On the supermoon night of May 26, 2021, a shadow appeared on Rocker Street of Winterdell. There was a lingering eeriness in that area at night. The wolf's shadow turned into a man's shadow with the few steps it took towards the telephone booth. The man dressed in the long overcoat with its collar hiding his face entered the telephone booth. He pressed a few of the dialling pads of the metal phone without holding the handset and paying any money. In a moment, the person in the booth vanished.

The man was teleported to the front of a pub with a neon sign reading "RED LION." The moment he entered, it started raining. The pub was full of people from different walks of life. Everyone was busy drinking, gambling, and enjoying the night with their friends. Cigarette smoke filled the room, making it difficult to breathe.

'Welcome to Red Lion'

'Would you like me to guide you?' a young waiter wearing a white shirt asked. The man asked him to guide him to the room upstairs. Both of them walked past the gambling table to the staircase. As they walked up the old staircase, the creaking sound was muffled by the loud noise downstairs.

It was pitch black on the first floor. Still, they managed to follow the voices coming from the left corridor. As they approached the voices, the light escaping the small gap between the door and its frame lit the way in front of them. The young waiter left to go back downstairs. The man entered the room. Everyone stopped talking as they saw the door open.

'Hello! Wilfrid.''Welcome back. It's been a long time, no see.'

'Hey there,' greeted everyone present in the room.

The walls were off-white due to dust accumulated over the years, while a long old oak wood table occupied the centre of the room. Ten chairs were around the table for the guests. The room was not in good condition, and the poor lighting did not help. The pub was not in good condition, and the rooms upstairs proved neglected.

Wilfrid Motley was the name of the man who just joined the group present in the room. The seat for the head of the meeting was left empty. Seven people were seated at the table. Basil Wolfe, Louie Wheeler, Carl Schultz and Terry Hunt were on the left side. On the right side was occupied by Don Reyes, Roxanne Walsh, and Dawn Haynes. Wilfrid took a seat next to Ms Haynes. After Wilfrid settled down, everyone started conversing. The meeting had yet to begin, and the host had not arrived. Louie and Basil were busy talking while Carl was glaring at Wilfrid. There was tension between the two of them. Wilfrid was getting impatient as the time dragged on.

After fifteen minutes, the door opened again. An old man in his 60s wearing a burgundy robe came in. There was a moment of silence in the room. Now, the older man, Aldrich Carlson, occupied the seat of the head of the meeting. The meeting began.

'Hello, everyone!''Thank you for coming here on short notice. Today, we are here to discuss choosing the new head to be the leader of the Emerald faction. The seat of the leader has been empty since Terence Woolridge died and Paige went missing.'

Wilfrid and Don interrupted.

'We still need to find out where Paige is. The Emerald is still missing.'

'We cannot wait any longer. It has already been 20 years since Terrance died and his only daughter went missing,' Basil said.

Wilfrid was holding his anger throughout the meeting. 'I can not agree to this. The Woolridge family was responsible for the faction. They were the ones chosen since the beginning.'

'No one can handle the faction and harness the stone's powers.'

'We are not inferior to the Woolridge. We have prepared our successor since the Woolridge family tree ended with Paige. We can not wait around. There is no successor left behind as the whole family had no heir,' Carl smirked.

Carl was unaffected by Don and Wilfrid's protest. The Motley family is the leader of the Scarlet faction, while the Reyes family leads the Vianite. Aldrich is the headmaster of the Winterdell Academy, and the senior professors at the academy are also present. The Winterdell Ministry of Magic was under the royal family of Winterdell. Since Basil Wolfe is the current royal member managing the ministry, his presence is mandatory for the meeting.

Basil's opinion of the matter could dictate the decision to some extent. Carl looked at Basil for his input. He has been coaxing the Royal family for their favour in gaining the position. The Royal family's stance on the matter was still unclear.

'Let's wait a bit more. We do not have to rush regarding this matter. The Emerald is still missing while the barrier's strength is weakening. Finding the stone is more important now. The stone can choose the heir,' Basil finally spoke.

Carl was furious at his reply. Basil glanced at Wilfrid, avoiding Carl's gaze. 'We should end this discussion here,' Basil continued.

'There is a lot of work at the ministry. I will take my leave.'

'Since the ministry is not in a rush, we will wait for the leads.'

'With this, let us end the meeting,' said the headmaster calmly.

At this point, Carl was irritated. He was the first one to leave the room. Basil calmly stood up and walked towards the door. Wilfrid rushed towards the door and held the doorknob, preventing Basil from leaving the room. Wilfrid was curious about Basil's stance regarding the whole matter.

'Why did you do that in the meeting?' Wilfrid asked out of curiosity.'I know what happened 15 years ago in Finrich. Did you think you could hide anything from me?' Basil was amused at how nervous and annoyed it made Wilfrid.

Wilfrid looked down at the floor to hide his nervous state. His mind went blank at the mention of Finrich. For a moment, he stood there motionless.

