The ride was silent, and I spent the time staring out the window at the dark streets. It was early in the morning, but Bob had told me that time didn't matter as much to DOSA since certain paras were far more active at night than during the day. DOSA had to be ready at all times for any incident.
An entire government that I hadn’t even been aware of until just an hour ago. It was sort of like some of the novels I read, but there was a lot more to it. At least that's what Bob claimed. There were many moving pieces and factors that allowed for so much to remain hidden. For the mundane to remain separate from the magical.
Bob hadn't said much about his past yet, and he seemed to have had plenty of bad experiences of his own. I wouldn't force him to speak on them, but from everything so far, I was lucky to have him. If I’d had to do this on my own, then I’d probably mess it up.
The DOSA building looked a lot like an office building. In fact, it was pretty much an office building. Four stories with and a large parking area. There was also a building attached to it from behind. To a normal passerby, it probably looked plain and unassuming. I imagined that was what they were going for.
Officer Doland patiently waited as I got out of the car, and together we made our way into the building. The lobby looked fairly normal and a lot of people seemed to be leaving. They wore a mix of clothing, but it was all for the most part, similar to Officer Dolands. Casual, yet still business. It was mostly plain colors like black and white, though there were a few blues and dark green in there.
“Zoe, back so soon,” the receptionist, a young-looking woman, greeted Officer Doland or Zoe, as we walked up.
“Hey, Trace,” Zoe said. “I’ve got a fresh para here. Minor magic type it looks like. Can you get one of the rooms ready and have them send one of the people from the HC over?”
“Sure,” Trace said. She tapped away at her keyboard, then made a call. I waited patiently, trying to ignore everyone and act as though I wasn’t there. Of course, that was hard given my size. “It's done, just head up and go to room 17. Carl should be waiting.”
Zoe made a face. “He’s still here?”
Trace rolled her eyes. “He hit on you once. It’s not like he grabbed your ass.” She glanced at me and coughed. “Now take the freshie up. He looks… confused.”
The distortion I’d seen around Zoe appeared around many of the others I saw. Never for long, but I was certain now, that I wasn’t just seeing things. I guessed it had something to do with the fact I now had magic or maybe because I was bonded to Bob. I’d only had Bob for a few hours, but I already missed him.
The building was set up like what I imagined an office mixed with a police station would look like. We passed an open area full of desks and workplaces. More people seemed to be packing up and heading home while others were just coming in. She led me down more hallways and a few turns, and up a flight of stairs.
“This is where I leave you,” Zoe said. “Just head in.”
“What's going to happen?” I asked, glancing around nervously and trying to make it seem like I was afraid.
“You'll get an explanation and some help.” She opened the door and motioned me in. “Have a nice day, Rick, and welcome.”
I thanked her, then stepped into the room. For some reason, I’d be thinking along the lines of an interrogation room, but that was far from the case. The room looked cozy. There was a couch at one end, where a middle-aged man with a rather large gut, not that I could say much, sat.
“Mr. Richard.” He stood and walked over, reaching down and shaking my head. “It's good to meet you. I’m Carl, I’ll be your guide into things. Please have a seat.” His voice was overly enthusiastic, and he reminded me of those people on tv that sold things.
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I took a seat on the couch, noticing the table next to his side. It had a stack of papers, a laptop, and what looked like a few pamphlets. “It's been a while,” he said, “since they’ve had me initiate a fresh para. And a magic type at that.” He picked up a folder, and opened it, glazing over the contents. “It says here in the preliminary report that they’ve got you down as a sorcerer or having a magical talent.”
He snapped the folder. “But we can get to that later. First, I suppose you want to know what's going on, yes?”
I nodded, playing the part of a confused person. Carl sighed and said, “Jane or even one of the dryads would be better for this, but I’ll try my best. A lot of what I'm about to say is gonna sound downright crazy, and you're probably not going to believe just my word, so…” He picked up the laptop from on the table. “So I’ll be showing you as well. And this is not that CGI they have in the movies.”
Thanks to Bob I knew what he meant. The PPW. The prime para web. He’d be showing images, footage, and other things as proof, and I’d play along, acting shocked and stupified.
