A Rift Between Magi: Chapter 1

8 Years Ago

Rick had recently discovered the beautiful thing that was extortion. Or rather, whining to his parents until they gave him money to buy his school lunch instead of packing him a banana and a cup of yogurt.

Young Rick rifled around in his pockets a little, just to make sure the five dollar bill he had dragged out of his mother’s hands that morning was still there. After confirming that his bounty remained in its rightful place he looked up confidently at the huge sign adorning his new school. “St. Nathan’s Junior High.” He muttered to himself, nervously fiddling with his backpack straps.

Rick found himself suddenly staggering forwards as a force that felt like a raging bull slammed into him.

“Hey there, newbie. Muttering to yourself isn’t cool man. If you’ve got something to say, tell it to all of us.”

Rick turned around in dread and found himself looking upon the worst nightmare of all sixth graders: an eighth grader. And not just any eighth grader, but Jason himself. All of the elementary students had heard legends of the king of bullies, Jason. Rick had once heard that when Jason was in sixth grade he beat up ten eighth graders when they wouldn’t give him their lunch money.

Rick thought that legend might be slightly exaggerated though. Personally, he suspected it was more like two or three of them. Jason pushed Rick again, harder this time.

“Don’t ignore me, twerp! I don’t like it when people ignore me.”

“So what do you do when your parents do that every time you go home?”

Rick clapped a hand over his mouth but it was too late. The kids around them had burst into laughter and Jason’s face was nearly finished with its transformation into an overripe tomato.

Rick found himself lifted into the air by the collar of his new white shirt.

“Think you can talk smack, huh? I’ll show you!” Jason snarled, spittle flying everywhere.

Jason reached into Rick’s pockets, only pausing slightly to utter a quiet “no homo”. It didn’t take him long to discover Rick’s hard earned lunch money.

“Aha! I think I’ll be taking this.” Jason smirked at Rick, and then dropped him onto the concrete.

As Jason was turning around to leave the scene before any teachers got there, a blur flew across the campus and slammed into him. He staggered and then fell over under a flurry of angry kicks and punches.

When the rabid assault had finally ended, Rick’s savior stood up and revealed herself. Rick’s mouth dropped open. He had thought he was short; but she was nearly an entire head shorter than he was.

She noticed his look and grinned at him, offering a hand. Hesitantly, Rick took the outstretched limb. “Who are you?” He carefully asked.

She brushed a little hair out of her eyes. “I’m Jenny, but you can call me Jen. I thought it was pretty cool how you stood up to that bully.”

Rick’s eyes flicked to Jason’s downed body and then back to Jen. He was pretty sure he just waved a red cloth in front of a bull and then failed to get away, but he wasn’t about to contradict the person who had just saved him. “Ah, thanks. But I think you did more of the standing up. And he’s doing a little more of the lying down, now.”

Jen grinned at him and handed Rick back his five dollar bill. “I believe this is yours. And what’s your name? You haven’t told me yet.”

Rick grinned sheepishly. “I’m Rick. Thanks for helping me out.”

The bell suddenly rang, sending all the students scrambling to get to their first classes before they were late.

As Jen and Rick ran in opposite directions Rick glanced up at the large cafeteria menu to see what he could put his five dollars towards. There was only one option on the menu:

Banana and Yogurt Cup- $6

Rick managed to shrug as he ran. It really didn’t matter- today was going to be a good day.

1 Year Ago

The atmosphere around the school was hyper, and students walked around with long sweeping steps, eager to get the graduation over with. Rick was one of the students scurrying across campus attempting to find his friends before graduation started.

“Rick! I finally found you!”

Rick turned to face Jen and a wide grin split his face. She hadn’t grown much in height in all their years together in high school, but she had certainly matured. Her body was well toned from constant practice in martial arts. Her brown eyes were striking and matched her hair very nicely.

“I think it was more of the other way around, I saw you with the eyes on the back of my head.” Rick replied.

Jen laughed and held up her hand to punch Rick on the shoulder. Rick threw his hands up in the air. “Please don’t, I don’t want a bruise on the last day of high school.”

Jen shrugged. “Fine. But I still think you need to toughen up a little more.”

Rick scratched his head. “I told you I enrolled in a martial arts class. But why do I need to, you can be the hulk here. I’ll just stand back and do the research while you smack the bad guys.”

