In a dimly-lit room, there was a pedestal at at the center. It was a plain, and white, shaped in a round fashion and was large enough for a person to stand on. The figure that walked to stand atop it wore a black trench coat, and black pants. It just stood there, with its eyes closed, and its arms crossed. It took a deep breath for a few cycles before opening its eyes, which was as pale as snow, but its pupils were a crimson red.

The figure muttered a few things, and nodded occasionally, as if it was communicating. There was no method to track time during this activity, but eventually it ended and the figure let out a sigh. The room then brightened up, bathing the room in a light around the pedestal. Now, the room was illuminated by torches at the sides. The room had traces of white marble worn out by the passage of time was, being less polished, and was a more dull color than usual marble.

When the figure turned, its figure was more defined, a tall, slim man, with dark brown hair brushed to the sides. His skin was unusually white. It was also revealed by the new illumination that he wasn't the only one present in the room. There were two other feminine-looking people. One was petite with brown hair, and wore an elaborate blue gown. Her eyes were covered with a white cloth around her face and her ears seemed to be pointed. The other female was wearing a gold cloak but silver boots and gauntlets can be seen poking from within. It seemed that she was wearing an armor of sorts. Her face however, was covered with a plain white mask with an neutral expression on it.

"Any word?" The masked woman asked. She stood straight as a pillar as she asked the question.

The man only laughed, "Yes, it appears so." He closed his eyes before continuing, "Death and Silence have caught the trail. They will soon catch the pests and exterminate them."

The eyes-covered girl spoke up, "Be sure to remind them that investigations and information requires a witness. Without one, there is only conjecture." She hummed, singing a tone that one would use as a lullaby for their children but her tone was eerie and unsettling but the other two beside her paid it no mind, as if used to her.

The masked female walked towards the man. She looked up to peer into the eyes of the man, but the man could not see the woman's eyes. They stood still, staring into each other. Her into the crimson-red eyes, and him into the barely-visible pupils through the eyeholes of the mask.

"I see." She said, breaking off their staring contest. "What about the others? Has there been any movements from the north?"

He nodded, "White and Beauty have already started their preparations. It will still take time for contact so they are not in any danger. Paladin and Maiden are already in position to deter any engagements. Doll has already made her move. We are proceeding as planned."

She nodded, then turning her attention towards the humming girl, "Are you done?".

The girl was humming while the two were talking, and when she was asked, she stopped. "Of course. I can take you back now." With a wave of her hand, a door emerged from the ground, traveling upwards until the whole door was aboveground. The door was grey with intricate designs on it, but what stands out the most was the mask of the girl was on the center of the door, acting as a sigil of sorts.

The masked woman nodded at her, and then at the man. "I shall you see once more on the next step." She said before passing through door. Once she was on the other side, the door faded out as if blending into the air.

"I shall bid you my farewell too then Watcher. Give my regards to Destiny when I leave." The man said as he stood, waiting for the girl he called Watcher to conjure a door as well.

She nodded, "Mhm, bring treats next time for us, and that includes the heir too Observer." She then waved up a new door, with the exact same design. Then the man called Observer passed through it and the door dissolves yet again. The room was now eerily quiet, with the lights around slowly being extinguished and the tune of Watcher's humming echoes and bounces all over the room until eventually the room darkens.

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While that clandestine meeting was underway, in one of the dark alleyways of a city in the empire deep into the night was a man running for his life, clutched in his right hand was a wand. He was wearing a brown cloak that covers his face but along the way, he had to bring the hood down as he grasped for air. He stopped at one of the turns, taking a short peak behind him if he was still being pursued.

"Phew. Damn what the hell was that." He muttered. He slid down to sit and lean on the brick wall. He tried to recollect himself as he remembered the scene he just witnessed.

They came from a nation formed together by mages who were treated as deviants from over 200 years ago. This world didn't have magic originally. A magical light expanded and covered the whole world one day and soon, magic came to exist. There came chaos and confusion and eventually, those who were ostracized for being different and those who came to learn how to wield these new powers. Eventually, the nation came to be known as the Magic Federation and its goal of making a world for mages because of the ability to wield magic. They pursued the very limits of magic, with no excuses as long as they get results, thus earning them the ire of other nations of their insatiable hunger for the peak of human mage ability.

