Post by Lone Dancer on Nov 4, 2022 0:02:17 GMT
Chapter 1
A Fresh Beginning
A Fresh Beginning
Carlos stared at the cerulean blue wall, arm outstretched, mind blank beyond the object of his focus. He saw it vividly in his head, a simple blue construct. An enlarged D20 die. He could envision it rotating above his hand, the numbers decorating each facet.
He took a deep inhale and held it in for a moment before exhaling. His focus was iron, his will absolute. A mantra he repeated to himself. He could see the hazy deep Arcane blue begin to manifest above his hand, but he could not react. To do so would mean failure.
His focus was iron, his will absolute. The hazy shape became more solidified, but the strain increased. It was like pushing against a door while someone else kept it closed, except he was pushing with his mind.
He poured his all into it. He would not fail like all the other times. His will would be absolute. With a surprisingly loud *pop*, the head-sized die came fully into being and plopped into his hand. It felt spongy, cool to the touch but not painfully so.
With it brought a sense of elation. He did it! Spirits above, he actually did it! It was the final exercise in the elementary practice manual he got, meaning he was now proficient, at least at the most basic level.
He tossed the die back and forth between his hands before crashing abruptly onto his bed. The fuzzy grey blanket enveloped him as he stared at the ceiling. Using his mind, he hovered the die above his chest. While there was some strain, it was nowhere close to originally summoning it.
White engraved numbers bespoke of a fully functional dice, so he gently tossed it across the room. With an arc, it bounced off the wall and onto the floor with a tumble. Craning his head, he looked at the result.
It landed on a 17.
Felt symbolic, as his seventeenth birthday was approaching tomorrow. That’s when he could join the Defiant Guild, and truly begin to learn magic. And more importantly, strike back against those who burned his mother away.
His mood darkened at the grisly memory before shaking it off. He shouldn’t dwell on it, couldn’t dwell on it. To do so would bring him back.
Rubbing his eyes, he stood back up. He had a minor headache, but nothing he couldn’t deal with. He had worse just trying to conjure triangles. He chuckled at the memory. He couldn’t help but feel excited looking towards the future.
Before turning seventeen, one’s magic was weakened to a heavy degree. He’s heard theories about that’s when the soul finally solidifies or something along those lines. He always just found it a personal inconvenience. And while there were some exceptions, Jade, cough, cough, they were rare.
He looked around his room. It was small, but it was his: cerulean blue walls, a simple but clean bed in the corner. A small window sat above it, letting warm wavy sunlight trickle in. Beside the bed was a heavy wooden desk with a matching stool. Atop the desk sat an aged leather manual, thick paper explaining magical concepts and diagrams. Those thick pages made the relatively short book appear far longer than it actually was.
A worn dresser, plastic hamper, and small trash bin stood on the other end of the room, nearby the door. Looking out the window, he guessed it was around noon. Maybe. The day cycle wasn’t always the most reliable in the lands of magic.
While heading towards his dresser to get on some proper clothes, rather than glorified pajamas, someone knocked on the door with a basic rhythm as he was getting changed. He already had an inkling of who it could be.
“One moment!” Carlos yelled, shoving his legs down the jeans before yanking them up his waist. Pulling on a basic grey t-shirt, he fumbled with a pair of socks before just foregoing them. He could always wear sandals.
Running a hand through his hair to ensure it wasn’t too unkempt, he opened the door to come face-to-face with Jade.
Her green eyes looked at him with raised eyebrows. Carlos merely sighed. Jade was almost always up to some shenanigans, and more often than not, she got him wrapped into them as well. And seeing how his birthday was tomorrow, she likely had something planned.
“You should learn to change faster,” she quipped at him.
“Mhmm, Miss Just-Give-Me-Five-Minutes.” He rebutted.
“I’ll have you know that those five minutes are essential. A girl has to look presentable; how else am I to attract the ladies?” She waved over her green shirt and darker green pants.
Carlos snorted; she certainly had a motif and stuck with it. Secondly, Jade’s preference for girls was notorious, which led to them both eying the same person more often than he’d like.
“Alright, we have places to be, Carlos; time to get your lazy bum moving.”
Carlos shook his head but went along with it all. Stepping out into the main hallway next to Jade, he appreciated the soft red patterned carpet for his bare feet. Still, he got some sandals from a nearby shoe rack and put them on.
