202 Bands and Secruity

"Paul?" I questioned hoping my next questions wouldn't make him overreact.

"Yes?" He answered looking a little concerned at me like he knew what i was gonna ask.

"Do you know anything about human trafficking here?" I questioned.

"Oh..... yes you get them here, sadly children and special or unique individuals get sold on the black market, be it for their body parts or into slavery, there's a multitude of reasons, to be honest, Arcadia, as well as Atlantis, tries to keep it under control though but it's hard to stop every incident." He answered.

"Ohh... would there be any particular reason they would target me or Daisy?" I asked.

"Did something happen? If something happened you need to let us know so we can deal with it swiftly." Paul answered very seriously.

"There was a small incident, a man same race a Daisy's hired some thugs to try and take us at night, we managed to defend ourselves and attempted to capture the man but he got away," I explained to him.

"Any other pieces of information?" He questioned looking a little concerned but smiled at hearing that we were able to take care of ourselves.

"He was red and he sold perfumes," I answered.

"I'll put out a search for him, he won't get far for messing with Atlantis students, and the thugs he hired, were they part of a group or guild?" He questioned further.

"Ohhh no I don't think so," I lied to him trying to spare their lives.

"And you didn't get their names?" He asked.

"Nope," I answered.

"Okay, well just in case you didn't know, when students go off-premises they are required to wear security bands, each band are intricate magic-infused bands if a non-Atlantis student with hostile intent touches the band they will instantly be hit with a very powerful stun spell that will render them useless for hours, allowing the Atlantis student to get away or fight back, secondly it will instantly set off an alert to the Security Department as well as give them a visual of where you are and what's happening. From there a team of students will be instantly sent to the closest waypoint and quickly make their way to you, the team are specially designed at tracking sensing magic and travelling. Student's can also rip off the band themselves, when this happens the band will encase the student in an impenetrable Ice Tomb impervious to damage and spells, then an emergency signal will be set off. In these cases, a team of prefect usually Rank A students or if I'm free I'll personally respond to these signals." He answered.

"Woah all that in one little band," I replied in shock.

"Yes that is why our students are allowed to venture out and be relatively safe, but of course it isn't full proof. If they ambush the student and stop them from tearing off the band, we won't know what happened to them till Sunday sunset." He answered.

"Ohh not then what happens?" I questioned.

"How does the tracking party track you?" I questioned curiously.

"Well, there are magical means and physical means, as your friend... Grace I think it was, she's a Ranger she should easily be able to track people through footsteps like a hunter, then there are magical means like Detect Magic which allows the caster to see different types of magic, We can also use another spell that allows us to detect objects and Items, for example on the band, that will give the caster the direction the object is at. Rest assured we've put a lot of effort to ensure the safety of Atlantis students." He smiled.

"Have there been any incidents?" I questioned a little worried.

"Before arrived I can't be sure, but after Ashley's Bands and Scarlet and I joining Atlantis the incidents have declined to almost zero, but there was on serious one that I described earlier where a student didn't arrive back on Atlantis before sunset." He answered.

"Ohh no what happened, is the student okay?" I questioned in shock.

"yeah everything went fine the student was swiftly located and rescued. They thought they were smart hiding him in an underground complex to stop us finding him as well as a nullifier to stop the band working, scry and message, but didn't stop the dream so we manage to ascertain his location. From there Scarlet and I went on a warpath clearing out anyone who resisted." Paul answered.

"Did they do anything to the student?" I questioned.

"They could have probably if they had the chance." He answered.

"Woah what happened?" I questioned.

"When Scarlet and I arrived on sight I sent a telepathic message to everyone stating Scarlet and The Black Dragon Slayer of Atlantis has arrived, everyone has 5 seconds to drop their weapons of be mercilessly taken care of." He answered.

"Then you cleared them out?" I questioned.

"Yes After we waited five seconds we went in full speed with permission of extreme force, we cleared the area in under three seconds mercilessly taking care of anyone who still had a weapon in their hands without even giving them a chance to react," Paul answered.

"You killed them?" I asked in utter shock.

"Scarlet did, she takes the lives of Atlantis students very seriously. Myself on the other hand used spells that restrained and trapped them preventing them from doing anything." Paul answered.

"How fast do you guys actually move?" I asked in shock.

"Very fast especially with a haste spell." He laughed.

"Have you really never killed anyone?" I asked hesitantly.

He let out a big sigh, "Sadly my hands are also tainted, Even though I've never struck the blow myself I have sentenced many to death." He lamented with a deep sigh.

"Paul...." I Instinctively replied seeing his sad expression.

"I know... but what can I do if they refuse to change? I've given them a second chance and yet they still commit horrendous crimes, how can I just let them go again to do it to another unsuspecting victim?" He quietly replied defending his choice of action.

"I'm sure they deserve it." I tried to console him, knowing he would never take a life without careful consideration.

"Scarlet, Ashley and Anna all say I'm too nice for my own good and I feel this world is slowly changing me, but I can't help but give people a second chance." He said almost in tears.

"I know," I answered and went to hold him close.

"I can't sentence people to death for a mistake or a bad choice, that's just too unfair but every time I'm forced to make that choice I always see the pain and sorrow the victims feel after and it gets harder and harder to believe the good in people." He cried.

"You're doing the right thing believe me." I whispered holding him close. "I'm here if you ever need to talk," I whispered hoping to comfort him.

"I know." he struggled to whisper back and calmed himself down. "It's a relief that you were able to defend yourself." He whispered making me smile.

"I'm not as useless as you might think." I joked.

"It's not that, just in the back of my mind I always hoped that no harm goes your way even when you were back in our world, one of my worst nightmares was if I heard from some friend that you was harmed in some way and I was never there to save you." He confessed.

"My safety isn't your responsibility, especially when we weren't together." I tried explaining to him.

"I know but I'd still blame myself... I can imagine the pain and rage that will flow through me, I'd lose control... the utterly inhumane things I'd do to someone who hurt you." He answered.

"You have nothing to worry about." I smiled still holding his head tightly towards me.

"I know that now, you need to be careful in this world it is extremely dangerous compared to our homeworld." He pulled away from me to look into my eyes.

"I know, I know." I smiled, "Besides Imagine being back at home as an ordinary person, I'd argue it's more dangerous at home. I didn't even learn how to defend myself properly until I came here." I joked.

"That was kinda true for me too." He smiled wiping away the remnants of tears off his cheek. "So tell me everything that happened! Don't skip anything!" He smiled like an extremely proud boyfriend.