Casper stayed quiet for a second on the other end of the line. Sophia heard something being pushed around, then his voice came back, a bit distracted.
"Yeah, I did. Everything checks out. The kid's an orphan. Lost his memories in some accident no one knows anything about. No family. No ties. Nobody close to him except that one friend of his. And from what I've seen, that friend comes from a family on the higher end of society. Whole different world from the Grimm boy."
Sophia heard him mutter something under his breath. Some mix of envy and irritation.
"Lucky bastard," he grumbled.
She stayed silent. Casper's tone told her he wasn't done.
"Anyway," he went on, "all of that looked pretty normal. Nothing special. At least that's what I thought at first."
There was a shift in his voice, a spark she recognized. Casper only sounded like that when he thought he'd found something juicy.
"But," he said, stretching the word, "then I dug deeper. And guess what I found."
"Casper," she said, "just say it already. I don't have all day to keep this line open."
"Captain, you kill all the fun," he sighed. "Fine. I checked his records again to see if I could pull anything more. Family background, old school logs, anything that points to who he was before the accident. And that's when I found something strange."
He paused long enough for her to frown.
"Grimm," he said slowly, "doesn't exist before that accident. Not on paper. Not in any census. No medical logs. No academy registry. Not even a childhood checkup. Nothing. It's like the kid was a ghost before five years ago."
Sophia's brows drew together. She didn't doubt him. Casper was unreliable about waking up on time, following orders, or not flirting with the wrong people, but when it came to information, he was the best they had. If he said there were no records, then there were none.
"How is that possible?" she murmured. "He didn't have another identity before then? Something sealed?"
"Nope," Casper said. "I checked everything. And since that made no sense, I went another route. I pulled his earliest medical reports. According to those, someone found him outside the safe zone. Beaten up. Half-conscious. They dragged him to a hospital and dumped him there."
Casper hesitated. "Captain… do you think he was a wanderer?"
Sophia didn't answer right away.
Wanderers.
The word carried a century of pain, resentment, and fear.
Humanity's dark age wasn't ancient history. People still remembered how the cracks tore open across Aelios, how monsters poured through, how nations collapsed. Survivors clung to the last scraps of land until the Pathfinders appeared, chosen by the Tower and armed with power strong enough to push the monsters back.
When the war finally ended, the heroes carved out six safe zones. Places cleansed and fortified for humans.
Everything outside those zones remained blackened, poisoned, twisted by monster influence. Those left behind, too weak or too unlucky to secure a spot, became the first wanderers.
But that meaning didn't last. Space grew tight, food ran low, and crime kept rising. The shelters needed a solution, and they found one. They banished criminals and the worst offenders into the wastes. Over time, wanderer stopped meaning tragic survivor and became a word for scum. Murderers. Raiders. Plunderers. Cannibals.
Anyone from the Badlands carried a stain no one wanted near them.
Sophia exhaled. The Grimm she met didn't fit that image. He didn't have the eyes of someone raised in blood and filth. But instincts weren't evidence. And the gap in his past was a problem. A big one.
Should she trust her intuition or cut the threat before it grew?
Casper broke her thoughts. "You still there, Captain?"
"I'm here."
"So… want me to dig deeper? I can keep going."
She breathed out. "No. It's pointless. Even if we wanted answers, the Badlands won't give us any. That place eats records. And people."
"True," he said.
"In the meantime, let's focus on finding that thing," she replied. "We've been stuck on the first layer of the Tower for a year. We're wasting time. We need to find it and move on."
"Got it." Casper paused. "And what about the Grimm kid? What do you want to do with him?"
Sophia hesitated.
"For now," she said at last, "I'll watch him myself. He stays close, but not too close. Let's see how he behaves."
She thought to herself. That boy is holding more than he lets on. And I want to know every secret he's hiding.
A small smile tugged at her lips. She didn't notice it until Casper spoke again.
"Alright then. If you say so. Oh, and Captain?"
"Yes?"
"Take care of yourself. Get some sleep. You sound exhausted. Can't have our leader collapsing on us."
Sophia sighed. "I'll rest later. Goodnight."
She ended the call.
The golden threads around her shivered, then snapped out of existence as she released her talent. The moment they vanished, she felt it. A wave of exhaustion hit her like a hammer. Her knees almost buckled.
"Damn foggers," she muttered, rubbing her temples. "Always draining me dry."
Her vision blurred. Her talent always did this when she pushed too hard. She'd need better control, or she'd end up with her mind collapsing on her.
She steadied herself and looked toward the tents ahead.
"I should head back. Can't keep him waiting."
She pushed herself forward.
––––––––––
Inside the tent, Grimm had already finished eating. The bowl sat empty beside him as he leaned back against the tent wall, fingers tapping his knee.
He glanced toward the entrance again.
"It's been a while," he murmured.
Where did she go?
He wanted to get up and check, but that would break her instructions. And considering she already had suspicions about him, stepping out of the tent was probably the fastest way to die.
So he stayed, waiting and stewing.
It felt like sitting outside a courtroom, waiting for a verdict that could change your life. Every minute stretched thin.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "She better not have forgotten about me…"
Then he heard footsteps outside.
She was finally back.