet to ever be made,” Adete voiced loudly. Laughter filled the room, “-a glass of water,” he asked with one eye shut.

“Xenos, defeated by a mere omelet,” Avon added, “-what a day,” the laughter intensified.

“Yeah, very funny,” Staxius said sarcastically whilst drinking water. ‘A family bound not by blood but mutual respect and admiration and a sense of duty. I can definitely get used to this,’ he thought and watched – the residents had a sense of relief on their faces.

“Uncle, uncle,” Axius scurried over from his chair and into his arm, “-today is when mother arrives?”

“That’s right, her flight should have landed by now.”

“Can we go meet her?”

“Not really, she’s going to take the train back from the airfield. I guess we could wait at the train station.”

“Yes, yes,” the face lit joyfully.

“I never realized that Rosespire had a train station,” Achilles spoke in a baffled tone.

“Well it’s outside the walls, the railways aren’t that obvious since it passes through caves and over rivers. It’s secluded to keep its passengers safe. That means of transport is for nobles to get to key-locations faster, thus the secrecy.”

“Does that mean that your sister is a Noble?” Deadeyes asked.

“No, remember when powerful mages had the authority of nobles – that privilege still exists. Combat-mages might have been overtaken by adventurers, but we do have a role to play. The study of magic to make the world a better place or so that’s what the people are told. A quick search here and there and you’ll realize that the study of magic leads to one end – for military applications. Remove the host and turned the magic into weapons – similar to Tharis here, there are many weapons out in the world. Made by the same people who created the Xerxes series cars. Weapons of mass destruction. Viola has more information about it, we did fight against a wielder of that weapon – a battle that nearly cost the life of one of my comrades.”

“Is that true?” the gazes turn to her.

“Y-yes, the weapon that gave us so much trouble was Knightfall, a deadly sniper rifle,” she concluded.

“I’ve heard of that,” Deadeyes voiced, “-a weapon that chooses its master as opposed to the master choosing it.”

“Let’s not get side-tracked,” the chatter stopped, “-basically, mages are now using their knowledge to try and get back power through arms. It’s not a bad idea, thus the reason why my sister has the privilege to use the train. She’s part of the Order – and so is my mother, it’s bound to come with advantages.”

“Nepotism at its finest,” Achilles said in jest.

“Anyways,” he stood, “-its Sunday, you guys are free, I’ll be going to meet with Claudia. Viola is in charge as always,” hand in hand with his nephew, they walked out the front door.

*Beep,* *I’m sure you’ve read about the news of the killings that occurred. I’m afraid that the people who were targeted are members of the DG. It’s an attack by the UO. My precautions paid off, we have a lead. Apparently, the leader is a person that goes by the name, Desmond. It’s also wise to say that there might be a dragonkin involved. Shadow is their target, watch your back, much love – Cake,* the strategist sent a message about what was learned up to now.

*What’s up with the much love,* even on text, Staxius came across as cold and heartless. ‘I’m a target. The dragonkin, I can’t help but think that it might be related to that Potential Dragon spotting quest a few months back. Desmond... remove the S and D, and it spells demon. Honestly, there’s no time to worry about conspiracies. If it turns out the man is a demon, I might die of laughter,’ Void drove out of town and headed to the east – a place slightly elevated and covered by trees. The roads leading up were guarded.

“Here,” he pulled out his dragon-crest, the barricades lifted. Once inside, the duo waited. The marble floor seemed excessive, the lack of people walking showed how lonesome this place was. A few meters away from the elevated station – another one for commoners. It seemed livelier down there – so far, the line relayed all the provinces to one another except for Arda, Dorchester, and Totrya. For Plaustan, the line ended at the start of the province. Going further south would reveal Azure’s wall. People still preferred using vehicles to travel. Trains, though available to commoners, were viewed as too high of a standard. This didn’t stop rich merchants and commoners from using it. The roads and railway were planned in such a way that the two would never cross. A decision made for in case of a war, if one supply chain is broken, the other could take over.

*Screeeeech,* sat in a deserted café, the sound of the train coming to a stop snapped the mind out the thoughts. “Mother’s here,” Axius voiced, he had unwillingly used Spirit-sense.

“Let’s go meet her then,” a few steps later, Claudia got off. Surprised by her welcoming party, the briefcase fell and she rushed to hug Axius. ‘Look at them,’ he picked up the case in her stead.

“Did you miss me?” now held in her arms, she proceeded to assault the boy with a plethora of heartwarming kisses. Axius could but giggle. ‘It is true,’ a few meters off, men dressed in expensive attire stepped out. The mannerism and dignified walk were a clear give-away. A side-glance followed by a humph, they walked off as if disgusted.

“That’s nobles for you,” she stopped her barrage of kisses, “-always looking down on people. That hierarchy will never end.”

“Did you get what I needed?” he asked without care to what was said about nobles.

“Who do you think I am?” she winked, a good sign.