Magic.
“What an absurd concept. Most people think of magic as clicking their fingers or doing some strange pose and having their problems solved, from everyday problems to their deep inner crises. People usually don’t put the work into their real problems and end up with drama. Magic is just a…convenience tool for any mind.”
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It was a sunny day on the Mediterranean coast—an almost tropical climate of a warm, humid yet placid nature that bathed the air. Birds sang with energy and enthusiasm, flowers bloomed bathed in dew, and the wildlife woke up, roaring and exploring around in a new day, as their instincts kicked in. The sun rose through the sea line on the horizon as it lit up the city of Valencia, a city on the coastline of Spain. Silence reigns over the modern streets, as a peaceful morning takes over the city. Not one car moved from their place. Not one building lit up a bulb. None of the machines turned on. Not one cable carries their electric power, nor do fountains play with their water. Not a sign or sight of the hundreds of chairs that usually would be set up in the first hour of the morning on that beautiful beach, nor any restaurant or shop opened their doors. Pets and wild animals alike ran around the streets but with nobody to take care of them. The plants overgrew the limitations of the hard cement of the pavement and buildings, breaking even the ceramic tiles of the pools and the paint of the walls. All sorts of items flew the streets, and all kinds of trash made piles in any corner they got stuck. Some fell into giant holes that filled the cities or the buildings. Others are in cracks made by explosions that occurred a long time ago, only leaving debris where walls should be. The animals hid inside these abandoned streets, even if their buildings began to fall apart in giant chunks of metal, stone, wood, and cement. The structures, the blocks, everything that the humans built up to that day had some form of violent breakdown.
No human is left alive. The streets were filled with bones and rotting corpses, meat, and guts spread out, splattered, scattered, or crushed. Silhouettes of deceased people in black shades or gigantic cracks on the walls where bones were forcefully inserted. Marks of a violent conflict long finished painted that city. Not a single human, neither a kid nor an adult, was left unscathed. Very little stood completely, as all the tall buildings were shortened, cut, or broken down, leaving most of them barely a dozen feet tall with their structure, still standing. Whole blocks burned to the ground, ground to dust, or to tiny pieces. Empty streets with little to no buildings spread across this old forgotten city.
Except on one building, where it still stood proud with three floors tall. On the top floor, where the ceiling lacked its roof, a young man with long hair and fiddle arms slept on the sofa in a living room. On the dead silent city. The youngster could be seen as someone in his middle 20’s, with long little curvy hair and small, fragile-looking glasses. He wore a brown, partially torn jacket with a white shirt underneath. Jeans combined with black sports shoes. His clothes lacked the clean slate that anyone would wish for, as they had traces of dirt, blood, and mud all over them. His eyes had bags that anyone could feel his exhaustion by just looking at them, yet his arms and muscles were tense, ready to jump in any moment. In a normal situation, anyone would guessed he could be homeless. His left hand hung out of the furniture, holding a backpack with force. He woke up in a violent cough, as the shakes of his lungs almost made him fall from that rugged couch. He stretched his arms and legs with such calm movements, as a humored cat, and yawned as loudly as a parrot. He slowly took off, walking to what looked like the entrance of that house, holding his phone to check the hour.
[7:19].
He sighed in relief. He checked the door entrance, where on its side, an electric generator roared with force yet with such a steady white noise, connected to the electrical system of that household on a shoddy installation. His voice could feel his lack of sleep, as a barely mature male voice spoke, whispering.
“Working.” He nodded at the sight as he walked off to the kitchen, and opened the fridge. “No milk. Just. Great.” to take some residual cereal and pour it in cold water. He walked off to the balcony of that apartment floor, but instead of observing the beautiful, colorful, and somehow warm sunrise, his sights were placed in the opposite direction. A strange green, and somewhat rose light cover partially the sky in an unnatural tone, that light rising to the skies, not clear where it lay its end. He sat down with his “breakfast” on one hand, in a plastic chair on that balcony, as he took out a radio from his pocket and turned it on, taking a couple of minutes to adjust the signal. Surprisingly, it took the signal from a faraway radio broadcasting in English. He began to eat as the news broadcast began to shout out, looking between the strange green-looking gigantic wall and some animals fighting for some rotten meat in the nearby park.
