Atizaya 01 test

      The Highwayman
      Chapter 01
     

 

 

 

Atizaya

Volume 1

Allix Morgen

 

By

Ithamar M

 

Episode 01

 

 

The Highwayman

Chapter 01

 

Once upon a time…

There was a little girl who loved everything related to magic—especially fairy tales.

She hoped that someday, when she grew up perhaps, she would become a wizard.

She was a sad and lonely girl by day, but when she closed her eyes she dreamed of an enchanted boy with beautiful eyes, each of a different color. He promised to take her to a wondrous place where fairies lived and she could learn magic.

Over time, the hardships of the world forced the little girl to grow up and face the responsibilities and obligations of adult life. She tried to give up her beliefs in the supernatural in order to become a mature woman. She thought that adults didn’t believe in what they could not see with their eyes, touch with the tips of their fingers, hear with their ears or taste on the tips of their tongues.

After all, even in a world surrounded by satellites, where space travels are common, you still found people who didn’t believe that they travel to the moon. In an alternative reality where magic was discovered and used to create gigantic machines some people still say: “There is no such thing as magic.” And she believed that no one would ever argue or start a war over something as silly as magic.

However, she was wrong…

 

I Allix

 

 

 

“The forgetful future.” The woman voice said in Allix dreams. “Remember…”

She tried to remember, her instincts said that was important, and even if she couldn´t remember nothing besides that, the dream repeated every day.

Allix took a little crochet pouch under her pillow. Resting inside was a deck of cards that belonged to her father. He worked as a game developer creating cards for Atizaya, a game that had become popular among both children and adults. Every year, many different thematic decks were released and her favorite was the dream deck designed by her father. Just holding that deck and shuffling it gave her the strength to keep moving forward.

She reminded of her father and five years before, the last they were together.

“What you want now dad?” She pulled down her glasses to see his cheerful face waving at her from the prow. It was weird to see a six foot tall man, all goofy that way.

“I want to know what is your problem, my dear. You always asked to join in my business trips, but in the last year we never played anymore” He stared at her with his worried green eyes. “I don’t like to see my ginger baby all gloomy that way. Why you don’t hang out with Zoya anymore? She’s all quiet in that corner reading horror books, you two had a fight?”

“We don’t fight and it’s not am horror book dad.” Allix lay down in the beach chair. “I’m just sunbathing.”

“I’m pretty sure that is a book about vampires.” He stared with the hand covering his face. “How are you sunbathing with this giant hat? Also you have green eyes, freckle’s and red hair. Isn´t good to gingers get much sun.”

“I´m not a ginger dad, I have auburn hair and my skin is not so pale.” Allix took out the hat and sited.

“You are in denial, you know?” He crossed his arms and nodded his head. “Look a cruise chip!” He pointed like an excited child. “You know that before you born a boat with that size used millions of gallons of polluting oil?”

“Yes dad. I see cruise ships every day, we live in the shore.”

“You see. For thousands of years, magicians hide the existence of magic in secret societies, until a couple of decades ago when their secrets were revealed to everyone.” Hamlet sat next to her enthusiastic. “when magic began to appear around the world, scientists quickly embraced the knowledge and called it Mantrazastra, which is Sanskrit for ‘Magic studies.’ The great first creation that changed the world, was the ‘sigma driver.1 which converted the magic energy known as “mana” into other things like heat and electricity. That allowed the creation of the ‘steam balls’ able to energize gigantic machines, making it possible for the construction of wonders and terrible weapons for wars.” He sounded like he was telling a scary.

”And the steam balls had the size of a basketball. You already told me that a bazillion times, dad.”

“You loved to know things about magic.”

“Is not magic dad!” Allix snorted angry. “I´m not a baby!”

“Yes you are,” he played with her. “You are my cute ginger baby, nom, nom, nom.”

“I´m educated girl and I intended to go to college and become someone important.“ Allix pushed him and made her smart pose crossing her arms and legs. ”Just ignorant people blame nonexistent things like magic for their troubles.”

“Really?” Hamlet sated mimicking her pose. “You don’t know about the magic wars, the Noza Empire, wizards in the government, and the powers of the Arcanum army?”

“There wasn’t anything supernatural in the so-called ‘magic wars’.” She made quotation marks with her fingers. “That was all a hoax. Just pompous military titles, you know?”

“How you explain the spiral zone? A place with a cursed cloud that blocks the sun, the animals became mutant monsters and the people became weak dumb slaves?”

”Is just a place they don´t want nobody to enter. They just take advantage from that stupid people who believes that a young adult book can teach witchcraft.”

“The army’s all around the world are drafting young kids to be trained in the Arkanatuns, the ‘Magic academies’.” He quoted with his fingers.

“To me, the infamous witch-hunting, were excuses from the military to eliminate rebels and political opposition.” Allix looked at him with a smug smile. “Those people labelled as ‘sorcerers’ are just scapegoats.”

“Don’t think you are smart for not believing in things, my dear.” He lifted his finger warning. ”A lot of people die every day from middle age deceases because they don’t believe in vaccines.”

“Is not the same thing, dad.” She said indignantly.

“You are forgetting that I´m a powerful Wizard. I tell you about the last time I faced the Noza necromancers?”

“I don´t want to see your tricks or heard your anecdotes, dad.” Allix whined pushing her hat and beating the feet’s.

“Don´t tell me you want to be one of those rebellious teenagers I heard about. You will stop to help in the chores and will start to fight with your mom to get out with hairy tattooed guys?”

“I´m not rebellious dad.” Allix rolled her eyes. “What you want me to do after all?”

“Have fun! We are in a yacht; there are tons of things to do. We can fish, get the diving equipment and enter in the water, sing sailors songs and play like we used to do.” He waved his hands and swung.

“Is too cold to dive, and this those stuff aren’t fun anymore. Besides, mum work in the yacht club at the end of the street. I´m tired to walk in boats.”

“You should be more thankful, Allix. A weekend in a one hundred foot yacht is the lifetime dream for lot of girls with your age.”

“A lot of girls with my age were pregnant.”

“Don’t say such horrible thing to your father or I will wash your mouth with soap.”

“You started the analogies.” Allix raised her hands showing she surrendered. ”Okay! There are a lot of girls who walk ride on horses every day, I just touch two horses in my life and never ride.”

“You ride before, maybe you don´t remember because you had three years.” Jim remembered a little and turn back to his enthusiastic mood. “That’s it? Why you don´t say before? Off course we can ride horses. I can get a way in this travel.”

She sighed. “Dad! You need to understand that I’m not a child anymore I’ have thirteen years old, you know?”

“You talk like you finished the college, and until thirty one of October you still have just twelve.”

“Please dad.” Caring she put a hand in his face. “Your drama is not funny anymore, now is obnoxious.”

“You loved to have a dad who designed Atizaya cards.” He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket and started to swing fis finger in the ground crestfallen.

“I also loved to play with dolls. Atizaya cards are not the most important thing to me anymore. I prefer to hang out with my friends. I just need a little time of my own, you know?”

“You don´t play with your dolls anymore?” He asked surprised.

“No dad!” She sighed. “How many times I had to say that I´m not a children anymore.”

“If is what you want, I will cave you all the time and space you need. You would be happier if I take you back home to hanging out with your friends?”

“No dad!” She said in a caring tone. “I´m glad to be with you.”

“Don’t need to patronize-me.” He sniffed. “Let’s just play Atizaya cards one more time, and I promise that I will not annoy you anymore. Or is a game just for kids?”

“Is more a game for geeks and Nerds.” Allix giggled.

“Being a geek still is cool?”

“Yes dad.” She took out the hat.

“I want you to stay with it,” He gave her the cards.

“The dream deck, dad?” Allix was surprised. “It’s your favorite.”

“And is your favorite too,” He winked. “Since you aren´t a children anymore I think you can take care of it, and I always will be with you.”

“Dad!” Allix hugged him. “I will treasure these cards forever.”

