‘The term ‘mage’, an often used title, refers to all those who have knowledge in the mystic arts. Although across the many human cultures there exists a variety of specific classifications based on such knowledge, all mages share the commonality that is a Foci. From witches to shamans, wizards to druids, mages across the world all use these tools to bring manifest to their magic. This foci exists as a physical Source for the otherwise mundane human to draw from. While the nature of a foci can range greatly, in this modern age either gemstones or specific parts extracted from magical entities are the most common to find within the various supernatural communities, usually embed atop a staff or wand.

The exception to this commonality, the sorcerer, has no need for a foci. This is naturally due to the internal Source the have come to posses through a small range of means.

‘An Introductory course to Modern Magic’

Julian Restel, Archwizard and headmaster of the Delestrain Royal Acadamy of the Mystic Arts.

*****

After another three hour walk, Alex came home to an unpleasant surprise. His apartment had been broken into. After the day he just had, Alex decided to go to sleep and worry about tomorrow. Victor was as good a guard dog as anything, so safety want much of a worry to him.

He called the police in the morning. Apparently the lock hadn’t been broken, so they told him a professional lock picker must have done it. It was a cheap apartment after all, so it was hardly secure.

Alex thought otherwise. The timing was too coincidental. Nothing had been taken either. Someone had been looking for something, and they had obviously searched just about everything in the apartment.

At least it gave him a good excuse for the landlord when he told him he was moving out. It was a fixed term contract, but Alex wasn’t made to pay after he told him he could sell most of his things. The man didn’t even charge him for a cleaner when he told him he could keep the scooter he used to get around.

Alex then packed his limited possessions in a single suitcase. Everything that didn’t fit he had left to the landlord. Since he was leaving his normal life behind, he could hardly do anything with it anyway.

As for the money? He didn’t need it. When his dad died, he’d inherited everything his old man had owned, and it was a lot. His dad had even sold the house they shared his whole life and put the money in an account to he’d left him

Alex hadn’t touched it till this day. Back then he rented a place with his own savings and got small times jobs to make a livelihood. It was probably where his life started to go downhill, living aimlessly from pay check to pay check.

That didn’t matter. He had no desire to live off the inheritance of the only family he’d ever known. He couldn’t stomach the thought of it, even if he knew it wouldn’t have been what his dad wanted. To use it to make something of himself.

Now Alex figured if any situation called for it, this was probably it. The overwhelming chance of being brutally murdered and eaten was something he felt justified it.

Although he hardly needed money where he was going, the account would definitely be needed in future. Alex doubted this branch of Yggdrasil was something he’d find in his hometown after all, so it was nice to know he could actually cover his travel expenses. Plus he just gave away his scooter, so taxi fares would be needed.

With his worldly possessions taken care of, the hardest part was ahead of him. To disappear and not have the police send a manhunt after him, he’d have to tell the few people in his life that cared that they he’d be gone for a while.

The first call was to his job. After saying he was quitting, Alex’s manager instantly started screaming about giving notice and bad referrals, so he quietly hung up.

Lucky for him, Helga hadn’t asked to see his CV.

Then Alex called the few friends he still kept up with. Round after round of questions could only be answered with the all powerful words, “Yea, i’m going to travel around. Find myself and all that shit, you know?”

It worked well enough.

He also gave his ex a call. Alex just told her that he was leaving town and that he had moved out of his apartment. He didn’t want the risk of her trying to pay him a visit. Even if they had broken up badly, he hardly wanted her dead.

Which was a very real possibility, if he was right about the type of people that had been searching into his place.

With everything sorted, he went to his local bar. It might of been the middle of the day, and a Monday, but a few of his friends even met him there.

He hadn’t kept in touch with many people since his dad died, so he was close to the ones he did. Close enough for them to come day drinking with him at least.

After a few hours of drinking, Alex told them his flight was soon. After a final round on him, they all left.

Someone had been waiting for that.

While he was paying his tab at the counter, a hand patted his back. Not exactly sober, Alex casually turned around expecting someone had come back to say goodbye.

An unfamiliar face greeted him with a smile. The man a buzz cut, and a large scar stretched across most of his left cheek. He was big as well, looking over two meters tall.

The strange part however, were the man’s clothes. He wore a priest’s robes, complete with a tiny cross-stuck Jesus hanging down from his neck. It definitely did not suit him.

Or the bar they were in.

“Come and have a drink with me, Alex. My shout.”

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Neither Alex or his dad had been particularly religious, so there was no priest in the city that should know his name. Plus, what kind of a priest drank during the day?

Victor had been waiting outside the bar, and it was a public place, so Alex figured he’d be fine if the man just wanted to talk.

The priest didn’t wait for his reply, turning to the barkeeper instead.

“Brian, the usual for me and Alex here. Put it on my tab.”

“Sure thing, Father Jenkins.” Brian didn’t even bat an eye at the man.

Apparently he came here often. Alex was getting less and less sure about this priest.

Still, if it was a talk the man wanted, Alex could hear him out. It may even do him some good, as long as the man didn’t just accuse him of colluding with demons.

Alex sat at the bar with Father Jenkins as the barkeep filled two glasses with the bitter on tap.

“So, what kind of priest drinks at a bar on a Monday afternoon?” Alex asked, genuinely curious.

“A special one, as i’m sure you’ve already guessed. I don’t exactly spend my days in any church, so most just think i’m some excommunicated old drunk. The robes still keep most people respectful, anyway.”

Alex looked at the bulky man sitting beside him. He wasn’t so sure it was the robes that did that.

“What did you want to talk about, Father Jenkins?”

The priest didn’t answer. Instead he waited for his glass, immediately emptying a decent part of it.

And then he gave the barkeep a meaningful look. Brian was also apparently used to this, as he nodded and walked to the other side of the bar.

