Chapter 3

[Blackthorn Security Company]

On Zouteland Street a large brick building stood very unassuming, on the second floor inside a comfortable office furnished with a simple wooden desk and three chairs that sat three figures, the one behind the desk was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with light brown hair, a straight nose, and sharp gray eyes.

The two in front of the desk were older men one was a muscular old man with blue eyes and messy brown hair while the latter was a heavy-set old man with a large belly from the years of Indulgence, enjoying all the delicacies this world had to offer.

"This is unacceptable," yelled the heavy-set man slamming his sausage-like fingers against the desk, "Ease your temper, Lord Basil," spoke the muscular older man as his aura grew turbulent like a Strom for a split second causing the Lord Basil to tremble in fear before sneering in contempt.

Turning to the man behind the desk Lord Basil asked, "Can your Nighthawks handle it," the man behind the desk didn't show any emotion as he spoke, "I can only promise we'll try our best but I can't be certain about recovering the sealed artifact."

Hearing this Lord Basil looked back at the muscular old man saying dissatisfied, "Blasphemous, Swain you said you could be certain of recovering the artifact," the old muscular man Swain didn't look upset only glanced at the man behind the desk before saying, "I told you before, Dunn and I are long time friends, I trust his abilities and the Nighthawks, also the Mandated Punishers will provide resources and assistance in finding the artifact."

Lord Basil didn't seem confident in Swain's statement, "You all have two weeks to find that damn artifact if not I'm hiring bounty hunters, I lost a lot of money and my daughter suffered grave damages from its influence," spoke Lord Basil sadly, confusing the two men, they couldn't tell if he was sadder about what happened to his daughter or the profit he lost.

Lord Basil then stood up before striking the left of his chest with his right fist saying with sight emotion, "Praise the Holy Lord of Storms," out of habit and belief Swain did the same gesture while Dunn simply nodded, watching the heavy set Lord Basil walk Swain gave a mocking smile knowing the man wasn't a faithful believer of The Lord Of Storms.

After Lord Basil left the office Swain and Dunn sat there in silence for two minutes until Swain spoke, "Ah, yes, Lord Basil's presence will be greatly missed," causing Dunn to smile before asking, "How did the Mandated Punishers lose hold of such a sealed artifact?"

Swain leaned back in his chair not caring about professionalism saying, "For hell I know, I'm not the Captain of the Mandated Punishers anymore, I'm just an old retired veteran."

"If so, why did the Mandated Punishers send you," asked Dunn with a smile and a sight sarcastic tone making Swain frown as he leaned up saying, "Those baboons couldn't tell the difference between their right and left ass cheeks, hahaha!"

Dunn simply smiled not angry at the rude cursing since he was used to this old man's personality only watching Swain laugh at his own joke until Dunn spoke with a mocking smile, "You know with all the cursing you do, becoming a Seafarer wouldn't have been that bad since you'll get to sail the high seas and fight pirates."

Hearing the word Seafarer a tingling feeling was in Swain's heart but he suppressed it only saying, "I was too old and probably would have become one of those monsters, not only that but more damn responsibility, hell no!"

Dunn knew the old man before him was lying, what Beyonder didn't want to become stronger even at the risk of losing control and he knew the reason Swain didn't take the opportunity, the old man simply didn't want to leave Tingen City where his daughter and grandson lived. The risk of losing control to get stronger seems like an equal risk and reward but Beyonders with families that rely on them this 50/50 chance suddenly becomes a gamble too big to take.

"Haha, you're probably right, Old Neil is always complaining about having too many responsibilities for his age," playfully spoke Dunn as Swain nodded saying, "Hell he's right, my old bones can't keep going, you'll know our pain soon give it 10 more years."

Dunn grew a little sad as he thought, 'My hair makes people think I'm older than I look, hmm, I'll have to find something to fix that, Rozanne or Mrs. Orianna do they know of anything.'

"I see you thinking hard about what I said," spoke Swain before his voice lowered and he grew serious saying, "Dunn as your friend I'll be honest with you, I know the urges a middle-aged man goes through but you must never date younger women. They will only drain you of your stamina and hurt your pockets, I'm telling you this from first-hand experience."

Dunn, who had leaned in thinking it was something very important was left completely dumbfounded at the old man's advice, Swain reached across the desk patting Dunn's shoulder with his large hands saying, "I know it's a lot to process but it'll save you a lot of trouble in the future, I can tell you like Ma'am Daly but she too young, Dunn, save your stamina, I'm warning...."

