Luci observed that the spiky, pinkish-haired man appeared to be smashed. The same could be said for the black-haired one. The former was wearing a white scarf with a scale pattern, underneath was an unbuttoned, black polo shirt with rolled up sleeves and a white undershirt underneath that. He also had on some khaki, cargo pants and black sandals. The latter was wearing a white, buttoned up polo shirt with long sleeves. Around his neck appeared to be a cross-shaped, chain necklace and some dog tags. His legwear was a pair of denim jeans and black, leather shoes.
On the floor was a broken, glass beer mug. Luci assumed that the beer mug was the black-haired man's. The other was barely holding on to his bottle of beer, which looked like it could slip out of his fingers at any second.
"Where are you goin'? Over the fuckin' counter?" the black-haired man said as he pushed the former away from him. The pink-haired man knocked down a set of chairs as he fell down. The patrons nearby quickly got up and went towards Luci's side of the bar to pay their tabs and leave.
"Ummm...Mira? Maybe you should get Elijah over here pronto..." she said to the waitress-slash-owner. The white-haired woman quickly nodded as she stepped back and turned around to look for her brother-slash-bouncer.
The pink-haired man staggered as he stood up. "Tough guy, 'ah? Come on! I can t-take ya!" he said as he attempted to get into a drunken fighting stance. The black-haired man simply scoffed as turned away, walking slightly crookedly in the direction of Luci, who was quickly gathering her things so she could leave.
"I don't...have time for this crap..." he said as he tried to keep his balance, only for-
"OY! FASHE MEH LIKE A MAN!" the other man shouted as he threw a flaming fist at the latter. The black-haired man was barely hit as the former crashed through a wooden post.
"AIEEEEEE!" Luci screamed mentally as her eyes widened in shock. The guy was a Mage! A drunk Fire Mage no less!
The black-haired man, who was on the floor after diving at the right moment, had an eager look on his face. "So it's gunna be like dat, huh jackass?!" he said as he struggled to stand as he formed a baseball bat made out of ice in his right hand.
"WHAAAAAATTT?! He's a Mage too?!" Luci screamed in her mind again as she made a rush for the exit. Only for-
*CRASH!*
*Cue the Cancan!* (I recommend the rock version. :D )
Two halves of a table barely missed her and a few more patrons, slamming into the doors' hinges. Unfortunately, the doors were the pull-in type, trapping her and the few other unlucky guests in the main bar area.
"You an Ice Mage?! Pshaw! This is gonna be a cakewalk!" the Fire Mage boasted as he put his hands in a trumpet holding-style position in front of his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he blew a large, continuous stream of flame at the Ice Mage, engulfing him in it.
Luci and the others dove behind the bar counter and wherever they could use as cover. Luci found a familiar face taking cover there as well: Lisa, Miranda's sister.
"Lisa!"
"Luci!"
"Where's Mira?" the reporter asked amongst the sounds of ice, furniture and wood breaking filled the room.
"She's still looking for Eli! Apparently he went out to buy tissue rolls for the bathrooms!"
"Don't you have any other security here?!"
Lisa looked away uncomfortably.
"DAMMIT! THESE GUYS ARE GONNA KILL US!" Luci thought as more debris and furniture started flying everywhere. The doors were now blocked by a growing pile of broken chairs and tables. The only other way out was up, since the two drunken Mages were blocking the other entrance.
Luci turned to Lisa.
"I have an idea! Get the others upstairs!" she shouted.
"What about you?" Lisa replied as she crawled past her. Luci gave her her bag as she held up her camera.
"I'm gonna do some investigative reporting..."
As Lisa crawled over the hiding patrons and directed them towards the stairs, Luci turned on her dual-lacrima reflex journalism camera and kneeled behind the counter as she exposed her head and aimed the camera, hoping that the thick wood would protect her from any bigger debris. She was going to expose these two assholes' bullshit to the world, and hopefully ruin their lives for thrashing her friends' bar, threatening people's lives and making her bad mood even worse.
Meanwhile, the Ice Mage was defending himself from the flaming, multi-fist barrage the Fire Mage was throwing at him with some ice gauntlets. He successfully managed to parry almost all of them until a punch in the gut broke through his defense, burning his lower shirt and knocking the wind out of him, followed up by a flaming uppercut which threw him on a table.
