What Rinvar did first when arriving home was to dive onto his bed, burying his face on glowing, white, fresh-scented sheets. His wife must have thought of him doing the exact same thing by the time he reaches the privacy of his room. Four wall lamps gave off a soft white glow when his presence was felt inside the place. His head broke free of the pillow's embrace minutes later; his gaze shifted to the small stack of papers he tossed aside by the time he opened the door to his sleeping chamber.

"Damn. There's still work to do."

His arms found it hard to let go of the smooth tenderness; they seemed to have minds of their own and decided to rebel against his head. His eyes still did not divert from the documents; Rinvar swore that he could see arms forming on the edges of the papers, waving at the investigator to come and read them. Either the coffee or the chocolate had something to do with this, perhaps both of them worked in tandem to bring him to a degree of madness. Rinvar's legs felt like lead, frozen in place by the magnetic hold of the bed. If only he could be more willing to move about after the string of incidents that almost cost him his life. He made a couple of grunts before he lifted himself off his bed to take a read on the papers again.

Rinvar darted to the wide study table not far from the bed, spreading the envelope's contents fanwise against its surface. His hand picked up a film of dust that gathered at the surface - Elena wasn't able to anticipate everything after all, or perhaps she left the table as that one spot he still needed to clean when he got home.

A picture of the giant footprint was the first item his fingers grasped on. He didn't know if his instinct took over and snagged at the exhibit by impulse, or it was the face that the picture might have stood out among the gathered pile. He brought the picture to the light, scanning at the edges in search of something he missed out when he was looking at it back at the Antikwald. There were very few things that could make such an imprint; a machine could be behind this, it has to be the only sensible source he could think of.

"You, of all people, still believe in monsters?"

Farin's laughter echoed inside his head. He knew for a fact that she meant well, but there could be no doubt that there was a tinge of mockery that hovered about in her wording. Those creatures no longer existed on this plane, but how come he could not shake off the possibility that one of those forgotten denizens was the source of the imprint?

He almost tossed the picture out of the table; the photograph glided and spun around until the table border brought it to a halt. Rinvar took his attention on the other pictures, trying to imagine a scene of what possibly could have happened during that scene in the forest. It could have started with one party coming across a competing group set up machines and possible traps in the area. There must have been a disagreement between how the groups would operate, and this led to a standoff between each other. Only a few shots were fired before both parties took cover and hid away. The fire could have started when one of the machines exploded during the confrontation. Anything could have spread the flames: a ruptured fuel tank, sensitive wirings, perhaps even the machine itself was built to burn. Rinvar wanted to be convinced that a hunting party standoff was the cause of the Antikwald, and yet there was something that stopped him from concluding that it was so.

Again, the photograph of the footprint gleamed against his study lamp.

Why was there a feeling that this stood at the center of the entire event?

Screw this, Rinvar thought. He was too tired to find "logical connections" that pieced together the events in the scene. Maybe there was that illogical clue that would get him somewhere, and the source of all the baffling logic was the footprint itself. There could be men were looking for a rare creature that only existed in the tongues of rumormongers and found it lying deep in the forest. They could have used machines to trap the monster but to no avail, but why was there no evidence of a broken rope or chain in the scene? The metals could have melted into the forest ground while the creature struggled with the hunters, or in the case of rope, fire ate it away to ash. It was impossible for such a monster to not leave traces of broken bindings during its escape; the soldiers would have found a chain or a rope dangling on a tree not far from the site.

The monster was too large to remain unseen; a towering creature would have been too clumsy to move through the forest without causing a commotion. The Army detachment would have found knocked-down trees at farther reaches should the creature attempt to flee on foot. Flying out of the forest would have also earned it the attention of the nearby townspeople. That would draw more attention to the monster and the local guard would have been summoned to track and bring it down.

His thoughts were put to a halt later on; trusting in his imagination too much completely departed from what he was supposed to do as an investigator. Rinvar thought of making a visit to his cupboard for coffee but a knock on the door disturbed the thought out of his mind.

"Are you still awake?" A low, soothing voice pushed through the door.

"Elena?" Rinvar tried to gather the pictures in one clump, but he stopped in the attempt midway. "You can come in."

"I called it right." She entered the room with a tray containing a pair of metal mugs. "I thought that I could have a night with you. Times like this are getting rarer now that you're being too focused on your work."

"The job's getting harder, but I'm not feeling that I'm getting any closer to finding out where the Gray Fox is." Rinvar took one of the mugs by the handle; the thick smoke began caressing his lips.

"So how far have you been in the case?"

"You know that I can't tell you too much, but all I can say is I still don't know where that guy could be hiding."

