“Fold. I’m out.”

“Me too. You win again, Orpheus.” Felix flipped over his cards, revealing his dismal hand.

“Really? I can’t believe you two fell for my bluff.” A blue haired boy showed his cards, revealing that he only had a two of a kind. “How am I even beating two telepaths at a Poker game? Are you guys letting me win just because it’s my birthday?”

“Aww come on, Orpheus. You know that’s not true,” Marcia whined. “I can only speak to animals and Felix needs to make physical contact to read minds. There’s no way we’re reading your mind even if we wanted to.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Orpheus said, packing up the cards. “They’re still both pretty cool abilities, though. My family would love yours for sure, Marcia.”

“You can command the dead.” Felix chuckled. “That’s way cooler.”

“Eh, my family doesn’t think so.” Orpheus stretched, lying on the floor. “Sucks being the only Necromancer in a huge family of Druids.”

“Well, you have us. Thanks for coming over on such short notice to cheer Marcia up.”

“Say, why don’t you ever invite Gaius over? He’s in the Guardian Council as well, right?”

“Oh, that guy?” A sceptical look hung on Felix’s face. “I don’t know, he seems pretty stuck up to me. He doesn’t talk much either. Ack, he probably thinks he’s better than all of us just because he’s some ‘prestigious’ Sorcerer.”

“He doesn’t seem that way to me, though. If anything, he strikes me as the kind of guy who’s constantly bearing a heavy weight on his mind.” Orpheus munched on a bag of crisps. “Necromancers share some classes with Sorcerers, but I’ve only seen him occasionally in ‘Afterlife Studies’ class. I heard he skips most of his lessons but still passes his exams because he chooses to spend time learning in the library instead.”

“Afterlife Studies sounds so cool!” Marcia piped. “What do you learn?”

“I’ve only attended two lectures so far, so pardon me if I can’t exactly tell you much. Hmm, let’s see…” Orpheus rested his chin on his thumb. “Our souls cannot enter the Afterlife while we’re alive, though they can still enter Purgatory. That’s where departed souls stay before their final judgement. It’s a lawless and dangerous place though, so we’re highly discouraged from staying there. Dark magis such as Necromancers, Sorcerers, and Warlocks can learn the ritual to cast our souls there temporarily, but we must leave before we soak in too much nascent corruption.”

“Man, I wish I learnt that much in my classes. We metas only learnt that Purgatory exists.” Felix threw up his hands in exasperation. “So I could’ve ventured further when I astrally projected my soul into Purgatory that time. Well, at least now I know I wouldn’t immediately die from setting foot in that place.”

“Feel free to ask me anything if you’re curious,” Orpheus said. “I’ll try my best to answer them. I’m not an honour student, after all.”

“Oh before I forget,” Felix said as an ornate box flew into his hand from his coat pocket. “Happy birthday, Orpheus.”

Orpheus received the box and took out the wand, staring curiously at the very faint magenta essence swirling around it.

“A wand? What does it do?” he asked.

“Test it out on the chair over there.” Felix smiled warmly, gesturing to the living room. It was a simple space, furnished with a dining table and two chairs, as well as an old television that hung off the pastel walls. Orpheus pointed at a dining chair and flicked his wrist.

“Woah!” He laughed as the chair floated upwards. He waved his wand around slightly, and the chair followed its movement. Marcia clapped her hands in glee, cheering him on excitedly.

“The wand should be able to take the weight of two people. It’ll make your life much more convenient.” Felix placed a hand on Orpheus’ shoulder. “Our magi schoolmates don’t talk to metas, and my classmates have shunned me ever since I joined the Guardian Council. Consider this a thanks for being my friend when no one else would.”

“I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much, Felix.” Orpheus hugged him tightly. “How much meta essence did you have to sacrifice for this?”

“Oh, don’t worry. Apparently, a drop of my blood contained enough power to lift a carriage.” Felix put a hand on his head sheepishly. “I didn’t even need a healing potion when the Artificers constructed the wand.”

“Felix has so much arcani in his body, it’s not even fair.” Marcia pouted, before breaking into an adorable laugh. “Happy birthday, Orpheus! Stop by our place more oft-”

Her voice trailed away as a pink glow suddenly filled her eyes.

“Marcia, what’s wrong?”

“Why… are there so many people outside our house?” Marcia whispered, observing the large group of masked men surrounding their apartment through the eyes of crows perched on the nearby trees. “Hang on, let me hear what they are saying-”

She put her hand to her mouth, shivering in fear.

“Oh gods…” she whimpered. A bright light seeped in from under the door, quickly growing in intensity.

“Everyone get close!” Felix yelled, telekinetically pulling Orpheus and Marcia’s bodies towards him.

The door blasted open a few seconds later. Pieces of wood and rubble flew in their direction, crumbling against Felix’s psychic bubble. He winced, glaring at the large group of metas breaking into his house. Marcia clung onto him tightly.

“What the hell is going on?” Felix yelled at them.

“Get that boy!” one of them bellowed, pointing at him. The person beside him ripped off her mask, revealing a horrifying scowl etched on her scarred face. She opened her mouth.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Felix’s eyes flared pink.

Not my house, bitch.

The sonic scream hit an invisible barrier and reflected back towards the hostile metas. Street lamps shattered and nearby carriages overturned as the resulting shockwave blasted the metas out onto the streets. Screams began to fill the air as the strolling pedestrians fled for their lives.

Felix floated out of the house, accompanied by a hooded figure wielding a staff with a skull on top of it. He raised a clenched fist, and broken pieces of rubble and wood levitated off the floor. They clumped themselves together behind him, sealing Marcia inside the house.

