Felix Pagonis leaned against the slightly vibrating windows, soaking in the light from the moon. His ride only emitted a dull humming despite the sheer amount of arcani channelled into its technomagick engines to keep it aloft, courtesy of the Grand Artificers of Sirius City.

A never ending sea of wispy clouds swam leisurely below the hovering airship, shielding it from any hostile prying eyes while the starry twilight sky blanketed it cosily. Most would pay a fortune just for a view like this, but Felix could not be bothered at the moment. He was on a mission.

And he was absolutely bored out of his mind.

"Alright Guardians, I'm going to go through this one last time just in case any of you weren't paying attention," a deep voice directed itself towards him. Felix shifted his body lazily and gave his leader the slightest fake smile he could muster at the moment.

"Target is a sky library just one hundred and sixty two metres below us. Meta hostiles have taken over and are holding the entire place hostage. Their demands are unclear, and their motives are suspected to be racially charged."

"What's the point of taking a bunch of harmless magi librarians hostage? They're not proving anything by hijacking a place with such low security." A guardian rolled his eyes, waving his hands around gracefully as protective symbols flashed over his cloak. "I swear, metas are such dumbasses."

Felix glared at him.

"Mage Palladius Severan, might I remind you that our objective is to save people and not speculate about politics?"

"Yes, Warlock Vulcan." Palladius looked away begrudgingly.

"Preliminary intel reveal fifteen hostiles led by this lady, Lucia Angelo." Warlock Vulcan conjured an image of a green haired woman with his staff. Felix glanced at the brief description below the name. He made sure to take note of 'Body transmutation: Organic quartz armour' under the 'Abilities' header.

"Fortunately for us, most of them seem to be focused near the courtyard," Vulcan continued his briefing. "Sorcerer Deusdedit, you're in charge of clearing out the hostiles. Make some noise if you have to; draw their attention to you."

He turned to Felix.

"Pagonis, you're his buddy for this mission. Provide him with assistance if he needs it. You can move things with your mind; try not to let the situation get too messy. As for the rest of us, we wait for their signal before extracting the hostages. This mission is straightforward; do not make me write another incident report."

A gust of cold wind swept into the airship as the bay doors opened. Felix's eyes darted to the Sorcerer, who, like him, had not uttered a single word onboard the ship. Unlike his fellow magis, Sorcerer Gaius Deusdedit was dressed in tighter, more tactical clothes instead of the loose flashy robes they loved to sport. Felix's brown hair ruffled in the wind as he approached him hesitantly.

"Hey Gaius, uh..." he started awkwardly, raising a fist for him to bump. "Let's do our best, eh?"

Gaius shifted his narrow green eyes to his fist and back to him, insistent on keeping the awkward silence. He sprinted off without warning, leaping out of the doors and disappearing into the clouds.

"Rude..." Felix muttered.

"Was... Was he wearing a levitation cloak?" a concerned voice asked.

"No." Felix could almost taste the disgust in Palladius' response. He rolled his eyes as he prepared to jump off as well.

"That unrefined boy never uses it."

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A tiny figure fell from the sky, practically invisible against the backdrop of the dark night sky covering him. A three storey high tower slowly came to view as he flipped his body over, choosing to fall feet first instead. His feet glowed slightly as magic channelled into them. The figure's descent slowed even further, until the solitary man patrolling the field became visible.

Gaius spun around, delivering an energised blow to his head. The patrolling meta collapsed to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and the Sorcerer landed with nothing more than a soft thud. An orange glow flashed briefly in his eyes as he surveyed the area. He took off running.

Lightly armed metas littered the courtyard. Some were merely holding bats while others were even completely unarmed. They shuffled around complacently, confident enough in their powers to repel any hostile force without weapons. But that was a mistake.

"Fireball!"

A patrolling meta turned around too late, and a fireball struck him squarely in his chest. His body flew backwards with the explosive force of a grenade, hitting his head against a metal beam. He collapsed to the ground immediately. More fireballs curved from behind a wall as the metas scuttled around, desperately trying to avoid them. Most did not make it.

Gaius rushed into their midst, kicking another one of them halfway across the courtyard with energised magic exploding from his foot. Bats and claws were flung in his direction, but he parried and dodged them effortlessly. It only took a few more fireballs to knock out the assailants surrounding him. A small movement caught the edge of Gaius' peripheral vision as the energy within him screamed in warning.

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His hand moved up almost by itself, catching an arrow right before it connected with his head.

A barrage of arrows flew in the boy's direction as he flipped his body, dodging all of them easily. The hostile meta growled and continued firing arrows from the numerous holes in his palms, trying to keep up with Gaius' erratic path of motion.

The Sorcerer somersaulted and leapt five metres into the air.

