Rise Of The Villain

Chapter 2

Tiger Guild Headquarters, The Upside.

Rhys shivered uncontrollably as he could not get a grip on his emotions.

First responders had arrived pretty quickly at the blast site, and so had some Ascenders from the Tiger Guild that his sister was a part of.

The firefighters did not let Rhys near the flaming apartment; however, they searched every last room of the apartment for any sign of Violet or her dead body but found no traces of life.

Whether it be unfortunately or fortunately, they found no signs of any dead body within the apartment, as Violet was declared to be missing.

The Ascenders from the Tiger Guild, who were apparently Violet's team members, juniors, and superiors, searched the house for any sign of forced entry or struggle. However, despite using detection spells and advanced tower technology, the blast seemed to have reduced the entire apartment to ashes, and even if there were signs left behind by the intruder, they seemed to be incinerated by the fire.

Among the Ascenders that had come to the blast site, Rhys knew one 'Uncle Lloyd' really well as he was the second in command in Violet's raid party and was someone whom his sister trusted a lot.

It was to this Uncle Lloyd to whom Rhys revealed everything he knew about today's accident, and it was he who escorted Rhys from the blast site to the Tiger Guild headquarters for his own safety.

Although Rhys protested a lot, saying that he wished to search for his sister on his own, Lloyd firmly denied his demands and forcefully brought him to the guild headquarters for a meeting with the guildmaster.

***

The Guildmaster's Office.

Rhys shivered as he constantly worried about the state that his sister was in as although he did not vocally express it much, his sister actually meant the world to him.

Their parents were normal middle-class people who were not chosen to be Ascenders.

Their father was a financial consultant, and their mother was an orthopaedic doctor as the Reynolds family of four was a small and happy unit.

Two years ago, just a day or two after Violet turned 18, their mother and father died suddenly in a car accident as Rhys and Violet were orphaned overnight.

It was on this very day when Violet got the news that their parents had died, that she awakened as a Ascender and the life of the brother and sister suddenly changed overnight.

After their parents' untimely death, Violet took up the financial mantle of the family and looked after Rhys's every need while also making a name for herself as a rookie Ascender.

She was a prodigy, a rising star, and someone who uplifted the Reynolds family from middle class to urban elite in a short time.

For Rhys, she was his only family still alive, and Rhys was ready to go to hell and back if it meant that he could save her. However, unfortunately, the incident surrounding Violet was Ascender related, and he was not qualified enough yet to interfere.

"Man, Lloyd, I told Violet to move into the upside, man. We had an apartment for her here.

It would have been safer for her here, man, however, just because she did not want her little brother to go through a stressful high school change, she kept declining the apartment.

Fuck, man."

"Hey man, keep your voice down, man. That kid is sitting right inside the guildmaster's office; he may hear you," Lloyd said as Rhys heard everything the two talked about outside.

Rhys and Violet used to live on the 40th floor of a high-end luxurious apartment, and the area they lived in was by no means a district full of crime or problems.

They lived amongst really wealthy families who had a considerable influence over the local administration; however, the upside was undoubtedly in a league of its own.

A fortified mini-township where only mega billionaires and the most important Ascenders of the country lived, the upside was a residential area where buying a house needed more than just mere money.

It was Rhys's dream to buy a house there someday after he became a Ascender; however, he had no idea that his sister had already gotten an offer to buy an apartment there.

The fact that she declined a life of luxury just because he would not have to go through the stress of changing schools made Rhys feel even more emotional as he was reminded of just how kind and noble his sister was.

*SWOOSH*

Rhys was surprised when the office door suddenly flung open, and a tall and handsome man walked into the room with a deep frown on his face.

Rhys did not even need to take a good look at his face to recognize him as he was arguably one of the most famous and influential humans on Earth at the moment.

Hailed as one of the three strongest Ascenders and the leader of the undisputed strongest Ascender guild of them all, he was guildmaster Ren, a ranker who had managed to cross the threshold of being a mere human by ascending to floor 51 of the tower. His presence itself was suffocating, his aura intense.

No matter what room he walked into, it was assured that he would become the centre of attraction in that room.

As he sat across from Rhys, he looked into Rhys's eyes and let out a deep sigh before extending his hand as if offering it for a handshake.

For a moment, Rhys was perplexed; he did not expect the guildmaster of the prestigious Tiger Guild to shake his hand. However, after leaving him hanging for a few seconds, Rhys finally responded as he shook his hand.

Up to this point, Rhys trembled constantly. However, as soon as he shook Ren's hand, he felt a sense of warmth washing over him as his nerves calmed down, and he stopped trembling.

"Rhys Reynolds, let me first offer my sincere apologies for this lapse in security from the Tiger Guild.

We were supposed to be protecting your sister, but we failed. I don't know how to softly tell you this, but I reckon you would not want anything less than the absolute truth regarding this subject, so I'll not mince my words.

It looks like agents of Olympus gods have kidnapped your sister," Ren said as Rhys suddenly felt his heart rate spike and his vision double after hearing this sentence.

*Crash*

He slipped awkwardly from the chair he was sitting on and hit the floor below as his body began shivering as if it was going into epileptic shock.

"EMMA, EMMA, SOMEONE SEND THE HEALER HERE, THE BOY'S UNDERGOING AN AWAKENING. EMMA!"

Rhys heard guildmaster Ren shouting before his vision completely blacked out, and he lost consciousness.