At Victoria’s Office…

The door opened to Victoria’s office, and a black-haired lady who looked much older than Victoria walked in. Her eyes were crystal clear blue but covered in dark grey. It was obvious this woman had not slept, and the facial expression on her face showed grief. The lady sat down on the opposite side of Victoria, and it made her a little uncomfortable because the black-haired woman was a much stronger Witch than her.

“Abella! I am sorry for your loss. It is undoubtedly a very tragic incident.” Victoria told her.

It was silent in the room as the older lady stared at her.

“I have just lost my daughter and son-in-law. Do you know why I am here?” Abella asked.

Victoria couldn’t face Abella and looked down at the desk. Quickly from nowhere, Abella put her hand on the desk, which cracked to get Victoria's attention so she could look up at her face.

“I have looked, but it will be impossible to get your grandson back, Abella. Samantha has moved her fortress to the Fourth level in Hell. It is impossible for a Witch even to enter because they will die as soon as they enter. One of my Witches opened a portal but could not even take ten steps into Hell without starting to suffocate, and she had to take the steps back to the portal to breathe again. It is not possible to enter. I am sorry!” Victoria tried explaining to Abella.

“What about him?” Abella asked.

“What about who?” Victoria countered.

“When you came to my home with the child and left him in my care for five years, you told me the story about the child. A man in a black suit with mixed blood of humans, demons, and witches entered and managed to rescue the baby and escape.”

“Oh! That was long ago, and there were losses during that battle. The fortress at that time was on the first level in Hell. It is more or less impossible to penetrate it at level four. What do you expect me to do at all? I really can not help you.”

Victoria rolled away from her desk as it broke in half, making her wonder what was wrong with citizens discussing. Both looked at each other as the tension in the room.

“Fine! I will help you. I will send him in to try and rescue your grandson.” Victoria said.

“Good! Otherwise, I would have destroyed the whole Van Polan Organization today and killed everyone associated with the name Van Polan.”

Victoria stared at Abella, surprised by her comment.

“What a dark comment that was, Abella! Are you sure some spell from Hell has not cursed you?” She asked.

Abella went up from the chair and was heading to the door before Victoria commented:

“If he can not walk more than ten steps, the mission gets aborted.”

Abella turned around, staring into Victoria's eyes:

“He should; at least he has a cleaner soul than you and me. You owe me, and when you owe something, you pay it in full, even if it means that the man in a black suit will die rescuing my grandson.

Somewhere In Paladin Woods…

Zark looked around in the dust-filled hallway and scratched his head. He did remember being here, but this place must have been empty for a long time. A sound came from a room not far away, and hurried there to check what it was when he saw Taz, who had fallen together with a bookshelf on the ground with dust all over him. Zark shook his head because Taz's training had finished, and he was going to go out in the field alone, but the kid was very clumsy. Zark helped him up and gave him a slap which shocked Taz:

“Why did you do that?”

“There was so much dust on your face, so I had to slap you to see if it was a mummy or you were standing before me,” Zark sarcastically said as he walked out of the room back to the hallway.

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Zark sensed Taz's heavy steps in the back as they walked to the exit. He was probably sad that the training had ended and he had to take on assignments alone from now on. Zark was happy for Taz because his new office would be in Stockholm City, outside Paladin Woods, and Victoria would probably put him on easy assignments. He probably would only run errands in a human environment, so it shouldn’t be that bad. Zark suddenly stopped and turned around, facing Taz, who was kicking the ground and staring at the floor. He noticed his teacher had stopped and turned his head to check what was happening.

“Look, why even the sad face? You will get transferred to the Stockholm City office today, outside of all the monsters. I had to do the same when I was 17, so it is not bad. It is so you can gain experience and become an even better investigator. You have excellent tactical skills and are great with spells overall; you are the organization's best trainee.” Zark explained trying to cheer him up.

Taz kept moving his right foot in a circle like some kindergarten kid getting yelled at by their teacher and staring down again on the floor.

“But…but Berk is better than me,” Taz uttered.

“Look at me Taz!”

