A look back: Case 1

 The colorful lights of the lamps made the whole city of Modar look like one big rainbow of colors. Despite the below-zero temperatures, the lights and ornaments made the atmosphere much warmer. A little girl, dressed in a warm coat and a thick red scarf tied into a ribbon, walked through the main street under a sea of white lights, making her feel as if she were in a magical land. She imagined herself a princess walking through a castle corridor to an amazing ball.
She wasn't that far off.
At the end of the corridor of lights stood her father. The moment he saw her, he crouched down and held out his arms.
"Kureha!" he said, smiling broadly. The girl couldn’t contain herself and jumped straight into his arms.
"Where's Mommy?" she asked, her eyes glistening.
"She's waiting at home. She said she has a surprise for us.”
“What kind of surprise?”
“Mmm, I don’t know. Maybe a banquet?”
"Or a ball?"
"Possibly. We'll ask her when we come back."
"Okay!"

Held in her father’s arms, the girl started humming a popular melody from the Summer Festival of Gratitude in Modar. Little Kureha couldn’t wait to get back home. Just like every summer, when the first snowflakes started to fall, her mom was preparing something in secret. Last year, it was a picnic by the fireplace in the living room; before that, it was a dragon-slaying game. What would it be this time? She didn't see her mother much because of her job, so every summer festival was something she eagerly awaited, as it meant she would be able to spend more time with her doing extraordinary things.

They lived close to the main street because of her mother’s job. Kureha and her father understood that her mother wanted to be close to the police department headquarters in case she was called in. Their neighbors often said it was rare to see a wife more devoted to her job than to her husband, who lived with their daughter. Kureha didn't quite understand them, but she didn't care much. Her mother was dazzling to her no matter what others said. She fought the lurking danger in Modar's shadows with a legendary hero's sword. Moreover, she looked amazing in her combat uniform. Kureha would love to see her mother during her job, but she was too young.
That's why she promised herself that she would join the police force and fight alongside her mother in the future.
While Kureha was dreaming of fighting against the evil, they finally arrived. Her father turned left into an alley and went straight to the stairs that led to their small but cozy apartment. He stood before the door, rang the bell, and waited.
There was no response.
He laughed and tried to ring the bell again.
Once again, there was no response.
He did this several times, and each time his smile became smaller until it disappeared completely. Kureha’s father looked pale. He rang the doorbell of one of their neighbors. An older woman came out of the right door.
“Do you need something, Mr. Thornlee?” she asked.
"Could you take care of my daughter for a little while?"
His paleness was enough for the elderly woman to understand that something horrible had happened.
"Of course," she said, taking the little girl into her arms.
"Daddy, what's going on?" The little girl looked straight into her father's eyes. His worry was reflected in hers.
“Don’t worry. It'll be okay," he said, then turning to the neighbor lady, "Thank you."
The woman nodded and firmly held the little girl's hand.
He went back. However,

“Kureha, darling, come back!” the lady screamed. Kureha bit her hand, and when she was free, she ran straight to the door and opened it.
"Kureha!" her father called her name in a panicked voice.

But she ignored him. She didn't notice the mess in the hallway when she was going through it and went straight to the living room. There, when the girl looked up, all the color drained from her face in less than a second.

The entire room was overtaken by chaos. The furniture was destroyed. The sofas had deep gashes, as if a wild animal had scratched them with its claws. The floor was covered in colorful pieces of paper and glass from shattered festival baubles. Only the lights hanging on the wall flickered intermittently. In the middle of the room, above the table covered in spilled desserts and dishes, her mother was hanging. Her face was purple with an angry grimace. A thick rope tied around her neck was connected to their small chandelier, the crown of the room. A banner that read “Welcome to the Festival of Gratitude’s Mini Ball, my dear Kureha” was draped over her mother’s body.

Her father went straight after her, covering her eyes as quickly as he could, and hugging her tightly. He felt her trembling body and clenched his teeth. He didn't want Kureha to see her mother like that.
"I should have waited for you to get into Aunt Trevor's house. I’m sorry, Kureha…” His voice started to waver, and then he began to wail, “I’m so sorry!”

