NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Becoming A Bringer.
“So, it’s in here?” Zoey asked, looking up at the incredibly tall and remarkable skyscraper in front of her.
“Yep. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Alexander smiled proudly. As if he owned the building or something.
“Follow us and try not to get lost.” Lindsay told her.
She still hasn’t been able to lock eyes with her ever since yesterday. Alexander had trouble too but he made an effort at least to look at her. Lindsay tried to avoid her stare at every moment. Is it possible that she scarred her or something? Most teens their age wouldn’t ever run into a situation like that. Zoey also didn’t believe that these two ever killed a ‘daemon’ yet either. Yes, she pronounced it daemon like they wanted because apparently the magjistar’s version of daemon came first but demon became more popular in the west. She was still going to call them demons in her head though. She was petty like that.
Zoey followed Alexander and Lindsay inside the building. The three of them look super out of place inside this fancy ass building. Men and women dressed in business suits looking busy as hell going in and out of the building. Important people making phone calls while walking. Zoey even overheard someone getting fired over the phone because of how loudly the person on the other end screamed it. The student council president and vice president walked to the counter and asked for a meeting with the Janitor.
‘Totally not fucking suspicious at all.’ Zoey rolled her eyes as the three of them were directed to an elevator.
Lindsay pushed the button to call the elevator down. Or up. It didn’t matter, Zoey knew some magic shit was going to happen soon and she still couldn’t get over that code phrase. Seriously? A meeting with the Janitor? If anyone with half a brain heard that, they’d knew something fishy was going on. Especially when it’s a bunch of teenagers like themselves asking to meet with a damn janitor. The CEO or president of the company would make more sense than the janitor because they could say that one of them was related to the boss or something.
“We’re almost there.” Alexander said to perhaps comfort her but she wasn’t nervous at all.
“How did you two find out it was me who saw you in the classroom?” Zoey asked when they entered the elevator.
“We asked the teachers if they saw anyone running by in the halls.” Lindsay calmly replied.
‘Those snitching pieces of shit!’ Zoey cursed.
And she was freaking out that they had some secret magic hidden away that they decided to not tell her about but nope. It was something as simple as that. Yesterday they said they only knew spells that could kill demons and Zoey thought they were lying because why would they tell her everything? She wouldn’t share all her tricks with someone she barely knew.
“Oh.” She replied simply.
When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, the scenery was completely different from what it was on the first floor. It was like a ghost town on this floor. In terms of layout, it perfectly copied the layout of the normal side. A large reception counter with beautiful women manning it, to the right of that three bathrooms for the two sexes and an extra one that had a question mark symbol etched onto the door, and to the left of the counter was a large case of stairs that looked like they went up endlessly.
Alexander and Lindsay strolled over to the counter and she followed behind them.
“We need to talk with an available Grade B or higher Magjistar.” Alexander asked the pretty woman with a cute little frog on her head.
“Is the issue urgent?” The frog croaked.
“No. We can wait.” He responded totally normally while Zoey was freaking out over the frog using a human meat puppet.
“I’ll get with you in a moment sir.” She began rapidly typing on her computer.
“I guess magicians are more modern than I thought...” Zoey said under her breath. ‘And freaky as hell too!
“How did you think of us?” Lindsay asked.
“Uh... Nothing like this.” Zoey said. ‘They adapted to modern times very well. I expected them to be stuck in their old ways and refuse modernness completely.’
“Contrary to popular belief, we Magjistars are more open-minded than people believe. We are always open to learning new knowledge and putting it to practical use.” Alexander informed.
“A Grade A Magjistar will be with you shortly.”
‘Her definition of shortly must be different from mines.’ Zoey thought as an old man popped up in front of them immediately.
“Zieg!” Alexander exclaimed.
“Alex my boy! Lindsay my girl!” This Zieg happily responded back. “Come on follow me with your new friend!”
‘Friend? That’s a strong word old man...’ Zoey thought to herself as she was magically whisked away into a large office space.
“What the fuck?!” Zoey accidentally exclaimed much to the surprise of the Magjistars around her.
Feeling herself being forcibly taken through space and maybe time without her control or input was enough to send her brain into a spin. She fell on her butt immediately after spatially displaced and relocated. Zoey’s body went into fight or flight mode in this strange and unnatural situation, she had to do deep breathing exercises to force her heart into calming itself as she wasn’t in any danger. Soon she found herself glaring at the old man.
“A little warning next time would be nice...” She asked.
“My deepest apologies young lady. I didn’t realize you were a...”
“She’s going to be our new Bringer.” Lindsay smiled.