'You should hurry up and find the heir before Carl learns about its existence. I can not avoid him any longer. If you fail this time, we will be forced to decide at the next meeting.'

Basil's firm statement broke Wilfrid's trance. Wilfrid thanked him and moved out of the way to let him leave.

All the professors were busy with Don. They all had a concerned look during their intense conversation.

'I can not prevent the discussion from getting out of control next time,' Aldrich spoke, coming towards Wilfrid, who was still sweating.

'Today, Basil and my authority kept him under control. The next meeting will be in the ministry. All the factions, with their leaders, will be there. Our authority will be of no use at that time. You have to find it before they do.'

Wilfrid looked at Aldrich with worry. He knew there was no time for him to waste. Two other faction leaders were neutral, while Don's support was insufficient. Aldrich patted his back. This man in his 40s was still like a kid to him.

Aldrich and the professors bid their goodbye.

Don and Wilfrid were left alone in a room filled with silence. Don gave an assuring look, patting his shoulder.

'We will find them before they do.''We have to. There is not much time left till the next meeting. Let's move fast. Tell everyone to use all the sources. I want results asap.'

Both of them left the room after a few more exchanges. It was almost midnight by the time they left the pub. The night was very stressful for both of them.

It's been two weeks later since the last meeting.

Wilfrid stood near the large rectangular glass window in his office. The wind was blowing violently against the windowpane. It was a stormy night; lighting shone in the distant sky. That day, thunder was loud enough to shake the glass of the windows. The old glass windows rattled to the sound of thunder, breaking the silence of the room where the man stood.

Soon, heavy rain followed the storm. The office was dark, but light from the thunder occasionally lit it.

*knock knock*

'Come in'

A seventeen-year-old boy walked into the room. Wilfrid uttered some ancient words, filled with yellow light from the light orbs hanging from the ceiling.

The walls of the room had wooden shelves reaching the ceiling. The room was full of ancient to modern books arranged according to different categories in the collection: the hand-carved rosewood and teak wood furniture set decorated the room. At first glance, the room appeared to look like an ordinary study, but on a closer look, one could see the unusual antiques blending in with the background. The desk table was in front of the main window where Wilfrid stood. The tabletop was a mess, with a pile of unorganized papers on the side, and the other had a black ink bottle and an ink-stained sheet below it. Some of the half-crushed documents were on the floor.

Wilfrid was still anxiously looking outside the window. He didn't bother to look at the boy who walked closer to the table.

'What are you doing here so late?'

'I want you to look at something for me,' the boy replied calmly. Wilfrid was irritated at his presence, which pulled him out of his deep thoughts.

He turned around to look at the young boy.

'Alec, I have told you not to disturb me with your petty matters for a month.'

Alexander Motley was seventeen years old and standing in front of Wilfrid. He was Wilfrid's firstborn, with short platinum blonde hair and aqua-blue eyes. Water was dripping from his black robe wrapped around his body, wet from the heavy rain.

'I rushed from the tower to give you these documents. I can't figure out the strange things happening to me.'

Alec looked serious; the dark circles around his eyes were proof of it. He took the tightly gripped documents from under the robe and hesitated to hand them over. Sighing again, he handed them over to his father. Wilfrid was puzzled at first. Slowly, his expression changed to one of shock.

'Is this true?' Wilfrid inquired.

Alec nodded in response.

'Since when did you start experiencing it?'

'Since December of the last year. I thought I was hallucinating due to overwork.' Alec was nervous and anxious now.

'Then why did you come to me?' Wilfrid tried to be calm.

'I first wanted to look at it independently and find the reason. I stayed in the tower for three months to review the records. At first, I didn't believe it. Still, it continued every night.'

Alec was rushing through the explanation.

'I found this from those records. You were the last to write a similar record,' Alec pointed out the documents in his father's hand.

At first, Wilfrid thought it was some joke his son was pulling to get his attention. As his son continued the explanation, his body started to tense. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he forgot his son had stopped speaking. Everything was still for a long moment. The storm also had quieted down.

'Do you know the reason for it?' asked Alec, breaking the long silence between them. Wilfrid was pulled back from his thoughts, remained still for a second and finally nodded.

'Are you wearing the Ruby pendant, Alec?'

'Is there any relation between the two?' his son responded.

He rubbed his head and sat on the chair near the table.

'Give it to me. I will explain it to you after a few days. I will look into it.'

He stretched his left hand toward the boy.

Alec was reluctant. Nevertheless, he removed the silver pendant and handed it over. He wanted to ask many things but knew how stressed his father was.

'I will come to you in a few days. Please give me the answers at that time.

With this, he bowed and left the room. Wilfrid's thoughts were disoriented. He looked at the magically alluring oval-shaped ruby embedded in silver, attached to a thin silver chain. It was a darkly red oval halo cluster silver pendant. The gemstone had an enormous magical essence. In a playscript font, Scarlet was engraved at its back, along with its first owner's name, C. Motley.