Out of earshot.

“You’ve made some waves in the local communities Alex, what with you walking around in broad daylight with that familiar of yours. I even got a fair warning from it before coming in here.”

That probably explained the ransacking of his apartment. Victor was a big deal apparently.

The man continued. “As a particularly special variety of priest, it’s my job to keep tabs on the local mystic communities. Now, you can imagine my surprise when a man like you with no notable background suddenly has Barghest at his beck and call.”

Although Victor wasn’t exactly at his beck and call, Alex wasn’t about to correct the man.

“Well Father, what does your job require you to do about it?”

“Oh no, no, I only need to take action when certain rules are broken. For now, i’m here to do exactly what you would expect of a priest. I’m here to listen and offer advice. You see, out of the whole country, this city is particularly special. To most in the know that is only because of the unusually high amount of spirits and creatures of the Fae which inhabit these lands. As a man of God however, i’m a little more informed. And to my knowledge, there’s only one place that has a creature like a Barghest.”

Alex didn’t like what he was hearing. If the priest knew about the Court, there was a decent chance he knew about the Rites. Even with his little awareness about the situation, Alex knew that was something the supernatural community would have a lot of interest in.

Only one person could complete the Rites, and he didn’t doubt there would be little stopping those types of people from trying to take his place.

The father saw his expression, giving him a knowing chuckle.

“The situation’s not as bad as your imagining Alex. As rare as the opportunity is to become the only Fae king in North America is, it’s hardly becoming of a priest to take power from anything but the Lord himself. And I doubt the existence of the Court is known to the locals. It’s in their nature that those places keep to themselves. Rather, i’m much more invested in your survival.”

Out of all the things this Priest could say to him, that wasn’t one he’d expected.

“Why? Shouldn’t a Priest be against this? Not that i’m ungrateful for any help you can offer, but isn’t this whole situation pretty much me dealing with demons. It’s hard to imagine the church ignores things like this.”

The Father shook his head helplessly.

“Opinions in the church can differ greatly. Certainly, most might even outright kill you and any others that tried to grasp this power. My brethren and I however are of the opinion that the church’s role in the modern world is to maintain balance, and a man who finds power thrust upon him is more likely to keep this balance than a man who actively seeks it.”

The paused to give him an examining glance.

“But you shouldn’t overestimate the aid I say i’m offering, the most I can do is give advice. I made the decision to keep this matter hidden, and part of that means i’m unable to act personally. For now, all I can say is to be careful. Not many in this city can match your Barghest, but that doesn’t stop them from being curious about you. You’ve found out as much yourself, haven’t you? I doubt they found anything meaningful, which means they may try and test you personally. You’d best go into hiding for now.”

He confirmed Alex’s suspicions on who exactly ransacked his place. And apparently they wouldn’t be so indirect next time.

Apparently that was the only advice the Priest had to offer at the moment, but he gave Alex his number. Alex thanked him and finished his last drink.

After leaving the bar Alex called a taxi. He took the Father’s warning seriously, so he figured the sooner he got back to Helga the safer he would be.

Victor could fit in the taxi as well. Like when people stopped to pat him, his body seemed unrestricted by the cars frame, leaving his upper torso sticking out the roof as he sat on the seat.

After picking up his suitcase, they took the taxi straight to the forest. After getting out Alex followed Victor, who led him to the tree.

Unfortunately they didn’t make it that far.

As soon as Alex could see the familiar house carving in the distance, Victor suddenly stopped. Alex tensed up. He could see the beast could smell something, it’s head scanning the empty forest before stopping in a certain direction.

Without warning his bear sized body shot forward, pouncing on an empty space.

“Fuck,” was all he could hear before a large fire exploded against the beast. Three people appeared from nowhere the Victor’s sailed through the fire. He landed against the one who held a ruby laden staff towards him, smashing the man’s body against the ground.

The other two assailants pointed there own staffs towards Victor as he continued to tear the man underneath him apart. From one, a string a glowing bolts shot out, while the other swung it upwards dramatically as vines ripped out of the ground to rap around Victor.

Alex could only watch helplessly as the magic hit Victor. His realised his worry was unfounded as the glowing bolts passed straight through the Barghest, who then proceeded to completely ignore the vines around him as he lunged towards the mage who shot the bolts.

That was a far as Alex could watch before he felt something scorch his back, sending him tumbling to the ground as electricity coursed through him.

It didn’t last for long and Alex bolted straight for the tree. He turned his head to see another mage behind him, arcs of blue lighting coursing around her staff which pointed at his back.

Alex did the only thing he could do.

“Helga! Your apprentice is having a little trouble here.”

Still running towards the tree he felt another blast of lightning hit him, sending him tumbling forward.

He turned helplessly to watch as the mage raised her staff into the air. The visible lighting seemed to gather in the gem atop it, turning it aglow.

She swung it down as a powerful bolt arced towards him.

Even as fast as lightning was, it never made it to it’s target.

Before his eyes a green mist manifested instantly. It was so thick Alex could no longer see the mage behind it. He heard a familiar voice.

“Get up little Alex, a few bolts will hardly kill you after drinking the Ichor.”

He did so, turning to see Helga’s putrid blue body in front of the tree.

This time he was happy to see her.

She waved her hand lightly as the green mist disappeared as fast as it manifested. Behind it Victor could be seen lying atop the lightning mages body, her wooden staff between his jaws.

“Some stupid mage thinks they can send their little apprentices to act like this outside Helga’s home?” She spat a black glob against the ground in disgust.

She turned back to Alex. “Come inside Alex, Victor will grab the foci for you. Helga knows how much manlings like to loot their enemies.”

She stepped through the portal behind her. Alex followed without hesitation