" you know that we are leaving in two days to go to the capital ", Jakhyer asked Reed who was standing in the bedroom.

Jakhyer casually read the report that Kijad had borrowed him. There wasn't a lot of interesting things because he has already heard everything from Nalem.

Reed was just quiet. He knows they are leaving, what they are investigating and he knows that it is in the humans too . He saw a similar smoke dog just a few days ago and he didn't say anything because he knows that someone else will handle it. Plus he doesn't want to be the ne to break it out to the humans and their king as its just too coincidental that a magical element dutied to a sect master in the wolf grounds is the one who happened to see a smoke dog.

Reed has been given permission to work among the humans as a imperial guard. He is still under training but he is involved in the happenings. To be specific , he is training vigorously and using methods that are being used by other guards. In short he is a jeruv member.

The humans obviously don't know that Reed is not one of them while the wolves don't know that Reed exists simply because of the composition of his body.

Of course their strong sense of smell allows them to detect body scents but there are things are just impossible to pick. Reed s true form is not a living thing so his ' cells' don't generate any odor thus there is nothing for a wolf to pick. Though he can look like a human that is just an illusion that his water body can make.If one was to pierce him and Reed wasn't aware of this , nothing will leak out of his body as the water will bend around the weapon. Basically there is nothing that can kill him yet.

Anyway today he was in water form as he doesn't want to show his face because he has a small bruise he got from training today.

There is a trainer that was recruited and he has been giving Reed a nightmare of a time. He expects Reed to do very tedious things and he has no mercy whatsoever. It's almost like he wants Reed to excel over his peers but he is not doing that for Reed s sake. The unnecessary belittling, rude comments he makes when Reed fights just highlight his intentions.

" I think that we ought to be more careful since this is a strange case", he remarked and Reed was just silent.

" Am talking to you", he turned to him and he indeed saw that the warrior was distracted. He seems miles away from this realm and if anything seemed devoided from existence

Jakhyer realized that he was not getting his attention so he threw the book at his face and Reed quickly caught it. It shows that he was doing that from a subconscious reaction because it was only after he caught the book did he raise his head.

His head is on his shoulders but it seems like his eyes are everywhere. He literally doesn't have to be looking at something to see it. He can sense everything ,from any direction and react according. If Jakhyer was behind Reed and he had tossed that book, Reed would have developed an arm to either catch or flick away the book . Or he would have developed a whole in the middle of his body such that the book passes right through him. Once again this validates that the human form that he takes is just an illusion

" Why are you acting like that?", He asked him on purpose to annoy him so that he blurts out his emotions, not that he cares

' acting? Acting? I had to get beat up by some moralless humans and conceals my powers so that I don't rip off their necks. All because some prejudiced and egocentric man wants to prove an immature point . It's not like even if he trained all his life he will ever be half as he claims to be. It's not like he will ever he anywhere closer to the glory he seeks by picking on children who are half his age. it's not my fault that he was never praised in his life. He should work on training his body and not his mouth. Who is trying to impress by distressing me? Does he think the king will suddenly promote him just because he bullies a trainee ', he tried to compress what he wanted to say

" I apologize", he effortlessly expressed his sorriness.

Jakhyer rolled his eyes at him for holding back his words and for his trick not working as anticipated. It's just better to change the topic because trying to get Reed to say what he wants to say is like trying to turn a mountain upsidedown.

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" You know that these have occurred before . But their occurrence was momentary and their bodies disintegrated before they could be studied so nothing was found. ",He dictated and Reed was not really interested in what Jakhyer was saying .

" Zhao, I think if you need advice it is best to ask a reliable source.", He told him by he sounded like he was pushing him away . That was his plan because when Jakhyer is like this talking to him can prove to be a hassle

" Reed, I trust you more than myself. If there is anyone who won't lie to me that is definitely you . So about this, what do you think? ", He asked holding it out to him. His hand trembled as he did that

Jakhyer sipped on the cup of wine and he hiccuped after he did that.

For those who wouldn't know , they would think that he is sick which is partly true. Jakhyer is very old. He has the ability to manipulate an element which has a consciousness of a living organism. To achieve this kind of power, he would have had to be a magic practitioner for significant period of time which is correct. But what is also true is that he is mortal. His body is not completely immune to physical inevitabilities like aging and sickness. But thanks to his powers, he can suspend, delay or relay those things from reaching him.

