On the designated day, sneaking into the city took me an hour. It mostly consisted of paying the exorbitant fees to take a taxi from the motel to Faircreek in the southwest. There, the abandoned city docks and the crumbling warehouses made for an urban maze of derelict buildings and low population numbers. Of course, depressed business district or not, it wasn’t empty. Which was why I made sure to drop off and hide my duffel in an empty building before making my way to talk to an old friend.
“Wizard. Haven’t seen you in a bit.” Andy, the green-skinned ganger orc that ran these streets—or at least, a portion of them—greeted me with a toothy smile. “Surprised to see you here. You running another quest?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t know what you’ve heard—”
“Heard enough. Didn’t want to believe it, but you’re really in trouble, aren’t you?” Andy said, deep-set eyes crinkling. “You know I’d love to help you but—”
“No need.” I knew what he was going to say and also knew what he could offer. The enemies I’d made outclassed my friends by far. “But they are going to come for me. If you can get word out to get off the streets…”
“You going to fight here? In my neighborhood?” This time, there was no friendliness in Andy’s voice. He reared up, glaring at me. “What the hell, wizard? Why bring your shit to us?”
“It’s not on purpose. I just need—”
“Bullshit. You’re choosing our place. That’s very much on purpose!”
“I need a place with fewer people!” I snapped. “Or do you want me to do this in the middle of downtown?”
“Sounds great to me. Better than bringing more shit onto us.” Andy pointed at me. “I thought you cared, man. But you wizards are just like the rest. Once you need to, you’re just out to shit on us.”
“That’s not true!” I growled.
But a part of me, a nagging part, pointed out that he might have a point. I could have chosen another neighborhood. I hadn’t even really considered any place else, done any research. Had I chosen a place like this because it was easier? Or was it the best choice? Even if it was the best and reduced the amount of damage to the most number of people, did heaping trouble on those who had the least make it worse?
“Get the hell out of here, wizard. And don’t show your face again,” Andy said, shoving my shoulder.
I took the push and backed off, wanting to explain but realizing nothing I could say would ever justify what I intended to do.
As I backed away, Andy let off one last invective. “Every person hurt by this, it’s blood on your hands.”
Rather than reply, I retreated. Andy barked orders to his subordinates, people who glared at me. I hurried off, turning the corner before casting a glamour to hide my face. In short order, I was another person. I still had a lot of work to do, including scattering my other pouches around the suburb. There was no guarantee that Andy wasn’t being watched, not with him being one of my few friends, but thus far, Alexa hadn’t found them to be keeping an eye on him. That was why I’d risked meeting him.
As I headed away, I glanced sideways, calling forth the Quest Lily had created for me.
Quest Received: Survive for Four Hours
You have been challenged to reenter the city and make yourself available to your opponents. Failure to do so will see the death of your family. As bait, you will need to survive for four hours while Alexa brings your family to safety.
Reward: The safety of your family
Failure: Your death.
Bonus Objective 1: Each additional hour of survival ensures the increased level of safety for your family
Bonus Objective 2: Escape from your pursuers after achieving your first objective
Over the next hour and a half, I moved around the business district, breaking into abandoned warehouses and sneaking into backrooms, leaving my enchanted storage bags in those locations. Of course, just to mess things up, I also cast illusion spells on random pieces of equipment. Plastic bags, a garbage can full of rotten food, and a large pile of fecal matter were among the presents I left for my trackers.
Along the way, I dropped a number of my pre-made enchanted wards, each set to release a single burst of energy. I mostly tuned them so that they triggered when met by an aura with a high enough concentration, ensuring that your random supernatural would not likely trigger them. They were my early warning system. When they went off, I had to smile grimly from the rooftop where I’d been resting.
“Guess it’s time?” I said, closing my eyes. I tapped the ring. “Lily, you might as well pop out.”
“You sure?” Lily said as she appeared beside me, clad in her hoodie and slacks. She pivoted, taking in our surroundings then looking at the sky, taking in the salt-encrusted fresh air that blew in from the docks a few blocks away. She looked down, spotting the runic circle I’d drawn, and shook her head slightly. “You know they’ll pick me out.”
“Yeah. Can’t have you following me, but I thought I’d say bye one last time,” I said. “Can’t stay too long, but… thank you.”