Magical energy flowed from his feet back into his hands. Gaius tossed an ice ball at the meta, who raised his palms instinctively to fire arrows at the incoming ball. The ice exploded inches from his face as soon as the first arrow came in contact with it, instantly knocking the meta out cold.

Silence swept the area once again as the Sorcerer landed softly on the ground.

He turned his head around, searching the area for the leader and one last meta. They were nowhere to be found, but a strange feeling was tugging within him now. The energy in his body seemed to be reacting to something. The boy closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, focusing his magic.

Gaius opened his glowing eyes again, his attention now directed at an inconspicuous door. Normally, he would see no reason to find a simple annex room suspicious, but he had learnt through the years to trust in what his magically enhanced vision showed him.

It had also been years since he felt his magic react in this manner, although it did not make sense. Why, of all times, was it reacting like this during a simple extraction mission? The boy walked cautiously towards the door-

"Sorry, but I can't let you go in there yet."

Gaius leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding a rocky fist swung at his face.

The Sorcerer rolled to his feet, casting a stoic expression at the woman standing between him and the door. Her entire body seemed to be made of some kind of shiny obsidian rock, which shone and glinted as light hit it at jagged angles. Not that it stopped her from expressing her displeasure.

"You must be one of them Guardian Council bitches, ain't ya?" The face-shaped cliff scowled at him. "They must be getting desperate if they recruited a teenager."

Gaius kept his silence.

"All action and no talk, eh?" Lucia Angelo got into a fighting stance. "I can respect that."

The meta moved at a speed supposedly impossible for something so heavy, and Gaius made a mistake blocking her blow. He flew backwards from the enormous force and crashed hard onto the floor. The Sorcerer immediately recovered and jumped upwards, narrowly leaping over the human shaped rock pirouetting towards him. Energy channelled into his hands.

Fireballs pelted against Lucia in retaliation, but it had little to no effect on her hardened skin. Gaius gritted his teeth in frustration. This was a bad matchup for him, and he would run out of offensive spells before he could even put a dent in her. Nevertheless, he had a job to do, and he'd be damned if he was going to let some oversized amethyst get in his way. He shifted into a martial arts stance.

Lucia charged again, but immediately crashed into a pink wall. She shrieked as she fell to the ground, massaging her head in pain. Gaius looked up at the figure descending gently beside him.

"You're welcome." Felix landed gracefully. "Next time, maybe don't run off without your buddy, eh?"

"A meta? And a strong one too," Lucia hissed. "Traitor."

The duo warily watched the criminal leader get back to her feet. "Two against one, eh? Should've known the Guardian Council wouldn't play fair. No matter, my job here is done."

An anguished, almost animal-like scream tore through the air as a sinister grin formed on her face. Heavy footsteps rumbled the ground from behind the door, and they were quickly getting louder. Gaius tensed his body apprehensively.

"Something's coming," Felix warned.

"Enjoy, boys." Lucia cackled as she leapt off to a nearby building.

The door flew in their direction, giving Felix only milliseconds to react. He winced as the oakwood shattered against the hastily formed pink dome around him. A man staggered out of the room, clutching his head and screaming in agony. He panted raggedly as his arms transformed themselves into minigun barrels. And then he pointed them at Felix.

Bullets pelted against the psionic shield as Felix furrowed his eyebrows in focus. He flicked his head, and a stone table crashed into the meta from behind. Gaius leapt forward, pulling out a set of nullifiers, but the meta had already recovered. The hijacker snarled at the charging Sorcerer-

The concrete floor caved inwards, cracks spreading all over as a crushing telekinetic force pressed the crazed man back to the ground.

"Hurry up!" Felix called out to Gaius, his eyes glowing pink as he held a hand out. "This guy's unnaturally strong!"

The nullifiers clasped onto the meta's wrist with a faint whirring, blocking his arcani channels. Felix sat on the floor in relief as the meta's arms regained their normal form. He glanced at Gaius, who was still staring at the criminal.

"We should inform the rest-"

"Wait."

Felix got back up to his feet, keeping a close eye on the meta as he approached him warily. Gaius stepped back, looking apprehensively at the cracks beginning to form on the nullifier. Felix put a hand to his mouth.

"That's not possible..."

"H-help... me..." A dry gasp escaped from the meta's lips. "Help me... Help... Help me! GROAAH!"

"Holy shit!" Felix yelled as the nullifier disintegrated into a million pieces. He watched in horror as the meta vomited a chunk of heated bullets at his colleague. Gaius stumbled back with several large holes in his chest, although it did not seem to bother him. He rushed forward and aimed two fingers at the meta's forehead.

A concentrated energy beam burst through the back of his head, accompanied by a large splatter of blood.

The meta's lifeless body slumped to the ground.