As Kerii walked outside towards the Guildhall, something didn't feel quite right. Something felt... off. She didn't know what it was, but it made her feel uneasy. The day itself seemed fine though. The air smelled as sweet as it did after any rainshower. It wasn't too hot or too humid. It was a beautiful summer day, and she expected that as such, the Flower Festival would get a lot of business. It wasn't that the day seemed too perfect because it honestly wasn't. The ground was still damp from the rain, and she doubted that a lot of people would be having a picnic if they didn't want their blanket or clothes to be wet. No, it was something else, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Assuming it was just going to be one of those days, the elf just continued on towards her destination. Regardless of how good or how bad of a day it seemed like it would be, she was still a mage, and being a mage meant that she needed to do her job. Seeing how full the request board was the day before, she imagined it to still be rather filled with requests. Maybe there would not be as many as before, but that didn't mean that she couldn't choose one she wanted to do.

Once Kerii got into the Guildhall, she took one look at the request board and saw, to her surprise, that there were a lot less than she expected. She, unfortunately, seemed to get there a little too late. Nonetheless, she proceeded to go towards the request board and tried to pick out a request that seemed interesting. She expected all the good ones to be taken, but much to her surprise, there was one that mentioned a "weird looking entity." Before she got too excited though, she saw that it was put out by none other than Dex Miller. Her heart sank a little, knowing all too well that this was probably just his imagination going to work. Still, Dex evidently thought that this was an urgent matter, so Kerii had no choice but to accept the request. Besides, there was a possibility that he wasn't making it all up. Going off of her last experience with him, those chances were slim, but still there.

So, Kerii took the request off of the board. For some reason, Dex wanted to specifically meet with the mage who took this request right when the sun started to go down, so the elf waited until it was just about sundown. Once she saw the sun beginning to set, she headed down towards the river, which wasn't too far at all from the Guildhall. There, she very clearly saw Dex. He was dressed in all black, as per the usual, and still wore his hair in its classic, very conspicuous style. Although it was very contrary to how a real spy would wear their hair, it was pointless to tell Dex that he stood out like a sore thumb. He would just never take the information to heart, and continually insist that he was doing everything right.

WC: 527/1000

Kerii walked down the hill leading to the river to meet with Dex, who looked strangely on edge. "Dex?" she asked. He jumped around and turned to face the mage. "Oh, thank goodness it's you. I... I don't know exactly what I saw, but I think it has to do with magic." The elf could hear the fear in his voice, which was not like Dex. Even when he insisted that an assassin was after him, his voice remained calm and even. Whatever he saw, she had a feeling that it was real, and since he wasn't a mage, he likely didn't understand magic, much less how to deal with it.

"Calm down, and tell me everything," she instructed, keeping her voice level in hopes that seeing how relaxed she was would reflect back on Dex. He did seem to be a little more at ease, and began telling her about what exactly he saw. "I was just walking along the river, looking for clues about, well, you don't need to know that part, but I ended up stumbling upon this large blue orb. I think it must be the culprit but..." He let out a sigh. Kerii didn't know how some ball or orb could be the culprit in whatever case he was working on, but it clearly seemed to frustrate Dex that he couldn't figure this out. "Well, can you take me to see it?" Kerii asked, hoping that she could shed some light onto the situation by figuring out what this orb really was. "Yeah, sure, we just need to wait until nightfall."

And so, they waited until the sun had completely set, and the duo went towards the azure ball. Soon enough, they did end up coming across it. Dex was right. It actually did exist, and it was quite beautiful. It gently spun and almost seemed to voicelessly call out to Kerii. She lazilly held out her hand, motioning for Dex to stay behind, but he either chose to ignore her or didn't quite see what she was trying to do. Either way, Kerii was entranced by the mysterious entity and didn't even know that Dex was following close behind. Once she got close enough, the elf reached out to touch the orb. As her fingers touched its surface, she was hit with a memory. Or at least, she thought it was a memory. She couldn't be sure. A familiar face framed with blonde hair was smiling at her, but before she could witness more of it or process what she had just seen, the orb emitted a pulse of force and sent the two tumbling back. She landed oddly on her wrist, but didn't break anything. At most, it felt like a light sprain. "Dex, are you alright?" No reply. "Dex?" she asked again. The mage looked over to see his unconscious body on the ground. She reached over to check his pulse. He wasn't dead, and he wasn't bleeding. He likely sustained a concussion, but to be safe, she wanted to take him to the hospital. Although it was a little bit of a struggle with her injured wrist, someone by the name of Dacol Lubex came to help her. If you lived in Orchidia, it was hard not to know who he was. This man was an important person in the town. He inquired about what happened. Kerii gave a vague summary of what happened, but left out any details she didn't know how to explain, like the vision. Once Dex woke up, he rewarded Kerii and thanked her for helping to investigate. Dacol insisted on staying, as he wanted to hear the details from Dex.

Kerii left the hospital and returned to her own home with a thousand questions roaming through her mind. Something didn't add up, but she couldn't tell what it was yet... but she had a feeling it had to do with Dacol.

WC: 527+655=1182/1000