The Time Keeper

Chapter 63 - Disappearing Act

"What do you mean gone?" I demanded, frustration seeping into my tone. The sudden upheaval had left us reeling, scrambling for answers in the disorienting aftermath.

The room we faced was King's office as Fleur had indicated before. Rough-looking shelving lined with trinkets and other various items. It bore the marks of a recent upheaval as if a whirlwind had torn through it. Papers were strewn across the floor, furniture overturned, and shelves were in disarray.

"What in the world happened here?" Lucas's voice echoed my own bewilderment, his gaze sweeping across the disarrayed office. His knitted brows mirrored the puzzlement etched into my own features.

Amidst the disorder, the absence of the pages, as well as any trace of King's auction items, remained a confounding mystery. It was as if the room had been purged of its valuable contents. But with how timely we had gotten in here, nobody would have had time to gather everything and take it, let alone hide it all anywhere.

Before we could further contemplate the peculiar turn of events, a sudden commotion shattered the uneasy silence, reverberating from the direction of the markets outside.

A clang of metal coming from back out in the markets caught my attention as a blade with dark red marks on it came piercing through the wooden door.

As the sword came through, the door slowly swung open to reveal a large body with a white mask and trench coat hanging, skewered to the door like a shish kebab.

At the other end of the blade was one of the hooded figures who had bought at the auction. They pulled out the sword and the body of one of King's guards flopped to the stone floor in a heap and continued to pool blood beneath them.

The swordsman's attire, obscured by a hooded cloak and a mask, bore an unsettling peculiarity. Ash-coloured goggles covered their eyes with no apparent means of sight, and a gasmask-like contraption obscured the rest of their face.

But it was their darker complexion, a stark contrast to the locals of Leode, that hinted at their origin, indicating a foreign presence amidst the chaos. Maybe even from another country.

Before we could even process the gravity of the unfolding scenes, a deafening cacophony erupted from the markets outside, followed by a series of shots that reverberated through the hall.

Bang!

King, with his revolver aimed skyward, discharged the weapon, the loud reports of the shots shattering the clamour and imposing an eerie silence upon the once-chaotic markets.

The room, now plunged into an uneasy hush, held its breath for just a moment as the repercussions of King's drastic action echoed through the air, until falling back into chasm once more.

Fleur's urgency pierced through the disarray, her voice cutting through the tension like a beacon of reason amidst the pandemonium. "We need to leave. Now."

Her words resonated with a sense of imminent danger, urging us to abandon the office and escape the escalating mayhem before it consumed us.

"Wait," I interjected, a lingering concern gnawing at me. "The pages—"

Lucas's voice sliced through my unfinished query, a note of frustration underlining his words. "Screw the pages. Nothing's here. Not even the other auctioned items. We're at a dead end."

As an uncertainty loomed over my next move, fast-moving footsteps could be heard coming from another door inside of King's office until the door began to creak open to reveal a scruffy white-haired boy, none other than Caius.

"Caius," Fleur exclaimed. "You aren't supposed to be... Ugh, never mind that anymore. Did Darius send you here?"

Caius, with a hint of urgency in his voice, cut through the tension. "Yes. He sent me to find you all and get you out of here quick smart," he announced, a breathless urgency underscoring his words.