Carl went on to explain things fairly well, with some tidbits that were actually interesting. It was nothing Bob hadn't told me or I hadn't already guessed. Despite the overly energetic personality, Carl was smart and very good at explaining. It was all basic, but welcome. Though when he started showing me stuff on the laptop, then it got really good. I acted shocked and full of awe when he showed me a video of an elf dancing; a stripper elf. I blushed and he laughed and said, “Did you know Portland has more strip clubs per capita than any other city in the United States?”
I shook my head and adjusted my pants. I had not known that, but something Bob had said early suddenly made more sense. He’d said there were a lot of sensual types in Portland. Carl then showed me a few images of different races. A group of what looked like people with horns, demons Carl called them, at a concert full of all types of races. A troll doing construction work and plenty more.
“Now for some magic,” Carl said.
I paid close attention as he showed me people casting using magic for all sorts of things. He showed me a beautiful woman, a dryad, using magic to accelerate a plant's growth. She was out of this world beautiful with a figure women would kill for. She was also naked, and Carl seemed to get a kick out of making me blush. It's not like I hadn't seen internet porn before, or pictures of naked women. I’d lived on the internet. But not with someone next to me.
The next was of what looked like a firing range, except for magic. “Can you turn the volume up?” I asked.
“... it’s a fairly decent spell, but pretty basic,” the man in the video said. “It's basically just a more efficient version of a basic fireball which I don't ever use when I go on hunts. Maybe back in the day, this would be useful, but now, not so much. The spell itself may not be all that but the principles behind it are something I recommend any decent mana-based practitioner study. Those with large reserves tend to fling about magic. Efficiency people. I know I say it a lot, but efficiency is what you need—” Carl paused the video. “Interesting isn’t it?”
I nodded, and then realized I had moved my face closer to the screen. I pulled back. “That was like a youtube video,” I said. Carl nodded. “The magical world has more than kept up in terms of technology and even surpassed it in some outer planes. You know, magic.” He shrugged. “You’re taking things pretty well. A fellow nerd are we?”
I nodded. I was eager to get back home and get on the PPW for myself.
“Good, now we’ve got that out of the way. There are just a few things left,” he said, picking up the stacks of papers. “I've got a few forms for you to fill out, and some info packets to help you. There's also some pamphlets. The sites on there are all PPW so until you get your mask you won't be able to get on them.”
I frowned, and Carl laughed, nudging me. “Eager to see more elf and dryad, huh?” This time I rolled my eyes. He laughed. “Well, we’ll get these sorted, and then you can be on your way.”
“What about my mask?”
“You get given an appointment and address,” Carl said. “It's gonna be the DMV for you.” He pulled out the first form and we got to fill them out. They were pretty standard. Though some of the questions were definitely… different.
“Never seen anything odd?” Carl asked. “No glimpses of anything as a child?” I considered telling him about the distortion but decided against it. “No,” I said.
It took us half an hour to get through all the floors, and it sort of worried me how quickly DOSA had gotten everything about me. Usually, you need to bring ID and form, but they had everything, even some things which I knew they shouldn't normally have known. But this wasn’t normal for me, at least not yet.
Once we were done, he handed me the packets and pamphlets. I left the room and asked someone for directions to get out, but soon found myself back in the lobby. I headed to the receptionist. “I was told to get a mask appointment?”
“Name?”
“Richard Halls.”
She tapped into her keyboard, and then a moment later, a piece of paper was printed from a small device on her desk. “Here you are. Make sure you arrive five minutes early, and if something comes up, then please call the helpline number. Is there anything else?”
“Can you call me a cab?” I asked.
“Of course, to where?”
I told her my address and then glanced at the paper as I headed out of the building. The appointment was for 3:05PM at a DMV building I recognized. It wasn’t too far from my apartment. It was quicker than I thought but maybe DOSA didn't want people who needed a mask waiting for long. It was far more important than a driver's license or other documents.
As I waited for the cab it struck me just how quickly things were moving. It had been less than a day and yet, here I was, a registered ‘minor sorcerer’ in a world I hadn't known existed just a day ago. The cab arrived and I took it back to the apartment. I spent the entire journey home thinking of what Carl had shown me. Of how real it looked. It is real. This is all real.