The wall exploded. People screamed and panicked and ran. Smoke and dust and debris filled the air. And pretty much everything went to shit. No one seemed injured, however; though, I'd have to confirm that from the inside of the bank, but – at least – no one on the outside was injured by the explosion. Several fire alarms rang across several streets. About a dozen cars stopped and a few of them bumped into each other – yikes. Some damage to the vehicles, but no one got hurt. A small crowd gathered on the opposing street, watching and waiting. A man walked out of the hole in the wall, covered in dust – eyes glowing red.

My eyes narrowed. No car? No equipment? Did he use explosives from the other side? But... he wasn't even wearing a mask or a vest. The man wore a suit – of all things, a suit that somehow remained pristine. Everyone on the other side of the smoking hole was unconscious. Whether or not they were alive or dead remained to be seen. The man carried no weapons, nothing. He strolled out like he owned the place. His face didn't strike me as distinct. He looked average, though his build was certainly on the heavier side of muscular. And there was something strange about him, a presence that I could not quite place or describe or compare with anything I've ever felt before; the only word I could probably use to properly describe it was alien. The man had an alien presence to him.

What the hell did that mean? What's going on here?

The oddest part, however, was that no one seemed to have noticed him at all. Everyone was either too preoccupied with the destruction to notice anything, which I found odd since the man was tall as shit and definitely wasn't blending in. The cops, who arrived a few moments ago, didn't do anything about him either. The other possibility was that he was invisible somehow – invisible to everyone else, but me. Despite the likely danger of the situation, I could not help but grin. This was it. This was the supernatural thing that'd I'd been waiting for my whole life! Or, at least, it was the supernatural thing that wasn't directly related to me, like the Gamer System that I possessed.

So, seeing as the crowd wasn't doing anything, I veered away from them and followed the man in the suit. He wasn't in a hurry, it seemed, and so it wasn't particularly difficult for me to maintain a distance the distance between us. He was interested in hiding, either, because I was pretty sure now that I was the only one who could actually see him. Was he a wizard? Was he using some kind of spell? How was it that I could see him but others couldn't? It had to be some kind of magical thingy, right? Somehow, having the System excluded me from said spell.

Nice!

I followed him for about three blocks before he made a sudden turn into an alleyway, prompting me to run across the road just to follow him in. The moment I stepped inside the alley, a glowing wall of light and arcane symbols appeared behind me, around me, and all the way to the other side. I stopped, eyes wide. Oh, this was definitely supernatural. Magic, maybe? My grin was so wide it actually kind of hurt my jaw. I reached out to touch the glowing wall and hissed as it burned the tip of my pointer finger. "Aw shit, this magic thing is damn cool!"

No amount of pain was going to stop me the pure, unbridled joy that I felt over the fact that this world, my world, was not nearly as mundane as I'd thought it was. Magic was real. Magic existed. And if magic was real, then so was everything else by connection. Dragons were probably somewhere out there too, alongside heroes and villains, and knights and all sorts of crazy shit.

"Who are you?" I turned and there he was, the man in the suit. He was way taller from up close, almost seven feet tall, actually. His eyes were narrowed. And I had zero doubts as to the fact that this man could beat the shit out of me and, quite possibly, kill me and no one would be the wiser. Oh shit. Oh holy shit. I might've just made the single biggest mistake I've ever made in my life.

"I ugh..." I scratched the back of my head, my hands shaking. "I'm Amir."

The man huffed. He raised his right hand and flames sprouted from it – blue flames, flickering unnaturally. Holy shit. Actual magic! Is he gonna throw a fireball?! "And why were you following me, Amir? Portland belongs to no faction; I'm free to do whatever I want with the humans, whenever I want."

"Dude," I said, raising both my hands up and keeping them open. I could summon the Laspistol anytime I wanted and I was pretty sure that thing would do a lot of damage if I used it on this guy, assuming he didn't have some kind of super magic shield or some other shit. Actually, it was safe to assume that he probably did have that stuff. My only recourse was to hope that this little encounter didn't turn into a wizard fight or some shit. "I didn't know anything about this shit. I just saw you walking out of that place and wondered why the hell no one else saw you, okay? I don't know anything about factions!"

"You're not lying," The man said, lowering his flaming hand. I noted, however, that the fire was still very much there. But, at the very least, he wasn't trying to fry my ass just yet and was willing to hear me out. That said, I already decided, in my mind, that this guy was a villain. He spoke of people as though they were less than animals – as though they were toys that, by his own words, he could do with as he pleased. I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all. What if my mom was inside that bank? Or my dad? "You're definitely human. But you're no Mage. You said your name is Amir, yes? You're from India, right? Or, at least, your parents are from India?"

