“Is this really such a good idea madame?” The old headmistress nagged. Gordon had been sent off to deal with regular duties again.
“She’s harmless. And if I recall, don’t you need an extra pair of hands?” Rosen snarked. Her eyes contained enough malice to cut through steel.
“o-oh… I suppose, I do…” The old woman quivered. Under the last great witch, she’d gotten away with so much, financial or literal. The fact that she remained employed was already a miracle, Rosen thought. She wouldn’t dare bite the hand that fed her now, would she?
“Don’t you have things to tend to now?” Rosen’s uncanny smile instantly sent shivers down the woman’s spine.
“Y-Yes madame. I-I’m sorry for intruding.” The old hag sputtered.
As soon as she could, the headmistress cautiously backed up out the door and disappeared.
Rosen, however, stayed, staring absent-mindedly through the window. She saw Gordon being pulled in any which way, led around by the children in the courtyard. Somehow, this scene reminded her of something dear. She smiled slightly, before remembering the realities they faced.
‘Gordon got away with just a delayed puberty, that thing blocking her developmental mana, and her memory since it started being partially destroyed. The next person won’t be so lucky.’ Rosen silently muttered to herself. Her little familiar formed again while she wasn’t looking and had been rubbing against her neck to try and comfort her. A small, warm expression formed. Rosen tempered her resolve and dismissed the creature, leaving the orphanage quietly.
***
“Get in.” Lou threw her bag on the passenger seat of the dodgy black van and barked at Eva.
Eva rolled her eyes, throwing out an ‘Eh, I’ve got nothing better to do’ look. Obviously, she wasn’t going to turn down the offer.
Lou stood dead cold before and after she hopped in. Her eyes were dead set on pulling out of the parking lot as fast as possible without having to have insurance involved.
“Sooooooo— What’s the plan, leader?” Eva drew that out for an ungodly amount of time. She refused to let Lou sit in silence like this. In fact, the ‘Her mother will kill me if she sees this vegetative state’ Act was only codified in late last year after some, difficult, lessons. Thus, Eva created operation ‘annoy the snot out of ‘em’, to keep them both alive.
Lou just barely finished coming out of a parallel park. She floored the gas as hard as she could, there being almost no traffic to stop her. “Rya and Zach are on the other side of town; Horace Is on the way. So, I’m kicking you out when we pass city hall.”
“Aww. What’d I do this time?” Eva teased. She immediately regretted it as Lou threw the car forward again, catching her off-kilter. She could swear this is intentional, sometimes. Eva, in a desperate attempt, clinging onto the van’s side handles for her dear life.
“Nothing.” Lou paused, “And somehow, —” She swerved to not hit an idiot vehicle that had cut them off. “—that’s the frightening part.”
As soon as Lou saw city hall’s old clock tower, she slowed the breakneck pace. Eva got off before Lou could make good on her word.
“Horace is by the fountain. He says he brought your claymore.” Lou threw Eva’s bag to her. “And keep your radio on, for the love of the gods.”
Eva absent-mindedly nodded, doing her best to dismiss the Bloodkin.
As Lou pulled out, her gut screamed at her that something was about to go wrong. Not that she left Eva alone, mind you. That gut feeling is an abject horror of all the stupid things that could happen, and the clean-up they’d necessitate. The pit in her stomach was more of a dread, a warning of impending doom.
“Shit. This isn’t going to end well, isn’t it?” Lou whispered, taking a deep breath. She didn’t lose her composure for much, but she felt that this time, it was warranted.
***
“Oi. Spoiled princess.” Rya waved briefly at Lou, tossing her a canned coffee. Clad in a burgundy cropped and emblazoned jacket, athletic skirt, and knee-high socks, her usual get-up, she’d instantly be clocked as a Desmond college guild member. Mostly through the jacket alone.
Full uniforms for all types of races were too much of a hassle, so more informal or lesser funded organizations only provided coats, robes, or any clothing of the slip-on sort.
It had been more than an hour since Lou arrived, most of that time being on high alert, so a rest was greatly appreciated.
“Where did Zach run off to?” Lou caught the can, fiddling with the moonwalker-like brick at her hip, scanning the radio for any information.
“No idea.” The golden cat girl shrugged. “What about the other two?”
