The Rider of Magix Ch. 02
Roxy wakes up to her dog licking her face. "Not now, Artu," she giggles. "Five more minutes." Artu then starts nudging her. "Okay, okay. I'm…" as soon as her eyes open, the girl is startled by the sight of a ceiling that does not belong in her room. In fact, this wasn't her room at all. It's run down, wallpaper peeling off with several holes in every wall. Not to mention the lack of a wall. And instead of a bed, the fairy is on a torn couch with springs poking out.
When Roxy sits up, the teen notices some bandages around her arms where she's been scratched, and even a patch on her face. Hearing her dog whine, she turns to reassure that she's okay and takes note of a bandage around his front leg.
The Animal Fairy casts a quick spell. "What happened, Artu?"
"Those monsters attacked us, and we got hurt," the dog whines. "Next thing I knew, I woke up to a guy patching me up and he then brought me to you."
"What else do you remember?"
"Not much. I blacked out at some point."
"Okay," she sighs as the girl was hoping he could shed some light on what she saw last night. "The guy who helped you, do you know where he is?"
"Yeah," he runs to the door. "He's working on his bike. Wanted to help but he told me to take a hike. I can take you to him."
"Thanks, Artu," Roxy gets up and suddenly feels dizzy.
"Roxy?" Artu walks back to his person. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she waves it off. "Just a little dizzy. Will you take me to this guy?"
"Sure," the dog agreed even though he's still worried about the teen and leads her out of the room, down a hall, and to a railing.
Looking over the railing, the girl can now see that she's in some sort of old garage. Some clanking draws her attention towards where a guy is kneeling next to a motorcycle.
The first thing, Roxy notices the lack of fire and instead had brown hair on the top of his head. There is also no jacket revealing a black t-shirt but there are still the same black jeans and boots that she recalls. The bike is also far different from what the girl remembers as it seems like any other kind of bike she has seen.
Roxy turns and sees a set of stairs leading downward. She goes to take a step towards her but ends up having another dizzy spell and her vision blurs as she loses her footing.
Artu can be heard shouting, "Roxy!"
When her vison returns, the first thing the girl sees is a stranger's blue eyes. Without thinking, she ends up smacking the face the eyes belonged to.
"Ow!" he says. "You have a mean right hook. You know that?" the guy tells her while sitting her down in a nearby chair. "I think you dislocated my jaw again," he then starts rubbing his jaw.
Now that she has a better look at him, Roxy could tell that he could be no older than herself. She then gets a feeling that she's seen him before. But she cannot remember where.
"S-sorry," the purplette says while still staring at the guy.
"It's all right," he looks over at her. "I'm honestly surprised you still have that much strength given what the demons did to you."
"What did they do exactly?" she looks over her bandages. "It was like as soon as they attacked, I was being drained of everything."
"You weren't being drained," the guy kneels in front of her and starts checking the bandages himself. "When a demon attacks you physically, they also tear into your soul," he looks up at the girl. "You're surprisingly calm for someone who was just told they had a run in with demons?"
"Well, I…"
"Roxy!" Artu shouts as he jumps up to his person. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Artu," she chuckles at her dog and eyes the stranger. Not once did his demeanor change. "And you're doing well, considering that you just witnessed a talking dog?"
"Meh," he shrugs. "I've seen stranger things these past couple years."
The two remain there in silence with the only sound being the dog's panting. It was the guy who broke the silence.
"It was."
Roxy looks up at him. "Huh?"
"I know that stare. You're trying to figure out if I'm the same guy from last night. I'm just answering. It was."
"Oh, uh, I was wondering that but that's not why I was staring," the Fairy explains. "It's just that you look familiar."
"I just have one of those faces," was the guy's answer as he goes back over to the bike to continue working on it.
Roxy starts looking around and notices how rundown the building is. "What happened to your garage?"
"Don't know. It's not mine."
The girl turns towards him wide eyed. " You're not telling me that we're trespassing, are you?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you," the guy says as If it's no big deal. "Needed to crash somewhere for a few and I happened to find this," he gestures around him. "And given its state, I'd say no one's been here for a long time."
"So, none of this stuff is yours?"
"None of it. Not even these tools," he lifts a wrench. "Which was just convenient. The only thing's mine is this bike and that poster," he points the wrench at the wall where an aged flyer for a specific circus is being promoted.
The Fairy studies the poster for a moment and soon, realization dawns on her.
"You're Johnny Blaze!?" she stands but soon falls back to her seat.
"Better take it easy. You're still not at full strength," the guy turns to show a smirk. "A fan, huh? And here I thought everyone forgot about me."
"Are you kidding? My dad used to take me to the circus every time it was in town. My favorite part was always the animals, but we've never missed one of yours and your dad's shows."
Johnny lets out a chuckle. "Always glad to say hello to a fan. Maybe I'll give you an autograph later," he continues working on the bike. "Guessing you grew out of it. Happens to most non-circus kids."
At that, Roxy looks down. "Actually, I was traumatized after our last time… two years ago."
The sound of clanking stops as Johnny sets the tools down. "You were there?"
"Yeah," the girl nods. "I'm sorry about…"
"Forget it," the guy continues. "It was a long time ago."
"Two years isn't that long ago."
Johnny remained silent as the only sound that could be heard was from the tools and bike. "You have a lot of missed calls by the way," he points his wrench over to a nearby counter where Roxy's phone rests.
The Fairy gets up and nearly fell back down but Artu helped her keep balance. Once Roxy picks up her phone, she cringes as the time appears, showing exactly how long she'd been out. The girl became even more uneasy at the sight of how many missed calls she has. Most from her parents and several from all of her friends.
Roxy sighs as she taps on an image of her dad.
