Thump thump thump!
Elijah woke up in his one-bedroom apartment in downtown Hartsera. It sounded like something heavy had dropped, or someone had stomped three times from the upstairs unit. It was 40 minutes before Elijah's alarm was supposed to go off on his clock, a bronze contraption of two hands on a disk with exposed gears.
He sighed. Not enough time to fall back asleep. Elijah got up and flicked a switch on his clock, turning off the alarm. He rubbed his eyes and dragged himself out of bed.
As he made his way to the kitchen, he prepared a pot of coffee, carefully measuring out the specialized coffee grounds and using a small cauldron and a gold plated filter to brew it. As he sat down at the kitchen table next to the window, he sipped his coffee and watched the hustle and bustle of Hartsera’s downtown skyscrapers as people rushed off to work. The warm and rich aroma of the magic coffee helped to chase away his morning grogginess.
Usually, Elijah read the morning paper as he enjoyed his cup of coffee, but there was too much on his mind. He was amazed he even fell asleep the previous night with everything on his mind.
After he finished getting ready for work, wearing his gray banking uniform, he took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror.
"You can do this, Elijah. You can do this."
Thump thump thump!
Again, an obnoxious sound from the unit above.
"I won't have to deal with this much longer."
Elijah took one last glance in the mirror; he wondered if he seemed off at all or the slightest bit unusual.
Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.
Heading to the trolley station, Elijah waited for a couple of minutes at the corner of the block. He took the trolley to The Hartsera Bank.
As he arrived at the three-storied corner building, Elijah strolled in through an entrance off to the side with his key. At the main entrance, people began to line up, and only four were waiting.
Going through a vestibule, he had to unlock another door with a different key. After he made it deeper inside the building, he went into the main lobby and joined his other 11 coworkers in getting ready for the work day.
The interior of the bank was a grand and imposing sight. The walls were made of smooth, gray stone that seemed to glow with an otherworldly light. The floor was made of the same material, and was polished to a mirror-like shine. The ceiling was high and vaulted, with intricate carvings depicting scenes of powerful elemental magic in action.
Six people gathered at the front desks while the other six waited at a desk behind, prepared to take on requests and paperwork for each person's query.
"Good morning Elijah," one of his coworkers said.
"Good morning, Julia." Elijah smiled. A creeping feeling of uncertainty came over his mind.
No, no, no, there's no use in thinking about this now. What's done is done. There is nothing I can do now. There's no turning back, Elijah thought.
The first customer came in, and then a few others followed behind. They waited at the counter while the tellers turned around and approached Elijah and his other six coworkers.
"Hey, Elijah, I need you to retrieve a few hundred dollars and deduce it from this account," his coworker Justin said, handing him a slip.
"Sure thing." Elijah went underneath his desk and pulled out some money and gave it to Justin, and then proceeded to fill out some paperwork.
On the outside of the building, someone waiting in line finally had his turn. A Mage Force Officer had waved him forward. As he approached the wide-open double doors, he closed them, locked each with a continuous chain, and then put on a mask.
"Excuse me, sir! Excuse me, sir! I need you to open these doors immediately!" The Officer banged on the door.
The man continued inside the main lobby of the bank. All workers stood up and panicked but tried to appear calm.
"Sir! I need you to remove the mask right now! You cannot have any facial coverings while entering this building!" Justin yelled.
The man continued marching forward. His mask looked like a ferocious lion, bearing its fangs, ready to attack. But there was no design on the eyes, just glossed-over white. It was made from porcelain.
The customers all screamed and ducked down.
The man in the lion mask held his hand, and a glowing white ball of energy formed on his wrist. Smoke rose from it, and he launched it from his palm, immediately blasting one of the customers to the ground, unconscious.
"Someone contact the Mage Force!" Justin yelled at Elijah and the rest of the back counter workers.
"I got it! I got it," Elijah said. He reached his hand underneath the desk and held it over a gold cube. He pretended he was emitting the arcane magic needed to activate the cube to contact for help.
The masked man charged another ball of energy and shot each one at the customers, each falling over, unable to move.
"Stop! Stop it immediately! The Mage Force is coming. The more harm you do, the worse and more severe your punishment will be. You will be caught!" Justin shouted.
