Karjev sat in the passenger seat, comfortably wrapped in a blanket surrounded by pillows. A cool breeze and soft lights coming through the window. It was a pleasant and relaxing ride. And despite all that his mouth was opened slightly in disbelief, he looked at Alfred trying to see if there was any metaphor there, or if he was just joking. He was confused, puzzlement turning to humor then back to confusion once he realized Alfred was being serious.

“Wow, Okay, I don't believe you”

“What is there not to believe Karjev?”

“You want me to believe that you entered a Casino with one dollar and left with half a million?” Karjev let out a faint laugh

Alfred took a wide turn into the highway

“It was more than a day Karjev, it took a week”

“A week you say, like that's supposed to make it believable?”

A hint of amusement slept into Alfred's tone, “And where would you say there was a falsehood in my story?”

“That it was done using Slot machines, that’s just impossible!”. Karjev said victoriously.

“Implausible”. Alfred corrected him.

“Right Implausible,” Karjev said dismissively as he fluffed a pillow “and what does that matter?”

“It matters, Karjev. Because people like us can turn the implausible to possible”. And after a short breath added “ And the rare few of us turn the impossible to implausible”

“Because we are Magicians” Karjev stated

“Exactly Karjev, because we are Magicians,” Alfred said, a tinge of proudness slipping into his voice.

“Right…” Karjev drawled, “But what's the difference between us and Wizards?”

“That is a great question Karjev”. Alfred took one hand off the wheel unbuttoning his shirt pocket “Wizards play with structures and material calling it magic. We use a wide array of approaches: space, the mind, the unseen. We play with Fate”.

“Right you say that, but what does it mean?”

“As you said, it is Implausible to have a fifty million percent increase in monetary value when playing on the slot machines”, Alfred took a break in his speech and waved a hand. A tiny image showed up in the air in front of Karjev. “But implausibility does not concern us Karjev, we are magicians”

Karjev in mesmerization touched the image. It felt like dew on a very cold night, and spread apart wherever his hand touched it, recombining itself when he removed his hand. That was, for lack of better words, the coolest thing he saw since landing in america.

Alfred pulled a coin out of his shirt pocket and with a tinge of pride said. “Use the image to predict what side the Coin will land on”

Karjev looked at the image, it was a weird discombobulated mixture of color, making it very hard to make anything out of it.

but for a second he could swear he saw heads. “Is it going to be heads?”

There was a faint smile on Alfred’s face as he tossed the coin on top of the dashboard, it rolled around for abit before landing on head.

“Wow”. Karjev took back his last thought, that was way cooler than the floating image

“Can we go again?” Karjev asked

“Look at the image” Alfred said, already tossing the next coin.

For the next few minutes, they continued playing this weird game of future predicting a couple dozen times, with only two wrong guesses

“So you just saw in the future if a Slot is gonna win for you?”

“Precisely so young man” the floating image vanished as Alfred turned his attention back to the road

“Why did you stop with half a million? I would have went for way more”

Alfred let out a hearty laugh, “I did not have the option. If I could, I would have taken much more money from thos Wizards. But taking more would make them pay unnecessary attention to me”

“That makes sense I guess” Karjev said looking back out to the road

“We are out of gas” Alfred said “let's make a quick break, there is a gas station a few miles ahead”

“Did you figure it out with fate magic?”

“Yes”, Alfred said.

"Really?”

“No. I've just driven here before”

Fancy page break

Karjev opened his eyes and In front of them sat what was almost an antique gas station, the lights a consistent neon yellow glow, a couple of stains and graffiti on the outer walls and a small skidmark on the entrance to the station, yet despite these details the place seemed too calm, the stains too equally placed. The lights were silent, not having flickered once.

But if Karjev noticed any of that, it looked like Alfred was none the wiser, or at the very least, he seemed not to care.

Alfred parked near the gas pump and unlocked the doors and got out. Gasoline fumes filled the air with a sickly sweet smell. The still air making it hard to breathe.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Come on Karjev, let's pay for the gas and buy food for you” Alfred said, noticing Karjev still sitting in the car.

Karjev followed suit, hoping that the smell wasn’t as bad inside the station. Anything would be better than the stench of Gasoline in cold still air.

The automatic doors lay open seemingly due to a malfunction, and to Karjev’s great disappointment, the stench followed him indoors slowly mixing with and transitioning to the smell of sewage. Karjev put his shirt up to his nose in an attempt to avoid the stink.

“Is that necessary?” Alfred said, unfazed by the smell.

“It's fine, good sir”, the shop clerk sat at his desk, hands fiddling with something under the counter. Karjev squinted his eyes trying to make out his features in the uneven lighting.

“Oh no good man, I must insist on his manners,” Alfred said as he counted a couple of bills and then put them on the counter, “for the Gas”.

Alfred turned to Karjev some pity in his eyes for Karjev’s suffrage. “Go get some food, I'll eat whatever you choose”

Karjev nodded and went to the shelves to look for some food whilst doing his best to take shallow breaths with his mouth. When he got behind the shelves he pulled his shirt back over his face. What Alfred didn’t see, he could not scold.

The shelves sat mostly empty, so Karjev took whatever he could get his hands on; sugar cookies, salty crackers, chips, and crisps. Anything that looked non-expired.

But augh, that smell kept getting to him, he quickly snatched a few more things off the shelves and then headed back to the counter.

