Ch.1- Elimination
My heart pounded as I ran up the side-walk. "I am so late.." I mumbled. I was supposed to meet Wistley at the movies twenty minutes ago, if I hadn't tripped getting out of the shower and liquid stitched my neck cut, I could have been on time, I mentally chastised myself, touching the make shift gauze pad and tape bandage. Wistley was looking forward to the new Matt Reagan movie, too. Hopefully, she already went inside and saved seats. I finally made it and opened the door to go inside, only to find the place empty. "Where is everyone?" Chi asked as he climbed out of my jacket and perched on my shoulder. Chi is my pet chipmunk, who so happens can talk. However, only I have been able to understand what he says. I shrugged lightly and began looking around for Wistley or any sign of life really. I checked the ticket booth and bathrooms, coming up empty. "Anything?" I called to Chi; I had sent him to go check the staff rooms and behind the concession stand. "Nothing!" As he climbed up to my shoulder, I began to make my way to the theatre rooms. As I opened one of the doors, a rush of cold hit me, I slowly made my way down the aisle, when I saw them and froze.
A full theatre and a movie in mid-play. But, that's not all the reason to why I stopped in my tracks. Everything was frozen. A sheen of ice-covered the screen, mid-scene of Matt Reagan throwing a punch. Everyone in the seats were blue and purple, a layer of frost covering them. It honestly looked like a blizzard had hit. I found Wistley towards the top and rushed to her. I kneeled before her, checking for a pulse, only to find none. " Is she..dead?" Chi asked, nuzzling against my cheek. I was so confused and my eyes began to water. I got an odd sensation than and looked up to find her staring at me. I jumped up and back a little, Chi scurrying up my arm. Her eyes were completely white, and she was still blue-purple. "Wistley?" I whispered. She jerked suddenly and opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound came. Chi began to shake and crawled into my jacket, whimpering. Wistley began to move again, she opened her mouth and suddenly a loud boom filled the air, as if a bomb went off. Then, a beeping began to sound, like an alarm. Suddenly, it felt as if I was falling. The beeping became louder and louder. The scene in front of me started to turn fuzzy, until it were consumed by the beeping.
I opened my eyes to find myself lying in my bed, tangled in a heap of blankets and sheets. Sunlight strewn in through my curtains. Suddenly, I realized what had awoken me was my alarm. I blinked off the haze sleep had left and stretched while laying down still. Just a dream.. I thought, But something felt off about it. Like there was a truth behind it. Another vision? I felt a stirring and realized Chi were curled next to me. "Morning!" He exclaimed, emerging from his own entanglement of sheets. Chi is a morning kind of chipmunk, which I detest since I'm not a morning person. I mumbled a 'good morning' and rolled out of bed, lazily.
I trudged to the bathroom to pee and shower. I heard the TV blaring in the living room and smelled eggs, meaning Wistley must be awake already. After my shower, I got dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie, braiding my long hair into a fishtail. I looked in the mirror, taking in my features. I was fairly slim for a seventeen year old girl, long deep scarlet hair that flowed down my waist. Toned skin, not pale but not extremely tan. No freckles, despite the red hair; and not too tall either: 5'3". The bags under my eyes stood out, making the well-being of my sleep last night obvious. I patted my cheeks to put some color into them when Chi scurried up my arm and curled into my hood, laying his head on my shoulder. "Kiki!" he yelled, too animatedly for my liking at this time of morning. "Any jobs today?" he asked. I shrugged, " I haven't checked the Mage Request Post yet," I answered. I'm a fire mage, an elemental mage to be more precise. Kind of like a wizard, but without the spells and potions. Where regular fire Mages need a source to control fire, I can make fire out of nothing, However, Wistley is a forestry Witch so she needs spells and potions to use her magic and Chi- well he is just a talking chipmunk whose voice only I can hear.
That's us, the elemental mage, forestry witch, and talking chipmunk.