Boot kept their promises.

Hamlet never annoyed Allix again, he never returned from his travel.

Grownups had the bad habit to talk as if children’s can´t understand or aren´t present at the time.

Allix heard people talking about her father abandoning the family. But she always know the truth, he was victim of crossfire, in one of those countries at war he traveled.

Allix treasured the cards and learned the hard way that her father was right, Not only do grownups believe in magic and all sorts of invisible things, but that a lot of them were eager to kill and start wars because of these beliefs. Like when the Nova Empire bombed her beloved town, Aquamarine.

Fearing more attacks, most people fled from their homes to the countryside taking only the essential and leaving all their possessions in tow. She couldn’t go because Ivana, her mother fell ill, and decided to help her neighbors by keeping their belongings until they came back. When she noticed that would never happen, she began to trade valuables for food and medicine in the black market.

Every night, she scavenged the abandoned houses, taking all the most valuable things she could. She lived in a wealthy neighborhood and had a lot to choose from; she gathered so many things that her house seemed little more than a deposit of valuables. Unfortunately, in a ravaged town in times of war, luxuries were not in demand and it didn’t take long for Allix to regret not taking what was really important: food.

When her plundering started Allix never wondered that she could ever be in such a situation. She thought she would have food for years, but a few weeks later all the perishables spoiled at almost the same time. With the perpetual cloud of toxic smog over the town, no plant could survive. The people who remained ate bread with canned food and fish caught by the anglers, who could charge anything they wanted. Tears welled up in Allix’s eyes every time she remembered all the food she wasted in those first weeks.

“Enough with self-piety, I need to dress up.” Allix thought and get up.

She looked at the burned bucket were her hand lay down the whole night. The water evaporated. She will need more water for the next night, her magic hand it was getting worse.

If things keep this ways, she will not be able to keep hidden from the witch hunters.

 

 

II Allix

 

Allissandra—Allix, as her friends and relatives lovingly called her—used to be a humble and diligent, ordinary girl. She lived with her mother on a comfortable home, had funny friends, went to school and did some part-time jobs for extra cash. However, that was before her mother fell ill and the merciless Noza Empire ravaged the cities along the coastline with bombs and plunged it into war.

Every night, Allix would go to bed early, before the sun even began to set. She was able to get up at night, to scavenge in the empty houses, trying to find whatever food she could. Most plunderers searched in broad daylight afraid of the night, but the thing Allix feared was that someone found out about her magic hand, that she used to open any lock or safe.

One night she woke up almost at daybreak, with her stomach remembering that she was starving, and her body began to trembling with hunger. The last month was terrible. She’d eaten only her mother’s leftovers in the hope of hiding the truth about the situation they were in. Each day she became weaker and dizzier.

It was too late to search in abandoned houses, but two blocks away was the Orange Street where wealthy people still lived. Maybe she could find something in their garbage. It would not be the first time.

In the bathroom, she faced her skeletal body; each day she loses weight.

Allix started by putting on makeup in order to help camouflage. The dark shades did little for her pale complexion, but flattery was not the point. Dark makeup would conceal how young she was. It could make her look more aggressive, more dangerous.

Even though she was young, weak, and had a sick mother to care for, she needed to be strong or, at least, appear to be strong, to avoid being a target.

It definitely wasn’t good to show how desperate you were in those hard times.

Scattered around the house, were the finest makeups, clothes and perfumes, valuable jewels, tapestries and artwork she could collect in the abandoned houses and hotels.

In one of the many piles of clothes scattered around her room, she found a pair of expensive silk tights, long, wool stockings, pearls, silk, long underwear, a dark-blue cotton undershirt and a purple, wool dress to wear under her worn rabbit overcoat and Ushanka hat. The layers helped to hide the frailty of her malnourished body.

She hid her auburn hair, which now had the texture of straw, in a headscarf. Her green eyes were grayish and lifeless, and her dry lips were pale and cracked, matching her skin covered with makeup. She remembered that she avoided smiling because of her yellow teeth and choked back a disdainful laugh. Shame was a luxury she could no longer afford.

The disguise helped against other looters as well to hide from her sick mother how bad things were, poor Mrs. Ivana believed that Allix worked part time, went to school and received her medicines from the hospital, not from trading stolen goods with smugglers, and Allix wanted to keep it that way.

Stealthily, she verified that her mother slept peacefully, thinking that her daughter was in her own bedroom. Allix wanted to come back home and make her mother breakfast before she woke.

The streets were empty; no surprise, since few people remained in the neighborhood. The light of the morning appeared through the cloudy sky, erasing the cover of the dark.

None plundering in daylight; that dawn was just wasted.

The first trash bag she searched was almost empty. That was strange; a few weeks ago, when her friends Zoya lived there she always bragged that they had plenty of food. It seemed life sucked for everybody and wasting food was out of fashion.

Allix found a milk box with yesterday’s expiration date. That was a good find. She spied some rats gathered around a paper grocery bag—a good sign of edibles. Inside was a plastic bag of rotting carrots and other vegetables. They were a little rubbery, but washed and cooked they would not be so bad. She put the best ones in her curbside shopping bag and scattered the rest for the rats.

Now, if she only had a little meat to go with her loot. She smiled at the busy critters who were just trying to get through the day, too.

Hunger makes people bold and creative. Some of the world’s most touted delicacies were created in the harshest situations. Nobody would make shark fin soup if he had access to any other part of the animal, nor would anyone have thought to taste the living phlegm of an oyster if there had been any option besides sand and rocks.

She remembered hearing that people in the Far East China ate rats.

“Maybe…”

 

 

III Kazan

 

“Maybe this map is not so useful!” Rembrandt Kazan murmured looking at the map of Aquamarine, before the bombardment.

Not too far away, the wind whistled a sad and melancholic melody to the young foreign with fancy clothes and long black hair who wandered amid the debris.

Attentively, he followed the instructions in the notebook he carried until he reached a very different part of the town, a place unharmed from the airstrikes. None debris, broken windows or trash, even the trees is had their leafs, It was as if the dust avoided those blocks.

In one of the public promenades without signs of war, he saw an old lady walking with her doggie, like it was a normal day in a pleasant neighborhood.

 

IIII Kazan

 

Most citizens in Aquamarine fled into the countryside after the airstrikes. Mrs. Gleba never let such a thing affect her and every morning, went out to walk with August, her pretty basset hound. Her relatives said that after the attack it wasn’t safe to walk alone in the neighborhood. However, she wasn’t afraid, even after the neighbors left, even with the bombardments, Mrs. Gleba would never run away.

“We aren’t a very rich country, but we have a very strong people.” Gleba was very patriotic and always talked with her dog August. “A lot of decent people left and now the streets are filled with beggars. But I’m too old to be scared.”

As if to justify her statement, she saw one of the urchin kids scavenging in the garbage.

”Look at that, August!” Gleba approached to take a better peek. The girl was wearing some expensive clothes under a cheap old overcoat, twice her size. “Isn’t that one, the child of the young widow? Ivana is her name, I believe.” August nodded his head and she accept as he agreed. “She had a child too early, was so careless… It’s not a surprise she ended in such a way.”

Mrs. Gleba couldn’t avoid a malaise and qualm seeing that feeble girl licking a food wrapper picked from the trash. Nauseated, she waited for the girl to finish and leave, to avoid meeting such a pathetic figure. Despite her humble beginnings, her family became very important in high society. One thing she learned was to be discreet and avoid any kind of fuss.

“It’s not a surprise that she chose our trash.” she said to the dog. “I refuse to spare good food and any kind of comfort, no matter the situation.”

With curiosity, she watched from the corner of her eye while pretending to be petting her dog. “The girl avoids using her right hand and is not skilled with the left one. Maybe she is hurt.” The dog nodded again. “If I know they are facing such hardship, I gladly would help them. I even could shelter the girl. What is her name? Ali something… I live alone, and she needs to learn proper manners. She could be a good companion for you. What do you think, August?”

