Rob stood in the finest kitchen he’d ever been inside in his entire life. Jade had shown him things since Arson had introduced him to his mother, but it wasn’t until this very day that Rob was brought into Jade’s real kitchen.
He’d been in many various smaller kitchens that the woman seemed to make materialize from thin air, the same door used to enter all of them. Yet finally her most extravagant culinary arts facility was displayed.
When he’d entered Rob’s jaw dropped at the equipment staged perfectly in abundance all around him. Every aspect of the kitchen built on granting ease to the chef or chefs involved was built with the use of runes and runic systems.
Sinks that washed dishes themselves. Ovens with tablets connected that allowed the desired meal being cooked to be selected for perfect temperatures to be kept, and even refrigerators and freezers could be found above each and every prep table, connected to spacial pockets full of fresh produce and more ingredients necessary to complete practically any dish imaginable.
Regardless of all of these innovative tools and pieces of equipment, Rob was forced to train on a literal wood burning stove that Jade seemed to pull from the depths of a dungeon to torture Rob with.
Not even the orphanage had such an inadequate piece of cooking equipment, but for whatever reason Jade was convinced that a mana grill or stove top was far too easy to use, and didn’t embody the truest form of meal preparation that Jade felt a master chef needed to experience before they could be considered truly skilled.
“So what exactly is the issue?”
Rob couldn’t look away from the dish he prepared, needing to maintain a perfect temperature the entire time the tender bird fillets he seared were being cooked. Yet the question from Jade gave him pause.
“Umm, today is the day we scheduled and began to post on various social media outlets that we are open and taking deliveries, but the members of my team who were willing to do the deliveries no longer want to, preferring the cooking processes I’ve been trying to get them trained in for today's launch. And the people I’ve tried to hire accept the job until they know that we are catering to the Bronze. Some waited around for a time when I told them Khalif and his body guards would be helping us out, but then they either got tired of waiting, or came to learn that they’d be guarded by ex-gang members and eventually disappeared as well.”
Rob removed the fillets and began to plate the delicate entrees, moving quickly as he lightly seasoned and garnished the food. A pleasant smell filling the room as Rob placed each plate onto the container made for him by Xani. Each plate completed vanishing in a flash of light.
“Why can’t you do what Jasmine did, and ask some of the orphans helping out the rest of your team for help,” asked Jade. The woman also preparing a dish of her own on the other side of the kitchen. Her hands moving without end, even as she stared down Rob.
“Tried that, but I think I’m better off asking Almarine to borrow the assistance of her runners to get started, some of them may even like the wages we offer more, and it's not like Almarine sends them on runs constantly, just grocery store trips…” Rob said speaking his thoughts aloud. It wasn’t until he finished putting up the last meal he prepared that he registered what he’d just said, his brow furrowing as he looked back to the smiling Jade.
“So what exactly is the problem,” Jade asked again as her brow rose.
“Umm, maybe nothing,” Rob said pulling out his flatscreen from his pocket and dialing the orphan mother. To Rob’s surprise, a handful of orphans arrived to help not long after his conversation with Almarine and the group didn’t have to wait very long before Khalif and his guards in training all showed up to meet them.
“So how should we do this,” asked Khalif looking between the orphans there to help, and his own group,” Khalif asked, but Rob was already a tad overwhelmed. His flatscreen was exploding with food orders, and the distances between each order weren’t short. With all the food they were expected to deliver, he knew their options were limited, and that they would most likely have to split up.
He told Khalif as much and before his very eyes one of Khalif’s men began ripping himself apart to create duplicates of himself. The extra hands they needed, that would not only give them more man power, but also help make deliveries.
Rob was thankful that Xani had worked through the previous night to finish creating the food containers they would need to make the large list of growing orders, but felt that his lack of experience and direction was becoming more and more of a hinderance.
He instinctually knew that these minor details that he’d missed, or procrastinated over the past few days, would have been handled if Arson was awake. A factor that made him feel the weight of responsibility even further, in addition to making him more eager to succeed and impress not only Arson, but Jade as well.
The woman had no obligations to help Arson’s companions as much as she had already, but even the few lessons he’d received thus far made Rob feel a drive to exceed what was expected of him, and become more.
