I tackle the boss as he steps out the back door. I pound the side of his head with my pistol, ignoring his bargain pleas and trying to silence him forever. I’ve never met an Orc who bargains; die standing mentality and all that. I just need him to know I’m not to be screwed with or have inbred giants sent after me.

I’m blinded and flipped on my side as he gets away. Shit, I didn’t see expect him to throw dirt in my eyes. I guess for all the mob acting and Orc tradition he doesn’t mind playing dirty either. I try to wipe the dirt out of my eyes to clear my vision but it isn’t going well. I can make out a shadow and I give chase the best I can, hoping I’m chasing the right guy while still wiping at my eyes.

He slams the door of the car. I go to fire as he starts the car but both guns are empty. I switch out the magazines and start to fire as the tires squeal. Vision is clear, but not perfect. The bullets shatter the front windshield and crumpled glass as he backs out, but none of them seem to penetrate the Orc. I hit the care, but I missed every shot. Shit, I won’t have another chance like that to catch him. I was unprepared, my back is killing me and I got caught off guard. If I had known he would have eight- or nine-feet tall Orcs who could fling me around I would have taken more time to prepare.

It looks like every Orc in the building has come to the back door now. This isn’t a fight I can win. I also can’t outrun an Orc on foot after the beatings I’ve taken today. I need some kind of distraction. There’s the sunlight grenade, but it won’t work well out here in the daylight. I could fire off some more shots, but I’m sure police are probably on their way now. Most people won’t recognize Orcs as Orcs, but they’ll recognize gunshots as gunshots. I could just take off running and hope they get stopped before they can catch me. They look ready for a fight and I can’t give it to them right now.

My miracle comes in the form of giant ball of blue swirling energy. I’d never seen anything like it before. It came flying from behind me and slammed into the Orcs knocking them over like bowling pins. Part of the old building tumbled down on them. I hear someone scream out in pain behind me and turn to see a teenager with a matted afro rolling on the ground, holding his arm and screaming in pain. It doesn’t take a genius to guess the blast came from this kid. I need to take the moment to get out of here, but I can’t leave the kid that just saved me. Back when I was doing missions with others from the temple, we made sure nobody got left, same as the Orcs. I don’t know this kid, but he helped me and now I have a decision to make. I could leave him and get away or grab him and we might die together.

The Orcs start to crawl from the rubble, and I need to run, now. I take off and snatch the kid up by his backpack dragging him along with me until he can run on his own. I duck into an alley as he keeps running. I can’t leave him alone. I’m sure the Orcs have seen him and they won’t have any problem catching him. I quickly run out until I’m close enough to shove him into the next alley I see. I hold him to the wall and peak around the corner. We’re still being followed. He’s dirty and sweating. Probably homeless. I could make it out of here alone, but I can’t leave this kid. They’ll kill him. I can’t let someone else die for me, I’m similar to the Orcs in that regard. I’d rather die fighting than survive by letting someone else die. We need to hide before they get down here. I open up a dumpster, it’s almost empty, but still smells terrible. I cover the kids mouth and jump into the dumpster. Slamming the lid down behind us.

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“It stinks in here, and it’s dark,” the kid starts to complain and pull at my hand.

“Be quiet, they still might find us,” I click on a flashlight.

“It really is you,” he gives me a big smile showing all his teeth.

“What?”

“You’re Jason. You saved me. I went to the temple. I’m Kaiden remember?”

“What?”

“Dalia introduced me to you after the trial.”

“What?”

“I’m Kaiden,”

“What are you doing here,” I remember the kid, but this makes no sense.

“Looking for you.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to stay at the temple.”

“How did you find me?”

“I didn’t. I was working here in exchange for food and shelter. You found me.”

“Shhh,” I hear the Orcs walking through alley outside.

He’s happy to just sit in silence as long as it takes now that he’s found me. Like a lost puppy he’s confused about wanting to move to my side of the dumpster and staring at me in awe, smiling all the while. He’s not even concerned that we were just in a life or death situation; he’s too unbothered by all of this. I need to get him back to the temple. For now, I just need to be sure the Orcs are gone. If anything, I can use the moment to heal some of my wounds. I close my eyes to focus the energy towards healing my major wounds. Typically, when I use my enhancement magic it hits everything at once but my back can use some extra attention after hitting so many walls, or the same four walls over and over again. Focusing on one spot is hard for me, and I don’t think I’ve got much magic in reserve right now.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re glowing,” he stares at me in confusion.

“I’m not glowing,” I click off the flashlight and still can’t see any glow.

“Yes, you are. It’s red, you’ve got a whole little bubble. It’s coming from your back,” he’s serious about this.

“Wait, can you see magic auras?”

“Is that what it is? Some people just give off a glow. Do you know Mr. Elser? He had a big tan one around him all the time. Can you not see it?”

“Some kinds of magic are visible but others aren’t. Enhancement magic usually isn’t visible because it’s enhancing parts of the body. But, you can see I’m trying to heal my back.”

“That’s so cool. Does that mean I have some kind of special ability?”

“Not really, just means you have an affinity for magic. If you had stayed at the temple, I’m sure you would have learned that. You’d probably be pick up different types of magic quickly.”

“I hated that temple,” the smile finally leaves his face.

“Why? I’m sure they took good care of you. All the food you can eat, warm beds, roof over your head, and all kinds of things to learn. Magic, fighting, classic literature, anything.”

“Because all the people there are weird. You can’t have emotions. You can’t learn to fight or use magic until you’re seventeen. They keep telling me I’m not seventeen because of the stupid vampire thing. I got beat up all the time. I didn’t have any friends. Please don’t send me back there. I’ll do anything to stay,” he’s almost begging and I didn’t even threaten to send him back.

“Relax, we’ll deal with it when we get out of here.”

He’s moved to my side of the dumpster and got a tight grip on my arm now. I couldn’t shake him off if I wanted to. I don’t have any way to contact the temple. If I could contact them, would they even come? If I send him back he’s just going to run away again. Could I even send him back, he seems to really hate that place, or maybe he’s afraid. I’m stumped with this. I know the histories of High Elves, Dark Elves, Wood Elves, Orcs, Goblins, and Dwarves. I could break down and dissemble my guns with ease, I can kill a troll, fight a gorgon and go toe to toe with any martial artist. I don’t know anything about raising kids. He has to be maybe, fourteen, almost an adult, he should be able to take care of himself. Maybe I just run really fast and leave him behind. He doesn’t have the cardio to keep up with me. Then again, he came to the city to find me, he might find me again. Shit, am I responsible for a kid now?