The Lightning Mage

22 | The Worst Commission, Part II

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The room was silent as Lyn stared at Brendan for what seemed like forever.

Then, she exploded.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Brendan?" she barked, standing up so fast her chair fell over in a loud crash. "What evidence do you even have, accusing her like that?"

Brendan lifted his eyebrows and glanced at the other team members. "Oh wow, you guys were right about her reaction."

Lyn turned to them as well, glaring in fury. "And what are you guys doing, just sitting there? Say something to him!"

"Lyn..." Millie started, but her trembling voice trailed off. Her long, curly hair hid her lowered head, but it was still obvious that she had been crying.

"You guys are fucking useless," Lyn snapped before turning her attention back to the QA employee. "This is utter bullshit, Brendan. You're not capturing my fighter over a stupid tip-off by a random person. That's never happening."

Brendan's expression was unwavering and calm. "It's okay if you don't want to take up this commission, Lyn, I'll just give it to another team. I just thought that it might be easier for your team to try and handle this first."

"Another team?" Lyn slammed her hand down on the table. "Are you crazy? You're not capturing her ever, no matter who you give this commission to!"

"So, you're going against the QA, then?" Brendan said, his tone low and threatening. "That's a dangerous stance to take, Lyn."

That rendered Lyn speechless for a moment.

"I'm- I'm not..." she stammered.

Brendan let out a small sigh, before taking out a folder and throwing it across the table. "These are memory images from our anonymous tip-off. Take a look at them."

Lyn whipped out the pictures, and her mouth dropped wide open. The first image was that of a grand hall; gold-lined stone pillars erected the tall ceilings, while glistening moonlight pierced through the stained glass windows. It would have been a picturesque sight if not for the fact that everything was covered in blood—the floors, the pillars, the walls, everything.

And in the middle of this gruesome scene, was a petite East Asian girl crawling on all fours. Her sequin dress was tattered and drenched in blood, while her long, silky hair was ruffled and messy.

Lyn's heart leaped to her throat. Was that... No, no, it couldn't be...

With trembling hands, she flipped through the rest of the memory images. Each picture was of the same scene, but with closer and closer views of the girl. And in the last image, the girl finally looked up and stared right into the person's eyes.

And she was, clearly and undeniably, Cydney.

The folder fell out of Lyn's hands.

"What the hell... This is fake, this has to be fake..."

"Fake?" Brendan said. "Don't insult the QA like this. We know how to do our jobs. I've run the images through counterspells and have our in-house specialty mages look through them. This is a true memory from someone. Who it is from, though, we can't figure out yet."

His expression softened when Lyn slumped back down on the table. "Sorry, Lyn, but bear in mind that these images in no way tell us that your fighter has done Blood Magic at all. It's just a lead."

Tapping on the small tinted bottle once more, he added, "We just want to get to the bottom of this memory. At least have her explain what this memory is about. Is she a Blood Magic user, and if not, is she involved in some way, or knows someone who is? Or maybe, for all we know, this might just be one elaborate Halloween party decoration and we are all mistaken. Whatever it is, it is not normal to be getting tip-offs about Blood Magic along with getting memory images like these, and we just want to know more, that's all."