Something flashed across Jen’s face but it was gone before Rick could place it. “You can’t always rely on that.” She said after a moment.

“Why? We’re going to the same college.” Rick pointed out.

“And after that?” Jen asked.

Rick chuckled. “If people are still beating each other up when I’m in a job, I’m probably in the wrong field.”

Jen sighed. “Right you are. Oh look, there’s Nicholas!”

Rick glanced over to where Jen was looking. Nicholas was her boyfriend, but Rick didn’t think much of him. He had slick black hair and he seemed to always look down on everyone. Despite that, Rick never said anything about it. As far as he saw it, anything that made Jen happy was good enough for him.

Nicholas nodded at Rick and hugged Jen.

“How’s it going, guys?”

Before they could answer, an announcement cut them off.

“All twelfth grade students, please report the football field to begin the Graduation ceremony. Thank you.”

The three waved goodbye, and raced off to their respective positions.

After the graduation ceremony, they all headed to a small fast food place near the school.

“Order what you want, it’s all on me.” Nicholas said with a grin.

Rick nodded his gratitude at Nicholas. He ordered a burger and a small soda and then plopped down at a table to wait for the other two. As he waited, a huge shadow suddenly passed over the windows, and he rushed to see what it was. But when he looked outside, nothing was there. The sky was completely clear, so it couldn’t have been clouds either.

Rick frowned and looked back in the restaurant. Nobody else was looking out the windows, but Jen seemed to be eyeing him carefully. Nicholas was still busy ordering his food. Rick gave Jen a weak grin and she shrugged, turning back to the server.

“Am I going crazy? I know I saw something.” Rick muttered to himself.

After the other two had joined him at the table and everyone had started eating, Rick motioned towards the window. “Did you guys see a shadow pass over the restaurant a few minutes ago?”

Nicholas grunted. “Was it an airplane?”

“I don’t think so; it was gone way too fast. Maybe I just imagined it.”

Jen didn’t say anything, and scarfed down the rest of her meal.

“Guys, I have to run. My parents want to celebrate my graduation with me as well. I’m sorry.”

Rick frowned “Ok, I’ll catch you later.”

Nicholas shrugged and threw his garbage in the trash bin. “I’ll see you tonight.” He said, and walked out of the restaurant.

Rick raised an eyebrow at Jen, but when she said nothing, he dropped it.

A minute or two later of uncomfortable silence, Jen waved goodbye to Rick and walked out of the store. Rick was left staring at the table, wondering what came next.

As he stared at the table, someone sat down across from him. Rick looked up in surprise. Across the table sat a massive man in a bowler hat and a trench coat.

“Good day, Mr. Adronus.”

“I’m afraid you have an advantage over me. I have no idea who you are.” Rick said. He glanced around the restaurant, but everyone was gone.

“Oh, that isn’t too important. Look, Rick. Do you mind if I call you that? Ah, that doesn’t matter either. Listen, kid. I’d like to tell you that you’re some special bloke, or that you’ve received some scholarship. But that isn’t the case. You’re average, albeit a slightly good inclination towards the sciences. So I’ll be straight with you, man to man. We’re interested in your friend.”

Rick went to stand up and leave, but the tall man casually reached into his coat and pulled a huge revolver out. He casually put it on the table. Rick gulped and slowly sat back down.

“What friend would you be talking about?” He asked carefully.

“Don’t play stupid with me, Nick. You know full well who I’m talking about.” The tall man replied.

“Nicholas?”

The man snorted and chuckled a little. “No, not Nicholas. I am quite interested in his girlfriend, Jen. And you have quite the long history with her.”

Rick’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want with her?”

The man laughed. “This isn’t give one and get one, kid. You answer my questions, or you get shot. Tell me, where does Jen live?”

Rick slammed his knee into the table, sending everything flying, and then scrambled for the door. There were two deafening cracks, and Rick felt two bullets fly past him, crashing into the walls of the restaurant. Rick flung the door open and sprinted away, weaving in and out through the neighborhood.

After what felt like hours of running, He finally decided that he had lost the tall man. He took out his cell and dialed 911. It didn’t take him long to find out that they couldn’t do anything without a good description of the man, so he hung up in disgust.