“You know these guys?” Orpheus whispered to Felix. “Why are they trying to kill you?”

“No idea.”

“Good enough for me.” Emerald light shone from the eye sockets of the skull atop the Necromancer’s staff. Felix narrowed his eyes at his adversaries. Just as he had expected, reflecting the blast had vastly cut down their numbers; only less than half of them were still standing. One of them had electricity crackling around his body, another had four additional arms, and the other two had no physical indication of their meta powers. Felix locked eyes with them.

And they attacked.

The eight limbed meta lunged towards Felix with a growl, brandishing the sharpened bone claws that grew from his appendages. He was sent crashing into a building with a casual flick of the psychic’s wrist.

Another meta screamed in anguish, sending a horizontal beam of light towards him with a single clap of his hands. Felix raised a palm, nullifying the attack with another psychic barrier. His eyes glinted, and a bubble formed around the meta. It shrunk rapidly, threatening to crush the increasingly fearful man. The meta clapped his hands again in a foolish attempt to break the barrier, but only succeeded in knocking himself out instead.

“Felix, look out!”

Felix turned to the voice, watching Orpheus block a huge blast of lightning with a pile of bones pouring out from the skull on his staff. The psychic teenager growled, throwing a psionic blast at the electrokinetic meta in retaliation.

The resulting shockwave shattered the nearby carriage windows as the pink blob of energy collided with its target. The meta was pushed backwards from the enormous force and crashed into his allies. Felix scoffed and took his time to float towards them, pointing his hand threateningly at the intruders. It was all too easy.

The lightning based meta coughed violently and gritted his bloodstained teeth. He turned towards his fellow cowering intruder.

“Damn it all, we’re getting our arses thoroughly kicked. This guy’s on steroids or something?” he whispered urgently. “No one told us he was going to be this hard to take down.”

“No shit. He’s not a Guardian for nothing,” the other meta replied, pulling out a wand. “But we can’t return empty-handed. You guys get out of here. Meta abilities run in the family, and I’m willing to bet that the little girl in his house is psychic based as well. I’m going for her instead.”

“I’ll give you a distraction. Godspeed, Julius.” The meta sucked in a deep breath and shot another bolt of electricity from his hands.

It connected with Felix this time, though it still barely tickled his passive psychic aura. The lightshow intensified as the meta roared in effort, but Felix simply swatted him into a lamp post. There was an audible crack as his head collided with the metal.

Movement caught the side of Felix’s eye. He stretched out his hand as a hand-shaped psychic construct burst from his palm, reaching for the other meta escaping into a teleportation portal. Unfortunately, it only managed to grasp the air right as the portal closed.

Silence blanketed the empty streets.

Felix shrugged his shoulders as his eyes glowed again. The remaining unconscious metas floated off the ground, clumping together like pieces of magnets to iron. He turned to Orpheus, who had also powered down. A flash of green light ran through the Necromancer’s body, turning his battle robes back into casual wear.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Felix said in a bored tone. “I guess we’ll just turn these guys over to the consta-”

A scream cut him off.

“Marcia!’ Felix yelled, rushing back to his house and shattering the makeshift door in his haste.

Damned thug.

The meta turned around in shock, carrying his unconscious sister halfway into a portal. Felix’s face contorted in anger as his eyes met the fearful gaze of the intruder. The enraged brother closed the gap within milliseconds and seized the meta’s hand, trying to pull him out.

The meta yelped in fear and tried to shake him off, but Felix held on firmly. He hissed as anger bubbled within him, directing psychic energy to his other hand to crush the thug’s skull for laying a hand on his sister.

And then it struck him.

The psychic gasped, clutching his head as he fell with one knee to the ground. Images from the meta’s memories flooded into his brain like a sped up video. They were moving too fast to catch, and only a location was distinct enough for him to read.

“Argh, piss off!” Energy exploded outwards from around the meta’s arm, blasting Felix away into a wall. The boy crashed onto the floor, still dazed by the influx of memories he had just accidentally glimpsed. Silence filled the house once more as the meta smirked victoriously, closing the portal.

“Felix! Are you alright?” The sound of footsteps drifted into Felix’s ears. He swore in frustration. Marcia was kidnapped, all because he lost control of his telepathy in a burst of anger.

“Madison town square…” Felix muttered to himself, before turning to his worried friend. “I’m alright, Orpheus. But those bastards got Marcia. C’mon, let’s go to the constables.”

He soared out of the house and disappeared into the distance.

----------------------------------------

Alright… Maybe my entrance was a little too dramatic.

Felix put his hands up in the air, surrounded by nervous constables pointing their staffs at him. He sighed internally. Surely they didn’t need to send out the entire response team just because he created a small crater in front of the station from landing a little too hard?

“Officers, I mean no harm. I’m here to report-”

“Backup! I repeat, we need backup now!” the constable leader yelled into the miniature crystal ball on the collar of his uniform. His staff sizzled as he quickly turned his attention back to the meta, making sure he made no sudden movements. Felix growled in frustration, and the magi constables collectively tensed up as though he was some kind of wild beast.

“Felix! There you are!” An out-of-breath sounding Orpheus scurried towards the wall of constables.

“Hey, hey! Stay back, boy!” a constable warned sharply, trying to usher him away. “This meta here is dangerous!”

“This meta here is my friend,” Orpheus retorted. “Someone just kidnapped his sister. Please help us!”

“Is that so?” The constable sergeant eyed him warily, before signalling for his men to stand down. “You two better not be playing any games, ya hear me?”

The constables slowly walked back to their station, still watching Felix warily. Orpheus followed them.