Whilst Karjev was looking for food Alfred and the Clerk spoke.

“What brings fine people like yourselves here?” The Clerk asked an undertone of suspicion sneaking its way into his voice “We tend not to get your kind around this area.”

“Our Kind?” Alfred raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“You know, the silk-stocking type,” The clerk said, he reached out with one hand and stuffed the money into the cash register.

“Oh of course”, Alfred said, “I guess we are a rare sort around here, we are just on our way back home from a long road trip”.

The Clerk seemed to accept the answer. “Oh was the trip a success? I know kids can be hard nowadays”.

“Thank you for the sympathy, but do not fret, Karjev is one of a kind kid”. Alfred looked back to see how Karjev was doing, seeing he was still getting food Alfred turned back to the Clerk. ”Is your hand hurt, Good sir?” Alfred spoke, HIs eyes softening, in concern.

“Oh that, you have a Good eye.” The clerk's eyes danced around the room, then as if remembering where he was he continued, “Hurt it tryin’ to fix one of the pumps.”

Karjev dropped a couple of snacks trying to keep his shirt over his nose. He silently cursed, the smell and lighting started to get to him. They had to get out of here.

“This place is very poorly maintained, you should call your boss about that” Alfred stated.

Karjev approached the counter, his face hidden behind a pile of food and snacks, his nose tucked into a package of tissues. The entrance of this snack pile cutting through the conversation.

“Alfred I got some food and snacks”, he pushed them onto the counter. “And some tissues.” He added timidly

Alfred looked down at him with a hint of amused disappointment, “Well it seems you already are getting some use of them. Go on, return to the car before you get us with that cold of yours. I’ll pay.”

Karjev rushed out the doors towards the car, happy to be out of the station. Still listening to the faint noises of conversation continuing behind him. Yet something about the way Alfred spoke intrigued him. He turned back to wait by the door, his aversion to the putrid smell overwhelmed by his curiosity.

“Would you mind a bit of constructive criticism?” Alfred asked, meeting the eyes of the clerk, and continuing the conversation.

“Any time”, said the Clerk.

“Much appreciated”, Alfred said. “The state of the pipes reminds me of a saying said by the old psychologist and human interaction expert Vaxt Xeyal: ‘To stay with the old is to stagnate; it is not to grow, and not to evolve, to evolve is to kill parts of ourselves, but not to evolve is death. Not to evolve is to be a slave to fate, not its master. It is the end of sapience.’ ”

“Partner” The Clerk spoke to Alfred “What you are saying in theory, is completely acceptable. But here it is slightly taken’ out of context”.

“And what context did I miss?” Alfred inquired. The lights flickering above him.

The clerk shifted around getting comfortable massaging his injured hand under the table. “Xeyal was stating the inevitably of evolution, the old will die if we don’t choose what parts of it to keep. To kill is to petrify to freeze as it was without growing. And we all evolve no matter how much we try to avoid it. to be a slave to that is also to have evolution happen to you, but to be possessed by it, to declare oneself an agent of evolution? That is to become a slave to evolution which is also surrendering to fate. The context you're missin’, partner, is that Vaxt never saw the Old as the enemy.”

“Karjev”, Alfred called to the door, “would you mind returning to the car?”

Yikes, busted. Karjev started walking loudly towards the car, then turning silently around to try and…

“I Know what you are doing!” Alfred’s presence impressed the message upon him. Karjev swiftly went back to the car waiting by the passenger side.

“And as to you sir, please let the kid get out of earshot before trying to use that Thing”, the word thing spiked with vitriol “you have under the counter.” Alfred said.

“Never thought I’d see the day, the mighty Ulth’kar taking care of something else’s spawn,” the Clerk said, “Or is that one a little bastard of yours?”.

“That is no way to speak, especially from a lowly Clerk such as you,” Alfred said before a loud sound rang in the station.

Karjev’s attention was diverted to the graffiti on the wall, there were some pretty cool designs. He had seen better, but these weren't bad. His analysis of the drawings got cut short when he heard a soft ‘pop’ go off from the station. Well, that wasn't really what grabbed his attention, the lights wavered for the first time since they came to the station, and the automatic door at the entrance woke to life and closed. Karjev tried to see what was going on inside, but the shift to sudden darkness left him blinded for a moment.

When the lights woke back to life he saw Alfred stepping out of the station, the automatic doors opening for him. He stood at the entrance shaking off dust from his cufflink and held a beautiful leather briefcase.

The doors closed behind him as he walked back to the car.

“Where did you get the briefcase from?” Karjev asked.

“It is a nice nifty trick I know, I’ll show you later”, Alfred said, as he tossed his case to Karjev, “all of our items are there, get comfortable inside again, we still have a long drive ahead of us”

Karjev got back in his seat and buckled in while Alfred refueled the car. Karjev opened the case to pull out some chocolate chip cookies for later, right after he closed the case and put it in the back seats.

A sudden shriek turned Karjevs attention back to the station. The yellow lights turned red And he saw something that looked like the imprint of someone's hand clawing at the window.

Karjev felt as if time froze seeing as the handprint slowly faded as did the shrieks. His mesmerization and fear only cut when Alfred opened the door and got back in. making Karjev quickly turn away from the door.

“We are refueled, enjoy your snacks, let's be on our way.”

Alfred said slowly pulling out of the gas station