Thirty seconds.
That was how long I've been casting barrier magic around myself against the Anomaly beast's attacks.
Thirty seconds may seem like a really short time but if your life is on the line, it feels like eternity.
"Miss, we've contacted the nearest Anomaly Guard on duty--"
BZZZZZTTTT!!!
"... standby and keep a safe distance..."
BZZZZZTTTT!!!
"Tell them to hurry!" I gasped out as the Anomaly Beast reared back for another charge. "I can't keep my shield up forever!"
That was true. I'm a licensed Mage (Rank A-2) but I was a civilian. If my opponent was another Mage, then perhaps I wouldn't be feeling so desperate. But Anomalies have a high resistance to magic, and to take one out required you to use combat spells of Rank B and above. And as a civilian, I don't know any combat spells strong enough to kill one, and neither do I have the magic power needed to cast it. The best I could do was keep myself alive until help could get here, which is why I was pouring as much magic into my barrier as I could.
I wondered how far away the nearest Anomaly Guard was. I kept thinking that we were in an island resort, which was supposed to be a Safe Zone, where a wild Anomaly like this was not supposed to exist. Anomaly Guards are usually stationed along the borders of City States and in areas where the Borders were weak and prone to a Breach. Well, if help came within five minutes, then there's nothing to worry about. I can hold out for that long. But if it takes longer...
BZZZZZTTTT!!!
"Go away you stupid cat! I'm not a tasty snack!" I yelled out. I didn't know if it could understand me, but it clawed at my barrier more frantically. I could see the drool dripping from its open mouth as it collided with my barrier again. A bead of sweat trickled down my cheek as I pushed a bit more magic into the barrier and the beast gave a howl of pain and fury as I shot ten thousand volts of electricity into its body. It was thrown several feet away and spasmed on its side. But then it started to get up, shaking its head...
Now would be a really good time for someone to save me, I thought, preparing myself for another charge as the Anomaly leapt at me again.
And just as the Anomaly beast leapt to the air, something big and black and furry collided with it. There was a tremendous crash as the Anomaly grappled against something that looked very much like its bigger, badder cousin.
"Are you alright?" a quiet, calm voice asked behind me.
I shrieked and unintentionally shot a lightning spell at him. I was so freaked I didn't notice the guy who had come up behind me. But the guy dodged to the side, saying, "Whoa, there. I'm a good guy."
He stepped out of the shadows. And my heart started beating really, really fast again. But this time it was for a very different reason.
He wore a long black coat, over a comfortable-looking white shirt and casual black jeans tucked into leather boots. His dark hair seemed to blend with the shadows, and when a soft wind lifted up his hair I saw a face that would have made me go weak in the knees if I weren't already sitting on the ground.
He crouched in front of me, looking into my eyes with his own grey ones and asked, "Can you stand? We need to get you out of here."
I nodded--then realized a second later that I could not, in fact, stand, because I had sprained my ankle. He wordlessly reached for me and before I could blink, I was in his arms and we were leaping through the park speedily. I must be in shock, because I didn't feel the need to protest about being so close to a complete stranger.
"Who are you?" I asked, peering up at his face. He didn't seem to have any difficulty moving so fast while carrying me.
"Jester Lee. Freelance Adventurer."
"Thank you. For saving me. Was that...uhm, was it your familiar that attacked the..."
He looked surprised at my question. "You could tell it was a summoned creature?"
"I'm a Mage, too. Not as powerful as you though."
He glanced down at me, as if he found that comment interesting. "No, it's just a summon. I'm a necromancer."
That was surprising. There weren't a lot of necromancers among Mages since it was one of the most difficult classes to master. And I could tell this guy was already a Master, despite being so young. You know those stereotypes of necromancers being old men or creepy-looking cult leaders? Well, it's because mastering necromancy takes decades, or if you take shortcuts it takes a toll on your body and mind. Unless you were especially gifted, which I suspect this guy is. The air around him fairly sizzled with power despite his efforts to hide it.
We arrived on the other side of the park. I flinched when I saw the reporters and onlookers surrounding the area and being held off by the police and Anomaly Guard personnel. I buried my face into the his chest, panicking slightly when I realized that in all that commotion I had lost my magic glasses.
