“I’m sorry!” I bawled. “I’m so sorry, Misa!”

“It’s okay! It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. I was abandoning you… I wanted to save my nephew’s skin. He has done nothing to deserve being saved. But you have been great to us.”

I was apologizing to Misa for giving up on her. I was already too many drinks into the night that there was no way for me to think straight.

We came to the Appleden Digger the next day to celebrate what we had accomplished. And since then, we had visited the place many more times to spend the night with friends. This time, with us, came Tedet and Grikhat. I wished to see Martin, but he had not come back from his business trip and I had missed him so much.

“I miss him so much,” I said. “Why isn’t he back home yet?”

“What are you on about, Ed?” asked Tedet. “You are all over the place.”

“Just because your superior metabolism doesn’t get you drunk, doesn’t mean you can treat me this badly in front of my friends. My other friends.”

“You’re not drunk, Ed,” said Hayier. “You have barely drunk anything. I’ve seen you down more beers before.”

“Ah! Let me act a little. I was getting into the mood. And I wanted to invite Misa home so we can spend more time to know each other.”

“No, let me talk to Misa, uncle,” said a girl in her late teens, Reira Tangler, daughter of my bartender friend, Hayier.

In the corner a group of friends was also drinking together, watching a game play on their screen. They would occasionally celebrate their team score, and then boo the opponent.

In yet another corner, a group of three radera were also drinking, but much louder than usual and in a language I didn’t know. It wasn’t Goktoga, which I was used to listening thanks to Tedet and Grikhat. But these three were a lot louder that the usual groups.

On the other tables, there were only couples drinking silently. The place felt more claustrophobic than usual, and a hundred times louder. My slightly drunk brain didn’t enjoy the noise.

I slammed my beer bottle into the bar and demanded another one to be served. ‘Cold as ice!’ I shouted, ‘I’m dying here!’

Tedet struggled with me trying to stop me from drinking too much. On the other side, Misa was speaking with Reira. I overheard their conversation, but despite me understanding the words, I lacked the concentration to understand what they were actually talking about. I heard words like magic and training; Misa repeated words like guns and fight, then training and more guns.

“I told Ted to instruct you with guns,” I interrupted as my new beer bottle was opened in front of me with a pop. “Grikhat can show you how it’s done, she’s a master marksman.” I turned to look at Grikhat and winked. She turned blue and red. Tedet nudged her with his pseudo-elbow.

“I want to fight,” Misa expressed.

“And I want to do Magic!” pleaded Reira. “I want to be a Wizard.”

“Leave that to me Reira, my child,” I boasted. “I can teach you everything I know about magic. And then we’ll go to the Cabal and ask them to take you in as an apprentice. In a few years, you’ll be fully ordained as an Official Wizard.

“Reira Tangler, Forty-something Official of Al Patreck. Or are we in the fifties?”

I clicked my tongue and took a swig of my beer.

“Don’t emulate this drunkard, Reira,” begged Hayier. “You can be a wizard, but don’t be a drunk slob like him.”

“This drunk slob pays your bills AND her school education!” I slammed the beer and feared for a moment it would break. Then looked at the cold bottle and watched the delicious nectar slosh around inside its amber container. Instinctively, I took another swig. I exhaled in satisfaction. “Outstanding work, Hayier.”

We spent the next hour conversing and drinking. The conversations split between the two groups, then three, as I talked to Hayier. Sometimes they all converged and combined, and everyone talked to everyone.

I often looked at Misa and felt proud. It was almost fatherly. The woman I thought of as a reserved girl was now talking casually with everyone involved, even Reira and Hayier who she had never met before. It wasn’t the beer, because she was drinking a fruity tea, specially made by Hayier himself – on the house.

The night was young, and I felt it only grew younger, despite how obviously irrational that sounded, even in my drunken brain.

But after a long while, I felt something disturbing.

No one else sensed it. I looked around and there was nothing. Tedet glanced and me, but I couldn’t decode his face. Misa looked concerned but then decided it must have been the beer doing tricks on me. Reira on the other hand, asked what was up, and when I felt a pang, she reacted like someone had touched her from the back. Reira veered off to watch something behind her and above. Something disturbed her, but she didn’t understand what it was.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I, on the other hand, felt the coldness and humidity like it was washing over me. I sneezed once and began feeling the sensations pressuring me from one side.

The front door to the canteen had this ominous look to it. The coldness and humidity came from there.

I became sober in a minute, and everyone was finally becoming aware of what was going on.

Hayier, slowly reached under the bar, searching for something: a gun, most likely. Tedet searched his pocket and found his pistol. He’d been carrying, along with Grikhat, just in case the vampires decided to pay us a visit.

It only felt natural for me to reach under my coat and grab my wand, but that was only after I realized how tense they all were.

The tables were as loud as ever, but as the pressure got stronger, I heard people change their tone. Those that spoke English said it felt colder than usual. Misa enunciated the same feelings. Reira asked what was ‘that’? To my right, Tedet and Grikhat chirped, which I assumed was a response to the cold, similar to chills.

Suddenly, goosebumps.

The door was pushed open, and the silhouette that walked into the bar was washed away from the dark veil of the small passage that lead to the main bar room. The lights made its features apparent, and despite its normal human appearance, it wasn’t human.