“Good luck, Henry.”
I flashed Lily a grin before hurrying down the stairs, leaving Lily and the trap behind. For a time, her signal and the ring’s would seem the same. Which would lead my enemies right to her. Of course, once I hit the bottom of the stairs, I scattered a pouchful of pepper and cayenne peppers into the air, making sure to keep a Gust spell around my body to ensure that none of it touched me. Once I’d moved away from the pepper, I inverted the spell, keeping my scent locked to my body. It made moving a little harder, but was easier than trying to mimic an entirely new scent via an illusion spell. In the open air, I was forced to redirect the gust upward, shifting my scent into a column into the air and dispersing it high above so that it would be impossible to track me that way.
Head down, ball cap on, I trotted toward my next rally point. I didn’t look back, knowing there was nothing to see. Fifteen minutes later, as I lounged behind a dumpster, the ripple of my ritual circle being broken washed over the entire suburb. The emotional resonance of anger and pain was carried on the spell remnants, making me grin. The ritual circle I’d formed had liquefied the concrete then hardened it, basically dropping anyone on the roof half into the roof before reforming around them. It wouldn’t kill. Probably not even maim, if they were smart about releasing themselves. But it would scare them and hurt them.
I tilted my head, letting the Gust spell I was holding around me disappear. Turning to the side, I eyed the explosive ward I’d scribed into the wall, a ward that was integrated into a simple script—“I prepared Explosive Runes this morning.”
They’d wanted me in the city. So there I was. And now, I would teach them why having me there was a bad idea. Though I was careful to keep my remote attacks to harassing attacks rather than lethal ones. I wasn’t about to leave the equivalent of magical land mines for kids to walk over.
***
I was trotting up the stairs of a mostly empty office building, headed for the roof to get to the next building over, when I heard doors open beneath me. In the corner of my eyes, I noted how the timer was reading just about three hours after the start of this entire thing. The noise from below wasn’t uncommon—the building wasn’t entirely abandoned—but unusual enough that I poked my head over the railing. Only to see a large red, tusked face looking back at me.
“He’s here!” the Oni shouted before he reached down his side.
I jerked backward and hugged the side of the wall as I ran up. A resounding boom made my ears ache and concrete chips rained down around me as the idiot opened fire. He couldn’t even see me! “Asshole.”
I panted as I ran up the stairs, pulling a fire sphere from my vest. I made it to the rooftop access and yanked open the door while hearing the trump of footsteps following me. Another blast, this one making my ears ache again, sent more chips scattering around me and making me nearly drop the sphere. I gripped it tighter, sending a surge of Mana into the sphere to activate it, and tossed it over the railing. It fell and I ducked out, twisting around the doorway. Flames exploded, channeled by the stairwell column into a chimney of heat and smoke. I heard screams from within the stairwell as a gust of fire heated my skin and toasted the tips of my escaped hair.
A part of me felt guilty, knowing that the creatures I’d hurt—maybe killed—were sapients. Living, thinking creatures. Then again, the asses had shot at me immediately, never even taking a moment to check that there wasn’t anyone else there.
…
Fuck. I hadn’t either.
I turned toward the staircase, taking a half-step to it, and got caught by surprise when the door slammed open. An oni, similar to the one that had shot at me but bigger, nearing seven feet tall, ducked out. The monster had to twist to get through the door, so wide that it couldn’t make its way through normally. He saw me and grabbed my jacket and jerked me close.
I flailed for a second, one hand impacting against his face to try to push away. Another hand flicked and twisted, forming a shield just above the oni’s hip—perfectly placed to jerk the creature to a stop as it swung its fist up toward me. The oni jerked to a stop, confused by the sudden jarring motion, even as I finished casting my second spell and sent darts of Mana and fire straight into the monster’s eyes.
Eyes were small, fast-moving targets that were hard to hit. Not surprisingly, the Oni flinched as the bright light and the Mana flew toward its face, meaning that my attack left bloody, singed furrows across its visage. Eyes clenched shut in automatic reaction, the oni threw me aside. I didn’t fly far though, being that I had been thrown into the rooftop access wall and bounced off the edge before landing on the concrete.