Jester must have noticed that I was uncomfortable with the crowd, so he carefully moved towards the medic van so that his back was to them. He lifted me into the van where an EMT examined my ankle and my various little injuries.
One of the police officers came up to me to ask for my personal information. I hesitated a second before answering. "I'm Alisa Vega. I'm staying at the hotel over by the hill, with the rest of my crew."
The EMT's eyes widened and the police officer stared for a second. This was a very small island, after all, and it wasn't a secret that a famous actress was filming a movie and had rented out an entire floor of the hotel for herself and her crew.
"You're--"
"Yes, yes," I said quickly. "But please keep this quiet. If you could avoid mentioning to the press..."
"Of course, Miss Vega. Of course," the police officer assured me. He motioned for a colleague, whispered instructions, and gave significant looks in my direction.
Amidst all this, Jester stood to one side, facing the park as if watching something. I don't know if he heard our conversation, but when the police officer began herding the people further away from us, Jester walked back to the van.
"Seems like things are sorted now, so I'll be leaving," he said as a way of goodbye.
"Wait!" I said, grabbing his sleeve.
"You saved my life. I have to thank you properly. Give me your number so I can contact you later," I blurted out.
He looked surprised. And before he could say no, I tapped on the dial function and set the holo screen on visible mode. I gave him an expectant look. He gave me a smirk, and heat flooded my cheeks.
I thought he was going to leave me like that, but then he leaned in towards me and dialed in his number. Then he left.
I hit save.
The EMT cleared her throat and gave me a knowing look. "You lucky thing," she said, smirking.
By the time I was escorted back to the hotel by the police, it was already 5am and everyone was freaking out. The police had to contact my manager and my director, of course, and tell them what happened. To say that they were furious would be an understatement. Once we were in the suite, they took turns yelling at me.
"How could you sneak out of your room?! You're not some rebellious teenager for god's sake--!"
"Strawberry milk? You risked your life and your reputation for strawberry milk!?!"
"And you didn't even bring your Panic Button! Your father will be furious with you!"
"Wait til your father gets here, young lady!"
I was tuning out most of their yelling by thinking of Jester Lee and how soon I could call him, but that got my attention.
"What do you mean? Dad's coming here?!" I asked. "Isn't he in London?"
My manager, Montana, gave me a sour look. He's been my manager ever since I started out, so he knows me better than anyone here, except maybe Bea (who was my personal maid before she became my PA). He ran a hand through his messy grey hair and said, "He requested I set aside a day for some father-daughter bonding time. But when he heard about this incident, his assistant told me he dropped everything in London and he's coming here to see you himself."
I flinched at that. Dad can be incredibly overprotective. "When is he coming?"
"He'll be here in three hours. He took a Portal."
So that we're all on the same page, let me do a quick introduction with a little bit of a history lesson added in.Around five hundred years ago, Earthlings (normal human beings and all manner of existence on the planet) discovered that there are parallel worlds very much like Earth that have existed as long as Earth has. By worlds I don't mean planets. I mean, they exist in a different dimension altogether. I'm sure there's a very comprehensive scientific explanation for this, but it's way to complicated for me so I won't bother. But the point is, these worlds were able to coexist without interfering with one another for ages. Which is why there was a point in time in human history where people believed aliens and extradimensional travel was nonsense (stupid, right?).This was proven false when one of the said parallel worlds imploded with enough force that it created several dimensional rips. Earth, being a younger and bigger world tha
3 days after our Fated Encounter.'The number you are calling is not in service. Check the number and dial again...'That was the twelfth time I tried to call Jester Lee. I didn't want to admit it, but the truth is hard to ignore. Either the number he gave me was false or he was blocking my calls.Realistically speaking, why would anyone bother to hand out their number if they were planning to block you anyway? So it's most likely he gave me a wrong number on purpose so I couldn't bother him in the first place.I smirked. He's got pluck, I'll give him that. Most men (and women) would be pushing each other out of the way in order to get my attention (I am not exaggerating, I've seen it happen) and there he was, nonchalantly giving me a false number and treating me like some sort of fangirl who would only waste his time.There's a chance, of course, that he thought that way precisely because he
Mister Louie got back to me while I was on the drive back to the hotel."I double-checked and I can tell you for sure that the number you gave me was a burner," he said, amused. "Now why would anyone be giving you a burner, Alisa?"I held back a sigh. "Maybe because they don't want to talk to me?""Who in their right mind would wanna ignore a sweetheart like you?" Louie laughed. "Is this someone dodging a debt or something? Coz you seem pretty determined to catch him. You don't usually ask me for a favor this big."That made me smile. "I wanna keep things a secret for a little while, Mister Louie. And you could say I'm the one who owes this person a favor and you know I always pay my debts. So I have to be able to contact him so we can talk it out, you know?""Hmmm... well, whatever your reason, I hope you know that whatever I come up with using my methods, it won't hold in court? This is kind
"If it's in two years...there's not much time."
