Chapter 9: A Friendly Chat
Alex had just been about to pour a very dangerous substance into an even more dangerous substance when the double-doors to his office-lab hybrid exploded open with enough force that the brass doorknobs’ impact with the walls caused two symmetrical holes to form. There was also a loud bang that reverberated in a tremendous echo in what was previously a near-silent room, save for the soothing sound of boiling chemicals and the soft buzz of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The sound didn’t startle Alex, though; it merely caused him to sigh, gently set the two beakers he was holding down onto a workstation across from his desk, and then turn around to see what could possibly have prompted one of his students to barge in here at such an early-morning hour.
Alex frowned, becoming alarmed the moment his eyes took in the sight of the boy. It was Zachys Calador. His condition was not great. He was panting heavily, his heart rate elevated. His pupils were dilated. Judging from the rapid rise and fall of his chest, he was in the throes of a panic attack—and judging from his bodily appearance, it was likely justified.
His nose was clearly broken: a bridge fracture. It was still bleeding. His shirt and pants were covered with a mixture of dried and fresh blood, indicating that some was old and some was new. Was all of it his own? Unlikely. This also wasn’t the result of a fight with another boy: that much was obvious. No, not at all…Alex was pretty sure this was one of those times things were going to be just a little bit more serious than that.
As Zach ran into the office—that Alex had also turned into a small lab—the boy, gasping, was practically stumbling over himself. The edges of his eyes were swollen, which suggested he had been crying a great deal. He held his left wrist in an awkward position. Indeed, that was almost certainly another break. There was also hesitance in his eyes. Something had frightened him to the point of a full mental breakdown. He seemed unsure of himself, as though he did not know whether or not Alex could really help him, yet he had come here anyway. Truly, it was amazing how much could be pieced together just by careful observation.
Alex smiled at him. He needed to be calmed down. From the twitching of his lower lip, he was on the cusp of breaking down into another crying fit. That much was beyond obvious. He was right on the edge. “You’re not here for help with homework, are you, Zach, my man? It looks like you’ve had a pretty bad day.”
“Mr. Oren,” his pained, anguished, and desperate-sounding voice half-rasped, half shouted. “Please. I need your help. I don’t know where else to turn.”
And there it is again.
Despite being only twenty-four years old, this had to be the seventh, or maybe even eighth time in his life that Alex had heard these words. “Sit,” he said.
“You don’t understand. I can’t sit. You don’t understand. The—the Kalana. They took her. She’s gone. It wasn’t because of the…ah, damn, I don’t even know what I’m…I don’t know where to start. They’ve taken Kalana. She’s at her apartment, but she won’t be for long.”
“You’ve been hit in the face pretty hard. Sit down.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head and dripping blood on the floor. “Mr. Oren, I’m trying—it’s an emergency. Something really bad has—”
“Sit!” Alex snapped at him. He didn’t like having to be so assertive or aggressive. But it was in the boy’s best interest right now, so it would be done. Zach continued to ramble even as he walked over to the chair in front of his desk for visiting students. Alex listened just long enough to grab a few vital bits and pieces of his panicked stammering then raised his pointer finger to his nose. “Shh. Quiet a second.”
Then he walked over to a cabinet all the way across the room, opened it, and began removing first-aid supplies. He would have to at least tend partially to the boy’s injuries. Zach was impulsive and stubborn, but also very bright. If he came here to Alex looking like that, then this meant he had just found himself in a situation which, for whatever reason, he could not involve the peacekeepers. And unless the boy had been on a crime spree, he didn’t think the cause was self-preservation. That meant Alex would have to take care of this situation. Once again, the Will of the Favored had chosen him. What would it be this time?
“Can I please talk?” Zach asked.
“Not while I stop the bleeding. I’m not a doctor but…well, I guess I am one tonight.” He laughed.
“Forget the bleeding. You don’t understand how serious this—”
“No, I do,” Alex interrupted him. “You wouldn’t just show up here like this. Who would? No, you probably feel this is a life-or-death situation and that your science teacher was your last resort.”
“Then please let me—”
“Zach!”
“Sorry.”
“Sit still. When I finish, you can tell me everything. Whatever it is, I promise you it’s going to be just fine. Even if you don’t believe me. It will be.”
Alex smiled. On the outside, he projected a confident, calm demeanor to help ease the boy’s terror. On the inside, he was burning with a rage so fierce it was a miracle he could keep his hands steady. Who would dare do this to one of his students? He had his suspicions based just on the barely coherent ramblings the boy had sputtered off when launching himself in here.
He’d only picked out bits and pieces, as the story he told was wild and out of order—completely understandable given his age and what he’d been through—but Alex would bet with 85% confidence he had probably already figured out the entirety of it. It was still important to let the boy vent it out anyway. He needed that. He needed someone to hear it. But yeah. This was going to be an exhausting night. First, he needed to patch the kid up just enough to ease his pain. He’d have a friend of his look him over after this.
Although not entirely certain, Alex felt confident enough in his assessment that he briefly slid his phone out of his pocket, dialed 6152, then pressed send, before returning it. Then he carefully and gently tended to Zach’s wounds while righteous fury bubbled away at him so strongly it took all his willpower not to grit his teeth. This was just not acceptable. The anger inside him was likely why the Will of the Favored always chose him.
I definitely heard him say that his father has been killed.
“Can I please tell you what happened now?” Zach asked the moment Alex had finished tending to his nose. It wasn’t healed by any means. He’d merely stopped the bleeding which should be good enough for now. His wrist would have to wait for later.
“Not yet. First, I want clarification. When you came in here, did you say that Kalana is being held captive in her own apartment? Yes or no, Zach. That’s all I want from you right now.”