Mrs. Gleba was not a bad person. She never could deny a dish of food to anyone. She passed a couple of minutes thinking about all the good she would do for the poor girl, and what a kind, charitable person everyone would know she was.

The girl didn’t notice the humongous rat approaching her. The old lady became terrified. That wasn’t a simple rat; it was some animal that had eaten magic residues from the Noza bombs and changed, becoming bigger and angry. That creature could easily eat little August in a single bite.

The only thing the girl could do was to defend herself from the animal with her right hand. In that moment, thousands of things crossed poor Mrs. Gleba’s mind. The image of the girl lying down in a hospital because of the rat, squeezed her heart.

Mrs. Gleba close her eyes and a strong blast of hot wind threw her to the ground. In the next moment, an inferno of flames engulfed the corner of the street where the garbage was. It took a few moments for the old woman to understand what was happening. She looked to the sky for planes that were bombarding, but there was nothing.

Bruised, Mrs. Gleba struggled to get up in time to see the girl running away. When she approached the fire and she understood what happened, her heart began to beat stronger with fear for the first time in thirty years. In the melted asphalt, the mark of the girl’s hand was clear to see and just one thing entered Mrs. Gleba’s mind:

“Witchcraft!”

 

V Allix

 

Sitting down in the middle of the street, Allix watched the inferno that a few seconds ago was a pile of garbage. Seemed that even the rocks melted. She looked scared at the unrecognizable stain on the ground that a few moments ago was a rat. Her heart beat fast, and she slipped in the melted asphalt trying to get up with her right arm, dirtying her clothes and hitting her chin. She gazed at the distorted air bending by the heat around her right hand, her long fingernails left marks in her palm from gripping her fist tight for so long.

Feeling stupid, she got up and ran toward home as fast as she could, thinking that at least she held on to the milk and had remained unseen, without notice the two persons in the end of the street.

Two blocks was exhaustive to run in her condition. Allix rested for a moment in front of the fence by her house to catch her breath, and to her shock, there was a person walking in her direction. How had she not noticed? How could she miss it? It was a tall boy her age. He saw everything. How could she be so careless?

The teachers, who complained about Allix’s attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, are amazed about how aware of her surroundings she was. However, it had been days since she'd last eaten, the fatigue and hunger affected her perception. Given her condition, she knew it shouldn't have surprised her to not notice nearby people.

He approached and she tried to step back, losing her balance and dropping the milk box. Instinctively she grabbed it with her right hand. For a few moments, she felt relief at saving the milk, followed by the intense panic. Her hand was cold. The damned power was gone, abandoning her in her time of need. Now she was just a defenseless anemic, weak girl who barely could stand and the lad was standing in front of her with an extended hand, offering to help her up.

In a second look, she found him handsome, with long black hair, which was unusual in that region. He was dressed in fancy foreign clothes, and had heterochromia iridum where one eye was purple with a strange pupil and the other was light green. However, what made her breath stop were the marks like tattoos on the left side of his face that ran all the way down his neck to the collar of his shirt. What, at first glance, seemed to be tribal tattoos were a bunch of smaller, complex symbols, like ideograms from an ancient language. Maybe a spell printed in his skin? Allix wondered.

“Well, are you going to get up?” Rembrandt kept his hand out stretched.

Fearful and trembling like a newborn puppy; Allix stretched her chilled hand to him. More tattoos ran up his left arm. They were symbols, precise, perfectly symmetric, and hypnotic. She couldn’t take her eyes off of them. They almost looked alive. She wondered if they covered him from head to toe.

“Are you cold?” He asked. She had no doubt that he was foreign, by his accent.

“N-no.”

“Can I ask why you are trembling?” He smiled as if she amused him.

“I-I don’t know…”

“Then that makes two of us. Hey, we already have something in common.” He joked.

“You came to take me?” Allix didn’t know why she asked, but feared the answer.

“If you want me to take you to someplace… I can do it.”

The answer frightened her a lot. “I’m sorry... I’m afraid of you. I… I… I need to go.”

“Why you are scared? You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

“I dreamed about a boy… His eyes are… He took me away, and I have to take care of my mother… She needs me. Please! Go away!” Allix begged with tears in her eyes.

“Please calm down.” He took a juice box from his kitbag and gave it to her. “Here, drink.”

Allix drank in a single gulp.

“Y-you saw! You saw it! You will tell them? You will tell what I did?”

“If you want to keep it secret, I won’t tell anyone.” He nodded.

“I… I want… I can pay you! Wait! Wait!" Allix stuttered nervously! She had the impulse to run into the house, and began to search in the piles of loot spread through the hall. "Trophies, medals, he might like those but... Jewelry, yes!” She had lots on the shelf. Allix hold on because of the trap she put in the door, four gunshots that could blow away any invader who don’t know the proper way to enter in her house.

“Look.” Kazan showed his clothes. “ Don’t freak out. I’m totally unarmed and inside my kitbag there is just food.”

“Food?” Allix cut her thoughts for a second surprised, she thought he could have anything, less food. She gave a good look inside, no weapon in sight.

“Food!” He pulled out a box of chocolate milk and gave to her. She felt like it had been ages since the last time she drank chocolate milk. She began to calm down and the food in her stomach make her feel much better. Her stomach was full, and a feeling of happiness came into her brain, she almost began to laugh.

There was something about that guy she felt was trustworthy. In the last months, she learned to rely on her intuition, which always proved reliable, and right now, it was telling her that he didn’t present any danger. But harmless now didn’t mean out of danger later; Better safe than sorry.

Many people fight their fear, like an enemy or a disease. Not Allix. She liked her fear; it was her friend and gave her strength. The fear makes all our senses more active to perceive danger, and gives us stamina to deal with it. In Allix’s case, she would usually run away, but her brain started to scheme a plan. “There’s a trap in the front door with a shotgun ready to hit anyone who doesn't know the proper way to enter. But, he doesn't know I live here. I need to take him far away. And I know were.” Every plunderer had a couple of hideouts.

“Come with me.” Allix rubbed her face against his chest when she passed by him. His smell was awesome, makes her wants to jump on him. That was disturbing, she felt attracted to many boys in school, but never felt so wild.

He was looking at her with interest. Maybe he wanted her body; boys are like that. She smiled, it was an involuntary reflex, and it was silly. “Nobody would be interested in such a washed-up girl.” She thought. Allix didn’t have a good self-image anyway.

While they walked, he gave her sandwiches, apples and juice boxes to eat and drink.

He was kind, and her instincts told her to trust him.

However, distrust was a necessity, and she has a place prepared with traps to go if someone followed her.

 

 

VI Zoya

 

Mudá, tudu issu.

 

Zoya was the person Allix could

 

Zoya followed the light of the morning and for the first time in months hiding, went out her house, stepped in the dry grass and looked to the grayish sky. The garden was very different from what she remembered, no flowers, hedges or birds. Her pale skin and grayish green eyes, with her Strawberry blonde hair hidden inside a white furry hat, dressed in a white Inverness coat, made a sad match with the gray landscape.

"What are you doing barefoot?" Shannele angry asked from the back door, nervously smoking her cigarettes.

"I want to feel the grass.” She answered sadly.

"There is no grass..." Shannele answered bitterly, "Everything is dead my dear. Nothing lives anymore with this cursed sky."

"Don't say that my dear.” Mr. Hedeon appears behind Shannele and affectionately embraces her.

"The Arcanum army will clean the sky.” Zoya smiled. Believe."

"I have something for you!" Mr Hedeon walked to her and took a package from his coat. "The most powerful amulets against witchcraft that money can buy." She opened the brown paper to find gorgeous shining collars and bracelets. Zoya loved jewelry like any girl, but she also feared magic, protective amulets had a total special value for her. Shannele could be full of fears and prejudices against magic, but Zoya wasn't much different.

“Now you are protected against magic.” Shanelle smiled. "You can go to school to do the registration. Put your boots before you get a cold."

