Chapter 345 - Mouse Trap

"Who is this guy, Mother?" asked Nathan.

"I believe that the unconscious guy in the other room has relatives. And right now, they're going crazy trying to find his body. Obviously, they can't locate his whereabouts because this basement and the whole manor was protected by a powerful spell preventing any scent from coming out in the surface. In short, those who are trying to find the guy can't easily locate his scent even if they hovered above this manor or anywhere near here," Sylvia explained.

"I see... so how did your men caught this guy? How can you be so sure that this old man is one of the unconscious guy's relatives?" Nathan asked.

"Simple, I instructed my men to place the coffin in a barn. That coffin was the one the guy occupied before, it reeked with his scent. The purpose is to make it a bait to lure the relatives out in the open and catch them.. I want to know if we are facing a formidable enemy or not," Sylvia said.

Nathan asked, "Mother... what if this old man won't tell you anything?"

Sylvia smiled. A devilish gleam appeared in her eyes. "I'll have my men torture him day and night until he'll answer all my questions," she replied casually. She opened her palm, a brown object that looks like a marble appeared in her right hand.

A frown appeared on Nathan's forehead, he asked, "What is that, Mother?"

"This is a powerful power suppressant. Once a being ingested this object they will lose their power and become powerless. This will only last for one week though," Sylvia said.

Nathan stared at the object in his mother's hand.

Sylvia asked for her son's assistance. "Son, can you open this old man's mouth?"

"Yes, Mother," Nathan does as he's told.

Sylvia dropped the marble-like concoction into the prisoner's mouth. Then she put back the black garment on the captive's head. "Let's return here later," she said and walked towards the door.

Nathan followed his mother silently. He glanced at the old man for a few seconds before exiting the room.

Outside...

"Mother, I will rest in my room for a while," Nathan said.

Sylvia nods her head. "Okay. I'll go upstairs to my room. See you later..." She walked towards the staircase.

Nathan watched his mother climbing the stairs and finally disappeared behind the exit door.

He went to the unconscious guy's room.

Once inside the room, he locked the door. He glanced at the table, there's no more food, only a pitcher of drinking water and a single glass.

He grabbed the chair, put it near the bed, and sat on it.

He watched the guy's unconscious face. He lowered his head and whispered something in the guy's ear. "Grandpa, mother's men caught an old man. She was suspecting he's one of your relatives. I wonder who is this old man, he got white beard, messy short wavy hair. Did you know him? Mother said that he will have her men torture the old man if he will not answer all her question," he said.

Nathan watched the unconscious guy's feet and fingers. There's still no movement indicating that the guy heard everything that he's telling him right now.

"Grandpa, what's wrong with you? Why can't you wake up? Why are you always sleeping? You have so much power in you, why are you sleeping like a log? You should wake up now! Get up!" he said, trying to awaken his grandfather's consciousnesses.

Looking at the guy's feet and fingers, still no movement!

Disappointed, he released a deep sigh and stood up and looked at the guy's face for a few minutes. "After capturing the old man, they will go after your whole family... probably your wife next?" he said and put the chair back on the table.

He exited the room and closed the door quietly behind him.

Meanwhile...

Inside, Graven's dark prison.

He heard every word that the voice told him. From what he understood, the guy's mother caught an old man sporting a white beard and messy hair. That described Grandpa Terros facial features well!

Damn!

They caught Grandpa! This means these people are not his friends! They're his enemies!

The worst thing, he can't even leave this prison wall that trapped him beneath the deepest part of his mind.

What's holding him from waking up?

Why he can't move his body parts!?

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Dammit!

He's extremely frustrated that he can't do anything to end his dilemma.

How long he will stay like this?

How much longer?

Nothing around him is making sense anymore!

...

Outside.

Nathan entered the other room where the prisoner was being held.

He went to the chair and removed the black clothing that covered the captive's face.

"Grandpa, wake up!" he said.

The old man is still unconscious.

He can't force him to wake up. He has no power to wake him up.

He was wondering when is the exact time he will wake up.

He stared at the old man's face for a few minutes, thinking that since he can't do anything, he might as well go back to the living room and stay on the porch to breathe fresh air.