“Yes,” he said. He was being brave. He was trying to hold back tears. Alex could see the look of humiliation and defeat in his eyes. It only intensified Alex’s rage. To kidnap one of his students and do this to another. Oh, he was boiling inside.
“The ones who did this said they’ll be there until morning?”
“Yes. But now can I please tell you everything? It’s not…it’s not a story you’re going to believe. It’s actually…look, you need to know that I’m not what I seem. Kalana isn’t either. It all started—”
“You’ll tell me in the DEHV,” he interrupted. The boy grew impatient. Again, totally understandable, but Alex needed to be firm here because he had the sense that time wasn’t exactly on their side. He looked like he was about to try speaking again. He needed to learn to listen. That was going to be important.
“Stop. Stop it. You’re about to speak. Close your mouth. I’m serious. Right now, you’re going to do everything I say, and I promise you, on my life, it will be okay.”
“But you don’t even—”
“Zach, quiet.”
He again shut his mouth even as he eyed Alex warily. And look: Alex understood. He wasn’t actually upset with Zach. His skepticism was natural. But things had to be done a certain way for the sake of the boy’s safety—and mind. That fear in him? No, that wasn’t good. But worse was the fact that, for him to have come here, he had to have been close to giving up. How high on his list of adult figures to go to in a time of extreme crisis could his science teacher have possibly been? Someone his age shouldn’t have to feel like the world was this hopeless. Still, it was likely always going to be this way. Zach wasn’t even close to the first person to unexpectedly come running into Alex with a life-or-death crisis. His experiments would have to wait.
Alex took off his lab coat, walked around behind the chair that Zach was sitting in, and then threw it over him, then helped him put it on. “I’m going to let you tell me everything that happened in just a bit. And we’re going to talk about all of it while we head back to your home. But first you need to listen to me very, very carefully. It’s chilly outside. You don’t take off that coat no matter what.”
“What?”
“Say it back to me.”
“Say what back?”
“That that coat does not come off you no matter what.”
“It’s too big for me. I have a spare coat in my—”
“Zach…”
He shrugged. His confusion was justified, but there was no time to argue. “Okay. I’ll…keep your lab coat on.”
“No matter what. Say it.”
“No matter what.”
“Zach, this isn’t a game or a joke. If that comes off I’m going to be incredibly angry.”
“It’s not even that cold outside.”
“I don’t care. Say it. One more time.”
Zach grumbled, “I won’t take off this lab coat.”
“Good. Now, let’s go.”
“Where?”
“I told you. Your home.”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand. If you would just let me speak, you’d know that there are—”
“High-level thugs from one of the ‘guilds’ accosting Kalana and her father?” he fired in.
The look of surprise on Zach’s face was so vast it momentarily seemed to drown out every trace of fear—but only for a moment.
“I gathered that. You kind of shouted that when you walked in here.”
“I didn’t say anything close to that.”
“Yes you did. You just don’t realize you did. You said more than enough. It’s what you meant to say happened, right?”
“Well, yeah. And…you believe me?”
“Yes.”
“So then why are we going there?”
Alex helped him out of the chair and then pointed to the door. “We’re just going to have a nice little chat with these people and ask them—politely—to leave Miss Vayra and her father alone. She has homework overdue. She can’t be wasting time as their hostage.”
Zach stiffened with fear. And that was what Alex was worried about. That was what he didn’t want to see. That was what needed to be fixed for his kid’s sake. What kind of man puts this kind of terror into a seventeen-year-old boy? These “guilds” were getting out of control. It was bad enough they called themselves “guilds” without having any understanding of what that word even meant. But now they were kidnapping his students for profit?
“You can’t…we can’t actually go there.”
“We are going there.”
“But you don’t understand.”
“No, you don’t understand. We’re just going to have a nice, friendly chat. That’s all. And if I have to give him and his pal an attitude adjustment? Well, then so be it.”
“But…”
“Are you afraid?”
Zach nodded.
“Do you want to be afraid forever?”
He shook his head.
“Then follow me. You can tell me part of your story while we walk to my DEHV.”
Walking slowly so as to allow the boy to vent, Alex listened as he told him everything that had happened to him, and as expected, Alex had more or less pieced it together from the get-go. Still, it was good for him to let it all out. Sometimes, it was important to have someone to talk to.
“So, you found a spawn, huh, my man?”
“Yes.”
“Nice going. Congratulations.”
“Really? That’s your reaction?”
Alex shrugged. “Did you want a party cake?”
“No, I meant…”
“I know what you meant, Zach. But anyway…so that explains why you and Kalana rushed out of here yesterday, I’m guessing. Must’ve been all excited to go camp your spawn.”
“That’s…right, actually. But Mr. Oren, like I was saying, I don’t think that has anything to do with why they attacked Kalana.”
“Probably not,” he agreed. “But we’ll worry about that later.” As he walked with the boy down the stairs and towards the school’s main entrance, he quickly checked his phone, then frowned. Some people needed to learn how to move their ass during an emergency. Either way, it was good to give the kid a chance to talk and maybe divert his mind from the horror he’d been through.
“So, you’re level 3 now?”
For just an instant, Zach’s face brightened, and it was hard for Alex not to smile. He was clearly an adventurer. He must’ve craved it. He wouldn’t have wandered—well, really barged—into Alex’s office otherwise. This never happened by coincidence. Not even once.
“Kalana and I both got level 3, yeah, but she’s…way better.”
“Better?”
Again, fear returned to his eyes, but this seemed like that of a different sort. He was worried. About what? Oh. Wait. Of course. It was obvious. “I won’t tell anyone or repeat any of what you’re saying to me,” Alex assured him. “Don’t worry. You’re…you’re afraid I’m going to tell everyone about your spawn point, aren’t you?”
“You’re…not?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
“Why would I?”