Only the impact-resistant wards in my jacket saved me from broken bones. Instead, it spread what impact it didn’t absorb across my body, leaving me winded and in pain but functioning. As I rolled over, I adjusted the location and size of my Force Wall, placing it a foot above me. Just in time too, as the oni’s fist crashed into my hasty shield. I felt myself pressed into the floor, the Force Shield cracking as the built-up momentum from the muscular demon nearly shattered my defense. Before he could throw another attack, I adjusted the Force Shield again.
This time around, I kept it formed as I sent it forward. Rising from the ground, it hit the oni in the chest and lower body and kept rising, even as I twisted the spell formula once more to alter its shape. From Force Wall to a giant cradle, holding the oni around its body as the spell rose, it pushed my opponent farther away from me. There was a moment of surprise before he grabbed the edges of my spell and applied his overly muscled arms to it. In seconds, the already compromised spell shattered.
A little too late. In mid-air, the oni broke my spell and fell, but by this time, momentum and his position sent it off the edge of the roof to his death.
I couldn’t help but grin grimly, hobbling to the side of the office building that had been my initial objective. A hand went into a pocket and another pouch of pepper, cayenne pepper, and durian-scented candles were dumped behind me. I left the durian-scented candles burning with a gesture as I retreated to the next building’s rooftop, hopping down the six-foot drop and landing with a grunt.
With all the commotion, I was sure the rest of my opponents were on their way. I had to retreat far enough that my presence was harder to locate. I kept moving even as I reformed my wind spell to keep my scent contained. I ran along the warehouse roof to the edge of where it met the next street over, then a simple glide and levitation spell combined allowed me to jump across the street while I wrapped myself in a fourth illusion spell, hiding my presence.
When I landed on the other side of the street, I crouched on the rooftop and pulled out another sphere, adjusting the activation portion of the enchantment to target any supernaturally strong aura that came within range and wasn’t mine. I hoped that no one would be wandering the rooftop before daylight rose again, but it was a risk I had to take.
As I rose, halfway to my feet, I froze when I sensed other auras. Strong, powerful, supernatural auras. My lips curled up in a snarl even as I noted that my enemies weren’t bothering to hide their auras. Foolish and cocky. As I scuttled away, I rebuked myself. There was no guarantee that the auras I sensed were the only ones in play.
In fact… I grew more careful, scanning the rooftops for potential dangers. If it was me, I’d use both. Hidden and visible hunters—the first to catch me unaware and the second to make me overly confident. I reminded myself that it was best to stay cautious. That this was our first encounter and it was just a start.
***
For all my mental wariness, the next group caught me by chance twenty minutes later. I was hiding behind a dumpster, only my scent-erasing spell in play. I trusted my position and the aura-dampening enchantments woven into my jacket to keep me hidden. I was waiting, counting off the seconds as the mobile electric scooter running naiads zipped away, intent on the magic explosion two streets away. An explosion that I knew was from someone tampering with one of my enchanted packages.
I was so intent on listening and counting, I hadn’t noticed the Order knights, their all-too-mortal auras bypassing my wariness. I didn’t notice them till the first crossbow bolt took me in the shoulder, the blessed and faith-enchanted bolt cutting through my protective jacket and twisting me around. The second bolt, targeted at my head, missed by inches as I spun about, leaving the bolt thrumming beside my face. Even as the pair of Order knights dropped their crossbows and drew pistols, I was reaching for a sphere.
Fast as I was cross-drawing the sphere, they were faster. I ignored the loud bark of their pistols, watching the bullets glance off the defensive shield that had formed around me as the backup enchantments woven into my jacket came into play. A secondary spell enchantment formed a Force Wall the moment it was pierced. It drew upon the blood I’d spilled to power it, giving it a brief but powerful surge of strength.
An underhanded toss sent the ball skittering under my shield even as the pair of Order knights took turns firing at me while splitting apart. The moment they caught sight of the sphere, they took defensive action. One twisted his hand, raising it sideways as a glowing shield came up to protect him. The other skirted backward into the cover of a dumpster. As my sphere exploded, as the pain from my shoulder made itself known, I pulled open a potion and chugged it.
