The group made their way back to the Mages Union with haste. It was already midnight by the time they arrived, so the building wa empty aside from the night shift security guards.


    Holden vigorously pounded on the door. A guard arrived on the other side of the door with his hand on the hilt of his blade. “We’re closed. Come back tomorrow.”


    “I need to speak to the director,” Holden insisted. “It’s urgent.”


    “Yeah, right,” the guard said, scoffing at Holden. He was about to walk away when the director came rushing downstair into the lobby, demanding he let Holden and the others in.


    The guard swiftly opened the door, and Holden came bursting through. “Naomi, we have a problem,” Holden informed her. “All of the kidnapped officials are dead. And we have no leads on Elliandra’s location.”


    Naomi gestured for everyone to follow her upstairs to her office, while Holden explained everything that happened. “The Leudox had a base on a farm in Shayfield. They were keeping the five missing officials in the barn, but there were no signs of Elliandra.”


    “Did you discover anything related to her whereabouts?”


    “No. Nothing. Though Celia Kamrot mentioned something about the Leudox having a collaborator holding Elliandra hostage.” He then pulled the purple stones from the barn out of his coat pocket. “We also found a bunch of these in a crate in the barn.”


    Naomi took one of the stones from his hand, and inspected it closely. Her eyes narrowed, then gave it back to Holden. “This is delirium. I did a little research on the mineral, and can say I’m familiar with its capabilities. It would explain why we couldn’t find them. A crate full of it could block divination. Enough of it could even interfere with teleportation spells.”


    “But the spell you cast on Sia Reinhouse this morning suggests she was teleported to her place of death. I mean how else could she sudden appear-.” Holden then paused, having come up with the answer to his own question. “Unless they didn’t teleport.”


    “No. I’m certain they teleported,” Naomi said. “If they were using enough delirium to prevent teleportation, I wouldn’t have been able to witness Sia’s death.”


    “What if the culprit attacked them from a distance? Out of range of the delirium’s influence?”


    “They would’ve had to have had a way to conceal Sia from divination on their way to the location. Otherwise, I would’ve seen it.”


    “Could they have place a delirium ring, or something else on them?”


    “Maybe. But why would they take it off before killing Sia. That wouldn’t make sense. Plus, dragging an government official through the city would be a huge hassle.”


    “But you said delirium interferes with teleportation in high volumes,” Hlden reminded her. “So, how could they have pulled it off while still benefiting from delirium’s divination blocking effects.”


    “They’d have to be using a higher ranked teleportation spell. Ranks four or five at least.”


    Holden was reminded of the incident with the red pixie when he and Sable were looking for Randy’s stolen manuscript. She had used a powerful teleportation spell. He then glanced at Sable, wondering if the cait-sith was thinking the same thing.


    Holden and the others arrived in Naomi’s office. Alwin was leaning against the desk with his arms crossed, impatiently tapping his foot until he noticed their arrival.


    Holden was taken aback. “Alwin, you’re her?”


    “Yeah,” Alwin said, tilting his hea din confusion. “I’ve been with the director all day helping her look through files on special mages registered with the Mages Union, and known criminals operating in Chrimoria. We figured teleportation was involved, so we’re putting together a pool of suspects.”


    Holden walked up to Alwin, and grabbed his shoulder. “We need to talk in private.”


    Alwin slapped his hand away, but nodded in agreement. The two of them then stepped out of Naomi’s office. After ensuring no one followed them, Holden shoved one of the delirium stones into Alwin’s hand. “Hold on to that. I’d bet you’d want to keep this information hidden from the others.”


    “What’s this about?” Alwin asked, noticing the urgent tone in Holden’s voice.


    “Celia Kamrot and Elliot Manson were killed by someone with a striking resemblance to one of your cover identities. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought it was you.”


    “What!” Alwin said in protest. “I’ve been with the director all day. You can ask her yourself.”


    “I know. That’s what’s concerning. Somehow your enemies are caught up in this.”


    Alwin clicked his tongue in frustration. “There are far too many people involved in this case. Too many organizations. Too many moving parts. This city really is a den of depravity.”


    “I wonder if they’re trying to put me on your trail? That means they don’t know who you are yet. But they’re trying to turn people against you. Maybe have the Chrimorian Police Department do it for you.”


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    Alwin nodded his hea din agreement. “Did you tell Naomi about who killed Celia and Elliot yet?”


    “No. I’m not the only one who saw the killer, though. I won’t mention that they looked like one of your cover identities.”


    Alwin sighed, while clentching his fists in anger. “This is a big problem. Thanks for having my back, Holden. Now let me return the favor.” Alwin then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “This is something an informant of mine discovered a couple of days ago. It might help in the current investigation.”


    “And you’re just giving it to me now?”


    “Let’s just say I didn’t get this information using legitimate means.”


    Holden chuckled. “Typical Alwin going outside the law to get things done.”


    Alwin chuckled in return. “Look who’s talking. Weren’t you a spy who gathered information using trickery, lawbreaking, and falsehoods? You got no right to judge me.”


    “Fair point.” Holden than read what was written on the slip of paper Alwin gave him.


    It detailed an account of an attack on a Leudox drug lab. Apparently, the person Alwin had received the information from was a survivor of one of these attacks. The attack was sudden. It was committed by several magic users. Though no one ever saw exactly who they were. All they had to go on was the barrage of magic spells raining down on them from above.