“I just…”
Alex laughed. “So anyway, back to what you were saying.” The two of them walked outside of the school and then Alex helped him into the passenger side of his DEHV. With one of his hands almost certainly being broken, Alex didn’t want him to risk falling on his face. He was having a bad enough day as things were.
“Okay, where were we?” Alex said. “Oh, right. You were just telling me how you and Kalana spent all day bringing hell down on some poor plague biters and toadfeet.”
Zach’s eyes widened, and Alex had to stifle a laugh. “What did you just call them?”
“Those things you described. They sound to me like plague biters and toadfeet. Did you get bit at all? Most adventurers do the first time.”
Rather than reply, he stared in total bewilderment. Maybe Alex should’ve been a bit more careful with what he was saying, as Zach now appeared so baffled that Alex had actually had to ask him three times in a row to put his safety harness on. There was time later to talk about this, after all. Yet, even still, he wanted to take the boy’s mind off his trauma so he didn’t panic all the way over there.
“I…I did get bit. Is that what…is that what that thing’s called, Mr. Oren? A plague biter?”
“Yep. Nasty things, right? Where’d it get you, my man?”
“My right ankle.”
“Did you have fun, though?”
The question seemed to take the boy aback, as he again returned that same mystified look. Finally, after several moments of quiet, he answered, “Yeah, actually…I did.”
****
Zach gave up trying to pretend he understood what was happening or why it was happening as his seemingly omniscient science teacher rocketed them off in his DEHV in a direction that Zach was sure led to certain death. Or at least…at least he thought he was sure. The absolute, uncompromising confidence Mr. Oren displayed had him so perplexed he almost wondered if maybe the man actually knew what he was doing.
No, what am I even thinking? He’s going to get us both killed. Why am I willingly following him? I was only even going to him for advice. Not…not whatever this is.
Zach shifted in his seat as it was impossible to get comfortable with this oversized lab coat on that Mr. Oren had strangely asked him to wear. At least his pain had significantly decreased. Almost to the point where he barely felt it. It was probably adrenaline. His left hand still throbbed, and he found he could no longer clench his fingers into a fist. That meant it was probably broken. But even that seemed to hurt a lot less.
What are we doing? We’re both going to die.
He couldn’t help but swallow nervously as Mr. Oren drove him home. It was a short ride, as school was within walking distance. He could feel his stomach rumbling the closer they got. Part of him wanted to believe that the guy could actually handle himself. He certainly looked like he could. Without his lab coat on, he was now in just a tank top and jeans, and the man was shredded. If this had been him up against any other ordinary person, Zach would put all his chips down on Mr. Oren. But none of that mattered. Not with these two maniacs. What if they killed Mr. Oren and then saved Zach for last? Who would stop them from killing him in the most prolonged and horrific way? That guy, Varsh…how much rage would he exhibit upon seeing Zach again after warning him? How badly would he react? Was he going to—?
“So, Kalana’s got some cool new abilities, huh?” his teacher asked him.
“Yeah…”
Zach wasn’t sure why Mr. Oren knew so much about this stuff. He supposed it did make at least some kind of sense. The man was a scientific genius, so he probably had access to a lot of information most people didn’t. But even then, this wasn’t the kind of stuff you could read about online or get from a book. So he must have had friends in high places with information that wasn’t publicly available. It was the only thing that made sense.
“What about you? You started to tell me about it.”
His apartment was just a few blocks ahead. Zach tensed. This was it, huh? He’d only just barely escaped from this place, and now he was about to march right back in with his freaking science teacher. The only reason he was even doing this at all was because Kalana was in there, and somehow…somehow knowing that gave him the strength to foolishly march to what was barely even a death but more like a suicide. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? He didn’t even know anymore.
“Zach, I asked you a question. Concentrate, my man.”
“Sorry. So, yeah, Kalana got way stronger when she hit level 3. I got a bit better, and I acquired some useless ability.”
“There’s no such thing, actually,” Mr. Oren said. “Which ones did you get?”
“So, the first one I got is called Wave Slash. That one might be good. The other one, not so much.”
At this, Mr. Oren briefly took his eyes off the road and lifted an eyebrow. “You sure you’re saying that correctly? You said…it sounded like you called it ‘Wave Slash’?”
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s just…I haven’t heard of that one before.”
Zach thought for a moment. He could easily just show the teacher, but that could also cause an accident. He also wondered why the man would know the names of abilities—and also why, if he did know so much, he hadn’t heard of this one before.
“I wonder if it’s because it said ‘unique’,” he mumbled aloud.
At the sound of an audible gasp from his teacher, he was confused by the look of genuine shock on the man who, until now, had seemed almost eerily unflappable. “You have a unique ability?” he asked. “Zach, are you sure?”
“That’s what it said.”
“That’s…actually incredible. To have a unique ability is a gift. Truly, it is.”
“I have two of them, actually.”
Mr. Oren’s mouth fell agape, and then he narrowed his eyes as though skeptical or maybe even disbelieving. “Are you sure?”
“What? You think I’m lying to you?” Zach asked. “I could literally show you right now.”
“No, it’s just…that’s really unusual.”
“It doesn’t matter because it’s like a joke. It doesn’t do anything useful.”
“What does it do?” Mr. Oren asked.
Zach laughed. “It makes it so the next time I use a…I think it said non-damaging, non-repeating ability, or spell, or basically anything along those lines, I don’t need to worry about range.”
A crease formed in Mr. Oren’s brow. “You need to learn to be more precise. By ‘not having to worry about range,’ you mean it’s double? Triple?”
“Well, it’s only for non-damaging abilities and spells—oh, and items and equipment—but it doesn’t matter.”
“What doesn’t matter?”
“The range.”
“Meaning?”
“I just told you.”
Mr. Oren sighed. “You’re not being clear. What I’m asking you is in what way it alters the range. From what to what.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I don’t think you’re hearing me,” Zach said, becoming slightly annoyed. “It makes it so I can use it from any range.”
