Crossing Illusion: Reflection (Book 1) #Wattys2017

Chapter 3: Encore in Moonlight

Gloomy shadow stalk from the darkness of the trees, asking permission to the moon for more spotlight so they could exist.

"I said that there was something missing here. It's not all clear yet." A clear, bright voice of a young teenage cut through the silence of the forest.

"We already get all the evidence, Almer." A boy with hair as pale as the moon talk back at the significant other. "The banshee attack him and cause him to fall down, either kill him or not. Then the goblins do the rest with the dissections."

The boy with black hair, with red apple-colored eye was frowning. "How could they do it that fast? The witness goes there right after he's fall down, and he said he already dead at the time."

The blue-eyed man seems to be thinking, evaluating the information, making sure that he already put the right piece in the right place. "They could cut him after the witness go. The witness only said he see him dead, not witnessing a bunch of disturbing creature have some dinner party on his friend's corpse."

"But Joose identified with a cleaving wound in his chest. True that the goblins could do that, but why the witness did not realize that there was a new wound appearing compared to his previous vision of the dead body?" Almer once again come with some comeback. Even Noir are bit confused now.

"That's one of the few point of what cause me to suspect that the case have something missing.." He try to memorize, but get nothing.

"Hey by the way, why it must be a Goblin? When we face a case with missing body part or chance of something eaten the man, we usually suspect carnivore beast or such thing isn't it?" Noir switch the subject, seemingly lost with the argument.

Almer have a smirk, probably happy that he win the talk. "Goblins in some sources are known to be very mischievous or even hostile. Some said they consume child's tooth, other said its liver. In most source, they mentioned to consume only a certain part of our meat. Do you get the idea now?" Almerich end his information with a riddle.

"Now that's make sense." Noir pat his hand, symbolize his sudden revelation. "The place is a meat factory, but why the murderer, which is carnivore, did not ate the meat that already easily provided there... That's because they only want a certain part of human's organs!"

"Bingo! Yet that's only our deduction anyway." The black haired boy give a cheerful smile for the right answer. Almerich isn't really that smart, but he get quite perfectionist at time. Sometimes, a perfect analysis is a must.

Their steady walk proceed through the wet grass field into the factory beyond. "Hey Almer, you said your Phantasm did not work to ghost, but you stop her temporary while she pursue us." Noir try to break silent and their repetitive footstep.

"That one? It's not my ability, that's just a basic protective spell. I try to learn that few month ago, especially after that event." Almerich explain it in a quick sentence. Basic spells have nothing to explain for them, though it pique the interest of Noir as his partner never have it before.

"That event? The exorcism mission on Philippines?" The red eyed boy nod, then the blue eyed counterpart continue to talk. "Well, that was a chaos. I still remember that you're so mad, that you destroy everything in the forest, but the evil spirits won't stop attacking us."

"And that's why I want to learn at least a minimum requirement to defend us against ghost. I don't want to always rely on you when they come, you know." Almer speak again, a bit flustered, probably felt uneasy as it was always Noir who take care the problem when they face spirit-based astral being.