Evil Arises Pt. I/III [Job ~ Diana]

Investigation:

It had been a little over two months since Rima entered the country of Reim, and she had been scouring through just about everything it had to offer. She had also been practicing her magic along the way, she feels that she's improved quite a bit. However, there are still many things that she needs to learn and go over. She was also currently in the process of actually creating her very own magic. As this thought crossed her mind it made her feel a sense of accomplishment and joy.

After walking for a couple more miles she finally came across the foggy town of Caliginosus. It was completely surrounded by tall mountains and trees, giving it a very ominous and dark setting. As she began to close in on the town she noticed there wasn't even a guard in sight. This was incredibly strange, especially for a town located in the country of Reim. However, she was exhausted from her long journey, and it was still day even though the city was overshadowed by the mountains, so she walked over to a nice tall tree and slid down its base. 'I'm going to take a short nap before getting involved with anything.' she thought to herself before dozing off.

Rima's eyes slowly began to open after being hit by a strong unknown force. Her eyes started to focus after she rubbed them for a couple of seconds, then realized she was face to face with an absolutely enormous beast breathing down on her. Her tan skin quickly turned to a ghost pale after this sight. Her bottom lip started to quiver, and tears began to well up in her eyes. "SO CUTE!" she yelled and proceeded to lunge at the large dog to hug it. However, the dog turned his back on her and she crashed face-first into the ground.

After being denied so harshly by the beast she made eye contact with the young woman standing next to him. It was Diana, whom she had met a few months back when she first entered this country. Her eyes then came to life and a grin began to spread across her face. "Diana?!" she said excitedly and started to walk towards her.

"I'm doing pretty good, how about you?." she said with a faint smile. She then looked down at the book Diana was holding in front of her. A few minutes of silence passed, but Rima finally looked back up and glared into Diana's eyes. "I can't say I know that much about them, but supposedly they might have some info about the person I'm trying to find. I can't confirm that it's the same person...but a girl can hope right?. I got this information out of a bandit a couple towns back."

Rima then directed her eyes towards the village. My friend...I'm going to go ahead and just ask right away. Would you want to look for this serial killer with me?" she said gripping her staff tightly in anticipation. Memories of the last time they did a job together passed through her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was scare her off with her psychotic tendencies

Rima sort of zoned out as Diana was talking to the villagers. Without saying anything she got up and walked over to the dresser near the front door. She gazed upon a beautiful porcelain mask that was on display. At first, it caused a chill to go down her spine, but for some strange reason it looked familiar to her. She glanced at Diana who was sitting on the couch talking to the villagers still and gave her a small hand gesture, notifying her that she was going to go outside.

As she left the building she was practically gasping for air. For some strange reason that house was suffocating her, she just needed a bit of fresh air she thought. After taking a short breather she wandered off and headed deeper into the city. It was still really empty, but a couple of people finally came out of hiding and were going about their natural order. Here and there she got a few strange looks, most likely because of her clothing but she was already used to that.

After wandering around for a good ten minutes she finally came to a job board, she looked at it and noticed a scrap of paper that was referring to the serial killer her and Diana were looking for. She grabbed the paper and noticed it said there was a reward even for people who has the slightest of information about them. A small smirk crossed her face as she started to walk back towards the house she left Diana in.

"Oh hey Diana!" she said whilst walking towards her. She then placed the paper in Diana's hands as a sudden howl came from around the block. "I wonder what the doggie found. We should probably go check it out." she then turned around and began to skip towards where the howl came from. It didn't take very long to get to their destination. It was a large alleyway with a thick smoke lingering in it. She tilted her head a little in confusion as she tried to make out a shape in the smoke. It took only a few moments for her to realize it was a mutilated corpse just hanging there.

She turned to Diana with a frightened look on her face. "I think we found some evidence.."she said with fear in her voice. "I've seen this before..." she then remembered that when she lived with her brother there was a similar string of murders in their town. The grip on her staff tightened as she started to back away from the scene. "I'll go get authorities." she said as she proceeded to distance herself from the alleyway.