The Past

          "Adrion! ADRION WHERE ARE YOU!" a woman shouts, amplifying her voice through a makeshift funnel with her hands. The woman is visibly shattered with nothing but concern in her eyes as she yells out her son's name. The woman is of average height and slender. Her blond hair and clothes are soaking wet from both rain and sweat. With a flashlight, she searches the vast woods behind her backyard. You can see multiple flashlights moving about in the dark woods. The townsfolk have been searching for nearly sixteen hours, each calling out the name "Adrion" at different intervals. The continuous light rain has softened the ground, making it harder to traverse, especially in steeper areas.

          Two men in police uniforms approach the woman. "I'm sorry, mam, but we're going to have to call it a night," one of the officers tells her as he wipes sweat from his brow.

          "NOOO, you can't!" the woman yells. Tears run down her cheeks, "... we still haven't found my son…" she continues as she falls to the ground. The officers look at each other and appear to be disappointed in themselves.

          "I know this may sound like excuses, but we have a quarter of the police force out here with damn near half the town. Roughly half the police force left to investigate the neighboring towns. We've searched nearly five square kilometers of these blasted woods…" the second officer shoves his right hand in front of the first one to quiet him.

          "Mrs. Engel. It's well past midnight. We've been searching for sixteen hours now. Everyone is exhausted. The townspeople have been throwing in the towel already. I'm afraid no one here has the magic or special ability to help with the search. As the police force, we have many matters to attend to. We need our rest. We can continue another time."

          The woman swiftly leaps up, and before she can assault the officer, she is grabbed from behind. A towering bulky man in a thick rugged jacket holds her from behind. The woman tries to get loose as she yells. "I'm sorry about my wife. She's just distraught about the whole situation. We thank you so much for gathering the search party to look for our little boy," the man says in a deep voice as he falls to the ground holding his wife tight in his embrace. He looks as if he'd cry at any second now. The officers turn around, and before they walk away, the second officer turns his head back at the couple.

          "We're calling off the search party, but the case will remain open. We've sent word to an investigator with a special power in finding people. We'll try our best to find your son… regardless of the state he's in…."

          "T-thank you," the man speaks softly as his wife weeps onto his arms.

          "Alright, everyone, we're calling it a night. Wrap it up and get some rest," the officers yell out. The remaining townspeople began walking in the direction to exit the woods, looking defeated after coming up with nothing from their long search.

- One Week Later

          Yulia, the mother of the abducted child, sits on the couch. Her lifeless eyes stare across the living room. Yulia was the last person to see her son before Adrion was taken in the woods before her own eyes. At least that's what she claims. She told investigators that she was concerned about Adrion talking about a friend he had been playing with in the woods. On the third day, she went to look for him and saw that this "friend" was nothing like she was expecting. It was a tall, pale woman with golden eyes. She wore a dark gray dress that stood out as odd since she was in the woods. The mysterious woman had a golden silk cape that started on her right shoulder and wrapped around her back to end just in front of her left thigh. The cape's color matched the golden bracelets around her biceps and the skinny horns protruding from the top of her head. Yulia says she yelled over to her child to return to her, and that's when the mysterious woman smiled in a smug yet creepy manner as she grabbed Adrion by the shoulder. Yulia ran forward in an attempt to get her child back. Adrion held his arm out towards his mother, but a mysterious void opened on the ground. Yulia collapsed where her child and his abductor were just standing. Both gone without a trace.

          When special investigator Orson White was called in, Yulia's hope of finding her child was crushed. Like many people, Orson possesses a magic ability. Mr. White's power specializes in finding people, regardless of where the missing person may be. However, his track record took a sudden dip in the past few weeks. Adrion is only the most recent case of missing children. Across the country, there have been numerous reports of missing children ranging from 6 through 8, both male and female. The term "black witch in gold" has been reported in many of these cases. Of the recent missing children cases, 97% or 50 of them came to a sudden dead end. Mr. White claims, "It almost as if the children never existed."

          A large hand grabs hold of Yulia's shoulder. The arm belongs to Henry, Yulia's husband. He is a tall and strongly built man who works as a carpenter. The size of his arms is most likely from the constant wood carving he does. Henry has brown hair that is cut short to not get in the way of his eyes while he works, though his thick beard is quite lengthy. He is currently sporting a thick flannel shirt with brown pants.

          Henry speaks up, "come on dear, dinner is ready. It's been a while since you last ate anything." There was no response from Yulia. "We have to remain strong in times like these. The rest of our children need their mother now more than ever," Henry continues. Those words seem to have returned some color in Yulia's eyes. She has a look of realization and covers her mouth with her hands.

          Yulia gasps, "... you're right… I'm so sorry…." Yulia wipes her eyes before tears can form. She gets up from the couch, and they walk over to the round dining table. Two of the five seats are taken by their other children. The eldest son is Lars, who is nine years old, two years older than Adrion. The other is the couple's youngest and only daughter, Hilda, who is five years old. Yulia and Henry sit around the table.

          Henry serves food to everyone's plate, and they all dig in quietly. Yulia slowly moves her food around with her fork, rarely taking a bite. She pierces a small cut of medium-rare steak and uses her knife to shove rice onto the fork. She lifts the fork and leads it toward her mouth.

          "THUD THUD THUD THUD" a heavy bang came from the front door.

          Yulia drops her fork onto the plate while Henry gets up from his seat. "Who the heck could that be?" Henry says softly. He cautiously exits the kitchen and approaches the front door. He peeks through the window, and his eyes widen. Henry quickly unlocks and opens the door. "Oh my God!" Henry yells and runs out. Yulia gets up from her seat, curious to see what's happening. She signals to Lars, who also got up, to remain there. Yulia rushes to the front door and nearly drops to her knees when she looks out the door. Henry crouches beside a young child on the front steps and lifts the child.

          "Adrion!" Yulia yells and runs out the door. "Oh my god, it's really him!" Yulia exclaims as her tears drip down onto her unconscious child.

          Adrion is only 130 cm tall. His hair is on the shorter side and is a medium blonde with brown tones. He is wearing the same clothes as the day he was taken, but they are filthy and torn. Henry checks Adrion's pulse and breathing and deduces that they appear relatively normal. The parents quickly gather the other children, plan to get Adrion checked up, and report to the police.

          Adrion woke up soon after being checked up. After a medical professional analyzed Adrion, official authorities questioned the boy. A few things were found out after the post-investigation.

1. Despite minor scratches, Adrion seems to be in perfect health.

2. Adrion refrained from telling most of the events while he was gone, except that he was the only survivor. He claims his memories are fogged.

3. The dried blood on his clothing was found to not belong to Adrion but rather from various others. Most likely some of the other children.

4. The whole situation is more than just a supernatural occurrence.

          The authorities ruled to keep the entire situation a secret. They erased all evidence that Adrion was one of the kids abducted so that the parents of the other missing children wouldn't target Adrion and his family. The other parents never got word that their children were most likely dead. A conclusive answer to the events was never met.