Jade waited patiently enough until he was finished, and then any vestige of patience was gone. Practically tugging on him, Jade led him through the building, a dormitory for people like him.
Despite having an actual house, Carlos was pretty confident Jade spent more time here than there. He pried once, but was swiftly shut down when she informed him expectations were high at her house. He never bothered asking for more. It wasn’t his place.
Some of his fellow dorm mates were also making their way down the hall and gave them both a friendly wave. Jade reciprocated the waves, with Carlos doing the same half-heartedly. Finally, they reached the heavy oak door at the end of the hallway.
Jade effortlessly pushed it open, revealing the main entrance chamber of the dorm. A lot more people were here, most having casual clothing, though Carlos spotted a few traditionalists wearing subdued robes. Chatter filled the air, but he tuned it out.
Jade was dragging him again, so wherever she was taking him, she was rather excited about, he noted. She had dragged him around before, and despite her more petite frame, she had no issues pulling him wherever she wanted. He learned long ago resistance is futile.
She easily cleared room through the crowd, everyone making space for her and him. She got many appreciative nods, while Carlos was mainly ignored. It used to annoy him, but he just accepted it. Jade was one of this place’s shining stars, showing heavy promise in the arts of magic. He was just Carlos, that one orphan guy who she hung around with for whatever reason.
And she was of the Allrun family. That, too, had an impact on how people treated her. Carlos wouldn’t say she was spoiled, but she certainly got a lot more positive reception than he. But like before, he stopped letting it bother him. Well, they reached the exit of the chamber.
Ruminative thoughts over, they were out the large, heavy doors and out of campus. Finally, Jade relented and let go of his arm, which was starting to throb from her iron grip. Shaking it to remove the sensation, Carlos took a deep breath of the fresh air. They were now on the lot that separated the dorm from the rest of the town. She noticed him shaking his arm.
“Oh, come on, I didn’t even grip you that hard.”
“You forget your strength because ow.” She merely shrugged at him, a wry grin painting her freckled face.
“Just like, don’t be weak?”
Carlos chuckled at that. Sounds about right for her.
“Sure, I’ll keep that in mind for future reference.” Giving his arm a few more shakes, he continued, “Now, what was so important you had to nearly pull off my arm in the process?”
She gave him a sly look, green eyes twinkling. Literally. Well, whatever the secret was, it was a big one.
“Don’t worry, you’ll see.” She set off on her swift pace, and Carlos had to struggle to keep up. He was an Arcanist, a Mage, not a Cultivator/Elementalist like her. At least he knew how to run in sandals, or this would’ve been a worse ordeal. Thankfully, she seemed to notice his struggle and slowed slightly.
They swiftly reached the end of the yard and were now in town, rushing down the sidewalks. Cars ambled down the roads, and various stores lined the streets. The air was fresh, faintly charged with magic.
The town had a cheerful and resilient aura to it. With it being the home of the Defiant Guild, that made sense. There weren’t too many pedestrians, so they didn’t have to push through many people. Though they got indignant looks from the few that were.
Jade led him towards a marble box of a building, not very descript beyond fanciful engravings decorating each side and an indent that led to a door. In front of it was a well-tended garden, but they went past that in favor of the walkway to the door.
Jade stood in front of him and rapped on the marble door. There was a moment of no action, but it slowly rumbled upward, allowing Jade and Carlos to duck under and head into the main lobby.
Carlos recognized this place, despite not coming here often. It was the transport hall, where you could send yourself across the magical realm for a fee. A rather expensive fee. If they were here, it meant that wherever Jade wanted to take him wasn’t in town. And that she was willing to spend some big bucks as well.
They walked towards the main desk, made from a dark, solid wood, where a young woman worked. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore white robes that matched the marble interior. A white orb hovered high, casting the place in warm luminescence.
Jade had two silvery medallions at the ready, flashing them to the clerk before Carlos could catch much more than a glimpse. She stored them somewhere, and Carlos figured it was some subspace item. Her family could undoubtedly afford one.
The clerk pointed in a direction with a kindly smile, waving them on their way without a word. Jade resumed her pace as she followed the path set by the clerk. The duo found themselves at another marble door that was almost hidden against the wall, which caused Jade to pull out the medallions once more.
She tossed one to Carlos, and he did his best not to fumble the catch. Thankfully, he was able to snag it quickly and put it around his neck. While Jade was a bit chaotic, he trusted her enough not to bring harm against him. Mostly.
