Pov Nadia’s Rescuer, earlier that day:

Finishing my daily meditation, I wondered for the hundredth time why I even bothered continuing with my families’ legacy. With more and more people being born with natural powers, the need for the exorcist clans have become obsolete. Many clans have decreased over time or in battles, and a lot of secret techniques were lost. Because of that, the power of magic has become a myth again in the eyes of the public.

No one has the motivation to take the time to slowly learn it, and as far as I am aware, my parents were the last ones who were able to activate other people’s magic circuits so that they can use it. Now, people are using naturally awakened magic or what the ancient texts would call intuitive magic.

According to those ancient clan texts, the truths of this world have been hidden, however, it doesn’t mention why. The mysterious wave long ago was a mana burst released from the death of the other world’s god, which changed everything for both of our dimensions. Adding a significant amount of mana to ours (bringing us back to the age of magic), and leaving the other to slowly wither.

Left godless, the other world is slowly dying due to the mana over there being rapidly used up. Without a god or goddess existing to naturally produce mana, it will end up like our world once was, with all of the magical creatures going extinct. The so-called endless energy is not truly endless. Just another fuel source like oil or gas. While it may be many, many times more efficient and powerful, it will still run out.  There is indeed a way to temporarily make a small amount more, however it is very inefficient to burn life force for it.

It’s not like I want to keep the secrets to myself. When I was younger I tried to warn people about the truth, however, I was laughed at and called a lunatic. My posts were deleted by the government and I gave up ever since. Humanity will have to learn the hard way, like it always does.

Finishing ranting in my mind and getting ready for the day, I left to patrol the streets.  As a registered hero for Hero HQ, alerts would be sent to my intelligent watch for any nearby problems.

I did not work for the money or benefits, as I inherited the fortune of the Grimm clan. I just was doing what all Grimms were raised to do. Be the gatekeepers of this world, or protect civilians from the other side and contain the magic over there since the magic in our world is almost dry anyways. At least that was the creed of the clan before all the chaos happened hundreds of years ago. Now, we just fight magical creatures and close rifts as needed.

Or, at least, I do it in the spirit of following my ancestors. I might stop soon though, as Hero HQ has all of that covered, however, recently I have noticed a trend that is making me worried. Over the past week, the mana in the air has slowly become more and more saturated. I have warned the top brass at HQ about it, fearing that we may be about to face a new wave of chaos, but they did not respond or take me seriously.

I have done my part giving the warning, so all I can do is to keep an eye on the situation and prepare to evacuate for when things go bad. If nothing happens in the next week, I will retire early and waste away living lavishly. Maybe search for a girlfriend. ‘Not like I will get one anytime soon.’

Suddenly my watch beeped an alert.  Tapping a button, a hologram image of a female operator showed up and stated, “There has been a report of an armored bull man robbing the bank on Eagle Bypass and Prospect Drove…”

Taking note of all the relevant information, I rushed over to the location. 

“Hahaha I’m rich!!!”

The villain, seeing us heroes arrive and surrounding the area, stomped his foot in frustration at our quick response. As he was outnumbered, his anger soared. He glanced around for a target to show his displeasure. 

“Since I will be locked up anyway, I will make you as miserable as me!”

He suddenly turned and charged towards a pile of rubble. Widening my eyes as I glimpsed the trembling little fox girl curled up behind it, I and the other heroes rushed in order to stop him. 

With no time to charge a spell, I shouted, “Little girl, watch out!!!” Closing my eyes just as he was about to hit her.

*Thud*

Opening my eyes slowly again preparing for a gruesome sight, I was flabbergasted at what I saw.

The villain was knocked out on the ground, with a dent on his helmet, with the trembling fox girl in the exact same position unaware of what was going on around her.

Snapping back to my senses, I finished rushing up to the girl and hugged her.  Seeing that, the heroes also snapped to their senses and some handcuffed the villain and began processing him for jail while the rest searched the rubble for those that were trapped and needed help.

‘Well that happened.’ I thought as I continued examining the hyperventilating little fox girl for any wounds. Seeing nothing, I asked “Are you ok?”

Receiving no response, I lightly shook her to see if that would snap her out of it. Still not  receiving a response, I couldn’t help but panic and yell, “snap out of it!” while shaking her harder.

Her dull eyes suddenly focused on me, then she hugged me and started bawling. I just held her until she finished crying, stroking her very soft hair. Feeling her calm down, I lifted her up a little to see that she had fallen asleep.

