THU-THU-THU-THU-THU-THU!
The heavy green military transport helicopter hovered ten meters off the ground just outside the front iron gates of Blackwood Cemetery. Its powerful searchlights cut through the rain-heavy night, casting long, sweeping beams of white light across the stone walls and tall trees.
Before the helicopter even touched the dirt road, eight heavily armed Vanguard Exorcists leaped out of the side doors, their thick combat boots slamming onto the damp earth with heavy thuds as they jumped off the helicopter with professional level landing superhero landing.
They then moved instantly into tactical battle formation. Weapons raised, back-to-back, cross-shaped broadswords glowing with faint blue light, and high-caliber holy rifles pointed into the dark shadows.
"Clear left!"
"Clear right!"
"Deploying thermal and spectral sensors!"
The Vanguard Commander dropped onto one knee, slamming a silver metallic rod into the damp soil. He tapped his wrist-mounted radar screen, waiting for the red indicator to show the exact location of the Rank 4 Dread Class phantom.
However, as the screen booted up, the bright red target line was completely gone.
The screen showed only a flat, smooth blue circle with a zero reading.
[ AETHER RESONANCE: 0.00 % ]
[ SPECTRAL DENSITY: ZERO ]
[ TARGET TRACKING: LOST ]
The Commander blinked behind his tactical visor, tapping the glass screen hard with his gloved finger. "What in the world...? Check the primary Aetheric detection meters! Did the sensor jam or something?"
"Commander, sir! my handheld tracker is dead silent!" a soldier reported, looking around in utter confusion. "No cold signatures, no tar-like ghost energy located, no residual ectoplasma slime! The reading dropped to absolute zero!"
"Mine too! The air feels completely clean!" another soldier added, lowering his holy rifle slightly. "It’s like someone turned off a light switch!"
Before the Commander could issue another order, his ear-comm unit chirped with a sharp burst of static.
BZZZZ.
/Vanguard Squad One, report! This is Director Vance!/ The Director's stern voice echoed clearly through the headset from the underground command center. /What is the status of the entity? Has combat initiated?/
"Director!" The Commander answered quickly, pressing a hand against his helmet. "We arrived at the drop site ten meters outside the main gate. But... target tracking has failed! The Rank 4 Dread Class ghost's signature vanished from our detectors the exact moment our boots hit the ground!"
Silence held the radio line for three long seconds.
/It vanished again.../ Director Vance muttered over the radio, his voice sounding grim and heavily troubled. /Just like yesterday at midnight. A massive spike of energy appears, reaches peak threat levels, and then completely dies down in less than a minute with zero lingering traces./
"Director, we were late by literally sixty seconds!" the Commander argued, staring at the quiet iron gates of the cemetery. "A Rank 4 Dread Class entity cannot simply hide its energy in under one minute! Even if it used high-grade spectral camouflage, the residual cold energy in the air would take hours to dissipate! But the air here... it feels completely normal! Peaceful, even!"
/Understood, Commander,/ Vance ordered firmly through the comms. /Listen to your orders carefully. Your squad is to enter Site-07 and conduct a thorough, silent sweep of the entire cemetery grounds./
"A full sweep inside Blackwood Cemetery?" The Commander asked, his voice tensing up but at the same time he easily remain calm.
/Yes. But you must execute this sweep with absolute stealth,/ Vance instructed sternly. /As previously reported by Agent Martha, an unregistered civilian, a fifteen-year-old girl, i is currently residing in the keeper's cabin in the center of the graveyard. You are strictly forbidden from waking her or letting her see you. Do NOT compromise the civilian./
"Understood, Director. Moving in quietly," the Commander nodded.
He signaled his men with hand gestures. The seven Vanguard soldiers nodded, clicking off their rifle searchlights and switching to silent night-vision visors.
They moved like dark ghosts, gliding through the open iron gates of Blackwood Cemetery without making a single sound even when stepping on twigs and such.
The squad spread out across the graveyard, moving silently down the stone paths. They checked behind mossy tombstones, scanned the branches of the tall ironwood trees, checked the perimeter walls, and used high-tech spectral scanners on every grave box they passed.
