The Church of Mirage can be directly linked to Eihk-Huellastar. But I believe that none have explored how deep this link goes as I have. Though I pride myself on being a rationalist, it’s still fascinating to think what mythologies the ancient settlers of HuedoLupan came up with. And I can admire the values that they uphold. Justice unseen.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 13th Entry

Lex sat at the corner of the street, trying to look unassuming. There was an art to looking just criminal enough that you’d attract customers, but not enough to attract the attention of cops. Lex had mastered that art long ago.

He gazed at the stars shining above him, waiting. People passed him all the time, but none stopped to greet him or make small talk. Instead, someone would slip him a few bills here and he’d shake their hand, landing a few pills in their hands at the same time.

All in all, it made him feel akin to a cash register. But he was a damn fine cash register. He got to pocket a hefty sum of the cash that he was making. The kid AxEl may have been an amateur, but if he kept this up, Lex just might have to stop calling him boss as a joke and take him seriously.

Lex stargazed for a long while. That was until the noises stopped. The street cleared up and around him, a few rough looking types started to loom. Crap. And just as expected, those few men started smoking.

Even from under their wide brimmed hats, Lex could see the telltale grey glowing eyes. “Uhh boss?” Lex said out loud. No one answered and the men began to close in. Untrustworthy little brat, ain’t he? Lex thought as he brought his arms up.

Then someone fell on top of one of the men. He was wearing a hood, but the build gave it away to Lex who it was. He popped one of his Prophecy pills and joined up with AxEl.

“Really took your time there, didn’t you?” Lex said.

“I couldn’t find the lighter,” AxEl replied, breathing out smoke. The other men looked confused, but rushed them both at the same time. Rookie mistake, really. You can’t trust yourself to something like that unless you know you’ve got the upper hand.

And in a normal scenario, you would. But recently Lex had learned something real important about matchups. When it came to Magic Bullets, Prophecy beat them all. They dodged between the attacks that came at them as smoothly as water. Lex took a few nicks here and there but even he was aided by the power that the Prophecy provided.

He took down one of the men, swiped the cigarette from the second and took a few hits before crushing it under his feet and boxing him into submission. Lex looked back at AxEl and was shocked to find that he’d already taken the two down on the other side.

Worse yet, he didn’t even look injured. Lex stepped over the unconscious bodies of the Revolver gang, towards his boss. “How do you do that? It’s like you can think two things at once, it’s uncanny,” Lex said.

AxEl looked at him and smiled. “Practice, I guess,” he replied. Yeah right, and practice would turn him into a giant brute like AxEl was. In his dreams, maybe.

“I’ve got more people to deal with, Lex. Can you handle yourself here?”

“Sure. I’ll take some Firewire off of the guys and use that next time they cause me trouble,” Lex said. AxEl nodded and then left, barely having enough time to give Lex a goodbye.

What kind of hectic life is that kid living?

****

AxEl sighed. The alarm in his room wouldn’t shut up, so AxEl made it shut up. As gently as he could bother to, at least. The last few nights had been hell for both him and Nook. Since they were getting attacked so often, AxEl had to spend the nights protecting his dealers. Nook was always on duty making the pills, so both of them woke up sore and dazed.

AxEl slipped out of bed and into a nice breakfast that his mother prepared for him. His personal ritual could wait for another time. “AxEl, I can see the bags under your eyes from here. What are you doing up all night?” FenEl asked him from the kitchen.

“…Studying,” he answered back.

His mother chuckled. “Okay, young man, let’s call it ‘studying’,” she remarked, and AxEl couldn’t even bring himself to be embarrassed. He ate his breakfast with fervor, while his mother shuffled through the mail they had gotten. AxEl was no longer worried about the bills. He’d bluffed about getting a raise, which meant that he could give her a sum that he made.

FenEl had her pride as a parent, however, so she refused the first few times. “You should enjoy it,” “Kids like you shouldn’t worry about house bills,” and other sayings followed. Eventually AxEl had worn her down enough to accept it.

A paper was in his face a moment later, his name written front and center. “Someone sent this for you,” FenEl said as she got to checking the other letters.

