Rain pitter pattered on smoothed out cobblestone, culminating together into tiny puddles. The little gatherings of water droplets soon thirsted for growth, expanding from their confines to swallow up all the liquid falling from the sky that they could. As they expanded in all directions, the puddles began consuming each other. Before long the tiny little puddles that had formed at the beginning of the rain had turned massive, taking up entire stretches of walkway. The drainage systems were struggling to keep up with the water, and as the gutters from the roofs had reached their fill, the struggling sewage found itself unable to keep up.

Looking at the puddles now as they slowly but surely rose higher and higher, taking up more and more ground, one would find themselves unable to find the original. Obviously the source was the rain that pelted the town without relent. The lack of proper circulation of the liquid had been the first step to forming these congregations, but it had been aided by the improper drainage from both below and above ground level. All the causes had been made fairly clear, but that could not trace the origin. In fact, anyone who had not been watching from the very beginning would be unable to point it out whilst the puddles still existed. It would have to wait until the area began to dry for anyone to figure it out.

As the area dried, the outer rims of the water would be the first to disappear. The places that held the beginnings of the puddle, that allowed for them to sprout, would be the last ones to evaporate. It seemed so simple, but most people wouldn't have the patience nor the attitude to figure that out. Why would they? All that mattered was getting rid of the puddle, so as long as the job was done, that was everything.

The puddles could teach someone who was willing to watch them, though. They were after all an effect of nature, and in this case, an obvious interaction between was was completely natural, and what was man made. Puddles were by no means unique to cities, but how they formed in the town and how they sustained themselves was an important thing to note. It would be a bit of a stretch, but one could find the connection if they only paid close enough attention.

People, like water, tended to culminate in predisposed places. Those places were not special necessarily, and would be difficult to point out if you did not have some of the desired test subject to look into it. In fact, how would one expect puddles to form at all without water? Once you intentionally poured some, however, where it gathered became obvious. People were the same. Throw them out and let them settle, and you'll find that they've grouped in seemingly random places. The longer you look, the more you'll see people gather to a specific area, until that area begins to swallow up the surrounding areas.

It was how a tent became tents. How tents became houses. How houses became a village, than a town, and eventually a city. And it was as the reach of these cities spread and connected to other cities that countries were born. Did things have to have such obvious and finite possibilities though? Certainly not. Territory was nothing more than a proof of existence. It was an area one could walk without being told they could not walk there. That was not necessary for the grouping of people, though.

Sometimes, people could group around a more simplified thing. Something such as a purpose, or an idea. These ideas did not need to be good, nor evil. They needed only be powerful. Powerful indeed were the ideas that formed guilds. Many people, regardless if they all were similar or even if they got along, came together to form a large and recognized idea. These ideals were arguably good in most cases, such as light guilds like Blue Pegasus and Fairy Tail. Others, arguably bad. Still, these ideas had found locations to manifest themselves, and chose to make themselves an ideal rather than simply an existence.

Not all ideas culminated as such. Sometimes, they chose to remain in the subconscious. Further away from the light, where they could fester and slow down the system from the back. These gatherings were normally considered nefarious, at least when viewed from the perspective of society. These groups had a unique name given to them, specifying who they were and how they operated. Despite their similarities to guilds, they were not considered one and the same. Guilds were upfront about their ideals, operating to make themselves known. Even the dark guilds, such as Grimoire Heart and Phantom Lord, were well known. This group was different.

This group was a cult.

Cults operated in the dark. They hid their actions, covered their tracks, and operated in ways to where nothing of their existence would become finite. Word of mouth, proof of action, but never direct contact. It was an undiagnosed tumor in the heart of Magnolia, and if left unchecked, it would spread throughout the town and infect everything. It needed to be treated. Before that, it needed to be confirmed. It was a tricky disease though, this cult. Simply looking into it would not be enough to actually begin solving the problem. One could not operate without definitive proof, and for that, an outsider was needed. A cult that was able to become known of at all, even through word of mouth, had already spread too much for normal soldiers to track. It needed to be detected, its existence proven, before they could act.

That was the reason for this meeting between Finn and the head of the guard, known as Captain Devon. Devon had called him here for a meeting, one that Finn had been informed would be private. Finn had been bored beyond tears within Magnolia, to the point in which he was about ready to challenge strangers to battle. That being said, he had experience with missions before. Normally, the things that were deemed as secretive would be the ones that offered the most excitement. So of course, he had accepted without question and gone to the meeting place, and alley near the outskirts of town. He had to go through the winding streets for half an hour just to find the place. That wasn't due to how hidden or far away from his temporary residence was by any means. It was due to how easily he had become lost in these foreign streets. Still, he had to be honest, he was eager to know about the mission.