This was a crusade they all believed in, that they were the true rulers of the world. Thus, they send agents to all the nations in this continent, acting as spies, liaisons, or other external factors that prey on opportunities for the mages to exert more influence in that particular country. This man was one of the teams sent into the Empire since the rumors of their Empress were prime opportunities as a starting point for their mission however, they didn't expect things to go awry this early.

They were supposed to meet up with the other teams in this city but nobody else was there so they thought they were just a bit early. It was decided that it was a good time to scout out the city first and check if it really was a suitable base of operations but little they did they know, this was the last place they would ever walk on.

The team was split into four groups, three fanning out and one staying at their home base. This man's team arrived back at their base in horrors. The exterior was in perfect condition, and then even after checking out all the individual rooms they rented. It was void of any living being, all that were left were their equipment strewn about as if there was a struggle but other than that it was like they vanished into thin air.

"You have got to be kidding me, where are the others? This isn't time for any games!" the leader of their squad spat as they surveyed the room. They checked every room again, and even the equipment if there was anything else that they left behind but there wasn't any.

"This can't be magic no?" One of the members said in a shaky voice but their leader just wave his hand, "Nah it can't be. We've just started on teleportation magic. Those stupid empire bureaucrats can't develop magic like we do." He continued checking the equipment but it seemed that they won't find out the answer anytime soon.

"Ugh! There's nothing wrong in this room anyway! We've kept checking everywhere!" He turned around to his companion, "Did anyone notice anything else odd?" He said with an irritated expression.

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"I don't think so, come to think of it, I can't hear them if they're shouting out for us."

At the one moment, the leader pondered, "Wait a minute." He said as he cautiously slid his hand towards his belt. "Sound out everyone!" He said aloud, expecting his teammates to respond, but there was no response. Sweat began to form on his head, "Find a way out now." He ordered his companion. They split up earlier into five pairs to search the rooms but now, they couldn't hear anyone's voice except for themselves. His pair gulped audibly before heading towards the door.

The door swung open, knocking his partner to the ground. There was a man standing in the threshold, wearing nothing but a fitted black suit and white gloves, and a mask with only a small slit on where the eyes would be. There was also a a yellow glint visible through the slit, it spoke in a deep voice.

"Impatient are we?" he took slow steps towards them with an imposing stance. "Now, your friends have not been very cooperative, will you be the same way?". He cracked his head left and then right and reached out his hand but the leader was faster on the draw, casting a spell pointed at the masked man.

"Eat shit imperial scum!" He casted a fire vortex that spiralled towards him but as it approached him, it slowly dissipated as he held out his palm towards it. They were wide aghast at what happened. "You have to be fucking kidding me!" he threw more spells at him but all of them vanished into thin air as the man continued to let his palm face towards the magic barrelling into him.

"Is this all the elite mages can do?" he taunted them. The masked man still had his palm open towards them, walking towards them at a leisurely pace. The leader was losing composure as he continued to throw spells at him but his companion had already escaped the scene due to the chaos of magic. He never knew what happened after he ran. All he knew was fear, of the unknown, and of the man. None of his teammates were still there, nor were any of their magic working. Soon he found himself running through the deserted alleyways at night which led to his present situation. Alone and confused in foreign territory, with his team and equipment all assaulted by a mysterious man.

He tried to calm his breathing but amidst this, he saw the shape of a figure approaching him from a distance. He instinctively drew his weapon, a short sword and his wand, gearing himself up for a fight, he stood up exhaustedly. The details of the figure became clear as it approached. It was a different person from the man he encountered earlier. This one had a feminine build and had a sword sheathed at her left, but her right hand was ready on the sheath as she approached him in confident and silent steps. She wore light silver armor that reflected the moonlight's shine, and a capelet on her left shoulder. But what made his hair stand on end was the mask that was illuminated by the moon. It reminded him of the earlier encounter but the mask this woman was wearing was styled to be more wolf like with the ears on the top and slanted eye slits.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer! I'll kill you!" he shouted at her frantically as he held out his weapons shakily, but the woman advanced unperturbed, then when they were just a leap apart she stopped. She scrutinized him, staring into his very being with the faintly visible blue colored eyes through the eye slits of the wolf mask.

They still stood, facing each other for who knows how long. The composure of the man broke and was the first to act.

