“Aurora?!”

  “Yes, it was most regrettable, we had high hopes for her.” Bree’Niu lowered her gaze, clinging to her book.

  “Why are you talking like she’s dead? Don’t do that! When did she go missing?” The scarecrow grabbed at his heart. If something happens to her… Mr. Emberlyn would be crushed…

  He owed the old man and his wife far too much. They were the happy and fun grandparents everyone hoped to have, and to eventually become. He never wanted to see them fall to despair.

  Not that Somnu didn’t have his own feelings about Aurora’s potential murder.

  “She disappeared right around when the last victim was found.” The assistant added. “The witnesses mentioned that she alerted them to the victim’s location before running off. That was the last time anyone saw her.”

  “That’s only a day, that’s not enough to consider anyone missing, let alone dead.” Somnu affirmed, furrowing his brows still hidden by the blindfold made out of Carmella’s dress.

  “No, my dear boy, that is quite enough in our fort.” Evu’Dral spoke after having remained silent for a while. His face was frowning as he explained. “We have Luscairna patrolling every inch of the fort at all times, there is no way she wouldn’t be found.”

  “Then how is the murderer leaving his victims for you to find? Where is he keeping the ones he’s kidnapping?”

  “That, we still do not know.” The Fortmaster scowled, the disappointment evident on every wrinkle in his fur.

  “I don’t have time for this, just lead me to my sister! We’ll talk about the details later!”

  Somnu swallowed the rest of the questions he wanted to ask. No amount of information was going to help him now if the ones he wanted to protect were already in danger.

  “Go on, Somnu my boy. You have already given us much to think about, and to reflect upon.” The Fortmaster unclenched his fists and tapped the armchair as if he was clicking invisible buttons.

  DRROOMMM!!

  “!”

  Suddenly, some tiles on the ground slide to the side, revealing another staircase leading downwards.

  And from that hole…

  “Aha! Somnu friend! It’s been a longtime!” Bro’Ski showed up, waving both hands at him. “Are you done meeting his great reverence?”

  “Yeah, I’m done here.” Somnu dashed forward, startling the new Luscairna.

  “Somnu friend! Weren’t you blind?!”

  “Go on, dear boy, my son shall lead you to the little missy. I’d hate to see something happen to her.” The Fortmaster added. “Let us reconvene at a later date.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “!”

  Utilizing his quick movements, Somnu picked up Bro’Ski by his armor and gave the others one last look.

  “Just make sure what happened here doesn’t happen again, so hash it out between you.” The scarecrow said, his serpent wrapped around him, then jumped into the hole. “Whatever that may be.”

  “Somnu friend?! What are you doing?! Are we going on an adventure together!?” Bro’Ski’s voice echoed through the narrow staircase as the two flew down.

  “Yeah, the adventure is you lead me to my sister, Leyna. Can you do it?”

  “Leave it to me, Somnu friend! What are friends for?!”

  Before long, the two had made it to the ground, except this time, they weren’t in that narrow hallway from before.

  “!”

  “Welcome to the trading market!” Bro’Ski opened his arms wide as soon as his feet touched the ground.

  Behind him, Somnu was momentarily stunned by both the commotion and the scene.

  A trading market…?

  There was no other way to describe it. It was a wide, closed off space filled with many different races and Luscairna. They were all talking to vendors, or coming in and out of small business tents that were put up.

  Somnu wondered how anyone was trading goods, and with what currency, but he shook those questions out of his head too.

  “Broski, my sister is here somewhere?” He focused on the most important question on his mind.

  “Indeed, Leyna friend works here! Everyone likes Leyna friend, she’s very nice to us Luscairna!” Bro’Ski hopped forward, heading for another, more normal, staircase leading to that trading market.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Currently, the two had landed on a higher platform that wasn’t too far from the ceiling they had fallen out of. On the sides of the stone-brick walls, there were multiple hallways to walk into, likely leading to other locations inside the fort.

  Somnu clenched his fists, swallowed his shaking nerves and ran after Bro’Ski.

  I have to push through every uncomfortable feeling that pops up. No matter what happens, I'm not running away from them this time! He affirmed to himself, the many encounters with his siblings having etched an instinctive routine within his body. I’ll apologize properly to Leyna, for everything I put her through… If I have to, I’ll even beg them to be siblings again.

  He had known how much Leyna and Mo had tried to help him. Beside that outburst of anger Mo had that one night, they never showed him any resentment and always defended him behind his back.

  He would hear about that and still believe they would be better off without him. Getting involved with him and his problems was just going to bring them pain and misery again.

