Revelations

"Hang on, if the Umbras did take away their birthdays, why do we still have reports about them? We even have their names. That's the whole reason for having to fight the Umbras, right?" asked Gab, looking very confused.

The Valkyrie and Earl Yan froze. How could they all have drawn a blank about that?

"Baron Tuazon has got a point; how could we miss the obvious?" asked Earl Yan.

"I think something doesn't add up as well. We may have forgotten about the victims but still, have the incident reports. The only reason why we did not have descriptions is that we don't have witnesses to report."

"They've all forgotten about that person, so they can't give us information," explained Gab.

Mavislin widened her eyes as she abruptly stood up.

"How could I have been so blind?!" she yelled, causing Gab to stumble nearly.

"Give some warning, mate!" shouted the poor man, looking at Mavislin in astonishment.

The Valkyrie ignored the man and gripped at one of the Earl's notes.

"Earl! Baron! I need you to scour for the missing Mages' diaries and find any written record of them. Letters that were thrown away, anything you can think of that can hold the life of the victims," commanded Mavislin.

"What for?" chimed the two men.

"They are the only thing that you can use to find them. Asking people is of no use. Nor is referring to the archives."

"Why not?" asked Earl Yan.

"There's no point keeping letters from someone you don't know. If you could not remember that person, all of the records of that particular person would be extinguished. You can't ask others since they have memories erased about that person. Am I right, Valkyrie?" asked Gab.

Mavislin nodded, still holding that calculative look on her face.

"So what you are saying is?"

"The Umbras uses the Skill called Memory Adjustment. They don't erase the victim from history. Instead, they erase the memories of others about the victim," replied Mavislin.

The Earl looked at Mavislin in disbelief, while Gab merely looked at papers.

"Will we get information on how to eliminate these creatures?" asked the Earl, with a shimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Don't get your hopes up. The first step is to find them. That task is already challenging, let alone trying to kill them. Remember, swords and bullets don't work on them, and most spells go through them."

The Earl looked defeated, but Gab held an apprehensive look.

"Not only do I not think the Umbras possess the 'starving' thing either," replied Gab, looking at the Earl's notes.

"Meaning?"

"You mentioned that the Umbras are a product of their eating habits. In that sense, shouldn't they lose the ability to 'starve'? The Umbras take the victim's power as their own. So why are they still able to erase our memories of that person?" asked Gab once more.

"No..."

"Mavislin?" asked the Earl.

"You kept denying it, right?" asked Gab.

The Valkyrie's face went pale as she glowered at the Baron.

"Denying what?" asked a perplexed Yan.

"The fact that Baldwin's information was wrong," spat the Baron while glaring at Mavislin.

The Valkyre clenched her fist, gripping tightly onto the letter she stole from the Marquess. Her heart was in conflict, whether or not she should accept the truth or continue to listen to her superior. After all, Baldwin was one of her closest allies. So why should she listen to humans anyways?

Perhaps Baldwin honestly did not know about the Umbras as well. But there is another reason: Mavislin tried to hide deep within herself.

She'd complained about how humans were disgusting creatures. Two-faced creatures. They were sad, selfish, and manipulative. They steal from others and are stolen from. They were ugly on the inside.

They would use means and ways to get what they wanted, even if it were wrong. Their best trait was being in denial of the truth. Humans would rather receive comforting lies than painful truths. All because they want to paint a fake life for themselves. Because the truth is too much for one to bear.

Mages could have the same horror pumping within their bodies for all she knows. She couldn't tell if she was turning into a human or if the two kinds were one of the same.

"Mavislin. Why do you think Sir Noble was lying?" asked Gab, with a deadpanned look.

The Valkyrie bit her lip, refusing to look at Gab or answer his question.

"You want to protect him; it's fine. And I'm not asking you to accuse me, either. But think about it. Why would he give you the wrong information?"

"There's a chance that he overlooked some things..." replied the Earl, trying to vouch for the Valkyrie.

Baron Tauzon shot a glare in the Earl's direction.