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“The aspects of life and death seem to be closely tied to these two elements, presenting interesting theoretical queries. Does the source of life and death stem from these elements, or are they merely manifestations of that part of reality?

“Due to the nature of these two elements, they have never been directly observed. Researchers have theorized that vitos manifest in our world at the exact moment life is created, and the same is true with necros that manifest upon the moment of death, which makes it impossible to properly observe.

“It is not agreed on when life begins, or even when it ends. Does life begin at birth, or in the womb, or before that still? What about death, does the moment of death begin when a major organ stops functioning, what about your other organs that still function for some time after your heart stops beating. Not knowing when life begins or ends makes proper observation improbable and leads to deeper philosophical debates.

“Combine those questions with the fact that these elements probably can not be detected by the human eye, one could raise doubt that these elements even exist. However, we do know for a fact that these two elements are real. Mages attuned to these elements can feel them and channel them into their magic, so there is no doubt about whether or not vitos and necros exist.

“The real question about vitos and necros, is do they manifest naturally in our world like the primal elements, and if so, how? It could be that these elements don’t naturally exist and are purely a product of mages. These are questions about the celestial elements that rage on even today.”

—”The Elements and You” by Sam Rork

Joe was currently at the police headquarters sitting at his desk going through documentation for the university. It had been days since they talked with Cory and they hadn’t heard anything from him yet.

Joe was preparing for the scenario that Cory didn’t have any useful information. They would then still have to talk with the university in that worst-case scenario. However, even with Joe working on the documentation, they were still nowhere close to being done.

Every time Joe managed to get a stack of paper signed and ready, it felt like another stack of paper materialized out of nowhere. Then there was the fact that some of the forms he sent into the university were rejected. Joe and his team had made an error somewhere on the papers and the university sent them back to him.

Joe: “Ugh, this is so annoying. They didn’t tell us what we did wrong. They just sent it back to us and said there was an error,” he mumbled in frustration.

Joe had gone through the documentation the university sent back to him three times now. And, every time he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It was frustrating and was taking too long. He didn’t have much time before Chief Murdock got fed up with him and forced a bunch more work onto his unit. Once that happens, Joe won’t have as much time to work on the Rob case.

While looking down at the forms, a pink heart-shaped chocolate box was brought into Joe’s sight and placed on the papers he was looking at. The senior investigator then looked up to see Dan standing beside his desk putting the box in front of him.

Dan: “Mike told me you like chocolate.”

Joe looked at the heart-shaped box awkwardly, then stared back at the junior officer.

Joe: “Ummmm, sorry there. I’m not into guys. I’m also technically your boss, so it would be unethical for me to accept this.”

Dan: “What?”

Joe: “Aren\'t you asking me out?”

Dan: “No. Why would you assume that?” he said, confused.

Joe looked at Dan confused for a second before it clicked what was going on.

Joe: “OH! You’re from the north right. Way out in the boonies?

Dan: “I guess?”

Joe: “So, you wouldn’t know. People here in the south give others heart-shaped gifts when they are trying to ask someone out on a date.”

Dan: “Ask out on a date…!”

Dan\'s face suddenly turned red in embarrassment when he realized what it meant by giving Joe that heart-shaped box of chocolate.

Dan: “N-no! S-s-sorry! I-I-I wasn\'t—” he was cut by Joe.

Joe: “Don’t worry, it\'s an honest mistake. But, I’m surprised they didn’t try to warn you at the store when you bought this.”

Dan: “I didn’t buy it. It was my neighbor. She gave it to me. But, I’m not a big fan of chocolate. So I thought I’d give it to someone else that was."

Joe: “Ohhhh,” he said with a cocky smile. “Already getting hit on by the ladies I see.”

Dan: “I-I guess that\'s what it means. Um, was I supposed to reject it if I wasn\'t interested.” he said, worried that he accidentally entered into a relationship.

Joe crossed his arm and leaned back into his chair. He was about to take a short break from the paperwork and be a proper mentor to his junior for once.