Who sends letters anymore except the old professor? AxEl thought as he shoved it in his pockets. Once he finished up his meal, he went back upstairs to his room. He locked the door behind him for safety and cracked open the seal that was on it.

Ethavisia.

BannIh,

Alivinium Aksentis…

More names followed that AxEl had no clue of. He flipped over the letter once more to confirm the address. It was addressed to him, but the contents were nothing short of baffling. There was no address given, but written at the bottom,

43rd Street, Vann Laboratories, Barksight.

Considering it says Laboratories, I could guess what this is for. AxEl looked outside. I could go for a little excursion, he thought to himself. He put on his jacket, a new one he had to buy after his old one had been ripped to shreds, and pocketed the letter in between it.

Then, with a goodbye to his mother, AxEl left the house. He zipped around town, taking a long winded route such that he wouldn’t have to run into anyone that could cause trouble for him.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Can’t even feel comfortable in my own home anymore, AxEl thought. He crested a hill and saw the top of the building he was looking for. It had an air of sterility to it, the street around it well maintained and a guard posted at the front. AxEl approached cautiously, eyeing the building’s name hung up on symbols.

The guard walked up to him, gave him a courtesy check, then let him through the gate into the inner courtyard. Birds chirped on trees, a bit more than usual. Carefully maintained nests rested between snowy branches. AxEl spotted a few chicks and smirked a bit looking at them.

Then the glass doors opened in front of him and a man with a bushy mustache walked out. Grey hair matted his temples and a lab coat was hung around his shoulders. AxEl stood in front of him, so he gave way.

“Good morning,” The man said as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets and started walking forward.

“Oh, wait,” AxEl said and the old man looked behind to address him fully.

“Do you need something boy? We aren’t offering any positions if that’s what you’re wondering,” The man replied.

“I just need to know how to meet certain people,” AxEl explained. He took the paper out of his pocket and showed it to the old man.

He read through it, muttering the names as he went along. “That’s quite a list. And a dangerous one at that. Do you know who these people are?”

“Not a clue. But the address is for here so I thought I could find some answers,” AxEl replied.

“These people are involved in work that someone as young as yourself shouldn’t be involved in,” the old man explained.

“How would you know that?”

“Because I’m on the list. By the way, nice to meet you, I’m BannIh,” he said, offering a hand for AxEl to shake. AxEl took it half-heartedly and thought about how to proceed. Dangerous business….

“You make Firewire, don’t you?” AxEl asked suddenly. BannIh’s grip left him and he looked at AxEl with more scrutinizing eyes.

“Not as uninformed as you look. Come, let’s talk somewhere else,” BannIh answered. They found their place under the shade of some trees. BannIh threw stale bread at the birds, who ate it up willingly.

“My name is AxEl. I’m here because I received this letter this morning,” AxEl said.

“So you thought somebody wanted to meet you here? I can tell you it wasn’t me who sent it, at least.”

“Maybe someone wanted me to meet you. I’ve got something that might interest yo-“

“No,” BannIh replied, stopping his feeding. He wrapped the bag of treats at his side and then looked AxEl in the eyes. “I’m not interested in whatever scheme you’ve got to produce Magic Bullets. And changing employers isn’t something I would take lightly, either way.”

But if the man wouldn’t accept that, what would make him change his mind?

“How many Magic Bullets do you think there are in the world, BannIh?” AxEl asked.

“Trivial. Eight.”

“And what about that new drug going around. You should have heard of it, shouldn’t you?”

“My working hypothesis is that it’s just a combination of other Magic Bullets, mainly Ascension, that leads one to exhibit the effects that users of that new drug describe. I haven’t…gotten a sample to test it, however,” BannIh replied.

“And what if I could get you that sample. Better yet, proof of an ninth Magic Bullet and Origin plant?”

BannIh twirled his mustache. “Well, I would tell you to meet me back here by sundown or else stop wasting my time.”

“Then we have a deal,” AxEl said. Again he held out his hand, this time more confidently, and shook it with BannIh’s.

“But be warned, master AxEl. You should be prepared for the ramifications of stealing such a valuable asset such as myself away from DoxEn,” BannIh said, his voice growing stricter. AxEl didn’t break his gaze away from the man.

“I will be careful.”