If you are going to run a famous kitchen one day, you need to make these types of hurdles trivial for yourself and the confidence in your capability will follow…
Rob walked the streets of the Bronze sector of Maelstrom and was blown away by the reception they got from each and every person who ordered. As he, Khalif, and the additional silent clone that followed each group approached every address they were either greeted with excitement or wariness. All patrons in the end leaving fantastic reviews that uplifted Rob.
The young chef found himself more surprised with the wide variety of customers that tried the unknown and simply named, Crew Cooks, for their meals that day. The Bronze sector, was an impoverished area for the most part, however, some of the larger dwellings in the area were not run down, but instead tucked away like hidden marvels, not only secluded, but beautiful.
A few of the neighborhoods they’d entered were also refined and renovated beyond the surrounding slums. As well as the compound they’d just left obviously being a hideout for wealthier individuals with a taste for luxurious food, making Rob excited to see where his clientele would come from, and one day grow to include.
It was not long after their exit from the short perimeter wall around their last stop that their trouble began, however. Cole’s clone brought Khalif’s attention to a small group following them and before long, Khalif whispered for Rob to get ready to move as fast as he could.
“What’s going on?” Rob asked suddenly alarmed by the intensity behind Khalif’s tone. Unlike his friend, Rob was far more sheltered in the orphanage than his ex-gang member of a companion, so at the first sign of danger, panic set in.
“I think we are being followed by an Augustine,” Khalif whispered. Rob tried to look over his shoulder and Khalif nudged him slightly to draw the young man’s attention before he could pick their pursuer out of the crowds behind them. Khalif shook his head slightly to warn Rob not to look.
“You ready,” Khalif asked, subtly gripping Rob’s elbow as they walked toward their next destination. Rob gave a nod, and without warning Khalif yanked the young chef into a side street and began to drag Rob along as fast as he could.
Rob was far from being in shape, but still did his best to run as fast as Khalif, only to end up being shoved to the ground from behind. Cole’s clone had tackled Rob; the heat from a large fireball searing the air above them. He lifted his head toward the path he’d been running toward and Rob’s heart skipped a beat. The sight of the flames splattering all over the ground in front of him and spreading like wild fire in a dry field, enough to take his breath away.
Before Rob was allowed the time to freeze completely with shock, Khalif appeared from thin air and committed an action even Rob wished he hadn’t in that moment, and dragged Rob directly into the void between shadows.
The environment for Rob was what he imagined being spun by a tornado would feel like. His body seemed to not be working correctly, and though in reality a mere blink passed as Khalif transitioned through the shadows with Rob in hand, Rob felt a fraction of a morning pass within his mind, a scream for freedom from the torture following the pair now on a roof where they’d teleported.
“Rob stop screaming and open your eyes we have to move!” Tears rolled down Rob’s faces and he looked around frantically, still not calming down even after visibly seeing they’d returned to the realm.
“Never again!” Rob repeated the words over and over, screaming as he mindlessly ran toward the gap between them and the next roof. Khalif pulling Rob as fast as possible, doing his best to calm Rob as they ran.
“You left Cole,” Rob yelled still panicking.
“No, Bub. I left a clone behind, and we’re going to have to jump okay…?”
“No way man, that’s way too far!”
“It's either that or void travel friend, make a decision quickly…?”
Khalif was surprised to see Rob begin to sprint even more quickly, and fully commit himself to the jump.
He shifted through the young man’s shadow with the tap of his foot, and reappeared in front of Rob crouched with his hands cupped in a way any who’d spent time outside playing with other children as a youth, would know meant was a sign for a leg up, or offer to be helped to get up higher.
Rob who’d spent his entire life inside a kitchen, was clueless, leading to a very confused Khalif when Rob started to slow down.
“What are you doing, Keep running!”
“What are you doing with your hands,” Rob yelled in question, speeding back up toward Khalif. Khalif watched as a member of the Augustine’s flew into the air behind Rob and yelled again in his friends direction.
“Use my hands as a step I’m going to throw you higher!” The Augustine looked toward Khalif and pointed in their direction before looking down.
“They're over here!”
Rob glanced over his shoulder and slowed once more, fear etched onto his face at the sight of the young man with flames bursting from his hands in flight.
