CHAPTER 64: TO FROSTBANE

Luke and the others were in their private room inside the Elite class of the airship, taking off from Gemburn to Frostbane.

Shane and Ruby were excited as they kept looking around the room which consisted of three small bedrooms, one washroom and one common room with a round sofa.

Luke and Noah were also first time Elite class traveler but they were born noble and were habitual of such luxury and were not enticed much from this.

"How’s it? Is the room comfortable?" Anna asked as she entered inside, followed by Layla.

"It’s great lady Anna! Thank you for bringing us with you in the elite class!" Ruby said excitedly as the smile refused to go away from her face.

"It’s nice elder sister!" Luke replied plainly.

"You’re still mad at me?" Anna asked in a helpless tone.

"Just a bit! You’ll be paying my team, so I’m not that mad anymore!" Luke said with a smile.

"Aiyoo!! My baby brother! You know I was about to cry when you looked with such cold eyes at me in the guildmaster’s room! Don’t ever treat me like this! Ok?" Anna hugged him tight, his face buried inside her bosom.

"I-I won’t! I can’t b-breath elder s-sister!" Luke struggled to free himself from her grasp but failed. How could he, from a fifth circle fighter mage.

"Oh! I’m sorry!"

"I’m not a child anymore elder sister! Why do you treat me like one!?" Luke complained but instead of being soft, she held his cheeks and looked right in his eyes.

"No matter how old you grow or how big you become, you’ll always be my baby brother! Remember that!" her motherly love oozing out of her eyes as she conveyed that there’s no chance of him escaping from this treatment from her.

"Alright! Alright!" Luke sighed in helplessness. But a smile spread on his lips as he could feel the warmth from her. Though she acted like that, the love she had for him was nothing less than what a mother has for her child.

Layla smiled too, seeing both of them. But just then she felt an intense gaze on her! She turned towards her right and saw Noah, foolishly looking at her with a wide smile on his face, his eyes shining and throwing out rays of love.

She gave a plain smile and turned her head away; her eyebrows creased and face twitched in annoyance. She was enduring this only because Noah was her brother’s friend, or else she would have teared him limb by limb and curve a permanent smile on his face with her sword.

"Ok! Everyone, let’s discuss the mission in detail! Since I’ll be paying you, let me give you some work and get my money’s worth!" Anna said with a grin.

Ruby and Shane took a seat and the others also got serious, except Noah, who was still harassing Layla with his lover’s gaze.

"Though this will be just an investigation mission! The situation is far dire in the city! Have you heard of the ’Society of Endless night’?" Anna asked in a serious tone.

The others shook their head in denial. This was the first time they’ve heard this name.

"It is a very dark and evil organization! They want to bring the era of endless night from five hundred years, back again! their sole aim is revival of the ’first demon’!"

They were shocked to hear this! The news fell like a bomb in their ears.

"Are they somehow involved in Frostbane?" Luke asked.

"We believe they are! We’ve been following their trails from a few months ago. First in Thornfield, then in Mistvale and now, Frostbane!"

They have a similar pattern. First, they buy all beast materials available in the market and also the black market. We caught one of their buyers a few days back, but we couldn’t find anything! Then they abduct innocent women, especially young or pregnant women."

"There is no specific pattern to their abduction! We haven’t been able to find anything about them! These bastards are very cautious and never leave any evidence. We couldn’t even find how the hell they are abducting the women, as the women suddenly vanish from plain sight, without any form of struggle!" Anna gritted her teeth in anger.

"We just received the news yesterday that one pregnant woman has gone missing in Frostbane! We believe they have started again!" Layla said in a grave tone.

"And this time we’ll catch those bastards and burn them down from the roots! No more innocent lives will be lost again!" Anna said, sadness and anger visible in her voice.

"We’ll catch them with you too!" Luke said, anger boiled inside him as he heard the atrocities of this evil organization.

"You don’t need to! It’s too risky! Just patrol the city and notify any unusual activity you notice!" Anna said.

"What!" Luke yelled out.

*****

"Excuse me!...let us through!...sorry!...make way please!..." a young man was continuously asking people on the road to make way, as behind him, holding his hand was a young woman with a bulged underbelly.

She was eight months pregnant and was struggling to walk long distances. Both of them were on the Frostbane market road, where it was the most crowded. The man held his wife’s hand and in his other hand was a bag full of groceries. Slowly they moved ahead, making gaps and passing through the crowd.

"You got everything right?" the wife asked.

"Obviously! I checked about three times!"

"you got the potatoes?"

"Yes!"

"Rice?"

"Yes!"

"Milk?"

"Three bottles!"

"And my nutritional fluid?"

"Obvi..." he stopped in his tracks as he turned to look at her. "I’m sorry!"

"See! I’ve asked you earlier too! You said I’ll get it! What now?" She chided him.

"Alright! I’m sorry! Don’t get angry now! I told you a thousand times! Your mood will affect our child! Let’s go get it together!"

"I can’t walk anymore! My legs are killing me!"

"But...leaving you alone is also..."

"It’s just around the corner, go and get it, I’ll wait here, what would happen in just a few minutes!"

The husband hesitated leaving her alone as disappearances were on the rise in the last few days. But he sighed and accepted, arguing more would only make his wife furious as he knew her temper.

"I’ll come fast! don’t move and stay right here!" he pulled her away from the crowd and asked her to stand beside a food stall where a huge crowd was gathered and handed her the bag to hold.

"Ok! Don’t worry! Go fast!" she said with a smile.

He nodded and hurried away, almost running between the crowd.

The noise from the stall beside her was unbearable, the crowd was screaming to get their food as fast as they can.

She got quite irritated and moved a few steps sideways, hoping the noises would lessen. But it was no use.

Just then she heard an indistinct whispering voice in her ears. She ignored it but slowly the whispering intensified.

Suddenly her pupils dilated, her face froze. She turned and started walking forward. She moved mechanically and fast, as if her legs never felt heavy. She reached an alley a few steps ahead and turned towards it.

She moved inside, the bag fell from her hands on the ground and within a second, she disappeared inside the dark alley.