"I HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR CHEAP IMPERIAL TRICKS!" He shouted as loud as he could, "RAGHH!!" He lunged towards her with all his might but the masked woman was quick to draw her sword. She continued to parry and dodge all his attacks. The woman never attacked, only parrying and dodging him, as if mocking him as insignificant. The man's anger boiled over his breaking point, he imbued his sword with elemental magic. He cursed at her but since all was silent, it was up to lip reading to know what he said. When the masked woman saw his elemental magic, she decided it was over. In a blink of an eye, the swords he was holding dropped to the ground noiselessly, as did his body. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness were his hands still on his swords and his legs as he was being dragged away from it.

The masked man emerged from the shadows of the alleyway to approach the masked woman.

"Tsk. What a mess." He said. They stopped in front of each other. "Do we really need everyone?" The woman did not answer but the man nodded nonetheless. "I see. Then get to it, I'll clean up your mess here." He said uninterested in what was to be done next. He took a look at the man being dragged by the masked woman, who was bleeding out from all of his limbs, "Tsk. Can't you even stop them from making a mess?" He said with disdain as he held out his open palm towards him. The bleeding stopped and the masked woman nodded and continued to drag the unconscious man away.

Left standing behind, the masked man muttered out, "I've got too much, I need to discharge this sooner or late. I'll ask for what I could use this on." He walked towards the trail of blood, and followed alongside it, holding out his palm towards it until he finally reached the place where the man's limbs got cut. He let out a deep breath, "This is why I don't like her using her sword."

After cleaning up the scene, it looked like nothing had happened here, no evidence of anything at all, even the smell of blood was gone. The masked man walked away casually into the night, while the masked woman and the man she was dragging melted away in the darkness of the alleyways. However, unknown to those involved, there was a third party who stumbled upon them. She was clad in the standard black Imperial uniform but with gold accents, and a mask covering the lower half of her face. The most peculiar thing about her was that she was transparent, blending into the wall she was leaning on.

"What in the Gods was that?!" She muttered. She was trying to calm herself down after witnessing magic that quite frankly didn't exist. Her heart was beating like crazy, not having having the confidence that she can blend into the background and escape detection. After remaining in that spot for what could've been years in her perspective, she let out a deep sigh, "Looks like they didn't spot me." She hurriedly and carefully left the scene as well.

She laid low in the following days. Listening to any news or rumors of anything that might be related to that incident. There were also periods where she spent writing and rewriting the reports she would be sending back to her superior from the investigation mission she was assigned to do here. Originally, she was tasked as the informant for this city, and she stumbled upon something not even she was remotely prepared for.

The news she was able to gather was that the owner of the building the group rented lodged a complain since the renters just up and vanished without paying the rest of the bill but they left equipment. Thus, the Law and Order Bureau quickly amended the situation by purchasing the equipment and paid the remaining balance. After that, the commotion died down and they all just assumed they were shady people whose karma just caught up with them.

However, that didn't dispel the anxiety and paranoia she was feeling every night, not knowing if that she was truly safe, thus she resolved for a month off and relocation once she gets back. Her commanding officer accepted her request and she would be in transit back to the Intelligence and Communications Bureau by tomorrow. Today, she was spending her lunch at a balcony view of a cafe meant for people with enough money to dine in.

She was taking a breather and relaxing her inner turmoil. She wore a casual attire of a white cardigan and a blue blouse. Her mind was trying to form a hypothesis on what had transpired. Those two assassins had used unknown magic to both to the suspected mages from the federation. It took all of her strength just to stay quiet and be still as possible to not alert those two but after a few days, she was able to calm down since nothing had happened to her.

"This time tomorrow, I'll be on my way back to the capital." She mused as she stirred her tea. She let out another tired sigh.

"Ugh, I'm just glad nothing happened to me but..." she trailed off, as she felt she was being stared at. She tried to use the reflection of her glass cup, enhancing it with her light magic to scope around and see who would be inducing this feeling on her but there was no one there in the balcony besides herself.

"I'm think I'm just getting paranoid." She said as she laughed awkwardly, then she decided to rest her mind for a bit by humming a tune.

The tune was a lullaby that most people would know but she was unaware that a voice was overlapping with hers as she continued to hum and enjoy her tea and sweets. As the humming came to an end, the overlapping voice muttered out something faint that no one would hear.

"I found you."

The woman fell consciousness and dropped her head onto the table, crashing her face onto the glass cup she was using earlier. A commotion erupted from the staff as they tried to help the girl. Nobody had noticed in the shattered glass was a reflection of a girl with her eyes covered with a white cloth, smiling faintly and eerily.