Return of Ancients

Return of Ancients

Introduction:

It was a new moon night. The sky looked dark and starless with clouds covering as far as eye can reach in every direction. The roads were flooded with excess rain water and it looked like the storm wasn't going to stop any time soon. Senior Investigator Robert of the special occult division, a man in his late 40's emitting an aura suggesting he should not be messed with, stepped out of his car. He wore a fully black dress with long black coat which came down till his thick black military shoes. No one could have seen him standing there at this hour if not for the rain and the small blinking LED light from a small transmitting device embedded into the sleeves of his coat. He was exhausted and in no mood to work that night but he knew that this had to be special case needing his immediate attention. He had eleven Investigators working under him and each having seven to nine Junior Investigators working under them except Rachel, a young girl in her early 20's, his best investigator who preferred to work alone. She was taller than her peers standing at 5’4” with a slim bodyline, long waist length hair framing her oval face and striking ocean blue eyes. He always gave her special cases and did not burden her with many cases at a time as she always brought out the best results without complaint or seeking guidance. But today she personally called him and asked him to come as she was unable to even identify the corpse.

As he slowly walked to the scene of crime, an old farmhouse with no human settlement for miles in any direction, Rachel walked to him carrying two torch lights, umbrella and gloves. He was always amazed by her attention to detail and sheer magical power. He merely nodded, taking a torch and followed her. They did not exchange any words at all. She led him into the kitchen, small considering the size of house from outside, then into the underground cellar through the trapdoor in center of the room. No one would have suspected or detected the trapdoor if it wasn't for the remaining evidence of magic performed emitting from beyond the door. He went down into the cellar after her. The cellar was a dimly lit, large open room as big as the house itself. He was surprised to see no water oozing into it considering the state of house. There was no one except Rachel, himself and a junior investigator who was initially assigned to the case. Four lights were concentrated into the far corner of the room focusing onto a corpse. He began approaching the body and as it came into view, his heart sank, for he had never seen anything like it. He knelt beside the body to examine it. It is not a chimera, but similar to a werewolf on first glance but not one.  He studied the body for several minutes pacing up and down its length. It was small with strong muscular legs yet not human, though he could convince himself that the hands and face are human. The face had many cuts made with a sharp object, the ears being cut off. Then as realization stuck him, his whole body became pale. No wonder Rachel could not identify it, at least not in this state. He thought they were extinct yet discovered evidence stating otherwise about 15 years ago but never expected to see one as a corpse. It was an elf, the most powerful and intelligent of all magical creatures, a fairly powerful one if it could transform into human. "Who or what could kill a powerful creature like an elf?" he wondered silently. He did not know the answer.

He looked up from the corpse and Rachel was eyeing him with extreme interest. Then she handed him a small dagger. It was evident from the dagger that it was the weapon used to hurt the elf. He took the dagger from her and examined it. He found a small symbol, 2 vertical parallel lines crossed with snake, on the base of dagger. He knew that symbol, it belonged to one of the 2 clans of Ancients. He turned, if possible, even paler. He did not want to talk to anyone now, not until he was in a safe place where no magic could be detected. He knew magic could be used for surveillance, especially ancient magic, he observed the power of magic present there and assessed it to be only able to transmit audio. He was glad that he did not speak a word since his arrival to any of the two people in the room. He quickly signaled the other two to follow him in silence and went outside the house and started walking till he was sure he reached the end of the surveillance magic. His whole body shivering, considering what he just discovered slowly faced the other two and said the first words since his arrival "THE ANCIENTS HAVE RETURNED".

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(To be contd.)