As the night fell, the once bustling and lively atmosphere of Bastion Hill took on a more sinister and ominous tone. The merchants and common folks retreated to their homes as the city streets became the playground for thieves, cutthroats, and bandits. The city was now a ghost town, except for the taverns and bars, as the weak dared not attract attention, less they became victims to the cruel night dwellers.

Out of all these miscreants, the worst were members of The Black Plain Bandits. Wearing the black colours of The Bandits, they strolled the streets like high nobility. They would walk into taverns and bars as if they owned them, drinking and eating food without paying. Many of these establishments actually changed the quality of their food and drinks to minimise their costs. They would also change their staff to warriors, as the bandits were known to harass and abuse beautiful girls.

One such member of the bandits was Rockwell, who was working as a clerk under Mayor Harold. Rockwell was a thin, middle-aged man with a chronic cough. While he was not personally strong, his status among the city's leadership gave him the confidence to behave like a king. Tonight, he was coming back from his favourite bar with an escort in his hand.

He was walking down an empty street, talking loudly about how big his residence was and how close he was to the Mayor. His escort tried her best to listen to the incoherent drunk ramblings while maintaining a smile. Unbeknownst to both of them, the empty street wasn't as it seemed.

Ptolemy and Penelope, who were hidden in the shadows couldn't help but give each other side-eyes. The idiot they were following had to be one of the dumbest people they had ever stalked. He was loudly talking about sensitive information in the middle of an empty street. Penelope was recording his ramblings as they didn't know what could be useful. However what they were after was this, but the documents he had at his home.

They didn't have to wait long before the pair arrived at a small manor, the guards at the gate were doing their best to ignore the drunk mess that was walking into the manor. As soon as the pair went inside, the guards dropped their vigilant posture and slumped against the walls around the manor. Before long they began to chat about the game earlier in the day and the referee basically killed the game with his sending off. They didn't notice two shadows slithering across the ground and over the walls.

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Mia followed the staff member into a private room where Astar and Emile were already waiting for her. The staff member handed her menu and walked out closing the door behind them. Both Emile and Astar had already ordered and were enjoying their food. Astar was chowing down on roast with a mug of ale next to him, while Emile was eating some kind of fish.

Mia took a seat and glared at them both, "You couldn't have waited for me?"

Astar didn't bother to give her response as he was deep in thought, but Astar looked up from his meal and smiled at her. "Well you are late, so we decided to order ahead. Don't worry, I'll be going for seconds so you don't need to feel awkward."

Mia rolled her eyes as she took a seat. She started to read over the menu as someone knocked on the door. Emile shouted for them to come and a waiter came into the room carrying a tray with drinks. Emile and Astar thanked them as they took their drink and the waiter stepped back with their hand folded over the empty tray. Mia was keenly aware that they were waiting for her, so she quickly made her order. The waiter bowed and left the room quickly.

As the door closed Emile put down his cutlery and wiped his mouth. "Mia if you could, please." Mia nodded and with a snap of her fingers, she activated an alert spell at the door and a sphere of silence in the room. Astar also put down his cutlery and took out a tablet from the inside of his coat.

He cleared his throat "So Vivian has already given the intel they have on orphans in this city. I've given it a quick read and while it doesn't have anything about the boy in particular, it does help us narrow down the targets we can look for."

"So in all of Bastion Hill, there are only 3 orphanages that allow non-human children. Based on the oracle's criteria, we know that he was homeless or in one of those orphanages. Vivian said that she would look into their connections with the homeless organisations and gangs in the city. Meanwhile, we will investigate the orphanages to find out if any children have gone missing recently."

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Astar tapped on the tablet and an illusion appeared over the table. "They are all in the commoner district and are relatively close to each other. Two of them are under the protection of ACAE charity and the third is protected by a group of retired adventures. So that boy is lost is quite a concern."

Emile interjected at this, "It's more than a concern because I've been informed that cultists of Haroxz have been sighted in the city."

Astar's and Mia's faces paled at that, cultists were among some of the most reviled people due to their tendencies to commit mass murder and release calamities into the world. Their motivations weren't sane as with most criminal groups but rather was the desire for power through the worship of other dimensional beings of immense horrors.

