by Andrew Peed
He tapped the side of the TV with his hand, gently at first, then put a little more strength behind it as he hit. After a few hits, something came through. The window behind him burst. Glass exploded into the room all around.
Waylon spun on his heel and threw his hands up. Words flowed from his mouth. Words that he didn’t know and didn’t think that he could repeat. The shards of glass froze in the air all around Alma and Ella.
Standing in the hole in the wall that had just been created was a ten-foot-tall monster. His skin was black, jet black, and there were thick chunks of hide on his forearms and his face. His face was twisted in a malicious grin and drool was frozen mid-drip, falling from his mangled teeth. His eyes were solid blue, affixed on the spot where Waylon was standing. The monster wore a tattered pair of leather pants and a matching jacket.
Waylon looked down at his hands. He had no idea what he had just done. He had no idea what the hell that creature was that burst into the window.
Then, to his utter dismay, Kaylie climbed up through the hole in the wall. She held a Yorkie in her arm, tucked into her chest. She looked at the monster and then to Waylon.
“Excellent job. I guess I can tell you now. You’re a warlock,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I’m a what?” Waylon said, shaking his head.
“You are a warlock, Waylon. Don’t pretend like you can’t feel it. I’ve been hoping that you would figure it out soon. I was sick of hiding what I am from you.” She walked over to the monster and kicked it as hard as she could in the crotch.
“What are you?” Waylon asked. Looking at Kaylie, he noticed that she was covered in bruises, and there was blood coming from her nose and lip. When she walked, it was with a slight limp.
“I’m a reaper. Which is like a warlock subclass,” she said and then held up the dog. “This is Alonzo. He’s a hellhound.”
Waylon rubbed his head and took a few steps back. He found a chair in the corner of the room and dropped down into it, taking a few deep breaths, calming himself down.
“I’m a warlock, and you are a reaper,” Waylon said as he looked down at his hands.
“And Alonzo is a hellhound.” Kaylie turned to look at Waylon and smiled.
Chapter 10: So, There Are Orcs
“That was some hardcore magic, my warlock friend,” Kaylie said, stroking the head of the hellhound puppy in a very villainous manner. It was odd to Waylon that she would pet the monster like it was some kind of normal animal. He could feel energy coming from him. Kaylie stood in front of the orc looking up at him.
“Setting aside the fact that I am having a full-blown mental breakdown, what are we going to do about this?” Waylon asked, pointing at the huge orc and the explosion of shattered glass.
“We need to take him in to the authorities. I don’t know why there is an orc here in New Harmon. They usually run in groups,” Kaylie said as she scratched her head in thought.
“Take him to what authorities? The cops?” Waylon demanded. He stood up from the chair and started to pace around the room.
“The Mystical Authorities,” Kaylie said with a wide smile across her face.
“Right, right. Totally,” Waylon said sarcastically, throwing his arms into the air.
“I know a binding spell that we can use. It will trap him in an invisible box that will be tied to the both of us. That might work,” Kaylie said as she tapped her chin. She put the hellhound in the pocket of her hoodie so his head would poke out to one side.
“What about all of the glass and the hole in the wall? What about the fact that this is my place of work?” Waylon asked, starting to panic a little.
“I think I’ve got a patch in my bag,” she said, dropping her bag off of her shoulder. She then proceeded to shove her arm inside. Waylon watched her as her arm vanished inside down to her shoulder. She then pulled on the opening and shoved her head inside as well. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself, now he had seen a bag that was larger on the inside, what next?
“A patch. I don’t think that a patch is going to make a difference here,” Waylon said, turning to the massive hole in the wall and held out his arms.
He noticed that the debris was actually still moving, but it was moving so slowly that he had to closely study it to notice the motion. The hole spanned from floor to ceiling and was easily over eight feet wide.
Kaylie pulled her head out her bag, gasping and grabbing her head. Her face was red like blood had pooled in her head. She had a piece of fabric in her hand as she walked over and stood next to Waylon.
“This should do it,” she said, holding up the fabric.
Waylon didn’t say anything. He just shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. What was he supposed to say to something as crazy as a piece of fabric fixing a massive hole in the wall? He felt he was grossly misinformed about the world around him.
“I need you to open yourself up and let me borrow some of your energy,” Kaylie said, looking over and up into Waylon’s eyes.
“Just tell me what to do,” Waylon said with a defeated sighed.
“Look inside yourself. I know that you can feel the magic energy flowing through you,” Kaylie explained. “You’ve always been able to feel it, but now you should be able to isolate it. Open that energy up to me. I’ll do the rest.”
“How do I open the energy up for you?” Waylon asked, closing his eyes. It was surprisingly easy to find the energy that she was talking about. She wasn’t wrong when she said that he knew it had always been there. He’d felt it before; he just didn’t know what it was. He definitely didn’t think it was magic.
“It’s not something that I can really explain. You just do it. Think about the feeling that you get when you share something with a loved one,” Kaylie said. She sounded nervous. “I don’t want to alarm you, but the time spell that you cast is starting to wear off. The quicker the better for everyone in this room.”