They checked the broken wooden cross which caught their eye for some reason, despite the cross being broken, it also give a 'calm' feeling, but they move past it immediately.
Other than that weird feeling from the broken cross, nothing.
Nothing. No dark slime, no frost, no lingering grudges.
They checked the flat stone tombs in the center row.
Nothing. Just green moss and damp stone, graves and tombstone, night and insect noises.
They checked the dirt paths and the open grass fields. There was no sign of a battle. No crushed grass, no burned soil, no scattered talismans, and no lingering dark aura. It was as if the terrifying, grief-driven mother phantom had never existed at all.
Ten minutes later, the squad regrouped near the edge of the central clearing, standing under the shadow of a large ironwood tree.
"Anything on the northern side of the cemetery?" the Commander whispered into his comms.
"Zero, sir. Completely clean."
"Southern section?"
"Nothing here either. The spectral meters aren't even picking up standard Rank 1 wisps. The entire graveyard is totally empty of spirit life."
The Commander turned his visor toward the center of the clearing.
There, sitting peacefully under the dark sky, was the small wooden cabin. A faint beam of moonlight reflected off the clean wide window. Hanging over the wooden porch railing were two clean white dresses and two pairs of small black shorts, left outside to dry in the night air.
The Commander stared at the cabin with a look of pure, dumbfounded disbelief under his helmet.
"It's completely impossible..." the Commander muttered softly. "A Rank 4 Dread Class monster rushed straight to this exact spot at two hundred kilometers per hour. We were late by one single minute. How could it vanish into thin air without leaving a single scratch on the grass?"
There was no sign of camouflage. There was no sign of a fight. There was simply... nothing. Nothing to detect at all which obviously made any of their device not working if theres nothing.
The Commander pressed his ear-comm button again. "Director Vance. Sweep complete. We searched every square inch of Site-07. There is zero trace of the Rank 4 entity. No combat marks, no energy residue, no nothing. The area is entirely clear."
Over the radio, Director Vance let out a long, heavy sigh.
/Understood, Commander,/ Director Vance replied, his voice sounding tired. /Maintain a silent perimeter guard around Blackwood Cemetery until further orders. Stand by for extraction once morning comes asap. We will leave as quickly as we can to avoid eye witness, but before until we are to be absolutely certain the ghost is truly gone./
"Understood, Director. Setting up perimeter watch," the Commander said.
He gestured to his squad, and the eight heavily armed soldiers melted back into the dark shadows along the outer walls of the graveyard, keeping a silent, watchful eye on the quiet grounds.
....
...
Inside the dark, quiet cabin...
The heavy metal door remained locked tight. The room was peaceful, warm, and silent, save for the faint sound of the night breeze blowing through the small gap in the window.
Oo n the plush brown couch in the corner, B shifted in her sleep.
The temperature in the room had dropped slightly as the night air grew cooler outside.
"Nngh..." B let out a tiny, soft murmur, her small face scrunching up slightly from the slight chill.
Without opening her pitch-black eyes, her small pale hands reached down instinctively, grabbing the edge of her warm, soft blanket. She pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders, tucking it all the way up to her nose, completely burying herself in cozy warmth until she resembles a bundle of blanket that is piled.
She let out a soft, satisfied sigh, her pale cheek sinking deep into the soft pillow. Sinking deeper and deeper into her soft unknown dream, away from all the chaos, danger and everything else in between.
She had no idea that eight elite, heavily armed soldiers were standing guard in the bushes outside her cabin. She had no idea that high-tech command centers were screaming in confusion, or that a terrifying Rank 4 monster had vanished into thin air just ten feet from her front door.
All she knew was that her blanket was warm, her belly was full of sweet apple pie, and she had five great library books waiting for her tomorrow morning to read. (One being the author's other work, he he he he~ go check it out! ;333)
With a tiny, peaceful smile on her lips, the little white-haired grave keeper snored softly, sinking deeper into her uninterrupted slumber.
Author's Note
EliteToeCollector
Thanks for reading!