The sound of buzzing grated her ears as her staff pulsed with magic once again. The girl darted around, dodging the numerous magic blasts spat out from the unceasing waves of glowing insects. She panted heavily and hit her staff against the ground, conjuring dozens of mirages to lure her enemies’ attention away from herself. She knelt down momentarily for a brief respite, refocusing her magic.
Ice shards burst out from her weapon again as she tried desperately to freeze her arcane adversaries as quickly as possible, but the insects were multiplying much faster than she could cast her spells. There was no way she could do this. Not with magic like this.
Screw it.
The brass staff struck the ground with a definite sounding clang. A shockwave emitted from the crystal on top of it, disintegrating every single one of the Cleric’s familiars instantly.
“Kleopatra! That’s not what I told you to do!”
“It got the job done, didn’t it?” Kleopatra huffed at the middle aged lady stomping up to her.
“Your job was to crowd control, to slow down your enemies.” Cleric Elpis Nerva folded her arms. “You can’t keep relying on Eldritch Blast to get out of situations. What if you hurt an innocent victim?”
“If there actually were one, I’d ask someone else to cast the appropriate spell instead,” Kleopatra retorted. “Why do you insist on making me do magic that I’m not used to?”
“The reason is simple, Kleo. It’s because you need it to pass the Guardian Council tests. It is up to you to make the situation adapt to you, not the other way round. You won’t always have a full team backing you up.”
“Whatever.” Kleopatra rolled her eyes, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “I’m out of energy, so I can’t continue the training anymore today. Goodbye.”
“I cannot let you proceed with the Council tests like that. You haven’t even found your patron yet, young lady. You’ll fail without a doubt,” Elpis called out to the young lady walking briskly out of the training facility.
Kleopatra ignored her instructor, her battle robes rippling behind her elegantly as she headed towards the door. A figure met her already annoyed gaze, blocking her path.
“And who the hell are you supposed to be?” she spat at the schoolboy leaning against the doorframe. It was very obvious that he was trying to look cool. Except for the fact that his body leaned diagonally across the doorway, and the ‘smirk’ he was giving her made him look more like he was holding in some wicked bowel movement.
“Kleopatra Vulcan, I presume. My name is Gaius Deusdedit.” The boy got out of his obviously uncomfortable position, flipping his hair in a mock suave manner. “Ahem, Sorcerer Gaius Deusdedit. I have to say, you are one stunning lady. I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me.”
“M-me?” Kleopatra stuttered, and her cheeks flushed red. A victorious grin crept along the boy’s face, and promptly slipped away at the realisation that she was flushing in anger instead of shyness.
“A girl you’ve never met before, and you proposition her immediately.” Kleopatra’s voice dripped with enough venom to knock out an entire classroom. “How typical is that? Get out of my way, before I make you.”
Her staff materialised in her hand as Gaius flinched in apprehension.
A pink glow wrapped around their bodies and separated them before Kleopatra could carry out her threat. Felix passed by them, having appeared from seemingly nowhere as he floated silently between the two schoolmates like a ghost.
“Hey, that was awfully rude of you,” Kleopatra said.
“You could’ve just said ‘Excuse me’,” Gaius muttered.
“I’m not in the mood for you, Kleopatra.” Felix turned to Gaius as if Kleopatra had suddenly turned invisible. “Follow me, I need to speak with you about something. You know what this is about.”
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The storeroom was dark and cramped, which made the situation look way more awkward than it already was. Gaius leaned up against the wall with an unimpressed look while Felix blocked his path, pressing one hand against the wall beside his head.
“I don’t want to get into your mind, so I’m giving you one chance to explain what the hell you were doing on Warlock Vulcan’s ceiling last night.”
“What are you, his hellhound?” Gaius scoffed at the pathetic attempt to intimidate him. “It’s none of your business, Pagonis. Now, if you would excuse me-”
A strong force swung him over to the other side of the room and bound him tightly.
“You’re not going anywhere until I allow it.” Felix was unusually angry. “How much did you overhear last night?”
“You want the truth?” Gaius hissed. “Everything. I don’t know what you have gotten yourself into, nor do I want to poke into your business. But here’s some advice. You wanna save your sister? Don’t rely on the authorities to help you.”
Gaius dropped to the floor as the pink essence surrounding his body dissipated.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m not at liberty to tell you anything further.” Gaius brushed the dust off his robes. “You joined the Guardian Council to help people, right? And how many have we helped so far? Have we ever lent aid to disaster victims? Or are we simply glorified mercenaries for the state, directed at whatever our government wants us to eliminate?”
“Spare me your riddles and get to the point.”
“Warlock Vulcan will not help you. He can’t. Do you really think the state really cares about the kidnapping of a meta girl?” Gaius’ voice was rising quickly with emotion. “They don’t care about o- your kind! The Guardian Council cannot save her, Pagonis. Only-”
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The door burst open.
“Is that true?” Kleopatra glared at them. “Is it true that the Guardian Council cannot save your sister?”
“What’s that to you?” Felix asked suspiciously, before folding his arms. “And didn’t anyone tell you that it’s rude to eavesdrop on others?”
“I’m helping you,” the girl declared, sounding more like she was demanding a request rather than offering aid. “I’ll show them all that I’m more than competent enough to do what the Guardian Council cannot.”
“Excuse me-”
“I’m joining you too,” Gaius said with an oddly determined voice.
“You really are persistent, aren’t you?” Kleopatra narrowed her eyes.