“Horace and Eva haven’t reported anything unusual either.”
“Ha.” Rya snickered. “10 bucks that ‘nothing unusual’ is them skipping their job with dUNO again.”
“Not a bad idea right now.” Lou sighed of boredom.
“What about Zach?” Rya hopped on the hood of the borrowed van, as Lou was taking up the bench already.
“He said the junkyards seemed oddly unguarded and went to fill that spot.” Lou cracked open her can and flicked through the radio channels once more.
“Sounds like he’s in car battery heaven then.” Rya finished her coffee and chucked it.
“Why are they all so incompetent…” Lou slumped.
“I don’t know. The boys, I understand. They were born with bastard brain syndrome. But Eva? I have no clue.” Rya shrugged.
“…aren’t you her roommate?” Lou asked, somewhat concerned that even Rya couldn’t figure it out.
“Doesn’t mean shit.” Rya paused. “Don’t you spend the lion’s share of our commissions with her?”
The two locked eyes, stuck in a stalemate, no words being exchanged.
“Fair point.” Lou gulped down the rest of her drink. “Want another coffee?”
The two of them continued their idle banter to pass the time. Lou made good on her word and bought two more drinks for them.
“…safe to say, that guy was banished from most of his crimes.” Lou had been reciting a story from her childhood.
“Good riddance.” Rya took another sip. “Where’d he go after that?”
“Dead, probably. This was around half a century ago.” Lou gripped the coffee. She’d been holding it unopen for so long that it was now room temperature.
“Ah. That around when you moved to Viola city?” Rya’s intrigue was peaked. She took the last sip of her drink.
“Around then. I was still young at the time, so I don’t remember things all too well.” Lou shook her head. “You know, I get the same feeling from Eva, that she’s hiding something important from us—” Rya choked on her drink and started coughing violently. Lou tried to help, but Rya kept her at an arm’s length as she hacked up the liquid.
“Definitely not. She’s just a dumbass.” Rya’s voice cracked, as she wiped her face with her coat.
“Still. I can’t shake the feeling that she is.” Lou gripped her can tighter.
***
Meanwhile, on the other end of town.
Horace and Eva were locked in competition. The air around them was tense. The abandoned patio table warmed by their war. Neither could afford to screw this up. They had a strict no-mana policy, which they weren’t about to dishonor. Sparks flew between their eyes, the ambient mana pressure rose, but was restrained just enough for people to breathe properly.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“dUNO.” Horace said calmly, his poker-face impeccable. “One card left.”
Eva considered her options carefully. It could be he saved a colour changer for the end. It could be that he was bluffing, that he wouldn’t win in the next turn. All were possible, yet none were possible at the same time. His face didn’t betray him, nor did hers. If she was going to win, she was going to bet it all on this one play. Screw it.
“Pickup twelve.” Eva placed down several multi-coloured cards, all labeled +2.
The moment her hand left the cards, Horace smirked a bit, before breaking out into a large smile. His hand reacted almost at lightning speed, before she could even claim a mishap, and redo her turn.
“Pickup sixteen.” The duty to draw cards had been passed on to Eva. He himself had no cards left to play. He won. Eva was in shock, she let her cards fall to the floor in disbelief. Despite this, she continued proudly.
“Good game.” Eva smiled, extending her hand for a firm handshake. It had been almost an hour since they started this dUNO match. A small crowd had accumulated for the finale. They were indeed entertained, up until the last second.
“Good game.” Horace reciprocated. His voice was gruff, intimidating, and deep, almost having a whisky rasp to it. Eva approached him, until they were shoulder to shoulder.
“Do you have the goods?” Eva whispered.
“Of course. See for yourself.” He handed Eva a large guitar-like carrying case. With a glance inside, she confirmed it was there. Her pride and joy—her baby. “Do we have a deal?” He reached his hand out.
“Deal.” Eva responded with a firm shake.
They stood there, staring into each other’s eyes, long enough to be uncomfortable. They refused to break the shake.
It took a long silence before anyone made a noise. It was a chuckle from Horace. Shortly after, Eva followed along. The two then burst into laughter at the absurdity of what they’d acted out. Horace and Eva were a menace to any seriousness together. Apart from each other, they were perfectly normal. Their shared use of a single braincell keeps filling in the blanks and ramping up their bits to absurd levels.
