{Foreign Rituals}: Tower Of Worship, Part 2

After another hour of travelling down those unnecessarily windy roads, the misfits arrived at a small little town. Situated just a few hundred meters away from the forest leading to the foot of the mountain. The village sustained themselves from mining and selling the goods to travelling merchants.

"So, if I got this right. You can't continue mining because of... Ghosts?" There was scepticism hanging in the air. Ghosts here, ghosts there, wherever he went, apparently there were ghosts.

"You're a mage, right? Don't tell me you don't believe in ghosts when your folk can destroy an army with a swing of their hand!" As much as scepticism rolled off Micah, as much anger and frustration rolled off the mayor.

"It's not that I don't believe it. It's more the fact that the idea of ghosts roaming around messing with people seems to be appearing more and more frequently around me. And, I don't like that."

"Hmph, your tone sings a different tune, young mage. Now, can you or can you not, get rid of this ghost?"

"First of all, what makes you so sure it's a ghost at all?" Micah wasn't necessarily sceptic that it was the work of ghosts, whatever the town was experiencing. It was just a matter of how rushed and pushy the mayor was. They didn't manage to step out of their carriage before the middle-aged mayor had grabbed them and lead them straight to his house. He still hadn't woken up from the nap he took on the way here.

"First it's the blood-red lights flashing from inside the forest. Then it's the tower. Old and frail, possibly stood there for generation but only when the light-show started did we notice its presence. I don't know how we missed it, but we did. And, as soon as our miners found it, it started." With a heavy sigh, clearly trying to release all pent-up anger and resentment, he continued as calmly as he could. "three weeks ago. Two adults disappeared when hunting in the forest. that ain't nothing but a deer-filled forest, no beast of magical nature, never been, never will be. I'm certain them ghosts took them."

"T...Then... two days ago. Three sweet kids from my village disappeared. From their own homes no less. How do you explain that? Do you think bandits waltzed in through the front door and grabbed them kids? NO! Only something that can walk through walls could do that."

"I don't think ghosts walk, more like float, right?"

"Sorana, Not. The. Time!"

"Yeah, she-devil. Read the room," Micah glared at Gajeel with even more annoyance. Not only did he just antagonize her unnecessarily. He also was under the impression that he was superior as a conversationalist

"Can you help or not! The kids, they're just younglings, not even ten." His anger had turned to pleading as he saw those tiny childish faces drift around the room. He couldn't shake the images, the horrible scenarios he envisioned those kids experiencing.

"We're here because of that tower so we're going to check it out obviously. If we can help or not, that depends on what we find. Whoever took the kids could very well have left the area by now. Prepare for that, because I can't guarantee we can get them back alive." He wished he could express how much this hurt him as well, but in front of the client and also this vulnerable mayor, he couldn't break down. That was something he was only allowed to do behind closed doors. His confidence was the towns hope.

"I know! But, I can feel it, I know they're alive. I have a connection with everyone here, I love them all equally, and I would know if they were no longer in this world." You could see the wetness at the corner of his eyes. His belief was strong, but his worry and anxiety was stronger.

"We will do what we can, I promise you that." Micah so desperately wanted to promise their safe return. But, those words from Richard, those specific words kept echoing in his mind. "Don't make promises you can't keep". However much he wanted, how much he needed for them to be alive, he couldn't show weakness or make false promises. He could only display empathy, trying to connect to the town that way.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"Come one, guys. We have work to do." He wouldn't waste another precious second. Even though night was approaching, he didn't need to sleep and his comrades were too riled up to be able to sleep. Kids coming in harms way would summon the punisher inside every decent person. Could you sit idly by when kids were left alone and exposed to the evil residing inside humanity?

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Finding a gigantic tower in the middle of a forest wasn't an especially demanding task. look for a big-ass tower and that's mission complete. They stood some ways away from that very tower now. But, this wasn't any old tower, the mayor was certainly on to something. Before leaving the village he found unbelievable how one could miss a giant tower standing so close to their homes. He thought they lied about not knowing about it to lessen the guilt. But, as they laid eyes on it, he now they why no villagers noticed it before.

"It's an illusion. Or, more like a temporary construct of magic. I don't know how it's made, but it is no more than a few weeks old at most."

"How do you know that? I mean, I can certainly feel an odd eerie aura around it, but that thing, a few weeks old. No way." Gajeel had no knowledge of Blue, so when the others chuckled at his bewilderment, he just growled in annoyance and confusion for not being included in the secret they prized.

"I'll explain when we get home. But, trust me, it comes from reliable sources."

"Mind giving me the quick run-down of what those sources are, and where they are?" He said, rightfully looking around in confusion

With a finger to his temple, he answered proudly. "My mind. A source of literal nigh-omnipotent knowledge and power. unfortunately sometimes unwilling to provide." He left it there, much to the frustration of the dragon slayer. That did not clarify anything whatsoever. Nigh-omnipotence, what did that even mean?

"Anyway. I will take down the guards stationed outside, just like with the bandit cave. Move up when I've taken them out, then we'll take the tower together. Also, we don't know the condition or location of the kids so we should try and make this quick and efficient." He looked over at Gajeel quickly. "That means, not much noise."

"Tell that to the she-devil. She is the loud one, right?"

"I'm gonna enjoy my time with you." Without even looking, he could feel the sadistic smile forming on Sorana's face. But, true to his character, he played it off as no big deal, despite sweating buckets on the inside.

"Be ready to move. See ya soon." Micah utilized his ability to dampen the flashy light coming off his body when he transformed. With almost no glow present around him, he disappeared as an azure-coloured blur.

The tower was massive and magnificent, from a purely architectural standpoint. Long, thin, with a spiralling form that ended at the top in a large circular structure. With how it was formed, it was highly likely that the interior mirrored the outside, with maybe a spiral staircase to ascend the floors. This was Micah's thoughts as he appeared in the air above the guards dressed in dark-red robes. Their expression was stoic as they gazed out into the forest looking for abnormalities in the environment.

"Look alive, it's only ten more minutes until our shift ends."

"You picked your last words nicely." Micah rose from behind one of the guards and he struck down on his neck, knocking him out.

"What the hell!" As the other guard lost his stoic expression and fumbled for something inside his robe, a dim light suddenly covered his vision and everything went black.

"Quick and clean, just as always, boss." Richard complimented as they came walking towards him. The second guard was struck in the throat with a precise strike then one to the head ones again to knock him out. Micah still held strongly to his no-kill policy. He would do what he could to not kill his enemies. A mindset no one among the misfits shared. Even Yukino agreed that killing is more effective and would remove future threats.

"Guess you were serious with the whole, good guy thing. I would have just killed them." The dragon slayer wasn't bothered by killing. Nature versus nurture. He was raised by the former, and in his life, there were no hesitation or mercy. He was raised a savage fighter, and his former guild taught him how to utilize that properly. Very different from the misfits he had joined hands with now.

"You will grow accustomed to it."

"We can only sit and wait for Boss's moral code to come back and bite us in the ass, and maybe then we can change him." There wasn't much they could do. Sorana and Richard knew how much love he held for Rufus, and how his moral code was the one thing connecting him to his dead father. He would do anything to preserve it.

"No time for chatter, let's go inside. We have some ghosts to beat up."

"Weakest ghosts I've ever seen."

"Oh, so you've seen a lot. How helpful. Then by all means, do take the lead, ghosthunter." Micah smiled and pushed Gajeel through the tower entrance.

"Finally some action!" Yukino brandished her sword with a grin, and Sorana simply smiled and raised her awareness to the maximum. Now was the time for the misfits first debut as a proper team.

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End