{“This is the Lie News, from South Texas, where we uncovered how things are going on. It has been almost a year since the surge of the “God’s Barrier”, a name given by the general population, that divided the whole world in two. The barrier splits part of Africa, Spain, and Scotland, as well as part of Japan, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand. In three weeks will be the first anniversary of when this interplanetary war began to other-worldly mythical creatures and people-“} A middle-aged woman explained with a soft voice, interrupted by a more rude, tough, and manly voice, that had been smoking way too much.
[“People?! I am sorry Miss Wellington, but you dare call those things…PEOPLE?! They are monsters who suddenly decided to make an appearance after thousands of years of their speculations and adoration, just to begin to KILL US without a care of the world or saying a single word! Africa has fallen to their hands, as well as most of Europe too! Nothing can’t pass that fricking barrier! Not even nuclear bombs made a dent in that…thing!”] A slam could be heard from that radio speaker, causing the youngster to chuckle a bit at his calm demeanor and almost depressive attitude, taking another bite of his cereals.
A moment of silence took before the woman continued the broadcast as if nothing interrupted her. [“Russia has allied with the remaining forces of Europe, as well as with China, India, the surviving people of Africa who fled in panic and a rush towards to east…All fronts of Humanity has united towards this new invasion, however, it seems that humanity barely made a dent towards these sturdy, resilient forces. A new invasion has begun on Australia by sea creatures and humanoids, who can casually breathe underwater, taking the south coast as their base of operations and began to push upwards. United States began a new attempt to break the barrier with their new “Laser” technology. We will see how it goes, as the barrier regenerates rapidly if it gets damaged”] As she let his companion speak, this now more irritated but calmer than his anger outburst.
[“Scientist, … ANYONE can estimate due to his almost unstoppable that it may take two more years before the whole east falls to this monsters. Strangely enough, no movement or attack began towards America in any sense, almost like it never happened, except of course, due to the uncommunicative to any other part of the world and the obvious screams and pleas for help from that side. All America has declared a united front as most of the population, from the rich men to the low streets, began a movement to prepare for war, as we…could be the next ones.”] as the broadcast kept coming on the news and details how the borders of the human and new world were fighting.
He muted the radio, as it didn’t want to be reminded of the cruelty of the whole situation.
He rolled his eyes “Nothing “new” yet…We were stomp slowly, sadistically cruel, our weapons barely kept up with their defenses and they came back stronger, faster, smarter for us. Heck, even the drones were outnumbered by their “summons”….Fucking magic I swear…” He commented lowly as he turned off the radio, while looking upwards at the sky with such attention and fixation, only to see a couple of birds flying, “Nothing new. Just. Great.” He checked his phone, which charged all night thanks to the scrappy electrical system he installed.
[7:54]
“It is that time again. Let’s get ready.” As he stood up, made a last check-up to the sky, and placed everything back in the kitchen, to add to the pile of unclean dishes. He took his backpack and brought out a laptop. With care, and moving slowly -his face showing that didn't want to break anything- he placed and opened the computer on top of the table in the living room. Before it was eight o’clock he made a futile attempt to clean himself a bit, or at least to clean everything he could from his face, tho he forgot to shave off the little hairs he had on his chin. At o’clock whatever the laptop tried to load stopped completely, as an application popped up, a video call application of unknown origin. The young man took a bit to just answer that call, heck even acknowledged it, taking a breather before he clicked “Enter” and answered the call.
On the other side, an older man, with a military-grade haircut, more white hair than black ones, looking in his late thirties or late forties, stayed on the other side of the call, with a more stern and firm voice as he sighed in relief when he saw the young man on the other side. A face that could shout to any cadet going around and impose his truth and reason with his presence. Yet for the young man, his attitude felt slightly different. “I’m glad that you are alive, Chump. The more time passes, the tougher it seems to find people thinking lately. How are you, kid? What’s the situation over there?”
