The Burden of Destiny | Sequel to The Aura Within

13 | Rumor Has It

General Hayes found himself growing impatient with each passing day. There had been no activity from the Obsidian Knights for almost two weeks. Were they that good at hiding their footsteps from his watchful eyes or had they simply lost interest in the region? No, he knew better than to let his guard down. If anything, he should be more cautious. The attack on Heiwa Town was a warning. Whatever followed from here on out was just the beginning of something much bigger.

Suddenly, two of the castle's messengers abruptly burst into his office, quickly interrupting General Hayes from his train of thought. He straightened himself up and gave the two uninvited guests a disapproving look. Before he opened his mouth to give them an earful, he paused upon noticing their terror-stricken faces.

"Apologies for the intrusion, General." Both bowed apologetically. "I'm afraid we bear terrible news!"

"What is it?" General Hayes questioned.

"There have been numerous reports of missing people in Kokytos for several weeks now," one reported urgently.

"What?!" The general abruptly stood from his seat. "Explain yourselves!"

"U-Um, the search party that was commissioned to look for them has also gone missing," the other messenger reported. "The local knights all reported that those missing people were last seen near Infernus Cemetery and were never seen again. Who would have ever imagined that those urban legends of that creepy place would be true?"

Kokytos was known for its paranormal ambiance. Half of the population was made up of mages of every caliber. Unfortunately, they were always made suspects when something like this came up to the point that many of their urban legends antagonized them. Regular folks often made them targets of aggression out of fear. It had gotten worse when the public became aware of Claire Ferguson's involvement with the massacre of the Rosario family. Not even Axel, the sole survivor of the Rosario family, could say a word to defend the innocent mages from the civilian's wrath.

As much as General Hayes was certain that the mages weren't behind the sudden disappearances, he also couldn't ignore the connection between the cases and Infernus Cemetery. That place repelled any living organism from entering it because of the unsettling air around it. Urban legends had to have come from some truth, right?

His eyes widened when an idea formed in his head. Dispatching a search party of regular knights would put them all at risk of disappearing, but what if there was a way to investigate with someone with a keen sense similar to the supernatural such as aura?

"General, what should we do?" one of the messengers asked.

"Go gather at least fifteen knights that are available and inform them that there will be a mission pending at my discretion," he ordered. "Something about these disappearances does not sit right with me, so I must make proper preparations before I can send them out."

"Yes, sir." They saluted.

General Hayes dismissed them after that. He walked over to his cabinet and pulled out a wooden box that contained a strange book that belonged to the infamous witch from seven years ago. Seeing it again brought an unwanted sense of fear. This was Claire's grimoire, the very same one that had been used to reanimate people from the dead and used them to fight. General Hayes scrunched up his nose as he picked up the leather-bound book, his hand tracing over the worn pages.

Mere human knights weren't going to suffice if he wanted to find out what was going on. Cemeteries and dark magic were never a good combination in this situation. The general flipped through and skimmed the book in search of some information that could help him develop a strategy for his knights. He may be an ordinary man with no connection to the supernatural, but at least he was certain that the help of an aura guardian would be essential if they were to stop all of this from continuing.