After they both had the silver medallions on, the marble door let out a melodic chime and began to waver. Carlos’s eyes began to feel funny, and he felt a tremendous outpour of power from his surroundings focusing on the door.
After a minute, the door stopped wavering and appeared to retract within to a kaleidoscope of color and light. Without hesitation, Jade stepped forward, and Carlos followed soon after. He made sure to tuck in his medallion, the silvery metal was cool against his skin. Then he entered into the rift.
Chapter 2
Arcade Troubles
Carlos found himself in a strange alleyway, and everything felt odd. He quickly identified the feeling, the sensation of being in the Mortal Plane. Oh.
OH.
Jade turned around with a smile, giving Carlos a small ‘tada!’ motion.
“Seeing how busy you’re gonna be tomorrow, with your birthday and all that, I wanted to take you here before all that.”
He didn’t know how to respond. He’s always been interested in the Mortal Plane, ever since one visit long, long ago, but has never been able to go again. Until now.
“And,” Jade practically sang, “I’m pretty sure there’s one of those arcade thingamajigs nearby.”
Carlos quickly pinched himself several times to ensure he wasn’t dreaming. That caused Jade to laugh as they emerged out from the alleyway. Similar back in his hometown, it was around noon. But unlike his hometown, the rumble of cars was far more aggressive, and much more pedestrians lined the sidewalk. The smell was also unpleasant in comparison.
No one seemed to pay the duo any particular mind, much to Carlos’s relief. He looked around with awe, almost spinning to absorb it all in.
The Mortal Plane was almost a mirror of the Magical Realm, but with far less magic and far more technology. People bumped into him, breaking him from his reverie. Their glares told him plainly to get moving. He obliged and began going with the flow. Jade was nearby, so if anything were to happen, she could handle it.
He didn’t know where he was going at first, but from across the street, he spotted it.
‘Jumbo Bumbo’s Arcade of Fun.’
It was a name to be sure, but all he cared about was the Arcade part. Making sure he didn’t lose his wits, he kept walking until he reached the crossroad. Like the others waiting, he kept watching for the glowing sign to change iconography.
They did after a moment, and Carlos nearly barreled ahead, having to restrain his own pace. A flash of green in the corner of his eyes told him Jade was right behind. Finally across, he followed the flow of people towards the arcade, which was nestled between two other shops.
Popping in through the glass door, the sounds of the outside city were now awash by the sounds of the arcade. Beeps, chirps, and electronic music bounced across the black-painted walls with various neon decals. The place reeked of sweat mixed in with some sort of cleaning agent.
But he was more than willing to excuse the misgivings of the place due to the rows upon rows of arcade machines. Checking over the machines, he found the supposedly classic pek-girl game, where you eat triangles and avoid monsters in a maze.
He just had one problem. He had no quarters or cash to get them. But a gleam in the carpet caught his eye. There was a dropped token on the ground. Well, that was convenient. But he didn’t complain. It was made from a bronze metal, with a simple star design on the face.
Rubbing it over in his hand, he got a feel for the coin. Once he felt confident in his forming mental construct, he made sure no one was watching him. He wanted to try something out. Looking around, he noticed that there was only like one employee around, but they weren’t paying attention to the area Carlos was in.
Jade was in the arcade, and it appeared she was chatting up with a girl with green dyed hair who was playing some whack-a-bug game. They seemed to be hitting it off. Well, they did have green in common, Carlos thought. But he noticed that one guy also had an eye on the chatting pair, but his gaze was the opposite of friendly.
He trusted Jade to take care of herself, but still, he was wary. But he brought his focus back to the pek-girl game. Again, confident no one was looking his way, too absorbed in their own games, he made an attempt to conjure a construct that copied the token. He began chanting his mental mantra.
It was harder than he thought, and he bit back the urge to groan audibly, but the desire was still there. Nonetheless, he was able to do it. It was the same shape and size, albeit made from a dim glowing blue rather than a bronze metal.
The moment of truth was upon him, and he tried inserting the token he conjured into the provided slot. He waited with bated breath and let out an exhilarated exhale as the machine beeped to life.
Putting his hands on the joystick and singular red button, he pressed start. His readings let him have an idea of how to operate these games, so he wasn’t completely flailing about. He watched his bow-wearing pink circle go down the corridors of this digital maze, happily munching away on triangular pellets.
