"My lord, the ones that captured my fellow brides are all masked save for Guild Master Ekart. We have tried to put a mesmer on her, but she is completely immune to mental effects and even was able to spike Carona who tried. She is still recovering." A young woman said.
"How soon can we retrieve the girls? We do not need them breaking and divulging critical information." Mihnea asked feeling confident in his power and that of his brides.
With two captured he had 4 brides on standby and one currently in active operation. Mihnea was ready to strike back.
"Send word to Camelia and have her begin. We want the guild and program tied up in so many legal matters, proceedings, and interference that they cannot act properly." He said as Clarissa pulled out her phone and sent a message.
"It is done my lord. She is moving and will have the president working to impede the factions aligned against us." She said getting a nod.
"The pattern established of ripping from city to city in order worked like a charm and has their top forces locked in that thrall tide. Order the release of the brides then send all those combat ready to the following locations. First I want the one known as the Sage from North Carolina. Then we need the Warden Henry Pulcine. The bride that goes after him needs to be extremely careful to avoid his wife and co warden. She is very strong against our kind and can incinerate a bride at a touch." Mihnea directed.
"Understood my lord, should we attempt the Tidecaller or the Wanderer?" Clarissa asked.
"No. With the Tidecaller married to that mental savant, we would lose control of him quickly and give them more intelligence than we want. The Wanderer is an unknown. If we knew more about him then potentially. Instead, I would like you to go after the Seraph. Having a healer that powerful on our side would be rather useful. The last one we will need is a user by the name of Brandon Oldland. He is a master of modern weaponry and has a class that is centered around it, but like with Henry you need to avoid not just the wife, but the oldest daughter as well. Mihnea said.
Clarissa sent the directions to the different brides, before she got up, smoothed her dress, then bowed.
"It will be done my lord." She said and headed out of the office, but before she was out. "One last thing, do your absolute best to be keep an eye out for my father. The last thing we need is "dracula" getting involved." He said mockingly.
- Kyrain -
"The new queen of England, Morganna has now officially dissolved parliament and reinstated the traditional monarchy. Upon those acts she koved quickly to disolve all embassies and removed all foreign nationals. The surrounding nations have paused trading with the seemingly unstable nation as Morganna continues to revert the nation. The president is set to visit the new queen to reestablish trade and alliance agreements in the face of the looming threat of Rasputin in Asia. China has been able to repel the hordes of undead, but most other nations have fallen."
The television said as Kyrain watched in absolute shock with Nyx at their house. Kyrain was feeling jittery and wanted to get to work. His uncle had placed all guild members on standby. Jobs, save for monster suppression have been placed on hold with dedicated teams on rotation.
"Any news from Phoenix?" Kyrain asked as Nyx walked into the living and collapsed into the fluffy recliner she insisted on getting.
"No...not a thing. Everyone and everything has gone quiet in spite of everything changing everywhere in the world." Nyx responded.
Then Kyrain's phone went off. He looked at the caller ID and frowned. "Uncle Mitch?" He said questionly to Nyx who just shrugged.
"Hello?"
"He kid, have you heard from your mother? We just recieved a message from the hospital saying she just left and now nobody can reach her." Mitch asked.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"No, I spoke to her yesterday and she said she is like the rest of us and on standby to take more patients in the event of thrall or worse." He replied.
"Can you check in on her and see if she is home?"
"Yes sir. I'll call and head over right away, to see if she is there. It's not like her to not answer." Kyrain said getting to his feet.
"Keep me posted. Gotta go." Mitch said hanging up.
"My mom left the hospital and nobody can reach or find her." Kyrain said to Nyx who was already moving, strapping on her Jian. Once done with her preparation she tossed his sword and shield to him.
"Open a rift. Let's track her down." Nyx said.
Kyrain opened a rift to his bedroom at his mom's house and stepped through. After a quick search they found it empty. Over the course of the next few hours, Kyrain and Nyx searched every single location his mom would go and found not a single trace. They went to her office last of all. Her keys, wallet, and lunch were still there. It was like she was working.
"Kyrain, step back." Nyx said while in the office.
"What are you thinking?" Kyrain asked.
"Im going to use a skill that is going to drain my aether, but let us see what happened here." She said.
Kyrain walked over by Nyx at the door as she placed her palms together. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, they were glowing brilliantly sapphire blue and she began to separate her hands as aether began rolling out of her.
The office took on a hazy appearance and an image like you would see on a security camera being rewound was overlayed on the office and then played. At first nothing, then they saw his mother walk in for the start of her shift. She hung up her jacket, put her lunch in her office fridge, set down her keys, and wallet then sat down to check her emails and messages.
Then she paused and looked up eyes glowing the golden brilliance when she used her Celestial vision. "Hello Nyx, if you are here looking for me, it means something is about to happen." She said with a sigh.
She pulled out her phone and went to an app. Then her gaze fell on Kyrain. "I have no idea what's about to happen, but I love you baby boy. Your dad and I have always loved, wanted, and needed you and are always proud of you. I don't know your backstory Nyx, as you're like an enigma. You have next to no background, but begrudgingly....you're alright. If the worst has happened to me, be good to my boy." She said as the door to her office opened up and a white haired woman walked in.
"Why do people keep saying things like that...." Kyrain heard Nyx mutter.
There was a flash of pink light and Brittanies glowing eyes went out, pupils dilated, and face went slack. "Seraph, you will come with me." Came the voice. She looked around confused at why the woman was talking to herself.
Brittanie got up robotically and followed the woman out.
The image faded and Nyx turned to Kyrain who was already pulling his phone out and checking his app. After a few seconds he saw his mother's icon moving rapidly along old route 66. Kyrain then opened a rift to his uncles office and stepped through.
As soon as he stepped through he saw his uncle reading things at his desk. As the rift opened the guildmaster looked up.
"Uncle, she is moving along old route 66." He said handing him the phone showing the location data.
He took the phone and watched for a second with a confused look then Nyx stepped through and began to speak.
"Guildmaster, there was a woman who used a skill on her. I think it was a mental skill that is signature to vampires called Mesmerize. This skill can change their behavior. I would recommend keeping an eye out for sudden changes in behavior in high ranking officials." She said.
Mitch frowned and glanced back at the papers on his desk. After a pause, he went over to his desk and pulled out two pins and parchment paper.
"Kyrain has yet to have any aether except save for the strongest be able to hit him and mental effects are no good. I am hereby appointing you both as Judges. He took out a noticery and stamped the parchment after signing. You can apprehend and even take down guild members of any rank or position should you believe them compromised including myself. Be warned, if you take lethal action, you had better be correct as you can still be bountied. You can be prosecuted for violations of the constitution. Once a guildmaster gives these out, they cannot be taken back by him or her. They are withdrawn by a combined decision of the grandmaster of the program and SecDef if they are not willingly surrendered. I think we have compromises all over the government and within the guild, based on what I have just read. We, by order of the president, have been ordered to cease operations into hunting the vampires and only focus on the thrall. I'm sure the hunters are in the same boat." Mitch said handing the pins and papers over to the two.
"I have to get to DC. Things are not as they seem. I've called on Kassie and reached out Jessica Robinson to assist with determining if there is a whammy on our officials. You're headed after your mother. Send a message to your trainers and let them know in order to get help. Someone who can do that to your mother, may well be beyond you both combined." Mitch said throwing on his jacket and swords.