“Don’t look at him. Bloody run, Rob!”
Two more Augustines flew into the air and followed the first flyer in the flight pattern most common to most avian creatures, an arial pyramid of flames and anger directed toward both Rob and Khalif.
The next few moments for Khalif was by far the most integral to his fascination with the bodyguard profession for the rest of his young adult life.
Luckily for Khalif, Rob managed to perfectly run and jump, stepping directly into his hands, and allowing Khalif’s superior strength to send him higher into the air.
Khalif lifted with his entire body, launching Rob overhead , lifting into the air in a backward dive to further propel Rob to the next building. Rob soared upward, and Khalif transitioned through the shadows the moment his back dipped into the dark between buildings.
Flames exploded where Khalif had just been, flaring over the interior rim of the roof’s edge and pushed across Rob’s back, thrusting the chef even more.
Khalif appeared on the other side of the gap, using the shadow of the opposing building's own elevated rim as his destination. He reached out toward the screaming Rob who flailed through the air directly toward him and braced for impact.
This may suck…
Rob collided into Khalif taking the young man off his feet with nothing but momentum and mass.
The two tumbled end over end, and in the moment they came to a rest and Khalif saw Rob laying there next to him, eyes closed and still breathing, Rob knew something had immediately changed in an unknown way within himself.
What if saving lives is nothing but a situational puzzle to be solved in each and every moment for a bodyguard? Can I potentially think my way out of every situation, or will I fail to protect the people with their lives in my hands…?
Rob opened his eyes and looked at Khalif who stared back at him.
“We made that. I can’t believe we bloody made that. What are you a super spy or something?” yelled Rob, Khalif jumping to his feet while pulling Rob upright.
“By far the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life... now move!”
Rob turned to run, but Khalif glanced back and saw just how close the Augustines were behind them, blindly reaching out and catching Rob by the collar.
“Sorry Bub, close your eyes and hold your breath,” Khalif said sweeping Rob’s legs out from under him and diving on top of him, ready to push them through Rob’s shadow the moment his friend's back touched the ground, Rob managing to scream all before he took a deep breath.
“No no No! Not again!”
…
Jasmine watched as an angry Rob rushed into the warehouse. Khalif came in right behind him, followed by a disheveled group of future bodyguards and some others Jasmine had never met, but assumed were some of the delivery people Rob managed to find with the help of Almarine.
“Sorry I’m late,” said Rob softly, wiping at his eyes as he rushed over to stand beside the already cooking Jade. Everyone gathered shared glances while Khalif directed those he came with to sit.
Many more tables were needed now at their increasingly common company meals than before. The twins rushed off to grab more tables at Jasmine's quick word.
“Are you okay?”
Rob looked up to Jade who smiled faintly toward him. He shook his head honestly, and looked away.
“I want to help as much as I can, but I’m no cultivator. I can’t defend myself in the same ways the rest of you can. I’m just a cook, not an alchemist, or poison maker, just a simple chef, thats all…”
Silence fell between them for a while. The only things heard in the warehouse a trickle of conversations being whispered at the tables between those waiting for their meals. Yet when Jade spoke next, the entire room went silent, none there believing the words spoken by her. Including Jade herself.
“Would you like to have me teach you to be and Alchemist and how to create poisons instead of cooking?”
For the second time that day, Rob froze. Not out of fear or dread at the potential loss of his life, but instead under the pressure of the question asked so gracefully. As if his answer wouldn’t change his life forever.
“Don’t just stand there, Rob. Say yes, you idiot, before she changes her mind!” Rob glanced back at Troy who gestured for him to hurry up.
“I love cooking more than anything else in this life and would forever miss being able to learn from someone of your caliber Lady Jade. Is there no way for me to learn both from you?”
The room remained silent. Many were surprised by Rob’s bravery, while Khalif knew deep in his soul that the young man would give learning Alchemy everything he had, after what he’d just lived through. If it meant he could defend himself, Rob may have even given the Cultivator before him his soul to be able to live without the new fear growing in his heart and mind.
Jade looked around at the expectant faces, and back toward the dish she worked on before she responded to Rob, the young man’s jaw dropping at her response.
“Hmm, Okay, I will think about it then.”