Not Forgotten

Gresham gave Desmond's figure portrayed by the Widow's Diary a hate filled glare. Widow's Diary couldn't display Desmond figure as accurately as it did the woman it mimicked first, but it was more than enough for Gresham to tell who it was. The memories of what happened to him less than a week ago by Desmond's hands completely resurfaced. Randell saw the change of expression on Gresham's face and knew what was going on in his head.

"I'm glad to see that you still remember him since that's the case then you should be able to pinpoint the movement you fucked up now".

Gresham was still drawing a blank as to how himself and Desmond were involved in the destruction of the steel mill. Wanting to know the secret to the mystery Gresham asked Randell to tell him.

"That old man is named Desmond Gillies a member of the Delmar City Reserve and an intermediate rank apprentice mage".

Gresham's mouth opened wide with the new information that Randell dumped on him. "He's an intermediate mage, I never once saw him cast a single spell even when we fought. I just thought he was just some righteous crazy old man. I still remember when he told us he was part of some weird organization or gang named Oto, Otik, Otago ... umm, Otaku that's what he said it was".

"Otaku", Randell repeated the strange sounding word inside his head repeatedly, but couldn't associate it with anything. Not wanting to make a future blunder because of pure ignorance Randell decided to make a mental note of that word.

Putting the matter regarding the significance of the word Otaku behind him Randell furiously pointed his finger at Gresham's face as he said, "that right there is why I'm guessing you 'forgot' about protocol letting Desmond Gillies easily break free of his cage and go on a killing spree inside the steel mill".

Gresham's eyes grew wider and his throat became dry as he struggled to let those few words escape his mouth, "killing spree".

"Yes, because of your foolishness along with those other two Leopold and Robert. The steel mill was destroyed by a lieutenant cornel in the Delmar City Guards resulting in the deaths of over 200 of our members, but not before that old man you kidnapped in the middle of the street got free and had his way with them first".

Randell was in a temper as he irately reprimanded Gresham for what he had done. He showed no restraint in concern for Gresham's feelings as he took every chance to thoroughly remind Gresham that everything that happened at the steel mill was his fault.

To further engrave Gresham's failure into his heart Randell made Widow's Diary mimic the deaths of everyone at the steel mill, so Gresham could watch. With a heavy heart, Gresham watched as Widow's Diary took on the forms of many people that he knew. Gresham kept watching even when he was on the verge of crying.

As tears were about to stream down Gresham's face his attention was caught by the strange movements that the Widow's Diary was making. Its body twitched violently as it struggled to perform two different sets of movements at the same time.

Unsure of what was happening Gresham asked Randell, "what was going on?".

Randell replied, "The Widow's Diary can only mimic one person at a time. Its ability to mimic also sharply declines when it is tasked to mimic things from what it can pry from its host's brain that's not the original host. As you can see Widow's Diary is trying to mimic Cornel, but it's struggling a lot more than it did with the others because there are two people that look exactly the same in this instance".

"Two people, you mean that old man took on Cornel's form to escape?".

"That is correct, I do not know if he plans on becoming an illusionist or not, but he most certainly dabbled a little bit in it. Originally that Desmond fellow tried to escape underground, that plan of his obviously ended in failure because of the mystic item we used to defend against division and scrying had a minor side effect where whoever comes into contact with its smoke loses their sense of direction. Seeing as escaping that way failed he then decided to pose as Cornel where he then tricked others into killing the real Cornel before he gunned the rest of them down himself. He struggled a lot to get out safely before he couldn't resist anymore and blew the building up.

Enlightened on Desmond's heinous acts Gresham's grief turned to rage which he once again directed at Desmond. "That bastard if he wasn't already dead I would kill him".

Gresham already knew that the person who destroyed the entire steel mill was named Andrea Briggs. Not only was she a rank 2 archer, but she was also a lieutenant cornel in the Delmar City Guards. Making her untouchable to the purifiers who struggle even when fending off against apprentice those at an apprentice's level. Gresham also knew the chances of someone like Andrea caring about the life of someone like Desmond was very small. So, she wouldn't have waited to kill the purifiers just because Desmond was inside the building.

"I never said anything about that old man being dead. Shortly after the steel mill was destroyed there were multiply sightings of a severely burnt lunatic running in the street. He was laughing at the top of his lungs as he proceeded to kill anyone that got to close to him. At first, I thought he was one of our own that just got lucky. Until I heard that the man used a golden object to bash in the skulls of his five victims. Considering how I still have not received my mystic item back and how fragments of it weren't found in the wreckage I can only assume Desmond Gillies has it".

Gresham was glad to find out Desmond was still alive because now it meant he could make a few wrongs right. "That bastard killed our people, good people we can't let him just walk away. I know I messed up so let me find him I'll make sure to make an example out of him for what he did and hang him from the tallest building I can find".

Randell was still displeased with Gresham so Randell did not care to make Gresham feel better by giving him what he wanted. Randell instead told Gresham plain and clearly, "no, you will not go out to find that man the purifiers have suffered too much of a loss as is. Plus, a war with the elves for ownership of Delmar City is just around the corner more deaths help no one but our enemies. While you did mess up by attracting the ire of Andrea Briggs when you went to that bar it was mostly Leopold's falt. Since you attempted to alleviate the situation and because he is already dead your transgressions can be forgiven".

While talking to Gresham Randell took a moment to take out a slip of paper from an inner pocket inside his suit. "As for Desmond Gillies, his transgressions shall not be forgotten".

Gresham received the folded piece of paper from Randell and unfold it. He quickly became shocked by what he read, "1,000 magic crystals for that bastard's head we should offer more".

"Do you have the money to offer more for some lowly nobody? Besides I've already posted that bounty in the underworld it's circulating throughout the city as we speak. It won't attract anyone who managed to break through rank 1, but it's more than enough to make an endless stream of people at an apprentice's level come looking for him.

Randell finished talking with Gresham shifted his attention towards Peter. Randell's eyes glanced up and down Peter's body as he guessed Peter's condition.

Peter knowing he was next to get himself torn a new ass hole braced himself for Randell's harsh Reprimand.

"Peter, are you doing well? Did you get enough sleep last night? If not you should try drinking some warm milk before bed it tends to help people sleep".

Peter was almost at a loss for words he thought he was going to go through the same thing as Gresham.

Awkwardly rubbing the back of his head Peter replied, "yes I've had no trouble sleeping".

"Are you sure, no sudden chills or shortness of breath?".

"Yes, I'm sure" replied Peter.

"That's great to hear after what happened with Howard I just had to make sure of a few things, but you never know so please if anything strange happens to you write me a letter threw my spiritual messenger I will send someone over to your place immediately". Once again Randell reached into his inner pocket and took out a piece of paper with details on how to summon his spiritual messenger which he handed to Peter.

"Remember everything on that piece of paper then burn it. I will not be happy if you forgot to do that". Randell said jokingly, but Peter knew he was serious.

Randell feeling his eyes becoming heavy brought their discussion to a close so he could finally go back to sleep.

In a hurry to leave Randell took out a plain looking harmonica which he blew on to remove Widow's Diary from the body it was in. It took less than a minute for Randell's Guards to shove the mystic item back in its container. Randell ready to leave didn't bother with the pleasantries as he began to leave.

As Randell was about to leave he had a gut feeling Gresham was going to do something stupid and above all cliche. "Gresham remember don't get involved with Desmond Gillies let the bounty hunters handle him. If you still want to get back at him find out everything you can about that Otaku group he said he was apart of".

Gresham gave Randell an understanding nod as he watched him leave.