The suspension involves confusing his cells to keep working for longer sort of like botox but stronger and fool-proof. It doesn't use any earthly chemicals or procedures ,just pure magic. This technique can take some time like nine to ten decades . However because of his mortal body that is losing its touch, he is uncapable for suspending for that long so his body gives in. He begins to get wrinkles, to get patches on the skin, varicose veins, cataracts, hearing problems, arthritis, muscle cramps, bones pains, blood problems, breathing challenges and all stereotypical cases associated with senile age.

So the tremor he experiences right now is all due to that . If he chooses not to suspend anything, he will experience an avalanche of those things that come with being elderly and he will just be a regular old guy.

Anyway because he was assigned an element by the celestial court then it was given Independence , Reed can offer him a dose of suspension every now and then when he sees it fit . Meaning when his aging is triggered by some factors including injury, stress , anxiety, overworking, tension headache, certain kinds of food and alcohol.

Since right he is drinking, he is definitely provoking his body to rampantly age and that is exactly what he is going to get. With every sip he takes, the faster he grows and looks like a replication of someone on their death bed. However thanks to the intoxication he can't feel the effects arising in his body by he will when he wakes up from the hangover .

He took the file and he begun to page through it .

" They are missing!", He answered and then he continued to read through the report.

With every word that he was reading Jakhyer drank and he got older. His eyes sank, his breathing heaved, his wrinkles deepened, his skin dried out and begun to sink.

" They have disintegrated too", he answered smoothly and he raised his eyes to him. Jakhyer was looking at him like he wants to say something.

He becomes really talkative when he is with someone who is less talkative than him . And the fact that he is an old man whose youth keeps getting renewed by his water element as his skin is rotting as he walks , he is very annoying.

" You know, when someone really cares about another person, they",

" So their bodies won't be found. The best place to check for signs of decomposition would be the last they were", Reed interrupted him as he is not in the mood for being sad. And not only that, Jakhyer says some really unnecessary things when he is like this.

Reed suspects that his brain does get temporarily shut down because no adult in his right state of mind can utter such despicable words to someone else especially Reed

" But the families may have cleaned the place over and over.", Jakhyer fell for the subject changing tactic that Reed is a great user of , like an unnamed someone who is currently the crown prince of the humans, Sir mysterious .

" It's only feasible if they have anything to hide. If they don't, because the room is uninhabited the wolf will be inclined to keep the scent of their child therefore they won't clean it as frequently. If the scent is undetectable to a wolf then the cleaning would be very invasive and the question would be why go to such lengths '",

" Good point, but maybe they don't want the scent as it just invokes a sad memory ",

" As far as it is confirmed, everyone knows that the kids are missing and may be alive. And if that is the case how is it a sad memory. Otherwise the kids would be dead , but if so , as a parent, one should be the last to give up in their children",

Jakhyer nodded to that and said it's a great point then he got curious or more specifically he lost the signal

" Wait, what's the point of looking for signs of deterioration?", He asked out of the blue. He was getting confused.

" Disintegration is term that they use instead of saying rapid or uncontrollable dissolution. All wolves disintegrate. It's the noticeable kind that worry. we need to check for that", he added as if lecturing a clueless child.

" I don't get it ", he told him .

" If those kids released any scent of a dying wolf which is a lot of pneuma then they have decomposed wherever they are. If they had bad energy, one can smell the mixup energy as it was released. ", He added to the sentence.

" So that's how we know they were like that ", he finally understood but then he asked if it's possible that the scent is untraceable..

' I literally just explained that! ', he yelled inside his head and as he gawked at him he saw that his eyes had completely sagged and his skin was hanging over a frail body and it made him look like biltong. All dried up and worn out. Precisely speaking he lost a huge portion of his weight and giant sized amount of his muscle- bulkiness , the small hours they had been talking

" The scent only becomes like that if it is made by someone. A dying wolf smells alongside releasing pneuma.So.." Reed got impatient but did a phenomenal job to hide it

" BOY !! I know that. What am asking is do we assume that there are two causes of an absent scent. One, some cleaned or two the kids are still alive ", he yelled at Reed who was glad he was standing further away as he would have seriously crippled, decapitated and dissected his senior then sent each blood coated , putrid stinking piece of his aged body to his son to reminisce over a man he never knew and the childhood he never had and could only fantasize about .

" Correct, pardon my ignorance", he acted sorry while he was on the brick of committing a heavenly sin.

" Get me more wine", he barked at him despite his vase being half full

Reed turned to mist immediately.