The young man, took another breather before speaking, trying to have a bit of energy for this reunion. “No flying humanoids around. No indications of magic around here. No indications of any human survivors, nor any signal of slaves. The last three weeks a couple of scout groups explored around, checking every corner. But…nothing new. It seems that they do not have the technology or the knowledge to detect this type of transmission, as well as they competently ignore the uses of the infrastructures around them. But what worries me is that I didn’t see them this last week. Ten days now without a trace of them.” His tone broke a bit off as desperation took over his tone ”Neither human or humanoid…What the satellites are showing? Any fucking progress with the barrier or something?!”
The colonel wasn’t used to being yelled at, a nervous tick appeared on his eye, but he took patience and put his pride away, as his face showed his comprehension of the youngster's situation, “No kid, we did our best but whatever it is…it can regenerate faster than we can attack. The thickness of that barrier has even increased the last month, up to six yards…or what would be around five and a half meters for you.” The young man still tried to accept the horrible news, when the colonel spoke once again, continuing his report, “However, we noticed something…quite curious. The wild plants and animals, completely ignored this barrier and walked through…or better say, is like this barrier allowed the entrance of things that weren’t influenced by human nature.”
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It took the man a moment before breathing correctly and answering “That’s why it explains why the planet wasn’t cut in half by this enormous barrier, it allows anything that ain’t our influence…Dirt, plants, microbes, the air, the clouds, animals.” He took a moment to breathe again and calm himself down “Just. Great. Fantastic even, but it won’t allow us to go through. Of course, that’s the fricking point…Look, I know th-“
“Kid.” The old man interrupted him to gain his attention, and once he sensed the young was stable, he continued. “I ain’t suppose to do this, but I made my boys send you everything we have about them. You may be alone there, but I hope for you, that you will get out of there alive.”
He felt a mix of emotions, a tiny shy smile appeared on his face as the colonel trusted him more to give him this type of access to knowledge, but the “out of there alive” resonated in his head, like an echo in a mountain that never ceased. The comment startled a bit the young man as he received, through satellite, the documents and video footage of the front lines. Montages of massacres and guerrillas occurred, with thousands of screaming that would never stop in the background. Something that he would barely glance at, not giving much attention except for one minor detail. Every magic creature, humanoid, or species had its powers originating from sudden lights that appear on their bodies, coming from different parts, depending on the creature. “It looks like … it's organic their “magic” somehow…How much have you gathered?”
“Around ten giga-bytes, but my men made it that every document you receive is fully detailed, or whatever is done… hmm…” The old man pondered for a moment before he looked at the tiny note on his screen.
The civilian began to reproduce the videos on the screen, splitting in two as he asked with curiosity “Alright,… could you tell me about the nearest survivors?” He asked as his hands took a notebook and a pencil to write anything down.
But the colonel stood silent as he began to show emotions other than his serious voice, as his stomach began to metaphorically revolve on itself. “They are being captured…the surviving groups in the whole Iberian Peninsula as well as in France…Scotland is resisting, of course, those fuckers could pull it off but…”
Chump placed his hand on his chin, in a thinking trance while hearing him and watching part of the footage over his phone. His face showed his fear and pain that no one near him was to assist him with anything he felt the desperation to be alone but tried to mask it under a positive facade. “But? But what? Also, where is the rest of the team? You usually have your people behind you but this time you're in your office…“ But was interrupted
“Honorary soldier, Chump…This is our last reunion. Higher-ups consider this a waste of our time, that you…are a walking dead man.” The old man showed hidden guilt as he closed his eyes and nodded, before explaining, “They began to attack the satellites. Four days ago, they noticed the…debris in orbit and began to throw their “magical” missiles upwards, destroying every equipment we had up there by collateral damages. They haven’t destroyed them all of course, but they began their clean up, up there as well. In the front, they took Poland completely and began to move towards Russia, as well as it seems they planned an attack on New Zealand as a diversion and began construction and settlements in Africa, cleaning every main city with giant tsunamis, storms that could break tiny parches of the Sahara…Is probable that sooner or later Spain may be-“
The young man's face slowly went to horror, at the realization of that treason. “You…you are gonna abandon me after…after everything?!” He leaned backward sighing in desperation before crying out like a buffalo, with the fury of a storm, slamming the table with enough strength to break and crack it. The shock made the table tremble, and therefore, anything on top of it as well. His face began to show red in pure frustrated rage as he hid his eyes, half crying in fury.
