The Briefing

Victor hugged the corner of the room, facing the wall as he tugged out his tie and pulled off his shirt. He was covered in sweat, and was dying to replace his dirty clothes with something clean.

He and Seraph had retreated to his bedroom, a place Victor had grown to appreciate in the last few weeks. Every minute spent downstairs had become thick with unbearable tension. It made Victor nauseous to be in the middle of the silent pressure bubbling between Umbra, Aunora, and Matthew.

He couldn't even bring himself to look at Matthew.

Cautiously, Victor spared a glance at Seraph, his cheeks growing hot with embarrassment. Seraph hadn't spoken to him since they left the shrine. Was he angry at him? Disappointed that he failed?

Seraph blinked, speaking in his kindly yet blunt tone, “Victor, is something the matter?”

Victor froze, feeling the muscles in his throat tightening. “I, uh, um.” He had already proved himself useless to Seraph. Victor didn't want to burden him any further with his worries.

“You have appeared very distant and out-of-sorts all day.” Seraph paused, as if faltering, “I feared you were ill.”

Victor forced out a shallow breath. He was referring to his physical health. “Yeah, I'm fine,” he croaked.

Seraph’s pink eyes studied him, and then he frowned. “I see.”

“Boys?” Victor heard Umbra’s voice call from down the hallway, “Boys?”

Victor hastily slipped a shirt over his head. “Yeah, dad?”

Umbra stood in the doorway, his smile decidedly plastic. Aunora was at his side, and Matthew stumbled into view as well, watching him with a deadpan expression.

“I'm afraid the day's not over just yet. Infinity needs us in his office. I think we may have another job.”

----

“Oh, yeah, you guys. I'll tell Infinity that you're here.”

Victor stood closely behind Umbra, clutching a handful of his jacket as they stood in the lobby of Alcorith Horizons. Ebone, Infinity’s assistant, leaned against the front desk, lips parted in a wide and mischievous smile.

Ebone eyed them from head to toe, raising his eyebrows. “Ah, you guys were sent on the sprite mission, huh? That must have been fun.”

“It was a blast,” Umbra muttered, crossing his arms.

Ebone glanced at his friend, perking up. “Infinity’s ready for you,” he said, twisting back to push open the door, “Take it easy, alright? He's been in a crabby mood all day.”

Silver Moon spilled into Infinity’s reasonably sized office, Umbra and Matthew taking the chairs directly in front of his desk.

Infinity was seated at his desk, a broad figure that emitted an undeniable aura of power and authority. His hair, a light cyan, was cropped short by his ears, and the collar of his overcoat was settled firmly by his neck. His hands were folded by his chest, rough calluses on his palms showing evidence of years of experience.

“Thank you for coming,” Infinity began, a stack of papers by his side rearranging themselves, a product of his rare gift of telekinesis.

“I would like to thank you for commissioning us, sir,” Umbra responded, puffing his chest, “It's nice to see you value our talents-"

“I don't need your talents” Infinity said, speaking over Umbra, “I only need the necromancer’s skill. The rest of you are just included in the deal.”

Victor blushed furiously, watching Umbra, awaiting his reaction.

“I'm willing to overlook your blunder of your last investigation several months ago, solely because I have no other capable death mages under my company. Little Vincent-"

“Victor,” Umbra corrected quickly.

“-Victor is all I have.”

Aunora propped her arms against Umbra’s chair. “What's Vic got to do? What's the mission about?”

Infinity averted his eyes, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“One of my fellow guild leaders has been murdered.”

Author's Note- insert "dun dun duuuhnnm" here