Joe: “Nah. Rejecting a gift is always rude. But if you’re going to reject her, don’t be a dick about it. At least take her out for a meal before you tell her you’re not interested.”

Dan: “Wouldn’t taking her out for a meal be a confirmation that I want to date her?”

Joe: “No. Why? Is it like that in the north?”

Dan: “Yeah. Where I’m from, you usually take a person out for a meal if you\'re trying to court them.”

Joe: “Really? Sounds like a pain. Like, what if you just want to go out for a meal with friends.”

Dan: “Going out to a restaurant involved commuting into a city. So it was usually special.”

Joe: “Oh, OK. So it’s not so much a northern thing, as much as a small town country thing.”

Dan: “Yeah, I guess.”

Joe: “But really? Where you lived didn’t even have a bar or something where you could go eat?”

Dan: “It was a really small village.”

Joe sighed.

Joe: “If you say so. By the way, take these to Mike for me,” he said, handing Dan a stack of papers. “Tell him I’ve gone through them three times now and can’t figure out what’s wrong with them. So, I want him to cross reference form Z-78-Y with these to see if he can figure it out."

Dan\'s expression turned to dread as he heard that. He knew they didn’t have form Z-78-Y on hand. Which meant that he would have to go back into that jungle of paper to try and find it. He was praying that Mike wouldn’t ask him to go search for it, but wasn\'t confident he wouldn\'t.

Dan: “Got it, Joe,” he said with a nod and groan.

Joe watched Dan walk off into another room with the papers that he gave. Once his junior was out of sight, he turned back to his desk and started working on more forms from the university.

The senior investigator heard chatter coming from behind somewhere, likely some other officer in the office talking about something. He didn’t pay them any mind, but then his eyes wandered to the corner of his desk. Sitting there was the pink heart-shaped box that Dan tried to give him.

“Ah, shit. People are gonna get the wrong idea if I leave that out.” Joe thought to himself.

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Joe picked up the box and was about to dump it into the garbage bin by his desk, but then stopped. He then opened the box to reveal rows of neatly placed chocolate truffles that were individually wrapped. He then opened a drawer by his desk and dumped the chocolates into it before throwing away the pink box.

“Never thought in my life I would meet someone that didn’t like chocolate.” Joe quietly thought to himself.

Mike telling Dan that Joe liked chocolate was an understatement. Joe was a real chocolate fiend. Even as awkward as the source of the chocolate was, he couldn’t bring himself to throw them away. The senior investigator fully intended to enjoy those sweet treats for himself later.

Joe went back to work for about another ten minutes before a brown file full of documents was slapped onto his desk. He then looked up to see the person who placed the file in front of him.

Standing there, was a balding silver-haired thickset man of six foot three in height (1.9 meters). He wore a black police uniform that denoted a high rank within the force. He had a scowl on his face and looked extremely annoyed. This man was Murdock, the head of police, who had come himself to deliver a document to Joe himself.

Murdock: “Whatever you’re doing, you can stop and start working on this project.”

Joe: “With all due respect sir—” he said, before immediately being cut off by Murdock.

Murdock: “Don’t fuck with me Joe!” he said sternly. “You’re not weaseling out of this. And don’t think you blow off this case I\'m handing you. If your unit is not at the designated meeting on those papers, or you\'re not actively working on this case, you’re done. No second chances. You’ll be out of a job if you mess this up.”

Joe looked shocked. He didn’t expect Murdock to come out of the gate already mad at him, and with such serious threats. The investigator didn’t recall doing anything recently to piss off Murdock, so he wondered why he was so mad.

He then thought that maybe Murdock wasn\'t entirely mad at him, but something else.

Joe: “What’s got you so wound up? What are you making us work on?”

Murdock: “It’s not just you. Lewis’s team and two other investigation units are also working on this as well. So you better get along with each other. If you want to know what this is about, read the file I gave you. And Joe, you seriously can’t fuck this up. This is not just a big thing for you, but the entire police force here in Graheel as well. So let me repeat myself. DON’T FUCK THIS UP,” he said, emphasizing his last few words before walking away.