“No, it’s nothing like that.” Gaius turned to Felix. His voice dropped to a serious whisper. “I know how it feels to be helpless, to have your loved ones taken away before your very eyes. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, let alone a schoolmate and a colleague. Trust me, you can’t do this alone.”
He looked away to hide the raw emotion threatening to contort his voice. Gaius berated himself internally. Why was he suddenly so invested in the problems of others when he could barely solve his own? He was only here to get close to Kleopatra, to fulfil his mission. Why was there such a stirring within him to embroil himself in his colleague’s affairs?
“I trust you.” Felix let go of Gaius’ wrist as the pink glow faded from his eyes. The Sorcerer gasped audibly. How much did he see?
“But you, I don’t.” Felix pointed to Kleopatra. “Though it does not matter, I suppose. Tag along, by all means. You’re right, Gaius. I do need all the help I can get right now. But know this, the two of you. If you get in my way, I will not hesitate to move you away by force. My sister is everything I have left. Nothing is more important than her safety.”
“I expected nothing less from a Guardian.” Kleopatra smirked. “So what’s the plan?”
“Whoever took my sister has plans at Madison Town Square soon,” Felix replied. “I didn’t manage to catch anything else when I read his mind, but I’m going to watch that place until he shows up.”
“A stakeout, then.” Gaius nodded. “I’ll leave a familiar there to take over when you need to leave.”
“As will I,” Kleopatra chimed in, before bowing her head and muttering to herself. “I’ll show you, Dad. I’m no less competent than my sister.”
“Who’s your sister?” Felix asked curiously.
“Cybele Vulcan.”
“I don’t mean to offend, but I’ve never heard of that name in the Guardian Council before. Are you sure she’s really a Guardian?”
“Of course she is!” Kleopatra exclaimed. “She’s absent most of the time and only returns home occasionally. Where else could she be?”
“I’m in the Guardian Council and I come home everyday…” Gaius muttered.
“That’s because you’re still a student.” Kleopatra folded her arms.
“I’m leaving to watch Madison Town Square, if you guys are done bickering. I’ll be in touch,” Felix announced abruptly. He floated out of the training facility before the two magis could respond.
A shadow slipped away from behind a pillar.
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Rain droplets pelted incessantly against Felix’s psychic shield as he sat on a roof ledge, watching over the busiest district in Sirius City like some kind of deranged vigilante. He would be smoking a cigar if he got any broodier, but there was only worry in his eyes. He could not let anything happen to Marcia.
Not after his promise.
The teen clenched his fists as the memory of that fateful day washed over his mind again.
He had just turned thirteen, and his parents brought the whole family to a theme park to celebrate his birthday. Felix remembered being delirious with joy on their way home. So happy that his telekinetic senses failed to warn him of the incoming vehicle hurtling towards them from their carriage’s blindspot.
The enchanted hunk of metal barrelled straight into their vehicle, and Felix only had time to create a force field around his sister and himself. His parents died instantly on impact, and so did the sole occupant of the other carriage. Their vehicles exploded shortly after, leaving no corpses for even the Necromancers to investigate the cause of the accident.
The driver was a lone magi living on the fringes of society with no ties to anyone or anything, which made his death a lot less troublesome to handle. Felix and Marcia, on the other hand, had to be sent to a foster home in a rush.
Heaps of administrative procedures threatened to overwhelm the grieving children as the authorities tried to push them back to their normal lives as quickly as possible. But they remained strong, tackling each problem one at a time together.
Things settled down soon enough, and the siblings were allowed to reclaim their lonely home when Felix reached the legal age of seventeen. They visited their parents’ graves for the last time when they left their foster home, and the elder brother made a promise to look over and protect his sister from then on.
A promise on the verge of breaking.
“Felix? Is that you?” a familiar voice shook him out of his thoughts.
“Orpheus?” Felix replied without looking back. After all, there was no way he could not recognise his best friend’s voice. “How did you know I would be here?”
“I’ve been searching for you the whole day! Good thing I bumped into Gaius, and he told me everything,” Orpheus exclaimed, leaving the wand in his chest pocket to continue repelling the rain as he sat down beside Felix. “Why didn’t you invite me to help?”
“This isn’t a game, Orpheus,” Felix said behind gritted teeth. “Stay out of this.”
“Hey!” Orpheus shoved him roughly. “What’s your deal, man? Why are you trusting others instead of your good friend? Am I that weak to you?”
“No, I am!” Felix felt water trickling down his cheek. He put down his shield so that the rainwater could hide it.
“I… I can’t lose my best friend too. You’ve seen firsthand how organised they are, Orpheus. These people aren’t just thugs. They’re part of some criminal organisation out to get me for gods know why. And now that they’ve seen my power, they’ll be prepared the next time.”
“Please, Orpheus.” His body was trembling with emotion. “I don’t want to be the reason for your death too…”
Felix felt the rain stop and looked up, noticing the dome over his head as Orpheus moved closer to him.
“You won’t.” Orpheus smiled warmly at the sobbing boy. “As long as I’m with you, I know I’ll be safe. We’re in this together, Felix. I won’t abandon my best friend, especially not at a time when he needs help the most.”
“You fool… You sweet, sentimental fool…” Felix hugged him tightly. “I’m so scared, man. I’m so scared I’ll lose everyone…”
He felt Orpheus’ hands wrap around his shoulders as his voice soothed him gently.
“You won’t, Felix. We’ll make sure of it.”