Benjamin and Isabelle walked along the concrete pavement road and headed to the Covenpond Plaza to rest their legs on a bench. While Isabelle looked into one book she had read before, Benjamin stretched his arms and looked around the scenery. Blue skies, fresh air, green trees, and grass, and tons of people walking around and chatting.

Perfect. He thought with a grin.

He crossed his legs and waited patiently for her to finish reading before he could initiate their next plan. Before he knew it, people nearby whispered to one another while staring at the dark magician.

“Hey, is that the street magician I’ve heard about?”

“I think so. I wonder what he could be doing here...”

“Maybe he’s doing a show soon?”

“Or he’s just here for relaxing?”

His grin spread more extensively, as they’ve caught on that something was up. He wanted to let Isabelle in on his plan sooner. However, the moment was too perfect to pass up. If they can pull it off, then so be it.

“Hey, Isabelle?” Benjamin whispered, leaning closer to her.

“Yeah?” She glanced up and asked.

“It’s time. Get ready.”

It took her a moment to figure out what he meant by that. She nodded in agreement. Benjamin took his hat off momentarily and gave Harry and Chi-Chi a wink to let them in on the moment as well. He took to the center of the plaza and stood in front of the large fountain.

“Everyone, stand back and listen closely.” He called out to the people in the park as he pulled out his wand.

Citizens nearby stopped talking and moved closer to him.

“No way, it’s him!” Someone exclaimed and pointed out.

“The Young Dark Magician is going to do another show!” Another person added.

Soon, people surrounded Benjamin on all sides as he continued his speech. “No need to fear. The Dark Magician is here to enhance your life, not ruin it. But, I’m not alone on this endeavor...” He pulled him down as Harry and Chi-Chi jumped out from it, doing a cool pose as they were about to land. “These are my familiars: Chi-Chi and Harry.”

“Hiya!” Chi-Chi exclaimed.

“How’s it going, everybody?” Harry added.

Benjamin pointed as the crowd let Isabelle walk to the center of the stage.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“And this is my lovely assistant, Isabelle.”

“Hello,” Isabelle said with a meek wave.

“Now, let’s start with something simple.”

Benjamin took out a few playing cards and laid them out in his hands. He asked Isabelle to pick a card.

She chose an Ace of spades and presented it to the audience, but did her best not to show Benjamin her card. Once she put the card back, Benjamin crumbled up the cards, ripped them into little pieces, and threw them all up in the air.

Once he took care of that, he pulled his wand back out and pointed it towards the sky. The torn pieces of the cards stopped and hovered in the air. Benjamin shuffled the pieces on the ground until they formed a shape. Everyone gasped as the shape in question turned out to be a card, specifically, the Ace of Spades.

“So, is this your card?” Benjamin asked, motioning the ground to get everyone’s attention.

“Yeah, it is!” Isabelle chirped. Everyone in the crowd cheered at the display. “Way to go, Benjamin, you aced it!”

Benjamin took a bow and tipped his hat. “Why thank you, everyone, I—”

“I guess you can say that you had that in spades—”

“Ok, Isabelle, that’s enough.” He interrupted, groaning in annoyance.

“Sorry about that.” Isabelle chuckled lightly.

Benjamin used the wand to take the shredded pieces of the card and crumbled them into a ball. He motioned the ball towards his hands as he clasped it. After a glow emanated from his hands, Benjamin threw his hands up in the air as doves flew out and headed towards the skies. The audience oohed at the sight and applauded over the magical trick.

Benjamin and Isabelle took another bow before straightening themselves out.

“Why thank you, everyone,” He said. “Now, for our next trick, I’d like at least one more volunteer.”

A couple of people raised their hands, as Benjamin squinted his eyes, wondering who he should choose. One person in the back crowd stood out to him, though, a figure wearing a black cloak.

“Excuse me, but I’d like to volunteer.” The figure spoke up. “If that’s alright with you, Benny.”

Benjamin couldn’t picture it, but the voice sounded familiar. It was on the tip of his tongue. And did they call him by his nickname? Besides Isabelle, the only other person who would call him that…

“Who are you? Have we met before? And how do you know my name?”

“Oh, do you not recognize me? Well then, allow me to jog your memory.” The person pulled the hood off and flipped his hair. “Long time no see.”

Benjamin took a step back and twitched his eye. “Sebastian? What are you doing here?”

Sebastian ignored his question and took the rest of the cloak off. “So, this is what you’ve been doing in your spare time, huh?”

“Well, what’s it to you?” Benjamin hissed, trying not to speak so loud that the audience would hear him.

“I’ve been doing well myself. I don’t know about you. So, are you going to stand there, or will you perform your little show?”

“If you just—”

“Oh, now that I think about it, I also have a trick up my sleeve. I want to show it to these lovely people, if you don’t mind.” Sebastian pulled out a sword and took a stance. “I’m going to attempt to swallow my sword.”

The crowd focused their attention on Sebastian as their curiosity peaked, no longer paying any attention to the dark magician. Benjamin’s grip around the wand tightened as he glared at Sebastian. Of course, his rival would try to steal all his attention and glory. It’s one thing to up him in magic, ‌but taking one of his only forms of entertainment in the human world was another matter entirely.