Rikard's Decision

Back in the City of Lawton, Cinyah and Rikard were nervously pacing around their living room, surrounded by Local Law enforcement officials. Every person in the room had a solemn look as they watched the two nervous parents pacing back and forth; it had to be known that neither Rikard nor Cinyah was to be considered a no-name Citizen. Aside from the fact, they were both C Rank Reavers, Rikard came from a strong background. The Jetlensr bloodline was considered one of the top upper-class families. In contrast, Cinyah, although she had a falling out with her family, had come from a very well-known high ranked Military family.

While the two of them preferred their quiet life, a single message from their oldest son had sent both of them into a full-blown panic. Rikard, who was in an Egress when he received Cynrik's text and a subsequent call from Cinyah, had burst out all of his Killing Intent. His Killing Intent caused not only his team but even the monsters surrounding them to collapse to the ground due to the immense pressure he was generating; then, in a rage, he eviscerated every single one of the monsters before disappearing on the spot. Moving as fast as his body and Wind Affinity would allow, he made it home within 15 minutes only to find his wife on the floor crying.

Her appearance was far removed from the fierce lioness she was known to be in the Reaver community. Right now, she was simply a grieving mother who was facing the abduction of both her children. The moment Rikard opened the door and saw his wife, he dashed forward and wrapped her in his embrace. The two stayed like that for several minutes before Rikard broke it off and called a friend of his in the Enforcers, the primary law enforcement group in Lawton City.

Not long after the call, eight Enforcer cruisers were floating silently over the Jetlensr's house. Each of these cruisers was over 45 feet long, and if Cynrik could see them, his first thought would be, "OH MY GOD ARE THOSE FUCKING SPACE BATTLESHIPS," to which he wouldn't be wrong. Enforcer Cruisers were personalized battle vehicles equipped with space travel capabilities while having the appearance of a cross between a high-tech military battleship and a fighter jet.

After their arrival, Cinyah had set about serving tea to the handful of high-rank officials while Rikard filled them in on what was happening. He had left out his son's message and instead went with the story that he had suddenly lost connection with his children's Watcets after noticing them move at speeds too quickly for a child to move outside the city.

"Mr.Jetlensr, we have tried tracing your children's Watcets, but the results aren't great. We lost the trail roughly 100 miles east of the city. I don't want to alarm you, but this seems to align with several hundreds of previous cases that have popped up in recent years and none of…" before the Enforcer could finish his statement, a teapot whizzed past his head and smashed against the wall behind him.

"I FUCKING DARE YOU TO FINISH THAT STATEMENT. MY BABIES ARE ALIVE; WE WILL FIND THESE BASTARDS WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR FUCKING HELP!" A fierce fire swirled violently around the enrage Cinyah, who had hurled the still half full teapot at the man's head.

Stepping forward and using his Wind Affinity to control his wife's flames from hurting anyone, Rikard calmly placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. While she had lost a significant amount of her former power, she was still well above the average strength of the Enforcers in the room, the strongest one still being several levels below his pissed-off wife.

Seeing the flames recede, Rikard looked at the terrified Enforce and spoke up, "Thank you for coming so quickly Kaleson, I apologize for my wife's outburst, but we have already assumed THAT group was involved. I only called you here to report it as well as to see if you'd be able to trace my children's Watcets; please keep us posted if you find anything out."

Standing up and bowing at the aggrieved couple, the Enforcer named Kaleson apologized for his earlier words and ensured the Jetlensr couple that they would spare no expense to find their children, motioning his men to leave.

Watching from the front door, Rikard couldn't help but clench his fists tightly as he saw the Enforcer cruisers leave the local airspace. The only reason he had called them in the first place was to hopefully pick their brains about the inhumane beasts that had abducted his children. But, unfortunately, they had held their cards close to their chests and gave up nothing to the C-Ranked Reaver.

Rikard knew what he had to do next, but if he went through with what he was planning, it would undo all the hard work he and Cinyah had done to stop them from ever finding out about their children. Ten years ago, both Rikard and Cinyah had left their families and run off to Lawton to live a peaceful life. They were tired of the brutality and politics they had lived through and only wanted to start a family together away from the bullshit they had grown up with. Unfortunately, the trials and tribulations from being a part of well-known families were even more intense than any war. Day after day of insane training they had been put through aside, each of their families was wrought with fierce infighting and overbearing hatred. It was no better than being in a medieval noble family. Each family had its factions vying for more power than the other, which could turn children against their parents in an instant. Rikard and Cinyah had both witnessed their siblings killing each other only to gain the acknowledgment of the faction they wanted to join.

When they first fell in love, both Cinyah and Rikard were forcefully engaged to other people. To escape these arranged marriages and escape their futures as sacrificial pawns for their respective families, they had run away together.

In this world, the more influential the family was, the more fierce the contention for resources. Cinyahs Family, the Evasden's, were a well-known high-ranking military family who had single-handedly controlled dozens of Alpha Egresses for hundreds of years, while Rikard's family held a multitude of Alpha and Beta Egresses. The sheer amount of resources these two families had was enough to put them at the top of the countries rankings, and as the saying goes, the rich only aim to get richer. The community formed by such means was something neither Rikard nor Cinyah wanted their children to grow up in. They had gone to great lengths to remove themselves from the view of their families, and yet here, Rikard was about to undo the many years of hard work they had put in.

With his head hung low, he slowly closed the front door and walked to the couch, where his wife sobbed softly. Seeing her husband's body language, she too had come to the same conclusion they were both dreading.

Taking his place beside his wife, Rikard buried his head in his hands. "I…I don't know what to do, my beloved." His voice wavered as he struggled to complete the sentence.

Gently Cinyah reached out and took her husband's hand in her own. "We can only have faith that the boys are ok. From Cynriks's message, he was fully aware of what was happening, and he didn't seem to be worried. You know the both of them aren't normal children. They are a lot stronger than even we were at their age. No matter how well they hide it, between your Mana Sight and my Inspect, we have long seen through attempts to hide their strength. While, for some reason, my sight is hindered when it comes to their Status and Stats, I can only assume they are nearing the first Checkpoint. If that's the case…we won't have to call our families. But if I'm wrong….." she couldn't finish her statement, and tears began welling up in her beautiful eyes.

Heaving a sigh, Rikard sat up and pulled Cinyah into his arm while resting his chin on top of her head. "If we don't hear from them by tomorrow morning….I will call my father," steeling himself, Rikard made his decision.

Hours passed by with no contact from the boys, as it had been 16 hours after their kidnapping before they had even arrived at the kidnapper's base. Cynrik had actually been grossly inaccurate in his assessment; by the time they had arrived at the base, it wasn't the even same day they had been kidnapped, but instead, it was the next night over 24 hours had passed since they had been abducted. A storm was slowly heading towards them because they had missed Rikard's self-imposed deadline.

Back in the holding area, Cynrik and Brance were silently watching as the group of 23 hooded men moved away from the stairs and towards the corpses of their comrades with weapons drawn and on high alert.