Joe had a dumbfounded look on himself. This had never happened with Murdock and him before. Usually, there was a bit of a back-forth between him and Murdock before he ever got mad at Joe. The senior investigator then looked at the folder sitting on his desk and wondered what was exactly given to him.

“What’s so important that multiple investigation units have to work on this?” He wondered to himself, as he opened up the folder to see what the investigation was about.

Once Joe opened the folder and saw the cover of the documents, he closed the folder, slamming it in the process. He then leaned back into his chair wide-eyed and groaned with absolute anguish. Joe hadn\'t even read the document, but he saw on the cover the symbol of the Graheel University. He didn’t need to read anymore and knew it was going to be an absolute pain.

The university seldom asks the police for help with anything, and when they do, it is tedious. They\'re uncooperative and make work for people like Joe impossible.

He recalled one time when he was still a new officer, the university asked the police to look into a missing person. Under such a circumstance, it would make sense to talk to the people who knew the person. But, the people that knew the missing person were students, and the university wouldn’t allow the police to talk to them no matter how much they pushed to do so.

He heard that the investigators at the time were forced to fill out papers to be allowed to talk to the students. They spent all week with those papers only for the missing persons to be found later, escaping from their kidnappers themselves. The Graheel police were then admonished for not doing anything to help find this person, despite the fact they were. The university was holding everything up and prevented them from doing their job.

Joe could imagine that Murdock\'s current frustration was because of a request from the university. With how important he was told this was, he imagined it was a request from one of the heads at the university. Maybe, even from the famous Archmage Lazerus Vaal himself. If that was the case, there was no way around it. Joe would have to put his investigation of Rob slightly on hold, or at least significantly reduce the amount of time he’s been putting into it. If Joe did something to embarrass Murdock to the archmage of the Arcane Eye Collage, he probably actually would be fired.

Joe took a deep breath and readied himself. Preparing to read about some unreasonable demands from the university. He slowly opened up the folder and started reading through the documentation. The senior investigator had a hardened look on his face for fifteen minutes of reading before his expression changed. His face shifted from confusion then shock, and finally a realization of something.

Joe: “A-a-a huh? Mike! Dan! Stop what you\'re doing!” he yelled out to his team.

Joe looked around and saw that no one in his unit was around to be seen. He then got up and ran off to look for them.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Inside Benny’s Diner, Joe and his team were sitting around a table in the corner. They were on their lunch break and decided to come here for brunch. This time they all got a regular order. No extravagant meal like the first time they took Dan here.

Joe was sipping some tea while Dan was biting into a piece of toast with some jam on it. Mike just finished swallowing a sausage before speaking.

Mike: “So let me get this straight. The university is creating a new special joint unit between the enforcer and the police force. And, our unit was ‘volunteered’ for this new project,“ he said while pointing a fork at Joe.

Joe had explained the situation to Dan and Mike on the way to Benny’s. It was exactly as Mike said. From the document that Murdock gave to Joe, explained that a new unit was being formed between the university and the police. And, Joe’s team was being made to participate in it.

Joe: “Yup. It is some sort of special unit there calling the Sleuth-Hawks. We\'ll be working together with the enforcer on something,” he said as he shoved some egg into his mouth.

Mike: “Did they say what we would be exactly working on?”

Joe: “No. There’s a meeting tomorrow we’re supposed to attend that’s supposed to explain what this joint unit will exactly be doing. But from what I’ve read, it seems this unit will be focusing on more cases of an arcane nature, or the university themselves. If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with that whole necromancy thing that recently happened with one of their professors."

Dan: “So what’s going to happen with our unit?”

Joe: “Nothing. Our unit won’t be disbanded or anything like that. We will still have the same responsibility as before, plus whatever we’re supposed to do with the Sleuth-Hawks.”

Mike: “So, this just sounds like more work. No wonder Murdock dumped this onto us. He didn’t want to burden the other units that are doing actual work.”

Joe: “We are doing actual work.”

