Mage of Shadows

by Austen, Chanel

  I hadn't expected the added complication to be so… deadly. I had to rethink my nightly ventures, killing someone definitely wasn't very high on my list of things I wanted to do while at away at college.

  The sudden flash of light broke my dark thoughts. My head snapped to the mouth of the alley in panic. Ominous red and blue flashes greeted my vision, which had long since adjusted to the dark. My eyes stung, but I ignored that as sudden fear gripped my senses again. My heart began to quicken, the police had arrived. That was something I should have thought about with Two-Bit screaming when he was burned alive on the ground.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid me. I think I deserved to be institutionalized back then.

  My first instinct was to run as fast as I could past the cop car and hope for the best. However, the mouth of the alley was mostly blocked by the car and the two officers were already getting out from the front seats. A white flashlight shown into the alley and I quickly ducked into my hood and behind a lone rusted dumpster, heart beating like mad. I heard a murmured curse and footsteps creeping cautiously into the alley. They stopped not far from my position, illuminating the badly burned form of Two-Bit.

  I peeked around the side of the dumpster to get a better look at the two, but only saw two roughly humanly proportioned shapes, shaded in the harsh brilliance of their two flashlights, currently focused on Two-Bit.

  "Dios…" I heard the whispered prayer clearly, a woman's voice. The revelation did nothing to still my beating heart, "What the hell did this, Wilson?"

  The taller figure, who I assumed was Wilson, responded with a shake of his head, "I have no idea… looks like someone went after this guy with a flamethrower."

  Some hidden signal seemed to pass between the two of them, because they reached for their waists almost simultaneously and I heard the cock of two handguns. My heart began to beat even faster, if that were possible.

  This was bad. This was really bad. It was one thing to go around beating on thugs; it's not like a crime boss would spread it around that a teenager took out two of his men. But cops had a system, they filed reports, and they noted things that didn't seem to match up. Worse, the government could be tipped off, and everyone heard the rumors online what happened to mages that the government caught wind of. Kidnapping, experimentation, death… I absolutely needed to find some way out of this.

  Think, think… My mind twisted and ran in circles of panic, I was no better than a chicken with its head cut off.

  You know how they say your mind sharpens under pressure? Sometimes that happens, other times it's a complete fail. I needed a plan, but all I could find was terror.

  Wilson's flashlight began to sweep the alley, and I ducked my head back behind the dumpster.

  The light stopped before it got to me, now shining on the rail-thin thug who I had affectionately named One-Bit. The illumination of the flashlight sparked a flash of insight in my thoughts and a rough plan began to form in my mind. With the possibility of escape came anticipation and excitement, I might have a real way out of this. I just needed to focus and will my magic to do the rest.

  I held out both hands towards the skinny goon and concentrated, lifting them in the air and calling up the willpower to guide my magic. The body rose with my hands slowly and I felt the weight of it on my mind. It threatened to slip in my panic, but I held strong. This was far from the heaviest thing I had ever lifted. Concentrate…

  "What in the hell…!" My peeking eyes saw Wilson raise his gun to track the floating body in front of him, mesmerized by the sight of it. With a quick begging prayer that he wouldn't fire at it, I hurled One-Bit's limp form with all my strength of will, and caused him to collide with the stunned cop which sent them both tumbling to the ground. His gun skittered away from him, thankfully unused. I had already almost killed one man tonight, another would have been even more weight on my already guilty conscience.

  As soon as I had heard the gun clatter, I bolted from my hiding spot and ran past the downed cop. Then I moved behind the back of his female partner, my feet carrying towards the mouth of the alley which was still partially blocked by the cop car parked perpendicular to its entrance. I vaguely heard a sound of confusion behind me and felt the sudden light of the female officer's flashlight upon my retreating back.

  "Freeze!"

  I wasn't inclined to obey that order, especially as I had just overtaken the alley's entrance and flipped around the corner. Just as I turned it I heard a sharp crack follow behind me from within the alley. I nearly stumbled to the ground in surprise. Had she fired at me or was that a warning shot? Either way, she had just shot a gun in a civilian area! Just because it was Detroit didn't mean a person could just start shooting it up whenever they wanted, especially a cop.

  Then again, in her mind I probably was a murder suspect who had just levitated and threw a body at her partner…

  "Dammit!" I scrambled to my feet trying to keep low yet desperately move away from the crazy officer who had just fired her weapon at me.

  I kept my ringing ears as open as possible while I ran away. I fairly flew down the boulevard along what I knew to be Rooter Street. I needed to lose the two cops and get back to my dorm. I glanced back just as the officers reached their squad car and could barely see them getting in amongst the flashing glare of their lights.

  I wasn't too far from campus... I could definitely make it.

  They could definitely see me; they probably had a description of a 5'10 male, thinly built and wearing long jeans and a black hoodie. I hope neither caught a glimpse of my face, pale, thin, angular. I had been wearing the hood in the alley, but that didn't cover everything.

  The squeal of tires gave me notice of the impending chase. I had already formulated my next move, however. After only running full tilt for a minute and making a few twists and turns to try and lose the car behind me, I had reached the edges of campus.

