Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard

A very loud collision was suddenly heard. I saw Aras was trying to get up after his body hit the fence walls. That creature was certainly something not to be underestimated, that Shadhavar had hard times to fight against him. Then I heard the creak of the door being opened. The next second both of those creatures disappeared, the Manjis melted into sand and Zent evaporated like boiled water. 

A woman came out of that door. She was looking for something thoroughly. "Perhaps it was cats quarreling, Mother." She shouted at someone. 

A few seconds later, another woman emerged from inside the house holding  a small child. Now, they both seemed to look for something, perhaps the source of that loud noise. Soon after, they came into the house again and closed the door.

I, who was curious what had been written by that creature, decided to check right away. 

"Sis, where are you going?" Mirai asked. 

"I wanna check something. Stay here." I ran to the gate of that house. 

Having a look at it, I saw a kind of symbol. I drew my cell phone and wanted to take a picture of that symbol. Strangely, I saw nothing from my shoots. "Why is it not visible?" I was wondering. I took dozens of shots again but none of them showed off that symbol.

"What are you doing?" Winnter suddenly tapped my shoulder. I was almost passed out due to so shock. 

"Gosh!! You made my heart jump out! damned it!" I muttered, then showed her the symbol. 

"What?" She looked at me, confused. 

"You can't see that symbol there?" I asked her to make sure, pointing at that sign again. 

"Sorry, I can't see it," Winnter replied. I forgot we were different, but I thought he was still able to see that symbol.

Mirai who was now standing next to me looked confused too. "What sign, sis?" She asked curiously. 

I looked at that symbol again, "Can you see it?" 

That teenager looked at my finger, then looked at me in confusion. "What sign, sis?" She asked again. 

"A child knows nothing about it!" Winnter said, grabbed Mirai's hand. "Tha, we will go to that house again. Let us see if there is the same sign in there or not." She took us come back to the house opposite the café. I remembered the old woman coming to my house said that the creature made something at the gate of that house. 

…

We had to take routes which were less guarded, and that meant we had to take longer paths than we should have. It was ten o'clock in the evening and it seemed the situation was worse now.

"I wanna go home if things keep going like this," I complained. When we arrived in front of that house, police lines had been set at the front of the gate. Police cars were in line, too. We just saw the house from a distance. "I can't see anything from here." I told them, then I encouraged myself to cross the street and see it from a closer place. 

There were some policemen in the yard, and so were the other house occupants. Finally I managed to come closer to the gate and I found it, the sign with the same color. The sign was just slightly different from the previous one, and was written in the casted entrance of the house. 

Finally I came back to my friends waiting for me after  making sure that the symbol didn't show up in the photos I took with my cell phone. Winnter and Mirai were waiting in front of a shop not far from the café. The dark night due to the missing streetlights made us easily hide from any eyes that might suspect us.

"Has it got?" Winnter asked. 

"Yes it has" I was quite sure. "It is on the driveway to the house." I explained. 

"It means that people in that house will be the next victim." Winter sounded so sure with her statements. Then, she asked us to go home. If we had been out for too long, we might have been caught by the police.

The old woman who came this afternoon was waiting for us in front of the gate of our house when we arrived home. She hurriedly approached us. "I have been looking for you. I saw that creature came again at the house with persimmon trees," She looked afraid. 

I asked her to come in and told us all she had seen. She started from when that creature came, entered the house, and then went out again. He walked to the vacant settlement behind the market. 

The sound of the gate being banged so loud and the bell was rudely and impatiently rung startled us all. I checked who the impolite guest was tonight. It was the daughter in law of that elderly, our guest. She asked if her mother was at my home. And she saw her sitting in the living room with Winnter and Mirai, she pulled the hand of that elderly away.

"Child, this grandmother is senile. She even cannot remember her own house. When she came here, don't let her in. call me instead. And I will take her home." As she said so, she pulled the elderly's hand away. 

"Didn't I tell you that your grandson has died. Stop looking for him and put other people in trouble! Why are you going out at this hour? It is really troubling me!" That woman kept nagging her. She looked really angry. 

I just watched all of those scenes and locked the gate as soon as they were gone.  Nothing I could do. 

…

Winnter said that the creature was a gatherer of a thief, or in general terms it was a collector. Those collectors occupied inanimate things such as rings, bracelets, or stayed in a tree. They also shared the body with other creatures, even humans. They had no bodies of their own, therefore they had to find it. The Manjis and Zent are examples of collectors that took inanimate things. The Manjis were in the shape of sand and Zent was in fog.

Collectors existed for various reasons and different origins. The name collectors were because they had no basic form. That was the reason they looked for certain things as their shapes. This searching caused them to be called collectors, seekers, or the gatherers. 

"I guess the one we saw today has already had the base form of smoke. But I wonder why it kills people. What is its target?" Winnter looked so much confused. 

"Does he have vengeance towards the victims?" I asked, looking at Winnter and Mirai, while Mickey was curling and closing his eyes. "I mean even though they are creatures without fixed shaped they have feelings like humans, when they are hurt they will hurt back, aren't they?" I added. 

"Then, what does it relate to Aras?" Winnter asked back. To be honest, I didn't know the answer. So I just stayed silent. 

"And why does it smell so horrible?" And this too missed out my mind. 

"Should we go to Azalea to ask for this?" My idea was directly disapproved of by Winnter. 

"Let's try to find out the answer first. I don't want to be underestimated by other teams for carrying no progress or we will be considered so slow in doing our mission." Winnter said firmly. 

I needed a lot more information about the collectors, it was because I knew nothing about it. I didn't know how they survive, their origin, or anything about them. 'Books!'  yes, I needed them, so that I didn't rely only on Winnter, Azalea, or anyone. 

I needed books telling all of them. Suddenly my memories came to Hana. She would secretly borrow books about anything for me to read from that main library. I really missed Hana, her cooking, and everything about her. 

…

Suddenly an idea popped up in my mind when I was staying alone. I called Yuurei and I believed she was somewhere in my house, but I didn't know precisely where she was. I called her name softly several times. And I was right, soon, she showed up beside me with her long hair reaching the floor and covering her face. 

"Could I ask you a favor? I know you can go anywhere in no time." I was begging at her. 

"Sure," her voice was not more than a mumble so that it was quite difficult for me to comprehend her. 

"Could you borrow some books for me about collectors? Anything about those creatures in  the main library," I told her my request. "You know, if I go there by myself, I will need Azalea's permission. And it will also take a long time to reach that place. Can you do that for me?" 

For some time Yuurei was silent.. I was worried if she would let me down my request which would mean I had to go there directly by myself.