Zach felt himself fling forward as, for some Gods-know-what reason, Mr. Oren slammed on the DEHVs breaks, turned the steering wheel, and then pulled into an empty space in front of an office building where parking wasn’t even allowed.
“Show me,” he said with a note of urgency. “I don’t think you’re lying to me. I just don’t think you understood what you read.”
There was something very odd with the man’s sudden, drastic change in behavior. He stared at Zach with an intense fascination that made him feel like one of his test subjects under a microscope. For a moment, he said nothing, and the only sound was the intense patter of the rain on the DEHV’s windshield.
Since he’d already told the man so many secrets, he supposed it wouldn’t matter if Mr. Oren learned of the existence of what only Kalana had seemed to know: a way to list one’s abilities. Yet, as he made the four-tap, pause, two-tap gesture on his shoulder, Mr. Oren did not even seem remotely surprised. Did he know about this? He nodded along like it was nothing out of the ordinary. The same could not be said when Zach actually went and displayed the information that his teacher had almost caused a traffic accident demanding to see. And so, as the words blocked off most of the windshield and obscured their view of the outside world, Zach respectfully avoided saying “I told you so” as he proved himself correct.
(Inner Ability) Boundless (UNIQUE)
The next non-damaging, non-repeating spell, ability, equipment ability, or item ability can be used regardless of range unless a target is required, in which case the user must be within seeing distance. Cannot be used with abilities that aid in charming or card-capture. Cannot be used to target or affect card-based summons. Exertion Level: Very Low.
Mr. Oren’s face tightened as he read the description. Based off the motions of his head and the direction of his eyes, he seemed to read it a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth. He read it to the point where Zach couldn’t tell if he either didn’t believe it, didn’t understand it, didn’t want to believe it, or was too distracted to comprehend it the first few times around.
After several really awkward moments of relative quiet, he turned his head to look at Zach, and he asked, “Zach, my man…you wouldn’t happen to be related to a king, or…or a God, would you?”
“Because of that?” he replied, flabbergasted. “Kalana can make a meteor. Did you know that?”
“She can? Good on her. Sounds like the girl learned Falling Star. But that’s not important right now. Neither is this, really. But…but I’d like to discuss this with you after we have a nice chat and get your her to safety. Oh, real quick: are either you or Kalana allergic to cats?”
“That’s…a weird shift from one topic to the next, but no, we’re not. Why?”
“It’s more important than you’d think. What about her father?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Okay, good.”
“Can you at least tell me why you’re asking me that?”
“No time. Let’s go fix this Kalana problem before we worry about that.”
Zach felt himself tugged in two different directions as Mr. Oren first backed out and then sent his vehicle shooting forward. Within a half-minute, they arrived at the apartment building, which, even for this early in the morning, was dramatically quieter than Zach had ever seen. People must’ve decided to leave town for a few days.
As Mr. Oren exited the driver-side of his vehicle, and Zach stepped out onto the sidewalk to his right, he noticed that, even more so than before, a large number of DEHVs usually parked along the block were gone. He wouldn’t be surprised if half or more of the residents were now deciding to take an abrupt vacation on no notice. The sight of the peacekeepers running away must’ve been all it had taken for them to realize that, if the peacekeepers didn’t feel safe, then they themselves certainly weren’t.
The rain appeared to have let up, but only slightly, and Zach found himself drenched in it. The lab coat did little to keep him warm despite what Mr. Oren had said, but given how much he’d stressed keeping it on, it wasn’t an argument Zach wanted to have. Either way, the thought of going back into his apartment building made his knees weaken as the very-recent memory of his previous encounter was still fresh in his brain. His best hope was that, maybe this time, he could—
Oh, Gods, no!
Whatever he’d been about to think cut off abruptly as a sense of profound wrongness and hurt manifested itself as a physical sensation in his chest. In fact, all thoughts in his brain terminated and a rush of fresh pain washed over him. Zach trembled and tears rushed back into his eyes. “He’s still there,” he whimpered, the sight of his father greeting his eyes. If anything, it now hurt more than at any other time, because it wasn’t about the death anymore: it was about the unbelievable disrespect and mistreatment of someone he loved by the city he lived in. “He’s still there. My dad. Why is he—?”
Zach grabbed the sides of his face, and like earlier, he shouted at nothing and everything. “What if this was your dad!” he screamed. “How would you feel if he was left on the street like gods-damned roadkill? Huh? How would you feel then? If that wasn’t my dad lying there but yours?”
The pain was rushing back into him so fast he thought it would overwhelm him. But then, suddenly, the world went dark, and his vision obscured. Only then did he realize Mr. Oren had placed the flat of his hand in front of his eyes. Zach tried to brush him off, but Mr. Oren, with a note of command in his voice said, “No. You’re not looking at this anymore. Someone’s going to come respectfully pick up your father’s body and you will see him again at his funeral. Until then, just walk. I’ll take my hand away when we’re in the building.”
The way he spoke left no room for negotiation or disobedience. Also, how could he even make a promise like that? Really, the man must have had some kind of natural gift, because the absurdity of what Zach was now doing was not lost on him: here he was, literally marching blinded back into the place he had almost died fewer than two hours ago to confront the ones who had killed his father who he was now being prevented from seeing. If Mr. Oren could convince someone to do something like that, then it was a wonder the man wasn’t a cult leader.
“Can I just make sure one last time, Mr. Oren, that you understand—like, actually, truly understand that the people in there are high-level? As in, if you looked at their stats page, the numbers would be big. I just want to make sure you actually know that and you’re not just misunderstanding something here.”
Mr. Oren squeezed his shoulder confidently. “Don’t worry. We’re just here to have a chat. Oh, and I need you to remember to follow my instructions at all times. If I tell you to do something, you do it immediately and without hesitation. Okay, my man?”
