Calm before the Storm

"So who was that young lady?" Stanler asked his friend as he shifted the file of papers to the other hand.

"Ah 'er?" Ulmolg started. "It was that same girlie who I gave the assignment to make a Forest Crawler design.

Stanler, having run out of energy to act shocked, just nodded with a raised eyebrow.

"What were you talking about for so long?" Stanler asked out of curiosity.

"Such a good intellect, she has. We'ere talking about her design for the forest crawler."

"Oh?" Stanler asked incredulously. "You talked with her for that long?"

Stanler knew his friend well enough that Ulmolg would rather not speak unless it was absolutely required. The only time he talked so much was either with old friends or sometimes when his blood was boiling.

"Yes!" Ulmolg grinned. "That girlie is a genius."

"High praise coming from you," Stanler joked.

"It's not a joke," Ulmolg huffed. "It's the truth, you would say the same if you saw her design."

With that, Ulmolg pulled out a copy of Emmia's design. It was just a copy of whatever the Emmia had drew without any special use of universal energy, but it sufficed to show Stanler what he needed to know.

"Speechless eh?" Ulmolg snorted after seeing his friend start to ogle the design.

"Haaaaaaaaaah," Stanler let out a long sigh before turning serious.

"Turn this Caravan around,"

"What?!" The rest of the members in the Caravan shouted in unison as Ulmolg broke out laughing. Luckily (or unluckily?) for Stanler, the Caravan was only filled with people from their own company.

"Hahahaha!"

"Stop saying impossible things," His secretary, Aisha, scolded him viciously.

"No-" Stanler started to justify himself.

"No means no," Aisha put her foot down firmly.

"Awww," Stanler started to mope, this was just a drag for him. Ulmolg had truly found a genius, and now they were traveling away from them.

"Hahah," Ulmolg finally stopped laughing and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Stannie, don't be too sad, she told me that she wouldn't come even if we asked."

"Haah," Stanler sighed again, "I see."

"Who is this person that both of you want them?" Aisha finally asked out of curiosity after hearing their conversation.

Ulmolg and Stanler turned to look at each other, "Go ahead, you know her better than me," Stanler relented.

"Wel you see...."

----------------------

Chase made his way down into the secret layer of the Numbers. Tugging his cloak to obscure his face, he made his way past an empty hall into the main meeting area where all the Numbers sat for their gatherings. Looking around, Chase didn't see anyone. 'Everyone must be busy with their work.'

Hurrying past the meeting table, Chase turned left and swung open the door into the room towards the left of the dining table. Stepping through the doorway, it was as if he had stepped through a portal into a completely different area. Leaving behind the dreary and gothic look of the dining area, a pink mist, similar to the one created by his gift, permeated the air in the space.

The door behind Chase swung shut with a low thud, closing off any light, preventing it from piercing through the mist, leaving him alone bathed entirely in the unearthly glow of the mist. Breathing in deeply, he felt his mind relax, as a glazed look obscured his face while his feet started to carry him against his own will. Not that Chase wanted to resist it.

Walking in his trance, Chase finally snapped out of it when a melodious voice echoed through the mist.

"What is it~?"

"Master," Chase greeted while lowering himself to the ground.

"Hmm~"

Chase hesitated for a minute unsure how to start talking. Deeply inhaling the mist, Chase's mind cleared up as the same glazed look replaced his face.

"Master...there is a slight problem with capturing the target, she has a shadow... a monster," Chase added at the end.

"Hmm~? Interesting," A playful voice rang out in the room. "Tell me everything won't you~?"

With a compulsion, Chase's heart started to ache as he hurriedly replied, "Yes master, you see..."

At the end of his explanation, a deep silence permeated through the space.

"Ahahaa~!" A peal of laughter rang out through the space, causing the pink mist to intensify. "A natural counter I see~" No. 4 murmured to herself as she commanded Chase to leave.

At the command, Chase started to raise himself off the ground when he hesitated.

"Hmm~?" No. 4 raised an eyebrow.

"Master....when will you fix me?" Chase's voice cracked as he raised his head ever so slightly. His patchwork of scars and divots was only an accessory to his terrifying eyes, one permanently squinting while the other was glazed over.

"Soon dear~" the same melodious voice echoed through the space, causing Chase to feel at ease once more.

"Now you can go~"

Chase nodded and made his way out in the same trance that he came in with.

"Well~ Looks like I'll see something fun soon~" No 4 smiled sweetly from within her cloak sitting atop a flower in the center of the room.

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Gavin Ruth ran his hands through his snow-white hair, trying to induce some sort of order with his hair. After trying and failing a few times, Gavin gave up and gave out a deep sigh. Currently, in his office, Gavin remembered what his teacher had told him just a few moments ago.

"Little Gav," Morin started in a serious tone. Sitting at his desk, Morin Esten looked as impeccable as always in his silver suit. Gavin just sat there quietly, with no reaction to his nickname. He knew that the matter at hand was much more important than whatever his teacher addressed him as.

"The Numbers are on the move," Morin continued. "Just yesterday, they engaged in a fight with Seril Struze and severely injured her. The Numbers don't do such a thing unless they are planning something."

Gavin nodded to his teacher's words.

"I think it's safe to say that the Numbers have gathered a large number of depraved as well for whatever they are planning."

