Chapter 87: Chasing Shadow

News From Around The World

First Court Case Concerning A Hate-Inspired Assault On A Xothican Citizen Is Underway In Kentucky

Human Family Arrested By Skysign Guards For Disturbing The Peace

WHO Raises Alarm Bells Over Chimera Disease

VVVVVV

After Tom's group left for home, they were able to catch up with Tala's aunt on their home island. Tala was able to learn a lot of her own father and mothers. They had dinner together and she even stayed the night. Tala also spent a large amount of time practicing with her father's staff.

Staff Of Ra

RankSDurability-/-

Magic Damage500 Fire DamageElement Damage500 Fire

Effects60% Magic Damage, 30% Increase Mana Regen, 40% Fire Damage From Spells, Indestructible

This was the staff wield by the Hero Leo Ordata. It is not known where this came from or who created it, but it was given to Leo after he defeated a giant falcon made of flames.

Today, Tom was to take Lucia on the date he promised her while Lynia hung out with the others. Tom was dressed in black pants and a blue long sleeve shirt. Lucia wore knee length jean shorts and a grey blouse.

"You sure you all have everything you need?" Tom asked.

"Yes, we got everything, Tom," Reia assured him. "You'll only be gone the day. Now go."

"Alright, alright." Tom looked to Lucia who looked excited for the day. "Ready?"

"I'm ready," she replied.

Tom placed a hand on her shoulder and they teleported to a city's street. Lucia looked around to try and figure out where they are.

"We're on Dundas Street in Toronto. Capital of the Ontario province of Canada. We have reservations at a restaurant here for lunch." Tom gestured towards a building to the side with the words "Game Trail" on its front. "Not many restaurants will take reservations from me."

"What, why? Aren't you a hero to your people?"

"Yes, but... I have a lot of people who want me dead. Not many restaurants want that kind of danger near their other patrons." Tom gestured towards the people on the streets. "Notice the people here? There's a moment where they're trying to figure out if I'm here on business or personal matters. Business means their lives are in danger. I could use my Disguise skill, but I'm not comfortable using that skill for romance."

"So what's different with this place?"

Tom waved for her to follow him. As they entered the restaurant, one of the servers saw them and ran through a door in the back. A man came out of the door a few moments later and yelled out, "Thomas, my friend!"

"Gareth!"

The two men hugged.

"It's been ages since you last came to my restaurant."

"Been busy, man."

"I've heard. Your girl, Tala, kicked some major ass during that magic tournament."

"Oh you saw?"

"Ya, some news stations had some cameras set up. Leave it to someone connected to you to use blowing themselves up as a viable strategy." Gareth looked at the demon girl beside Tom. "I see you have another girl."

"Well, yeah. Stuff happens." Tom awkwardly laughed.

"How do you two know each other?" Lucia asked.

"Oh, well, I've heard about this restaurant for a while so I decided to make reservations for the girls and me to celebrate the death of Mordiggian. We got to talking about his business and the future and it eventually led to us coming to an unofficial partnership. I taught him and his cooks the Cooking skill. Also, as a little side business, the girls and I go gather some safe and tasty animals so this guy can raise them on a farm." Tom looked back to Gareth. "How are they doing by the way?"

"The low level drakes have given us some trouble, but we're handling them. The caladrius on the other hand are doing great and we're expecting their eggs soon. I'm already doing some tests with the meat of a white hart. We plan to open a restaurant to serve their meat late this year or early next year."

"That's good to hear. What's your Cooking level?"

"I managed to get it to beginner four."

"Awesome."

"I'll take you two to your table. Please follow me."

The other guests in the restaurant gawked at the two as they walked by. Some of them took out their phones to take pictures of them. Gareth guided them to a table in the corner of the restaurant that wasn't next to any windows.

A waitress came over with a couple menus and placed them in front of Tom and Lucia. She filled the empty glasses on their tables with ice water.

"Would you two like to order any drinks?" the waitress asked.

"You just poured us water," Lucia pointed out.

"She meant other than water," Tom quickly interjected. "There's a drink section on the bottom of the last page."

Lucia turned to the page. "There's quite a lot..."

"I can come back in a few minutes if you need time."

"That would be great, thank you," Tom said.

Tom noticed a confused expression on Lucia's face. She then let out a chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"This is the first time in my life I had a say what I could eat. With my family it was always eat this, dress in this, go to this ball, speak to this noble. My very first real decision was to become Liberator. I just find it funny I was able to do that, but now I'm overwhelmed by choosing which drink to order."