“Yeah actually... If it wasn’t for her, me and Lindsay would actually be getting our magic gates sealed right about now.” Alexander told him.
“Your gates sealed?! You let a Gully find out your secret!?” He exclaimed before looking at Zoey with a dangerous look in his eyes.
Zoey nervously balled her fists. That look in his eyes was enough to cause all the hair on her body to rise up like a frightened cat. Her instincts almost urged her into rushing forward and smashing her fist into this old man's face. It reminded her of the same feeling that she got from the demon at school but a hundred times more! Would she stand a chance against a mage like this with just her skills now? No, questioning her capabilities isn't important. What's important is the courage needed to throw the first punch to protect herself and keeping punching until she felt completely safe. If she needed to beat the shit out of an old man, she would. She’d do almost anything to protect her own life. A coward is something that Zoey would never be ashamed to admit. It’s cowardice that keeps one alive and on their toes. So, at the first sign of magic, she'll move in deep inside his personal space and pummel him from close range to prevent him from chanting a spell.
'Wait, do magjistar's need to chant for their spells?' She suddenly questioned.
“It’s okay Zieg! She agreed to be our Bringer but what we needed your help with was a cursed object. When we took care of the daemon, its magji shard went into Zoey’s boxing gloves. We just need you to prove that they are cursed so that we can get the rewards for the case.” Alexander explained.
“Oh, is that all?” He let out a relieved breath. Probably happy he didn’t have to cover up for his apprentices’ mistake and kill a Gully, Zoey figured.
Zoey had no doubt that a Gully was an insensitive term or racist remark against normal humans like herself. This asshole probably thought he was on a different existence from humans because he could do magic shit. She could already see that racism or that superior than thou attitude slowly rubbing off on Alexander. The innocent little kind idiot didn’t notice it but she could. Lindsay was probably aware of it.
“Yep. That’s all we needed.” Lindsay clarified.
“Sorry about that outburst from earlier Zoey. Do you mind letting me see the gloves?” He asked with a kind old man smile.
But Zoey wouldn’t forget how quick he was to turn against her in his eyes. How quick he was to call her a Gully and think about dealing with her without anyone ever knowing. She handed him her spare boxing gloves and he pulled out a cat from out of his drawer. And no, she didn’t suddenly go crazy and start seeing things. He pulled out an honest-to-god cat out of his drawer and placed it on top of her boxing gloves.
Zoey couldn’t even think ‘what the fuck’ at something like this after the frog receptionist from earlier. The cat started clawing her gloves and loudly purring. It was actually making her a bit uncomfortable at how sexual it looked. Her of all people was getting uncomfortable at something vaguely sexual meant that it had to be some seriously freaky shit. And Zoey has glanced at most of the worst fetishes online. Her eyes have seen some things that bleach could never clean out.
“Yep. These things are cursed for sure.” Zieg declared as he placed the cat back in his mahogany office desk.
Her boxing gloves that were ripped to shit by the cat were slowly repairing themselves. Zieg handed her the gloves back and she felt a need to place them on. To try them out and see what they could do now. But she restrained that feeling inside of herself. She was good at restraining herself.
The gloves went inside her bookbag that she brought and she had to ask.
“You say it's cursed but what does this curse do exactly?” Zoey wanted to know. She was planning to use these to bust up some more demons. If she had to suffer a lifetime of baldness from the curse then there was no way she was ever putting them on again. Not that she couldn’t pull off a sexy bald chick, it was just that she liked her hair very much.
“Since the daemon you all took out was only a Grade D, it isn’t a harsh curse. Just a curse of mending. As long as you feed it blood it will repair any damages sustained to the gloves. This is somewhat valuable for trainee magjistars.” Zieg explained.
“Valuable? Can you sell curses or something?”
“No, but you can sell cursed objects. Normally cursed objects have some sort of drawback for the user that stops one from wanting to use it too often. I suppose you are rather lucky as those gloves of yours only need blood. They don’t take your blood or force you to feed on blood. That isn’t too bad of a curse at all. A rarity when discussing cursed objects.” He answered.
“Most Magjistars sell cursed objects because they are more of a hassle to use. If the special ability of the cursed object is especially useful though, a Magjistar can try to have it purified or tamed by a Magjistar skilled in dealing with cursed objects.” Lindsay explained.
“I’ll keep them.” Zoey decided.
“Okay then. Let’s return back to the front desk and get you set up officially as our Bringer.” Alexander said.
“Thanks, Ziegs!” The two called out as we left the office room.
“See ya around kids! Nice meeting you Zoey!” He smiled and waved.
Zoey still thought he was a piece of shit though.