Mira Squad Tales-Portals

      “Investigating the portals as well, Shadow Breeze?” I asked him, startling him in the process, but he quickly recovered from the shock.

      “I am, Blizzard. I’m heading to the library for some more research into the portals, as the information from Ramtor’s Spellbook is limited, mainly because some of the spells are untranslated. What about you and your friend?”

      “We’re heading to the archives to determine how a dead Neopian is related to these portals. Tell you what, since we’re both investigating the same thing, why don’t we meet up later and discuss our results?” He nodded.

      When we arrived at the archives, I asked the curator on duty, a Gold Korbat, if he had any information on Magon. He quickly left his spot for a few minutes before returning with a couple of heavy books.

      “The information that you seek should be in these Court of Knowledge transcripts. The library has some more information as well regarding the Neopian that you’re inquiring about,” he told us. I thanked him before heading towards the nearest table to read and soon found what I was looking for.

      Of course, there were times where it was hard to decipher the cursive writing, but with Brooke’s help, we were able to get the essence of what the proceedings against Magon were about. Knowing that it was important, I quickly wrote a summary of the proceedings in my notepad. While I did not tell him where we were meeting, I had a feeling that Shadow Breeze was still at the library, so I thought it would be best to check on him and see how he was faring.

      I had expected Shadow Breeze to be buried in books, but instead, he was talking to one of the librarians, a Red Aisha, as he was writing something down in his notepad. It appeared that he was investigating something. We waited until he was finished interviewing the Aisha before we came up to him.

      “Before I forgot, Shadow Breeze, you weren’t properly introduced to my friend as you were in a rush. This is Brooke, a Neopian who came from one of the portals. Anyways, what’s the situation?”

      “As you noticed earlier, I was talking to one of the librarians. Apparently, the library was attacked early yesterday morning just as they were about to open for the day. They’re not sure what is missing, mainly due to the fact the some of the items have been checked out, so they’re checking their inventory as we speak, but it is a slow process, due to the amount. There’s also a librarian that is currently in the infirmary recovering after he was attacked by the assailant.” Brooke told us that she would handle that interview before she left, surprising Shadow Breeze slightly, mainly because he had not expected Brooke to be a private investigator like us.

      As soon as he gave me the information, I began to wonder if the various theories and notes on the portals were missing, given the circumstances, so I went up to the Red Aisha and asked her about Magon, motioning Shadow Breeze to follow me. When I asked her, she took me to the shelf where his theories were, only to find the spot empty. She asked several librarians if it had been checked out. All of them shook their heads.

      When I asked Shadow Breeze what books he was planning on using for his research, he immediately listed a couple of books to the librarians. They went off to locate the books, only to come back empty-handed, confirming what I had suspected. Thanks to the information we have given the librarians, they knew of what books were now missing, so they went off to compile a list for us.

      “Obviously, those notes are useless to the ordinary Neopians, but not to a mage. Still, why go through all the trouble of stealing them when one could read them here at their own pace? It’s not like they have any value, Neopoints wise,” Shadow Breeze said after the librarians left. I began thinking.

      “In a sense, mages are similar to scientists, constantly researching and performing experiments in order to find the truth. In other words, our suspect is putting those theories on portals into practice.” When I was finished, I quickly eyed the spellbook Shadow Breeze had before asking him if I could borrow it for a brief moment. He nodded as he handed it over.

      Using my knowledge of previous cases, along with my memories from the past, I began flipping pages until I found the two spells that I was looking for. I quickly studied them before coming to a conclusion.

      Unfortunately, before I could tell Shadow Breeze about my findings, the castle bells began ringing at a rapid constant rate, leading me to suspect that the town or castle was under attack. A few seconds later, that was confirmed when something came barreling in through one of the stained glass windows, destroying it. After it unravelled itself to reveal that it was a Wraith, it tried to attack us but was quickly stopped by Shadow Breeze.

