Mage Catalyst

by George, Christopher

  She had just gracefully leapt up three flights of stairs. Well that explains how she had managed to get to the other side of the river so fast.

  I was even more out of breath by the time I reached the top level of the casino entry hall. I really needed to get more exercise. There was only one door on this level, which looked like it led into a popular casino night club.

  She was obviously inside.

  Once I got into the nightclub I couldn’t see anything. The place was packed with people from wall to wall. The lights were strobing and flickering from colour to colour, making it difficult to see clearly.

  I couldn’t see Renee in the crowd, but there were too many people on the dance floor to be sure. I’d have to get closer. I looked from side to side as I moved through the crowd trying to catch a glimpse of my elusive prey, but it was hopeless. I’d have to use awareness again.

  Attempting awareness didn’t have quite the effect that I’d hoped for. The combined light of the particle auras of so many people in such a confined place mixed with the strobing effect from the lights blinded my vision to the point that I was physically reeling. I quickly fell backwards with my hands held across my eyes as the shock of the effect hit me.

  “Hey! Watch it!” A rough shoulder pushed me away from the man I’d just fallen into. Unfortunately this knocked me into another couple who deftly moved out of the way letting me stumble forward to my knees.

  The music pounded into my head and my vision was still blurred – I couldn’t even make out vague shapes. I’d effectively blinded myself. That was clever.

  Someone whom I could only identify as a shining blob pulled me to my feet. They had obviously thought that I’d had too much to drink. They patted me on the shoulder and pushed me in the direction of the bathrooms.

  As my vision slowly regained its clarity I could see the white light faded into distinct shapes. I could now see the individual auras of those around me but they still blurred into one another as they danced. If I focused I could differentiate them but it was hard work.

  I scanned the room and with a small smile, I saw her. I couldn’t see anything else clearly, but I could see her. Renee’s mana glow was easy to pick up in the crowd. I could barely make out the people around her as mere shapes blurred into indistinct blobs, but her mana signature was clear.

  I could see her moving through the crowd and watched as people moved out of her way – she must be visible again. People wouldn’t have moved out of the way for an invisible person. She was keeping her distance, moving through the crowd but still trying to keep away from me. I’d move towards her causing havoc as I still hadn’t regained full use of my vision and couldn’t easily navigate through the crowd.

  However, when I got to where I’d last seen her, she’d be elsewhere. This was quite a large club and she had plenty of space to keep her distance. It was obvious that she was playing with me. It was infuriating. I could see her only through awareness, but every time I employed that I was physically blinded again to the real things around me. When I didn’t use awareness I couldn’t see her through the crowd.

  Renee must have tired of this game as I spotted her leaving the club by the far entrance. It took me some time to get to the other side of the club and found that the doors led out into a gaming area. My eyesight was still blurred from extended use of awareness. I couldn’t really make out any of the details of the room as the halos of the gamers pretty much blurred into one another as I ran past.

  I set off another awareness blast and noticed with some degree of surprise that in only a short time my skill with awareness had increased. The distance this blast went was much further than I’d thought my previous limit was. I didn’t really have time to measure it properly as I saw Renee making her way out the far exit to the gaming room.

  She was certainly making this difficult. I raced through the gaming hall leading to more shouts of outrage and commotion. Fortunately I hadn’t attracted the attention of any security guards yet though I knew if I kept creating such a hassle that they weren’t going to be too far away.

  Renee had gone into a closed shopping precinct. Row after row of retail shops led into the distance, each bolted and shut down. There is something creepy about a shopping centre when all the stores are closed.

  I could see Renee making her way down the corridor just past a hair salon; fortunately she had slowed up some. I was relieved to be gaining on her. I saw her look quickly over her shoulder at me, obviously judging the distance between us. With a mocking wave and a grin she took off through a second set of double doors. I followed her several seconds later.

  I found myself in a multi-level car park. I was on one of the middle levels. The car park was pretty much empty. Looking around quickly I spotted Renee land gracefully on the hand rail of an adjacent building’s car park level. There was about a ten metre gap between the two buildings.

  “You’ll have to jump!” Renee called across from the other side as she walked nonchalantly across the handrail of the car park on the other side.

  Behind me the double doors were smacked open and I could hear the calls of security guards in pursuit. Great, I hadn’t got off as scot-free as I thought I had. Renee tilted her head towards me and shrugged – her message was clear, either jump or go with the security guards. I had no desire to leave myself to the tender mercies of the security guards – they looked pissed! I pulled my backpack that contained my roller-blades more firmly against my back and then turned to face the gap.

  I breathed in.

  I let out the breath.

  I breathed in again.

  I ran. If Renee could make the jump, so could I.

  My breath was jolted from my body as I jumped over onto the guard rail of the car park and leapt out into the void. I heard with startling clarity the shouts of the security guards turn to alarm.

  Then the ground came into stark focus. It was a five-storey drop and there was no way I was actually going to make the distance. It was simply too far for anyone to jump. I saw Renee’s expression turn from approval into bewilderment and then anger.

