Evan

An enormous forest filled with dark leafed trees stretched on forever into a black sky. Yet, at the same time, he was obviously in a cave with ample light to see his surroundings. The sweet smell of chocolate and honey floated in the air and there was a distinct absence of sound. No wind or birds or animals in this forest except for Zarg who stood close to his side. The floor of the forest was a tangle of giant roots, random patches of grass, and moss-covered stones. Above him to his left, a toadstool the size of a garbage truck grew on the top of a large boulder with a well beaten path leading up to it. A bubbling, neon purple stream flowed off to the right. Running to the side of the stream a green brick path snaked through the forest ahead. That’s when he noticed the intense heat at his back, like standing in front of an open oven door. When he turned he was now on top of an active volcano looking down on a vast wasteland of green and yellow pools bubbling with the smell of rotten eggs. There were harsh peaks jutting out of the pools of orange rock that felt sharp just by looking at them. The volcano he stood on started to shake. Evan kneeled so as not to tumble down the steep slope. Zarg began to lick his face, his breath was like rotten fish with a hint of cauliflower.

“Stop!” Evan protested, as he blocked Zarg’s wet attack with his hands. But Zarg evaded Evan’s blocks and got the ear. There is nothing quite as effective as a cold, damp, nose forced into your ear to wake you up.

Evan’s eyes snapped open. He was lying in bed, covered in greyhound nose condensation and slobber.

“Ugh.” Evan wiped the slobber off his face and ear. “Why didn’t you wake Dad? He’s supposed to let you out.” He grabbed his phone. It was only six am. Determined not to let Zarg rob him of another hour of precious sleep, he closed his eyes. This was met with another devastating attack, this time a coarse tongue up his nose.

“Alright!” Evan shot up wiping the greyhound juice off his face.

Zarg whimpered.

“Okay, come on.” Evan rose from his soft bed and staggered out of his room. He slowly descended the stairs still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He opened the back door and Zarg dashed out to do his business. Something wasn’t right. The house was quiet. Dad wasn’t reading the paper and Mom wasn’t running around getting ready to go to work. Surely Adelfried was already tinkering in his shop.

They must have been out really late, probably taking a day off. Nothing to worry about. He left the door cracked open for Zarg and headed down to the basement. He was dying to know what a magical dance club was like. But Adelfried’s shop was empty. An uneasiness clenched the back of his neck. He ran up the stairs and headed to his parent’s room only to find the door wide open and the room empty. He ran up to Kae’s room and found the door shut. He burst in, almost in a panic, and flipped the lights on. To his relief, he found Kae sleeping in her bed.

“What the hell?” Kae fussed, slurring her words from being half awake. “Turn the lights off.” She turned over to avoid the bright lights.

“No one’s home.”

“So?” She replied, still on her side tucked under her covers. “Turn the lights off!”

“No one’s home, wake up!”

She burrowed deeper into the safety of her covers. “So, what? Go back to bed.”

“Kae! They never made it home last night.”

“What do you mean?” She pulled the covers down slightly.

“No one is home, it’s six A.M. already.”

“Well did you try calling them, freak?”

“No, good idea.” Evan dashed back to his room to grab his phone and dialed his mom. He waited patiently, ring after ring, until the call went to voicemail. He tried his dad to the same result.

Kae came staggering in. “Well?”

“It went to voicemail.”

Kae yawned. “Ugh, they’re probably still partying, remember, magic dance club. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything is alright.”

Okay. If she wasn’t worried, maybe he was being a little dramatic. “So, does that mean we don’t have to go to school?” Evan said, with a little hope reentering his voice. “I mean, how are we supposed to get there?”

“Can you imagine what Mom would do if we missed a day of school because they weren’t here to drive us?” She gave him a friendly nudge which surprisingly comforted him. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be back soon enough. Probably before we need to leave for school."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

But the nagging feeling wouldn’t leave him. “And if they aren’t?”

“I’ll drive us." Kae snickered. "I don’t want to be grounded for an entire year.”

Red

Red swallowed as he sat on the ground leaning against what was left of a section of the bar. His throat dry and body heavy, he looked at all the body bags spread out on the club floor. He pulled a butterscotch out of his pocket, crunched on it a few times before swallowing it for some much-needed glucose. Nina’s eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She sat with her back to the bar occasionally wiping her eyes. Red knew it had all been too much for her, and him if he was being honest. Luckily, he was spared the job of scraping up clubgoers with a dustpan, but the sleek body bags that grew at a steady pace still tore at him. He had been in too many battles over his unnaturally long life to count, but none had felt this pointless. So many innocent dead, and for what purpose? To find a clueless wizard. This had to stop. To make matters worse, Karen came stomping up with an angry scowl. He wasn’t going to take anything from her, not now. “I don’t want to hear it.” Red snapped, before she spoke. “I did everything I could. Why did it take FIST so long to get here? Why weren’t we ready for this?”