Before the old man could finish Dunn stood up quickly trying to hide his blushing face, saying, "I'll inform the Nighthawks about the mission and go investigate the scene, I'll get someone to find you if we need Mandated Punishers' help," Swain only nodded remembering what brought him here in the first place before shaking Dunn's hand saying, "Well friend this is were we part ways!"

When Swain stepped out he saw a few figures outside the door that quickly turned away trying to act as if they weren't listening, the old man just laughed walking out of the Blackthorn Security Company as Dunn watched before turning to the nearby Nighthawks.

"Do we have a case, Captain Dunn," asked a handsome short youth with bright blue eyes and blond hair, "Of course there's something, that old man and fatty wouldn't have been here," spoke another youth who was very fashionable dressed in all black and red clothing making him appear out from the crowd.

"How long has it been since a big case like this," asked the third young man with black shiny hair that was laid back, he was equally as handsome as the first youth.

Hearing all the questions Dunn simply smiled saying, "We have a missing sealed artifact case, the Mandated Punishers were transferring Sealed Artifact 3-0799 on Lord Basil's merchant ship but his daughter got ahold of the Sealed Artifact and under its influence escaped, but lucky she was found but not the Sealed Artifact,"

The third youth asked in surprise, "Isn't that fat guy a believer of Lord of Storms and the incident happened at the docks, why are we taking the case shouldn't the Mandated Punishers be solving this one?"

Dunn nodded at the youth's question answering, "Sealed Artifact 3-0799 is no longer in Lord Basil's daughter's hands it caused a huge accident in West Borough involving a lot of The Evernight Goddess believers and one of them is being influenced by it."

The young men faces grew brighter hearing this knowing they would finally get some action after months of boredom, Dunn spoke looking at the first and third youths, "Leonard and Dwayne you're coming with me to investigate and calm The Evernight Goddess believers who witnessed everything, Hitte, inform Frye of the situation and you both go around West Borough to gather information on where Sealed Artifact 3-0799 might be."

Dunn then turned around to walk away but stopped realizing Leonard and Dwayne weren't following him until he remembered he forgot someone, "Ohh, Hitte also tell Seeka Tron that she can stay put and guard Chanis Gate, " before walking again until the same thing happened so he asked not knowingwhat he forgot, "Are you two not coming?"

Leonard and Dwayne sighed as Hitte spoke, "Captain Dunn, you never told us Sealed Artifact 3-0799's function or its description," hearing this Dunn finally remembered what he wanted to say earlier, "Aslo Hitte go with Frye to Old Neil, he'll tell you about Sealed Artifact 3-0799 and what to look out for. Leonard and Dwayne, I'll explain it to you while on the carriage ride."

Dunn, Leonard, and Dwayne quickly left while Hitte went to inform Frye about everything.

During the carriage ride Dunn explained everything that happened with Sealed Artifact 3-0799 and its effects, "Wait, How did Sealed Artifact 3-0799 with its ability to motivate the user to achieve their desires cause a man to become a monster," asked Dewayne with a cold sweat after hearing Sealed Artifact 3-0799 made a man eat his friend.

"From the stories, the man in question had a very low IQ making Sealed Artifact 3-0799 very deadly since it already has a strong effect on non-beyonders who can't protect themselves against its effects, imagine how stronger its effects are on animals, children, people with lower intelligence, or people with strong wicked desires," explained Dunn with a serious face wanting Leonard and Dwayne to be on guard against Sealed Artifact 3-0799 effects.

Sealed Artifact 3-0799 was a grade 3 sealed artifact from the Church Of Storms but its effect mirrored those of the Demoness Pathway Sequence 8 Instigator, it amplified the desires or emotions of the beings around it to the extreme, as long as the user is a Beyonder and doesn't have strong emotions or desires then effects will be minimal.

But this could be very beneficial to the user when they're fighting off any mind-altering effects or attacks from foreign influences, the only downside is if an enemy or threat wants to hurt the user its desires will be greatly amplified, increasing the danger for the user.

Like Dunn stated if Sealed Artifact 3-0799 was given to animals, children, people with lower intelligence, or people with strong wicked desires its danger would increase greatly since if the user was an animal, a child, person with lower intelligence the Sealed Artifact 3-0799 would fully control the begin and start replacing their will with its own.

The scary possibility of it getting into a serial killer or evil person's hands had to be prevented at all cost.

When the carriage ride suddenly stopped Dunn and the others exited standing before an old shabby brick building that had 3 floors, "Remember to stay focused, our goal is to find more information and to calm the residents, I'll take the first floor, Leonard you take the second, and Dwayne you're on the third floor. Let's meet back up on the first floor in 4 hours."