      “So it’s not just ordinary Neopians that are being brought here by portals, but monsters such as that Wraith are being transported from a previous Battle of Brightvale. Based on that alone, it’s likely that someone wants to create chaos, seeing as there are at least two worlds now involved in this mess,” Shadow Breeze commented. I nodded at his assessment as the theory sounded right with the information that we had so far, and it did not seem farfetched.

      Shadow Breeze wanted to stay behind at the library as a precautionary measure just in case more Wraiths decided to attack the castle. As there was likely plenty of Wraiths in the town, I headed out to the actual battlefield to help repel the invaders, picking up a generic Brightvale lance from the armoury on my way. Although I was concerned about Brooke not being much of a fighter, there was no time for me to stop at the infirmary for various reasons.

      My concerns were unfounded as there were a couple of times I spotted her in the battlefield, thanks to the combination of her Galaxy Hair and Cosmic Space Faerie Leggings making her stand out from the other combatants, as she battled Wraiths with a generic Brightvale mace. Still, there was no way for me to talk to her as both of us were preoccupied with the battle.

      Throughout the battle, there were times where I swore I spotted some portals closing up, but there were still plenty of wraiths within the area. The tide was eventually turned when a White Usul with a blue bow and hairbands came skating by and took out a huge chunk of the Wraith population with her custom made Sword of Domar via an icy shockwave. I knew exactly who it was.

      When the battle was over, I took the time to quickly scan the area. While there were still some portals remaining, nothing was coming out of them, which was a huge relief. Compared to the previous Battle of Brightvale, the damage done to the infrastructure was limited, probably because we had not been caught off guard as much by the sudden appearance of the Wraiths.

      Soon after, I focused my attention to see where either Brooke or Ocean were. Fortunately for me, I could see Ocean bandaging some cuts on Brooke’s leg and arm. They looked up as they saw me approach.

      “Brooke, I see that you’ve already met Ocean. Anyways, once she is finished bandaging your wounds, I need to talk to you alone.” It took her a few seconds to realize what I had been talking about.

      After Ocean gave me her approval when she was finished, we soon found a place within the battleground where it was isolated enough for us to talk. We took a seat on the nearby rocks.

      “Brooke, as an amateur sleuth, I’m sure that you’re aware that I was hiding some information from you. At the time, I did not think it was necessary to tell you, but now, the circumstances have changed.”

      “I had a feeling, but I figured it was because of the fact that I’m from a different Neopia, things were bound to change. I know you weren’t hiding it on purpose just to obstruct the investigation, but to protect me. Anyways, now that I’m deeply involved in this mess, please tell me what’s going on.”

      “I’m the leader of an organization within the Defenders of Neopia, named the Mira Squad. Normally, we’re only active if there’s a major threat to the DoN. However, in this case, since the safety and security of all of Neopia is threatened with the portals we need all the resources that we can use to stop this.”

      “And I’ll assist you and your team in any way that I can. Since you’re involved, I take it that the rest of your family is as well?” I nodded. She seemed to understand that Aaron was going to be involved.

      When we were finished, I went down to the Brightvale division of the DoN as I needed to send a message to Agent Knoll urgently. As soon as I gave the message to a Pink Lenny to inform Agent Knoll about setting up a meeting with the Space Faerie, the messenger was confused. I had to assure the Lenny that Agent Knoll would understand the meaning of the message. While still confused, the messenger understood my message and left.

      As soon as we returned home, I went up to Aaron and asked if any of my siblings informed him on what was going on, as I had assumed that they had already received the letter from Agent Knoll regarding the upcoming meeting. He nodded, making things easier for me to explain. I did not have to explain that much as he had already been informed by my sister.

      Before I headed back to my office to put up some additional notes on my chalkboard, Brooke came up to me and gave me her report from the librarian that was attacked. As soon as she mentioned that the assailant was a Green Lutari resembling Doctor R. Landelbrot, I knew something was up as it was not something that he would do, despite his quirks. Still, it was a possible lead for us, so I told Brooke that I would be helping her interview Doctor Landelbrot when we had the chance.

To be continued…