“What do you mean you can’t do anything about it?” Felix yelled, gritting his teeth in frustration. The lights flickered. He could feel his telekinesis shake every object in the room slightly, and it was a good thing that none of the constables had noticed it.
Steady, Felix.
The psychic took a deep breath to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted was to have another outburst and get himself incarcerated in those power nullifiers again. He shuddered internally at the memory of how powerless it had made him feel.
Felix had not lost control of his powers ever since the last time he accidentally tore up his middle school compound in a tantrum. Not like it was entirely his fault though; who in their right mind would taunt a grieving thirteen year old barely a week after losing both his parents?
Ah, that’s right. Stupid people, that’s who.
Much like these constables who were one spell away from making him relapse.
“You heard me,” the constable droned in a bored tone. “This is a simple case of ‘Meta on Meta violence’. Meta neighbourhoods aren’t the safest, and there have been way too many thugs causing trouble recently. We cannot respond to every single gang fight. In any case, you should probably just take it up with your fraternity-”
“I am not a thug!” Felix slammed his hands on the table. A silver badge burst out violently from his coat pocket, hovering inches away from the constable leader’s face. “I’m a member of the Guardian Council. We’re on the same side, damn it!”
“Impersonating an authority is a crime, boy. The Guardian Council is made up of the most competent magis in the city. There’s no way someone of your… racial persuasion- could be part of them.”
“I need to make a phone call,” Felix snapped. “Now. Just you wait. I’ll have Warlock Vulcan remove all of you from your posts.”
“Go right ahead. It was he who told us to focus our efforts on the more important things.”
Felix froze. Wait, what?
“Now leave.” The chair creaked as the constable leader stood up, rematerializing the staff in his hand. “Before I charge you for disrupting constable duties.”
The cool night breeze greeted Felix’s face once again as the doors swung wide open for him, as if invisible butlers were standing by them. Or to be more specific, abnormally strong butlers with no control over their strength. Felix could have sworn he felt a screw snap off. He clenched his fists again, and the doors slammed shut behind him. They fell off their hinges this time.
“They rejected your plea?” his best friend’s voice drifted to his ears, barely audible as frustration flooded his mind.
“What do you think?” Felix said in an impatient tone as he prepared to jump off the ground. “I’m going to find Vulcan for help instead.”
“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Orpheus piped.
“No, you’re not. Go home, Orpheus. This no longer concerns you.”
The psychic burst off the concrete pavement and disappeared into the clouds within seconds.
----------------------------------------
A figure flipped itself over the railing, ducking behind a bookshelf just as light flooded the room. He held his breath, trying to stop his heart pounding from how close he had come to being caught.
A petite girl rummaged through the study table, completely unaware of his presence. She picked up a bag of runes and left quickly enough, allowing the darkness to embrace the intruder again.
Gaius exhaled slowly, lighting the darkness with two small points of orange. He scanned the room for the third time, making sure that he did not miss anything. The boy tutted audibly in frustration. Of all the times, his magic vision had nothing to show him?
Unless… there really is nothing in this place.
He almost smacked his head at the minor revelation. Of course. If Vulcan truly had the tome, he must have hidden it somewhere other than his own house. Gaius clenched his jaw. Why did he even think it would have been so easy?
The nimble Sorcerer slipped out of the room and somersaulted onto a ceiling beam before anyone could see him. He leapt across the room silently, taking advantage of the shadows casted by the numerous beams to cover his shadow. He squatted on one of them, waiting for Vulcan to finish another argument with his daughter about her ‘dangerous dream’ of joining the Guardian Council.
He watched the student council president storm out of the living room as his heart tugged with pity for her. Gaius had always assumed the higher class magis had the freedom to do what they want, but it seemed even Kleopatra had much bigger problems of her own to handle. The meta-turned-Sorcerer wondered what kind of troubles would await him as a magi.
An idea popped into his head. If Vulcan was so difficult to investigate directly, perhaps he might have more luck with his daughter instead. He would have to get close to her, using whatever suave charm he did not know he had, and probably get her to reveal a secret location or something. And with luck, he would also be able to-
The sound of door knocking jolted Gaius out of his rumination. His heart sank as Vulcan walked back into the living room to open the door. He cursed under his breath. Why didn’t he leave this unnecessarily big house when he had the chance?
“Pagonis! What’s with that look? I sure hope I haven’t done anything wrong to you.”
Gaius grinded his teeth in frustration. Why did his colleague have to appear now of all times? His annoyance quickly turned into curiosity as he watched Vulcan usher Felix into his house. The intruder flattened his body, aligning it perfectly with the beam so that neither him nor his shadow could be seen.
“Your sister was kidnapped by a gang of metas?” Vulcan’s voice drifted to Gaius’ ears. “Did they say why? What were their demands?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Actually, they were going for me at first. But I shut them down rather quickly. And then those cowards went for my sister instead. Don’t ask me why; it all happened so suddenly.”
“Well, I’m not surprised you defeated all of them easily. Still, good job. But damn those bastards, going for a kid like that.”
“I know this isn’t a Guardian Council issue, but will you help me, sir? The constables won’t take me seriously and I have no one else to turn to.”
There was a short pause.
“I’m sorry, Felix. I want to help you, I really do. But there’s a bigger threat in Sirus city right now, and my duty lies with the safety of the people. There’s a lot of pressure on me to-”
“I’m in.”
“W-what?”