“I am sorry kid….I have known you since four months ago, you are way smarter than most common folk. But there’s no hope to get you out in time. I know you tried too hard to survive out there and how many you lost but…I pray for you, son, that you get out alive somehow.” The man took his hat uniform and put it on his chest to show the respect he had for the young one.
It took the man a couple of minutes before cleaning his face before asking in anger, shouting to the man who provided that news “Not even the laser technology?! I am six hours in a car from the barrier! Colonel Sylas! I can drive there and plan som-“
“Chump! They are not working. The barrier got stronger. The laser is useless.” The colonel confessed.
“What?-“
“Stop!” The colonel ordered back, stopping the young man before he even said anything else. “Good bye kid. May God…or whatever is up there, have mercy on you.”
Chump was ready to get back at him, but the colonel dismissed the call and deleted the application remotely. Chump shook the laptop in rage before slamming his fingers on the keyboard, trying to somehow reconnect again. But it was too late, the Ethernet fully disconnected. He felt like he was in a boat on the open sea, left to die in the middle of the storm, as he took out his notes in programming and tried back and forth to get the call back on, to try to communicate to other places, heck to even someone if there was anything out there. But to no avail. He took a chair and broke it against the wall in frustration. “After everything I did! After everyone….Every single one died?!”
Chump felt cut off from the rest of the world. Alone in that cruel world, in this abandoned land, with nothing left but his mind and guts. His tears covered his face and hands, biting with force his arms as screams filled the echo chamber of that building, the panic attacks dominating his senses. He took another chair and began slamming around the house, taking nearly a couple of hours to calm him down, ending in an uncontrollable sobbing. The pain he felt, the fear, the impotence could be discerned in his voice, in his movements, even in his blood, sweat, and tears.
It took him several hours to just calm himself down, as sadness and depression replaced that fit of rage. The only things that survived in that room were his precious laptop, the sofa, and the table. He opened his phone, looking at photos of his friends and family, in times when peace was the norm, and ignorance felt comfortable. On part of the screen, in the background the documents he received over time about the whole situation, his voice feeling void and empty “Just. Great. So much for nothing….I knew I should have…I should have died with…No…No stop thinking…no…Chump, you are here because of them.”
He stood up in a rush, taking his laptop and backpack, and preparing himself to travel. Some food cans he had, a bottle of warm water, some glasses with a bottle of “Terry Centenario” a bottle of Spanish white brandy- and last but not least, a weapon for self-defense. The weapon was a Glock he had, locked the safe before loading it on his belt. He walked outside of that place, but not before breaking the main door out of anger he had, leftovers of that morning.
He walked at a slow pace, his head facing down, half stumbling around. Fast enough to not trip, yet weak enough to not present resistance. Wondering without a way, yet his feet move alone. His face bails out his frustration, as heartbroken cries filled the silence of the wild city. He didn’t slow down any second, yet his eyes barely saw what was in front of him. Seeing the burnt silhouettes of innocent victims from children to adults, walking on those broken boulevard streets didn’t help at all.
It took him a while to arrive at his destination, a graveyard where thousands of broken tombstones lie in order, as well as walls with coffins and funeral urns, ashes laying with their names. Yet back in a further corner of this place, recent tombs, where the grass didn't even grow, rested in peace. Chump slowly walked over there, trying to calm himself down with breathing techniques, taking five seconds to breathe in and out. Upon arriving, the tombs were distributed in the next way. Two tombs in the front. While nine on the back, the central one being a step on the front and a bit bigger than the four it had on each side, but smaller than the two on the front. Their tombstones were made of stone but carved irregularly unlike the others. Complete yet illegible.