"Dad you have business with the Army. Why you can’t use your influence like you always do?" She asked with a sad look.

"You already are old enough to take care of yourself, you are old enough to have babies, for cry out loud!" Shannele scolded her. "Your father volunteered our house as a base clearly against his will, just for you be protected and he do not like the young cadets close to you."

 

(children’s makes it a possessive noun)

 

Zoya wanted to complain. She knew a lot of girls older than her that don’t have any maturity or their parents still treat them like they still are small children. However, things changed after the war, and she doesn’t knew what happened to those people. Her employees were gone and in the past months, she learned how to do the shores, her mother even gets angry when she dressed herself as a housemaid to clean the house.

She looked to the tired smile in Mr Hedeon.

He was old enough to be her grandfather, but he never looked so old and tired. Don’t matter how much he spoiled her. Zoya loved him so much to ask anything now.

A knock in the doorframe called the attention of them to a tall officer.

“Lieutenant Bloom.” Shannele smiled. “We can help you?”

“Unfortunately we had an explosion in the cross of Orange street and Orchard lane. I will designate a permanent escort for each one of you, if is not a problem.”

“No. No problem.” Shanelle answered worried.

“That’s near Allix house.”Agonizing Zoya took a small pack of cards and squeeze to feel comfort.

"Atizaya cards?" Lieutenant Bloom, noticed. "You also play this game?"

"No..." Zoya answered. "But those cards are too precious to me. They are a present from a dear friend. I wonder where she could be now."

 

 

VII Kazan

 

While walking the empty avenue to the top of the hill, the view changed at each step.

The ground became dirtier, full of pieces of toys, torn clothes and furniture showing how people abandoned their houses leaving doors and windows opened. Some were partially destroyed by the bombardments with sheets and wardrobes where the walls should be.

Allix jumped on a mattress that probably come from the nearby house without the second floor.

Kazan shivered with the mutant pigeons in the hoofs staring at them with yellow eyes and sharped teeth’s.

“Where are we going after all?” Kazan asked.

“To the holyday hotel,” Allix answered chewing. “I will gave you, your payment there”

“Wow! When you said that you would pay me I thought I had misunderstood!” Kazan bent to peek her behind.

“No!” Allix pushed him. “Stop staring my ass. You go first. I’m not like the girls from the market!”

“What’s the problem with the girls from the market?”

"They sell their bodies… You know!”

“Why?”

“Because nobody will want a boned freak, with yellow teeth like me, and there’s my hand.”

“Your self-stem needs a lot of improvement.” Kazan rolled his eyes. ”“I mean… Why do they sell their bodies?”

“Because they are hungry, and needed favors and all sorts of stuff. Not everybody can be a plunder; it is dangerous. My father used to say that in extreme situations, our primal survival instincts bring out our tribal nature to help each other, which leads to our civilization, or brings out our savage nature, which makes us fight each other. It hasn't just been once that someone found a girl's body that was ravished to death.”

“I never thought about that, but I think I believed that all girls had a lot of concerns about such activity.”

“No! When you don’t know if you’ll be alive at the end of the week, a lot of concerns become meaningless.” She said.

“How did you become a plunderer?”

“Most people fled from their homes fearing more attacks. I decided to help my neighbors by keeping their belongings until they came back.”

“But they never came back.” Kazan stared in her eyes for confirmation.

“At first I just got food, but soon it was over and I needed to trade what I could in the Black Market.”

“I heard that plunderers walk in gangs. You have a gang?”

“I have a couple of casual partners.” Allix stared to see his reaction. ”But I avoid them because of the hand. I don’t want them to know and I use it to break in to the houses; I just touched the lock with my palm and melted in a few seconds.” She replies showing him her right hand.

“I’m the only person who knows about your magic hand? I’m flattered!” He wiggled his eyebrows with a shameless smile.

She gave a cold unamused stare shooeing a bunch of annoying sooty bugs in the way. They began to appear under the morning light. No one noticed them except Allix. One of the "gifts" she received with her powers was the ability to see from the corner of her eyes, invisible things to average people. That's the reason she avoided looking in that direction.

"Are you ok?"

"I´m eating, I´m great,” She smiled biting the tuna sandwich.

"Really? Because the grudge bugs are all over you, and they don't like healthy people."

"You can see them?" Allix froze. Nobody besides her could see the nasty bugs. “Half of his face is covered in exotic symbols. Maybe he is like me.” She thought, " You can make magic like me?"

"You mean, like blowing stuff?" He shooed the idea with his hand. "No way. I just make magic with cards."

"I don't believe that finally I have someone to talk about magic and I don't even know your name." Allix asked eating the sandwich he gave to her.

"Rembrandt Kazan." He introduced himself and complemented her doing a reverence like a gentleman.

"Hocus Pocus Alakazan,"She said flirtatious, bending with the sandwich in her back and with the other hand moving her finger in front of his face, "Where did you get that name, magic boy?"

"Rembrandt means 'sword', and Kazan is my father's name; it means 'volcano'."

"My name is Allix and my father's name is Morgen. I don't know what it means." Allix hold her skirt and made a reverence.

“Now maybe I can ask who are they?”

“What?” Allix was concentrated in the sandwich.

“You asked if I was going to tell ‘them’. Who is 'them'?”

“The witch hunters!” She winced at the words. “You know the rumors about them?”

“That’s what you’re scared of?” He smiled. ”Rumors?”

“It’s not funny.” She said angrily. “This is no laughing matter, they abduct people like me to abuse, and force them to fight in the war. That’s just one of the more pleasant rumors.”

“Yes.” he said, a little sadly. “They do that sort of thing.”

She pouted, but curiosity got the better of her. “You mind if I ask why you have those tattoos?”

“These?” He touched his neck. “I’ve had these since I was a baby. They aren’t exactly tattoos, it’s more like a kind of charm. It’s complicated.”

“Did witches put them on your face?" Allix make an expression of agony. “You hate witches because of that?”

“I don’t remember, and I don’t mind.” He raised an eyebrow clearly finding the question weird. “I don’t have anything against witches.”

“You aren’t from here, right?”

“I just landed today.”

“Are you like one of those highwaymen from the black market? Do anything for the right price?”

“Some things I don’t do for any price. Others I do for free!” He winked.

“I heard about mercenary sorcerers. You are a one of them?”

“No! But I can introduce one to you, if you want.”

The answer made her blood freeze. Allix felt a mix of dread and happiness. A sorcerer could teach her how to control her hand.

“You have some problem with sorcerers?” Rembrandt raised an eyebrow.

“When I was little…“ Allix stuttered hesitantly. ”I wanted to be a… Do magic…”

“It seems you can do it.” He looked at a piece of melted fence from the fire she started, that he took and kept in his pocket.

“But, I grew up and I started to think that everything was just the government taking advantage of the ignorant people. There was nothing magic in bombs and engines made by human hands.

“You mean like Arthur C. Clark once said: ‘to fledgling eyes, every advanced technology is indistinguishable from actual magic’.”

“Exactly!” Allix looked at her hand, concerned. "After the Noza bombardment, I drank dark water. Since then, the palm of my right hand started to heat up like an iron. It was frightening, and each day it became worse.”

"Dark water?" Kazan furrowed his eyebrows.

"The bombs released a smog that covered the sun in a perpetually cloudy sky. Stray animals that ate the remains of the bombs mutated into monsters. Some of the water supply was infected and became the dark water that I carelessly drank. I should be glad that I didn’t grow a third eye."

"Are you sure you drank this dark water?"

"You saw it!" She lifted her fist. "Without any control, without any warning, my right palm began to do the weirdest things – it blew, sparkled, froze and burned things I touched. To me, it was undeniable that magic really existed. Like some author said: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”

"Not sure, but I believe it was Philip Kindred Dick. He also said that: 'It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane’.”

"Wow!" Allix stared at him. "You know a lot of stuff."

"I hope you’re impressed. I´m running out of quotes and they aren´t easily brought out in small talk. Song lyrics are easier, but don´t have the same effect." Kazan wiggled his eyebrows.

