Side Mission

Drew

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Daniel walks out of the Principal's office and gently closes the door behind him. "How'd it go?" I ask him.

He nods. "Alright. You are now officially sick. You're free to go."

"Are you sure another situation like Ian's won't occur again?"

He looks insulted. "That wasn't my fault, okay. Besides, I've improved since then."

I chuckle and clap his back. "I was just joking. Okay, now skedaddle."

"I come all this way to help you and this is how you thank me," Daniel mumbles under his breath as he begins to walk away. At this point, a teacher passes by us but doesn't bother to spare us a glance. I give her a quick glance before looking away. The moment Daniel had walked into the school, I had worked a spell that would keep the both of us effectively hidden from normal people.

Bringing my phone out of my pocket, I confirm the address Ice King had sent me before beginning to prepare the noer. Just before I activate it, however, a voice rings in my ear. "Is everything alright?"

I instinctively look around before forcing myself to stop. I know the owner of the voice and exactly where he currently is. I project my voice to him. "Ian, when did you learn how to throw your voice?"

For a few moments, there is silence, then his voice comes again."I didn't learn anything. Just cobbled together a noer so I could talk to you without anyone else hearing. So, is everything alright?"

"Yeah. The Ice King just messaged me that he needs to see me urgently, so I'm going to have to skip."

"First day of school and you're already skipping classes."

"It's not my fault if things crop up while I'm in school."

A small laugh. "Alright, but can I talk to you about something later?"

"Sure. Later."

With that done, I activate the noer I had prepared earlier. My magic drains to near nothing in an instant as a portal appears in front of me. I step through the portal quickly and am transported away from the school. I appear in an abandoned building a few blocks away from the school and let the portal close behind me just before my Uua is completely drained.

That's the problem with using portals to travel, the farther you have to travel the greater the amount of Uua you have to use. And the increase in Uua usage is not linear, but exponential, which is why traveling a few blocks away from school all but depleted my Uua. Still, while it might seem small, traveling a few blocks in an instant isn't bad.

Concentrating, I open my third eye. Almost immediately all the nearby Eani gushes towards me, but I am cautious not to absorb it as is, instead using a new circulation technique I had learned recently to help my core convert it to Uua as quickly as it enters me. In no time, my Uua reserves are back to being full. Taking a deep breath, I open another portal.

After repeating my actions a few more times, I finally appear in an empty room. I ignore the other person in the room, choosing instead to fill up my Uua reserves one last time. When the process is complete, I finally give the person my full attention. The moment I see the expression on his face a feeling of annoyance crops up within me.

"What?" I ask him.

"You're still using your third eye like that?"

I make a rude gesture with my hand and for a moment a smile appears on his face. "It's not the easiest thing to master, okay? Besides, my Uua isn't pure enough yet."

A look of realization crosses his face. "Wait, you can't produce the counter pressure yet?"

I shake my head. "No." The third eye is a blessing. But to some people, it is a blessing they can't fully tap into. People like me. What most people who haven't opened the third eye don't realize is that the moment they open it, they have effectively opened up their core to their surroundings. It doesn't sound bad, at first, until you realize something. The core is like a bottle, and the Uua is like a gas within that bottle, and if you open a bottle full of gas, what happens? Most would answer that the gas would leave the bottle, but that isn't entirely true, the correct answer would be that while some of the gas would leave the bottle, the surrounding air would also try to rush into the bottle and it's success or failure would depend on the pressure exerted by the gas within the bottle. But due to other factors, the surrounding air will almost always win.

The same thing happens anytime we open the third eye. The surrounding Eani attempts to replace all the Uua within our core, and if successful, that would effectively cripple our ability to use magic - since magic depends on Uua - along with some other harmful effects. So, every time I open my third eye, I have to be extremely careful, using my core's newfound connection to the Eani to help convert the incoming Eani into Uua before any damage can be done. Because of this, I usually can't leave my third eye open for too long, or else I would be overwhelmed. Still, I can use it to help refill my Uua anytime I am running empty so I guess it's not too bad.

However, once the purity of my Uua reaches a certain level, I will be able to resist the Eani's attempt to replace my Uua, and at that point, I will be able to use the third eye to its fullest potential.

"So that means you haven't learned anything new yet?"

"Wrong. I'm learning a Fiis Technique. Redirection. I've almost fully mastered the basics. Okay, enough about me. Why'd you call me here? You said it was urgent?"

"Yeah, I need some help. I and a group of other people got a mission to investigate a series of disappearances that have occurred recently. Twelve kids have disappeared in the last two days."

I almost didn't believe my ears. "Twelve kids!"

He nods. "Yeah, twelve kids. Between the ages of seven and eleven."

What the hell is wrong with this city? First, we have the Majin with his string of murders, and now someone is kidnapping kids? "Have you found the culprit?"

"I think so. There's an Ascendant who seems to be connected to all of this. I can't state all the suspicious points yet, but I can say that he has some connections to all twelve kids, also he was always in the area when those kids disappeared. And each time the kids disappeared, so did he."

I nod. "So what now?"

"Now, I want to ask him some questions. But I have a feeling things may devolve into fighting, so I figured I might as well get some backup since he doesn't operate alone. I couldn't ask the people investigating with me since none of them are Rangers and they all don't want to have to fight. And my teammates, well, none of them have the third eye. So I thought of you. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get a share of the reward once this is all over."

With his explanation, I quickly understand why he chose to ask for my help. Unlike his teammates who didn't have the third eye, I did. Yes, I couldn't use a hundred percent of it, but just the ability to refill my Uua in an instant is invaluable. Unlike his teammates who would have to constantly hold back in a fight for fear of depleting their Uua, I could go all out from the start. Then if my Uua ran dry, I would need barely a second to refill it and continue on fighting. The importance of that could not be overstated.

"All right, I'll help."

The Ice King smiles. "Thanks. Let's go." A moment later his eyes begin to glow white. He had opened his third eye. He opens a portal and steps through it and I follow after him. We come out in the middle of an office. I freeze the moment we appear, not expecting a situation like this, after all, we're not meant to let normal people find out about us. With my heart pounding I turn on second sight and look around me. A second later I relax, everyone here is a magician, I can tell by their aura.

Wait. Everyone here is a magician. My guard shoots back up as I begin to prepare myself for anything. I glare at Ice King. "Why didn't you tell me we'd be walking into a room full of magicians."

A small frown appears on his face. "Didn't I say he doesn't operate alone?"

"How the hell does your brain even consider that a warning?" I hiss at him.

"Relax Drew, we're part of the Five after all. This should be a piece of cake." The moment those words come out of his mouth I realize something. He's messing with me. With a small shake of my head, I turn away from him.