"Just give up already, man! We both know imma win this!" the Fire Mage boasted as the Ice Mage picked himself up. The pink-haired firebreather was standing triumphantly, confident in himself that this cold-ass motherfucker was nothing compared to him. After all, his grandfather taught him all the tricks!
The Ice Mage spat to his side as he got on a knee.
"I guess there's no holding back now, asshole"
He slammed his hand on the ground in front, ice emerging from the floor around the Fire Mage's legs and encasing them. The former was taken by surprise.
"Hey waitaminute-" he thought as he looked down after feeling some sudden cold surrounding his legs, not noticing the Iceman stand up and clasp his hands together in front of his chest. He opened his arms swiftly, with multiple large icicles materializing around the Fire Mage, pointed straight at him.
"ICICLE STORM!"
The icicles flew towards the Fire Mage in the blink of an eye. The Mage was faster however, alighting his legs with flames, breaking out of the ice to dive and roll forward, the icicles missing as he used the momentum to make a mad dash towards the Ice Mage. His arms were surrounded in fire, trailing as he jumped and fired a large blast at his opposite-element counterpart, who blocked it with a shield of ice which formed into an ice polearm which he used to swat the Fire Mage out of the air.
"Finally! A REAL fight!" he exclaimed as he caught the polearm as it was thrusted in his direction. He pulled it towards himself, stepping aside as his opponent staggered, and threw a flaming punch to his face, at the same time firing a large blast of fire which sent the Ice Mage flying once more. He crashed into another wooden column.
"Maybe ye aren't as weak as I thought you Ice Mages were, buddy!" the human flamethrower said as he rubbed his fist, which was becoming sore. Suddenly, a thick cage of ice sprang up around him.
"What? Yer kiddin' me!" the Fire Mage amusingly reacted as the cage was clearly not enough to hold him. What he didn't expect was for the ceiling and floor to lower and rise instantly, seemingly crushing him.
The Ice Mage got up and dusted himself off. Meanwhile, behind the counter, Luci had managed to take a crap ton of pictures of the two fighting. Although, this time she looked through the lens in speechless shock. Did he just kill the other man?!
"Guuhhh...and dat's...the end of dat..." the Ice Mage mumbled as he stumbled over to the counter.
"Hello? Waitress? Augh...how much for...how many did I down again...n-nine? Nine beers?" he muttered as he supported himself by leaning on the counter. Luci froze, hoping that he would be too drunk to bother looking over.
Then they both heard the ice cracking.
"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The man who Luci thought got crushed to death, and the man who the Ice Mage thought he subdued, was literally on fire as he burst out of the icy prison.
"Awww come ON!" the Ice Mage said as he slammed a fist on the table.
The human flame was completely engulfed in fire as one hand was balled into as fist as he pointed a finger at the Ice Mage.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE A ROYAL FIRE MAGE!" he screamed confidently. Luci peered out and gulped. Here they go again!
"Royal schmoyal...can we hurry up? I still have shit to do..." the Iceman boredly said as he dusted his shoulders and cracked his fingers. His opponent wasted no time in charging at him again.
The Ice Mage formed a wall of thick ice in front of him. His flaming opponent crashed through it without missing a beat, forcing the former to create a thicker ice dome around himself. The Fire Mage started punching the dome at near-blinding speed. In response, the Ice Mage launched a pillar of ice from under his opponent, sending him through the ceiling.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the people screamed as the Fire Mage recovered mid-air and used his flames to propel himself back at the Ice Mage, creating a moderate explosion on the ground floor.
Luci grabbed the counter to keep her from violently hitting the cabinet, which fell on the counter, fortunately leaving a decent space for her to crawl through.
Outside, Miranda and her younger brother-slash-bouncer, Elijah, neared the progressively collapsing Stahlern Tavern. The ripped man was dressed in a black jacket with large, gold letters that spelled "Bouncer" on the back and some denim jeans with a chain for his wallet. His whitish hair was styled in a spiky flat top, a hairstyle he adopted after he became the bar bouncer.
"Holy mother Thera! The hell are these guys?" he exclaimed as they got nearer.
Mira was speechless as they closed the distance to one of the blocked doors.
"Ugh...I'd prefer it more if it were just two normal guys fighting WITHOUT Magic. That's how real men settle differences!" Eli said as he peered through one of the wrecked windows. The two were still at each other's throats among the now partially burning remains of the main bar area.