Mike: “Eight years. We’ve been working on the Rob case for eight years and have nothing to show for it. And then Rob randomly shows up without our involvement, only to die. Yeah, I wouldn’t say what we’re doing is actual work. If it wasn\'t for the other investigations we worked on while working on the Rob case, this unit would have been dissolved years ago.”

Everything Mike said was irrefutable. And, Joe couldn\'t rebuke it.

Mike had been very pessimistic lately and had been tearing down Joe at every opportunity he could, likely caused by the added stress from all the additional paperwork from the university. Joe could only slightly groan at Mike’s comment.

Joe: “Whatever, I don’t want to argue about that. The main point is there’s a massive opportunity for us with this new unit.”

Dan: “Um, no offense Joe, but I\'m not following.”

Joe: “Let me explain. Part of this new unit operation streamlines communication between us and the university. We’ll be expected to freely share resources and information, but that will be the same for them. In that case, we might be able to circumvent the normal lines of making requests to the university.”

At the mention of that, both Mike’s and Dan’s lighted up with excitement. If what Joe was saying was true, it meant that they wouldn’t have to work on all those university forms anymore. They could just make a request through the Sleuth-Hawks.

Mike then put his hands together and made gestures similar to those in the Church of Light when they prayed.

Mike: “Thank you divine light for answering my call in my time of need,” he said with sincere gratitude to a higher power at the news that his paperwork nightmare may finally be over.

Dan: “I-I-it’s over…” he said with tears forming in his eyes.

Jenny: “Hey, do any of you want more tea? Um, is everything OK? said with concern.

The cat mutant women server had come over to offer more tea as Joe was explaining their situation. She didn’t hear what was said, but saw that the two officers looked like they were about to cry. Making Jenny confused about what was going on.

Joe: “I’ll take a refill, and yes, everything is fine. I was just telling them some good news,” he said, handing her his cup.

Jenny: “Oh, OK,” she said as she took Joe’s cup to go refill it.

Joe just watched as Jenny walked off before turning back to his team.

Joe: “Now before getting too excited, it’s not likely we can make any formal request through the Sleuth-Hawks right away. It is also not guaranteed that they will accept our request for information even if we can skip the normal process.

Mike: “I’ll still take this over what we’ve been doing.”

Dan: “I agree.”

Joe: “My point is, we should focus on doing a good job with the Sleuth-Hawks. If we can get some results through this special unit, they are less likely to reject our request. It will also have the added bonus of making Murdock happy. If the heads of the university are satisfied with this new unit, it will reflect well on our police force and Murdock."

Mike: “Hmm, that\'s easy to say when we don’t even know what we’re doing though.”

Joe: “Well, that meeting tomorrow should explain everything. Then, we’ll know where to go from there. Anyways, I want Dan to go by himself in our stead for that meeting.”

Dan: “What!! Why me? And, why are neither of you coming?”

Joe: “I was already planning to pursue that lead with the Keeper of Secrets we got from Cory. And, I want Mike for backup just in case."

Dan: “Do you have to do it tomorrow? This meeting seems kind of important for you to be missing. And, do you really believe in that info about the Keeper of Secrets. Seemed kinda iffy to me.”

Joe: “Leave no stone unturned,” he said in response to Dan’s doubt about Cory\'s information. “Don’t worry. In this meeting, they should be just explaining the purpose of this new unit. You probably won’t have to do anything other than relay the information they tell you to me and Mike. And, yes it has to be tomorrow. Once this thing with the Sleuth-Hawks goes into full swing, we likely won’t be able to find the time to look into this.”

Dan: “Ah, um. But what about Mike’s opinion?”

Joe: “Um, I\'m the leader of this unit. So, whatever I say takes priority,” he said, wondering why Dan was trying to get Mike’s opinion on this.

Mike: “You’ll be fine Dan,” he said while ignoring Joe\'s comment.“ As Joe said, there’s not likely to be any major decision that needs to be made at the first meeting. And if there is, I trust you. You have good instincts.”

Dan: “I-I don’t know…” he mumbled, unsure about the plan.

Joe: “It\'s settled. Me and Mike will check out this guy Cory talked about, while you go to that meeting for the Sleuth-Hawks.”