  I leapt over a low perimeter wall and cut across the shrubbery that ensconced the perimeter of the Pharmacy School and ran a line parallel to the large darkened building. I had hoped they didn't see me do it, but when I heard the slamming of car doors and shouted orders to freeze, I knew there was no such luck. They were following me onto the grounds where there was no road to continue driving on. In the distance I could hear the moan of more sirens, and came to the grim realization that they had called for backup. Hopefully I would be able to get away before any other cops caught up.

  My heart hammered as I put pushed my body to the wall. I wasn't severely out of shape but I couldn't tell you the last time I had to run a mile… which was about the distance back to my dorm. The Pharm School was well off the main campus, so I had a good ways to go before I got to University Towers where I had lived. Already I was wheezing for breath and I wasn't even halfway there.

  I really needed to hit the gym...

  Even distracted by my whining body, I could tell they were gaining. Well, at least one of them was… I was pretty sure I only heard one set of heavy footsteps. Where was the-

  The bushes beside me rattled ominously and I turned my head to stare in shock as the thinly muscled form of the female officer was suddenly atop of me, slamming me against the low set Plexiglas windows and concrete of the building. I let out a muffled groan and heard the safety of her gun flip once more. I didn't dare look up to meet the barrel's singular gaze.

  "On your feet! You're under arrest!" Her voice was thick with tension, but I was pretty sure I heard fear too. I would probably be scared too if I was arresting someone who had torched one victim and threw a second around like a marionette just using his mind.

  My smart mouth automatically retorted even with a gun in my face, "Under arrest huh?" I wheezed a shaky breath, "You and what army, lady? My mother hits harder than you!" I wondered how young I must have sounded to her, I had passed puberty, but my voice lacked the depth that came with a life that surpassed a couple decades.

  "Get up!" It was another order but I could hear the surprise in her voice now. I wasn't he
r normal quarry. She might've even recognized that I was no more than a teenager, which would be bad for me.

  Heavy padded footsteps against grass signaled the arrival of the other cop, Wilson. He raised his gun as well, and repeated his partner's demands.

  Slowly, I acquiesced.

  I pushed myself up from the grass, but I mentally prepared an assault that they couldn't see. Their guns pointed at me would make it dangerous, I couldn't defend myself and attack them at the same time so I had to do this right the first time. If they had been mages, they would have been able to sense me gathering power around them as our spheres would have been meshed very closely with them only five feet away.

  As it was, they weren't mages, so they had no idea. It was one of the reasons that mages were so dangerous to Normals; they had no easy way to defend against a magical assault but to stop the mage before he finished unleashing his power. Even then, the Normal would have to be aware of how a mage operated to even be cognizant of the fact that they were always in danger from assault.

  My knees trembled imperceptibly as I finished rising, head still down with my hands in the air in front of me, palms spread in what was meant to look like a pacifying gesture.

  "I'm giving up, I swear." I lied, cautiously aware of their very dangerous weapons still pointed at my face.

  If I could have just thrown up some shield, such as a barrier of earth or solidify the air... but it wasn't within the range of my abilities. Although I could manipulate fire well enough, the other elements completely eluded me.

  "Head up!" The female demanded.

  Neither of their weapons dropped, and I heard no hint of hesitation. My will wavered slightly, my magical control wobbling as a result.

  My biggest problem was that I couldn't pull the power inside of me for easier manipulation. If I did that, they would be given quite the light show. I would begin glowing, something that was better known amongst my kind as the Magus Glow. As it was, I was doing this by holding magic just outside of myself. It just made it that much harder to do.

  I gripped at the slippery magic again with my mind, refusing to let it go. How I wished at that moment for the fine control necessary to rip the guns from their hands, but most likely with their hands on the trigger, that would just cause a misfiring at best.

  The male began to cautiously step towards me and I realized that I had no choice. Either I attack or they take me in. With everything I had done, if I didn't get away I was screwed. I only had one choice in my mind at that moment.

  With a short grunt, I physically shoved my palms towards the officers. It would have looked quite silly pushing air… had the gesture not been accompanied by the raw magical force I had gathered in those long seconds. Held in existence in the physical world solely by my will, the invisible wall overtook the two officers with all the power of a speeding car. Albeit a small car, but it was enough two send them both flying into the thick shrubbery behind them.

  Neither stirred… I mentally assured myself that they were only unconscious. I couldn't pull enough raw power in my sphere to kill anyone via pure force. They would wake soon enough with aches, but nothing serious.

  Rodriguez's gun landed with a nearly unnoticeable thump in front of me, loosed from its unconscious owner.

  I stared at it for a moment, but the wail of sirens in the distance reminded me that these were only the first of more officers that would be patrolling the area. Their squad car would draw attention to this place; I had no idea how much time I had to get away.

  It was a split second decision, but I reached down and grabbed the handgun, cautiously uncocking it. I then stuffed it in the back of my jeans and covered it with my hoodie. My last crime of the night completed, I turned and ran into the darkness one more, hoping against all hope that I could just get back to my dorm and forget this ever happened.