“I’m trying,” Waylon said with a hiss. A shimmering sound in the air began to grow louder in his ears as the glass slowly began to move.
The idea that filled his head was the feeling that he had when he shared stories with his mother as a small child. It was the only sharing that he had ever done with a loved one that he could think of in the moment. With that, something inside of him changed. Like opening a valve or flipping a switch, he could feel energy flowing around inside of his body or existence, or whatever it was called. The energy began to flow from his center and toward Kaylie’s center. He couldn’t see the motion, but he could feel the connection between them.
“Perfect!” Kaylie said, putting her hands together in front of her face with the cloth pressed between them. She began to lift her palms, her fingertips remaining firmly together. Phrases left her mouth that made no sense to Waylon. He would later learn that they were senseless to everyone because they were from a long-dead language.
Slowly at first, but rapidly gaining speed, the glass and other debris began to move through the air backwards toward where they originated from. The room around them began to fill with bright-green light. It became more and more intense until Waylon could no longer keep his eyes open. There was a loud whooshing sound, and he felt a cold brisk air on his skin.
When he opened his eyes, Waylon found that they were no longer standing in the hospital. They were standing in a small clearing surrounded by tall trees. The hospital was nowhere to be seen.
“Where are we? Are Alma and Ella okay?” he asked in a panic.
Before Kaylie could answer, the orc roared loudly and charged directly at Waylon. Instinctively, Waylon ducked down and covered his head with arms. The orc smashed headlong into an invisible wall, and he fell back onto his butt. Blood began to seep down from his nose all along his front.
“We are in the park,” Kaylie said, still holding the cloth, or patch as she called it, in her hands. It suddenly burst into flames, making her jump just a little. She stamped out the fire on the ground.
Waylon stood up sharpl
y from the ground, brushing himself off and pretending that he hadn’t just cowered like a well… coward. No one was buying that act, though.
Kaylie sauntered over to the invisible box. The orc growled as it picked itself up from the ground. She knocked on the wall and waved at him with her infectious smile. It would seem that the monster inside was immune to her feminine wiles.
If Waylon squinted, he could see a soft green shimmer in the air, marking out a perfect cuboid barrier around the beast. He knocked on the barrier as well, and it felt just like knocking on a thick piece of glass.
“They are all right,” Kaylie said, turning to Waylon.
“What?” he asked, a little distracted by the towering monster who was looking down at them like they were lunch.
“The nurse and the little girl,” Kaylie said, pointing in the general direction of the hospital. “Their minds adapted to the situation. I went in and tweaked it so that they remember you having to rush out of the room because there was some kind of IT emergency. It sort of played out like one of those dramatic ER shows.”
“Are you serious?” Waylon sighed.
“Yeah, I’m sure that they think you are a hero,” she said with a wide smile.
“Or a moron,” Waylon replied, shaking his head.
“That’s possible,” Kaylie said, holding out a finger. “I also went in and removed the event of the… you know.” She made an explosion motion with her hands.
The orc shook his head, stomped, and smashed his fists into the barrier. He growled lowly at the two of them. Alonzo barked from the pocket of Kaylie’s hoodie, which was backed by the sounds of thunder cracks across the sky.
“Ingalk demand you let him go,” the orc said. His voice was like a low grumble mixed with the sounds of gravel in a blender.
“Well, look who talks,” Kaylie said with a smile while turning her attention back to the hulking being.
“Let me go!” he demanded, attacking the barrier for a second time. The barrier shimmered from the strike, and Waylon could feel the impact in his soul, but the spell held true.
“Nah. Hey, how about you tell me what you are doing here, in this city, all by your lonesome?” Kaylie asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn’t intimidated by the creature one bit.
“I want him,” Ingalk said, then pointed to the hellhound.
“Why do you want him?” Kaylie asked while she patted Alonzo’s head.
“I no can tell you that,” Ingalk said, scratching his neck.
“Fine. Be that way. We’ll take you to the cops,” Kaylie said with a shrug and turned away from Ingalk. He didn’t respond to this threat the way that she seemed to think he would.
“Good. Ingalk be safe there,” he said with a snort and crossed his arms. He turned his nose up to the two of them.
“Oh,” she said, like she was getting somewhere when she turned back around. “Safe from who?”
“Grymm,” Ingalk said and instantly jumped after realizing what he had said. “You trick me!”
“It was not hard,” Kaylie said, putting an emphasis on every word.
Kaylie pulled out her phone. The sight of the poor device made Waylon’s heart hurt. It was the exact kind of thing that fueled his nightmares. She scrolled through her phone until eventually Waylon couldn’t take the suspense.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Looking for clues that will lead me to the location of the Mystical Authorities. Getting on their good side would be to my benefit,” she said.
She stopped and looked surprised.
“What?” Waylon asked. “What is it?”
She frowned. “From what I can tell the Mystical Authorities are located in the same building as the New Harmon Police Department.” She chuckled and put her phone back in her pocket.
“What’s so funny?” Waylon asked. “I mean, besides my life at the moment.”
