Ignus opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. He became more panicked as he realized that he had lost his voice. There was only one thing he was feeling at that moment, fear. Genuine fear as the cold tingles in his skin started to make him numb and firmly locked him in place.
His legs couldn't move and when he tried to look down, his eyes widened as he saw faceless shadows clinging to him. Shaped as hands, these shadows continued to climb up his feet and unto his thighs.
He turned and twisted to free himself from the ghastly unknown things that wanted to swallow him alive but no matter what he did, they remained attached to him. The ghostly face in front of him did not make things easier for him as he saw how those distorted arms slowly raised the ax it was holding.
'No! No! No!' These thoughts repeated inside his mind as he was shaking his head vigorously. In an attempt to fend for himself, he raised his hand and punched the ghostly creature in front of him. This stopped it for a moment and even turned the head at 180 degrees creating a cracking sound that came from the creature's neck.
The mutilated face that disappeared in front of him slowly appeared on the back of the creature's head as those bulging red eyes were staring at it. The pupils even started moving and a sound came out from the ghost's mouth. At first it was a whisper, then it turned into an ear-piercing shriek.
He wanted to punch it again but this time he could not move his hand, the shadows were now holding his hand and the ax was now raised above the creature's head. Ignus continued to shout but every attempt and every opening of his mouth, there was no sound.
Tears started to come out from his eyes as he realized that he would die without even a fight. For the last time, he moved his head from and frantically looked around for a glimpse of hope when a man's silhouette caught his eyes.
Desperate, he pulled his hand from the clutches of those shadows and extended it to the direction of the person hoping that he would notice his situation. He was successful and the moment his hand reached out to the man, he suddenly stopped. A sinister smile was all he could describe the one on the man's face.
He realized that the person was not there to help him. He was there to watch him die. When he realized it all, the ax came down and so was the anguished scream that tore through the darkness of the night.
A crowd gathered at the opening of an alley early the next morning as they crowded to see what was going on. There were also soldiers and mages in the place, some of them were crouched down on the ground looking at something while some of the mages were rummaging around the place like they were looking for something.
Astrophos passed by the scene with a frown on his face, he tried to get past the throng of people and finally came in front of the crowd. He pulled one of the soldiers to ask what was going on and to his luck the person recognized him from the major's party.
"Someone disappeared again and…" he looked around before he got near him to whisper, "it's one of ours, we were only able to recognize him because of the name stitched on the piece of clothing that was left behind."
Astrophos frowned, then he looked at the soldier, "Who is it?"
"It's Sir Ignus. He was dismissed from his post yesterday because of a misconduct and now he was found dead," the soldier shook his head, "so unfortunate."
"Thank you for the information," the mage patted the soldier's shoulder before he left. He returned to the inn with a pale face. His mind was busy with so many thoughts that he did not hear the butler calling his name.
Mr. C was surprised that the Grand Mage was a bit out of it, so he went ahead and tapped the man's shoulder to get his attention. Astrophos was surprised that he almost used a spell to attack the other person.
The butler immediately raised his hands and took a step back when he saw that Astrophos lifted his hand to point at him. "Sorry if I interrupted your thought Mr. Astrophos."
"It's you," he sighed, "I'm sorry. What is it Mr. C?" He rubbed his forehead with his other hand on his waist.
"I was only going to ask if you are feeling alright because you looked pale and you did not respond to me when I called you." Mr. C assumed his usual stance and put his hands behind his back.
"I'm sorry," the mage sighed. "I'm just a little bit bothered by the recent incident."
"The kidnapping? Did something happen again?" Mr. C became curious why the mage would be bothered to the point that he became lost in his thoughts.
"Yes, and one of the victims is that Ignus from the other day," Astrophos answered.
Mr. C could see why he was bothered but it was only a coincidence, there's not much to think about it. He happened to be in that place and happened to be the person that was dragged to the depts of the abyss.
"That's a bit shocking but is that a cause for concern? It must have been a coincidence that he was one of the victims this time. That kind of magic doesn't really choose whoever it takes as long as it takes a life." Mr. C chose to remain calm and pacify the man. And it was better for them to stay out of the case.
"I know but something is bothering me the moment I knew that he was a victim, isn't this too coincidental. He was just with us the other day and now he suddenly died after he got dismissed from his post," he frowned. He can't be reconciled yet, not as long as the feeling of doubt in him didn't disappear.
"If that's the case, then why don't you go and ask at the mage outpost or the authorities who are involved so that you can ease your mind," the butler suggested since the man really looked disturbed as the frown on his face did not disappear.
"Yeah, I'm already planning on doing that." The mage looked at the butler and gave him a nod.
"Alright, I'll go now since the master isn't awake yet and I need to wake him up," the butler also nodded. He turned around and went to the stairs leading to the second floor. It was already past seven so he needed to wake the master for breakfast or he'll stay grumpy throughout the day.
"Mr. C, the master, was he here at the inn last night?" He did not look at the butler and only clenched his fists while waiting for the answer.
At that question, the surrounding suddenly turned silent. Mr. C stopped on his tracks then looked at the mage's back for a while before he gave an answer. "Yes, the master has been here the whole night."
Hearing that the answer, he still could not believe it and the suspicion in his heart grew. "Are you sure about that? You might be covering for him because you are his butler." He gritted his teeth but he still asked the question even though his heart started to beat faster.