A blizzard appeared in the alleyway, one that coated the area with slick ice and dropped the temperature to about -40. It bypassed silly things like faith-based shields. Admittedly, it was not the sphere I’d meant to grab, but it worked well enough. The pair of Knights came out of hiding to level their guns at me. I flashed them a smile around the edges of the sports bottle that contained my potion, then I felt the spell kick in.
Unlike my previous translocation spell, this one dropped me into the earth, displacing my body about twelve feet down. I held my breath at the last second as I dropped before I began the slow—and entirely too painful—process of swimming away. The only good news was that the bolt in my shoulder was left behind, the foreign faith enchantments on the bolt hampering my potion’s ability to grip it. Unlike my bag and the rest of my equipment, it didn’t have my aura engrained into it through use and magic—and while the addition of my blood might normally have dragged it along, the faith enchantments rejected the sublimation of the bolt. That meant I didn’t have to try to pull it out.
It did, however, mean that I had an open wound pumping blood into the earth that surrounded me as I swam away. On top of that, I had a limited amount of time in the earth. Not due to the potion’s stability—though that was, admittedly, a concern—but due to my inability to breathe. I had just about a minute before my need to add oxygen to my lungs. If I swallowed earth, it would still be in my chest when I popped back out. That would be somewhat fatal.
As I swam away, searching for an appropriately sized and distant basement, I cast a healing spell on my shoulder. It wouldn’t fix my shoulder, but it would, at the least, stop the gushing blood.
***
It could be worse. I muttered that to myself constantly as I wrapped myself in glamour and illusion, the scent of my now-healed-but-still-bloody shoulder contained into small balls of concentrated air. I sent those gusting off, contained until they reached their designated locations where they would break down. If I couldn’t hide my scent, then I’d overlay it all across the neighborhood to confuse the scent.
Unfortunately, business districts, especially those that used to hold a bunch of warehouses, weren’t particularly known for their small, twisting streets. That meant that I had to make my way down the street in open view. As I scurried along, a cold sweat that dripped down my back made me shiver—even more so when the group of Red Caps turned the corner. One of them was leaning down, sniffing the pavement as he tried to locate me. The others scanned the street, searching for me. One even held up an old monocle. I knew the enchantment in that monocle, knew it searched for telltale portions of magic.
Dangerous, but I’d taken that into account in my own spells. Still, I had never tested the spell against another, so I felt my breathing hitch as the Red Cap looked directly at me. He paused, staring at me, at what he saw through his monocle.
“What is it?” one of the other Red Caps asked.
“Distortion.”
“The Mage?” One of the Red Caps reached into his jacket, pulling out a stone throwing axe.
I felt my breath freeze.
“Not sure. Might just be another trick of his. Or one of the other hunters. Or an ambient change.”
“You could be clearer!”
“This isn’t science.” The Red Cap growled. “It’s not moving.”
“I’m going to throw my axe.” The Red Cap hefted the axe, making a passing car swerve slightly as the driver noted the weapon. That drew the Red Cap’s attention.
The car sped up, the female driver ashen with fear.
“Careful. We don’t want the damn mundanes here,” the monocle-user snarled.
Before he could continue, he shifted, following a flash of darkness, a moving shadow. I tracked the motion too, but with the monocle user no longer looking at me, I reinforced my spell warding, adjusting it, and took four quick steps forward.
By the time the monocle-user looked back, I was away from my original position and hurrying down the street. “Huh.”
“What?”
“It’s gone.”
“So?” The axe-wielder grimaced but slid his axe back into the harness under his jacket, hiding it from casual sight again.
The Red Cap group kept moving, passing on the opposite side of the road. I made myself stop, watching them pass by but doing my best not to look at them directly for fear that they’d somehow sense my attention. Only when they had passed did I scurry forward, though as I turned the corner, I thought I saw the shadow on the second floor shift again.
I frowned, tempted to check it out, but then I felt the impingement of more auras coming down the street and I groaned. Time to move. I took off as my shoulder continued to ache. Maybe drawing everyone to one business district had been a bad idea.
Perhaps I had overestimated my ability to deal with my hunters. But it really didn’t matter. I had a job to do, and my friend, my family were counting on me to keep them busy. I needed to keep going for as long as I could, give Alexa time to get them to safety, to get out of the house. Everything else, from my concerns to weird shades, did not matter.