Where is my Family?

Author's Note: The months are the same as ours and the days are the same as ours IRL. Idk why I never said this. The previous chapter with Atlas ended in June.

December has finally arrived. The house was busy preparing for one thing. Noel's birthday! Her birthday was today, the 6th. The adults had all bought gifts for her. May had bought her a new bow made of the finest wood the Nova Kingdom had. Jennie bought light armor that protected Noel but also allowed her to move freely. Lucy bought a cook book for Noel since they always cooked together. Mars and Kiah bought these pretty shoes that matched her favorite green dress. Eva and Zen had a custom dagger holder made for her. Atlas had bought her beautiful butterfly shaped earrings for her.

The ladies were all in the kitchen, cooking up the biggest feast possible for Noel. The men were decorating the first floor for the party. The children were upstairs playing and waiting for the party to begin.

By noon, the food was done and the decoration were complete. The children had come running down and were in awe of everything. The boys had put up jungle theme decorations so the living area had become a dense forest. Atlas even went the extra mile and created animals using water and earth spells. So, the room had birds cawing as they flew by and there even a tiger, he created that sat in the corner and patiently waited for the kids to come over to it.

The food was some of Noel's favorite. Fried, grilled, boiled, sliced, diced, soup and drinks. Everything she liked was in front of her.

"Happy Birthday Noel!!!" All the adults yelled as she blew out her candles. They handed her their gifts.

"You can use the bow to beat Atlas! I will teach you." May winked at Noel as she opened her gift.

"The armor will help you last longer when you battle your brother." Jennie gave Noel a thumbs up.

"You can cook your brother anything if I'm not around anymore." Lucy gave Noel a hug.

"These shoes go perfectly with your dress Noel." Mars and Kiah couldn't help but be happy seeing Noel's excitement seeing the shoes. It looks like they gained another grandchild.

"Use this dagger holder when you finally graduate from Atlas' class okay?" Eva and Zen were proud to see how far the little girl has come with her training.

Atlas POV

"Here you go Noel, these are from me." I handed her a small box that contained the earring I bought for her. I was happy to see her excitement as she opened the box.

"They're so pretty! Look at the wings! Each butterfly has two blue and two green stones in it!" She quickly put the earring on and ran to a mirror to look at them.

"Yep, I asked them to put those in. I thought they would look great and now that I see you wearing them, I was right." Noel turned around and addressed all of us.

"Thank you so much for the gifts!! This is the best birthday ever!" Noel came back and sat down. May handed out small drinks for everyone. She wanted me to make a toast to Noel.

I raised my glass up and everyone else followed.

"Today is Noel's birthday! My little sister's birthday. I want to thank everyone for working to put this together and everyone who bought her a gift," I look at Noel "Noel, you're 9 years old now. Before you know it, you will be an adult as well. Cherish all your friends and family and never forget that we are all here for you. Also know that we all love you as well. Without you, all of our lives wouldn't be as bright and happy. TO NOEL!!"

"TO NOEL!!!"

The party continued on. We played party games, ate food, drank and partied again long into the night.

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A few days later.

My birthday is tomorrow but today I had other things to do. Early in the morning, I set out on a solo quest. After finishing it, it was already passed noon so I quickly turned the quest in and took my reward. At 1 o'clock today, I was meeting with Princess Eva and Zen at the Blue Soul. We were suppose to meet with one of Ivory's men to see if they could help look for Pollux. Princess Eva wanted to help out somehow and she decided that she could use her status to help find Pollux.

Even though she never met him, she has grown closer to Kiah over the last year. She wanted to help no matter what.

I rented out one of the rooms in the commoner's guild and took a nap. Once I was rested, it was time for me to meet with the others.

I left and got to the Blue Soul. I looked around and saw Zen wave me down.

"Hey Zen. How's your day going so far?"

"Zen is doing fine. Princess Eva asked Zen to wait for you. The people from the Beast Kingdom are here already."

Zen guides me to a private backroom where the princess was. We walked in and there sat Princess Eva and across the table was a man sitting down and two others standing behind him.

"Atlas, you're here!"

"Sorry for being a little late princess."

I sit down next to Princess Eva and Zen stands behind her. The man sitting across from us then stood up and bows.

"Sir Atlas, it's great to see you again." I take another look at the man and realize that I knew him.

"General Noah. It's good to see you again as well." General Noah was the person who caught me and threw me in the prison where I escaped. He was also the one that told me where I could most likely find Olivia and Katherine. I also learned from Ivory that he was spying on Prince Saul at the time and reporting back to her when she was still locked away. He was the true hero that worked hard to keep the kingdom from falling apart after Prince Saul took over.

After a moment of catching up, we began our meeting. The meeting ended up lasting about 3 hours. So, it was 4 o'clock by the time we finished. We also had dinner together so we didn't completely finish until 6 p.m.

"I will report all of this back to Her Majesty once I return. Until we meet again Princess, Sir Zen and Sir Atlas." General Noah leaves with his men as we stand there and see them off. Once they leave the gates, the three of us decided to go see Mars and the others first.

"I'm glad everything worked out! I'm so happy that I could be helpful." Princess Eva was happy that she could help.

"It is great. With your help, it will make it easier for us to look for Pollux and any other adventures caught. It won't be long before he is found now." While we were talking, Princess Eva asked me something that has been a pain for me.

"So, Atlas. Is the King still bothering you? Is he still asking you to join him?"

"It has been a month since he has said anything. It feels like he finally gave up."

Since the Red Shanks incident, the king has been asking me to join him. Every week, without fail, someone from the royale castle would come and knock on May's home, asking to meet with me.

