I Married A Dragon (Prime Mating Agency)(36)

I nervously tucked my hair behind my ear and shrugged my ignorance. “I don’t know if they are. But I’ve not been sworn to secrecy, so I’m assuming they are aware. I cannot complete this mission without the collaboration of the local people. And they certainly won’t answer my questions without me explaining my purpose.”

Some tension bled out of Cedros’s shoulders. “I see. What is your mission?”

“The UPO wants me to find out a few things to prevent further incidents like the one at Veladeem Research. Who are the mercenaries acquiring shadow obsidian stones? How are they acquiring those stones? Do they have a contact or seller here? Do they already have stockpiles we must confiscate? And how do we stop them from acquiring more stones?”

His brow creased deeper with each of my words. To my relief, no anger animated him. Instead, Cedros was pursing his lips while slowly nodding.

“All excellent questions, and both a very valid and important mission. It actually troubled my Shadow Lord brothers and me that our Council hadn’t requested such an investigation,” Cedros said pensively.

“Really? They have brought it up?” I asked, instantly falling into detective mode.

He nodded. “Yes. In the past year, we’ve had to clean several similar incidents to the one where you and I met in the research lab. Most were minor inconveniences where a portal was just left open, leading to a random location, from a vacant building to an open field. In some instances, there were aqrats or other shadow beasts roaming that we had to eliminate.”

“Any victims?”

“Sadly, on a few occasions, yes,” he said in an apologetic voice.

“Derakeens?” I insisted.

“No. In some cases, the victims were humans. But we also found species unknown to us and animals.”

“Where are their remains?” I asked, perking up.

“We left them there,” he said, looking surprised by the question.

“You left them?!”

“Of course. Why would we bring them here? Their people should find them and give them whatever afterlife ritual they deem fit.”

“But didn’t you want to investigate?” I countered.

Baffled, he tilted his head to the side, giving me a strange look. “What could we possibly investigate that required us to take their remains? The cause of their deaths was self-evident. All we could do was to eradicate the beasts and close the portal so no more would threaten the local people.”

“Okay, fine, I get that. But didn’t you want to find out who had opened that portal, and why that had occurred?”

He hesitated before shaking his head. “No. Initially, we did not. Accidental portals are a sad reality on Dramnac. A variety of reasons can create one. Usually, the summoner will dispel it. If they are unable to do so, they are required by law to call upon a Shadow Lord or Gate Master to handle it.”

My shoulders slumped. “Oh. So you know who opened those gates.”

Once more, he hesitated before shaking his head again. “Not all of them. Like I said, people are required by law to ask for help. But not everyone does. Often, accidental portals occur because they did something they shouldn’t have. Depending on the nature of the offense, the punishment can be quite severe, especially if it causes the death of innocents.”

“Well, that sounds like solid grounds for you guys to have started an investigation!” I exclaimed.

He gave me an indulgent smile that, under different circumstances, might have come across as patronizing. “Yes. Normally, it would have been grounds for an investigation. Unfortunately, a Derakeen had not summoned the portals that caused those lethal incidents. At least, we have no reason to believe so.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, taken aback.

“Remember how I told you that if you get caught in a rift, do not move because I can track the origin and destination of a phase shift?” Cedros asked.

I nodded.

“Well, the same applies to a portal. I can say where it originated and where it leads, just by looking at it. If I’m close enough to an active portal, I can get a sense of how many people went through it, and in which direction they traveled.”

“Oh wow! That’s badass!”

I chuckled, still finding that expression silly. “The main reason the Councilors gave us for not investigating is that we do not have galactic law enforcers to tackle such an endeavor, and we wouldn’t even know where to start. Anyway, by the time we reached the origin, everyone was already gone.”

“Right, but that’s why having the remains of the victims would have helped. Their identity might have given us a trail to follow, assuming they were the summoners,” I argued.

“Fair point. But we didn’t think of that then. But the escalation of incidents is becoming a problem for us,” Cedros said. “Beyond the fact that those portals are stretching us thin fighting aqrats roaming other worlds, they present a serious local threat. Right now, void beasts are going off-world. But what if the summoners start sending off-world beasts onto Dramnac?”

“Shit, I didn’t think of that,” I said, kicking myself for it.

“I will assist you in whatever capacity I can in achieving your mission, my Kaida,” Cedros said in a solemn voice. “It is of great importance to your organization and my people that this be resolved.”