‘Sooo cuuute!,’ I thought in my mind as I picked her up and held her in a princess carry. ‘And very light.’

Suddenly, the med bots finally arrived. ‘Finally,’ I thought, ‘Took them long enough.’ Out of all the inventions that the scientists at Hero HQ made, these were the ones I felt aided humanity the most. With the spherical drones floating around, these technical marvels can solve any medical emergency in seconds, which can be the difference between life and death in this chaotic land.

One of the drones approached me, and I asked “Can you get a hold of this little girl’s parents or relatives?”

*Zzzt* “SCANNING RECORDS. NO RELATIVES FOUND.” *Zzzt*

I tried a different question, “Can we get child protective services to bring her home?”

*Zzzt* “DENIED. AGE OVER LIMIT FOR CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES” *Zzzt*

“What!!” I exclaimed, “How is she over the age limit?” ‘She looks too young and adorable’ I thought as I poked her cheek, causing her to shift a little in her sleep.

*Zzzt* “RECORDS INDICATE THAT SHE IS 22.” *Zzzt*

‘That is as old as I am.’ Then I blushed when I realized I had been gushing over and treating an adult like a child. ‘Hopefully she will forgive me.’

“In that case is it possible to tell me where she lives so that I could drop her off there?”

*Zzzt* “IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO NOT DO SO. RECORDS INDICATE THAT SHE BOUGHT TURNAROUND FOREST A WEEK AGO AND RESIDES THERE. ERROR. ERROR. LOGIC OF LIVING IN UNINHABITABLE PLACE DOES NOT COMPUTE. ERROR. MANY RECORDS CORRUPTED AND UNREADABLE. ERROR. CAN NOT REPORT BUG TO HQ. ERR-” *Zzzt* *Zzzt* *Pop!* *Crash*

Staring at the drone that just malfunctioned on the ground, I was like ‘Okaaaay, that was weird.’

I pulled out my watch to scan the girl so that I could pull up her records myself. ‘Let's see, yeah, that is strange. All the records that I can pull up are her identification (Nadia Cordelia Vulpine, age 22, Heiress of Vulpine Clan), her property (Turnaround Forest, paid for one week ago in full), and only one medical record (a psychiatrist report). All the records from more than a week ago were corrupted. ‘That is an odd glitch.’ Then reported it to Hero HQ to see if they could perhaps restore it.

My watch beeped with a message that it will take a few days and not to keep my hopes up that the files can be restored.

Being more nosey than I should have been, I tapped on the medical records tab and brought up the only readable record on the list.  

A legitimate psychiatrist document from a week ago popped up diagnosing Nadia with a severe case of hemophobia, signed by Dr. Iris.

“Poor girl” I whispered, unconsciously stroking her soft hair. ‘Wonder what happened to cause her enough trauma to want to live alone in those cursed woods.’ As for how she did so,  I figured that it might be due to a family secret from her clan. ‘Speaking of which, she is the only other person that I have met that has descended from an ancient clan. I kind of want to ask her a few questions when she wakes up.’

Suddenly thrashing a little, she made a little fox whine and cried , “Mom … Dad…”

Taking pity and coming to a decision, I used my watch to hail a public hover car to come pick us up. A minute later, a white colored pod with six stabilizing wings slowly landed in front of me.

After a 10 minute flight, we arrived at my mansion. ‘Too bad she will miss the view,' I thought as we slowly lowered in front of the gate. The only thing I liked about my clan's inheritance is the soothing and beautiful atmosphere around my home. I smugly smirked and  *humphed* ‘Not even many of the rich could have a view like this, with the city as dense as it is.’

Picking up the sleeping floof ball, I walked down the path to the front door, admiring the serenity of the Sakura trees one last time for the day before heading inside. Placing her on the couch, I retrieved an extra blanket and gently tucked her in stroking her soft hair one more time before heading to my own room, exhausted for the day.

Dressed in my own PJs, I checked in on Nadia one more time before turning out the lights of both rooms. Jumping on my bed and snuggling in, I fell asleep.

Stealthy_Enigma

Iris has become more of a main character than I planned since I first started this story. As such I have had the A.I. generator to produce a better image of her for you to enjoy.

Spoiler

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P.S. It is very frustrating fighting it to get an image that I want. Even though it is worth it in the end, I have to sometimes redo my descriptions to go with the closet image it can produce. Anyways, peace out until the next chapter is completed. (˃ᆺ˂✿)