Zach nodded then exhaled an uneasy, fearful breath. “I’m scared. I’m ashamed of how scared I am. My knees feel like they will buckle.”
“That’s okay. Just look at me and tell me to my face you will do whatever I tell you to do.”
“I’ll do whatever you say.”
Mr. Oren grinned, then pointed towards the stairwell entrance across from the lobby. “Did you do that?”
Zach wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “Did I do what?”
“Break that door just like the one in my office?”
“That was me, yeah.” Zach surprised himself by releasing a small chuckle. It was likely just his nerves. “I also banged up all the walls on the way to the 8th floor.”
Ushering him forward with a hand on his back, Mr. Oren led him towards the elevator and pressed the call button. “Adventurers need to be responsible with how they treat other people and their property. It’s not okay to be reckless. You don’t gain power for your own sake but to protect those you love.”
“Well, it wasn’t my intention. I was just panicking.”
“I understand. I don’t blame you, Zach. I’m just saying that now that you’ve become stronger than the average person, you need to be more mindful of how you interact with the world. People’s lives aren’t things for our amusement. I’m hoping we can convince our friends upstairs of that. But just try to keep that in mind. Especially if you’re planning on living the dream.”
“The dream?”
With a ding, the elevator doors opened as Mr. Oren smiled and said, “Yes, the dream. Fighting monsters and leveling up. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”
The two of them stepped into the elevator. The doors closed, and Zach thumbed the button labeled 8. It began to ascend. As he had done earlier, Zach forgot his teacher’s question amid the rush of nerves and fear that once more threatened to make him collapse.
I promised myself! he shouted in his mind. I made a vow never to be a coward again!
Then again, his promise had actually been to get stronger so that he didn’t have to be one. He hadn’t factored in the idea of coming straight back here two hours later when making his vow. Even still, somehow, through some means, he had allowed himself to get into this kind of situation. How? He didn’t know. He still couldn’t believe he was doing this even as the elevator brought him closer to death with each passing second.
“Zach, you didn’t answer my question.”
“Sorry, what question?” Mr. Oren frowned, and then Zach wiggled his head in an attempt to force his brain to focus. “Oh, right. The dream. Well, I never knew it was possible to live it. I’m still not sure it is. But of course I want that. Doesn’t everyone?”
“If they did,” Mr. Oren replied, “the world would not have ended up this way.”
“That’s…actually a good point.”
The elevator doors reopened, and Mr. Oren stepped out, indicating for Zach to follow. Having made it this far, he was surprised when his legs refused to budge. His stomach lurched, he opened his mouth, and to both his humiliation and shame, he vomited all over the elevator floor. Then he gasped for air before vomiting a second time. Mr. Oren said nothing, waiting patiently for him to finish.
“You okay, my man? Got it out? Okay, let’s go.”
Zach pressed himself with his back flat against the elevator. Terror flooded him so fast that he didn’t have a chance to control or fight against it. “I can’t. I’m…I can’t!” The doors began to close, and Zach watched as his teacher extended his arm, causing the sensors to halt the closure and reopen.
“You said you would do whatever I told you, and in return, I told you we’d save Kalana. Do you not want to save her? Because we can go back to school if you want.”
At this, Zach found whatever backbone remained in him, and he pried himself off the elevator wall with sheer force of will and then stepped out, one foot in front of the other and back into the hallway where he’d only just fled through.
“Come on. Let’s have a few words with your new buddies.”
Zach followed after Mr. Oren. He walked at a calm, but deliberate pace. He did not pause or look over his shoulder to ensure that Zach continued along behind him. It was almost as if he knew it gave Zach no choice—like he was expected to follow. It somehow worked. He didn’t feel like getting left behind now that he was this close.
“Just breathe,” Mr. Oren whispered when the two of them stood in front of Kalana’s apartment. He spoke so quietly that Zach had to strain just to hear him. “If you can get through this, you can get through anything. You’ll be so proud of yourself when this is over.”
“I’m freaking terrified,” he whispered back. “I feel like I might piss myself.”
Of all things, Mr. Oren shrugged. “That’s actually fine. Piss your pants. Seriously, go ahead. What makes you a man is whether or not you follow through on your actions. Not whether or not you escape with your underwear clean. Now just breathe, follow my instructions, and we’re going to have this cleared up very soon.”
“Okay,” Zach said—or tried to say. It came out as a whimper. “I hate how weak I am.” He also hated how he’d just said that out loud, admitting it.
Mr. Oren merely gave him a pat on the shoulder. “No one is born strong. We learn it.”
Then, without any kind of warning, discussion, or even just a count to three, he raised his fist and loudly—rudely if this were any other context—rapped his fist on the door in a fast, impatient rhythm.
“Hello?” he called. “Open up. You’ve got visitors.”
The sound of a lock being undone set off a fluttering sensation in Zach’s chest, one which turned into an explosion of pure dread as the door was opened and the green-haired, leather-pants-wearing woman appeared in the frame next to the long-haired, almost-middle-aged man wearing the black cloth robes with the glowing symbol of a red rose.
“I literally don’t believe it,” Varsh said with a grunt, shifting his eyes to Seraphina. “The kid’s back. Either I hit him too hard on the head or he’s decided to commit suicide. And look what we have here. He’s brought along his…not father.” He chuckled. “That would actually be scary. Who the hell are you, kid?”
It was weird hearing someone refer to Mr. Oren as “kid,” though given that he was in his young twenties and the black-robed man was likely almost fifty, it wasn’t exactly an unreasonable thing to say. Zach might almost find it funny if his legs were not quivering in fear.
How did I let him convince me to do this? Hell, how did I let him convince HIM to do this?
