The Arks

He sent his own army out to die. And when the Congregation was going down, he fled the charges. This lead to many Mages losing their lives, paying the price of what that monster did and failed to do. And later on, led to Abi being...

Don't dwell on it.

Gab's voice rang in Ysabeau's mind, but it wasn't strong enough. After all, she never genuinely listen to humans.

Focus on the task on hand.

Mavislin's voice was stronger but still not adequate to knock Ysabeau out of her thoughts. She treats Mavislin like her own child but that is also a double-edged sword. Sometimes, because she still sees Mavislin as a child, Ysabeau disregards Mavislin advice.

Calm yourself down, don't let your emotions take over. What's the point of being emotional now when you've got other things to do?

Those were the words that she needed to hear as Ysabeau quickly shook herself out of the trance. Looks like her husband is the only one that can break her chain of thought. It was always her weak point.

She knew she couldn't hyperfocus like what Mavislin and Raiyen do, so she needed to take a step back. The two Mages could go at it for days and still not stray away from their objectives. Her Elemental Energy was low since she hadn't absorbed any Energy yet.

Opening the big window, she flew out and landed on the roof. She paced about as she s.u.c.k.e.d more of the night's wind. She was getting Energy so her thoughts are much more clearer now. It had been a while since she has done an investigation this mind-wrecking.

The age thing was the closest that she finds as a majority. It is not considered as a pattern since one or two did not fit the age group, but compared to the other features she was trying to find, it was the closest. Another similarity to go off would the victims are just young.

Doesn't justify or narrow anything down. In the profiles and reports she has, Ysabeau calculated that at least 50 girls have vanished. The estimated age range was between 16 to 18 years of human age. But two stood out, one was 11 and the other was 25.

But these numbers are also just an estimate. These kidnappings can go under the radar as well. 16 to 18 years... They are indeed the prime age of young girls, especially when it comes to such an area. Ysabeau shivered slightly at the thought of those girls being forced against their will.

"They chose the life, they must learn how to deal with it as well."

Ysabeau scrunched up her nose in disgust when she remembers those words. They were from the mouth of one of the old guys that were l.u.s.ting over her.

"They came here for a living because they had no choice. Had Gillian not save me from my frenzy, I would have been joining this area as well. The least we can do as beings with morals is to keep them from death. That's why they sold their body. To survive."

"We aren't beasts, we aren't savages. We are lifeforms that have been given a brain to function and intellect to go with it. We are Mages who have powers. And at the very least, we have the brains to understand that girls are not playthings."

Mavislin was no doubt right about one thing. Humans are truly low creatures. They can risk their own kind for the sake of climbing to the top. But even if so, some haven't realized the cruelty of the world just yet.

And unfortunately, they would be the first to die. They are probably the ones who got captured. Humans are interesting, in Bryan's words. Of course, there would be some bias in his words. But he no doubts agrees that humans are poor creatures when reverted to a do-or-die setting.

Even he can't stand how some humans work.

But the way that he mentioned humans as a whole was interesting. He ain't no angel himself. If anything, he is probably close to the spawn of the Devil. Despite this, he did mention that some humans are still pure at heart. But in that same sentence, he added they are the first to suffer.

"Enjoying the night winds? I wonder if they are strong enough to blow me away..."

Ysabeau stood up instantly, spinning around to find the source of the voice. But all she could see was the pitch black of night. She tried enhancing her eyes, shining in the color of Emerald. That was the best gemstone of sight she had in her arsenal.

And she still couldn't find that voice. The sound of a giggle rang through the air, making Ysabeau turn around once more.