Mostly clean and changed into a fresh pair of clothes Kyle finally felt restored enough to walk into his living room. Yesterday’s snazzy suit and dress shoes, worn purely for the benefit of looking professional while giving tours to museum visitors, had been replaced by a comfortable ensemble. Consisting of tennis shoes, a polo shirt with the buttons left unfastened, and a pair of khakis, it was what he usually wore when working in the secured rooms for restoring, evaluating, and storing artifacts.

Of course, an ensorcelled and protective warlocks robe was usually worn over anything an employee that worked with artifacts wore. It was a requirement of the job to wear the appropriate protective clothing. Kyle went to grab his lanyard and his favorite warlocks robe from the hook by his bedroom door and stopped when they weren’t there. Dang it. His stuff had been in the vehicle. Oh, forget about the lost vehicle, his museum key card was missing, he was going to be screwed.

Giving a groaned sigh of exasperation, Kyle’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. It was so unfair. Saving countless lives, battling monsters for hours on end, and he was still going to be canned because he’d lost a key to the most secure facility on the bunny fluffy planet. His mind was automatically editing his thoughts with his sister nearby. Even though he wasn’t speaking them out loud, it was a force of habit with Kyle not to let his thoughts or words get too bad when he was with his sister, so that he never swore around her. It was their mom’s rule that the older siblings were not to speak swear words around Anna.

“Jones,” Kyle called out as he entered the living room, “I hope you have your key card because mine is in the vehicle I left with you yesterday. The one that the Army apparently commandeered?” Leaving the statement open, he lifted his voice to indicate inquiry and bit his lip nervously as he waited for an answer.

“No worries,” The Magicorps soldier assured him as he pointed to Kyle’s worn but sturdy second-hand coffee table, “The Archangel Michael hooked us up. We retrieved the vehicle, all of our gear – minus some used ammunition – and our personal belongings. It’s all good.” There on the table were Kyle’s lanyard with his museum keycard, his not-too-awful identification photo smiling out at him, and his favorite warlock’s robe.

He hadn’t worn it to fight in because…? Well, he really didn’t know why. Warlocks robes came in a lot of different styles and had multiple uses. The most basic was for protection from the elements and against blowback from spells or enchantments gone wrong. They were stylish, comfortable, but usually not designed for the kind of quick and indiscriminate movements required in the fast-paced combat environment.

Then there were dueling robes. Ornate and stiffly stylized, they deliberately restricted the movement of the warlock as the whole premise of a duel was to stand in one place while firing spells at one another. Combat robes went in the opposite direction and facilitated free movement with a highly flexible body that flared out at the waist, so the hem was wide enough to not restrict running while the robe was fastened down the entire length. Most were even enchanted to prevent the robe from becoming entangled with limbs as they moved. So why the heck hadn’t Kyle worn his robes while fighting yesterday? That would have been useful.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Oh, yeah!

The suit.

“Thanks guys. I was freaking out that I might get canned for losing my key card.” Jones, who was drinking something hot and caffeinated smelling, snorted said beverage through his nose and coughed in surprise.

“You saved like half the city yesterday. They couldn’t fire you for the Army confiscating your key card.” His disbelief was palpable. But Kyle knew that nothing he did would have made a difference if the museum was compromised.

“Yes. They could and should.” He grabbed his robe and lanyard, donning them quickly. “We need to get to the museum and have my security enchantments changed immediately just in case someone got a hold of my card while it was out of our possession and gallivanting around town with the Army.”

Jones was already dressed in his uniform from the day before. Anna had given him a pair of Kyle’s pajamas the night before so that he wouldn’t be sleeping in monster goo-stained clothing. So, he’d washed his uniform out the best he could with the ice water the elementalist had conjured in the bathroom sink by candlelight. He’d been too exhausted to use his wand as a light source. Then bathed himself in more ice water and passed out on the couch.

Though his clothes were still damp when he’d put them on, a quickly whispered spell had the dampness evaporating off him and steaming up the bathroom as he changed that morning. Anna had been waiting for him and Kyle to wake up as she’d made breakfast so many hours ago that it was cooled already.

“Alright, sir. Jones answered without hesitation. “Let’s go then.” His boots had been on and tied since he’d dressed hours ago. Part of him had wondered if he should have gone back to the museum to report in last night. But at the same time, he also had been under orders from the museum director to follow Kyle’s orders, and Kyle’s orders were to protect Anna until Kyle came for her. Since Kyle couldn’t get into the museum, Jones knew the fastest way for him to be released back to the instruction of the museum director was to get Anna back together with Kyle as soon as possible.

Donning his robe and lanyard, Kyle rummaged through his pockets. He uttered a triumphant “Ah ha!” as he pulled out an object that seemed far too large for such average-looking pockets. It was a message scroll. The one he’d been issued by the director before heading out on his first assignment.

He read the messages waiting for him, his eyes scanning the page quickly. A little frown started on his face and the furrow between his brow grew deeper the longer he read. Kyle wasn’t sharing so Anna sidled next to him to read over his shoulder. She began frowning also, which concerned Jones. After a few seconds, Jones shrugged and did the same, reading over Kyle’s shoulder also.