GUARDIAN OF THE END

"Of course I can see him," Issac replied with a confused expression as Risa's eyes brightened for a second. "Did something happen in the forest which made Jason invisible for you?"

Risa's brightened expression was soon replaced by a disappointed one as she slightly nodded.

"Enough chit-chat. Let's hurry to your staying place," Brian said in an annoyed tone as though he would rather be somewhere else than stand with the trio. "I have to hear the entire explanation and mark Jason as present too."

Issac looked as though he was about to retort but stopped midway due to receiving a glare from Risa. He knew that it was better for him to not say anything to Brian as long as Risa was there.

"Let's go then." Issac muttered as Brian nodded and started making his way through the city.

Jason finally got to see around the city as he noticed that despite the amount of people at the entrance, no structure was built around the walls of the city.

The real thing started from a few meters away with various kinds of shops and stalls lining the sides, most of them blocking the houses behind them.

'This is a good way to have some sale. They can sell things at an unfair price to village people and no one will know.' Jason looked at a few of the stalls and the amount of people buying things there.

Though a few of the items interested him, there wasn't anything in particular that he wanted to buy. His attention was instead directed towards the huge structure he had seen before.

It looked even massive up close as Jason could tell that it was an arena which also looked ancient like the walls. The outer part was made from a golden brown material which made the entire thing shine in the sunlight.

Jason wondered how many people were actually staying in the capital and how many of those were going to show up the next day.

[ Mhm, around a million people at least. ] The system casually replied as Jason felt like coughing blood.

'That's not going to be good for my heart…' He replied while noticing that they were moving towards the upper end of the city.

The ground below them had turned into white and red tiled one and the shops had been left behind. Similar to the last city they had stayed in, mansions and expensive hotels started appearing all around them.

Brian stopped in front of one such manor which wasn't as bog as the others around it but was still quite big. It was around the size of the manor the Syrward family had in Duphia.

"We will be staying here for now." He explained to Risa before opening the doors and stepping inside.

Risa hesitated to step inside considering that Alex was with them. She didn't feel safe about taking him inside but there wasn't anything else that she could do.

Leaving him in the forest wasn't an option because if he had cried, the fog would've most probably returned and caused problems for her.

'And here I thought that I rarely caused trouble.' Risa sighed before walking inside the manor with Jason and Alex beside her.

Brian guided them into the living room where Ray was pacing around the room with a worried expression while Zara had her eyes closed in concentration.

Zara's eyes suddenly opened as she looked at the group with a relieved expression. Ray also stopped pacing around and stared at the new arrivals.

"What happened?" He questioned while looking at Jason and Risa. The duo realized that he had not noticed Alex either as they sighed mentally.

"Its a long story…" Risa muttered as the entire family settled around the room while Brian remained standing at the entrance of the room.

Risa then began telling the tale from the moment when Jason had approached her in the carriage and how they had talked before stepping outside.

"Wait, can you repeat that?" Brian interrupted as soon as Risa reached the part where the she and Jason first met Alex.

"Uh, we both met a child around ten years of age with blond hair and blue eyes wailing in the middle of the fog?" Risa said with a confused expression as Brian suddenly fell deep into thought

"Hmm…" He hummed slowly before looking at Jason and Risa. "The phantom…"

"I guess you have finally gone crazy." Issac amused as Brian smartly avoided him.

"Risa, I think you just met one of the biggest mysteries we have faced in the past two year." Brian muttered as he walked up to the sofa. A white glow suddenly shot out from his ring finger as Jason noticed a bright blue ring there.

'Space ring.' Jason guessed that it was a space ring and his guess was confirmed once the light turned into a two foot wooden table. The table was placed in the middle of the sofas and couches as Brian finally settled down on one of them.

"Now before you ask anything, let me tell you a bit of history." Brian explained as he waved his hand over the table and multiple structures appeared over it.

Jason realized that the table showed the capital city alongside the forest. Brian carefully traced a path between the forest with his index finger to reveal the path the Syrward family had taken to get to Troyalias.

"For the past two years, there have been several instances of families going missing while taking this path of the forest. We tried investigating it many times but never found the reason for it." Brian muttered as he traced over the trees.

A red circle appeared around the pair of trees before appearing all around the forest.

"From all the information we gathered, these are the areas where people would usually get separated from their families but there were certain instances when an entire family would vanish."

"Wait, you mean an entire family would vanish in the middle of the forest never to be heard again?" Zara asked while frowning as her eyes remained glued to the miniature model of the forest.

"Till date, there were only 5, now 6, instances when someone returned from the forest. But none of them had any idea that they had gone lost. However all of them and you have two things in common," Brian pointed at Risa and Jason.

"Each of those five families had children around ten years of age with them and their carriage had also broken down in the forest."

"Except the fact that our carriage actually never broke down," Issac pointed out. "Risa and Jason suddenly vanished the moment we had gotten out of the forest."

"Which brings us to the question, how is it possible that no one realizes anything?" Brian sighed. "Unfortunately, we haven't found any solid fact about it or if the capital has caught on to something, it hasn't been shared with me."

Brian then made the table vanish before looking around. He was waiting in anticipation for questions and surprisingly, the first one came from Jason.

"What was that phantom thing you were talking about?" Jason asked remembering that Brian had muttered the word phantom.

"Its just a theory we came up with," Brian replied while shrugging. "Two out of the five families who returned said that they heard the wailing sound of someone in a fog covered area. They said that the moment the crying vanished, the fog receded."

"Which would also be around the same time you would have been able to sense them." Risa added before narrowing her eyes at Brian. "Which technique did you use to sense where me and Jason were?"

"Your statement in indeed correct," Brian ignored the question. "That's why we named the figure as the 'Phantom of the Kamizel forest' who can only be heard and seen by his outline."

"Brian…" Risa continued to stare at the man as after a few minutes, Brian sighed.

"I used the family connection." He replied while raising his hands as Risa's eyes parted apart. Issac, who had been quiet the entire time, suddenly stood up and grabbed Brian's collar.

"That was supposed to have been removed the moment she broke ties with you." He said in a deadly cold voice while his grip on Brian's shoulder tightened.

"I can't believe you thought that we would have removed that tie. Also, its a blood bond so father only lied to you both to not cause any trouble. However, we never got the chance to use it since the moment we used it, Risa would've been notified of it."

Brian pulled himself away from Issac's grip and stood up. He straightened his shirt and coat before tapping the table and putting it inside his ring again.

"Anyways, I have spent too much time here," Brian muttered while making his way out of the room. "Don't be late for the ceremony. There are certain people interested in meeting Jason and Nora."

Brian then exited the house yet no one stood up to see him out.

Jason noticed that the four adults had various expressions of doubt and disbelief on their faces. Moving out of the room would only mean that he would lose vital information about whatever they would talk ahead on.

[ Unless they kick you and Nora out themselves. ] The system pointed out.

'That's always a possibility…'

"I think there is something all of you should know about…" Risa suddenly said as her gaze landed on Alex. "Back in the forest, we saw more than just an outline…"