She didn’t say anything. She kneeled next to Nina and nudged her chin up so she could see her daughter’s face. Nina wiped her eyes strategically so the tears wouldn’t start to fall again. To his surprise, Karen gave her a long hug.

Sargent Meyers, wearing the dark blue uniform of the Fighting and Incursion Special Tactics team, came up to Karen and stood at attention. He gave Red a disapproving glance before saying in a firm voice. “Colonel, I have the final numbers.”

Karen stood. “Report.”

“Eighty-four confirmed dead, forty-two injured, and sixteen missing. Fifteen of the club’s entrances are no longer functioning, mostly in Asia and the Middle East. The automatic planetary rotation shutdown failed due to sabotage.”

“Thanks, Sargent.”

Meyers continued, “Colonel, I did notice their inspection permits were past due by two months, which means they were operating without a valid license. I think we should arrest the management for—”

“That won’t be necessary, Meyers.”

“Ma’am?”

“Club management didn’t cause this.”

“Ma’am, section forty-eight of the Operating an ESH Based Business codes clearly states—”

“I said, that will be all, Meyers!”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Meyers said, walking away. Karen turned to Red with a somber face. “Please tell me you got something from Reggie.”

Red nodded. “He confirmed it’s a wizard.” He dug into his pockets again hoping to find another candy, still trying to bring his blood sugar up. “We have an address in Houston, but no one’s home. No ESH readings either. This club was their last known location. They could be anywhere now.”

“Did they do this?” Karen spit the words out angrily.

“I don’t think so,” Nina said, still wearing the emotional scars from the battle on her face. “This was all Sovs, and they are doing everything they can to find this wizard.”

“I want a stake out on that address twenty-four seven.” Karen snarled. “Whatever this is, it stops now one way or another.”

Karen’s words poked at something deep within Red. “Is she going to do something about this?” Red yelled, frustration starting to boil over. Mistress Kreeg, in addition to being the head of the Wrecht Order, was also the most powerful wizard ever known. While this was mostly based on rumor and legend, Red had seen her in action once and he believed the rumors to be understating her abilities for the most part.

Karen marched back over. “Keep your voice down.”

“No! I want to know, is she going to do something about this?” Red continued yelling, still furious.

Karen continued, her voice low. “This is not the place to have this conversation. We have to keep it compartmentalized. You of all people should know that.”

“And there it is again, compartmentalization. Always so damn secretive.” Nina spouted off at her mother, shaking her head. “You wouldn’t want to actually give us the information we need to do our jobs would you?”

Red was seething. He was trying to be the rational soldier, but the mounds of corpses scattered across the club floor weighed on him. “Eighty-four dead!” He yelled. “When does she get off her ass and do something?”

“Red, calm down!” Karen yelled. “You are out of line.”

“I’m out of line?” Red yelled back. “This whole fucking situation is out of line! When does she get involved?! When does she do something besides sit in her tower and look down at us ants? Huh? When does she get her hands dirty and do something? I’ve seen what she can do, she could have stopped this in an instant. Is five minutes of her time worth more than these eighty-four lives?! Please tell me because we would all like to know.”

“I’m sorry!” Karen screamed. “But I am not going to tell you! My job is to know all the dark horrors that you don’t need to know. I keep you all insulated so you can do your job.” Karen started to stalk about the room. “We are at a crossroads, people. Your job is to do exactly what I say, when I say it, no questions asked. You think I want to keep secrets? You think I want to send people to their death?!” Karen looked around at the now silent room, all action had stopped as everyone stared at her. “If I told you half of what I know, I’d be putting everyone’s life here at even more risk. I can’t break protocol.” She turned her scowl directly at Red. “You of all people should know this better than anyone.” She turned back to the wider room. “We follow protocol and procedure here, always have and always will! Now back to work!”

Meyers started waving his arms at people. “Show’s over, people. You heard the Colonel, back to work. We have a job to do.” God, he was such a kiss ass.

Karen turned to Red and Nina in a hushed voice. “Now, are both of your heads on straight? Because I need you to watch that house. I don’t want someone brushing their teeth without you knowing about it. Do I make myself clear?”

Red turned away from Karen, frustrated, before spying a bottle on the bar a few paces away. He floated it over to himself and took a drink to help dull the pain. Nina’s hand shot out which Red rewarded with the open bottle. She took a long drink eyeing her mother in frustration before climbing to her feet, wincing as she did.

“Come on Red, let’s go.” she said, before taking another slug from the bottle and handing it back to Red. “And for the record, he’s right. She needs to get off her ass and do something.” Red took another drink and tossed it on the ground as they both headed to the Houston door and went through.