Taz looked up to face him with a sad look on his face.

“Berk had Raw talent, but look what happened to him. He roots in prison now, and the Valdor is dead; the oldest princess had to step in as the new Queen and they put a curse on Berk. If he had raw talent, you have complete talent in critical areas to ensure you survive. That is what counts with all the training. To even mention him is a loss because he is on death row or even maybe dead.

Taz understood what Zark meant; he was right; all of them are different with skills that they have built themselves.

They both walked outside and saw a black car that had gone through the portal to the village, and a pink-haired Witch was waiting for them by the vehicle.

“Hi!” Zark said in a surprised expression that someone else from the organization was there except for them.

“Hello Mr Zark! Mr Taz! Victoria has requested your immediate audience at her office. We need to leave right away. It is an emergency.” She said.

Zark and Taz were surprised that they were called to the office so quickly after the debacle two days ago, and they did not receive any nice words from Victoria then.

When both of them were going to enter the car the Witch stopped Taz.

“I am sorry Mr Taz! Victoria only requested Mr Zark's audience. Victoria sent a message for you to travel home to prepare for your assignment in Stockholm City.”

Taz stared at Zark and then looked at the Witch, who was looking down at the ground; he knew something was not right, but he felt hopeless that he was not as experienced as Zark. He would probably only be in the way if it was an assignment that Zark would venture on.

“It's okay, Taz! Take the car home, rest, and prepare for your adventures in Stockholm City.” He said with a big smile as if it was nothing.

Zark got in the car and they started to drive away as he saw Taz walking out from the hidden portal to go back to the car. His facial expression changed, and he was not smiling anymore or looked happy.

“Victoria sending a Witch who travels with the car through the portal, risking to be seen, and comes to the Orphanage must mean something has happened. She usually calls, but sending a Witch to get me makes me feel like something is extremely urgent.”

“Mr Zark! A last-minute assignment came up, and Victoria requested that you attend in the office immediately for deployment.”

That comment made Zark anxious because this was unusual behavior he had never seen before from the organization.

“What do you mean deployment?” Zark asked.

“I can not reveal the details of the assignment as it is classified.”

“Either you tell me, or I will do everything I can to stop the car and disappear until Victoria calls me and explains the assignment. I am not stupid; you wouldn’t come all the way to the Orphanage if there was no need for me.” Zark explained as the Witch looked in the back mirror and saw him lift his eyebrows, not joking around.

“Fine! It is a rescue assignment, and you have to rescue a baby. You only have five days to rescue the baby until it will be…skinned alive and all blood emptied.”

Zark looked at the back mirror with a weird expression. A rescue mission to save a baby can't be that hard…right?

“That doesn’t seem that hard to require my expertise. How many Witches will go with me?” Zark asked.

It was quiet for around 30 seconds before she answered.

“Nobody, Mr Zark, this is a Solo mission. Only two Witches will go through the portal with you and wait by the portal.”

“Uh! Wait a minute! I thought this was a rescue mission; If I go Solo on this, it must mean there are few enemies, right?”

The Witch went quiet for a moment again before answering.

“I do not think so; I think there are more than a few.” She answered.

Zark got slightly confused, but maybe it is an in-and-out assignment that does not require anyone powerful.

“Where is the baby exactly? It would be good to know so I can prepare a map or scout the area.” Zark said with continued silence, which started to annoy him. It was like the Witch was hesitant to tell him anything.

“Well...are you going to answer today or…?” Zark tried again to get answers.

“Wh…Wh…Where you are going, there is no map, and scouting is impossible.

Zark chuckled at her comment and thought that this rookie Witch probably didn’t have any experience on the field, hence the weird responses.

“Just tell me, It can't be that bad that it is impossible to scout.”

“Y…Y…You will be entering Hell, Level Four. It is not the fourth level in Valiant on the other side to Hell. Only Spirits and Humans with a soul can enter four levels down in actual Hell. Hence, the mission is Solo. Lucifer is residing in prison on Level Seven. The worst creatures reside in levels Eight, Nine, and Ten.