Allix smiled sadly.

"You sound bitter. Is it not great that magic is real and you can do amazing stuff?"

"No!” She gesticulated nervously. ”Since magic is real, any of the rumors could also be true. If the army found out, they would take me away from my mother. And I don't want to discover if one of the stories about what they did to the witches were true."

"Sad, since you wanted to do magic."

"When I was little I wanted to live in a fairy tale. You know?” Allix sighed crestfallen, "The old wise saying, 'be careful what you wish for', was absolutely right."

"What is wrong with living in a fairy tale?"

"These stories weren't just about talking animals, fairies and happy endings. They also are about cannibal old ladies who lure children with candies, stepmothers who try to murder their stepchildren, and talking animals that eat human flesh. They don't always end with 'happily ever after'; not to everybody. Never to the witches."

"Look on the bright side; your magic saved you from that monster rat, and you still are pretty cute."

"I could use a gun.”

“Is it easy to get guns around here?”

“I found a few in some abandoned houses and security rooms in stores. Also is cheaper than food in the black market.”

“Anyway, it’s not like you need any gun.” Kazan shrugs and gave her another juice box.

“Oh! I need guns.” She thinks. “I have lots of guns, and we're going where I keep those guns."

 

 

VIII Dereck

 

The Aquamarine soldiers with their improvised fireman equipment watched amazed to the team of Arcanum cadets and their sophisticated equipment soldiers finished to analyze the remains of the fire.

The young cadet Dietrich looked like a young model with his blue eyes and blond hair, also lieutenant Madison with her shining black hair and eyes don´t seems to be material for the army. But looking in their fierce eyes it was clear that they are coldblooded warriors.

“None vestiges of explosive found, and even with the high concentration of Miasma in the air affecting our devices, my hand-held can detect strong residues of mana. However the hand in the ground gave the way.”

Derek Dietrich reported the analyzed of the remains of the fire that spread from the burned trash to nearby houses.

“We barely landed and something like that happens in the end of the street of our temporary base.” Lieutenant Madison stared the burned ground with her dark eyes, stroking her tick black eyebrows. “A skinny hand that we can see the bones. No doubt is one of those Noza, living dead necromancers.”

From nowhere a brunet cadet with a gas mask appeared and delivered a tablet.

“Thank you, Paolo.” Dietrich quickly read the screen. “It’s the intel about the local gang. They said they would cooperate in previous contact, but are the most possible responsible for this attempt to scare us. They have firearm power and some relates of sorcery. They can be related with Noza.”

“Let’s ask them. We cannot leave things like that. We will establish our supremacy around here.” Madison tap their shoulders as a complement of good work. “How long you take to gather the platoon I asked for?”

“Without communication devices led a time, but now we are just waiting the floats you asked for.”

“I get six floats coming in the near lane, but there’s no reason to wait, let’s meet them in the way and go for the raid.”

Dietrich whistled and all the soldiers gathered in formation.

“If they don’t surrender readily we answer with total force and make them an example.” Lieutenant ordered. “Don´t spare no one, we already lost too many soldiers for Noza agents disguised as kid’s and elderly woman. The witness reported that who made this destruction looked like a young girl. “ She pointed at the destruction caused by the fire who spread to the nearby houses. “No doubt is an advanced magic user that probably can hide from our instruments. Whoever made this mark of hand in the ground, I want dead.”

 

 

 

VIIII Kazan

 

The top of the hill was filled with luxurious hotels with ocean view’s, which were one of the principal targets of the bombardment.

Allix and Kazan walking amid that silent devastated scenery looked like the only people that remained in the world.

"Thank you for the food. I can't eat anymore.” Allix gave the and he threw in a pile of debris when she wasn’t looking, crossing an area delimited by a barb wired fence.

"Are we going to a crumbled hotel with two undetonated bombs?" Kazan stopped. They were going toward a luxurious hotel, only; part of it was destroyed. At the fountain in the entrance and beneath the demolished roof, there were two intact bombs.

"It's safe." Allix signed to follow her. "Nobody comes near here."

"That is because at any moment, this place can become a hole into the ground. Those are cluster bombs; they release a rain of grenades.” Kazan paralyzed with his mouth opened for a few seconds and them shacked his arms. ”How is this place safe?"

"This was no-man’s land, with no laws, and no way to distinguish a hungry looter from a vicious criminal." She replied with a harshly pointed a finger at his face.

"Is that bad?” After a resigned sigh he followed her. ”I heard that your country received help against the Noza Empire."

“Maybe a ground troop’s invasion never happened thanks to the aid of foreign armies. However, there was nothing else after the end of the airstrike; my once beautiful town become a ‘neutral zone’ without any government and now lay down in ruins. The bombs released a smog that covered the sun in a in a perpetual cloud. Aquamarine changed for the worse and began to attract people who like these changes.”

“Like mercenaries and smugglers?”

“I think so... Everyone who could flee did. Mercenaries and smugglers came from everyplace to the famous Black Market. But, I know some who are good people…” Allix turned and almost tripped to see that he was disembodying the bomb in the dry fountain at the hotel entrance. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“Disassembling and disarming.” He began to take out tools from his kitbag cool as a cucumber. ‘’People will still be afraid of this place, but it will be safer for you.”

Allix’s jaws dropped. “You know how to disarm this bomb?”

"I'm a skillful jack-of-all-trades." Kazan said taking out pieces of the bomb like he was just changing batteries from a wall clock… “Now don't just stand there all slack-jawed and buggy-eyed...”

Allix recovered from the surprise, and her distrust came back. There was something about him; his smell, the hypnotic purple eye, and the way he charmingly winked waving his hand making her felt so relaxed.

Her instincts said he was trustworthy; but, she couldn't let her guard down.

She ran inside the hotel and get the Gyrojet gun she hid between traps behind the balcony, that could take care of any funny business.

“Are you afraid of me?” She winked, showing the mini-missile pistol to him. “I have a weapon now.”

“I saw you blow a quarter of a quadroon with one hand. I've been walking on thin ice with you.”

Allix laughed. He didn't knew that her powers were not working, but even though they met only twenty minutes ago, she felt comfortable talking to him. Maybe because everything he said sounded like a flirt, and it had been a long time since she’d had a casual talk.

“Where did you learn to defuse a bomb?' she asked.”

“A soldier taught me.” He answered selecting pieces of the bomb to put in his kitbag. “And where you learn how to use a gun?”

“By myself!” She replies shooting out a window to impress him.

“Why do you need a pistol? You are a human bazooka.”

“They are more discreet.”

Kazan was more impressed by her cockiness than her shooter skills, they entered the hotel and there was a terrible mess in the lobby, as if a storm of pillagers attacked the hotel, throwing all useless stuff on the floor. “What happened here?” The boy asked, looking around.

“I did it.” Allix answered. “If somebody crosses the bomb, they will think that the Hotel was already plundered. Don’t step in anything. Follow the clean floor path… and take care because I made traps.” Allix started to ponder why she said that. She could tell him to wait, and if he tried something, it could be the perfect chance to get rid of him.

"Now you gave me the way, I will take care of the other bomb." Kazan said walking toward the stairs. "What you have upstairs?"

"It’s the Mezzanine restaurant." While he worked on the bomb, she opened the safe, grabbed a fancy carved small chest and filled it with jewels. Without documents, jewels were useless for honest trade, but these also did not have any inscription. Hopefully, he would take them and keep his mouth shut.

“Here!" She shoved the chest at him after he dismantled the bomb. “If this isn't enough, I can get more.”

“Hold on, this is unnecessary.” He didn’t even bother to look inside the chest and went to the unbroken side of the floor. "There's a bar here?" Kazan pointed at the other side of the large aisle, "You shouldn't leave the booze if you don't want visitors."

