Brilliant Haze

Chapter One

After witnessing the death of the Lustrous Goblin by the hands of the woman with the icy glare, Harold and Edgar decide to ignore her as she transforms into a Harpy and flies south. The boys follow the river bank north to meet up with Stella and Cecilia. The girls explain that the Unicorn didn't fight and just ran away.

Harold decides the only thing to do now is to follow the river south to go after the Harpy. After a few hours of walking, the group finally arrives at a tundra town called Genevrier Plains.

This town has a sleet of ice covering the ground and the morning atmosphere shines a brilliant haze. There are no gates surrounding the town. The river, which is situated to the left of the town, flowing from the north has completely frozen. The homes are made of white bricks. Areas of interest include a town square and multiple commercial buildings. Upon arrival in this tundra town, Harold and Stella decide to go to an inn first.

Meanwhile, in an unknown office, the woman with the icy glare is talking to a man with a Prismatic aura and another man with a Radiant aura.

"The Goblin is dead." the woman with the icy glare reported.

"What? How?" asked the Prismatic man.

"The Leaf Wolf and his friends got to him. I was there to witness the event."

The Prismatic man clicks his tongue. "Tsk! We lost Soleil and now Hilaire! Why is it so hard to get rid of this Wolf?! And what happened to Olivier?!"

"Are you expecting an answer?" asked the Radiant man.

The woman with the icy glare sighs. "I don't know what happened to Olivier. He was last seen fighting against the Rainbow Girl and her mother."

"Hold on! Let me think!" said the Prismatic man.

"Think about what?" said the Radiant man. "We just need to send more people after them."

The Prismatic stares at the Radiant man with a dead serious look. "You're in charge of security! You and your team go handle this yourselves! I might have to meet the Wolf and this Rainbow Girl myself if you can't handle it."

"What? Why me?!"

The Prismatic gives an angry sigh. "Our intelligence man Hilaire was just killed by them. Our assassin guy Olivier is nowhere to be seen. Our bookkeeper Henriette here is just a bookkeeper. What other options do you expect?! You're our security guy!"

The icy glare woman gives a half smile when she hears that she's just a bookkeeper.

The Radiant angrily stands up and looks at the woman whose name is just revealed to be Henriette. "Let's go! I can't believe I have to get involved. If only that Soleil weren't so stupid with that journalist!"

The inn was located near the northern part of the tundra town. After checking in, Stella and Cecilia decided to take a cozy nap. The time is about one o'clock in the afternoon. Harold and Edgar, on the other hand, use this time to explain the abilities of Edgar's new power.

Edgar now has access to Maiden's Eagle. This is a Natural Construct which allows him to transform into an Eagle. Due to his inexperience, he is not able to transform part of his body into that of an Eagle's part. This technique requires training and knowledge of one's own power. Inherent abilities granted by the Construct include regeneration of wounds as long as it's not a severed limb, enhanced reflex and quickness, and along with minor increases to the offensive and defensive stats of the user. This was all explained to Edgar by Harold since the latter has experience using his own Construct.

Now that the conversation is finished, it is time to discuss plans to find the Harpy.

"We know what she looks like," Harold said. "And she knows what we look like."

Edgar nods. "Yeah, and we can assume that she knows we're here already. They probably have scouts that can provide them with our location and everything."

"My thoughts exactly. I wonder why she killed the Goblin, though." Harold wondered out loud.

"I think it's because she deemed him weak, so she decided to take care of him before he gives any information."

"Yeah, he immediately gave her up when you were beating down on him." Harold looked at his partner and gave a half smile.

Edgar lets out a small laugh. "Yeah, I got carried away. I mean, he almost killed me."

"So, we know that she's the bookkeeper and that Fogbow Spectrum is a bank. That makes it easier to find her. We just need to go around looking for a bank and she'll be there."

"You make it seem too easy." Edgar said, sceptically.

"It would be if our enemies didn't already know who we are. If only we could do something about that."

"What are you thinking?"

Harold smiles. "How about a disguise?"

Edgar's eyes brighten up. "You mean like undercover police?"

"Yeah! We can change what we look like and infiltrate the local bank."

"I don't know if it'll work, but I'll go along with whatever you have planned. I owe you my life, you know."

Harold shakes his head. "You don't need to bring that up. I would have saved your life regardless of anything."

With that said, the boys go outside and find a clothing store. They then went back to the inn while making sure to not be followed. Once back inside their room, they each take turns changing into several costumes. Harold now looks like he has long black hair and Edgar looks like he has blonde hair.

"Let's go and see if the girls will recognize us." Harold said.

"Good idea! We can test our disguise on them first." Edgar agreed.

The boys leave their room and knock on the girls' room. Cecilia answered after several knocks.

"Oh, hi, boys!" Cecilia said. "What's with the new look?"

Harold and Edgar look at each and frown. Apparently, their disguise has no effect on Cecilia.

"I'll explain in a bit," Harold said. "Is Lily around?"

No need for anyone to call Stella, she just walks up behind her mom and yawns. "Hi, Harold! Hi, Edgar!"