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Now that Finn knew of the job, it was only a matter of execution. Truth be told, he hadn't really been given a ton of information. Obviously the captain did not have the man power, nor the resources, to handle this job himself. Seeing as how it was only information that was currently being searched for, one would expect there to be a lack of information. That being said, this was a bit ridiculous. Even from Finn's perspective, and he wasn't necessarily a genius when it came to planning things ahead of time, this seemed to be pushing it a bit.

First problem was that the captain didn't even know if there was a cult. Things had merely spread by word, and proof that could lead to a cult had been found. That being said, it could have been a plethora of other things as well. There was no confirmation either way, and nothing in the terms of helping find it. One would expect the captain to at least have a general area of where these rumors had been spread from or culminating, but not even that seemed to be possible. Finn was completely on his own in this one, and so he'd have to deal with it as such.

As Finn left the meeting area, he was given only a good luck to help him along. It was more than nothing, but it certainly wasn't going to be enough to finish this mission. So instead, he'd do it his way. His way meant straight forward, simple, and repeating that method until forced to do otherwise. This could be either by means of success, or too much failure to maintain his normal upbeat attitude. And so, with that in mind, he began to go and utilize his method.

This highly sophisticated and effective method was going up to literally everyone he could find and asking them if they knew of any hip and hot new cults in the area. By three people he was beginning to doubt whether or not such a plan would ever work. After all, now that he thought about it, simply asking people if they'd heard of a cult would probably never work. Weren't cults normally in denial about being cults? In fact, wasn't cult a name that outsiders called them in reference to a negative connotation? How would this work? What would make someone think this would work? (Looking at you whoever wrote this damn quest.)

And yet, disappointingly almost, it did work. The fourth person looked at him suspiciously, asking why he wanted to know. "Oh you know, cult stuff." Apparently, such an answer was exactly what he wished to hear. With an enthusiastic nod and a thumbs up for his answer, the man told Finn to stop by the nearby store soon. He told him the password, 'Illucifan Nagar', and then told him that he'd see him later that night.

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Later that night, he was back. Finn had made his way to the store, as was requested of him. Making his way now to the door, he went to enter. Locked... As if on cue, a hidden latch opened, revealing a familiar pair of eyes which asked for the password. Finn was almost a little surprised, pleasantly so. They seemed to genuinely value their secret nature, and this was actually beginning to look like a real cult. This was something that he could have fun with! Saying the password, 'Illucifan Nagar', he was elated to hear the locks inside begin to turn.

As the door opened though, Finn's heart sank some. Really? It was the same guy he had run into on the street. Why the hell did he need to use a password? This guy literally just saw him maybe an hour ago. Of course he knew that Finn was the same person, it required no password. This quest was starting to just confuse Finn, which took quite the quest to do. It wasn't that the quest wasn't good, nor was it dumb, but it didn't feel fully fleshed out. Almost like the quest was written just to have it finished and ready to go.

In fact, another thing that didn't quite make sense was what Finn was ordered to do. He was told not to come back until he actually saw the entirety of the cult, for proof that it existed. Wasn't the password and being told to come back enough? Couldn't he have gone, informed them, and brought backup? They could have stayed back, then stormed the place once the door opened. That would have ended this whole thing, here and now. It seemed so obvious. What the hell was the captain thinking?

Anyways, as Finn was led down a tunnel, he came to a place that was obviously a cult meeting spot. Tons of people with hoods on, in a circle, chanting in a language that definitely didn't seem familiar. As one of the hooded men broke away and closed the distance to Finn, he began to ask Finn what he was here for. Remembering his complicated answer from before, Finn repeated it to this man who seemed to be completely into the answer. Would this man, apparently some sort of leader, also believe Finn's words just like that?

"SPY! GET HIM!"

Nope. With that, Finn turned and delivered a spinning back elbow to the individual who was behind him, the one who had led him here. He dropped to the ground, unconscious from the well placed and timed blow, and then began making his way down the tunnel. These people were all either normal people or mages, none of whom could keep up with someone as fit and well worked as Finn. Making his way down the tunnel, out the store, and into the city, he would quickly and efficiently lose any pursuers. Then, he returned to the Captain who was back at the guard outpost and gave his report. This was a mission well done.

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