"......right." Ash replied.

"I'll let you go do that, then." he told her.

"I'm going to talk to Cass." he finished.

With that, he got up and made his way to a corner of the room, before using his mana to teleport out of the office, and appear in his own office at the guild he worked at, Candentus Lux.

He then made his way to the closed door of Cass's office, and knocked on it.

Authoritatively.

"....because someone almost DID." Ash responded.

"Cass, we need to talk. Seriously talk." he told her.

He then got close and sat down in front of her desk, before sighing.

"Ashley was shot down again." he said.

He then proceeded to tell her everything that he told Sydney, and everything that Ashley had told him.

"...this is seriously getting worrisome." he finished.

"It's becoming global."

"....I'll have to see what they think." Ash responded.

"I'll make everyone aware of it, THAT'S for sure." he told her.

"But I'll see what everyone says." he continued.

"....." he was then silent, before sighing heavily.

"Damn it all..." he cursed.

"Yeah, just... do what you gotta go." he told her. "It's probably best we overreact NOW, before something happens to someone." he reasoned.

"...something MORE, anyway..."

"Got it." Ash replied.

---

"...." Vincent was silent as Hollie appeared and said what she did.

"I..." he stammered.

"What...?" he started to ask, before pausing. "Wait..." he mumbled.

"No..." he whispered. "No, that can't be." he said.

"....Hollie, this is a major emergency." he told her, standing up from his desk.

"What do we do?" he asked her.

"........I knew I would have to eventually." Vincent replied.

"I'm fearing this." he said.

He then bit his lip, and seemed to be wracking his brain for something.

"I... I need to find SOME kind of positive here..." he muttered. "Something to give Rowena hope..." he went on.

"Any ideas?" he asked.

"Is there ANYTHING I can say to her to lessen the blow from 'one of our daughters has been kidnapped, probably by an anti-mage group who may have already murdered her'?"

"That... that might be enough." Vincent said. "That just may be enough to stop her from completely going off the deep end and succumbing to the darkness..." he said further.

"..." he was then silent, and sighed.

"Alice will need to be away from her, though." he said. "As an empath, the negative emotions that Rowena will exude will overload her for sure." he reasoned.

"....Hollie, if nothing else, I will personally search for Vicki." he then told her.

"I can't let anything happen to her." he said.

"I refuse to fail her."

"That... that might be enough." Vincent said. "That just may be enough to stop her from completely going off the deep end and succumbing to the darkness..." he said further.

"..." he was then silent, and sighed.

"Alice will need to be away from her, though." he said. "As an empath, the negative emotions that Rowena will exude will overload her for sure." he reasoned.

"....Hollie, if nothing else, I will personally search for Vicki." he then told her.

"I can't let anything happen to her." he said.

"I refuse to fail her."

"....that works." Vincent replied.

"I'll see to it that she goes there post-haste." he told her.

"Thank you for the information, as harsh as it was." he said. "It was something I needed to know, obviously." he went on.

"....and I'll do all I can to try and calm Rowena down even a LITTLE." he promised her.

"I... make no promises, though..."

Vincent nodded.

"I will need it." he said.

"And I will make sure sealing and/or stripping her mana will NOT be necessary." he told her, levelling a small glare at her, but there was understanding beneath it.

"You do what you need to do." he went on.

"And I shall do the same." he finished.

Luckily for her, it WAS Jake.

And he darted his tongue out a few times, before opening the door for her.

"...sure thing." he said.

"Wait..." he muttered.

"Before you go in, why did you need to go through ME?" he asked.

"Can't you just get right into Sharp's office?"