Allix picked-up the chest and followed him to the restaurant. The place was astonishing, a full bar in a terrance, all made of bright wood, with cream furniture, armchairs and a sofa around the tables, big windows with view to the sea covering the walls, and even a piano. Kazan jumped through the place like an amused child.

“An expensive music player and new appliances!” Rembrandt picked some of the expensive loot scattered in around the tables. “You have a good life trading this stuff?”

“Unfortunately its not every day that there's food in the market and they limit the sales for customers, doesn't matter what you have to deal.” Allix put the chest and her stuff in a table.

"Have you tried to take this booze to the market?" He opened a bottle. "I´m sure that you can trade this stuff for food anytime."

That idea hit her like lightning. He was right. Hooch was more important than food for many people. She felt the dumbest person in the world.

“Here.” Kazan put a glass of whiskey in her hand.

“Please. I don’t want to drink.”

“You live here and you never drink?" He pointed at the untouched bottles.

“I drink the water. I got drunk one time to experiment, and I really didn’t like it. I got sick.” She put the glass on the balcony and held her belly remembering the awful hangover.

"Cheer up girl. The view here is awesome.” Kazan crossed the bar holding a bottle in a hand and dragging out the crestfallen girl with the other. "We can see the harbor, must be gorgeous with sun."

"You really are cheerful!" Allix whispered shrugging her stiff shoulders, looking to the floor.

"And you are too grumpy!" He pushed her over to one of the big couches near the window. "I can gave you a massage. You will feel better.” He gently put his hands on her shoulder and began to massage her, "It's an old Greek technique called:"

THERAPEVO

His words gave her a pleasant Goose bumps and Allix felt a delicious energy coming from his hands, entering her muscles, nerves and flowing through her body. Even her toes tingled with pleasure.

She relaxed, and her body felt better at each touch. She began to calm down, and the food on her stomach gave her strength. The stress vanished and she felt better in a way she had not in a long time.

It had been so long since she could relax and let her guard down. There was something about him that made her feel like he was an old friend.

Something like magic.

 

X Zoya

 

Aquamarine was a beautiful coastal city. It had always been the number one vacation spot for the rich and famous. Tucked between a mountain range and the Black Sea, the city and its ports were full of beautiful old buildings and landmarks, surrounded by woodlands and a crystal like beach.

A true peaceful paradise where war was something which they just heard about from ancient times and distant places. Nobody thought that an attack would ever happen. Now, it was a sad and desolate place.

Most of the gorgeous hotels became scrambles, and thanks to the cursed cloud blocking the sun all the plants died, there was no law or order anymore.

The Arcanum army arrived that dawn promising to fix everything and set up a provisional basis in Zoya’s house. Since the Airstrike, they moved their bedrooms to the basement, barely went upstairs and never got out of the old Avramenko Mansion, it was baffling to see all those noisy people walking around the house carrying guns.

Zoya walked to the front entrance where some soldiers were putting her mother’s baggage in the steam car.

"You don't need to stay.” Mr Hedeon caressed her. "You can travel with your mother."

"Just to come back later?" Zoya gave a fake smile. "I want to help you here and keep an eye on those soldiers so they don´t mess with the house."

"My girl." He embraced her with a sincere smile. "Come to say good-bye to your mother." He drew her by her hand.

Zoya said good-bye to her mother as if they will never see each other again, and that is how she feels. The two never had a good relationship.

Shannele and her daughter Zoya are like two strangers living in the same household. They don't look anything alike; Shannele was a big buxom slender woman with, dark hair and eyes, thick eyebrows and a strong rectangular face, while Zoya had delicate features, strawberry-blond hair, light eyes and a soft round face.

They talked only when necessary, and both avoided each other to prevent awkward moments, no matter their problems; Zoya loved her, and the farewell hurt her soul.

"Stay with Captain Volonaki okay?" Mr. Hedeon ordered Zoya, "She will take care of you until I came back from the train station."

Captain Volonaki and Lieutenant Colonel Bloom were among the few people from the army her father seems really related to and was comfortable around.

Her father said good-bye and left with an vacanty expression on his face, head down and briefcase in his hands. She had that same feeling that this will be the last time they talk with each other.

The car went away, and she goes through the narrow path between the debris from the street.

Looking at the card she took from the witch eye deck Allix gave her, she noticed it was the only card she didn’t like. The tower of doom.

No doubt that was a bad omen, her friend Allix used to play fortune telling with Atizaya cads in the school, and never read that card as a good fortune.

 

XI Allix

 

The good fortune came on the brave, and that moment Allix had sure that, she was a fortunate brave.

With her belly full, a handsome mysterious guy massaging her in a hotel overlooking the sea. Allix felt like it was the closest thing to paradise. Every single issue in her life disappeared.

“Oooh! This massage is great! I’m really feeling a lot better,” Allix moaned, as Kazan squeezed her tough shoulders.

When Allix noticed, Kazan already had gently pushed her down on the couch, and piece by piece was taking out her clothes and putting on the table near the couch with their stuff.

"I think you have already undressed me enough," Allix tweaked his hands pulling out her 6/8 wool stockings.

"I just want to make you more comfortable," he smiled.

"Doesn’t matter how many enchantments you put on me to make feel attracted to you," she put her head in his chest and sniffed hard and deep. "You will ruin everything doing that."

"My charm can’t force you to do something you wouldn’t do." Kazan replied with a happy tone and a naughty smile. "How much are you attracted to me?"

Allix was astonished and her jaw dropped. It was a confession. "You shameless swindler,” Allix began to slap him, she wanted to get angry, but couldn’t hold anything but a smile on her face. "You want to take advantage of me?"

"NO! I just want to avoid you burning me to the ground." He said in a casual way. "I can’t convince you to do anything that you wouldn’t ordinarily do."

"And what about your smell that makes me crazy?" she gave a suspicious look.

"My smell makes you crazy?" Kazan jumped on to the couch with a shameless smile.

Allix wanted to die from embarrassment. She hid her red face.

"Relax!" He soothed, beginning to massage her again. "I promise that I will just massage you, and I won’t try anything, lay down. I will wait until you take the initiative."

"You really are an uncontrollable philanderer to hit on a girl like me."

"A girl like you?" He hugged her. "You have a pretty bad self-image. You seem an awesome girl to me."

Allix couldn’t avoid giggling. The only danger he presents was to her pants, otherwise he was trustworthy and fun. It felt good to be desired by a pretty boy.

“What is my problem? I can´t lay down like I don´t have any responsibility. And he really smell so good? When was the last time I approached a guy, who had a proper bath?” Now she began to wish to take a bath with him, for some reason; she wanted to show her naked body to him; an impulse she never had with anybody.

"What do you have in this pouch? Are these cards?” He asked curiously. “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to put them on the table?”

Allix hold her pouch tightly, “Sorry. I never let go of my cards.”

“You have Atizaya Cards.” He picks up a deck that was in his belt. “I have some too.”

“Prototype cards?” Allix took his shining and colorful cards to look. “It’s the Labyrinth deck.”

“Prototype?” The boy asked curiously.

“These are the original cards the game was made." Allix showed her cards, but did not let him touch them. "Look! They’re bigger, don’t have the text box explaining how you play, and look like they`re made of metal.” She pointed curiously to his cards. “How´d you get that?”

“I met the guy who made the deck when I was a kid, and he gave them to me.” He answered.

“Here!” Allix showed the cards in her pouch, but didn’t let him touch them. “This is the dream deck. It was my father who made them, he worked in Sephirot.”

He started to massage her again. "Can I ask where your father is now?"

“He disappeared a few years ago.” She sadly glanced at the cards.

“Here!” He gave her his pack. “It’s yours!”

“What?” She frightened a little. “But, it’s yours. I know that they are valuable.” For a moment, she felt a twinge of remorse for planning to lead him into her traps.

“Now I really feel that I need to pay you.” Allix got up to get the chest and gave a good look in the view.

The hotel was on the top the hill were she could clearly see the harbor, and there was something that gave her shivers. She took a pair of binoculars from her bag and leaned against the window to see.

