As the clock finally struck midnight, the children, one by one, snuck out of their beds, carrying containers of oil from the kitchen under their shirts, sneaking over to their predetermined positions, and dousing the orphanage in oil.

Auria Fulbar opened her window and carefully leaped out, landing softly on the ground as the children poured the last of the oil onto the front door and ran out. Auria inhaled deeply and drew a transmutation circle into the dirt with a stick then fell to her knees and placed two hands on the circle, creating a large flame that began to lick at the oil, then began to grow and combust! It quickly engulfed the orphanage, burning all of the ‘caretakers’ that slept inside, their inhuman screeching was heard for miles. Their silhouettes seemed to escape from the roof and glare down at the group of children before disappearing into the night.

Auria jolted upright, the train had come to an abrupt halt. She wiped the sweat off of her brow, the nightmares she was having recently started to increase in frequency and in intensity.

Auria shook off the odd feeling that had overtaken her for that moment, grabbed her trunk, and exited the train. It was her first time in Eden, so she might as well make the best of it.

As Auria stepped off the train, she rolled her shoulders back, cracking the bones in her back. She let out a small groan before continuing onward.

Auria smiled brightly as she thought of all the pretty ladies she might find in Eden, there were bound to be some absolutely stunning beauties here!

Auria shook her head, she had to focus, she didn’t come for pretty ladies, as much as she wanted to seek them out, she just couldn’t! Not now! Well… Maybe she can take a slight detour… Maybe.

“Ugh… Always with those intrusive thoughts, I can’t get distracted, I just got this new lead, I can’t let it go now!” Auria exclaimed before forcing herself to carry her trunk away from the station.

Finally entering the city, she was taken aback at how… Overrated it was. The city wasn’t even that pretty, much less a hub of anything really. She wasn’t even sure if she got the right city or if it was really even Eden or not.

Regardless, Auria trudged onward, she had to meet up with the Grenadier, after all! He was expecting her, so she couldn’t let him wait too long.

Humming along, Auria skipped along the street, her heavy trunk swishing and swaying along with her, it didn’t really even seem heavy for Auria. She skipped away for a few moments before she was pulled to the side into a building.

“Woah Woah Woah!” Auria exclaimed, “What’re you doing!”

A rather thin and pale man came into her field of view, she squinted for a moment before donning a bright smile, “Oh, it’s you Grenadier Senwell! I’ll admit, you had me scared there for a minute!”

Senwell smirked, “It’s been a while, Crane, you’ve got some nerve making us wait that long,”

“Pssht, you love me,” Auria teased, “Well… Anyway, who are your friends? They seem pretty important, more important than you, at least,” Auria snickered.

Senwell sighed before clearing his throat and speaking, “These are some of my colleagues, Sergeant Nicosia and Lieutenant Ross… Sergeant, Lieutenant, this is Auria Crane, the ‘Godless Alchemist’,”

“Pleased to meetcha!” Auria exclaimed as she reached out to shake their hands, “Auria Crane, here to help… Well, when I say help… Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine,”

The Sergeant and Lieutenant didn’t shake Auria’s hand, instead opting to salute her.

“Ehhh… What? What’s that, that thing they’re doing? It’s making me uncomfortable,” Auria asked Senwell.

“Salute back, Crane,” Senwell said before saluting to Auria.

Auria did so, and the others then dropped their salutes and began to speak once more. Auria, still confused, dropped hers a little later on.

“What was all that?” Auria asked.

“We’ve been assigned to work with you for the time being, from Central Command,” Senwell explained, “So by all accounts, as a Captain, you are superior to us, we'll follow your lead,”

Auria thought for a moment, obviously, it’d be great to have some dogs to answer to her at her will, though they could also get in the way. Either way, it would probably work out in the end.

"Wait, are you saying you aren't a higher rank than me, Grenadier?" Auria asked.

Senwell looked genuinely baffled, "Of course not? Why do you think your uniform is always so much more decorated?"

"Huh, interesting," Auria shrugged.

She ended up accepting their help, it wasn’t really as though she had a choice in the matter, now that she thought about it. She wouldn’t let Auria go without help. She shuddered at the thought of having to face Her again, it would be an awful reunion.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Alright,” She proclaimed, “That’s enough of the awkward silence, for now, we got some exploring to do!”

The soldiers gave another salute before following Auria out of the alleyway they had been hiding out in. Auria inhaled deeply, then accidentally swallowed some of her saliva, choked, coughed, and then, trying to cover up her embarrassment, took off her Alchemist hat and slicked her hair back. It just worked.

“Anyway,” Auria started, coughing a little bit again, “Where do you think we should start off? Any leads on where he could be?”

Senwell rested his chin in between his forefinger and thumb, he stared off into space and didn’t seem to have any intentions of coming back anytime soon.