The man took a towel to lay down on the ground, having enough space to half sit down. His movements stood slow and methodical, yet his hands trembled and his tears blurred his vision. He tried to remain composure through the whole procedure, taking the brandy and filling eleven cups. Once he finished filling and placing them carefully in front of each tombstone, he sat down back in the towel. He raised that bottle in the air weakly, his right arm trembling more, only to break down mid-way in bigger tears, crying and bailing out, his face turning red as he groaned in pain. He tried to take a sip from the bottle, only to cough part of the drink outside and almost asphyxiate himself.
“Mom…Dad…Zandrew…friends…I am sorry…I am sorry…I am so sorry for not saving anyone…I couldn’t do anything…I tried to study them. I tried to understand their language. To save many…many slaves yet everyone was transported or I arrived too late…” In sobs he tried to take another sip, being now more successful and able to drink it down. “What would you say…What would you do?…. What I should do…What I am gonna do…”
“Dad…you would say… “You are okay, son. You tried your best…You survived and you kept going forward…you never gave up…You must…Keep…Going!”” He screamed with pain and anger afterward before continuing
“Mon would be… “You are a good person. You cared for us. You wanted to save people instead of running away. Is okay, because you are alive…Please, try to be safe…” He sobs away, as he tries to clean himself.
“Zandrew would shout “Stop apologizing you dumb idiot, you did nothing wrong! You survived instead of me…Instead of them…Please…go on for us…” for all…of them” He tried to take another sip, then drank the rest of the bottle before screaming in pain that the alcohol burned a bit in his throat. Then he broke the bottle against the floor, away from their tombstones. He shook and trembled in fear, frustration guiding his voice, before stopping completely his movements.
He looked at that giant barrier far away on the horizon, that greenish barrier, opaque, raising to the skies, that impotent barrier that nobody could go through. With that silent yet menacing aura. Clutching his fist, one with his backpack and the other with the piece of the bottle who somehow, still partially intact. With his sore mouth, his blackened eyes, with his red face, and inhaling all he can he shouted with the will of his soul out.
“FUCK YOU! SCREW YOU! WHATEVER OR WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU ARE DESPICABLE! YOU ARE A HORRENDOUS!”
He coughed afterward for a while before continuing in a lower tone.
“You took my life! You took my family! You took my friend's life without mercy! You strip of my golden brain! Of my naive heart and shattered to pieces! Broke apart thanks to your other planet and magic things, beast, people, WHATEVER they fucking are! You made my parents ’ lives light out of their eyes while you made me watch without even saying why! Without even trying to justify it! Nothing in your regard! You took my friends' limbs and threw them away as you dragged them through portals while ignoring their pleas! I don’t know if my sister is still alive!” He stopped a moment to breathe and sob in anger “I don’t care who you are! I don’t care if you are “God”, or Satan, or Buddha, or Odin, or Chronos, or any fucking god, or devil, or any being in existence! HEAR ME! I WILL! DESTROY! YOU! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY INFINITE TIMES WORSE THAT YOU DID TO ME!”
He groaned in pain as he stood up, almost his back giving up as his lack of sleep made him trip backward, before standing on his feet and looking up one more time, with eyes that could pierce the heavens of sheer anger.
“NOT! MATTER!-” In the instant he paused to scream the next word, another scream not far away from that place could be heard. A scream of pain, a scream of desperation. A human scream. Too human-like to sound animal. An unknown shout for help, in a language he didn’t know. But that feeling of helplessness was enough to snap him back to reality, as his instincts kicked away, running towards that general direction with only his backpack and his broken bottle in hand.
With another shout for help, he knew exactly where the screams came from. Just a couple of blocks further away, almost near the grassy fields that split the city from the outskirts. He rushed there as his mind went wild, almost blank, thinking only to “I won’t let another one die.” But upon arriving, his body paralyzed for a split moment, observing the situation. With barely any time to do or think of anything, and without pondering once, the mad lad ran towards in, holding tight his items as he screamed in a war cry and tears. His rage led to that moment.