Distracted in his reverie, he didn’t notice until it was too late, and pek-girl bumped into one of the monsters, falling over and dying. With a chime, the game restarted him back at the center, albeit with one less life than before.
He immersed himself in the simple visuals, moving his character along the maze, avoiding monsters, eating pellets, and generally having a good time. He lost his second life due to a panicked move that left him stuck, but on his third, he won the game with a victorious melody emitted by the arcade machine.
Pulling back, he got back into his surroundings and noticed the commotion. Turning around, he found the guy from earlier lying on the ground. Jade was fuming above him, and the green-haired girl seemed to be panicking if the fact she was literally pulling at her own hair was any indication.
What appeared to be one of the guy’s friends was yelling at Jade, but she wasn’t listening in. She was glaring intently at the downed guy, face flushed. It didn’t escape Carlos’s notice that the edge of her knuckles was bloodied.
He sighed. He wanted to spend more time here, but good things rarely last, do they. The commotion obviously attracted the employee, and was trying, and failing to manage the situation. Shaking the slight nervousness from his system, he approached the scene.
Jade eyed him over at his arrival, before sighing and unclenching their fist. Ignoring the employee guy, she turned to her still-panicking fellow.
“Sorry, Hannah. It was nice meeting you, but I gotta go with my friend now. Sorry about this whole… thing.” She waved to the still-downed body. Carlos was beginning to become legitimately concerned she just killed the guy, but a well-timed pained groan revealed the man was alive, though miserable.
The employee tried to move to stop their passage. While a sizable man, Jade just barged through him, easily pushing him to the side. This left the arcade employee stunned, and he awkwardly gawked, before crying out for them to wait, be shaking his head.
Cultivators like Jade didn’t mess around. Carlos still wasn’t sure what Element she subscribed to, but whatever it was, it was a potent one. It was one of the few questions beyond her home life that Jade never answered.
They were now back outside, walking through the crowd. Jade acted as a breach, with people flowing around her. Carlos stayed close behind lest he got swallowed up. Eventually, they reached back towards the crosswalk and made their way to the other street.
As they walked, a hooded person bumped into Jade, but before they could retreat, Jade’s iron grip was on their arm. With her other hand, she extracted the attempted stolen wallet and put it back in her pocket before releasing her grip and patting the hooded person on the back, hard, letting them on their way.
Carlos could plainly see that Jade was done.
“So, uh, how do we get back?” He asked, raising his voice to be heard over the loud street. She stayed silent for a moment before responding.
“We go where they aren’t many eyes and squash the medallions to return. But do we really want to go back? It’s been barely any time. I’m sure we can find something else.” She then quietly added, “Sorry for making your arcade visit a bust.”
Carlos collected his thoughts before he spoke.
“I’m sure that what happened was deserved.”
“I shouldn’t have let him get to me.”
“Well, you’ll make him reconsider his actions in the future.”
Jade sighed, barely audible through the chatter of the sea of pedestrians.
“Will I have, though? He might remember me, but will it truly change what he will do in the future? Because he couldn’t beat me, so he’ll just beat others.”
Carlos stayed silent; he just had no response to that. They both continued walking forward without direction. Cars beeped and honked at each other; people chattered and argued in rising crescendos. Looking down, the concrete was worn by all those who tread it. Up above, clouds began to cover the sun, making the city look downcast.
After another minute of silence, Carlos spoke up again.
“So, are there any other places you had in mind?”
Jade turned her head to face him.
“You really have nowhere else you wanted to go?”
“Well, I never considered being able to head here, so I never considered anywhere besides an arcade.”
Jade sigh/laughed, looking up at the cloud-draped sky.
“I guess next time, I should tell you ahead of time, so we don’t end up like this again.” Jade then continued.
“Oh yeah, why are you so fascinated with here? Honestly, in my opinion, it’s kinda boring. No magic, just some fancy gadgets.”
“But isn’t that in itself interesting? They have no magic yet can do a lot of the things we can do.”
She considered his statement for a moment.
“Yeah, I guess so. Well, I guess we should head back. Pretty short trip, not even 30 minutes. Unless you wanna go eat Mortal food or something.”
“We have no money, as far as I’m aware.”
“Damn it, you’re right. I should’ve considered that.”
Carlos couldn’t help but laugh. Even Jade could be a bit scatterbrained in her preparedness. She joined in with his laughter after a moment. After they were done, she spoke.
“Thanks, I needed that.”
“No problem.”