Astar spat to the side for which he received a dirty look from Mia for it. Ignoring her, he said "And you think they have something to do with this?"

Emile nodded "One thing that always happens when cultists come to a city is the disappearance of people for sacrifices and rituals. Now, if you were a cultist and came to this city, who would target for kidnappings."

"The weak and poor would be my first option, since they are the least protected and the guards wouldn't bother investigating them," Mia said, but before Emile could reply she put up a finger. There was a knock and the same waiter returned with Mia's order. She thanked them and once they left recast the alert spell.

"Sorry, you were about to say?"

"Ah yes, I was agreeing with you about the cultist. From the centenary census of cultists, we know that 85% of victims of cultists are children, the elderly, and the disabled. Also, 99% of cultists reported that their victims are among the poorest in their societies."

"Wait, centenary census of cultists?"

"I'll tell you that later, but cultists are not only independent clusters of deranged people. Some of the more successful groups have organised into a loose alliance, and you what happens once a large enough group of people come together."

Mia who was taking notes looked up from her book, "I don't know."

Pointing at her, he gave a big smile "Bureaucracy!"

Seeing the deadpan expression on Mia's face, he shrugged "But yeah, cultists are more organised than they are given credit for."

Astar scoffed "But they are still the scum of Alkasia."

Emile agreed "Yes, cultists can be categorised into 3 groups, the dumb and lazy, psychopaths and the desperate for power. The first two groups can be written off as hopeless, but my issue is with the third. "

"There are many avenues to get strength, and while most are inherent or based on luck of circumstance, there are some methods from external sources that are not destructive. Artifacts are one such example, even a basic artifact can elevate your strength immensely. Another way is contracting elementals, and yes I know that affinity is important but it's not a requirement."

Astar frowned "What do you mean? I thought only people with a correct elemental affinity and a strong spirit could contract elementals."

"Usually that's the case but if a person is sincere and earnest then an elemental can form a deeper bond that might even change the person's affinity. That is what happens to desert lords, for some reason humans are not born with sand affinity."

"Sand affinity? I thought that fell under earth affinity."

Emile shook his head "No, sand is a variant of earth and while someone with earth affinity could control sand, a sand affinity mage is far more efficient and can control significantly more sand than a normal earth affinity mage."

"It's why you should never fight a desert lord in the desert. I once saw a desert lord brown-beat an archmage with casual ease."

Both Astar and Mia gaped, archmages were considered the peak of mage society. Mia asked "How is that possible? Was he a titled mage?"

"No, he was a grandmage. I know that sounds impossible, but I saw it with my own eyes. A desert lord is basically invincible in the desert because they have complete control of the environment. The one I saw was able to transform his body into sand rendering him almost invincible. Unless you have overwhelming might then I would recommend that you stay clear of any desert lords in the future."

Astar and Mia nodded numbly as they took this in. Astar then asked Emile "So, back to our current objective. This cult of Haroxz, how worried should we be?"

Emile tilted head to side as he thought for a moment "The information I received denoted them as a small cult that only recently came to prominence. The problem is not them, however, but the eldritch being they worship. The report said that Haroxz is a fully grown eldritch being that specialises in mind magic."

Emile took control of the illusion that Astar had created and changed it into a grotesque being of tentacles and a messed up assorted of limbs from different beings. "Horaxz has only matured recently, so it is not very strong. But its magic could be a big problem."

The concern on the other two's faces was evident, so Mia asked him "We should deal with them then, right? I mean we can't allow them to summon such a creature."

Astar nodded but Emile gave a shake "It's not that straightforward, eldritch cults are notoriously difficult to vanquish. They rarely send important and influential members out unless it is for an important ritual. We will keep an eye on them and stop whatever they are doing but to completely uproot is not our business. There are other factions that have dedicated staff and resources to tackle cultists. That is where I got the information from."

Mia wasn't happy about leaving such dangerous people to roam freely, but she knew that it was her instinct to help everyone that was talking. "Okay, what is our plan?"

They then spent the rest of the evening planning out how to find the lost boy.