They were huge, bigger than she would ever imagine. Two seventy-eight thousand ton supercarriers, huge like moving islands, with dozens of helicopters, zeppelins, tanks and all sorts of weaponry being unloaded.

She noticed an unusual commotion that was happening in a nearby hotel.

There were six monstrous machines, like giant metallic bugs, with caterpillar tracks and chimneys releasing steam, breaking the walls of a nearby hotel as if they were made of crackers. She recognized the infamous witch hunters. Arcanum soldiers dressed with a mixture of robes and overcoats, with hoods covering their heads like assassins.

“THE BAKLANY GANG!” she shouted.

“What happened?” Kazan took military binoculars from his kitbag.

“There!” She pointed. “Close to the beach.”

It was a hotel being assaulted by the Arcanum army. There was some resistance from the Baklany gang, but they were easily taken down by snipers. There was no sound, and it was too far away to see details. They were the most fearsome gang in all Aquamarine, they lived in a five star hotel and ruled the region.

In a blink of an eye, the head of Boris the Black bear, a frightening bald man who, wears a black fur coat and sunglasses, was no longer on his large shoulders. His body fell down from the balcony like a rag doll.

Until now, he was what Allix most feared; and he was less than nothing against the Army.

The invasion was organized, but the resistance was not. Some people tried to run away, some threw their weapons away and raised their hands, but to no avail. The merciless army cared nothing about their attempts to surrender.

A new kind of hopelessness and fear entered Allix’s chest. She dropped the binoculars and curled herself into fetal position. To see people killed in such a way felt so unreal. It was not like in the movies. It was so easy, so meaningless... so horrible.

“Wow!” Kazan hold her. “You are okay?”

“Of course I’m not okay! It’s the Arcanum army." She was terrified. "The witch hunters. Why aren't you worried?" She ran for her clothes and began to dress.

Allix’s intuition was always reliable, and right now it was screaming to her that the Arcanum army was a very bad thing.

“You know those guys?” Kazan crossed his arms in the balcony, watching her fighting with her clothes.

“Everybody knows them. The Baklany gang was the closest thing to a ruler in this part of Aquamarine. The top-notch drug dealers, smugglers and prostitutes from this side of the market worked for them. Even the few soldiers report to them.”

“Wow!” Kazan exclaimed, swallowing the whiskey in Allix’s glass.

“What? What happened?”

“You bent over just now and I kind of saw everything. Your ass is beautiful.”

“This is not the time to goof around.” Allix took the bottle from him. “Is that the way you react after seeing people being massacred?”

“Drinking is the official way to deal with that sort of thing. Don`t you know?” He pointed to the bottle.

Allix looked, to the bottle a little disoriented. She snatched it and began to drink, until her throat burnt enough to clear her mind. “Why did they kill them?”

“You say they`re a gang.” Kazan took the bottle from her hand. “They resisted, and the army doesn’t deal very well with criminals.”

“Why just now?” Allix tried to put her boot, but tripped and fell. "The air strike's ended months ago, and the army didn't enough care to send proper help them." She gasped.

“I don't know.” Kazan answered, hopelessly. “I heard that was because the negotiations with your country and the alliance took too long, and now they’re sending supplies and more soldiers.”

“You mean the world government?” Allix bit her fingernail. "They send a battalion here?”

“No! With thirty soldiers that was just a platoon.”

“You understand about military stuff?” Allix asked worried.

“A little. What we saw was a Platoon.” Kazan said as if though he was quoting his homework. "They have between thirty to sixty soldiers, made with four squads, each one with eight to fifteen soldiers. A Battalion is made with a group of companies, between three thousand to fifteen hundred soldiers.” Kazan scratched his nose, thinking.

“Fifteen hundred soldiers?” Allix panicked even more, frightening Kazan a little. "Why were there so many people? I never saw so many people in my life. They sent a company in those ships?”

"That’s a fully independent regiment, no doubt to create a base here.” Kazan looked through the binoculars." “Each regiment is responsible for recruiting, training, and administration; there are at least a couple of battalions in those air-carriers.”

“A couple of…” Allix began to rashly gather her stuff in the bag to run away. “That means they´ll bring three thousand soldiers?”

“Maybe more!" Seeing how much in a hurry she was, he too began to pack things in his kitbag.

"That is more people than we have in the Aquamarine right now!" Allix walk towards the stair followed by Kazan. “Every day, a couple of hopeful people say that 'tomorrow' the government will send soldiers, but that was a full military occupation.”

“It’s not like they are invading. Now your country is also part of the armistice with the Noza Empire.”

Allix disliked the way he defended the army, and gave him a disapproving glare. “Why were there so many people? I never saw so many people in my life.”

Kazan ran in front of her. "Allix, wait, we are having a good time here. Why are you freaking out?"

“If the Arcanum army is here; Aquamarine is part of the world government. You know what happens with witches? We don't have citizenship anymore; they can do anything they want with us.”

“Look at me.” Kazan stood in her way and gently put his hands on her face, staring into her eyes. “Do you think I would be so calm if things are so bad? Nobody will think you`re a witch. The only way to discover that is through an exam, with a machine. And they need to have a reason to test you. You`re not in a gang. You don't walk armed. You`re just a girl.”

His sincere smile made her feel better. "You’re right.” Allix hugged him, felt his warm body, smelled his scent and stared into his hypnotic eyes. She wanted to touch his lips. However, the feeling of something growing between his legs ruined the mood, and she gave a step back, her face red from embarrassment.

To make things worse, a rumble in the ground frightened her.

“It’s a Float nearby!” Kazan recognized the feeling and went to see. “Probably in the street we came from.”

“Float?” Allix followed him. “There’s a parade now?”

“Sorry! Float is a military slang for the new Arkanum Tanks. They were designed to look like Pumpkin’s, crabs and stuff, but they used metal plates and bolts in the place of the colorful covers leaving that steampunk look.”

“Steam-what?”

“That mean they look like machines from Julius Verne’s works.”

They peek between the broken wall and saw a group of soldiers, and one of the bug tanks closer. It was round with six legs connected in caterpillar tracks and arms with claws. Seemed like was designed to be a giant crab and someone decided to put a clumsy cover that looked like less with an animal.

Allix thought about her mother and all the valuable loots she had in her house. The hotel was her deposit to trick followers, and because she couldn't put more stuff in her house. “I need to sell everything I can at the market, before the army discovers my loot.”

“You want help?”

“No. This is just one of my hideouts. Every plunderer has a couple. I have another place to go now.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“It’s too dangerous for you. With your painted face, the army will shoot you a mile away.” Allix gave him her pistol. “Like you said, without loot and weapons I can past trough them. Take everything you want in the hotel and follow that debriefs.“ Allix pointed at a path. ”There are a couple of bombs in the way, but is not a problem for you. Reaching the black market, ask for the griffon and say that Allix send you.”

Before she could react, Kazan held Allix head and kissed her passionately. For a brief moment the world stopped and she turned back to be a normal teenager.

“I attract their attention and you go through the safe path. I met you in the market later.” With a gentle smile, he caressed her face, took a plastic bag from his Kitbag and gave it to her. “I’m sorry you dropped your milk.” Kazan winked and jumped in the middle of the street.

Allix took seize of the chance and ran in the opposite direction. On the way, she opened the bag. There was a chocolate milk bottle, an apple, two cereal bars, two sandwiches and a bag of chips. That was more valuable than any jewels.

 

XII Zoya

 

Captain Volonaki knocked the open door and entered Zoya’s room.

"Is already time to go to school?" She asked apprehensive to go out by herself.

"No." Volonaki's answered, she was a tall brunette with scary eyes, but was very sweet. "A team of cadets returned from a raid, and we will produce a quick reunion now... they have your age, and I believe that you could go with them to perform the registration."

"I would love to." Zoya was very shy with all those soldiers around, but she wanted to see the cadets around her age.

