Chapter 12 – The First and Last

Silk bid farewell to Nick who had just left him to his new job, he was the last one in the group that Nick had dropped off. He took out his equipment from the boot.

"Thanks," Silk waved as Nick drove away. He turned around to look at his new working quarters, the shop was small and quaint which meant it stood out. The city Silk was in right now was bright and very much stood out.

Silk cautiously stepped in to find a messy, cluttered room with clothes drooping off the mannequins. "This isn't worrying at all," he stated, voice dripping with sarcasm.

He stepped forward, there was a harsh high-pitched sound, it was the floorboard. "Definitely could not be more ominous." Silk muttered. Silk moved forward slowly to explore the place, he put his equipment on the closest table. The table made a nice normal wood sound with the placement, this was abnormal as the table was made from metal.

"Something is not right," he mumbled. He looked back at where he had heard the floorboard, there was an old entrance mat over the entrance but the sound had not been muffled. He looked at the drooping fabric, it was all the same cut but different in colour.

"Of course," Silk exclaimed loudly. "How could I be so slow." His eyes were not showing him what his other senses felt. It was obvious when you thought about it. "This is an illusion," he declared loudly.

Silk felt something on his shoulder, he turned, there was a gloved hand gripping it. He felt someone pull him and he stumbled backwards only just keeping his balance. The space that used to be the illusion collapsed in on itself, stripping itself from the walls and floor violently. The shop in its place was light and cheery with many different pieces of clothing on display.

"You are my new recruit," an older woman said. She was dressed stylishly suiting her age. "Are those clothes your work?" She asked.

"Yes." Silk was still confused by the sudden change that he couldn't fight off the advance of the woman. She inspected the clothes up close.

"Your skills are mediocre; how long did it take to make these?"

"Three days."

"Your slightly better than I thought then. They smell though, go in the changing room and I will fix that in a second."

"No," he said in disgust. The very idea of being naked in a changing room while this woman cleaned his clothes just seemed wrong in his head.

"Shut up and do as I say." She waved her hand and Silk flew in the changing room, she then pointed he finger and the clothes were stripped from him. He quickly closed the curtain and noticed something in the corner of his eye, she was sewing but in a way unlike he had ever seen. She had all the clothes floating around her and needles were flying everywhere. It was a spectacle to behold.

The needles seemed to move quickly, elegantly and with purpose embroidering a symbol onto each garment. The needles suddenly stopped and the clothes shot back to Silk (who was slightly hovering) and wrapped themselves around him so he was clothed again. He felt the force pull him back out the changing room and he landed back in front of the woman.

"If you put magic power into the symbols your clothes will restitch themselves, bacteria will be destroyed, stains will disappear and odours will dispel."

Silk nodded his head thankfully but then thought something, "I thought magic could only be used by humans."

The woman looked at Silk like he was an idiot. "Magic can be used by all creatures, it's just different creatures use different magic. Our abilities are magic." She flicked her wrist and a book appeared, it was pocket sized and hard backed, "read this, you are no use of me until you can understand this perfectly."

"Thanks," Silk said. He took the book.

"Here's a pen and paper as well," the woman took them from thin air. "My name is Mary." She waved her hand and two doors opened, she went into one and indicated Silk should go in the other.

"Thanks again," Silk headed into the other room. He was shocked at what he found, apparently magic was just another force that could be manipulated by the mind. The information from all the books Grace had given him did not compare to one paragraph from this book. Silk now knew using his knowledge from the sciences what all the numbers in the symbols were for, they were ratios and laws of physics. The book also explained one thing Silk had never understood, magic worked off belief, if someone else used a different number system that looked completely different and they had the exact same numbers in a symbol like James the magic would work the same as they both believed they had done the same thing.

Magic could not break the laws of science.

The symbol was just to help the magic energy circulate.

Silk wrote something down on the paper, it was just the symbol for energy with an absurdly high number next to it in joules. He drew a square around it and put magical energy into it, it did not take long before the paper was set on fire. Silk doubted it took all the energy the paper had written down.

Silk laughed and realised the only reason that the symbols looked complicated was to stop others stealing the ability to steal them. It was to ensure that the enchanter could maintain his job.

The ground shook and Silk fell back on his chair. He jumped up back to his feet, the ground shook again, he stumbled but kept his balance by using a wall as support. Silk grabbed the book and stuffed it in his pocket, he threw himself at the door bursting into the display area from the offices. Mary was there.

"Stay behind me," Mary said.

"What is it?" Silk had to ask.

"Humans," she spat. She walked over to the coat stand where she had put he cane for longer walks.

"Why would humans attack you?"

"Not the shop, the whole city."

"Yes, but why would they attack you know, they aren't exactly in good shape from what I've seen?"

"They must have found an edge in the war." Mary walked out of the door. Silk saw thousand of planes and helicopters silently circling the city in the air, soldiers were dropping from the sky. The planes and helicopters had obviously been outfitted with enchantments to help the aircrafts successfully ambush the city.

"Why haven't the others from the collective done their job?" Silk asked himself.

"The neutral collective has never really been successful at maintaining peace." Mary stated answering the question. Silk looked at her completely dumbfounded. "We have always known. Your heart is in the right place so we welcomed you, don't expect the same courtesy from other demon cities."

"Is this city an abnormality compared with other demon areas?"

Mary waved her hand and the parachuting humans directly above their heads were constrained by the harnesses wrapping around them. "This city is very much an abnormality. We will stay here." Mary turned and headed back into the shop.

Silk followed. "Why are we retreating, with your power you could help stop the humans." Silk exclaimed showing he was discontent with her judgement.

"There are many demons with my power, I have already done enough."

"You shouldn't just rely on others."

"Humans are very deceitful beings, I couldn't guarantee your safety," Mary snapped.

"I understand magic now so why don't you help me, help you in saving this city."

"You only just understood magic but you have no ability are instinctive magic so you would be near useless in a fight." Mary seemed distressed at that moment.

Silk paused. "How do you know I no longer have an ability?"

Mary was stunned for a second, she couldn't believe she let something like that slip. "Just believe me, don't think about it."

"Explain this." He demanded.

"Twenty-two years have passed, you may not remember it all but you were a big part of it."

"I am a high schooler, look at me. What you say doesn't make sense."

"I need to protect you." The door flew open behind Mary. Suddenly stiffened and smiled. She coughed a bit and blood escaped from her mouth. Mary smiled and leaned closely into Silk with her mouth closing in close to his ear. "Remember this, death by death sleep," she whispered.

Mary collapsed, she had a bloody crater in her back. The people standing behind her were smiled cruelly, the face was very familiar.

"It, it can't be you," Silk stuttered.

"But it is," the hero stood proudly over the body, Grace stood next to him. "Why did you have to come back, why couldn't you stay dead?" the hero asked. "If you had stayed dead it wouldn't have ended like this. Its lucky you don't remember anything."

"Shut up." Silk pounced inelegantly for his sewing equipment.

The hero waved his hand and Silk flew to the wall, unexpectantly he did not stop but continued into nothingness.