“Mystical Authorities and the normal cops are in the same building,” she said again, still chuckling.
“Yeah, hilarious.” Waylon shook his head, missing the joke by miles.
“You’ll get it eventually,” Kaylie said, beckoning for him to follow her out of the park. “Remember clearly in your head where you parked your car. You’ll need that later,” Kaylie instructed carefully.
“Sure, okay,” he said, unsure if he could picture anything at the moment.
They walked down the sidewalk toward the NHPD building. It was only a few blocks away from the park, which was sad since that part of the city stayed in such terrible shape. The orc walked behind them. Every so often the two of them could feel him stop, and there would be pressure on their soul. There was more than enough power between them to force the orc to keep walking.
“So we are just walking down the street with this huge thing trailing behind us? Won’t someone see him?” Waylon asked. His eyes darted around nervously because he felt like he was in the middle of doing something wrong.
“No,” Kaylie said, shaking her head.
“So he’s just invisible?” Waylon asked.
“No. It’s more that their normal minds are cursed,” Kaylie said. “Has been for thousands of years. Like one out of a million people are born with the sight, and they usually go a little crazy.”
“Cursed how? Why?” Waylon asked.
“Well, a grand wizard and a master warlock, to protect people of magic, cursed human minds. A curse that passes down from the mother to child. When they see anything magic, their mind fills in something mundane,” Kaylie explained.
“So what would someone see if they looked at Ingalk?” Waylon asked, relaxing just a little.
“I don’t know. It’s subjective. Some might see an old man or a large dog,” Kaylie said with a shrug.
As they continued to walk in silence, Waylon’s mind worked a million miles a minute, trying to figure out the pieces so that he could start putting together the puzzle. He looked down at his hands because it was like looking down at hands that he had never seen before.
“So when you say that you are a reaper, what exactly does that mean?” he asked.
“Well, I was born a warlock like you. About ten years ago, I reached a high enough power that I qualified for this job. Have you ever played an MMO?” she asked.
“Sure, haven’t we all?” Waylon said with a nod.
“Well it’s kind of like a prestige class. You get so powerful, and they give you the option to be more.”
“Ahh.” Waylon nodded. “And the difference would be?”
“I’m soooo hungry,” Ingalk moaned.
“I’m sure they will feed you,” Kaylie said.
“My question?” Waylon asked when she was quiet for a few minutes.
“Right, well. When someone dies normally, their spirit moves on, no problem. But a few of them, for one reason or another, don’t,” she explained. “When they stay behind, magical energy builds up and throws everything out of whack. I have to coax the spirit to move on and collect the energy. After that, I take the energy to a broker.”
“Brokers pay you for this?” Waylon asked.
“Yup, they get paid for their side of the deal too. I don’t really know what the energies are used for, but I don’t get paid for that. I get paid to collect them,” she answered.
“My head hurts,” Waylon said, rubbing both of his temples.
“That is probably a mix of the information and you using your magic after going so long without doing so. You were backed up hardcore. That’s why that little osueco was following you around,” Kaylie said, rubbing Waylon’s shoulder.
“That thing was not little,” Waylon said, sternly shaking his head.
“You have osueco? I can eat osueco,” Ingalk said in excitement.
“No, we are not feeding you an innocent osueco,” Kaylie said with a sigh.
“Wait, Mr. Wong was the one who told me about the osueco,” Waylon said, remembering out loud.
“Oh yeah, he’s a warlock. A powerful warlock. Almost a master,�
�� Kaylie said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Right. That makes sense.” Waylon nodded.
“Does it?” Kaylie asked in surprise.
“No!” Waylon yelled. “None of this makes sense! Nothing in my life makes any sense anymore.” Waylon looked up at the sky.
The NHPD was a tall square building that was surrounded by white marble pillars. It looked like imitation Greek architecture. They approached the front of the building and headed up a long set of stairs to the front door.
Kaylie put her index finger on the center of her other palm. She pointed her palm at the stairs. Nothing happened, or more like nothing that Waylon could see.
“All right, let’s go.” She motioned for him to follow.
Kaylie walked toward the stairs, but instead of climbing them, she walked through them like they weren’t even there. She vanished beneath the cold stone. Waylon walked forward and had to fight the urge to step up onto the stairs. He only stumbled a little as he passed through the stairs into the basement of the building. Ingalk came in right behind them.
There was a bustle of activity in the lobby. Waylon counted about a dozen different creatures in the waiting area. He saw a woman in the corner that was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. She was tall with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that he could look into forever.
“I’ll be right back,” Waylon said absentmindedly as he veered off.
“No, no,” Kaylie said, grabbing his shoulders and directing him back toward the check-in window.
“But I must meet her,” Waylon complained, trying to pull away from her surprisingly strong grip.
“No, sir. It would cost you your soul,” Kaylie said as she waved her hand over Waylon’s eyes. It was like some kind of lens was lifted from his vision. He was no longer attracted to the woman like he had been. She was still pretty, but not like he had thought she was.
“Name and purpose,” an old woman said from behind the glass of the check-in window. It was the same woman who worked in administration at the hospital.
