The Alchemists

When morning came, Sophia, Ned and Portia were startled when they saw that Alaric was ready to leave. He met them while they were having breakfast in the main tower to say goodbye.

"What's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Didn't you plan to stay here for a few more days?" Portia asked, disappointed.

"Something happened in Singapore and I have to go there immediately," Alaric answered in a flat tone. He did not intend to tell them in detail what had happened, he just wanted to get to Singapore as soon as possible and look for Aleksis.

Ned and Portia looked at each other.

"My child, I understand that something big must have happened which triggered you to rush like this, but you must not act rashly. Can't you feel that the weather will soon get worse?" Portia asked in a soft voice. She raised her right hand and closed her eyes, "In my estimation, a big storm will come soon. It's big enough to close the airport."

Alaric shook his head, "I don't know ..."

Portia looked at him with pity, "Ah ... of course, you don't know. You're used to cutting your hair."

Alaric did not know that Alchemists never cut their hair, and that for them, their hair was an extension of the nerves in their body that made them sensitive to nature. That was why Alchemists who leave their hair be could even predict the weather. He did not know all this because he did not grow up in the Alchemist community.

Since he was young he was accustomed to cutting his hair because he did not know that an Alchemist's hair would grow as long or as short as their respective bodies' needed. This was the reason why Alaric did not have the same ability as most Alchemists in predicting the weather well.

"But I have to go to Singapore," Alaric said, almost mumbling. He must look for Aleksis.

"I will not stop you from going, but please, if you arrive at the airport and you are not permitted to fly by the airport authorities, I beg you not to take any risks." Finally Portia pleaded. She did not want to lose Alaric, not so soon.

"OK." Alaric bowed slightly and then left them with long strides. During their drive to the airport he was still receiving report after report of what had happened at the university. It was 7am in Scotland, meaning that it was 3pm in Singapore. So many things had happened for the past few hours, but there was no accurate news about Aleksis' whereabouts.

"Pavel, I need to contact Wolf," Alaric called Pavel. He had grown impatient with the slow performance of his people.

Usually it was very easy for him to get whatever he wanted, but today he had to repeatedly ask his people to investigate Aleksis' whereabouts, but to no avail. It was as if the girl had disappeared into thin air ...

Could it be that her father, Kurt Van Der Ven, had hidden her after the incident? As the CEO of Schneider Group, Kurt Van Der Ven was a very powerful man. He could easily delete all the news about Aleksis from the internet, and make sure that she could not be found.

It would make sense that he did not want the press to dig into Aleksis' identity as it would trace back to him and expose Aleksis' status as his illegitimate child. Pavel had gathered a great deal of information about Aleksis and it all showed that Aleksis was indeed Kurt's illegitimate daughter.

This time Alaric was forced to enlist the help of the best researcher he knew, Wolf, to find Aleksis for him. He must know the fate of Aleksis. If all else failed, he would go to Kurt himself and force him to let him know where Aleksis was.

***

Nicolae, who was sitting with Aleksis in the treatment room, could only stare at the girl with a wistful look. When they were finally able to release themselves from Rosemary's grasp, thanks to the alertness of his father, Aleksis got into an accident that was completely unexpected and was now in critical condition.

He had heard from Lauriel that as immortals, they had perfect bodies, and so every cell of their body could regenerate automatically and heal every part that needed recovery. That was what kept them young forever, but Nicolae was still very worried. Aleksis was diagnosed with brain stem injury, and as a doctor he knew how severe the effects of this is to humans.

Even if Aleksis' body could slowly heal itself, it would take a very long time before she could recover as before.

When he was busy with his train of thought, his cellphone suddenly beeped and Nicolae got a notification from Darknet. He opened his cellphone and found an urgent message from Alaric Rhionen himself!

[Forget Aldebar. I need you to find this girl for me. I will pay whatever you ask for, and I will be indebted to you.]

Then, he saw a photo of Aleksis and her name on his cellphone screen.

Nicolae was shocked for a short second. He turned to Aleksis who was lying still on the bed with an IV in her arm and breathing apparatus on her face, then he turned to his phone screen again.

He immediately connected what had happened and now he could guess who Prince Siegfried really was and what Aleksis had to do with him. It turned out that the Prince Siegfried that Aleksis was looking for was Alaric Rhionen himself! The leader of Rhionen Assassins.

Now everything made sense.

Aleksis was protected by two of the best assassins from Rhionen Assassins because their leader had ordered it. There was no way that an assassin from Rhionen Assassins would take on the job of protecting someone unless their boss ordered them to do so. And the slaughter of  the mafia group, Rosemary's father's men, must be at his command as well, as the repercussion because the mafia group intended to kidnap Aleksis.

Everything that had happened today was the result of their actions. Had they not slaughtered her family, surely Rosemary would not have gone mad and blindly attacked Aleksis on campus.

Instantly Nicolae clenched his fist. Terry, who sat across the room, saw this and immediately approached Nicolae.

"What's wrong? You look so angry ..."

Nicolae took a deep breath before showing the contents of the message he had just received to Terry. The young man was as shocked as Nicolae and came to the same conclusion.

"That means he's the one," Terry said in a choked voice. He turned to Aleksis and his mind became frantic; he could not understand how Aleksis could be involved with such a sadistic and dangerous person - the leader of Rhionen Assassins ...