Mr. Oren waved at them. “Hi there, Mr. Gellor. Or would you prefer I called you Varsh? I’m Alex Oren. I’m actually here on behalf of the school. Zachys here—Mr. Calador—is actually one of my students, and he told me there’s been an altercation here today. Mind if I come in? Thanks.”
Without even waiting for a response, Mr. Oren glided into the apartment while the eyebrows rose to the top of Seraphina’s face. The two of them almost seemed to freeze; the look of incredulity and astonishment in both of them was so immense that, in this moment, they looked to Zach like robots that’d just run out of battery power. He imagined the very same expression was on his own face as, against all logic or common sense, he hurried after Mr. Oren, not wanting there to be more than a few inches of distance between the two of them.
Not even turning around to glance at the two most-dangerous individuals Zach had ever met, Mr. Oren walked casually over to Kalana, who thank the Gods appeared unharmed; she was, however, tied, gagged, and like Zach, her eyes were also red from crying.
“Hey, Kalana,” he said to her. “Zach here told me you two have gotten into a bit of trouble. You’re going to be okay, all right, sweetheart? Let me just have a nice chat with these two fine, upstanding members of the always delightful Royal Roses. I mean what fine members of society they are, right? So elegant. So upstanding. Their mothers must be so proud.”
It didn’t take a genius to realize that, at some point while he was speaking, Mr. Oren’s words, though technically spoken to Kalana, had shifted to being directed at the two vicious, gawking tormenters who Zach couldn’t believe hadn’t attacked yet. As things were, they seemed to be slowly snapping out of whatever stupor they’d fallen into.
“Who the hell are you?” Varsh growled. “Depending on your answer, I might kill you slowly or—well, no, you’re going to die slowly no matter what. You can blame the kid for that. Bastard was warned.”
Mr. Oren patted Kalana on the head, whispered, “Just give me a second” into her ear, and then turned around and began walking towards the two of them, meeting them halfway in the room. Zach was now directly by his side.
“So, like I told you, Mr. Gellor—”
“Who do you think you are?”
Mr. Oren cleared his throat. “Like I told you, Mr. Gellor,” he continued, completely ignoring the question, “I am their science teacher.”
Varsh exchanged a quick, confused glance with Seraphina and then returned his attention to Mr. Oren. “And that’s all? You have nothing else to say?”
“I do, but first I need to address my student really quickly just to confirm something. Hey, Zach?”
Nerves bubbled in his stomach as he was brought into the conversation for some reason. This was the last thing he wanted. Now, both Varsh and his demented, green-haired sidekick were staring at him as if remembering he was a person who existed and thus could technically die by virtue of not having been killed yet.
“Y-yes?” Zach asked.
To his surprise, Mr. Oren gently grabbed his face by the chin, lifted his head up, and then with his other hand pointed to his nose, all while keeping his eyes on Varsh. “Do you see this? Did you do that? Did you break my student’s nose?”
Varsh pulled back his upper lip in a half-scowl, half-smile. “Yeah, and?”
“And Zach,” Mr. Oren continued. “Is this the man who broke your nose? Is he correctly taking responsibility?”
Zach gulped. “Yes.”
“Okay. Well then in that case, hit him.”
Zach blinked. “Wait, what?”
“You heard me. Hit. Him. Right in his face.”
An ocean of fear exploded into his chest. “You want me to hit him?”
“Zach, I’ve given you an instruction.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Zach!”
I’m dead. This is it. I’m going to die.
Having come this far anyway, what did it even matter anymore? Zach, knowing full well how this was going to end, drew back his right arm, pivoted his hips, and then sent his fist crashing straight into the mouth of the man whose face had already broken his other hand. His fist connected, he felt flesh against his knuckles, and then he preemptively winced, tensed, and cried out in advance of the pain he assumed he was going to feel as he waited for the agony that came with breaking his only working hand.
Instead, he flinched as a bang came from directly ahead of him, where for a reason he could not possibly explain, Varsh had been launched like a torpedo through the air, colliding into the wall to the right of the apartment’s front door with such unbelievable force that his body caused an entire section to splinter and crack. The impact caused two paintings to fall off the wall, the TV to fall out of its mount and crash against the floor with a massive bang, and one of the lights from ceiling to fall loose and land on Varsh’s head, the bulb shattering and causing glass shards to decorate his long hair. Half the width of the wall was now missing, and to Zach’s amazement, he realized that if he’d hit him just a little bit harder, he would’ve gone straight through the wall and into the hallway.
Varsh moaned, then tried to stand up, nearly succeeding. But with another moan, he fell backwards and into the hole he’d made in the nearly destroyed wall, sending a spray of dust, old paint chips, and plaster scattering in every direction. Then, shaking his head, the look of murder returned to his eyes.
“What the hell was that?” he roared.
The next few things happened so fast that Zach was only mostly sure he could recall them in the correct order. First, Seraphina bared her teeth, drew her rapier with her right hand, and then, with her left, she clutched it into a fist as a bright flickering ball of white-colored energy began to form around it. At almost the exact same time, Varsh peeled himself off—or really out—of the wall, reached behind his back, drew what looked to be an oaken staff, and then chanted a few words, causing the staff to begin glowing.
Either shortly before, during, or after—Zach just couldn’t be sure whose actions came first, as they all seemed to happen at once—Mr. Oren stepped in front of Zach, raised his fist up until it was almost level with his own chin, and then Zach let out a loud, surprised yelp as four large blue rings made up of what looked like pure blue light simply appeared out of thin air near the ceiling, then began to free-fall down one by one above Mr. Oren’s clenched fist so that the first one traveled down his arm until stopping around the spot just below his shoulder, followed by next one halting near his upper arm. Then the third came to a stop around his forearm, and finally, the last ring of blue light wrapped around his wrist.