  Anger that was most obviously directed at me and my stupidity. I felt a hard shudder as the motion of my body was suspended and then completely stopped. I felt hard tendrils of mana wrap around my body. Two tendrils wrapped along my torso and one around each leg. My body was twisted horizontally and I was pulled forward as with cold precision as Renee directed me with less than a gentle thump onto the car park floor behind her.

  Due to the speed at which I was travelling I slid forward across the cold concrete floor and deeper into the car park. The carpet burns from earlier in the evening screamed in complaint as I slid across the car park and down a ramp that led to the lower levels of the complex.

  When you are sliding head first down a car park ramp, hoping to the heavens that a car isn’t about to come the other way, your life decisions really come into question.

  I hit the base of the car park and slid to a halt several metres from the base of the ramp.

  “You tried to jump? What are you, an idiot?” Renee snarled as she reached the bottom of the ramp.

  I stared up at her in bewilderment. Renee was staring down at me with a look of bemused anger on her face. I must have looked a pretty pathetic sight.

  “Ouch,” I stated dryly in way of complaint as I leaned up into a sitting position.

  “You should have used your powers to propel yourself across the gap.”

  “I realise that… now,” I said as Renee pulled me to my feet. “However, I’m still not quite sure how you did that!”

  Renee looked me up and down considering this as if it hadn’t occurred to her.

  “Okay, maybe that last bit was a little hard,” she conceded, “but you were doing well up until then.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” I replied. “Did you turn yourself invisible?”

  She nodded curtly as we began the short walk down the ramp to the base of the car park.

  “That’s a neat trick.�
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  “It has its uses. Though it’s difficult. It’s probably what I’m best at though,” she continued quickly.

  “How do you do it?”

  “Oh no. Learn how not to fall off buildings first and then we’ll discuss invisibility.”

  * * * *

  “You obviously read my grandfather’s work,” Renee commented later as we were sitting in a café some distance from the casino. We had given the security guards from the casino the slip, though I doubt they’d tried hard to look for us.

  They’d just seen someone leap across a ten metre gap and unlike me they weren’t stupid enough to attempt it themselves. At least I hoped they didn’t – we didn’t see any ambulances arriving outside so it was safe to assume that they were okay.

  “Yeah, didn’t understand most of it though.” I nodded back. “So, why did you want me to chase you?” I asked, nervously twisting the napkin in my hands.

  “Hey buddy, I didn’t ask you to chase me, I just wanted to see if you would,” Renee snapped back with a grin.

  “I caught a glimpse of you out of the corner of my eye. I got curious,” I replied.

  Renee laughed somewhat mockingly. “Yeah, well I wasn’t exactly being subtle.”

  “What?”

  “That spell I was using, it only makes us invisible to non-casters; for people like us we’re lit up to the beacons. I’d have been surprised if you didn’t see me.”

  “Leading me into that nightclub was a rotten trick though.” I grinned.

  “Hey, you followed me in.” Renee laughed, her eyes twinkling in evil delight.

  “Were you waiting for me at the station?”

  “Actually, no I was returning home, it was just luck that I spotted you across the station line and I wanted to see how much you’d learned.”

  There was a grudging respect hidden behind her statement. It was heavily covered with sarcasm but it was there nonetheless.

  “Eloquent test,” I grumbled under my breath.

  “Relax, you passed with flying colours!” Renee laughed, tousling my hair. Her fingers felt like light electric shocks. “So what do you want to do now?” she purred.

  “Kiss you,” I said without thinking.

  There was an awkward pause. I may have over played my hand. Renee stared at me as if I’d said something horribly offensive.

  “Well, actually I’d like to learn how you did that swinging trick at the casino,” I quickly blurted out.

  That obviously wasn’t the follow-up she was expecting, but she shrugged with good grace.

  “I know just the place to teach it.”

  It was a short walk back into the city. It was starting to get late so the streets were quite crowded with clubbers. Renee led me deep into the city away from the clubbing and retail district. This side of the city was old and consisted mainly of large office block buildings.

  We rounded a corner and I saw we were making our way to a locked gate at the side of one of the buildings. The building was surrounded by construction awnings and safety fences that had bill posters pasted onto them.

  “Keep an eye out,” Renee hissed at me suddenly as she turned to pay attention to the lock on the gate.

  “For what?” I asked stupidly.

  Renee didn’t answer and I heard a click as the lock opened in her hands. She stepped inside and gestured for me to follow.

  “This is a worksite,” I commented with my usual skill to state the obvious.

  “Nothing gets past you,” Renee commented. “Come on.”

  Glancing nervously around I followed her into the hollowed-out building.

  “This building used to be offices, but it’s been condemned,” Renee announced. “I think they’re going to build apartments.”

  I looked around to see that all the internal floors of the building had been ripped out. This left girders and solid concrete posts in a shell of the building. I could see all the way up to the solid roof. It was at least four stories high.

  “Okay.” Renee nodded, looking around. “This will do, the surface here looks soft enough.” She smiled, indicating to the solid concrete floor beneath us.

  “Yeah, snug,” I grunted, stamping my foot slightly in the cold.

  “Do you want to learn this or not?” Renee smiled back.