***

The small square in the alley next to the main street was not illuminated by magical lights, but rather by the blue and red lights of the police cars that arrived as soon as the call came in.
The newly appointed Chief Boleslava Sophia Lawana appeared at the scene herself.
"I don't want to say anything, but honestly, it looks terrible," she said. Her tone, usually stable and proud, showed a hint of wavering this time. "It looks like she committed suicide, but she definitely didn't," she said while talking with the other police officers. Their examination was interrupted by sudden screams echoing in the living room.
"Where's my sister?!" Loi, a young police intern, went straight to the living room. Before he could get closer to the body, Bolselava drew her sword and stopped him with a single glance. Loi was frozen in place, unable to move an inch.
"Don't disturb the scene," she said coldly and turned to her subordinates. "I thought I was clear. I did not allow family to get close." Her eyes froze everyone inside.
"He used his weapon to get in," answered the policeman who had run inside after Loi.
"Loi," Boleslava began, "go back, and don't step in until I allow it."
Whether he wanted to or not, he had to obey her orders. With that sword in her hands, nobody could disobey the chief.
He went back with tears in his eyes and fell to his knees before the exit doors. The police didn’t stop him from crying and punching the floor. After a while, he curled up and rested against the nearby closet.
He felt something warm on his back for a split second, then turned around.
"Huh...?"
“Is something wrong?” asked a police officer who was there with him, looking worried.
Loi ignored him and opened the small doors of the closet. Inside was a young boy with light hair. He was curled up, hugging his teddy bear tightly. Loi and the other police officers were bewildered.
“We have a witness. It’s a small boy,” one of the officers informed the chief.
"What?" she asked, going straight to the corridor near the entrance where the closet was. She was just as shocked as the others to see such a small child at the scene of such a heinous crime. "We'll have to take him into custody and prepare a questioning." Boleslava touched her chin, thinking about how it could happen. Meanwhile, Loi tried to make the boy come to him.
“Hello, boy. Can you come out?”
“Is it time to come out?” the boy asked. His voice rang like an innocent bell cracked by seeing something terrible.
"Yes, it is. Come here."
The child listened and came out. Loi helped him and lifted him up.
“Who are you, little boy?”
“I’m Luke.”

“What are you doing here?” Loi softly asked.

“Umm.” the boy tried to collect his thoughts “Lady Remi said that today I would meet my little sister. I hid to be a surprise, but people came and made a lot of noise. I fell asleep when they left, and I didn't wake up until you opened the door."
Loi's eyes welled up with tears again after hearing the boy's words. He remembered Remi mentioning a big surprise, but he didn’t expect her to try to adopt a child who lost his parents during one of her missions. He pulled the boy close and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry your surprise was ruined."

“Did something happen to Lady Remi?”
Loi remained silent, only clinging to the boy more tightly in a hug.
The child slowly started to cry, as if Loi’s feelings had been transferred to him.

***

A month later, Loi came to the police headquarters to meet with the new chief, that appeared at the scene of his sister’s death. Boleslava Sophia Lawana was waiting for him in her office, which was as white as snow.
"I know what you want to ask, but there's not much," she said the moment he came in.
His arms fell limp.
"According to the counselors, the boy said it was hard to see anything behind the closet doors.” she continued. “He only heard two perpetrators walk in and the sounds of a fight. The only words he remembered from their conversation were 'snow,' 'mandaga,' 'copy,' 'kill,' and 'crazy.'”
Loi looked at her and asked:
"But in your opinion there is something useful in his words? Right?”
Bolselava smirked.
"Yes." Her eyes sparkled as if she had finally found something she had been looking for a long time. "The forensics team, especially the coroners, all agreed that the cause of death was suffocation by hanging. However, the entire scene and the boy's words confirm that there was a fight.” she looked through the documents displaying on the screen before her. “It was a fight that couldn’t be heard by neighbors. When we interrogated them, they said they didn't hear anything. This means there must have been some kind of silencing barrier.”
As she spoke, Loi began to think deeply and try to remember as much as possible.
"I think the most important word that boy said was copy.'" Loi looked up and met the chief’s gaze. "They're probably copying our system and summoning weapons just like ours."
The chief nodded in agreement.
"That's a good conclusion. They must have used one of the silencing guns that can be summoned through the Elven Summon. Moreover, I doubt that Remi would have much of a problem fighting anyone, unless...” 
"There was someone they could use as a hostage, or they had a weapon more powerful than her Durandal." Loi finished.
"That's right." Boleslava came closer to him and looked at him with a serious face, saying, "But we cannot disclose this to the public. We're going to say that Remi Thornlee committed suicide to lull her killers into a false sense of security, so that they'll come back one day. It will take a long time, but we'll catch her killers sooner or later."
Loi clenched his fists. It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but he had to agree. Overwhelmed by his emotions, he bowed down.
"Thank you. We need to find out who they are."

***

The next day, Loi came back to the headquarters and visited the archives.
He knew any documents related to his sister’s death would be destroyed. He needed to keep at least one document to help him remember the smallest details that could lead him to the truth. 
Loi flashed his ID to the guard and showed him the inside of his backpack. A bottle, a purple folder, and some pens were inside. He explained that he was there to analyze one of the cases. The guard probably knew it was related to Loi’s sister and let him in. The police intern went to the shelf with recent cases and opened a tablet containing information about one of them. Obviously, he couldn’t just take one of the tablets with the case and run away with it. What’s more, with the camera directed at him, he couldn’t just copy and paste, but he had something with him that wouldn’t make it a problem.
He touched his arm and activated his weapon.
While others had swords, bows, or guns, he had something classified as a support item. It was an armband that allowed him to stop time around him. He had previously used it to stop police officers and get to the scene of his sister's murder. Now was the time to use it again.
After stopping time, Loi opened his backpack, took out a purple folder full of papers, and started copying the documents displayed on the tablet manually. Thanks to that, nothing would be recorded on the camera, and there would be no proof that he had used a USB drive or anything else to copy and paste. After quite some time, he left, satisfied with the treasure he had acquired.
Since the contents of his backpack didn't change and the guard didn't bother to open the folder, Loi could easily leave with it.