It started with a tingle curling itself up Shakir's body, then came a sense of foreshadowing washing over him.
"something is wrong".
He said as he hastily got up from his squeaky chair and drops the rough sheets he was reading. Years of working as an adventurer was constantly bugging Shakir's consciousness, pinching at him that something is wrong somewhere.
Shakir stretched his hand out to the side of his squeaky chair and took his stick walker to aid him in moving faster. With the help of the stick walker, he was able to get to the door faster than he could have without it.
When he got to the door and pushed it open, the first thing Shakir felt was that the air was abnormally hot.
The kind of heat Shakir felt was not one that hovered over his hair lines keeping temperature heated, but an heat that had his body sweating profusely after minutes of being exposed to it.
Shakir in an effort to know what was going on, moved further out closing the door behind him.
It wasn't only Shakir that came out of his house, but every member living in that area were out of their homes. At this point, Shakir was starting to get worried.
"look...., the....., the sky....., it is red".
The neighbour standing not too far off from Shakir shouted while pointing upwards at the phenomenon that was happening to Edevin's sky.
Crimson red like puff shaped circle appeared above the center of Edevin, and not very much noticeable at first, not until it started getting bigger and spreading itself. The Crimson puff sky slowly extended its hold to every corners of Edevin, sealing the city off by surrounding it from all sides.
A city housing a population of one thousand people, was covered in an artificial sky having a bloodied color, it was nothing less of a bad omen of terrible things to come.
Seeing the sky that was supposed to be bright out, now covered with blood like colour, the whole neighborhood went on an instant disarray.
Man running for his dear live, mother going back inside their house only to come out with their kids and making a run for it. In no time, like a plague, the chaos had spread itself through the city's core and all members no longer felt safe in their own homes.
Shakir was no longer worried but now on high alert. The city covered in a dreary red color is not a sign of a good omen, but a bad one.
The only thing capable of doing something like this, is SSS rank or above kind of being. But that is impossible, mostly because said beings do not exist.
The closest anyone has ever gotten to coming across an SSS rank being is through ancient legends passed down from generations to generations.
The rank being mentioned in the adventurers ranking list, is only there to inspire adventurers and make it their goal, working towards becoming stronger, but till date, no adventurer had ever breached that gap.
Their existence has not been verified by the guild, and even those who passed down said myths have become nothing but a pile of bone buried six feet underground.
Shakir went back inside to put on proper clothes before heading to the guild. If there is anyone that will have a vague idea of what is happening, it is the adventurers guild who are tasked with dealing with stuff like this.
He walked around the town, that is endowed in total pain and Chaos. People fleeing, and the main streets very disorderly. Even the small time retailers with small shops situated at the streets sidewalk was left completely empty with the goods still present.
On a normal day, Shakir wouldn't be this discomforted. He is an old man with age slowly whisking away his time, there is nothing else for him to fear but to wait for death to come and take him away.
But, it's a different case with Dana around. He can't afford to let anything happen to her, and if he could, he would have ran straight to her school to get her instead of going to the guild for information.
The only reason he isn't doing that is because he knows Dana won't be in school but currently inside of a Dungeon. The worst place for anyone to be in this current predicament.
He needs to go to the guild if he wants inquiry on which dungeon Dana went into, and make arrangements on getting her out of it so he could keep her by his side where he will feel some comfort knowing where she is.
Amidst the ongoing chaos with people pushing themselves over who to go first, some even resorting to force to push back the others, is Shakir walking as fast as he can to get himself to the guild's door.
Shakir's mouth gulped when he saw an incident involving a man suddenly catching on fire. The scene took him down memory lanes of events he never wanted to remember.
"no...., no..., no...., no. It cannot be?..., it mustn't be?".
One could almost smeal the fear and dreadfulness Shakir's face was with. He wished that he were wrong, he wished that his memories betrayed him, but all the scenes that had played out before him, pointed to his assumptions being correct.
Shakir ran even faster than his old body could afford and got to the adventurer guilds building, barging himself in uninvited. The events Shakir was met with in the guild, wazs no different from what he had seen on his way here.
The major difference, is that the people outside were panicking and running due to fear of being killed, but the adventurers inside the guild's building, were gearing themselves with weapons and information exchange, panicking so they can be ready to battle whatever it is that had turned their city's sky red.
Shakir ignored the commotion and disruption, and made his way up to the receptionist's desk that is just ahead the door. None of the adventurers in the building paid much attention to Shakir as they were too busy preparing themselves.
Shakir got to the receptionist's desk and banged his hand on the table, loud enough to call for the attention of the woman behind the desk. She had her body turned opposite to Shakir as she was busy sorting out some stuff on the shelf in front of her.
The receptionist turned her body towards Shakir, and moved closer to him.
"we are currently in an emergency old man, you can come back later to deliver whatever quest you have for us".
The adventurers guild operates in a way that is dependent on the everyday civilian. They open their shop down, recruiting workers (adventurers), and the ordinary citizens come into the shop with a request and a set payment amount for the workers to take on.
The receptionist talking to Shakir, after looking at his figure, instantly thought that he was here to post his request for the guild to take on, which is why she gave him a direct answer as they were indeed too occupied to take on any quests.
"I am not here to post a request, I am here to meet with the guild's Master in regards to the phenomenon that had clouded our city's sky".
Shakir said with a trembling coarse voice.
"do....., you know why it happened".
The receptionist asked Shakir in anticipation for a positive response. She was also scavenging for any news on what is happening. Whatever information she gets her hands on will be directly conveyed to the adventurers in preparation for what they might and might not come across.
"no, but that's why I am here".
Shakir shut her down bluntly, going straight to the reason that brought him here. He felt she wasn't of a high level enough to be told his assumptions on the phenomenon, the only one who can possibly understand him currently is the guild master, hence why he requested for him directly.
"can I see the guild's master now".
"look old man, I am sure you can see what's happening outside. As an organization tasked with dealing with something like that, we are all packed looking for information, and even the guild master is too busy to have time for visitors".
Shakir had no time to waste, every minute spent arguing with her, is a minute increasing the danger surrounding Dana and putting the town and everyone in it into more risk.
He reached into his chest pocket and brought out his guild's identity card.
"here have this".
Shakir handed the identity card over to the receptionist who gulped down her saliva when she saw the name written on the card.
"i am so sorry mister Shakir, the guild master is up in his office, I am sure he would be glad to have your presence in our midst during times like this".
The receptionist knew better than to question an S Rank retired adventurer. A rank so rare only hundreds in the hundreds of thousands of adventurers spread out across the world has it.
She handed the identity card back to Shakir and hurriedly pointed to the stairway beside the receptionist desk, leading all the way to the upper floor where the guild masters office is.