"I wanted to take a day off, but when's rent due?" I asked, walking into the living room. "Next week, we need to check the post, I'm broke." Wistley said, taking a bite of eggs. I sighed, walking into the kitchen to make some toast. "Ooh! Kai! I learned a new spell, wanna see?" She asked, grinning excitedly. I nodded, popping a piece of bread in the toaster. She began mumbling in a language I didn't know, then my vision blanked. Light burst forward and suddenly I was in what looked to be a tropical forest. I could hear the sound of birds and insects flying around. I smelled plants and flowers covered in due and dirt. I felt the mist hit my face and the humidity on my skin. If I hadn't hit the coffee table with my leg, I could have sworn she was showing me a teleportation spell to a jungle. My eyes became clear as the light left, like being sucked out by a vacuüm. "That's.. Amazing Wist.," I said, a little out of breath and collapsing in a nearby chair. The room change was so sudden that I felt dizzy and disoriented. Her chocolate-brown eyes lit up and she smiled a little sheepishly. " Sorry, it still needs work, but this book I found at the library has so many spells in it! It's so cool!" she exclaimed. I smiled at her and noticed she was already dressed for the day. It was a shock considering I usually have to drag her out of bed.
Wistley was the 'girl next door' kind of beautiful. Chocolate brown eyes, Chocolate brown hair, great figure, and a 'Go with the Flow' personality to top it off. She was wearing blue skinny jeans, black converse, and a one shoulder white blouse. I looked at the wall mirror across the room, at my deep sea-foam green eyes and sloppy hairstyle. I felt so inferior to her beauty. I sighed and stood up, retrieving my toast and buttering it, heading to my room. Chi was right on my heels as I said, " Well, let's get going, before all the good jobs are taken." I heard her agreement as I slid off my hoodie, in favor of a purple, lacey, racer-back tank top and black converse. I threw my messenger bag over my shoulder, when Wistley appeared beside me, " purple looks good on you," she said, looking at my blouse. "Thanks, everything looks good on you." she scoffed, " yeah right." We giggled at each other as Chi scampered up my leg and sat on my shoulder. "Let's go!" he said, making a Captain Morgan pose. I giggled as Wistley scratched his ears, "what did he say?" she asked. Wist knows Chi can talk, but doesn't understand him. " ' Lets go!' "She smiled and we began to walk out the door and down the hallway of our apartment to the elevator, when two guys stepped off. I normally wouldn't show any sign of interest, but Wist gave no sign of noticing them. Neither did Chi. I gave them a closer look, when I noticed a shimmer around their frame. Invisibility magic! I thought. no wonder Wist and Chi can't see them. I continued to stare at them, pondering ideas on why they would feel the need to hide themselves. Though, elemetalists can see through all common magic, it's the advanced unique illusions I have a hard time with. Maybe they're robbers. Or terrorists? Rapists? They stared back at me, probably wondering If I can see them. So instead of saying something, I took in their appearances. Just incase I need to give a statement later to the police. The first one who had come off the elevator had dark green eyes, tan skin, and reddish-brown hair. He wore a royal blue T-shirt, with a black jacket, faded blue jeans and Vans. He was slim and muscular and had a stance about him that made him look ready for a fight at any moment. The other guy was almost his opposite. Jet black, disheveled hair, pale, and had a slight point to his ears. His eyes were a beautiful pale blue, he wore a zipped up faded black jacket and dark jeans, but the same Vans. He was also slim, with a hint of muscles, but had a more laid back stance.
As I stared them down, I felt Chi wiggle, "Kiki! Stop spacing out! The elevator is here! Come on!" The brown-haired boy shifted his eyes to glance at Chi, then back to me. They both stared in shock now as they realized I could see them. Could he understand Chi? "Kai? What're you staring at?" Wistley asked, concerned. They had nothing to do with me, so I left them alone and looked at Wistley, smiling, "Nothing, just spaced out again. Lets go." I said walking past them and onto the elevator. The two guys still stood there, dumb founded. As the elevator door began to close, I made eye contact with both of them and winked.
Once the elevator was in motion, I sighed and smiled. " Are you okay?" Wist asked. Chi put his tiny paw on my forehead and nuzzled my cheek. I laughed, " I'm fine, but there was two guys who came off the elevator using invisibility spells. They seemed pretty shocked when they realized I could see them. They didn't look dangerous. Most likely new arrivals to the complex, Nora wouldn't let them in until finalized paper work but they wanted to get a head start. I didn't want to break there cover, so I decided to not say anything yet. Besides, it would only stall time for us to get to the MRP." I laughed a little more and after a minute of thinking it over, Wist laughed too. "Were they cute?" she asked as we got off the elevator, exiting the building. " Yeah,one had brown hair and was so fine!" I said fanning myself. We both laughed ou heads off, Chi looking disapproving. "Boys! Kiki doesn't need them, you have me!" I giggled, "Chi doesn't like them." Wistley laughed.