"No rush. What looks good to you?"

"I see at least a half a dozen different ales and as many lagers. Then there's a dozen different wines. What are cocktails?"

"Well, cocktails are a group of alcoholic drinks that are a mixture of certain spirits with other spirits, fruit juice, syrups, or creams."

"That sounds good. Hmm... Berry Sangria. That sounds good. Yeah! I'll take that."

"That's sounds good. I'm going to go with the Sweet Apple Cider. Now onto the appetizers."

After some time, the two managed to get their food order in. They ordered two servings of mushroom bisque, and for the main entree Tom ordered the venison burger with home fries while Lucia ordered the buffalo steak and potatoes.

When the food came, Lucia had loosened up and opened up more to Tom. The two ate and talked about their lives. After an hour of arriving at the restaurant, they had eaten all their food.

"Did you both enjoy your meals?" Gareth asked as he arrived to remove their plates.

"Good as always," Tom answered.

"Better than anything I ever had back in the homeland," Lucia added.

"Glad to hear. As always, it's on the house."

Tom took out some cash and placed it on the table. "For the servers."

"Where you heading next?" Gareth asked out of curiosity.

"To the Quebec Winter Carnival," Tom replied. "See some sights, maybe some ice skating."

"Well, that sounds fun. I won't keep you." Gareth walked away from the table with the cash in hand.

"Ready to have some fun, Lucia?" Tom asked her.

"Sure do!"

The two teleported out of the restaurant.

"Debbie, can you clear this table?" Gareth asked one of the servers.

"Sure thing, boss."

Debbie went to work to stacking the plates to clear the table and ready it for the next customer. Just as she finished setting the table for its next patrons, the front of the building exploded. People screamed as they ducked down under their tables for cover. Gareth and Debbie recovered from the initial attack and looked towards the entrance. A tall figure in a black robe walked in with over a dozen demon soldiers by its side.

The robe figure seemingly vibrated as it walked inside the building through the hole it created in the building. The tall being scanned the restaurant.

After a full minute of scanning the restaurant the robed figure finally announced to the room, "I am Alala. Servant of Zhar and Lloigor. Sons of Hastur. It seems like Everett has left before we got here. Now none of you matter to me. You can go about to do whatever you apes do in your free time, but my target is Everett. Without him here, I'm going to need someone to tell me where he went. If no one steps up and tells me..." Alala scanned the room again and focused on someone. She blinked towards a table and grabbed a little girl by the neck. She lifted her up and the little girl started to loudly choked while her parents tried to help her. The demons, that were with Alala, rushed over and aimed their spears at the parents to stop them from acting. "I'm going to start killing each and every one of you. Starting with this child." Alala stared intensely into the child's eyes. "And it won't be an easy death. Do you know what happens to the body when the proper sound frequency is applied to it? At first, your blood vessels burst. One by one. Pop. Pop. Pop. As the sound frequency increases, the cells of your body are affected. Eventually, the cells can't take anymore and like a water balloon, they burst. Any of you ever seen a body that has had its every cell blown? Stay silent and you'll find out."

The little girl wanted to scream but the grip around her throat was too tight.

"Wait!" Gareth yelled out. "I know where he went, just please let the little girl down."

Alala released the little girl, allowing her to fall to the ground. She immediately burst into tears from both the fall and the terrifying situation.

"Someone with sense." Alala blinked across the restaurant and appeared right in front of Gareth. Her presence made his fight-or-flight response go haywire. He froze in place. "Where did he go?"

"H-He went to the Quebec Winter Carnival in Montreal," Gareth gasped.

"Do you have a phone? Show me a picture of the location."

Gareth fumbled to get his phone out of his pocket and quickly searched for images of the carnival. He found several and showed his phone to the creature.

"And here I thought your specie was advance. To have a celebration of frozen water. How pathetic..." Alala gestured towards her minions. "We're done here."

"You won't beat him!" a man in the restaurant yelled at Alala in his stupid bravado.

Alala looked in his direction. "Is that so?"

"He'll kill you like he killed Mordiggian or that freak Wendi-"

Xexi shadow stepped towards the man before he could say another world. "All you had to do was stay quiet," she whispered. Xexi thrusted a knife forward and stabbed the man in the gut. He let out a gasp before collapsing onto the ground with a bloody wound in his gut.

"Thank you, Shade," Alala applauded her. "Let's leave before I lose my patience."

The group of demons walked out of the restaurant. Alala then said, "Fast Travel to the Quebec Winter Carnival."