  “Alright, you see that girder up there on the second floor?” Renee gestured upwards into the darkness.

  “Barely,” I nodded.

  “Reach out if as if you’re going to pull it down, but don’t actually attempt to pull it.”

  Flexing my arms I reached out and wrapped a tendril of mana around it. There was a crunch and some grinding and the girder snapped off from the column.

  “Ah okay, maybe a little less force.” Renee cringed. “You’re obviously not a soft touch. I’m glad I didn’t let you kiss me,” she smirked.

  Irritated, I glanced quickly at her. Jokes were not appreciated.

  “Now, try again, Twitch,” she ordered, business-like again. “Maybe that one a little further away, and remember you’re not trying to bring it to you.”

  With a loud clang I let the previous girder drop to the ground and tried again. It fell a good ten metres or so. The noise when it landed reverberated throughout the building.

  “Quietly!” Renee admonished.

  “Sorry,” I replied sheepishly.

  It took me several more tries before I was able to latch my mana thread over a girder without pulling it out, but eventually it seemed solid enough.

  “Alright, now picture wrapping the tendril of mana round your wrist as if you’re going to swing across a rope,” Renee instructed as she pulled herself in behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist.

  A second tendril of mana shot out from Renee onto a girder above me.

  It was intoxicating to be so close to her, I could feel her breath on my neck and the tickle of her hair on my cheek. I could smell her scent in the air.

  “Relax, Twitch,” she whispered. “Ready?”

  I watched her hand as it curled in on itself, her slender fingers forming into a fist. I did the same thing and saw the particles in my hand mirror the same effect.

  “Now, imagine pulling on the thread like a rope,” Renee ordered.

  There was a loud snap and suddenly the girder was flying at high speed towards us, with a strangled shriek I attempted to regain control over what was essentially a piece of fast moving shrapnel coming right at us, but I was unable to do so. With a laugh Renee threw her weight forward and both of us stumbled out of the way.

  The girder imbedded itself a foot deep into the concrete where we had previously been standing. If that had hit us we’d both be dead.

  Renee got back to her feet with a small chuckle.

  “Did you do that on purpose?” I demanded as I jumped back up.

  “No, Twitch, that was all you.” She laughed. “Now try again.”

  When I attempted again either nothing happened or I snapped the girder out of the concrete again. It was infuriating.

  “I think you need some motivation,” Renee purred after watching me for several minutes. “I tell you what, if you can follow me up – I’ll give you a reward.”

  Renee latched a mana thread onto the top floor and with a small leap was gliding up into the darkened building. Seeing the technique in action actually helped quite a bit, but I wasn’t going to criticise her teaching.

  In the end the trick turned out to be a lot like roller-blading. A lot of the trick to skating is the ability to move one’s centre of balance from one foot to the other. This was similar except that I was moving my centre of balance from my feet to my arms, almost like doing a handstand.

  I began tentatively at first with a small leap and let my arms take my weight. I was relieved that they did. I was now floating several metres above the concrete floor with my feet dangling uselessly below me. I could hear the sound of clapping echoing from the rooftop.

  “That’s not helping!” I yelled up at Renee.

 
“You’re doing very well.” Renee’s mocking voice floated down. “Now you’re stuck in mid-air, try again!”

  With a grunt I landed back on my feet and immediately tried again, this time I leapt further now secure in the knowledge that it was possible. It wasn’t that I was no longer feeling gravity, it was simply as if I was security fastened in a harness as I was slowly rising up to the girder. It was a strange sensation.

  I held my breath all the way to the top and came to rest on the edge of a girder. With some effort I was able to pull myself onto the first floor of the building. There had to be a more elegant way of doing this.

  “That’s one!” Renee called down from the darkness. “There are four more floors.”

  I’d had about enough of this game. I latched a mana thread securely onto a beam on the roof of the building and used it to swing across to another part of the same floor, testing myself, and once I was sure that I was secure, I attempted to climb to the next level. I’ve never been scared of heights but this was something I’ve never experienced. Every other time I’ve looked down over a tall building or off a bridge, I’ve always been secure in the knowledge that my feet were firmly placed on solid structure. Looking at the ground several metres below through a gap between your feet is another sensation entirely.

  It wasn’t scary but it was definitely sobering. Still, as I found myself hanging in mid-air by a mana thread, I felt completely at ease – I was in control. This must be how birds feel when they take to the air. I didn’t bother with the second, third or even fourth floors. I ascended straight to the roof.

  “Clever boy,” Renee complimented sarcastically from the darkness.

  She was obviously out of direct line of sight because I couldn’t see her mana signature. A quick awareness spell told me she was on the far side of the level. This particular floor was a maze of girders and beams.

  Latching back onto the roof I made my way across the beams. Renee immediately dashed out from behind a column and dived down into the gap. She gracefully twisted mid-flight to level herself out and glide with accustomed ease into the darkness below me. Damn she was graceful, I felt like a bumbling ox by comparison. I shrugged and stepped out into the darkness and felt my body begin its fall as gravity took hold. I smiled as I willed my descent to slow, allowing me to come to a halt on the same level as Renee.