The masked man charged another beam and fired it at Justin and all of the other desk workers.
Elijah's coworkers all trembled and ran towards the back door. But the masked man jumped over the counter and held his hand out, ready to strike. "No one move. I need one and only one of you to take me to the vaults."
Julia outstretched her hand and shot off a poison ball, but the masked man was too quick. His white ball of energy devoured Julie's attack and struck her, knocking her down to the ground unconscious. The masked man proceeded to blast everyone else until only Elijah stood alone.
"You. I need you to guide me to the vault you help manage."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"But sir, the Mage Force is on their way. By the time we get down there, they may have already stormed through the back doors."
"I don't care. You will take me to the vault you manage."
Elijah nodded. He turned around and opened the back door. The masked man approached. They went through a narrow hallway, turning left and right; only a trained employee knew the way around the maze.
"Hurry up!" the masked man yelled.
"Okay! Okay!" Elijah responded. Picking up his place, they reached an entrance with four large numbers on the handle. Elijah rolled them to the correct code and unlocked the door. They went through and walked downstairs into a dimly lit staircase. A range of different sounds filled the basement they entered. Three vaults waited on the left and right. Six total.
Each vault had a different appearance. One was covered with roaring flames, another had a wall of purple muck with smoke emitting, and the third had a raging looping waterfall. On the other side, one vault had a covering of green lines flying from side to side, howling with the wind. The other had bright yellow electricity flowing up and down the front.
"Don't try and fool me either. I know very well that if I were to touch any of these, I would be blasted away unconscious," the masked man said. He aimed his hand at Elijah. "Go ahead, unlock your vault."
They approached a vault covered in ice, with frost floating in front of it. Elijah held out his hands and moved them in motion for a minute until the ice had evaporated into thin air. Still, there was a thin sheet of ice underneath.
"I need a second ice mage to open this up," Elijah said.
"You mean to tell me I knocked out too many people?"
"I'm afraid so. This ice is unique to my other coworker who is upstairs; you-"
"Shut up!" The masked man scanned from left to right and then held up his hand, aiming it at Elijah, but as his white beam charged, he moved his hand towards the door and shot off a blast, shattering the second layer of ice.
"I guess that works too,” Elijah uttered.
"Get moving, now!"
Elijah approached the dial, rotated it a few times, and cranked the handle off to the side. The door cracked open, and the masked man pulled it out.
Inside the vault were shelving units filled with gold bars that radiated a soft glow. The masked man took out a bag and filled one up with as many as possible. The load was heavy, but he could strap it to his back and move forward.
"All right, we can leave now," the masked man stepped out. "Move, move, move!"
Elijah crept out of the vault and stood by. "Please, just let me close the vault door back up and secure it.”
"Hurry up! Just one small layer of ice, that's it!"
Elijah nodded and took a deep breath. He held out his hands until a burst of frost emitted from his hands and coated the door.
"Let's get out of here! Now! Now!" The masked man pointed at Elijah and opened his palm again.
Elijah jogged forward.
"Nobody move! Keep still! Do not move an inch!" A voice hollered from above the staircase. "The Mage Force has arrived. There's no way out of here. Put your hands in the air!" Three people stepped down wearing the silver mage force cloaks.
The masked man pulled up his other hand and aimed it at the three Mage Force Officers. They instantly shot out a fireball, an electric ball, and a water ball, but the masked man's wispy white beam cut through them and struck the three Mage Force Officers, knocking them out.
"You're coming with me!" The masked man shoved Elijah forward, and they went up the steps until they made it back to the maze-like hallway. A few other people from the Mage Force came sprinting after them, but the masked man knocked out all of them with his beam. "They said they had the whole building surrounded with Mage Force Officers. You will take us through the bunker so I can make it out of here alive."
Elijah nodded. "Follow me then." Elijah led the way through the path, but they kept running into Mage Force Officers. Although it wasn't a concern for the masked man. His power couldn't be stopped.
One, two, three, four, the numbers kept piling up of unconscious Officers until Elijah found the secret elevator near the end of the maze. He used his staff key to reach the area further below the basement. There wasn't anyone down there, and it was completely dark.