These rings then began to spin, faster and faster, shooting orange sparks before eventually flying back up in the direction they had just come as they traveled along his arm. But rather than return to the ceiling, they bunched up and joined together right above his wrist into one giant clump of something that reminded Zach of a liquidized metal.
This metal began to stretch, elongate, and shape itself into something longer and solid. The color began to change as well: dramatically and in different places. Before his very eyes, Zach watched as what had only just been four separate blue ring-shaped pieces came together into a singular entity and reforged itself into a shimmering steel blade with a black hilt. The sword was breathtaking: it was beautiful, even. The hilt had some kind of engraving on it, but Zach could not properly see it from where he observed. But more important than the engraving was the fact that his science teacher had just somehow conjured a sword.
How am I even so surprised? Zach wondered.
It was only now that he realized what should have been obvious over an hour ago. Had he not been so shaken up, he would’ve put two and two together: he was sure that he would have. So instead of voicing his shock, he only asked a single question.
“Mr. Oren?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“What level are you?”
He laughed. “High enough for these two. Hey, Zach. Did that feel good?”
“Decking him in the face?”
“Yes.”
“Hell yes. But I thought we were just here to have a little chat.”
“We just did. You told him.”
Zach laughed, and Varsh seethed with rage, eyeing Zach with a plain and unhidden desire to kill. There was a steady trickle of blood coming out of the corner of the man’s lips, and as he opened his mouth to spit, Zach gaped in awe as saliva and blood was not all that escaped his mouth: two of his front teeth went with it.
“How the hell did I do that?” he asked. He was simply unable to believe what he had done. “How could I possibly have—?”
Again, he reeled in both shock and amazement but also in shameful stupidity as yet another thing that should have been obvious to him only first clicked in his head just then. Even as the three of them gripped their weapons tighter and prepared to square off, Zach looked away and tapped his shoulder four times in quick succession. Then, moved to a point well beyond fascination, he touched the word “inventory.” He was not surprised to see that there was a new item that hadn’t been there earlier. What did surprise him was the information presented to him when touching its name.
Legendary Hand-Wrought Robe of Mystic Transcendence: crafted by Alixa Firesbane
Armor + 200
+30 str
+15 dex
+20 con
+20 int
+20 spd
+5 luck
+30% magic resist
+30% physical resist
User is immune to charm or sleep. While wearing, greatly diminishes the user’s sensitivity to pain.
(7,200 seconds): user is wrapped in a mystic veil of energy, forming a protective barrier around them. For the next five minutes, all magical and physical attacks are greatly reduced in effectiveness.
Zach pinched the sleeve of the oversized lab coat he was wearing, then pinched himself to ensure he wasn’t dreaming. This thing he was wearing…it was probably worth more than the entire Gods-damned city he lived in. How had his science teacher come across something like this? He was basically a literal God with this thing on. He glared at Varsh and Seraphina. Maybe now he was powerful enough to—
“Don’t,” Mr. Oren said. “Zach, you did great, but these two are still way, way too much for you. I want you to use the ability you just read. This should be over before the five minutes are up. It’s got a cooldown of two hours, though, so if for any reason I’m still dealing with them when it wears off, take Kalana and her dad and run.” He crooked his thumb at the two of them, who were watching things unfold from the chairs they were bound to. “What you’re going to do for me now, my man, is stay back with Kalana and her dad. You can let them out now if you want to. I’m going to deal with these two. My friends are already on their way.”
“Your friends?” Zach croaked.
“A few of my guild-mates.”
What the hell is going on?
Without bothering to reply, Zach stared, absolutely floored, as his science teacher blasted forward at a simply unbelievable speed, jumping up and then through the air while twisting his body around, striking out at Varsh with a slash that looked like it could cut a tree in half. Moving so ridiculously fast, his blade actually made a whining hiss as it seemed to cut through the air itself.
“Seraphina!” Varsh called.
A mere instant before Mr. Oren decapitated Varsh, Seraphina bent her knees, sprang off her legs, and managed to somehow send herself hurtling in front of the robe-wearing man just in time to clash blades midair with Mr. Oren, resulting in an impressive shower of sparks and a clang loud enough to wake anyone on this floor who either somehow still remained asleep or to chase away anyone who hadn’t decided yet to spend the night someplace else.
Mr. Oren’s feet clicked against floor as he landed at the same time as Seraphina. Almost before they’d even touched down, the two launched into a series of back-and-forth strikes and parries that resulted in a series of loud clangs, one after the next, as well as a constant shower of sparks. This continued for several moments, and then, almost in unison, the two each dashed backwards and away from one another before immediately springing forward again and reengaging.
With a grunt, Seraphina thrust her rapier forward as if to run Mr. Oren through with her weapon, the blade of which now shined a dark, purplish color. Mr. Oren spun on his heels, the rapier gliding harmlessly through the air where he’d only just been standing. Then he swung his weapon at her while she was off balance. It would have connected, too, if a massive ball of fire hadn’t shot out of Varsh’s extended palm, requiring him to throw himself backwards and into a roll before launching himself back up to his feet.
Mr. Oren chanted something—Zach couldn’t hear the words—and in the air above him, what looked like fifteen or maybe even sixteen arrows made of pure white light materialized, floating in a horizontal line just above his head. Then he gestured, throwing out his own palm, and all at once, the arrows of light soared forward through the air, with half heading towards Seraphina and the other half heading towards Varsh.
At the same moment in time, Varsh slammed his staff into the ground, and Mr. Oren shouted, “Zach! Use it now.”
The urgency in his voice was more than enough. Zach used the lab coat’s ability. He simply “knew” how to do it. It was something that he was surprised he hadn’t realized was there when he’d slipped the thing on.