Dad was not amused. He grabbed a beer and emptied it in one go. His cheeks were red and his frown had turned into a pout. The effects of the purple cake must be wearing off."He should declare his intentions first. I'll meet with him myself."Huh. Well, that would prove difficult, since I don't think Jester is aware that he had any intentions to declare at all. Dad seems to be forgetting that I am still in the 'unrequited crush' phase of our relationship. Even calling it a 'relationship' was seriously stretching the boundaries of the word.This was getting quite embarrassing."Dad, I think we should discuss this when there's actually something more substantial between us to talk about. I mean, I think I like him, but he doesn't know that yet." I winked at Harry, who was chuckling silently in the corner."Mister Rosche, Madam Josefa, Diane. Thanks for keeping us company. I think we should be leaving now."
35 days after our Fated Encounter."Are you sure about this?" Bea asked me. "Because it's not too late for us to cancel.""Oh, yes, I'm sure. I finally found a window of opportunity after waiting so long. I'm not backing out now." I smiled confidently, twirling in front of the mirror to check my outfit: a calf-length brown pencil skirt, a plain white turtleneck, my favourite black stilleto boots, and a dark-brown fur-trimmed coat (its faux fur, of course, I don't wear clothes made from real animals. I'm not a barbarian) draped over my shoulders. My hair was done up in a casual high ponytail, with a matching brown satin ribbon holding it in place."Oh, I don't mean the date. I meant moving." Bea clarified, handing me my purse."Oh, that. I don't see the problem. Where I live is my business. And besides, the view is so pretty--""There are literally hundreds of other places that could give you a
He should have known something was wrong the moment he stepped into the cafe.First of all, he had never seen the place so full. Almost every table was taken, and his gaze immediately zeroed in on his favourite spot in the corner, hoping it would be empty. Thankfully, it was. He had been looking forward to having a cup of Arabique coffee that he had been craving for the past few days. Of course, he could just order to-go, but sipping coffee while doing some casual reading in his favourite cafe was something that always relaxes him. And boy, did he need some down time.The past week had been a blur of subjugation requests and raids and rescue missions and paperwork. If he had known how much paperwork he had to go through every time he finished a mission, he would never have accepted the Chairman's offer of enlisting as an Anomaly Guard. Well, at least they allowed him to have an aide. He spared a moment to appreciate Boris' hard work and sympathize with hi
Humans are not as compatible with magic as elves or dwarves. Something about inherent biological capacity and environmental exposure. Earth was naturally devoid of magic, and if it weren't for the Gaia Incident, humans probably would be in the same oblivious bubble of ignorance they've been enjoying for the past few millennia.But things did change, and in order to survive, humans had to evolve and adapt to these changes. Nowadays, roughly sixty percent of the human species can be considered Mages. Now, for every three hundred human Mages, one is bound to develop some sort of supernatural ability in addition to their inherent magical abilities. There aren't a lot of them, and their abilities are so unique and varied, that it's hard to categorize them. So, they are generally known as the Gifted.Although magical ability for the Gifted are less than for ordinary Mages, some of them have Gifts so powerful that it can't even be considered a disadvantag