"The ice guy has some balls fighting without a shirt! Or anything else on though!"
"Eli!"
"Sorry, sorry. Now let' see about getting inside..." the bouncer said as he examined the debris blocking the door.
"Mira?"
"Yes, Eli?" the worried waitress asked as she looked on.
"Why didn't you guys call the police?"
"Well, umm...they weren't using magic when I left to find you..." she said as she looked down in shame.
"Ehhh...that's...understandable, I guess. I'm afraid we can't bust through these without hurting ourselves."
The debris was too thick, so the two decided on the side entrance, which was much closer to the fighting and only blocked because of it.
"You take cover, Mira. I'm afraid I'll have to kick these doors down to get their attention!" Eli said as he readied himself while Mira hid behind a mailbox.
"HI-YAAAHH!" he shouted as the doors were blown open with such force that they were sent flying towards the two combatants.
"GAAH!"
"OWW!"
The Fire and Ice Mages were hit by the doors. It didn't knock them down, but it made them stop fighting for a while.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS?!"
"Ha?"
"HEY! DIS IS BETWEEN ME AN'-"
The Fire Mage was silenced by a left hook to the face, knocking him out immediately. The Ice Mage, dazed, was K'Oed by a right backhand, spreading him face-down on the floor. Eli, breathing heavily, had his attention piqued by the sound of a camera shutter clicking.
"Huh?" he said as he looked in the direction. He saw Luci behind the ruined counter holding her camera.
"Luci? What are you doing back there?" the ripped bouncer asked as he wringed out his hands.
"Taking pictures?"
"Of these clowns?" Eli said as he chuckled. "Why?"
"I'm planning to expose these two on the paper for endangering the safety of everyone here," the blonde reporter said smugly.
"I thought it was just for a bigger paycheck. Step away from the counter. Let me clear it out before you climb over," Eli said as he took a broken chair leg to wipe off the wood splinters and broken glass.
"That's also another why," Luci said as she clambered on top of it before Eli helped her down.
"Hello? Eli is that you down there?" Lisa called from the second floor.
"Yeah! The two're just...takin' a nap!" he shouted back up. Lisa quickly got to telling the trapped customers that it was safe now to go downstairs.
Luci took the time to survey the area while taking more pictures of it. The main bar was trashed completely. The counter was very damaged, but it still held up. Broken glass, splintered wooden furniture, torn cotton pillow fillings and velvet pillow cases, spilled liquor, and melted ice. And I have mentioned that parts of the area was on fire?
She approached the two, unconscious Mages on the floor. While everyone was assisting the patrons outside, she rummaged through their pockets to find some form of identification. She managed to get their wallets, although she had to find the Ice Mage's pants as he was only in his boxers. Fortunately it was just beside them together with the rest of his clothes.
"When did he have the time to strip?" Luci wondered as she first opened the Fire Mage's wallet. He didn't have a lot of money, but it was still quite plenty so she secretly pocketed it. She found his ID, and was shocked to discover that it was a Fieran Royal Army ID.
"Oh. My. God. This is gonna go national." she thought. The Fire Mage was Private Nathaniel D'Ignazio of the Royal Fire Mage Corps.
She went through the other man's. Of course, not so much money, but she still pocketed it. His ID showed that his name was Private Gavril Fellbern of the Ice Magic Corps.
"Both of these guys are Army? Ohohohohoho! This is just way too good!" she thought. Of course these two were in the Army. Probably in the reserves or on leave as it was required for all Mages to join after the guild system was abolished almost a century ago for giving too much freedom to the guilds in their actions, which usually resulted in vigilantism or collateral damage (Which was mostly unanswered, much to the chagrin of the governments).
Many people's grandparents have spoken about this period of time. It was known to all that things were still much simpler back then, but also much slower. Survival of the fittest was the norm in the poor regions, not to mention that the divide between rich and poor was much greater compared to the present, where it was somehow blurred. Wars were frequently fought between nations through the guilds, but one notable thing that was the result of those wars was the near-universally dreaded Unified Elzarevian States.
