Chapter 82: Meeting
Thousands of miles from civilization, a lone figure trudged through the endless veil of white snow.
The sound of the wind howling around him was strangely comforting in the still silence of the mountain range.
Raymond Renley stopped, gazing into the distance.
The mountains’ jagged peaks loomed before him. Imposing, unyielding.
A slow grin spread across his face, his icy blue eyes sparkling with excitement.
"So close, I’m so close."
He glanced down at his supplies, taking mental note of his inventory.
Eventually, he let out a sigh, frowning slightly, his earlier excitement fading.
He glanced back in the direction he’d come from.
"This is much further than I was able to come last time, but I’m already out of supplies."
The sky in the desolate place was covered in a perpetual blanket of darkness and gray clouds, obscuring even the moon and stars.
Raymond shook his head, then a smile appeared on his face.
"The assassins sure are monsters, but next time for sure, I’ll reach the peak."
According to lore, Alistair Thane had traversed this very mountain range as an ordinary human no less.
And in the process, the man who had already been legendary discovered the dimension that rocked the world itself.
Even now, years later, his discovery was still causing ripples on the Earth.
In the next moment, Raymond’s eyes glowed in the darkness, emitting a ghostly blue light, and a split second later, he vanished, leaving only his prints in the snow.
A flurry of snowflakes swirled in his wake,
Soon, the snow covered even his footprints, leaving no trace of him behind.
A dark-haired man in a dark, long fur coat appeared in an alleyway outside Eden City. Thick black mitts adorned his hands, and his entire body was wrapped in several layers of clothes.
The man’s long black hair flowed down his shoulders, coalescing into a long ponytail.
He stumbled a bit then cursed. A slight frown appeared on his face.
"What the hell? What is this place?
The pungent smell of trash wafted through the air from a nearby bin and reached him. His face wrinkled in disgust at the putrid scent.
Car alarms and sirens blared in the distance in a cacophony of disorganized sound.
Raymond’s blue eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Why did I appear here, and not at HQ? And that interference, it felt like Thrain’s doing, but why?"
His blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Thrain wouldn’t interfere with my teleportation without reason. Unless...something’s wrong."
He slowly moved out of the alley, walking to the street with his large travel bag.
Raymond immediately stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in surprise.
"What the hell?!"
Police cars swarmed the entire borough with officers frantically evacuating the civilians.
The entire business district was enveloped in a dome conjured out of pure darkness.
"What the hell happened while I was away?"
****
Three hours earlier
Eden City, Black Ink Corporation HQ.
"Bwahahahahaha, to think that you guys actually lost to one guy! That’s so funny!"
The youth’s melodic laughter rang through the silence of the Videntis’ chambers.
Victoria’s violet eyes flared with a light for a second, fury marring her features, then they reverted to their normal state.
She leaned back on her throne and let out a tired sigh.
With only three members of the Videntis present, the other four thrones were noticeably empty.
A somber mood filled the giant hall, the absence of the other members making it feel even emptier.
" This little fool, as if he could have done any better."
With the recent attack on the Pyreptar Academy, tensions were high within the Brotherhood of Shadows.
The Council of Assassins was frantically trying to salvage the situation and mitigate the damage the mysterious maestro had perpetrated. All the council members were swamped with endless meetings and excursions.
The Council was also doing its best to come up with countermeasures against the masked man whose identity was still unknown.
The mysterious stranger had singlehandedly held his own in the face of the Council of assassins and the members of the Videntis that had been present at the time.
Even Victoria, with her psychic abilities, had been at a loss. By the time the Videntis had tried to intervene, it was too late.
"This is no laughing matter, Seth. Several of our young recruits at the academy died," Victoria muttered quietly.
" And several others are still missing."
The youth, Seth, glanced at her in amusement.
" Who cares?"
Victoria frowned. She cocked her head, her eyes intently observing the second youngest member of the Videntis.
" What did you say?"
Seth grinned, his smile growing eerily wider.
"Who cares? If they died, it’s because they were weak!" he spat out.
"Victoria raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
" This guy, he’s a total psychopath."
"That’s enough, Seth," a quiet voice spoke calmly.
Seth turned to the blindfolded man in surprise.
" Oh, come on, Liu! I’m just stating the facts!"
Liu Zhen, the blind man, turned to Seth.
" I understand what you’re saying, Seth, but we must still honour the fallen."
Seth opened his mouth to retort, then hesitated. He let out an exasperated sigh, then slumped back in his chair.
" Fine, fine, whatever."
Just then, the shadows stirred, and a familiar masked figure walked into the room with Sebastian trailing slightly behind him.
" Any news, Thrain?" Victoria asked eagerly, leaning forward with unusual fervor.
Thrain silently shook his head
" Raymond’s still off on his expedition in the Arctic Mountains, but he should be back shortly..."
" What about the situation with the Council of Assassins?" Victoria interjected. " What about the Talented who entered the breach?"
Thrain stared at her in silence.
The pools of darkness in the mask where his eyes should have been stirred slightly.
After a brief lull in silence, he spoke.
" The Council has assured me that they’re working on locating the missing recruits and aspirants. For the time being, we can’t interfere for the obvious reasons. We should wait."
After a brief silence, the blind man spoke.
" I believe we should remain on guard as well. It seems the enemy we face has information on some of our abilities."
" I agree," Thrain’s deep voice rang out as he nodded in agreement.
Sebastian’s gaze shifted between the two quizzically.
" What do you mean?"
Thrain let out a tired sigh.
"Darius Sunder’s Talented ability allows him to stop time. We can assume the enemy knew this because he was found unconscious after the fight. If Darius had affected the flow of time, we would have had a better chance at rescuing the Talented and even the aspirants."
Sebastian gaped, then shut his mouth, his brows knitting together in confusion. The implications of such a revelation were catastrophic.
" But that’s impossible, the kill squad’s information is tightly sealed. It’s classified information that only the Videntis and the upper echelons have access to," he argued.
A grim silence settled in the chamber.