BannIh left soon after on some business or another. AxEl dropped the rest of the bird feed onto the ground and watched the birds fight over it. Real beasts they can be, when you give them the incentive.

AxEl brought with him one of the mushrooms, wrapped in cloth so it wouldn’t stand out in his hand. That night BannIh took it from him and looked enraptured with it. He barely paid AxEl any heed and waved him away for at least the next few days. Would rather see results now, but I don’t think asking him to work faster is going to win me any favour.

So, AxEl did something normal for once in a while. He grabbed his books, he grabbed a hot drink, and he studied.

****

More studying. Boring, useless, studying. Then the phone at AxEl’s side rang and he finally received news. BannIh had contacted him, asking to meet once more. He was about to go there by himself when he noticed that Nook had left some messages as well.

AxEl felt a little guilty for not telling Nook anything about the professor, so he sent a few texts and headed to the location.

AxEl took deep breaths. I’ve been taking all that Firewire for granted. He was running to the laboratory as fast as he could, his impatience overtaking him. Reading books for the past few days had drained him so much that he decided to start attending lectures again.

HinEn and Finn both thought something was going on once they realized AxEl hadn’t missed a class in two days. They poked and prodded him for every bit of information, but AxEl didn’t budge.

Now he was glad to be back on track. To AxEl’s surprise, the first thing he saw once the labs came into sight was Nook standing in front of the gate, making conversation with the guard.

AxEl waved him over and asked, “ I thought I was supposed to be the strong one.”

“And I’m the smart one. Which is why I knew I was closer than you,” Nook replied. They shared a mutual grin that was immediately broken by the appearance of BannIh. He clapped his hands and all eyes swirled towards him.

“Good to see you back, AxEl. And you would be?” BannIh asked as he pointed towards Nook.

“His friend,” Nook answered.

“Good then. Come along with me, I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been up to,” BannIh replied, gesturing a hand towards the lab. AxEl and Nook trailed behind him as he began speaking incessantly.

“I thought that first sample you gave to me was a prank, honestly. A blue glowing mushroom doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, after all,” BannIh said as he pushed past the doors and took a side route to somewhere AxEl didn’t know.

“But after running some tests, I’m quite impressed. You children have actually managed to find a new Magic Bullet!” BannIh said, a bit too loudly. A few people looked over, but most just turned away to their own dealings after seeing who it was that was speaking.

AxEl and Nook both cringed a bit. “Can you….keep it quieter?” Nook asked.

“Ah, nonsense. This is a great discovery. It should be shared,” BannIh said. AxEl and Nook looked at each other in terror at the suggestion. They rounded a corner before each placing an arm on the old coot.

BannIh looked at them with a mix of surprise and amusement. “Of course, I won’t be the one to do that,” he said. “Really, I do that and all the research goes to government employed chemists. Takes away all the fun of discovery from me,” he added, brushing off their arms from his sides.

He turned away from them once more, leading them forward. AxEl looked at Nook and saw him spinning his finger around his head. AxEl nodded before they both proceeded to follow the old man into a simple office filled with equipment.

“Look at this,” he said, placing a liquid in front of AxEl. It was tinted blue, so he dipped a finger in and placed it in his mouth. For an instance, Phantoms appeared before leaving his sight.

“Unconcentrated, I know. But with enough work it could prove profitable.”

“And what about our deal? Now do you want to work for me instead of DoxEn?” AxEl asked.

“It’s risky, but if I’d ever cared about that I wouldn’t be in this field. You’ve convinced me, AxEl, I’ll join your operation. I’ll need more samples however, to set up a farm for myself and my experimentation. Despite how clean this place,” he said as he waved around his pristine white office, “looks, it’s not the most secure for performing illegal experiments on unknown Magic Bullets.”

“If you bring me a large enough sample, I could set up a workshop from home and fulfill all your needs for Prophecy manufacturing,” BannIh explained.

“Your house?” Nook asked.

“Large basement, good for hiding. And I’ll need any info you have on growing these mushrooms as well as manufacturing the pills. Would speed up my own personal research by leaps,” BannIh asked.

AxEl looked at Nook with eyes he could read well enough. Should we tell him…. Nook shook his head in response. Best not to reveal too many of our cards, he thought.

“We can provide that,” Nook said.