“Your claymore should be in there. I have stuff in there though, so give me back the case.” Horace said, wiping the tears off his eyes. His intimidating gruffness faded, opening to a much softer demeanor. His whisky rasp still stayed.
“How’s alchemy treating you?” She asked, glancing at the other contents in the case. An assortment of gem dusts, liquids in labeled bottles, and canisters of gasses.
“Not too bad, if I do say so myself.” Horace puffed up his chest proudly. “I heard you tested circuits on Azulite?” He took back his case from Eva, now significantly lighter without the 5 pounds of steel.
“Yeah. It was pretty interesting.” Eva nodded. “At low mana voltages it wouldn’t let anything through. Then, once it released a critical point, it fired it back out stronger, with a delay.”
Horace quickly noted down what she said, “A shame. You should have invited me to the team. I’d have been more than happy to help.” There were sparkles in Horace’s eyes whenever he discussed alchemy. Today was no exception either.
Despite their shared enthusiasm, the two couldn’t bring themselves to talk, leaving the room in an awkward silence.
“Any new jobs/orders?” Eva asked, fiddling with her blade, trying to rekindle the conversation.
“None. You?”
“Nope. None at all for now.” Eva kicked back.
“Really?” Horace was slightly surprised. “I thought you were given a job with Lou. That’s why you were so late.”
“Me too buddy, me too.” Eva sighed.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Wanna play another round of dUNO?” Eva suggested.
Horace only smiled in return.
***
“Hurry up Sister! You’re slow!” a kid called out to Gordon.
He could only grunt as he was pulled along with the group. The other sister that was supervising had to take a kid to the hospital after they passed out. Currently, Ke’er, the pink cat, was filling Gordon’s role better than he ever could, singing songs and leading the group.
An older troll boy broke out from the group, Taking the role of song master from Ke’er. He covered his lower arms in mana and added in percussion. Sparks flew from his snaps and claps like weak yet colourful fireworks. The younger kids were enamored, following along gleefully.
“Sister Gordon… do you know how to do that?” A younger dragon girl, around the age of four, asked. She had a stubby tail and small horns. She was falling behind the group, struggling to keep up, but at least she had an ‘adult’ there to answer questions.
“Yes I do.” Gordon kept his answer short. He tried to not talk much, but the wide and curious eyes of the dragon kid were too cute for him to stop. “I can show you if you’d like.”
“Really?” The girl’s eyes grew wide, and a giant smile popped up. “Can you? Pretty pleaseee?”
Gordon shook his head. He really couldn’t do anything here, could he? He sighed, “Έναυσμα”, and snapped his fingers. Small, colour changing embers flew from his snap.
The girl was wide eyed and giddy at the demonstration. She tried to recreate it herself, only snapping, but to no avail.
“Sister Gordon? Why can Bently do that, but I can’t?” She asked.
Gordon was in denial to himself. He believed himself to be a homena. Most of these systems didn’t apply, or their mana was so weak that they couldn’t clear the first hurdle. But, for the sake of this girl, he put that aside.
“That’s the form his mana takes. Mana is something people are born with, a part of their souls. With that, he can do many different things.”
The girl was stumped.
“Think of it this way. Spells, everyone can use one, but you have to say or draw it. Your mana, however, is yours. It’s the special spell you can use without saying anything.” Gordon sighed.
“But then,” she stuttered, “but then why is his see through, but Sister Rosalia's is all colourful wears hers like a scarf?”
“As you get older, you get better at using your mana. You’ll figure out soon enough.”
“That’s not what I meant!” the kid shouted.
Ah. Gordon whispered internally. “Everyone is different, and their talents are too. Think of mana like an extra talent, something that helps what you’re good at and what you want to do.” He didn’t know, so he just bullshitted. This was probably good enough.
“But… Sister Gordon? Why are you saying words? Sister Rosalia and Bently don’t say anything.” Now this was something he could answer.
“That’s because I’m not using my own mana.” Gordon patiently responded.
The girl tilted her head in confusion.
“There’s mana all around us, not just in people. By saying spells, you have to say words for them to answer. It’s like calling it call it a funny name, and it comes out to finish a spell because it’s angry.”
