On the outside, the mansion appeared run-down and abandoned. The roof had fallen in, and sections of the wall around it had collapsed. When Cate first saw this place, she was amazed by everything, especially the lengths to which the Avalon Society was willing to go to establish itself in this world.
"You actually live here," Mary asked.
Tala smiled at Mary. She said nothing as she looked at all the other people sent from headquarters. She wanted to gauge how influential these people were. Walsh, the Mage Born, did not seem to notice anything wrong. Jordan frowned with suspicion on her face, and Albrecht's eyes were glowing with a red light. It was as though he was seeing through everything there was. When Tala reached Cate, she was astonished by what she saw. Cate's eyes did not glow, but in them, Tala saw a reflection of the real appearance of the mansion. The moment Cate reached this place, she saw the flow of magic, and after less than a second, the magic fell away, and Cate saw the real appearance of the mansion.
Ever since Cate used the Original Sin spell on herself, she had begun changing, and these changes had brought with them many abilities. All her senses, including sight, smell, hearing, and taste, were heightened. Her physical strength could no longer be called human. Cate had tried to gauge the limits of her power in this area, and to this day, she had yet to meet an obstacle she could not demolish with pure strength. She had bent steel, cracked the earth, and shattered large boulders with a simple slap.
Cate also learned that she could heal from practically any injury without using any spells. This healing ability had become part of who she was, and it seemed limitless. From the time she used the spell to now, years had passed, and Cate had discovered that she had not aged at all in that time. This was not to say that she was immortal like the vampires, but with a healing ability this powerful, Cate was sure that she could live for at least a few thousand years without using any spell to slow down her ageing. If she added to her magic, Cate was sure that she could live for far longer than that.
Cate had also gotten the ability to see the flow of magic through the world. This ability grew, and she began to see the flow of magic inside the bodies of living beings, including other supernatural creatures. By seeing how much magic power a person had, Cate had gained the ability to roughly gauge a supernatural being's power. Cate also began seeing through all illusions crafted using magic. She could see the proper form of everything and everyone. Many supernatural beings used magic to hide their actual appearances. None of these transformation spells and abilities worked on her.
She even managed to see Albrecht's proper form, and when she did, Cate felt truly lucky that at that one time, she had chosen not to kill Albrecht. From Albrecht's actual appearance, Cate was sure that what she told him at that time was true. He truly was the son of a vampire god. If Cate had killed him, she could not even begin imagining the fury she would have brought down upon her. For Cate to see through the magics used to hide the actual appearance of this mansion from the mortals and other supernatural beings was no surprise to her.
Tala was shaken, but she tried to hide her feelings on the matter. She led the team into the mansion. They had to pass through several security measures. If someone were to try to break into this place, they would surely die more than a few times over. After going through security, the team finally saw the mansion in person. It was a truly magnificent building, designed with the elegance of the supernaturals.
The mansion appeared to occupy a small space from the outside, but after going through security, its actual size became apparent. The mansion even had a large compound with trees and an artificial lake. Cate's team members were a little impressed, but that was all. In Avalon, this kind of mansion was common.
Cate was taken to her room, and so was everyone else. They rested for just a few minutes before they met up with Tala inside the largest hall in the mansion.
"I will now explain the mission to everyone once more before we can begin," Cate said.
Tala and her people were also in the room, but Cate had already made it clear that they were only there to help out. She did not want to begin butting heads with the locals. Tala had already expected this, but she was still pissed when Cate made things clear.
"In 1990, an earthquake devastated this city. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Baguio City and the surrounding areas, killing countless people and bringing down many buildings. Massive landslides and rockslides killed more people in the aftermath, devastating this beautiful place some call the Summer Capital. This is the basic truth that the human mortals know to be fact," Cate said. All eyes were on her except for the Mage Born, who was gripping one of his swords with his eyes focused on the shine of its blade.
Cate saw her friend's distress and sighed. "This is not the truth of what happened at that time. At that time, the earthquake was caused by an unsupervised magic awakening. The Walsh family, a mortal family, lived in this city at that time. The father was an American soldier, and the mother was a teacher in this very city. The two had three children, one of them being Connor Walsh, my friend over there."
Cate pointed out the Mage Born. At this point, there was no reason to hide his connection to what happened in this city. Walsh closed his eyes for a moment before he looked back at Cate. He was ready to hear how he had destroyed this city and killed so many people, including his family.