Out for a stroll?

Moonvale, a place at the northern border of the Lunaira Kingdom has always experienced bright nights but there were rare moments when the moon would disappear and during this time, no one would leave their residences during the night. It was long believed that when the moon disappears a calamity or misfortune will befall Moonvale and to avoid any of that from happening, the residents agreed to not step out from their houses when the moon does not appear in the sky.

That was their belief but at a certain home, this did not matter because not even curses can work on him. Cygnus was humming while looking at the mirror to check what he looked like and to make sure that he doesn't appear scary.

"The sky already turned dark so where are you going master?" The butler watched as the man fixed the collar of his coat.

"I'm going for a stroll," he casually answered before turning around to look at his butler. "It's a moonless night, isn't this a great opportunity to take a look around," he even grinned and patted his butler's shoulder. "I'll return later."

Cygnus bid his butler goodbye before stepping out of the bake shop's front door. He inhaled the air and was satisfied with it. For a moonless night, it was good to visit a place where ghosts might appear so his first destination was the cemetery.

He walked around the place and checked every tombstone while humming but he found nothing exciting. Everything was as normal as the ghosts roaming around, even an evil spirit was a welcome distraction to him but there seemed to be nothing in that place but he did not stop walking though until he heard it, a familiar sinister whisper.

At that sound his grin widened, so with a skip in his step, he went to the direction of the whispers and slowly peeked through the bushes. There a person was sitting on the ground like he was meditating and there was a magic circle below him. He was mumbling foreign words followed by the whispers of spirits that started to gather around him. They were vicious but once they came in contact with the mana wave created by the magic circle, they disappeared, the spirits were absorbed into the man's body which strengthened his mana energy.

"So this was where all those evil spirits were," Cygnus mumbled to himself. "What an ambitious person."

After watching the other for a while, he stood up and left in high spirits. "It seems that I'll be witnessing something fun." He laughed at his own words and for a moment there, a part of his mana leaked which darkened the surroundings and killed a couple of birds and animals that were unlucky enough to be caught up within his mana's scope.

When he realized what happened, he immediately hid his aura and fixed the darkened ground and summoned some normal looking animals to roam around. After exploring the town at night, he finally returned home with the butler waiting for him.

"Have you found something interesting?" He asked once he saw the carefree expression from his master's face.

"Yes, the plot is developing quite dramatically, now all I need to do is wait for something to actually happen." He massaged his chin and narrowed his eyes at the thought of a free show that might happen anytime in the future.

"I advice that you don't meddle with it, master." His butler kindly advised because he knew that his master had the tendency to take matters into his own hands which in turn creates more problems for them.

Cygnus looked at his butler in astonishment, "I won't do something as troublesome as that. I'll just be a bystander and watch from the sides. I've already told you that my aim now is to live as normally as I could." He shook his head and even showed his butler a sympathetic look.

If the butler could feel any emotion, then he would surely be dumbfounded at his master's words but still he thought that his master's words were a bit outrageous. "Then I will be watching with you from the side."

Jagan woke up in the middle of the night with his heart beating fast like he ran through a marathon as his eyes wandered around the dark room. He clearly felt it, a mana energy that was beyond his, it felt dangerous and ominous.

He stood up from the bed and wiped the sweat on his face from that nightmare, before he went to the kitchen to get something to drink when he saw that his nephew was sitting in a daze on one of the seats.

"It's already midnight what are you still doing here?" He asked, intentionally raising his voice so that the teen can hear him.

It was effective because Ezio reacted at his uncle's voice. "Oh, I was awoken for some reason so I decided to pour myself a cup of water."

Jagan narrowed his eyes and observed the teen. He looked normal but he might be affected by that mana energy that disappeared as fast as it came. "Then go back to sleep."

Ezio nodded his head then he stood up and went back to his room like nothing happened without even greeting his uncle before leaving. The man frowned so he made sure that his nephew really went to bed. He followed him and watched until he got inside the blankets and fell asleep.

A sillhoutte landed on the entrance of the cemetery, the man whose entire body was covered in black except for his eyes looked around but found nothing out of place. He took careful steps inside the silent place while keeping his attention to any changes in his surroundings. The fluctuation of mana he felt came from the direction of this place so he decided to investigate. The appearance of Siron and his lackeys were already expected but a mana energy that can influence him and his nephew was out of the question. Whether it was coincidence or not, he needed to make sure that no other variables will put them in jeopardy.

He stopped then started walking back and forth on the same place. He though he felt something but everything within the area was fine, there was nothing a miss. "How can this be?" He mumbled but no matter how he try to feel or see no one and nothing will answer his question.

After having no idea, he decided to give up but before he would leave, he continued to walk around the cemetery first to make sure that nothing was out of place. He had only walked a few feet away when he felt traces of a sinister magic around. He walked around the bush and cursed after he saw traces of dark mana in the area, even the burnt grass was a proof that someone did a forbidden spell in this place. Dark mana when used often leave behind burnt or destroyed traces in the place where it was performed and its users usually, rather, would always cover up its traces to avoid being found out. In this case, the user might have forgotten, which was unlikely, or he might have been startled by something so he needed to leave in a haste.

Users of dark magic were considered evil since they can use unconventional spells that causes destruction and death. Aside from that, continuous use of dark mana can corrode one's mind ultimately leading to self destruction or the user wreaking havoc all over the place. Whoever used dark mana in the cemetery must have something to do with evil spirits coupled with the timely disappearance of the moon and strangely enough Jagan already had a person in mind.

He was not sure if it was pure coincidence or not, but the fact that he needed to catch the person did not change. He shook his head then extended his right arm forward, a green glow slowly appeared in his palm followed by a small magic circle then he crushed the circle and dots of green light descended from the sky as it covered the ground. Slowly, the burnt marks were gone and was replaced by a whole new batch of grass. Even the traces of dark mana dispersed and disappeared.

The cemetery returned to its usual tranquility and both the man and the dark mana disappeared. What happened that night was bound to be forgotten but not everything can be buried deep.

"You're already awake!" Ezio was surprised when he saw that his uncle was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hand.

Jagan looked at him before shaking his head, "Yeah, I woke up last night and saw you sitting on this same chair in the middle of the night."

Ezio frowned and even tilted his head to the left, "What do you mean? I did not wake up last night."

"Yeah, I figured that you won't remember it because you were pretty out of it last night. You were in a daze the whole time I was talking to you then you went to sleep like nothing happened." Jagan casually stated like it was not a big deal but Ezio was horrified at what he was hearing.

"Am-am I sleep walking?" He asked with wide eyes then he immediately reached out and held his uncle's arm.

"Tsk, it's not like you're going to die. It was just one time and it might be the effect of the moon disappearing." He shook of his nephew's hands and ruffled his until it was a mess. "So stop thinking about it."