The girl quietly pondered. The look in her eyes dulled a bit.
“But then, wouldn’t that make it sad?” Gordon quietly choked on his words. Maybe that wasn’t the best answer.
“No, no, not at all. It’s like calling a friend a nickname, so they know who’s calling them in a crowd.”
“Oh!” The girl quickly nodded, the sparkle in her eyes restored. “But then, where does mana come from?”
“It comes from—"Gordon was on the verge of spouting homena gospel (propaganda).
“I know! I can tell you that story!” a boy of 6 years answered.
Thank God Gordon thought. He didn’t want to have the headmistress come down on him for speaking ‘his mind’. Though what he thought to be ‘his mind’ was a lie passed down as propaganda through the homena to selfishly justify themselves, when otherwise the beginning of the world was thoroughly well documented and researched.
“This is a story my big brother used to tell me. Back before the gods, the world was a dark place. It was trying to keep itself living, so it took life from all the creatures that lived in it.” The boy started. The girl stayed silent and listened tentatively. “So, what do you think happened to those creatures?”
The girl’s expression looked sad. Almost mourning something.
“Ah! No! Nothing bad happened to them.” Seeing the young girl’s expression, he quickly corrected himself. “In fact, they grew! To keep living along side everybody, everything grew more life!” Her eyes sparkled once more. “But the world was still in trouble. So, the gods got together, went out, and fixed the world! Then, they taught us how to do magic with that extra life, and went to live how they wanted.”
Gordon had been listening in on the story. He swore an oath to reject false ‘demon’ blasphemy, but the tiniest bit of his still present curiosity nagged at him. If anything, he should check if this was true, just to be able to put the topic to rest. He felt his pocket for a small pocketbook he’d been given to write it down. It was supposed to be a record book he was obligated to keep, but thanks to pushback and refusal to comply, it had become nothing more than another notebook.
As soon as Gordon took the booklet out though, a kid stole it from him. Queue him frustratingly running after the bugger to get it back. It wasn’t all bad though. The kids got a good laugh out of it. That’s all that really mattered. Gordon’s cuffs glowed red throughout the entire thing, stopping him from using mana, but not restricting his movement.
“Sister Gordon, You’re funny.” The girl from before chuckled, touching his forearm to get attention. Gordon was slightly embarrassed, but he refused to show it. He put on the same tough I-don’t-want-to-be-here attitude as before.
As they were about to continue the journey home, Gordon felt a pit in his stomach. His senses were screaming at him. Whatever mana he was sensing, it was danger.
He felt the mana’s source move. Without any thinking, he rushed and threw himself in front of the group.
“εκτρέψει!” He shouted, throwing something from his off-hand. A translucent barrier formed, messing with the light that passed through it. Barely a second later, it was hit with an immense blast. Smoke unfurled from the impact. Gordon, hit in mid-air, couldn’t hold his ground. He shot back to the ground and rolled back, stopping at Ke’er’s feet. Despite most of his strength sapped, he struggled to get up.
From within the smoke, they could hear mad laughter.
“All of you! Get out of here!” Gordon screamed, crunching up another page from his notebook into a ball, and pouring mana into it. The older kids immediately got his message, and started hurrying everyone back.
“Now now. We can’t have that, can’t we?” The voice from the fog chuckled. The dust Gordon was kicked up, merging with the smoke to cut off the kids’ escape route.
Gordon felt another blow coming. Instinctively, screamed & threw the spell again. This time, the assailant struck with even more force, knocking Gordon back even with a meter’s worth of distance. The kids had huddled together, trying to stay in the clearing. Gordon came crashing right back to them. He knew that he’d faced this exact person before in some manner, but his memories were fragmented. He couldn’t piece them together no matter what.
“Who are you!?” Gordon demanded. His left leg had been twisted. The best he could do was kneel on one knee.
The voice laughed. The smoke was thin enough to see a shadow now.
“I didn’t expect you to forget me so soon, boy. Do you really need me to introduce myself?” With a flick of her wrist, the smoke made itself scarce. The woman had a scaly tail, horns, with one extra feature that dragons usually had. Wings. Tattered and attached to her back. “Did you really forget my name, Beindois, so easily?”