Morin paused and took a sigh that did not suit his looks. "Little Gav, I want you to continue to make sure that the other children of the task force are well trained. I fear a fight is soon approaching this city."

"Will do," Gavin replied curtly.

"Take care of the students, they must be protected at all costs," Morin commanded. "We can't have the numbers target our future generations."

"Yes sir," Gavin nodded. Getting up, Gavin turned to leave when his teacher interrupted him.

"And little Gav? Don't get too engrossed with Bell," Morin warned his student. "You have duties that you must attend to over personal feelings."

Freezing for a second, Gavin replied with his usual cold voice, "Yes teacher, I know."

Gavin's wandering mind was returned to the present by a knock at the door.

"Come in."

"Greetings sir!" Hallen greeted him with the utmost respect as he entered.

"What is the status of your task force?" Gavin asked, getting straight to the point.

"We are coming along sir! I have picked only the elite of the elite for it," Hallen reported seriously.

"How many people so far?"

"5 including me,"

"Hmm," Gavin did not comment on the low number of people, after all, he wanted to create the best task force possible. Keeping that in mind, it was better to go for quality over quantity.

"Continue to build up your force, it seems that the time will come soon enough," as Gavin spoke, Hallen felt the surroundings chill in response to Gavin's mood.

"Yes sir!" Hallen, the leader of the task force saluted and bade his goodbye.

'Bellial...' Gavin thought of his lost friend who had lost her way...

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It was well into the night when the cleaners stopped for a break. All the workers gathered around, sharing some food, drink, and the week's gossip.

Ron sat alone, eating his food in silence, while listening to the other workers chatter away.

"Awa~ work's gotten easier in the past few days, hasn't it?"

"Yea, it really has hasn't it?"

"You guys haven't heard?"

"What?"

"Several factories and businesses have cleared out of the city you know?"

"What? Are they a bunch of idiots or what?"

"I don't know the reason either....what goes on in those people's heads only they know."

"Whatever, as long as it makes our work easier~"

"Right!?"

The circle of workers broke out into a round of hearty laughter.

'People have been leaving the city?' Ron raised an eyebrow.

'Suspicious characters in cloaks, that silver-haired child, people leaving...Ohwa, what is going on in this city?' Ron sighed.

Something was going on, something sinister. Ron could feel his head spin at the possibilities.

'Should I leave the city?'

'Hah! yea right,' Ron laughed at his own ridiculous idea.

He had no feasible savings to hop to a different city, and going into the wild was just plain suicide.

'Guess I'll just have to weather it out here,' Ron rubbed the sides of his head as another round of raucous laughter rang out.

'I don't even have a gift to protect myself....' Ron thought miserably. While others had some sort of combative gift, Ron's was just called 'Observation', and it acted just like its name said. And the worst part is that he couldn't activate/deactivate it on will. Sometimes it acted out on its own, leading Ron into weird situations in which he would always be framed as a liar or worse, a lunatic. After all those experiences, he had just learned to keep quiet about these things, fearing even more bullying.

Just as Ron was thinking about his miserable circumstances, he saw a cloaked figure move slip past in the background. Ron's eyes flicked to the figure observing the details, and somehow, he could tell it was the same one he had seen a while before.

'Yea, not going to do anything this time,' Ron shook his head to clear any thoughts of investigating. These sorts of things were best left to the authorities.

'Speaking of authorities, I should probably report this.....' Ron mulled over this thought in his head and decided to head over to the authorities the next day when he got the chance.

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*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

Emmia turned off her alarm, in a small fit of annoyance. Stretching her arms, she rubbed her eyes to clear away the sleepiness. Emmia yawned, expecting the familiar sounds of Seril working in the kitchen to float up to her ears. Yet, this time there was nothing but silence.

'Seril?' Emmia thought, as a sliver of worry crawled into her heart.

Getting up, Emmia made her way to Seril's room first and found it empty. Seeing the empty room, untouched for over a day, Emmia felt her body go cold, despite the warmth of the house. Making her way downstairs, Emmia tried her best to ignore the worm of worry that was wriggling around in her stomach.

Downstairs, the kitchen and the hall were both empty. Emmia felt her heart sink, 'Where is Seril?'

'She hasn't come back in a day....'

'She usually tells me if she's gone longer than that...'

'What if something happened to her....'

Emmia's breathing accelerated as the silence and emptiness around her started to suffocate her, making it hard to breathe.

'Something must have happened when she was out at work...'

Emmia's thoughts started to spiral out of control as her vision turned blurry.

'Seril, please....please don't leave me....'

'Ser-' Emmia's thoughts stopped as she started to black spots swimming in her vision.

'Breathe... I need to breathe,' Emmia focussed her attention on her breathing.

*INHALE*.....*EXHALE*....* INHALE*

Emmia dropped with a thud, mentally exhausted at the events.

'Calm down,' Emmia thought to herself.

'Seril hasn't told me anything about her actual job,' Emmia started to rationally think about things.

'If she hasn't come back, then someone will know something...'

'But who.....Ms Sophia?' Emmia thought to the head nurse of the Academy.

'Seril did go to meet her in the past few weeks...Yea, not a bad place to start,' Emmia nodded to herself.

"Cheer up!" Emmia spoke out loud, to fill the void of the emptiness around her.

"Seril is strong, she'll be fine," Emmia spoke as if trying to convince herself first and foremost.