Obsidian Cavalier

The Meeting

  When the sky became dark and only the moon illuminate it, two cloaked figures leaped from one roof to another. The Kingdom’s Council Building is in the center of the city, an old building that held so much history. The two cloaked figures disappeared in a puff of smoke when they landed on the building’s roof.

  Inside the building, in a huge room where there is a huge oak table in the middle, the five members of the Harred Democratic Council are already present. When the huge two-door opened, Arlo Rocke, the Council Minister and his fiancée walked in.

“Am I late?”Arlo asked. Arlo was the handsome and charming and the most youngest elected Council Minister of Harred.

“No, our guests haven’t arrived yet.”The oldest among the council, Fernan said. Fernan is a man that looked like he was in early fifties but he was actually a few hundred years.

“That’s a relief. I wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to meet the famous heroes of Aragon.”Arlo said.

“It’s really fortunate of us that her majesty agreed to our request.”Another council member, Simmons said. Simmons looked to be in his early forties but he’s a century younger than Fernan.

  Then they noticed Arlo’s fiancée.

“Ah, you brought Miss Krueger.”The female council member, Martha said. She’s the lady who looked to be in her thirties with her bleach blonde hair, but she’s about Simmon’s age.  

“Good evening honourable council members.”Desiree Krueger, Arlo’s fiancée greeted the council.

“Good to have you here Miss Krueger.”Council member Tolouse said. He’s a tall man with a buff physique of a man in early thirties.

“It is good that you are here dear. At least I won’t be the only lady among these men.”Martha said, smiling at Desiree.

“Let us all take a seat while we wait.” Another council member, Marlin said. Aside from Arlo, he’s the youngest among the council. He’s actually two hundred years old when he does looked like he’s in his twenties.

    And they all went to take a seat, Arlo pulling a chair for Desiree. Looking at those two, they all looked so in love. Desiree has been an epitome of beauty and grace in all Harred kingdom, no wonder Arlo fell in love immediately with her.

“How were your parents dear?”Martha asked Desiree.

“They are fine ma’am, though it seems like they rather stay at home and manage our business from there, than to mingle with people.”Desiree said.

“Your parents have always been a peculiar pair.”Marlin said.

“Ever since that night.”Tolouse added.

  Then two hooded cloak figures materialized in front of them.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” One cloaked figure said.

  The council members abruptly stood up because of surprise.

“We decided to show up since you are all here.”The other cloaked figure said.

“A-Are you the Shadow Knights?” Arlo asked, stuttering.

“I believe you requested for us.”The cloaked figure said.

“Yes, we did ask the Queen for her Shadow Knights.”Simmons said.

“But why is there only two?”Arlo asked.

  Both of the cloaked figures turned towards Arlo.

“They have other things to do.”One of the cloaked figures said.

  Arlo suddenly felt uncomfortable. Though he cannot see what the Shadow Knights looked like or their eyes under their hoods, he can still feel their intense stare.

“Very well, we are still grateful that the Queen of Aragon has agreed to have you help us with our problem.”Fernan said, and the two Shadow Knights turned to him.

“You’ve mentioned about your people missing. Tell us everything.”One of them said.

  Fernan nodded and he motioned one employee to open the projector. There, several photos appeared.

“We don’t know how or why it all started. And so far that’s all we know.”Tolouse said, pointing at the screen.

“They are just some of our residents who went missing that we documented. They were the ones who were filed as missing persons.”Marlin said.

  The two shadow knights look through the photos, and their short information such as their name, age, occupation, shifter or not. Base on the files shown to them, most the people missing were shifters and from prominent families.

“Your kingdom is close to losing half of your people councillors..”One shadow knight said.

“Yes, that’s why we made a decision to ask for your help.” Simmons said.

“How long has this been happening?”

“More than a hundred years.”Martha answered.

  The two cloaked figures looked at each other, before looking towards the eldest member of the council.

“It’s been going on that long and none of you did something?”One Shadow Knight asked.

“We did. We tried to look for them, but every person we send end up missing as well.”Martha said.  

  The two shadow knights sighed.

“So what do you want us to do?”Both shadow knights asked.

“We want you to investigate and find out what happened to our people, and if you can please rescue them.”Fernan said.

“But Fernan, how can we trust them with our kingdom’s problem and our people’s safety, when we can’t even see their faces?”Arlo asked.

“We can leave if you want?” One of the cloaked figures hissed at Arlo.

  Arlo felt a chill down his spine, feeling scared towards the cloaked figure. Feeling her fiancée’s distress, Desiree went to hold Arlo’s arm.

“Darling, I believe in them. I have a feeling in my heart that they will help us, even if they wanted to remain anonymous.”Desiree told Arlo before looking at the shadow knights giving them a warm smile.

“I agree with your fiancée, Arlo.”Martha said, and Arlo sighed.

“Anyway, I noticed that most of those who went missing was of high stature.” One cloaked figure said.

“Yes, that is true. But some are warriors and the people we hired to solve this case.”Tolouse said.

“But I remembered that the first ever case of the missing persons are kids, ten year old twins.”Fernan said.

“Are they from any of your family?”

  Desiree nodded.

“They are my older siblings, Damon and Diana Krueger.”

******************************

  The twins sat on the floor in their suite’s living room and Damon threw all the folders on the coffee table, and Diana began looking through them. They both read each folder’s content, but Diana’s thoughts went to their younger sister.

“She’s beautiful.”Diana blurted, and Damon looked at her.

“The whole kingdom loves her, her fiancée loves her, and she’s living a perfect life.”She added.

  Damon went to seat beside his sister.

“We are living a perfect life in Aragon with our friends, our new family.”Damon told his sister.

  Diana looked at her hands.

“Yeah, but you didn’t say I’m beautiful.”Diana said pouting.

  Damon rolled his eyes, ruffling his sister’s hair.

“Let’s just get back to work.”Damon said and Diana nodded.

“So what’s the most common denominator of the victims?”Damon asked.

“They are of high stature, shifter or not. The only ones that are not are the warriors that were first asked to solve this case.”Diana said, and Damon nodded.

  Damon kept on looking through the files, but Diana was thinking about something.

“Damon, why did they tell them that we were taken?”Diana asked.

  Damon sighed and put the folder down.    

“It’s a cover up Diana. They did something unforgivable; of course they will cover things up with a lie.”Damon said.

  The twins fell silent for a while a thought slowly brewing inside their minds.

“I have a feeling that we should go back to where it started.”Diana said, looking at her brother.

“To the first victim’s house.”Damon said.