Orian watched as the Grans inspected the ritual circle. Trying to determine what kind of spell was cast. One of them threw a cloth over what was identified without a shadow of a doubt to be Lavender.
Razor arrived less than 10 min after Orian had dismissed the two Teenagers. Upon seeing the ghastly sight, she immediately mentally contacted Storm and The Grans, warning them that they had come across a possible murder.
Razor interrogated the Teenagers, but they had no information to give and were just as appalled and shocked as Orian had been.
His father arrived 15 minutes after Razor and when he saw the corpse, he immediately rushed to his son and embraced him.
Doing his best to comfort him.
The Grans arrived 30 minutes after Storm and immediately began cataloging the findings.
One of the sisters went and inspected the corpse, while another cataloged the ingredients on the table, the final sister started inspecting the ritual circle itself in the hopes of figuring out what kind of spell was being used.
After they each inspected their respective sites, they came together to discuss their findings.
After several minutes of hushed deliberations, they came over to Storm and Orian to reveal their findings.
"We're in agreement... the child died from violent trauma from a large sharp object like a claw." Stated the Grans.
"So she was murdered!!?" Stated Storm.
"... not exactly..." stated the Grans.
"I don't understand?" Stated Storm.
The Grans turned to Orian.
"How much do you know about your friend?" Asked the Grans.
Orian looked around at the eerie house around him.
"Not as much as we all thought!? That much is clear!?" Stated Orian.
"Please get to the point!! What exactly happened here!?" Exclaimed Storm.
"How much do you two know about Revenants?" Asked The Grans.
"They're a minor inconvenience at best and might even be a necessary evil to ensure justice is done!" Stated Storm.
"You're wrong about them being a 'minor inconvenience' they can be a very serious threat." Stated the Grans.
"But only to those who are the targets of their ire. " stated Orian.
Revenants come into being when a particularly angry specter tear through the veil seperating the world of the living fror the world of the dead.
Usually a specter is dangerous enough in it's true form, but some particularly powerful ones takes it one step further and anchor themselves to a dead body.
They become immune to banishment spells, and are able to interact with the living world.
However the cost of maintaining a dead body is high on their magic reserves.
Due to this, most Revenants can only maintain their forms for a few weeks before their reserves runs out and they are forced out of the body and back to the spirit world.
They use powerful illusion magic to hide their undead states from others. Due to the high cost of maintaining their forms and magic, most Revenants came from the spirits of non-humans like elves or dragons.
Specifically ones that were potent spellcasters in life.
"Why are we talking about Revenants? What did you find out?" Asked Storm.
"Your friend Lavender was killed by a fatal claw wound, yes. But according to our investigation she's been dead for almost a year." Explained the Grans.
"That's impossible, people literally saw her alive and well last night!!!" Exclaimed Orian.
"I'm afraid that's exactly what happened. Which means she's been a Revenant this entire time!!" Explained the Grans.
"But if she's been a Revenant and she's clearly targeting my son, then why didn't she kill him?" Asked Storm.
"Because we doubt it was anger that drove this spirit. Not many people know this, but it's not 'anger' that drives a specter to become a Revenant. It's 'Obsession '."
"A drive to protect can be just as likely to create a Revenant as anger. And both types are dangerous in their own way...
She wouldn't harm Orian, but she might harm anyone interacting with him, especially if they hurt him in some way." Explained the Grans.
"There has to be another explanation!! What about the ritual? Couldn't that have caused her body to end up like this!!" Asked Orian.
"This ritual wasn't death magic, based on our information, it's a spell of forgetfulness... a particularly powerful one at that."
"Had it succeeded, it would have wiped a particular topic out of everyone's mind in the entire city. Fortunately the spell failed before it could finish. " Explained the Grans.
"This is twice we've encountered powerful magic of forgetfulness, could the entity holding Orian's memory be responsible.
"There is no doubt they're the same being!! Lavender... or rather the spirit that possessed her is the same one that is keeping us from accessing his visions." Explained the Grans.
"The spirit took more than just the memories of my vision. It also took all the memories I had about Lavender too..." stated Orian.
"When did you discover this?!!" Asked his father.
"This afternoon... after speaking to Quill and Quicksilver..."
The Grans nodded their heads.
"More proof of this spirit's interest in you. It seems to me like she knew she wouldn't be able to maintain the charade any longer, so she was covering her tracks and wrapping up business. " Explained the Grans.
"Could she return though? Or is she gone for good?" Asked Storm.
"She's gone!! That much we've been able to determine!! We used the residual spirit energy in the body to cast a locator spell.
She isn't in the city!!"
As for what happened? It's possible she finished whatever business that convinced her to return to our world, then left of her own accord?
Or, she finally ran out of energy and lost her ability to stay here! If that is the case, then she might still return in a new form." Explained the Grans.
Storm shook his head.
"We cannot allow news of this to spread around the city!! It would cause unnecessarily panic amongst the people!!" Exclaimed Storm.
"We can't just cover this up either, she deserves to be laid to rest, and for her friends and acquaintances to bid their farewells!!" Exclaimed Orian.
"So, then we hold a memorial for her and bury her body, without revealing her status as a Revenant!? That should please both parties." Suggested the Grans.