Journey of the Son of Ares

Miniscule stone bits broke away and fell down a hundred meters as Gadreel walked on the large, rough stones that lied on the edge of the former Royal Castle's balcony.

Gadreel sighed and looked at Sherridan who was a few tens of meters from him, sitting with her legs crossed and watching with a cup of tea in hand. "This would be a bit more fun if you weren't here."

The pale woman with fair facial features glanced at the small round table on her side, where her pure white mask lay. "You afraid I'll save you if you fall?"

"It would be a little anti-climactic if I fell, and you swooped in to save me." Gadreel put one foot over the edge, balancing on one foot while keeping his gaze on Sherridan. "Takes away all the thrill."

"Don't worry," Sherridan said, a smirk appearing on her face, "I won't save you. I'm just here to watch."

Gadreel smiled back before looking down. There was someone running at the main entrance. Gadreel smiled. He recognized the man.

'Don't disappoint me, Qiel,' Gadreel thought as he stepped over the edge completely and started to plummet towards the ground like a rocket.

He maneuvered his body in the air, his clothes flapping wildly in the process. He didn't care to use any essence, so it was a bit of a chilly experience. When he was just ten meters from the ground, however, reinforcement and enhancement snapped on, and an ethereal spike appeared in his hand. He shoved the spike into the wall of the castle and slowed himself down just enough to meet the ground gently.

"Hello, Qiel," he greeted the startled young man, who wore a western-style hat that he liked to hold on to at all times. It was possible that it was just a habit that came out when he was nervous. Gadreel would've needed to get a spy on him to know. "What do you have for me there?" he asked, pointing at the rolled-up piece of paper in Qiel's hand.

"Ah, here," Qiel said, bowing and handing the paper to Gadreel, who quickly rolled it open. "It's a—" Qiel started, only to be startled by the sudden appearance of Sherridan with her mask on. "A wanted poster."

"Yeah, I can see that," Gadreel remarked.

"Yes, of course," Qiel said with a forced smile.

Gadreel looked up from the poster before having looked it over completely. "Well? Anything else?"

Qiel took his hat off and started rotating it in his hands. "Ah, yes. The Boerlows were robbed. That person is supposed to be the main culprit. Sir Boerlow hashed out a deal with the manager of the Numen branch in Boeria despite their earlier disagreements, so now Numen has taken the search for the culprit into their hands. About the sketch, there is none because he was wearing a mask and nobody saw his face."

"Qiel," Gadreel said slowly as he rubbed his forehead, "I pay you to keep a lookout for interesting things in the world and report about them to me, so if the next sentence that comes out of your mouth doesn't communicate to me the reason why I should give a shit about this thing you brought to me just now, I will carve out your insides." After Gadreel was done articulating his thoughts, he put on a soft smile and uttered a simple word in the Arkryk language, "Saeqe?"

Qiel's lips quivered as he stumbled back a bit and accidentally let go of his hat. He picked it up and answered Gadreel's question, "Yes, I understand. Um, look at the description, please."

Gadreel tilted his head slightly and brought the paper up to read it out loud. "Approximated height around 190 centimeters. Proficient essence user with no noticeable weaknesses. Approximated age around 20–30 years old. Blue eyes..." Gadreel paused and looked at Qiel with a devilish grin, scaring the fidgeting man motionless. He then looked to Sherridan. Even she seemed to shrink back slightly at seeing his expression. He looked back at the paper and read the interesting part out loud. "Golden hair."

***

A few days later, Gadreel arrived at a club located in the busy center of Boeria. He walked into the establishment alone. The multicolored lights illuminated his black dress shirt, his gray slacks and most of all, his gold and diamond earrings, which he had put on just for this special occasion. He didn't actually like wearing the things, but he had to look the part, didn't he?

He looked around with round, edgeless sunglasses on. It was hard to see, but at least his hair was slicked back out of the way of his vision. Once he saw what he was looking for, he slithered through the mass of people without getting touched and made it to the door beside the counter.

Gadreel knocked on the steel door a couple of times before a hatch at eye level was opened.

"Entry code?" the one behind the door asked.

Gadreel removed his sunglasses and gazed into the man's eyes. "I don't know your code, but I'm here to talk to your boss. Felix, was it? Hurry up and let me in before I kick this hunk of steel into your face."

The man behind the door hesitated for a moment before he shut the hatch. Then the door clicked, and Gadreel opened it.

Gadreel walked in and shut the door before digging at his ear. Then he glanced at the doorman, who seemed to have his hands half-raised in front of him. He shook his head and began walking down the hall with multiple hazy glass doors on the sides.

The doorman's voice came from behind. "Who are you?"

Gadreel dug at his teeth with his tongue briefly before turning back slightly and raising a finger. "I am the one you don't ask questions from."

He then strode straight forward and entered the room at the end of the hall. A lively conversation died in an instant as Gadreel strode in.

Gadreel, however, was pleasantly surprised to see a somewhat familiar face there. He had seen the man once or twice before, but he didn't make a habit of paying attention to things at random.

"I assume you're Felix," Gadreel said as he looked at one of the four people in the room. The man looked to be nearing his forties and didn't look to be taking it well. He had thin brown hair and was clean-shaven, most likely in a desperate effort to look younger. It didn't really work, but the effort was commendable at least. As his only redeeming quality, he had a fairly toned physique that his shirtlessness showed off.

There were a total of two men in the room, who both sat on couches, accompanied by two half-naked young women. The couches had a glass table between them with two opium pipes on it. There was a work desk at the back of the room with a spinning chair behind it; nobody was actually sitting on the chair.

'Seems like they're having fun,' Gadreel thought as he waited.

Noticing that nobody was doing anything, he looked around at the other man and the two girls, raising his eyelids. "You have three seconds to get out," he said, nodding to the side.

In that instant, everybody except Felix scuttled out. Gadreel walked towards the couch opposite Felix and then by it all the way to the desk at the back of the room. He made the chair stop and sat down on it, throwing his feet onto the desk before finally breaking the silence. "Can you talk?" he asked Felix, who had stood up without purpose and was standing in the middle of the room miserably with his shoulders hunched. It was unclear if he was experimenting with an extended bow.

Felix gulped. "What?"

"I am asking if your moron brain is able to form coherent sentences after you've pumped it full of drugs, or has my visit here been in vain," Gadreel said while he kicked down things on the desk to fit his feet on it.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good. I didn't... I'm not high. Maybe a little, but... I'm sorry, I didn't get your visitation announcement." Felix stumbled through his words with as much grace as a 7-year-old.

"That's because I didn't send one."

Felix opened his mouth once or twice without a word coming out before asking, "May I ask why?"

"Because I don't need to," Gadreel answered with a flick of his wrist. "Numen is my family. I'm kind of like a father to all my dear branch managers. Especially those who supported me during the overtaking. So tell me, does a parent need to send a letter before coming to visit his child?"

"No, sir," Felix said with a bow. "Thank you for coming. I am happy to see you."

"Happy to hear it." Gadreel put on a wide smile with his eyes squinted so that it looked like there was only darkness in his eyes. Then his expression went straight, and he pointed at the couch. "Now put your shirt on, sit down, and give me all the information you have on this golden-haired robber you're after."

Felix nodded and put his shirt on before sitting down. "Um, where should I start?"