[center][h2]Damian Gerard|Solving the Disappearances[/h2][/center]

Damian let Penny and Mayt leave, keeping anything else he had to say to himself. Penny’s reaction to what he said...it wasn’t his intention to upset her, but he also couldn’t abide by the notion that fear was ever a valid reason for anything. He stepped out shortly after they did and headed out to see the guilds off, the light of the sun shining over the group as they headed out of Magnolia. [color=FireBrick][i]Godspeed to all of you and the best of luck.[/i][/color] Once the last of the group had vanished from sight, Damian headed to his house, collecting Andor from the guild hall before doing so, and gathering some provisions for the trip. Oshibana Town’s mayor had contacted the guild shortly before, looking for one of it’s S-Class.

With a slight grimace, Damian had taken the call and apologized, promising to be there as soon as possible. As he stepped onto the train to Oshibana nearly an hour after he’d started getting ready, he pulled out the cell phone he’d bought and dialed the number he’d been given. It was picked up before the second ring had even finished. “Hello? Is this Phoenix Wing’s Damian Gerard?” Of course he’d know to ask that right away.

[color=FireBrick]”That it is, Mister Mayor. I’ve just boarded the train and will be there by late afternoon. How many more since we last spoke?”[/color] That had, of course, been a couple of hours ago, but apparently the perpetrator had grown bolder.

“That’s the thing, Mister Gerard. Many of the girls and women have returned. The mages here say they’re almost completely drained of whatever natural magic they’ve stored, but they’re fine otherwise. We have them resting right now. Still, many did not yet return with the group…” Damian clicked his tongue in thoughtfulness. So then these women weren’t being held for ransom or some other reason similar to it, which only added a layer of confusion as to what he was doing to these women he was taking.

[color=FireBrick]”I’ll speak with those who returned when I arrive, Mister Mayor. In the meantime, let them rest and get their magic returning.”[/color] There were a few more pleasantries exchanged before the Blade of Phoenix Wing hung the fancy, lacrima powered contraption up and relaxed. He really hoped that this wasn’t going to be as complicated a job as he thought it was, but the low magic with each girl…[color=FireBrick][i]Something about this is...wrong. I’m not sure what it is, but…[/i][/color] As the train left the station, it’s loud call echoing through the open air, Damian sat back and waited. He could theorize and guess all he wanted, but without getting to see what precisely it was that was happening, it would do him no amount of good.

[hr]

Damian, as the night fell over Oshibana, was no closer to understanding what in the hell was going on than he had been before he’d arrived. His conversations with the girls who had been taken and had recently returned had been incredibly unhelpful so far, with all of them describing a similar sensation of becoming suddenly weightless. However, there had been one story that had stood out to the S-Class mage, one that was...well, it was different enough for him to consider following up on it. However, he had already passed along to group up all the women and girls in the town in the one building he was positive would work for his plan. As he walked, he reviewed the story in his mind.

[hr]

“It was...well, it’s hard to explain. We were all huddled in the living room, my husband armed with a pair of kitchen knives and our son with his guardsman’s spear.” The woman laughed as she shook her head. “We used to think some ruffian would be the worst thing he’d face after he joined up with the Guard force. Anyways, I know what I’m about to say is crazy, but I’ve had a long time to think on what I heard. So, like I said, we were in the living room and I remember hearing, which still doesn’t make sense to me, the sound of the wind rushing up behind me. The thing is though, and this is why I thought for a long time I was crazy, it never [i]passed[/i] me. It stopped, then a split second later, I felt like I was weightless and it became hard to breathe. I’m sorry if that didn’t help.”

[hr]

Damian had consoled the woman, telling her that it was as helpful as it could possibly be and then bade her rest. The story made it sound like wind mage, but it couldn’t be so simple. Every wind mage he’d ever met, which was admittedly only two or three, said that the Wind Body spell couldn’t affect other people, only the caster. [color=FireBrick][i]Not to mention that I’ve never heard of any mage phasing through a wall or teleporting into an area without [b]some[/b] kind of sound…[/i][/color] There had been that one guy that James had told the Blade about, who’d been imprisoned beneath the Council building, whose Shadow Magic had been unlike any other that the paladin had seen, but Damian wasn’t convinced that this was a similar situation...yet.


As he rounded a corner, the house he’d picked out to have all the remaining women and girls protected in came into view, fifth one from the left, brick, with windows that were probably the most secure in the city. Of course, since it was the house of the Captain of the City Guard, he most certainly hoped it would be that way. In fact, he’d tested the door himself, and short of Titan Magic or some other strength boosting magic, that door wasn’t going to budge either. If this mage could find a way in around all that, then Damian would be convinced it was time to look at other examples besides conventional Wind Magic. One of the guards spotted him as he approached and rushed up to him.

“Damian Gerard? All the women not in recovery have taken up in the Captain’s house. We have them all in the living room for the night. Any additional ideas?” Damian shook his head as he walked, the guard falling into step beside him.

[color=FireBrick]”No, not that would work. The mayor insinuated that you’ve already tried every advanced entrance prevention technique you can think of, conventional and otherwise. This? As much as I hate to do it, this is a test to se-”[/color] His sentence went unfinished as the light of the setting sun vanished and suddenly all the lights for six blocks went out. [color=FireBrick]”Shit!”[/color] He burst into a sprint, slamming open the unlocked door of the house. Damian should have known that any relation to wind magic would allow the man to hear their plan. The living room was just around the corner from the entry hall and the Blade rounded it, Hermes Blades in hand, to find a man made of wind reaching for a girl in the back. Spotting the Blade’s glowing magic blades, he grinned.

[color=81E01C]”Too slow, ‘Blade.’ Maybe next time.”[/color] Grabbing the girl as she turned with a scream, the pair became nothing more than a stiff breeze that flew right out the air vent, his laughter echoing throughout the house. Damian, meanwhile, stared in disbelief. Not only was the man seemingly made of the air that made up the wind, he had [i]transformed that young girl into wind the moment he touched her.[/i]

The guard caught up just as the man vanished and turned to look at the dumbstruck Blade of Phoenix Wing. “So, uh...what...what now?” Damian turned after a moment, shaking himself awake from his disbelieving stupor and hardening his resolve to end the threat this lunatic presented.

[color=FireBrick]”Now? Now we know what he can do and how he does it. Now we plan and prepare. We will catch the bastard, somehow.”[/color] The only question was, how do you catch and corner the wind?