  The last quarter mile of my run was the worst. My lungs ached from overexposure to the chilled air, unused to such torment. My legs also protested the constant movement, and I promised myself again to stop being so lazy and actually go to the school fitness center, which I already paid for with alongside my tuition fees.

  Atop of my other physical woes, my head was beginning to pound. While some it was no doubt due to the events of the night, it had to be magnified by consistent magical use. One could never be completely sure how well the body and mind would handle channeling magic while under duress, but it always felt worse when emotions were running high. The basic equation to remember was that with less experience and higher stress, the easier one would tire from using magic.

  Hence the need for practice. The logic made so much sense in my head, but obviously after tonight I would have to rethink it. Stealing from thugs had also had quite the appeal at the time and I supposed I thought myself a modern Robin Hood… even though that comparison didn't really hold much weight when you considered I was stealing from thieves and keeping it for myself.

  Still, humans always had the annoying tendency to justify their actions and convince themselves that what they were doing was the right thing. I was no different.

  It was a relief when the tall rectangular form of University Towers came into sight, with the mishmash of lights still aglow in the building, despite the fact that it was well past midnight. No one could accuse college students of being early sleepers.

  With the sight of my dorm looming so close, I got tunnel vision; it was all I could see. I didn't notice when I ran past the darkly clad figure several feet away from my right.

  He didn't miss me however.

  I felt him before I saw him. I could almost imagine the casual sweep of the arm that caused an equivalent force of realized telekinesis sent out to cut me off at the knees, tossing me from my feet and to the hard sidewalk.

  I made an undignified noise and protected my face as best as I could with my flailing arms as I went down. Perhaps it was a good thing I was so out of shape, I had since slowed to a meandering jog and the impact with the sidewalk had been lessened. Still, it hurt my already tortured body to hit the ground like that.

  More than pain, I felt fear again. I felt him now… the presence of another mage. A hostile mage.

  He walked towards my downed body, as if casually taking a stroll. I struggled to my knees, turning my head to catch a look at him coming from behind me. I felt dizzily aware of my weaknesses as he neared, knowing that there was no way I could fight anyone who came at me now, probably even if they were a Normal.

  Still, I forced myself to stand, stumbling away from him… and he was most certainly a male. In the dark I couldn't make out his features well but he was clad in dark clothing. Dark slacks, a dark thin jacket- maybe made of blue or black nylon, which appeared to cover a white button-up and black tie. His head was covered by a black cap, but I could make out the amused smirk on his face. It was a predator's smirk, and I was feeling very much like prey at the moment.

  "Back… off." I managed to croak, still very tired from running.

  It was a small relief when he stopped, not quite ten feet from me. I felt his gaze taking me in, filing away whatever notable features he saw. My hood was still up, which shadowed my features from him. If I hadn't been able see his face well, it stood that he couldn't see mine either. Still, those eyes made me nervous.

  I took in what I could of him as well. A few tufts of blond-looking hair poked out from underneath his cap, and his skin tone suggested he was white rather than one of the minorities. Despite the jacket I could tell he was well built and taller than me, which suggested he was physically stronger than me as well. Physical and magical strength didn't coincide exactly but there was a link there. It especially held true when it came to stamina. Even if I was at full strength, I might've not been able to take on this guy.

  "That was quite a sight to see, so late at night." He said cheerfully.

  His playful voice wasn't as deep as I expected, considering he stood a good three inches taller than me. The hands that he had in his pockets traveled to either sid
e of his waist. The innocuous sight made my heart pound. Unlike the officers I knew the threat that free hands could represent.

  I moved my own hands in response, letting them hang in front of me. My tired legs tensed as well, prepared to fight or run. I would be damned if I let him take me down without putting up a struggle at all, weakened or not.

  He didn't seem to like that at all. His smirk morphed into a frown and his hands twitched as if he wanted to make fists.

  "You want to fight?" The soft voice had shifted as well, deeper and angrier now. "What makes you think that you could possibly take me, freshman? Put your hands down."

  My fear was palpable and I saw his smile return as he felt my emotions cause the magical field around us to tremble in response.

  "Oh yes, freshie." He laughed, "I know you're a newbie. Who else would be so stupid to go into Kraven's territory and pick a fight? Not even once, you've done this before. Did you really think no one would notice, idiot?"

  I honestly hadn't, but I wasn't going to say it. I was still breathing heavy, still recovering… I needed a way out of this. This wasn't how I wanted to introduce myself to the magical society that existed at the university. I had thought there was one, but for them to have discovered me so quickly… I had assumed it would be the other way around. Overconfident fool that I was.

  "Put your hands down." This mage, who was my senior, ordered me. "I'm not a User you should mess with."

  I blinked under my hood at word User. That was a term that I hadn't heard before.

  Still, I lowered my hands to my sides.

  He took a step forward.

  Without thinking, I drew the gun that had been stowed in the back of my waistband as smoothly as a novice possibly could.

  The 'User' stopped walking forward. His hands rose in a defensive posture and I felt him gather the magic around him almost instinctively, but he didn't do anything with it, letting the power hang around him visibly in a cloud of glittering motes of light. The other mage did what I had been afraid to do with the cops, he drew the power into himself for easy manipulation.