I nodded at that. "Yeah."

"Maybe one of your ancestors was a practitioner of Vashikaran. Your magic is... appallingly small." The man shrugged and sighed, rubbing his brows. The flame faded from his hand. "Okay, alright. Whatever. Look, kid. I'm not looking for trouble and I don't think you are, either. So, just back away and walk away. No need for either of us to come to blows. You're no mere human; that much, I can tell. And that grants you some level of respect. I won't interfere with your business and you don't interfere in mine. Portland is open to all."

"What did you do to the people in the bank?" I asked. If all he did was sedate them, then I wouldn't throw a hissy fit. Or, I wouldn't be too unreasonable. I just... could not abide by the idea of letting him or anyone, for that matter, get away with hurting innocent people when they could just choose not to do that. So, if mister buffed wizard didn't hurt anyone and simply knocked them all out to get whatever it was he wanted from the bank, then I'd be... somewhat cool with it – maybe.

"People... ah... such a strange word to be using on mere humans. You must forgive me, I don't care for the insects as much as you do." He said. And I saw it then, the uncaring and utterly alien glint in his eyes. Inhuman. Unnatural. Paranormal. Alien. He didn't care about humans. He didn't even see them as people. And so it was with a grin that he continued, "I killed them all. Painlessly, of course. It'd be a black mark on my record if I caused any kind of suffering. One spell was all it took, really. Mortals are so weak."

"For this," He raised a golden trinket. "An artifact that should not have been there. All for this."

I breathed in and forced a smile. The man just admitted to murder. At this point, he was fair game. But, I had to pick my shot. I had to wait until his guard was down. I just couldn't risk it. "Haha! Fair enough. Magical artifacts are definitely a lot more important than humans could ever be. Anyway, I'm sorry I wasted your time. And, don't worry, I won't get in your way again."

The man smiled. "No problem. You are new to this and it is only natural. It is good to see, however, that you are so easily able to shed your connection to these humans."

I didn't even have to lie about this next one, simply because I felt it all my life. "Even before today, I never really felt much of a connection with my own race. That's why I couldn't stop grinning when I saw your magic! Dude, that blue fire on your hand was awesome!"

"Hn," The man nodded and turned his back to me. Good. He was underestimating me. He said, earlier, that my magic was appallingly low and he was probably right – not sure about that one. I didn't care, though. I had a fucking Laspistol. As long as he didn't have some stupidly overpowered shield, then a headshot with this thing was going to be lethal. Was I seriously contemplating murder? Yes. Was that something Superman would do? No. But, in this case, I couldn't just let him walk away and I couldn't just arrest him, either. The dude would break out of jail without breaking a single sweat. Ya know, the idea of killing this guy didn't seem as heavy as I thought it would be. He didn't see humans as people. It was only fair that I didn't think of him as a person, either. The flames that covered his right hand died down and faded, disappearing entirely not a moment later.

"Whatever. Just don't get in my way again, kid." He said. "I won't be so kind next time. You're weak. And it is the right of the strong to trample over the weak."

"Wait!" I called out. "I never got your name!"

The man stopped, but he did not turn. "I am Victor of the Necromancer's Guild."

The glowing magical walls collapsed around us and I knew it was my moment. Without a second thought, I willed forth the [Laspistol] into my right hand, raised it, took aim as best as I could, and pulled the trigger. There was no recoil, no surge of kinetic energy. Briefly, I felt a rush of heat as a crimson beam emerged from the barrel. The man in the suit screamed in pain as the laser beam tore into his right shoulder, causing an eruption of blood as everything from shoulder to arm disappeared in a mist of red and steam and smoke. My body seemed to freeze at the sight. His blood was red. Red. I thought he wasn't human.

Why was his blood red?

"AAAAAGH!" The man fell to the ground, screaming and bleeding. He turned to me, eyes wide with fear and panic, anger and frustration. And I felt nothing. Somehow, despite the rest of my body practically frozen, I was still able to pull the trigger again. This time, the beam hit him right in the chest. Another eruption of blood and gore. And, just like that, there was a smoking, steaming, gaping hole where his chest used to be. I fired another shot and his head disappeared. And his body – or what remained of it, at least – fell forward. I glanced around, for a moment. Just about every part of the alleyway was now tinted a faint red – blood. His blood was all over the place.

Hidden Quest Completed: Encounter a Supernatural Entity!
+2000 War Points!
Hidden Quest Completed: Kill Your First Supernatural Entity!
+4000 War Points!

Great... just great.