Immediately, rainbow-colored light surrounded him from head to toe in a hexagonally shaped bubble of sorts. All at once, Zach was taken up by a sense of security and safety: as though he could feel himself become less vulnerable as this rainbow-colored barrier encased him. It was bright enough to cause the entire room to light up with at least ten different colors—but only for a brief moment. The light disappeared soon after; despite this, Zach could still feel the effects on him, and he was fairly sure he would continue to do so for at least the next five minutes.
Somehow, he understood on a basic level that he was now way, way harder to hurt. That was a good thing, too, because the moment Varsh’s staff smashed into the apartment’s floor, there was a whoosh, and then both he and Mr. Oren were engulfed by flames which had simply appeared out of nowhere. From head to toe, their entire bodies were now on fire.
Alarmed, Zach cried out in…he cried out in…wait, wait, why did he cry out? Even though he was being burned alive, he honestly didn’t feel it. Like, at all. Zach casually and calmly looked down at his arms, hands, and legs, which were definitely, totally on fire. But neither his skin nor clothing burned. He really wasn’t being hurt, was he? It just looked really bad. He heard Kalana screaming into her gag, and so, even while on fire, Zach gave her a thumbs-up to let her know he was okay. Thankfully, the fire dissipated not long afterwards, and while there was smoke coming off him, his skin and all his clothing were still completely unscathed.
“You’re going to make me work hard for this, aren’t you?” Varsh asked as both he and Seraphina sprinted out of the way of the light arrows, which tore hole after hole into the wall. One even flew over Varsh’s shoulder and into Kalana’s bedroom. A second and a half later, there came the sound of a soft, muted “poof,” and Zach saw a heap of feathers and blanket scraps rising up like a mushroom cloud. Another of the arrows ended up flying over the kitchen countertop and into the open oven, causing the entire inside of it to burst into flame. “What guild are you with anyway? You might be making a big mistake.”
“There’s no mistake,” Mr. Oren said. “I’m not answering any more of your questions. Leave or die.”
“Seraphina?” Varsh asked. It was all he gave in the way of a reply.
She nodded, then with her free hand opposite the one clutching her rapier, she threw her fist forward, and a white ball of energy was sent streaking across the apartment’s living room towards Mr. Oren; at the same time. Varsh removed one of his hands from his staff, threw out his palm, and released another ball of flame.
Mr. Oren jumped over the white ball of energy, then landed and very quickly swung his sword with perfect timing at the fireball, which simply dissipated upon contact. “Nice try,” he taunted. If he was trying to goad them, his plan worked, because immediately after speaking, Seraphina dashed forward and around his right side while Varsh moved with surprising quickness to his left, effectively surrounding him.
Mr. Oren sighed. Then he gripped his hands tighter on his blade, bent his knees, and extended his arms as if to extend his reach.
With their attention solely on Mr. Oren, Zach turned around and began to untie Kalana, who gave him such an intense look of gratitude that he clearly didn’t deserve. Did she have any idea how little he’d actually done? How pathetic he’d been? Zach had no idea who Mr. Oren was, why he was so powerful, or even why he was helping Zach. But what Zach did know was that he would never give up until he was twice as strong as his…well, his science teacher.
The moment he freed Kalana, the two of them worked together to free her father. Then all three backed slowly away to give some distance to the teacher, who was now moving with lightning-quick speed to block a staff being swung like a club and a rapier attempting to pierce his heart. He jumped into the air and back-flipped over the two of them so that both were positioned before him and no longer to each of his sides. The two backed away somewhat, putting distance between themselves and the reality-defying science teacher. He didn’t seem to mind.
Despite their distance, he pointed his blade at Varsh like a giant finger. Varsh stared back at him curiously. Then the blade began to glow a bright blue color, and Varsh’s eyes widened. An instant later, a pure blue, continuous beam of energy shot out of the end of the sword with a high-pitched, electrical hum.
Varsh swore loudly and ran out of its way, but Mr. Oren turned his body and the sword, causing the beam to chase after him. As he ran, the beam simply shredded and incinerated everything in its path, which in this case was the wall behind Varsh, causing wood, plaster, and insulation to blast in every possible direction. Then, as Varsh ran more towards the inside of the apartment, the beam ripped up the flooring, exploded the kitchen table, and reduced the refrigerator to a heaping pile of sheet metal, foul, burnt-smelling circuitry, and an endless shower of increasingly dangerous-looking sparks.
Even as Mr. Oren continued to use the bright beam of energy from his sword to pursue Varsh, he squeezed his opposite hand into a fist, and then Seraphina yelped, likely surprised, afraid, and confused, as a dark circle began to form both beneath her feet and above her head. “What is this?” she shouted.
The two circles were flat, almost two-dimensional, and darker than the night itself. But their two-dimensional nature changed quickly. The circle on the top and the one on the bottom expanded geometrically towards one another to form a cylinder—or rather a tube, which she now suddenly found herself trapped inside. It had all happened so fast that even Zach could empathize with her frustration. He sure as hell wouldn’t have been able to react in time to either know what that was or get out of its way.
“What is this?” she screamed, banging on her dark prison. It was almost impossible to see her at all. She was simply encased in this tube. It was like she was trapped in a giant, slightly transparent film roll canister.
“You were warned,” Mr. Oren said. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry about—”
She screamed in the purest sound of misery that Zach had ever heard as a loud buzzing not that dissimilar from an electric can opener seemed to come from within her tube. It looked like something was spinning in there with her—something sharp. Or many sharp things. Soon after, the dark black tube became just a little bit redder, and though it was very difficult to see inside, Zach was fairly certain he could spot her being chopped into pieces as though she’d been stuffed inside of a giant blender. Scraps of clothing, leather, skin, bone, and even the metal of her rapier were all swirled around, cut into even smaller pieces, and then mixed in with one another as a red fluid began to fill the tube. Mr. Oren, his science teacher, had quite literally just blended a person alive.
And then there was one.