He walked towards the door and left the room.

Nathan climbed the stairs that leads upstairs to the living room.

A few minutes later.

Nathan was back on the couch on the porch, admiring the blooming flowers in the front garden.

He stood up and went closer to the edge of the porch and extended his right hand directly under the ray of the sun... OUCH!... he felt the sting right away... he quickly removed his hand and retreated under the protection of the porch.

Damn, he can never go out and stay directly under the sun! If he will persist in doing so, he will burn and die.

He's getting frustrated with his condition. He returned to the couch and settled down comfortably.

He was evaluating his overall situation in his mind.

Meanwhile...

On the second floor of the manor.

In Sylvia's room.

She was opening the antique cabinet where she kept all her ritual paraphernalia.

She only pick up the tools that she needed for the ritual. The full moon was going to appear soon!

She will perform the ritual that could potentially awaken her great-grandfather's slumber.

Will King Rhazien wake up in that guy's unconscious body or not? Is yet to be seen!

She will know after the ritual.

~~~0~~~

~Windless Mountain~

Five hours later.

Elva and Veronica were sipping their hot tea on the terrace, enjoying the panoramic view at the top of the mountain

Veronica was getting restless and Elva noticed it.

"What's wrong? Why you're fidgeting on your chair?" Elva asked.

Veronica looked at the deity, she wore an anxious expression on her face. "Something is not right, I mean... why Grandpa hasn't return yet?" she murmured anxiously.

"Yeah, that's what I'm also thinking right now..." Elva replied.

Veronica stood up. "I'll go back to that barn and find out what's taking Grandpa so long to return here," she said.

"Okay, be careful! We don't know what's going on there. Grandpa might still be there or he already went home without coming here first. Why don't you check him at his place first? Maybe we're worrying for nothing," Elva suggested.

"Okay. I'll teleport to his place... then if I didn't see him there I'll go to the barn and check that place thoroughly," Veronica agreed.

"Go now and be careful," Elva said.

Veronica nods her head. "I'll take my leave," she said and initiated the teleportation process into Grandpa's place in the forest.

A few moments later, she landed outside the hut.

"Grandpa, are you home?" she called him out in a loud voice.

"Grandpaaaaa! Where are you?" she called him again.

Still, no response from him, and the door was padlocked, which only means one thing, he's not inside the house right now.

"Where is he?" she muttered aloud.

She's getting worried about him.

Before she will go to the barn, she will check the headquarter first. Hopefully, Grandpa is there. If not then she will request a backup from Graven's men to help her find Grandpa in the barn. She's suspecting that something happened in the barn after she and Elva left that place. The more she was thinking about it the more her heart was beating rapidly in her rib cage.

She wasted no time and teleported to the headquarter.

When she landed there... she was lucky because Horace and Calder were there outside the hut, talking to each other.

Horace's face lighted up as his eyes landed on the visitor's pretty face. "Veronica, nice to see you again!" he said.

Veronica went to their side. "Hello guys, long time no see!"

"What's up? You need anything form us?" Calder asked.

"Um... I'm looking for Grandpa Terros...have you seen him?" Veronica asked.

"He's here earlier, but he left after telling us that he will go to the Windless mountain to visit you. Why? What's wrong?" Calder asked hurriedly after noticing the worried expression on the woman's face.

"Did something happened?" Horace asked.

Veronica took a deep breath. "Earlier, Grandpa arrived to the Windless Mountain and we discussed about finding Graven, then Elva summoned the leaves that she assigned to find Graven. One of the leaves told us that they found Graven's scent inside the barn. His scent originated inside the coffin that was placed in the middle of the barn..." she paused for a moment to catch her breath.

Horace and Calder's faces brightened up after hearing the good news.

"That's good, we finally had a lead!" Horace said.

"Did the leaves found the Lord?" asked Calder excitedly.

Veronica shook her head. "No. The three of us went to the barn to check the coffin which is empty. His scent was emanating from the box but there's no body inside," she replied.

"Oh, no... the barn could be a trap!" Calder blurted his theory. "This is not good!' he said, shaking his head apprehensively.