Gaius could not believe his ears. Did his stoic, unfaltering boss just stutter?
“You asked me for my help yesterday, remember? I’m saying that I’ll join you.”
“Now Felix, don’t get the wrong idea. Doing this won’t change how busy I am. I can’t guarantee I’ll have time to help you.”
“I know, but I suspect the serial kidnapping of metas, including my sister, is linked to a much larger conspiracy. I’d be helping myself too if I gave you a hand.”
There was a short sigh.
“If you say so, Felix. Glad to have you on my side.” Vulcan’s voice was filled with an uncharacteristically large amount of relief. “Remember Lucia Angelo? Her brother, Titus Angelo, is suspected to be behind the serial meta kidnappings. I’m still working on locating him. And until then, we’re garnering support from the constables to apprehend him.”
“The constables need to be involved too? What’s the big deal about this guy?”
“He’s a Tier five meta, just like you. His power level is off the charts, and he isn’t afraid to use it to kill anyone in his way.”
“Sounds like a huge pain in the arse.”
“I’ll contact you when I have more information, Felix. I promise, we’ll get your sister back.”
“Oh and one last thing, sir.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have a guest over tonight?”
Gaius’ blood froze.
“As a matter of fact, I did. Elpis missed last night’s training for Kleo and came over just now to give her a make up lesson. How did you know?”
“Let’s just say I have a knack for sensing such things,” Felix replied. “Well, I’ll be off now.”
The sound of footsteps announced Felix’s departure, and Gaius heaved a quiet sigh of relief. He waited for Vulcan to leave the living room before slipping out of his hiding spot. The boy leapt gracefully from the ceiling beam, landing on the attic floor without a sound. He peeked out of the window to make sure Felix was gone.
And had to cover his mouth to stifle his gasp.
Felix was staring directly at him, having only taken a few steps out of the house. Gaius froze in fear, but the psychic simply turned around again as though he saw nothing. He watched as Felix leapt off the ground and burst into the clouds with a sonic boom.
A shiver went down Gaius’ spine as he jumped out of the window.
----------------------------------------
The girl had already woken up long before the vehicle stopped moving, but she kept her eyes shut. A humid breeze tossed her brown hair slightly as a pair of hands picked her up and slung her over a broad shoulder. She felt her body bob up and down at a steady rhythm; the person carrying her was walking. The last thing she remembered was some kind of portal, which meant that there had to be some sort of anti-warp charm preventing her captors from teleporting directly to their destination.
A pair of yellow reptilian eyes emerged from the surface of a nearby river, spying at the small group of three men walking towards a castle-like structure. A crow flew overhead, observing them as well. There were not many animals around for Marcia to connect with, though she did not exactly need an entire jungle to discern what was happening.
The alligator slunk back into the water as one of the men handed over the small girl he was carrying to a man with strikingly green hair. This group of people had moved into the abandoned castle a few months ago. And if the alligator’s memory still served well, Marcia was not the first unconscious human to be brought here too.
“Julius, what is the meaning of this?” the man asked. “I thought you were supposed to capture Felix Pagonis? Who the hell is this girl?”
“I’m sorry, Titus. The boy really was too strong for us to capture. We barely escaped with our lives. This is his sister. Lucia told us that we need psychic based metas, so I saw fit to take her instead.”
“Gods forgive me. She barely looks a day above twelve.” Marcia could feel his warm breath brush by her ear. “It’s alright, little girl. We won’t hurt you. You can open your eyes now.”
The girl swallowed a scream, keeping as still as possible. The nearby crow squawked in fear as the man raised his hand, bringing it down on her face-
Marcia shrieked and leapt out of her captor’s hands. She scrambled backwards, her eyes flaring pink as a pack of crows descended on the kidnappers and attacked them viciously. The green haired man flicked a finger, knocking out all the birds and his fellow metas with a single shockwave. Marcia grunted as she tumbled backwards from the force, but she was not planning to go down so easily.
Roars filled the air this time as an army of alligators emerged from the river, closing in on the solitary meta. She seized the chance to run away, but barely managed to take a few steps forward when a deafening thud from behind cracked the ground beneath her. Another shockwave hit Marcia and she sprawled on the floor, dazed by the powerful ground tremor that accompanied it. She whipped her head back with barely enough time to scream as Titus moved at a blistering speed, catching up to her in less than a second.
“Let go of me! Help! Heelp!” Marcia screamed, kicking and punching her captor who held her up by the back of her shirt. He stared at her with a bored look in his eyes, waiting for her to cease her futile struggle.
“There’s no one else here as far as the eye can see,” Titus said calmly. “If you would be so kind as to quiet down please, I’ll explain just who we are.”
“You… you are a bad guy.” Marcia’s eyes were already puffy as tears streamed down her face. “I want to go home.”
“Home? My dear, you are home.”
The wind whipped past her hair, and the girl was set down gently. She found herself in a huge castle ballroom. Curious eyes set their gaze on her. Or rather, the man walking beside her. Marcia gasped in surprise as a familiar green haired lady caught her eye. It was the very same lady she saw in the news.
“Look around you, little girl. You’re one of us, and we’re all just like you.” Titus gestured broadly at the few hundred metas walking around. “Is there anywhere else more like home? No one here is going to oppress you anymore.”
“W-what do you want with me?” Marcia’s voice wavered, though it sounded a lot calmer now.
“You’ll find out in due time.” Titus smiled warmly at her.
“But for now, I just want you to rest.”