"It did take the Empire a few years to uncover one of his major places, and I wouldn't think the Gray Fox is the type to become lax after one of his domains fall."

"He's no slacker, and that I tell you. All we found are possibly some of his equipment left after having his men fight on a phony war."

"All the more he lives up to his name." Elena sat down beside the investigator, not minding that Rinvar unwillingly left the photographs in plain view. "It did take Lord Cecil months to uncover one of his locations-"

"Only to find himself captured, or presumably killed by the crime lord - not a very good ending for him." Rinvar eased his back on the chair and took a gulp of the drink. "I've got to thank him somehow for all this; nobody would have gotten this close to the Gray Fox if not for him."

"So, are you able to find a clue that leads to anything?"

"There isn't much to work with, except for him probably leaving behind a bunch of things that could have belonged to his syndicate."

"I don't see that being of much help yet." Elena moved focus from her man to the window. "I hope that things will do well in the long run. I always pray for your well-being, to keep you safe as you move closer to the truth."

"Thanks, and I'm keeping you worried too much." Rinvar drew Elena closer to him; she responded with one of her arms wrapping around him. "I wonder about one thing though. It's silly, really."

"Ask away."

"Do you think that monsters still exist in the country?"

"That question came all too sudden."

"It's been bugging me these past few days. I've been looking at this case and yet it doesn't escape my mind that something far beyond the ordinary happened somewhere."

"Which is why you're thinking that a monster could be the answer that you need, am I correct?"

"You can say that."

"Records of old said that there was an age where monsters used to dominate the lands, until men grew in enough numbers to be a real threat to them." Elena began talking; her embrace was growing warmer on Rinvar. "Father had tomes, records about a war with monsters centuries ago that ultimately led to their banishment."

"Banishment? You mean extinction, right?"

"Some of the creatures we challenged were too powerful to be slain, and our ancestors dealt with them by devising a means to transport, or imprison them to another world."

"Strange. Then why don't we have any evidence of this?"

"It's not that we don't have evidence of them, but then the men of old feared that passing on the knowledge to their descendants would create bigger mistakes. They decided to keep that knowledge to themselves as a measure." Elena said, "We do have a few tourist sites that are rumored to be dimensional 'zones' of old."

"Don't tell me that the Vaughnstadt Sigil is one of them."

"Then don't be surprised if I tell you otherwise."

"There's no way I'm falling for that. It's an artist who made that huge symbol on rock." Rinvar set the mug aside and held his spouse in return. "There's no way that some monster will come out of the blue and scare everyone else there."

"Suit yourself." Elena's voice became even more relaxed; Rinvar's bed seemed to lure her to sleep. "All I'm telling you is just based on what Father has taught me. You could visit him if you want to read up on it. I just found it strange that going through a history lesson will help you with your job."

"Call me crazy, but there's something I need to know, and I hope that this whole idea is just my head making up stuff along the way. I'll have to make a trip to your father's archives very soon if that's the case." Rinvar was beginning to draw Magister Demian's face in his mind. "He'll sure love the company along with his dusty old books."

"Let me tell you right now that his tomes aren't gathering that much dust nowadays." Elena's speech was slowed down; she was leaning on Rinvar's chest when she went on. "He's happy that Luminberg is finally picking up and drawing more students in. He believes that this is the 'Golden Age' the Academy is going to have."

"That's great. Your old man will have his hands full at work."

A burst of laughter squeaked out of Elena's lips, which was subdued later on. Rinvar almost forgot about the pictures that lay scattered across his desk. He knew that his wife wouldn't mind, but he couldn't risk letting her even take a look at them. It wasn't a matter of trust, but more of Rinvar keeping up with what was required of him to do his work.

"Rinvar." Elena looked right at the investigator's eyes. He felt a tense air coming from her. "I know that you're aware that you are up against a very dangerous man. It's not like I've not been part of this world before. I'm... scared of what might happen to you out there."

"Believe me Love, I'm just as scared." Rinvar's hands were holding on to Elena. "If there's an easier way to deal with this mission without having to risk my neck out there, I won't think twice in taking it."

"I know. I should be with you on this." Her hands climbed up to his shoulders, sliding on them before they fell back to his chest. "I shouldn't be worrying too much about it."

"We'll make it, and get this whole job over with. That I promise."

"I'll hold on to your word Rinvar." A smile formed on Elena's lips right before her head leaned on his chest. "You won't mind if I get my hands full on you. It has been some time since I get to do this to you, and I'm missing it like mad."

"Be my guest." He looked at her and landed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Let me give you a lot more of what you're missing."

Both fell to each other's embrace; the night grew colder and the room lights became dimmer.