"Not to worry, I can put out a little floater here to light the way." The masked man sent out a tiny ball of white light that flew in front of them, illuminating the broad path of concrete. The air was damp and filled with a mildew and sewage odor. A constant drip echoed all around. "What's this area for?"
"The bank recently acquired it. It was originally connected to the sewer or something. Then when they did some renovations, they closed this area off, and the bank bought it since it was directly underneath. They thought it would be a good idea to put some vaults down here as well," Elijah said.
"I guess they haven't yet?"
"No, like I said, this just happened very recently. They just finished the elevator to get here. Which reminds me." Elijah turned around and sent the elevator back up. "To get out of here, there's still a path to leave, but we must go through the sewers. However, I don't think I can open those doors."
"That shouldn't be a problem; I can do it. Just lead the way."
Elijah took him further down the path until they reached the end. There was a large arched doorway that had a rusted-over door that was bolted down.
The masked man put his hands forward and charged a beam that caused his whole body to tremble. It was larger than any attacks launched on the Officers. The light became blinding as the shaft rifled out and drilled through the door, vaporizing the metal. Leaving behind an opening large enough for the masked man and Elijah to climb through.
They went through a vestibule, grimier than the hallway but continued on. The flow of the sewage river in front of them became much louder.
"This has bought us a decent amount of time. We'll continue through the path on the sewers and rise up after a few hours," the masked man said.
"I think I might throw up," Elijah said.
"Better than getting arrested. Come on, let's go. We should keep going this way." The masked man took the lead, and neither of them said anything as they moved along the path. The masked man referenced a compass a few times, but they kept their stride going for an hour until they came across a glittering crystal on the ground. "I found my marker! How perfect, we are set." The masked man stopped and set down the bag. "The coast is clear."
"We've been walking forever, I would certainly hope so. We could have taken a break half an hour ago, and that would have been more than enough. No one's catching us now."
"May as well remove this then." The man was about to take off his mask.
"You might want to keep it on. It smells horrible here."
"I could use a breather." He lifted the mask off, revealing a grinning Daniel Vonnet.
"It's good to see you. Even with the mask on and being far away from everyone, there is still something spooky about it."
"We did good back there."
Elijah shrugged. ”Was it essential to keep the shtick going for that long? You were being pretty rude to me."
Daniel narrowed his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me. We've been over this. We scripted it all out. You knew I would be mean to you until we felt the coast was clear."
"I know, but even when we made it down in the basement, I thought we could return to normal."
Daniel shook his head. "This is why you don't make those decisions. It would have foiled our whole plan if anyone had followed us or overheard a single thing. Everything today has to go perfectly."
"But everything has gone perfectly," Elijah said.
"Until we get to my office, sit down, and get the money exchanged, we are not in the clear just yet. Everything still has to go smoothly from here. And you know what, I'm sorry I didn't cuddle you and treat you nicer, but we were in the middle of robbing a bank after all."
Elijah nodded, he knew Daniel was right. They waited in the sewer for a long time, right in front of a ladder. They kept looking up to see the light coming from the tiny holes of the sewer cap from above; they waited until the holes no longer had light coming through.
"All right, let's go up." Elijah and Daniel climbed up the ladder, each taking half a bag of gold. It was tough to climb, but the excitement of the payday gave them a boost of strength. They climbed out of the sewer in the middle of a dark, empty alley next to the bar Daniel owned.
They went through the back entrance and up the steps to the second-floor hallway. The Head Counselor at Attleton, Jonathan, sat in a chair in front of Daniel's office door.
"Well? How did it go?" Jonathan asked.
"We are here, aren't we? Is Roberto here yet?" Daniel asked.
"Wow, this is tremendous. You guys are unbelievable. Yes, yes, Roberto is waiting inside. Are you ready to meet with him?"
"Yes, we're ready. Touch base with the others downstairs, and let them know their payment will be ready as soon as Roberto leaves this place."
"Understand." Jonathan walked downstairs and went to the bar.
Daniel grinned at Elijah. "Are you ready for your life to change?"
"Yes, you have no idea. If I haven't shown my excitement, it's not because I'm ungrateful; I'm just a little nervous. We got away with a high crime that no one gets away with. It's like I'm in shock, you know?"
"Yes, yes, I understand. It's hard to believe what transpired today, but we did it. We're here now, and things are about to improve."