“Hey,” he spoke. “Long time no see, Wizard.”

He sat down and ordered a beer. Hayier didn’t move.

“What’s the matter? I just want your best beer.”

“What are you doing here, Galavant?” I pressured.

“Can’t a guy come to have a good, cold beer? I heard this place was great. ‘Wizard Avarez visits it every other night to have a drink,’ they told me. So, I thought it was a good place.”

“The best,” I answered. “Which is why I don’t like you bothering me here. Why do you want to involve these innocent people?”

He laughed.

“Relax, Wizard. I come in peace. I swear. The war has yet to start and I have no reason to start it.” His fingers knocked on the bar rhythmically. “What about that beer? I really want to taste it.”

I nodded to Hayier, and he went to grab the beer.

“What are you doing here, Galavant?”

He didn’t answer except by pointing to Hayier and waited for the beer to be popped open right in front of him.

“Ah,” he marveled while scanning it. “Looks good.”

Galavant brought the bottle to his lips and drank half the bottle in one go. We only watched since he didn’t pose any immediate danger, only potential danger. As far as I knew, there was no reason for him to begin with violence and the last thing I wanted was to start it.

“Incredible!” he praised Hayier. “Reminds me of the old breweries back on Earth. The Germans were always leagues above everyone. But the traditions were lost once humans left Earth. Good to know something of similar quality can be found on this side of Space. Say, brewer, what is your secret? I imagine you—”

“Galavant!”

He sighed.

“I’ll cut to the chase so I can go back to drinking beer.

“Wizard, remember how you owe your torviela friend a favor?”

I nodded.

“Remember how you owe me a favor?”

I nodded and swallowed my saliva. Discreetly.

“It’s time for me to ask you that favor. It’s a simple one, really. When you see Uderach Kayaket next time, he’ll ask you to pay your debt.

“I want you to refuse it. No matter what he says. No matter what he asks. No matter how he threatens you. Refuse it. You can bring up my name if you want, but you cannot accept it. Tell him to shove it, or however you humans deal with these things. He’ll have another chance to ask you for another favor. But that one, you cannot accept.”

I was confused. What did Galavant know that I didn’t? And how much did he know about Uderach, a man that had so thoroughly investigated me? Uderach knew the expiration date of the milk in my fridge and how worn was my underwear. I felt chills and I realized the extent of a Great Fay’s knowledge when compared to a simple torviela.

It’s almost like vampirids and mortals were playing in a sandbox, while the big guys were playing chess. The troublesome part was that we were the ones moving the pieces for them. We were simply useful, and we didn’t know what chess was. ‘Move that piece there,’ and we’d danced to a tune that we couldn’t hear.

“That’s it?” I asked trying to mask my emotions.

He took a swig. “This is some good beer.”

He took another and smiled a toothy grin. He turned to look at me and made an expression that resembled a toast, then downed the rest of the bottle.

“That’s it,” he said while exhaling in satisfaction. “If you accept, you’ll be in a lot of trouble. I’m doing you a favor, honestly. You’ll also get in trouble with us. You don’t want trouble with us, right, Wizard?”

I shook my head dejectedly reluctant.

“Then that is all. Remember it well, Wizard. Refuse the torviela, and you’ll be alright.”

Galavant stood up, tried to say something to Hayier, but then turned to look at us and decided to walk away. He left us in silence. A silence that reflected on the screams of celebration of the group behind us. It was surreal. It wasn’t silence, but it felt like it was.

“I was this close to blowing his face,” said Hayier.

“I had my gun pointed at his back the whole time,” said Grikhat with pride.

“I didn’t have a weapon, but I tried looking at him as awful as I could,” said Misa.

Our group laughed and hugged Misa in camaraderie. She smiled and felt happy to have a group of friends.

Malocchio, the Evil Eye, was not a laughing matter. If you look at someone wrongly with as much ire and intent to hurt, if you truly believe in their demise, you can seriously curse them. Misa didn’t have a bad bone in her body, but she could definitely do it.

Some people said that the Evil Eye was a corruption of Faith. Believe hard in the harm of someone, and it would become so. Corrupt Faith was real. And Misa didn’t need to be evil, only her desire to save her friends was enough to trigger enough Faith in someone to successfully cast a curse with Malocchio.

I was glad Misa was on my side.

I took a swig of the remains of my beer and looked past the door, looking at Galavant.

I turned to look at Misa and she smiled.

Maybe it was Misa who scared him away instead of my magic and all those guns. Maybe the power behind that stare was enough to put Galavant on edge. He acted so nonchalant and maybe he would’ve just come in to talk and leave, but he drank a beer to ease her up.

‘I’m just drinking a beer, I pose no danger.’ But it didn’t work on her. So, when I interrupted him, instead of trying to complain about the same unfair rules, he decided to get a move on.

Whatever was the case. Galavant had basically warned me of more trouble in my future.

What was I about to get myself into?

I looked at my team, cheering and smiling. I saw Yuna, transparent, holding on to Misa as well. I thought of the future and I thought of my friends.

A week ago, I’d have felt lost and scared. But tonight, I asked for another beer.