Auria noticed this… Not really that strange of behaviors, but she still didn’t like it, so she waved her hand around in front of Senwell to get his attention, “Hey, Grenadier, you doing alright? I think you’re about to start growing some cobwebs on your face,”

Senwell snapped out of his trance and looked to Auria, “Oh right, sorry, I was just thinking about someone who could possibly help us find him,”

“Oh? Who’s the next old guy we’re gonna find?” Auria said, “It’s just like every time we go on a journey together, we end up finding an old guy, well, except for Her…”

Auria diverted her eyes before Senwell spoke up once more, “Actually, you’re in luck this time, it’s a nice young lady, I believe she’s actually around your age,”

Auria grinned, but it soon turned into a maniacal chuckle, “You mortal fool, I am no longer swayed by young beauties, I have since outgrown my old habit of chasing after beautiful women,”

Senwell sighed and put Auria into a chokehold! Auria squirmed around while Senwell began to yell at her, “You damn fool! What are you doing, acting like a child! Nobody needs to know any of that, sometimes it’s best for you to just keep your damn mouth shut!”

Auria groaned, “Uncle, uncle! I yield, I give up, lemme go! I surrender!” She began to tap on Senwell’s arm, to which he eventually let her go.

Auria rubbed her neck and gave a little cough before looking to Senwell and pouncing on him! She bit his arm before letting go and pulling her head back, “Who the hell are you callin’ a child? I’m grown already! You can’t treat me like a child forever!”

Eventually, both Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Nicosia separated the two, though they were both already calming down.

Auria dusted herself off and recomposed herself, “Oh man, it’s been too long since we had a good fight like that, Grenadier, we gotta do that again sometime!”

Senwell scoffed, but eventually gave a smile, “Next time, I hope you grow up a bit, get some muscle on those skinny bones of yours too,”

Auria gave a light punch to Senwell’s arm before nodding over to a small cafe, “Let’s go there, discuss what we gotta do,”

The rest of the group nodded in agreement before Auria led them down the street to the cafe. Upon reaching the entrance, Auria flashed the greeter a small brooch to which they led Auria and the group into the cafe and sat them at a better-than-average table. This one didn’t even have mold growing at the bottom.

Auria took a seat, then the rest of the group did as well. Auria ordered a few drinks before she turned her attention back to the others.

“So, first things first,” Auria started, “Do those two speak at all? They haven’t said anything at all since I’ve met them, what’s up with that?”

“We haven’t had a reason to, at least not yet,” Lieutenant Ross explained, “Even the Sergeant was aware of that,”

“Actually…” Sergeant Nicosia interjected, “I was just too awkward to really say anything, this is one of my first times outside of Central for a while, so I got a bit anxious,”

Auria chuckled before letting out a nice, relieved sigh, “Well, anyway, let’s talk business… Or is the phrase let’s talk shop? Eh, either way, let’s talk, what’s the game plan? Grenadier, who’s the girl you were talking about earlier?”

“Right, the girl’s a little Witch that we were made aware of recently, she’s apparently quite accomplished and has a strange knack to find people,” Senwell explained.

Auria leaned back in her chair and shrugged his explanation off, “Well, ‘Witches’ don’t exist, they’re all Alchemists like me, but whatever, she can call herself that if she wants, just need her to give me some information,”

“I hear she likes to play pranks on her customers, so I must warn you to exercise caution,” Senwell said, “Or you might fall victim to a particularly bad prank,”

“Aww, you worry too much, Grenadier, I’ll be just fine, don’t’cha worry ‘bout me,” Auria joked, making a silly face.

Auria took a sip from her cup before hopping up from her seat and rolling back her shoulders. She then took a seat once more, lit a cigarette, and the group chatted for a while more.

Having followed Grenadier Senwell’s lead, the group found themselves outside of a rather unpleasant-looking shop, broken down and unkempt, if one peered inside, they’d find that nothing was clean and papers and ingredients were strewn about the place.

“Eh? You sure this is the place, Grenadier? Looks a bit… Rundown,” Auria commented.

Senwell only gave a simple nod in response, which didn’t exactly fill Auria with the most confidence. If anything, it just annoyed her. However, she sighed, sucked it up, and entered the shop, and instantly realized that the shop smelled about the same as it looked.

Auria pinched her nose as she wandered through the shop, strangely it was actually a whole lot bigger inside than it was outside.

“Grenadier, where is she?” Auria asked, though no response was given, “Grenadier… Senwell, Senwell where are you?”

Auria searched around the shop for Senwell, though to no avail. In all honesty, it was quite concerning, though she decided she had more pressing matters to attend to. Besides, the Grenadier could take care of himself, probably.

Auria continued to wade through the colossal tidal waves of papers that stacked as high as her waist and felt as thick as honey to move through, it was quite disgusting honestly. Though eventually, she made it through and successfully conquered the sea of papers, entering through a door at the end.

Auria closed the door behind her, she had manners and all, though the room that was presented in front of her was quite neat and tidy actually, a nice change to her previous encounter.

Auria sniffed the air, “Ah, some cinnamon, not bad, not bad at all,” She commented.

Soon, a dark mist engulfed the area and a burst of maniacal laughter rang throughout the room, “I have been waiting for you, Auria Crane,”