They always said the same thing.

"The king wants to ask you once again to please join us."

"He is willing to pay whatever price you ask."

I would answer back with, "No, once again I do not wish to join."

The men would always grunt, moan and then leave. The following week, someone new from the castle would come and ask me again. Since November ended, no one has shown up.

"That's good then! Noel would be sad if her older brother just changed and disappeared. I should know…"

I'm happy that Princess Eva was thinking about Noel's feelings. She treats Noel like she was her own sister. I should take some time to thank Princess Eva properly.

The closer we got to Mars' home, the busier the streets got. It actually became more difficult for the three of us to move. Zen went into work mode and began to protect her.

"It's rather busy. Follow Zen please, Zen will make a way for us to Sir Mars' home."

The two of us follow behind Zen. I was surprised by how busy it was. It was about 6:30 p.m. on a Monday night. It's usually not this busy since many are staying home and preparing to go to work. After a bit of pushing and shoving, we finally reached Mars' place. There were a lot of people just standing around.

'What's happening? Why's there so many people here?' I couldn't help but wonder. Not many people know Mars and his family personally, they usual keep to themselves.

Princess Eva and I both tried looking towards the house but Zen stopped us.

"Sorry, I would not recommend you two to not look." Zen tried blocking our view but I saw something weird. Half of their home was burned down. My heart stopped for a moment. Nothing bad happened right?

I pushed Zen aside and rushed to get a better look. I pushed pass the crowd and even the royale guards who were blocking people from getting closer.

I tried searching the house to see if there were any mana sources. After a few minutes I couldn't find any mana sources. I look around and saw some adventures standing around and taking notes. Maybe the adventures guild knows what happened?

I push back through the crowd and ran towards the adventure's guild. I heard Princess Eva and Zen but I ignored them. Making sure that Mars and the others are safe is my top priority right now.

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Outside the adventures guild.

When I arrived, there was a huge crowd outside the guild hall. I could hear shouts and screams of anger. Someone was shouting about the mercenary guild. I entered the guild hall and saw Jennie, Lucy and May standing together. Ior was off to the side talking to his staff. On the floor laid 20 men, tied up and locked up. I call out to the girls.

"What happened? Are you three okay?" The three saw me and I could see them let out a sigh of relief. May was the one to explain to me what happened.

"Atlas! Thank god you're okay!" She checked me out from head to toe. She then told me what happened. "The three of us were coming here for a meeting with Ior when we were attacked just outside the guild hall." She pointed at the men that were tied up, "These guys all attacked us out of nowhere. It was no problem for us though, we quickly took them out before anyone else got hurt. After interrogating them, they confessed that they were from the mercenary guild and the guild master had asked them to try to kill the three of us."

Why would they do that? I know that the mercenary guild didn't get along with the adventure's guild and commoner's guild but they wouldn't attack out in the open like this?

"So-." Before I could ask her more questions, someone busted through the door, screaming for Jennie and Lucy.

"Jennie! Lucy! The people you told us to watch over are gone!!"

"Gone!?" The two girls shouted at the man who came in. He gulped and nodded; he took out a piece of paper. He was the same guy I saw earlier in front of Mars' home.

"Here are the details." The four of us gather around to read it.

"At 6 p.m. today, the family of three, including Mars, Kiah and Casper disappeared. Their home has burned down leaving only half the structure behind. After thoroughly searching for the mana sources of the three, we concluded that no one died in the fire. We were not on standby when the fire happened because we were answering the cries of someone who needed help." That was the summarized version of the details.

Jennie grabbed the man. Yelling at him for an explanation.

"Why haven't they been found?! That family can't use magic so they shouldn't have gotten far!"

The man squealed out and tried to explain himself.

"We did! We looked everywhere! I know they don't live to far from you guys as well, when we searched your home no one was there."

The four of us freezes up. First May and the girls were attacked, Mars and his family disappears and now no one was home? The four of us looked at each other.

"Wasn't Olivia, Katherine and Noel staying home today? They were taking the day off, right?" Jennie was the first to say it. We all remembered what Olivia said this morning. Something was wrong, I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. I had to see for myself.

"You three stay here! Figure out why the mercenary guild attacked the three of you. I will go and see if they are safe!" I ran out before they could stop me.

Please be safe. Please be safe. Please be safe.

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When I reached our home, royale guards were standing guard of the home. The door was wide open and I could see figures moving around inside.

I called out to the guards blocking my path. There was a crowd as well. Wanting to see what was happening to the guild master's home.

"Hey! What the hell are you guys doing? You can't search through our home like that!"

One of the guards saw me and whisper to the others. The entire line of guards then circled around me and pushed the crowd off to the side.

"Sir Atlas, please come with us." They demanded that I go with them. No explanation. Nothing. I tried my hardest to keep my temper in check.

"Please, just answer me. Why are you doing this? Where is my family?"

The guards didn't budge. Only once again saying that I must go with them.

'Ceto, search the home. Tell me if you find any of ours in there.'

'I will sir!'

It only took a minute but Ceto had already returned. I don't know what she saw but I could feel her anger.

'Ceto. What's wrong?'

'Sir. KILL all the guards here.'

Huh. What is she saying?

'What do you mean? What did you see in there?'

'SIR! Mars is dead! Kiah is also dead inside! Someone… someone forced themselves on top of her and then killed her after. It seems like they forced Mars to watch. Inside were royale guards and mercenary members. At least 20 were inside.'

I unleashed all of my [Death's Aura]. I refuse to believe what I just heard.