Chapter 13: The director of dead - part 3
There had been no surprise when the women had stepped up to pay the price. She did hold the love for the sibling pair, even if her’s was a twisted version of it.
She had birthed the children, spent time with them so somewhere inside her, she must see them as an important part of her life. If she mistook it as her affection for them as an experiment, he was not going to question it at all.
Feelings were not his forte and they complicated his business when they interfered. He had seen more than his fair share of bad endings, ugly ones which resulted as a part of it.
‘But you have seen just as good ones too’ there was a part of his brain that reminded him. But one good thing didn’t erase a hundred other bad ones.
And this one headed toward the earlier route.
“You’ll get them both back safely right?” the woman demanded, her voice cracking at the end. Her desperation could be seen clearly but it did nothing to make him move.
He had seen people more desperate than her before.
“I’m here to fulfil your wish. Their bodies will return safe and sound here” He assured. That was all he could offer her with what she could pay.
He did not emphasize any words and in a hurry to get what she wanted, the woman didn’t pay attention to what he had said. Getting the initial process done had been a relatively easy job.
As soon as it had finished, he handed the woman over to the guards standing outside his door. Of course, no one was allowed in while he made the contract.
Now he had a job to do. The contract gave him enough stability to utilise his senses. Finding energy signals was easy enough if one had the correct means. Those guards clearly didn’t and they were too afraid to go to any higher-ups.
Taking a paper into his hands, he called upon the magic in his surroundings. Absorbing magic was easy for him, but to channel the same he had to make it connect with the part of the world tree.
Since his body was badly poisoned, much of what he had absorbed left his body through his markings.
But his environment was magic rich and he could pull the escaping magic again to repeat the cycle till he had enough.
He helped it mould the paper, turning it a crystalline black on the surface. His magic solidified to shape the paper into a swallow.
After it had stabilised, he quickly let the bird fly around him before he exited the room. The guards eyes his raven with caution, but they had seen this tracking magic enough times higher up, so they were not particularly surprised.
“Follow this raven as a squad of seven. I’ll prepare some more to make it easier to search” the guards quickly followed his orders and left.
It took him much longer than normal to make a few copies, but once he was done he followed the last swallow out alone.
The scientist had left with the first group as soon as he had commanded them to follow the bird. What was surprising was that even after a long time had passed there had been no answer from the guards.
They had still not found the pair on their own, so it was time he got involved himself.
The bird was fast but he was able to keep up all because he had magic assisting him. It led him toward the forest. The canopy was not thick enough to block the rays of light penetrating them to the ground.
It was well lit and the trees slowed down the bird enough to make it worrying. It continued for some time before the bird stopped at a place.
There was nothing around except for some trees and a part of the guard squad.
From the corner of his eyes, he spied one of his birds flying around in circles and the new one joined it.
“Sir, the bird led us till here but we can’t find anything. Can it be that it was broken?” one of the guards who saw him approach asked.
Since he had made himself known, the rest of the guards quickly shifted their attention toward him. Really, they were inefficient.
But then again, most of them had been regular humans with hardly any backbone in the supernatural. They had not studied the field since childhood like many advanced people in the field.
He could not fault them too much if they missed a thing or two. But it was frustrating that they didn’t even make an effort to further their own standing in their circle. They were too content with their place and it would come back to bite them.
He would, however, not point it out himself. Perhaps he would get someone else to give them this lesson.
“It’s an array. Relocation array to be specific. Clearly, whoever took the kids made a fast work getting out of here. I’ll go after them and you go inform anyone above the rank of captain that there was a breach in security and I need help” the guards were already hesitant to report to the higher authority. Unless he gave them an out they would just get in his way.
His words relaxed the guards who quickly scattered. Now to actually face the problem without alerting the kidnappers would be tricky.
The array had been expertly made and contained enough triggers that it would detonate if not resolved carefully. His books were back home and if we were to do it alone he would need another pair of hands.
“Sir, can I offer any help to you?” he quickly looked up to see a pair of eyes trained at him. He had taken it that all the guards had left the scene, but clearly, it had not been so.
The guard in front of him was younger than him, clearly in his twenties. His looks were unfamiliar to him but his magic somehow felt comforting to him. And really familiar too, like he had lived with it.
Was this guard related to any of his previous hosts? After he took a host, their families were generally adopted into the family as well if they wished so. There had been many that took advantage of the same.
The current clan head had been the same. Brother of this body who had come to know the truth too late.
“Do you have any knowledge about seals? I’ll need a pair of hands with this” he questioned. The guard looked reliable enough but it actually surprised him when he nodded.
“I know a little. The one who took care of me a long time ago made sure I knew. What do you need me to do” it could not have been long by his standards but humans have a different sense of time than him? Their life was so short after all, they had to make the best of what they got.