  However, in this current situation, Somnu was growing strong, dependable, perhaps even reliable. No matter what dared to threaten them, he simply needed to grow stronger and protect them with his own hands.

  He had defeated Lurkers, Specters and even Dreadbeasts, and all on his own. He had ranked up his Hollow Core into Dreadbound, while his Dream Catcher was ranked even higher. He was yet to spend the rest of his Ego Particles, but his Mementos were all helpful in their own way. Although Veilbinder’s Diadem’s usefulness might have something to judge on a day-to-day basis.

  Either way, Somnu’s only real threat at the moment was John Doe, his pawns, and the Faceless Forager.

  Those were the ones he needed to be extra cautious of, and make sure they stayed far away from everyone he cared about.

  This time, for sure, he would protect them.

  “!”

  Surveying his surroundings as he walked through the trading square, Somnu could see a couple of Sleepers with the [Unseen] Personal Title. Naga had made sure to point out any sign of them.

  “Bro’Ski, how much longer?” Somnu asked, his nerves growing more anxious by the second.

  “We’re here, Somnu friend!” The little Luscairna jumped in place, then titled his head slightly when he looked at the empty outdoor shop. “Muddleflip?! She’s not here, Somnu friend!”

  “...” Somnu frowned beneath his blindfold, his heartbeat quickly growing faster.

  “Are you looking for Leyna?” A purring sound came from the nearby vendor.

  “Yes, indeed we are!” The guide jumped up to meet her gaze.

  It was a female cat person, except the spotted pattern around her fur indicated something else. Perhaps a leopard person. Somnu had more important questions to ask again.

  “Where is she?!” He blurted out, his impatience and anxiously taking control.

  “What manners.” Her purring quickly turned to a grunt, a click of her tongue escaping her lips. “Some Sleepers picked her up earlier, saying her missing brother had been found and was waiting back in their quarters.”

  “?!”

  “Aha! Mystery solved by the great detective-”

  “What did they look like?!”

  “What’s with you?!” She took a step back as the scarecrow slammed a hand onto her table and leaned into her personal space, despite clearly being blind.

  “Don’t you get it?! I’m her missing brother!” Somnu shouted, alerting some of the nearby Sleepers and Luscairna.

  “!” The leopard’s eyes suddenly widened. “I think some of them were faceless so I can’t really-”

  “That’s enough, thanks!”

  Somnu grabbed onto Bro’Ski and took off running at top speed.

  This was it.

  This had been exactly what he was afraid of.

  All the carefully planted seeds of redemption and reassurance were being threatened by an early, vicious and unforgiving storm.

  “Somnu friend?”

  “Bro’Ski, lead me to Leyna’s quarters now!” He ordered, not relying on any more games. ‘Naga, split off in all directions and alert Carmella just in case.’

  ‘Yes, master!’ Naga replied, immediately spawning clones of herself that scattered into black smoke.

  “Go in here, Somnu friend!”

  Thankfully, the Luscairna he was holding seemed to understand the urgency in his voice and stopped asking about his blindness or what he was planning to do.

  With Somnu’s top speed, it had only taken him a few minutes and a few turns to reach the private quarters. It took form in a wide brick corridor with many doors on each side, likely leading to individual rooms like a hotel or an apartment complex.

  However…

  “?!”

  Two faceless Sleepers were lying motionless on the ground, some Luscairna and other Sleepers were trying to check on them. They couldn’t have been dead, otherwise, their faces would have been revealed already.

  Somnu gritted his teeth and stepped forward to force questions out of them, but just then.

  “They’re dead! Oh no! We have found the newest victims, oh dear!” One of the Luscairna shouted, grasping at his head.

  “Somnu friend, just a few more doors down the hall!”

  “!”

  Bro’Ski voice forced Somnu to move his feet once more. In a few seconds he had made it to the door his guide pointed to, but there was one more corpse in front of it.

  THUD!

  He couldn’t contain his rapid heartbeat anymore, his heavy breathes were starting to grow shorter as they got stuck in his throat.

  He pushed the door open.

  “?!”

  A girl turned in shock, her shaking eyes were as wide as they could be, and yet, her pupils constricted even more as she realized who it was.

  “N-no… stay back…” She murmured, and yet she rushed to stop Somnu, her arms held up in front of her.

  The scarecrow simply pushed her aside, unintentionally slamming her into the wall as he lost control of his strength.

  His eyes were focused on the scene behind her.

  Aurora didn’t matter now.

  Not when Leyna’s bloodied body was laying lifeless beneath the grinning skull symbol drawn with her blood.

  A guttural, primal wail erupted from him, shaking the very walls of the fort like a raging beast woken up from its deep slumber.

  This time, he had failed again.