Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 154: Space Dial

Chapter 154: Space Dial

Elizabeth stood restless in her office as she seemed to be waiting for something.

Pacing back and forth, her auburn hair bounced about while she mumbled something to herself.

The pale yellow light of the gas lamps placed on either side of the room helped to reveal her expression which bordered between worry and skepticism.

Taking a deep breath, she soon came to a stop at a corner of her office which was packed with several wooden boxes with documents stacked together in a pile.

A musty smell wafted from the pile as a result of some of the documents undoubtedly soaking in water.

In any case, most of them weren’t useful files in a general sense and were merely gathered by Elizabeth.

She let out a sigh as she picked up one of the documents in the pile.

Casually going through it, she sought to calm herself with some light reading but hardly had she started when a knock was heard at the door, jolting her from her intentions.

"Come in." She remarked as she dropped the document back in its pile before walking over to her desk.

The doorknob turned and the door was opened to reveal a man on the other end dressed in a white shirt with brown khakis.

He walked into the office with a few documents in his hands before closing the door behind him with a light thud.

"How’s the situation?" Elizabeth asked.

The man replied. "So far, so good. We’ve contacted our informants in the Extensions."

"And?"

"The people are restless." The man said. "With the black market gone, most fear it won’t be long before Vampires begin their reign of terror."

"This is troublesome."

"A large amount of garlic has been bought off the market and a few even went ahead to get their hands on White stakes."

"They are preparing to fight back."

"Madam, this could devolve into a full-scale conflict."

"I understand," Elizabeth muttered. "We need a means to quell the anger of the masses before this reaches a point of no return."

"But I don’t understand. Can’t we just go and kill a few Vampires to set an example?"

"And risk breaking the Peace Accords?"

"That..."

"The reason the Great Families decided for peace was that if the Night Creatures wanted, there would have been no victory, and even if there was, the losses incurred would be too much to face off against other threats like Salem or Judah or even Incursions."

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Elizabeth added. "We can’t allow this situation to get worse than it already is."

"Get the Royal Blues to head to the Extensions and keep the peace before it gets out of hand. Also, those with stakes should have their weapons confiscated."

"Why?"

"Because they won’t get the chance to use it if a Night Creature came for them," Elizabeth stated plainly.

"I’ll get the word out."

"Good." Slightly satisfied with his response, Elizabeth inquired. "And the other thing we spoke about?"

"Ma’am?"

"The Dark Lord," Elizabeth said. "Any news on him?"

The man nodded. "We couldn’t get anything from Extensions 1 to 10 but we found a trace in the 11th."

"Tell me."

"A man looking like the one in the drawing was seen by several folks in the 11th Extension in the company of a brown woman."

"An Emetite?" Elizabeth asked.

"Most likely." The man responded.

"When was he last seen?"

"This evening."

"And has he done anything suspicious so far?"

"Nothing of note. Well apart from visiting the black market in the 11th Extension."

Elizabeth pursed her lips as she pondered a few possibilities. "Any idea on when he arrived?"

"Some say two days ago, others say three."

"So within the last 4 days?"

"More or less."

"It fits the bill."

"Madam, if I may." The man spoke up. "Are we to trust the words of a Vampire?... For all we know, he could be trying to set this guy up."

"And you think I haven’t thought of that?"

"Then..."

"But using the name of their supposed savior in such a manner?... I don’t believe that a Vampire would do such a thing."

"So..."

"We have to confirm this ourselves," Elizabeth remarked. "If the man is truly the Dark Lord, the more time he walks our lands, the less time we have to prevent his ascent. If he one day gets to the level of leading the Night Creatures to glory, the human race will surely receive a heavy blow."

Pausing to catch her breath, she added grimly. "And I won’t let that happen."

"So what are your orders, Liaison?"

Elizabeth pondered for a moment, her thoughts seemingly elsewhere before she let out a sigh.

"Do we have a likeness for the girl the man was with?"

"Yes ma’am."

"And their current location?"

"Some lodge in the 11th Extension."

"That’s good. Gather the men, we are heading there to confirm for ourselves."

"Yes..."

Bam

Both Elizabeth and the man reporting to her were shocked by the sudden entry, causing them to scrutinize the fellow that just entered.

Possessing a rather scrawny physique and wearing a pair of glasses, the young lad had a pale face as he struggled to catch his breath.

"You, what is the meaning of this?... How dare you barge into the Liaison’s office unannounced?" The first man berated in annoyance.

Elizabeth raised her hands, instantly cutting him off from whatever words he wanted to spout as she glanced at the newcomer.

"Is there a problem?"

"R...r...r.." Gulping hard, the young lad controlled his breath just enough to report. "Report!... A breach has been detected by the Space Dial!"

"What?" Elizabeth was left flabbergasted by the news.

***

Since time immemorial, even before the Dark Ages, humanity had always faced a great threat and that was the Incursions.

Tears in space that connected Eventide to the Abyss were creatures born of chaos and destruction, also known as Otherworldly, congregated.

To combat the threat effectively, the Space Dial was created by the Goddess of Automation using the remains of ancient dragons and though it has had to be improved over the years, it was always a cause for worry whenever it was activated.

The presence of a breach posed the risk of an Incursion and if such were to happen, destruction would surely follow.

Elizabeth knew this well, same with her adviser, which was why both were quite terrified by the news brought by the lanky youth.

Taking a moment to calm herself down, Elizabeth immediately asked. "Where is the location?"

"The noble estates’ periphery, western area."

"Periphery... western.... Wait." Elizabeth’s eyes turned wide-eyed as she exclaimed. "Arwen!"

Without hesitation, she quickly grabbed her coat and after pulling out a switchblade from underneath her desk, she rushed out of her office, leaving the two men in a daze.

With worry in her eyes, Elizabeth muttered. "Please be safe."

***

The pulsating ball of black and white covered up the entirety of the area it was in from top to bottom, leaving the rest of the hallway relatively safe.

With his eyes peeled on it, Alex waited patiently for Arwen.

A certain thought crossed his mind as he waited patiently.

In his battle against Fatima, he had understood just how powerful a Devil Wheel Mystic could be, even with just the release of the authority of their Contractor.

And then after watching how Nadia saved a man during the train incident, he had wondered if all Devil Wheel Mystics were fast in their spells.

But with Arwen breaking the streak of fast spellcasting, he pondered on why that was the case.

What was the deciding factor?

Was it genius?... It would explain Nadia being able to complete the Rule of Triune as quickly as Fatima but then what about Arwen?

From a glance, he could tell she was a genius on par with Nadia yet... Glancing back at Arwen, he saw that she had her eyes closed and her palms placed together like she was holding an egg.

He could sense the faint build-up of aether within her palms.

As he kept on looking, his eyes inadvertently fell on her upper chest area where a certain symbol was visible.

On it, a faceless woman lay on a bed and seemed to be in deep slumber.