He called Jen’s cell and home phone, but neither answered. After a few more tries, he left a message warning her to stay out of town for a while. Then he headed back home and flopped into bed.

“What on earth is going on? Jen is right, I really need to get stronger.” He said, and before he could fight it, sleep overtook him.

Now

Rick’s fists pounded mercilessly into the punching bag. It had turned out that he was a natural at fighting, and he had quickly risen to the higher ranks, baffling all of his mentors. None of them could explain how he had grown so adept at the art that most had to study years to master. However, none of them had the nagging fear of a tall man in a black trench coat and bowler.

Ever since Rick had graduated from high school and enrolled in college, nobody had heard from either Jen or Nicholas. There had been a long search, but neither of them had shown up. Their entire families had disappeared as well.

Rick had gone to the police nearly every day to see if he could get any information on the case from them, but they had quickly grown tired of his questions and banned him from entering unless he had either evidence or a different issue. So Rick had taken it upon himself, taking a pause year before college and doing random jobs to earn enough money to hire private investigators.

There was a loud rip, and the bag Rick was punching ripped down the middle, spilling sand everywhere around him. Rick sighed and dropped out of his fighting stance.

“That’s the second one this month, Rick.”

Rick turned to face his instructor and threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know what to say, Sir. They must just be old.”

The other nodded. “That they are. But you really are something else. In all my years of teaching, I’ve never seen anyone progress as fast as you have.”

Rick chuckled mirthlessly. “They didn’t have the motivation I did.”

Rick’s phone rang loudly, and he grinned sheepishly at his instructor before jogging over to his bag and pulling it out.

“Hello? How can I help you?”

“Is this Mr. Adronus?”

“Yes. What can I do for you today?”

“If you’re still doing that body guarding thing, would you be willing to do it for a poor old man? I’m afraid I’ve made quite a few enemies over my years here.”

Rick frowned. Something seemed slightly off about the caller.

“I’m still doing bodyguarding, yes. My usual rates do apply though, I’m not doing anything for free.”

“Of course, of course. You will receive your payment at the end of the night.”

“Where shall I meet you?” Rick inquired.

“That club near the middle of the town. La Dance, I believe it was called. The sooner you’re here, the better. I’ll be standing in front of a blue Chevy.”

Rick sighed and ended the call.

“Sorry, it looks like my job is calling. I’ll come back to train later, Sensei.”

Rick left the dojo and got into his car. La Dance was a club for mostly lowlifes. It was under slight suspect for human trafficking, but even after multiple surprise searches nothing was found. Rick drove over to his apartment and changed into a stiff business suit. He pulled a pair of black sunglasses out and slipped them on. After slipping a small gun into its holster, he ran back outside and got in his car.

After a short drive, he arrived at La Dance. He parked and glanced in his mirror. When everything appeared to be in place, he exited the car and deftly strode towards the only blue car in the lot. A slight old man in a grey business suit was leaning on an exquisitely carved cane and watching him closely.

“Are you Mr. Adronus?” He asked once Rick got close enough.

“I am. Normally I don’t ask what my clients are doing, but what are you doing at a club like this? You seem quite respectable.”

The other looked at him out from under two bushy eyebrows.

“I’ve got my reasons. But to be frank, this is more about you than me. You’ve been hiring quite a few private investigators for a case long cold, Mr. Adronus.”

Rick spun, his hand going towards his hidden gun.

“I’m sorry, have I done something wrong, Mr…”

“Stevenson. And I would not say so. However, as I’m sure you know very well, there are those who would disagree. You haven’t been covert enough about your operations, and now you’re on Their list.”

Rick’s heart was pounding faster and faster. This was the most news he had heard about the case the entire year.

“And who would They be?”

Mr. Stevenson grinned lopsidedly at Rick.

“I’ll tell you more inside. In return, you will exempt me from paying you with cash.”

“For any information on this? Gladly. Lead the way, Mr. Stevenson.”

Mr. Stevenson grinned at Rick and tapped his cane on the ground. When he saw Rick inspecting the staff, he lifted it up to reflect against the dying sunlight. Rick suddenly realized the older man had flesh colored gloves on.

“They’re to stop splinters. This staff is quite old, you know. It has been in the family for a long time.”

Rick shrugged, and the two entered the club.