They did a bit more walking ahead, and Carlos was left to his thoughts. He was appreciative of Jade’s attempt, despite its quick end. He enjoyed his little game of Pek-girl. Maybe he’ll make an Arcane construct of it one day.
The ideas of an Arcane Arcade floated through his head as he considered the possibilities before being abruptly dragged out of those thoughts by getting yanked by Jade into a random store.
He found himself staring at a huge collection of antique clothing and wares, the place smelling faintly of cigarette smoke. A bell chimed merrily at their entry before Jade pulled him further in, hissing into his ear.
“We’re being followed.”
His stomach dropped. Those weren’t words he was expecting, nor wanting to hear.
“By who?” He whispered back. He wasn’t sure why they were whispering, he felt kinda silly but also highly concerned.
“Unpleasant people, by the looks of it.”
“What do we do?”
“We head deeper in and crush medallions. Go.”
After Jade finished speaking, she started making quick strides to the back of the store, weaving through isles and out-of-fashion clothing.
Spirits above, could they just catch a break, Carlos nearly muttered to himself as he followed behind. While the door was out of sight, he could hear the bell welcome the unseen person with a ring.
His steps were more frantic as he pulled out his medallions from under his grey shirt. Gripping it tightly, he followed Jade’s instructions. Squeezing it, he could hear shouting behind him, but he couldn’t understand the words as everything began to waver.
From the corner of his eye, he could see someone try to lunge for them, but everything went blinding white before they could touch him. He swore he heard someone curse, but everything was garbled.
He was back in the marble transport hall, heart pounding. He tried to get his thoughts in order, but all he could think about was the outstretched hand.
“That was too close.” He spoke but got no response from Jade. Glancing around, she wasn’t there.
His panic swelled in his chest, and things became blurry. But before things became too bad, a flash of green appeared in front of him. It was Jade, and she looked worse for wear. Her hands were on her knees, and she was panting hard.
Carlos noticed her clothes were scratched up and mildly torn in some areas. That was hardly good. He drew his gaze upward, and her verdant eyes met his.
“I’m fine, but we don’t speak of that, ever.”
“But-”
“No buts, what happened stays between us until I can sort things out.”
“Fine.” He wasn’t sure what just happened, but if Jade didn’t want him telling, he wasn’t going to. She sighed, having caught her breath.
“Well, let’s just head back to the dorm. I’ll change clothes, my parents won’t murder me, and you can get ready to celebrate your birthday. No one will be none the wiser.”
Carlos nodded. Now that the panicked adrenaline rush was over, he was frankly exhausted now. Being able to crash back into his bed sounded like a lovely idea.
They walked back out to the main lobby of the transport hall, and thankfully, the clerk made no comment on the duration of their trip. Like before, no one else was here. The marble entrance rumbled upwards automatically at their presence, and they exited the hall without much fanfare but with a good bit of crouching.
The trip back to the dorm was uneventful. It was later in the afternoon, the sun having decided to jump forward a bit. When they reached the yard of the dorm, Jade let Carlos go first. She didn’t want to be seen with her torn clothes.
Carlos could understand, and went ahead without her. The walk up the yard was peaceful, and he enjoyed the fresher air. Pulling open the heavy front doors was a slight struggle, but he managed. The main entrance chamber was not as crowded as before, and for the most part he was ignored besides a few wayward glances.
Heading back to the hallway containing his room, he slipped off his sandals and put them back on the provided shoe rack. Placing his hand on the doorknob let the door verify his identity, and he made his way inside.
The room was how he left it, beyond a now faded-looking d20, but nothing seemed as inviting as his bed was at the moment. He gladly obliged its awaiting embrace and crashed face-first into it without dignity.
Slowly he turned, now staring directly at the featureless ceiling. He had no real purpose to his gaze beyond trying to get his thoughts in order. Trying to process everything that just happened was nearly overwhelming as it all happened in such a short span.
His thoughts wandered back to the shop. The way the reaching arm was seared into his memory. It was distorted in his mind, long and black, more monster than anything resembling human. It was the kind of thing you saw in nightmares rather than in the waking world.
But this was the magical realm; dreams and reality were heavily intertwined. Nevertheless, what concerned Carlos more was the fact that was the Mortal Plane. Still, he consoled himself over the fact it was more likely exaggerations caused by his mind than anything too sinister.
But why were people following them?
It was this question that plagued Carlos the rest of the day and into the night.