The Western continent of Talkhasia was once like the continent where the Kingdom of Fiera was located in, Gaishar, in the fact that it used to have separate states. During the Guild Wars period, one of the countries there was the origin of what would become the UES, a state called Elzarev. It's ruler wanted peace between all the countries in the continent, but a majority of them, whose names are now lost to time (But definitely not the Elzarevians), did not care and continued fighting for territory and resources. The countries that did allied with Elzarev and eventually the two factions went to war with the "warmonger" states. It lasted up until the end of the era, when the guild system was universally abolished. To make up for this, the allies of Elzarev and the country itself united to become Elzarevia and continued the fighting against the now somewhat-weakened enemy states.
The real creation of what would evolve into the UES started when the rebels from the Tsardom of Skyapole in Gaishar fled there in secret after the failed Decembir Rebellion. The political structure of Elzarevia needed strong people due to the sudden merger of countries. The rebels took advantage of the situation and eventually under their influence, brutally crushed the opposing states. After assimilating them, they built up their military and conquered the other states in the south.
Since then, the UES have maintained a closed border with the rest of the world. Most information about the country comes from defectors or refugees, who tell stories about the UES that have molded their current reputation to the rest of the free world: a terrifying totalitarian society, composed of psychopaths, murderers, rapists and genocidal maniacs all in positions of power. The government so riddled with corruption that the officials kill each other to reach the highest position, Premier or Absolute Leader. They have no morals when it comes to science and magic. Human experimentation and Black Magic, forms of Magic considered taboo by the world, were commonplace. The people? All conditioned to serve the Army in times of war, no questions asked due to the brainwashing being so deeply rooted that even the offspring would be loyal. So in a sense, the entire population WAS the army.
Although, nowadays, that was changed slightly by the recent contact with a delegation sent to Gaishar after years of isolation. The current Premier, Santiago Pelaver, wanted to assuage the fears of the people by attempting to correspond with the Gaisharan League. It would of course take some time for both the Elzarevians and the Gaisharans to get along, but all those unprejudiced hoped that this would be the start of a new era, where talk of impending war would soon be replaced with those of friendship and harmony.
Police sirens neared until a fleet of emergency vehicles composed of two police cars, a police van, an ambulance and a firetruck arrived, since Lisa and the patrons called emergency services via the phone upstairs. Officers interviewed the traumatized people as paramedics treated those who were barely scraped by the debris thrown around by the two drunks. Firefighters hosed down the parts of the building that were burning.
"Holy shit! When we were called here we were expecting a normal fire, not a warzone!" a firefighter commented as he adjusted the water valve for a nearby fire hydrant.
"You should have been at the incident at the military academy a few days ago. Can't believe one guy turned the whole training area into a scorched battlefield..." another replied as he tightened the hose.
"I heard they're using it as a simulated battlefield now. At least it didn't go completely to waste!"
The three laughed as a cop approached Luci, Mira, Eli and Lisa to question them on what happened.
"This was all because of a 'bar brawl'? Are you sure those two weren't bandits?" he asked, astonished that two magic users could completely wreck a floor and a half of a three-story building.
"Yes!" the three siblings cried in frustration. Mira couldn't help but cry as the other two comforted her.
"They weren't just any ordinary people though," Luci said as she showed the two IDs to the cop, who took off his cap and took a closer look.
"Fieran Royal...oh my God...this is going to be complicated..." he muttered as he wiped his forehead.
"I have pictures if you need evidence," she said as she showed him the photos on the lacrima screen of her camera.
"Very fortunate of you to have a camera with you, Miss...?"
"Luci. Just call me Luci, officer."
"These'll prove useful as evidence to present to the MPs. They're usually very adamant that their Mages aren't capable of this magnitude of violence."
"Can I still keep them? Need 'em for a write up for the paper."
"You a reporter? Nightly? Spyglass?"
"The Times, sir."
"The Fiera Times! I'm surprised that you guys are still afloat after all these years!" he exclaimed as he chuckled. Luci looked down in disappointment.
"Joking! Joking! Heheheheh. I'm proud to say that I still read your paper. Too much sensationalist bullshit on every paper but yours."
Luci and the Stahlern siblings were escorted to the van to be taken to the nearest ECPF station to file a blotter report. Nathaniel and Gavril were loaded onto stretchers which they were handcuffed to, both hands and legs, and were loaded into the ambulance. The rest of the civilians were all ordered to give their contact information in case of an investigation.
JUNE 29, X914
THE FIERA TIMES
The truth delivered daily
ARMY MEN TRASH BAR IN EMBER