Also, the guard had arrived at the right time. This solved his biggest problem with his array.
“Good, I need you to complete the circle by channelling the energy here” he took the man’s hand and placed it where he wanted it to be. “Once it’s stabilised, I’ll cut off the triggers one at a time”
It didn’t cross his mind that this might be a little advanced for a weak human to do. It was only after he had finished halfway did he look up with this thought.
But the man in front of him was in full concentration and looked not to be tired. So he continued without pause.
Once the triggers were taken out, all that was left to do was to open the array.
“We’re done here so you should leave. I can handle from here” he called out as he turned away from the other toward the portal.
He expected to hear the footsteps turning away from him, but instead, they sounded as if they were coming closer. With a look at his back, he could see the man approaching him.
“I'll accompany you. If I stay here, I’ll just get punished instead” there was a certain pleading in the voice which caused him to reconsider.
Well, the man had been useful this far and he clearly knew to be viable.
‘Besides, your body is at its limit. You will need a new host soon’ he quickly dispelled that thought from his mind. There was a specific type of body he was willing to take over and he didn’t want it for anyone if it could be avoided.
Especially for this bright man at his side who’s future looked to be promising. His talent was enough to get him into any main branch and as soon as they returned, he would recommend him.
“By the way what is your name? I can't keep calling you sir or Mr wish granter all the time. As for me, I’m - “ the guy was still talking when they crossed the array. This caused him to miss out on the last few words being spoken but he didn’t mind.
This was obviously a time thing and it was better to not get attached here.
The array leads to a hall with clean walls and furniture. There was a long couch at one end and a staircase at another. The hall itself was huge with large openings leading to hallways. The roof curved in a semi-cylindrical framework supported by a space frame from below.
The theme of the whole place was industrial, but they were at no warehouse. This place felt more like the building of a company office or a high tech research lab.
“Someone is coming from the right. Let’s get going” His senses could hear fast approaching footsteps. Even if they had not been discovered yet, taking chances was a no go.
They had a task to fulfil. The guard agreed with him as he followed him into one of the opposite corridors.
The building had been much the same, but he had been a step above and had actually brought the paper with him to make a guild. Quickly taking a page out, his hands worked faster than before and soon the pair was following a blackbird inside the building.
“Wait. We can’t barge in like this all of a sudden. What we need is a distraction and a view of the internal situation” the guard was about to open the door but once he heard him he stopped.
There was a look in the guard’s eyes that spoke of his desire to barge in but he held firm. There was no time to waste.
As far as he remembered this body’s memories, there should be a service vent nearby. When he inherited a body, he generally inherited it’s acquired knowledge too. But upon changing body it was all lost.
Thankfully, this one had the sense to keep track of such things. Maybe due to his study course in higher education.
Finding the vent was not difficult. There was a sign that pointed to it and to keep away from it. Opening it was a problem though.
As far as he was concerned, neither he nor the guard had any tools to get the screw loose. He had to work his magic to open them and climb up the vent.
Once they were inside, it was a smooth sail. There were enough holdings inside to provide a solid ground to them. Mainly for the people cleaning the vents, but if they helped one, they helped all.
The vent was situated in a corner so most of the view from inside was compromised.
But it showed enough to know that their tracked location was right because in front of them laid the two bodies. Both unconscious and hooked up with a lot of wires.
“Looks like we found our target. Now about that distraction I mentioned? Think you could pull one-off for a few minutes?” he knew that was asking for a lot, but surely till now, the guards had gotten them help.
A distraction might be what they needed to attract the attention of them and their own side. The guard with him had a mischievous grin on his face as he looked at him.
“Would a computer failure do? They have an unusually large amount of data here which they would not want to lose” The words had a malice to them, but their tone was light enough to seem playful.
He did not think much of it. What and how the guard achieved this was of no consequence to him as long as it got the job done.
“Do what you want. Keep yourself safe and flee at the first sign of danger though. I’m sure I’ll think of something on my own” he smiled to reassure the guard. Now that he had been helped so much, he felt like he owned the guard a little.
He would not have been able to do it himself. Not with his current limits at least. He was on borrowed time.
The guard looked touched at his words and there was something in his expression which he could not explain. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he refrained himself and left.
Within a few minutes alarms started to sound all over the room.
Not everyone left, but the number of people who stayed behind was still significantly less than before. It would be enough to work his magic and get the people left behind to sleep.
The array for the magical sleep was tricky but he had a mastery one them and it showed when everyone fell asleep in a few seconds.
Once it was done, he quickly worked his magic to pass through the vent wall and land inside the room.
Both siblings were kept in separate beds adjacent to one another. However, only one of them was breathing. The boy had passed away in sleep while a pair of grey eyes looked at him asking for help.
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Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone