Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms

by Kunego, Chad

  She felt him start to slide across her back almost effortlessly, like he knew what she was attempting to do. She felt a slight hitch in the movement. Somehow, he’d manage to rotate faster than expected by kicking his feet over, allowing him to land on his feet before springing up and backward, doing a backward flip over her head to land nearly at the same spot she had started the technique from, placing him behind her again. She spun toward him again, leading with a left straight punch to the midsection. Unexpectedly, he suddenly froze in place, allowing the strike to connect before drifting backward away from the followup.

  It took a second for the pain to blossom in her hand and wrist. The impact had most likely sprained her wrist, possibly fracturing her knuckles.

  What the hell is he made out of? I’ve broken bricks with that same strike, but I didn’t even feel him flinch.

  “Like I said detective, I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t let you take me in, either.”

  Without warning, Samuel spun around and sprinted toward the edge of the building. She took off after him without thought.

  He’s going to kill himself.

  His fluid strides lengthened the gap between them before launching himself off the roof. She reached the edge a split-second later, watching him drop the last couple of feet before he hit the ground. His impact shattered the sidewalk, dust and fragments spraying out in all directions. He slowly rose to his feet and stepped out of the mini-crater he’d created, brushing cement dust off his clothes in the process.

  Turning around and looking up at her, he cupped his hands to his mouth.

  “I’m sorry!” he yelled before turning around and sprinting away, a cloud of dust trailing behind him. She could make out a bloodstain where his left hand had slapped the ground when he landed. She stared a moment longer before she was startled again by her phone ringing. It took her a moment to realize it was in her pocket again. Shakily pulling it out, she saw it was Frank. Looking at the time-stamp, the fight, if that’s what you could call such a one-sided match, had lasted less than a minute. Hitting the answer button, she put it up to her ear.

  “Cora! Are you alright?”

  The tension and concern in his voice brought a smile to her face.

  “Yeah Frank, other than a possible sprain, some throbbing knuckles, and a bruised ego, I’m fine. I’m heading back down. He got away again.”

  She could hear the sigh of relief through the phone before he responded.

  “Thank God you’re okay… So how’d he get away this time?”

  “You’ll never believe it…”

  As she said that, she realized there was something under her jacket.

  “Hang on a second…” she said, gingerly shifting the phone to her injured left hand.

  “What the…”

  “Cora, you still there? What’s going on?”

  She slipped her hand under her jacket, feeling the heft of her sidearm resting in her holster, the catch snapped shut. Withdrawing it, she noticed that the magazine had been removed. She also noticed there was a faint smear of blood across the barrel from where Samuel had grabbed it.

  “Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.”

  “What?”

  “I’m on my way down. See if we can get into that bottle of scotch again when I get there.”

  She hit end before sliding the phone back into her pocket. As an afterthought, she started patting down the rest of her pockets.

  “Frank is never going to believe this,” she said under her breath as she headed back toward the professor’s office.

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  “He did what!”

  “Jumped off the roof. He literally jumped off the top of a six story building, hit the ground, and popped up like nothing happened.”

  “You’re shitting me…”

  “That’s not all, either,” she said as she pulled out her specimen bag, shaking the object inside of it around to catch his attention, “when I answered the phone, he somehow got the drop on me. I reflexively tried to shoot him, but he moved faster than I could track. As best I can tell, he somehow caught the bullet.”

  “Let me see that,” he asked, holding his hand out. She handed it over as she looked down at the professor.

  “This thing’s completely flattened. If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s covered in blood, I would have said it hit a rock or something.”

  “I know,” she said as she continued to stare at the professor. “I never felt so helpless in my life. While fighting me, he was able to talk to you on the phone, remove the magazine from the gun, clear it, and stuff everything back in my pockets, including the bullet he caught.”

  She held up her hand that was quickly swelling.

  “To top it all off, the only real shot I got at him, which I realize now he let me get, felt like punching a wall. There was no give at all.”

  “There’s some ice in the miniature refrigerator over there under that table.”

  Cora glanced over to where the professor was gesturing before looking down at him again. Finally, she nudged him with her foot.

  “What’s going on professor. Not that BS you gave us earlier, either. Start talking or you’re going to spend the rest of your short life behind bars…”

  She shot a confused look at her partner when the professor started chuckling.

  “What’s so damn funny. You’re looking at charges for aiding and abetting a known fugitive, possibly a mass murderer and/or serial killer. You’ll be lucky to see the light of day after this. You’ll probably die in prison.”

  The professor chuckled again as he slowly rose to his feet, ignoring the fact that both detectives had suddenly drawn and pointed their guns at him.

  “Oh, put those away. I have no reason to do anything to harm you now that I know Samuel was able to get away.”

  Cora looked hesitantly toward her partner as his face screwed up in confusion as well.

  “You asked why I was laughing, detective Blanchett,” he said as he casually waved his hand, snapping the handcuffs like they were made of paper, “it’s quite simple, really. You’d inadvertently made a joke, only you didn’t realize it.”

  The detectives cautiously followed him as he walked back over and sat down behind his desk, their guns still pointed at him. Carefully, he poured himself another drink as he stared at them.

  “This bottle isn’t going to last nearly as long as I’d hoped,” he said wistfully, waving his nearly full tumbler at them.

  Cora tried not to clench her jaw as she slowly moved toward the professor.

  “You were saying…?”

  “Oh yes, the joke you’d made. See, what you referred to as the short remainder of my life is probably going to be a millennia or so after you’ve turned to dust, I’d wager.”

  Cora cast a brief glance at her partner before looking back at the professor.

  “You see, everything I told you earlier was the truth, but I left out certain facts as well. As I was telling Samuel before you showed up, when I escaped with that item from the pyramid, I told you I didn’t know how I made it. In actuality, while I might not have understood the mechanics of it, I do know how I escaped.”

  Cora gestured with the barrel of her gun.

  “Go on…”

  The professor took a sip from his tumbler.

  “Somehow, among other thing,” he said, jiggling the handcuffs for emphasis, “that thing stopped me from aging.”

  “What?” Cora asked, tilting her head in confusion.

  “As unbelievable as it sounds, it’s true. You see, you asked me why you’d never heard of what I discovered. Well, it’s because I found it almost three centuries ago, give or take a decade.”

  Frank looked over at her, “This guy’s lost his mind, Cora. We can’t believe anything he’s saying.”

  “You know Frank,” she said as she holstered her gun, “I would’ve agreed with you if it wasn’t for the fact that bullets just bounced off of someone I shot moments before he lea
pt off the top of a building and jogged away. Let’s also not to forget that this guy…” she paused, waving toward the professor, “just tossed you like a shot-put across his office. Let’s just say I’m slightly more open-minded than I was during our last visit.”

  Frank looked at her a moment before holstering his weapon as well.

  The professor looked up at the two of them before asking, “since your compatriots will be here soon, would either of you care for another dram before they get here? I’d really hate to drink alone while I fill you in on the parts of the story I didn’t tell you about the first time around.”

  Chapter 30

  The professor cleared his throat before he began, giving them his best lecture voice.

  “You see, I’ve learned through quite a few decades of research that there’s more in this world than meets the eye. Things of magic and miracles.”

  Cora started to roll her eyes, but the professor caught her look in a steady gaze.

  “I’m not talking about metaphorical or romantic notions detective, I’m talking about factual things.”

  He got up and walked over to his safe that was still slightly ajar, opening it more fully to pull several other silk-wrapped items out. Carrying the bundle back over, he set each item down gently. As he started unwrapping them, he continued to explain.

  “For some unknown reason, silk seems to act as an excellent barrier to block what might be called, in layman’s terms, latent magical energy.”

  As he said it, he finished unwrapping the first object. It was a quart-sized mason jar filled with a clear fluid. Inside the jar was a miniature floating body preserved in the fluid. As he handed it to Cora, her eyes widened at what she saw. The body inside appeared to be perfectly preserved, looking like a well-proportioned human only six inches tall. Other than the size, the most shocking detail was the gossamer wings sprouting from the back of the naked creature. Slowly handing it to Frank, she turned back to the professor.

  “What the hell is that thing,” she asked, pointing to the jar.

  “I’m not entirely sure. It’s either a brownie or a pixie, possibly even a fairy. I’ve never been able to isolate it since all the old legends stated they all flew through the use of magic, not wings. The wings actually makes it difficult to classify, I’m afraid.”

  Cora kept staring at the jar in Frank’s hands as the professor finished unwrapping the second object.

  “This object is most impressive,” he said, catching Cora’s attention. In his hand was a wickedly-sharp looking dagger, encrusted with jewels. She instinctively started reaching for her gun, but he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender before he gently laid it down on the table. He slowly slid across the desk toward her before gesturing for her to pick it up. As she grabbed it, she felt a slight thrum of power flow up her arm. She glanced back up as he slowly reached into a drawer, pulling out a short length of what appeared to be a metal rod. He handed the rod to Frank with a gesture to examine it while he turned back to Cora.

  “What you hold in your hands was affectionately known as a vorpal blade. I know there was a movie recently that talked about a vorpal bunny, and surprising enough, there’s a lot of truth to that skit. Now if you would please, hold that blade out before you carefully, cutting edge facing upward.”

  As Cora positioned the blade, he looked at Frank.

  “I know this is going to sound like a silly question, but humor an old man. What exactly are you holding in your hand, detective.”

  Frank smirked as he replied, “well, using my amazing level of investigative and deductive skills, I have determined it to be a piece of structural rebar…”

  The professor chuckled before continuing, “would you say there’s anything special, or odd about that piece of metal rod?”

  Frank turned it over in his hands, trying to flex it for good measure.

  “Nope, plain old piece of rebar, satisfied?” he asked as he made a motion to hand it back, but the professor stopped him.

  “Alright, since you’re fully satisfied in the fact that that,” he said as he gestured toward the metal bar, “is a ‘plain old piece of rebar’, what I would like for you to do is carefully hold it by each end, then gently bring the center of it down until it touches the edge of the blade.”

  Frank shrugged as he did what the professor requested.

  “Are you sure about this? I’d hate to damage a priceless artifact and have you blame us for it.”

  “It’s quite all right, just press down with the rebar and see if you can move your partner’s hand. Slowly though.”

  Frank shrugged again and slowly pressed down. Cora braced her arm to resist the downward pressure, but the rebar parted around the blade like water, almost causing her partner to drop the two sections of rod in surprise.

  “What the…?”

  “How’s that possible! I didn’t even feel it touch the blade…”

  “That’s just it…” he said, gesturing with the sheath in Cora’s direction, “scientifically speaking, it isn’t possible.”

  “Come on,” Frank said, rolling his eyes, “are you trying to tell me that’s a magical knife.”

  “I’m not telling you anything,” Professor Waide said as he handed Cora the sheath before unwrapping the final item, “use your senses. I’m showing you things that don’t conform to what science allows for.”

  As he finished unwrapping the item, a smile broke across his face as a glimmering light started emanating from the item in his hands.

  “So far, I’ve been slowly easing you into the world that Samuel exists in. For example, you’ve experienced my unusual strength, agility, and reflexes. While unusual, one could explain it away by science if you really worked at it, things like genetics, adrenaline, and so forth. Next I showed you a life-form that, without the benefit of opening the jar, could be argued that it was a prop or some form of doll. Harder to explain away is a knife that cuts through metal without resistance.”

  Professor Waide gestured toward them and the items laid out on his desk.

  “Even with all this, you’re still struggling with the idea that there’s magic in our world. That’s why I left this for last…”

  As he said it, professor Waide dropped the silk away from the item in his hands. Cora saw that the object was some type of ring or hoop. As she looked at it, she thought she saw something, a shimmering effect like what comes off the surface of hot asphalt, coming from inside the loop.

  Frank lifted an eyebrow as he gestured toward the ring.

  “And what, exactly, is ‘that’?”

  Professor Waide looked at Frank with a mischievous sparkle in his eye.

  “This, dear boy, is a fairy ring…” he said, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

  “Okay, I’ll bite,” Cora said suspiciously, “what exactly is a fairy ring.”

  “Well, according to the myths, it’s usually a perfectly circular ring of mushrooms that act as a portal to the fairy realms.”

  Frank waved in the ring’s direction.

  “That doesn’t look like a fungus…”

  “Quite right, this is something more rare…” he said as he moved the ring around, “this is a portable one.”

  “So what does a portable fairy rin—” Cora started to ask, but trailed off as Professor Waide stuck his hand, then his arm through the ring, finally stopping just short of his shoulder. From their side of the ring, it appeared that his arm had been severed at the ring. Cora could make out all the muscle, blood vessels, and even the marrow in the center of his arm bone. The sight of it all flexing and pulsing started to make her queasy.

  “Holy shit!”

  Cora looked over at Frank. His eyes went wide in shock while his mouth hung open. Without warning, his hand shot out, reaching toward the area where it appeared the Professor’s arm stopped. As his fingers reached the point where it should have touched the bloodless stump, his fingers vanished. Inhaling sharply, he yanked his hand back as the Professor did the same thing.
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br />   “Well… That was an interesting sensation…” Professor Waide said as he shook his arm out. “I’ve never thought to try and have something enter from both sides of the ring at the same time…”

  The professor trailed off, appearing to be in deep thought. Frank’s reaction was a little more animated.

  “Interesting sensation?” he exclaimed, shaking his hand out, “It felt like I just shoved my hand into an electrified bucket of ice water! Damn that hurt!”

  The professor came out of his ruminations with a start.

  “Oh, sorry about that… My body seems to react differently to the energies that power the ring. More importantly, now you realize that this isn’t some type of parlor trick. Unless you’re going to be bull-headed about it, you’ll have to allow for the possibility that there really is something called magic that we know very little about. I’m pretty sure it’s related to quantum mechanics and string theory somehow, but since there’s very few people I can discuss this with, the research needed to advance my working knowledge of it is very difficult to arrange without looking like a shyster. Just look what happened with the first public report of cold fusion…”

  Cora vaguely remembered overhearing some of the science nerds in CSI discussing it once a while back, but didn’t really understand it. Waving her hands at all the items on the table, she looked back at the professor.

  “So what does all this have to do with Samuel?”

  Taking a long sip from his tumbler, he met both their eyes before continuing.

  “Why detective,” he said as he gestured toward the items on his desk again, “everything…”

  Chapter 31

  Samuel ducked into an alleyway. He’d been sprinting for the past fifteen minutes to put some distance between himself and the cops. As he slowed to a jog, he marveled again that he wasn’t out of breath.