    “Leudox drug labs are supposed to be in secret locations,” Holden said. He then recalled Ike once mentioning that several Leudox drug labs had been attacked recently during their search for the nox-dragon. “So, somehow their locations were compromised. One of the Leudox’s enemies somehow knew their locations.”


    “If those government officials were working with the Leudox, then maybe one of them betrayed the organization,” Alwin suggested. “It would make sense why the Leudox would kidnap them before killing them. They wanted to make a big fuss in order to make an example.”


    Holden shook his head. “No. Celia did tell me she and the others had no connection with the Leudox. Of course, she never got around to telling me exactly who she worked for.”


    “Then the show the Leudox is putting n is a warning for their enemy. But that still doesn’t answer how their enemies knew of the locations of all of the drug labs.”


    Holden shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows. We might not get that answer. And it might not matter. The Leudox were collaborating with someone to kidnap all of these government officials. And Elliandra as well. So that means-.” Holden paused as he had a sudden revelation. “That means they’re working with someone who doesn’t directly view the Leudox as an enemy, but would view their competition as one.”


    Holden then gestured for Alwin to follow him. The two then returned to Naomi’s office. Holden burst through the door, and shouted, “I think I might’ve gotten a break in the case.”


    Everyone looked at him with mouth’s slightly agape. Holden didn’t bother to wait for anyone to say anything. He just dove right into his explanation. “The kidnapped officials and the Leudox weren’t working together. They were actually rivals. That means the Leudox kidnapped and killed them to stamp out their competition. However, there’s more to it then that.” Holden then paused to catch his breath. His heart was beating with excitement, causing him to sweat profusely, and pant when he talked. “Sable and I have an associate who mentioned Leudox drug labs in Undercity were being attacked. That means there is a war between criminal organizations going on. Celia claimed she and the other kidnapped officials didn’t work with the Leudox, but someone else. This someone else is likely who’s attacking Leudox drug labs.”


    Sable and the others followed along with what Holden was saying. The question on everyone’s mind then was, who exactly were the Leudox fighting. Unfortunately, Holden didn’t really have a definitive answer.


    “We don’t know who this enemy is. And that doesn’t matter at the moment. Right now, Elliandra is still missing, and the collaborator Celia mentioned likely has her. That means this collaborator also knows about this enemy the Leudox are facing.”


    Sable sighed. “Okay. I follow you. But what are you suggesting?”


    Holden took a deep breath before continuing his explanation. “The collaborator is someone who hates the Leudox’s enemy. So, they probably want to work with the Leudox to eliminate them. The enemy of my enemy, and all that.


    My theory is the collaborator somehow knew these government official were working with the enemy, then provided the Leudox with the information. Though the Leudox had a problem.”


    Sable’s ears perked up, knowing what Holden was getting at. “A bunch of their men had been imprisoned because of the nox-dragon incident.”


    Holden snapped his fingers. “Yes. So, they turned to the collaborator to kidnap Elliandra. She has a reputation for being an uncorruptible prosecutor. And she’s the best prosecutor in the city. But with her out of the picture, someone less competent would have to take her place.”


    “You’re story makes sense,” Namoi said. “But who is this collaborator?”


    “Someone with powerful teleportation magic. And someone who would know of delirium, and where you can find it.”


    Naomi tapped her chin in contemplation, when she too had a sudden realization. “Are you suggesting there’s a delirium mine in the Hollows?”


    “Exactly,” Holden said, snapping his fingers once again. “It would explain why three sovereign powers are fighting over som swamp without much to it. I can sort of understand Lamyros wanting it, since rthere are probably medicinal plants that row in marsh like environments. But I couldn’t for the life of me imagine why Chrimoria, or the Arclight Kingdom would want such a piece of land, Unless there was something there worth fighting for. Our culprit is likely working out of the delirium mine. And they’re someone working for the Arclight Kingdom, or the Lamyros city-state.”


    “What?” All of the others in the room said in unison. Holden’s theory, if true, was a huge problem. That would mean this case involved people from other sovereign states, making this a major political issue.


    Naomi walked over to the large window in the back of her office and stared out at the cityscape. “If what you say is true, then we have a major issue on our hands. Unfortunately, we don’t have any evidence to support it. Just wild speculation.”


    “We don’t need evidence at this stage,” Holden said. “Right now, we just need to find Elliandra. The rest can be worked out some other time.”


    “And how do you suppose we find this delirium mine?”


    Holden smirked, thinking of how he never wanted to go back to the Hollows. Nor was he looking forward to going through with the idea he had just come up with. “I have an old friend who lives out there. I’ll just ask her about it.”


    Sable and the others who had gone to the Hollows with Holden felt a spine-tingling chill. They all knew he was talking about Leanna, but the idea of interacting with her made the bravest among them think twice.


    Holden then showed the list of items Leanna had given to him to Naomi. “But before we go. Do you know of anywhere we can get all of this stuff at this time of night?”


    Naomi looked understandable confused by his request. However, she answere him nonetheless. Even handed him some digmata from her own pockets to pay for the items. “If it’ll help you put an end to this case, I’ll gladly help you out.”