"That reminds me..Chi when you spoke, the brown headed boy looked at you as if he could understand you. I thought only i could understand you?" We passed an antique shop and stopped under an awning near the library, waiting on Wistley as she went in. Chi was quiet for a minute, then made a slight shrug gesture, "you should. That's how the spell works. 'the one who hears what cannot be heard, and see things which cannot be seen, will be the one you must follow,' I've been alive 246 years and nobody has been able to hear except you." Chi scratched his head and went off into came out a few minutes later carrying three books. "Ready?" I asked. She nodded, putting them into her expansion bag. We began walking towards the MRP, me explaining what they two boys looked like in detail the whole way. Chi was quiet the whole trip, most likely thinking about the spell. We finally came upon the MRP. It used to be a Cathedral, its gothic design looming high in the sky. The name engraved at the top of the building.
Our branch was the Imperial district. We're like a family here, each town containing one. To put it simple, its like were all clubs, or guilds as I've heard some refer. So I guess the Imperial Guild? Imperial Post, I didn't really care. My mind was brought out of its state of thinking as the official asked for my mark. I turned to show her my branding. Each class of Magic had its own mark. Mine 'EM' for Elemental Mage. Wistley has a 'W' for Witch. My red brand shone off my right shoulder-blade as the sun hit it. She nodded, motioning in. I saw Wist use a wand to make the section of her jeans go see through so that the official could see her blue 'W'. She was motioned in and we made our way to the bar, smiling good mornings at our fellow 'family' members.
"Good morning Wistley, Kai!" Morgan, the bar maid, beemed at us. She was wearing her usual Jeans and green corsetted top. Her hair layed in waves down her back and her hazel eyes shone with content. "Morning!" Wistley said enthusiastically. " Can we get two bottles of water?" I asked. She nodded and turned to retrieve them. I poked Wistley and nodded my head towards the request board. She nodded and turned back to Morgan. i made my way over and was in the middle of picking between a 300,000 and 500,000 pound job; when the mediator, a short, old, hateful but caring women, came bounding down the stairs. "Kai Locke! Wistley McGarden! Front and center!" she shouted. We both made our way over to her, Chi climbing to lay on my head.
"The council has sent us two newbies to the trade from Shrine Post. Jax Arting and Christian Hart. A Faery-" she said, then shifting her gaze to me, " and a Hunter." She said. my eyes harden and my fists clenched. She gave me a stern look, "I'm giving you a special job, 1,000,000 pounds, to show them how things run here. Kai, i know you have a beef with Hunters," I tried to keep the detest off my face, but it was hard. They were scum who'd do anything for the money, even leave someone to die. I had my reasons, and that was that," but I need you to suck it up this once, understand?" I nodded and looked away.
"What's the mission?" Wistley asked. " Princess Hazel from The Land of Trees was kidnapped by Woodland apes yesterday. You're job is to rescue her, that simple." She finished. 1,000,000 pounds to rescue a spoiled brat princess, perfect. Spending the next seven to eight days with a Hunter, shoot me. I picked Chi off my head and held him in my eyes, staring at the floor a few feet in front of me. " When do we get to meet these guys?" Wist asked. The mediator looked to her watch, then up the stairs she had come down earlier. "I left them up there to finish some paperwork, but they should be down any moment. It wasn't a lot." I took my bottle of water from Wist, taking a swig from it and facing away from the stairs, "I'm heading home to pack and tell Nora we'll give her the rent in a week or two." I started for the door when Wistley called, "What about Jax and Christian? Aren't you gonna greet them?"
I Stopped, barely turning my head over my shoulder. "Why should I? Just bring them to the apartment later." I said. "Kai! That's not very welcoming or friendly." The mediator chastised. "Do you think it was 'friendly' of the Hunters to leave me for dead? Steal all my belongings during a mission and leave me there in the rain and cold to die? I don't care. The faster the job's done the better." I said this without turning around, " Well, you know we aren't all murderers, some of us actually have a heart and conscience," a male voice said. I whirled around and froze. It was them, from the apartment. The invisible guys. "and I don't think you should classify us as all bad because of one incident." It was the brown headed boy who was speaking. "It's not just that one time. I've worked with countless Hunters, all of which didn't care about anything but the reward. Not public safety or the risk of their comrades. Money. That's all." I spat.