They went down to the ballroom where the Arcanum cadets are gathered. Their uniforms were very distinct from average soldiers, something between a hooded overcoat and a robe; white with colored details matching the symbols in their arms, the ones with a flower were red; the cup was blue; the star was green, and the sword was orange.

A guy from her age stood with a scroll in front of everybody and began to say the names out loud. Then he turned over the scroll, and everybody lowered their heads in silence for a moment, like a prayer.

"What was that?" Zoya asked.

"It's the obituary.” Volonaki answered, "Every morning we honor the companions from our company who died yesterday, and we does a minute of silence in honor. Ten years ago, the homage took almost an hour."

“I thought that with the armistice nobody died anymore.”

“Unfortunately it doesn´t mean that the war is over. We still have a lot of confronts.” The captain took a good look at Zoya’s hands. “These are Atizaya cards?”

“Yes. I never let them go.”

“I believe you have something to get along with the guys.” The cadet showed her deck.

“You also have a prototype deck?” Zoya was surprised. “You play Atizaya?”

“Every Arcanum soldier plays it. You see this pocket we have in our belt?”

“Don´t tell me everybody has Atizaya cards.” Zoya was astonished.

Volonaki nodded with a smile. “What deck is that? I don´t recognize it.”

“It’s called the Witch eye deck.”

“The witch eye?” The captain gasped and gave a step back surprised. “How did you get that?”

“A very dear friend of mine gave me. She didn´t like it but I always found the art gorgeous, came with an book with a leather cover.”

“Your friend gave you the original book of the eye?”

Zoya giggled. “I keep it hidden from my mom, because she can think that is about witchcraft.”

Volonaki put her hands on her head amazed. “Who is this friend who has the book of the eye?”

“Just my dear Allix, no biggie.”

 

XIII Allix

 

 

Allix crossed through the debris of a restricted zone as a safe shortcut to her house. Beside it, a neighboring house lost several walls when something hit it. Funny how no one bothered saying what the something might have been, but the military rushed to put a six-foot barbed-wire fence around the whole block.

She took a card from the Labyrinth Deck, Kazan´s gave to her, hoping that he was fine. It was the temple of the sun, the best card possible to take. She hoped that was a real fortune.

To her shock, cutting across the barbwire a corpse lay in her path. It was the first time she'd ever seen a corpse so close. The skin on the skull stretched tight over his skinny frame, making it look like he was sleeping and at any minute would wake up.

Allix encountered a team of Aquamarine soldiers changing a notice board. They aren´t witch hunters and she doesn´t have anything suspicious with her.

"Sir!" She called, as politely as she could, usually she avoided them because of her loot, but like Kazan said; her purse was empty and there's nothing to fear in her. "There is a dead body here."

"What?" One of the soldiers answered harshly, "Whaddaya wants?"

"I said that there was a body over there!" She pointed.

"Yeah? I've seen it before. What you want me to do?" He asked, leaning against a post while taking a deep drag from his cigarette, "I'm no garbage man, girl. Show respect."

"Garbage?" Allix was shocked at his response. He was supposed to be protecting the citizenry. "He’s a human being."

"Not anymore.” The older soldier yelled, shooing her away with his hands, "Shut up! I've seen my fair share of dead bodies on the battlefield. This is just another one. Hell, it's one less mouth to feed really."

Allix glanced at the corpse and understood. It seemed everyone was too worried about surviving to care if their neighbor was dead or alive.

"Sorry kid.” the sadder soldier's pet her read, "The day barely began and its being harsh. We had to obey orders from a bunch of foreign brats barely old enough to shave, and they massacred the Baklany gang because of a pile of burned trash."

"What you mean by burned trash?" Allix knows the answer, yet was hoping that she was wrong.

"There was an explosion near here, and somebody left a mark of a hand on the ground. The army believed that was a signal of provocation against them and blamed Black Bear. When they resisted, the Army killed everybody in the Bristol Hotel; don't matter if they are responsible or if there are innocent people among them. So... Don't blame the old Olek for being grumpy."

"Innocents?" The guilt hit Allix like a lightning; tears began to flow uncontrollably. It was her fault. Hers cursed hand's fault.

"More than forty people were killed and probably just a dozen are members of the gang.” The dreary soldier explained, "They all are scapegoats. The Arcanum just wants an excuse to show everybody who is the boss now."

She watched the rude soldiers shuffle away, and then read the new message board ordering all citizens to go to the nearby school to register for promised food and aid, and also warned about a rigorous curfew to prevent looting.

Curfews were a joke. It was too late for that. Every abandoned house or store already was pilfered. Allix knew from experience: she had been out every night, looking for leftovers.

Her eyes fell upon the small flag placed at the corner of the message board. It was a flag of the World Government, and in the corner, a small unicursal hexagram, the symbol of the Arcanum Army, the infamous witch hunters.

The Baklany gang haunted her thoughts. Black Bear, was a monster: a criminal known for being a murderer and a rapist. Maybe he and his men deserved to die. “If innocent people die, it was not her fault. She does not pull the trigger. The Arcanum soldiers did it. They are the villains. The soldier says that the explosion has been just a scapegoat. They will create a reason to exterminate the Baklany gang, and soon they will go after the other gangs. Maybe the plunders like me too.”

The idea of dying, haunted her with the image of the bony corpse through the whole way. That man probably died from starvation. And Allix knew all too well she could end up just like him: 'garbage' to be collected later.

Allix entered her house and lay down in a pile of clothes. She tried to massage her neck like Kazan did.

THERAPEVO

That really makes her feel better.

Allix used to compare her life to fairy tales in her mind. Sitting in a pile of clothes looking at her father's cards, she thought how usually the heroine in fairy tales could meet a character at the beginning of her journey. It could be a wolf, a hunter, a fairy disguised, the own enchanted prince, or a magical creature that will help you and later return demanding payment.

She feels in her guts that the boy was trustworthy and he ended sacrificing himself for her. “If only I knew I l let he touch me.” It was the only person in the world that she could talk about her situation. ”If I only let him touch me he will be fine, with me.”

With so many ideas buzzing around her head, Allix jumped to her feet and goes into the kitchen, desperate to start cooking in order to distract herself.

She looked at the food in the pantry and her stomach growled. That food was off limits, and she could not succumb to the temptation. Her mum needed the nourishment more.

“Why am I so hungry?” Allix wondered. “I was stuffed just a few minutes ago.” That was weird. She always could tolerate hungry for long time.

With the ingredients inside, floating around in the water, she placed her right hand on the bottom of the pan and concentrated.

Soon the liquid should be boiling, and she should stop when the pan had started to melt. Her hand's ability to burn seemed to gain strength every day, but she completely lacked control and a couple times had to eat burnt food. It frightened her to think of what that could mean.

Nothing happened. “What a huge relief!” No power, she will need to use the stove.

Allix prepared the food and ate smiling, thinking of her mom eating the sandwich's Kazan gave to her.

With peace in her heart, she finished breakfast, ran upstairs, and woke her mother to eat and take her medicine the same way she did every morning. Mrs. Ivana would probably revert to sleep for a couple of hours as soon as Allix left, then she would make an effort to stay awake and pass the time in the company of her sweet daughter.

Ivana’s suite was cozy and happy, different from the other places around the house. She had been sick for a long time, barely moving from the bedroom to the bathroom and sleeping so much that she didn't distinguish day from the night. Even seeing her lovely and dedicated child taking care of everything in the house broke her heart. However, she always managed to gave a smile. She had trouble eating, but it didn't matter how it hurt to swallow. She would never let her daughter know.

Trying to protect loved ones through self-sacrifice was a trait of the family.

Their smiles were gorgeous. For a few precious moments, they forgot about everything bad and talked about the gorgeous future they would have when Allix finished her studies, and Ivana got better.

These tender moments gave Allix energy to keep moving forward. The day just began, and she had a lot to do. With the arrival of the army, she would need to get rid of her loot.

Allix was gleefully seated on the side of the bed, and slipped when she arose. Instinctively, Ivana turned to take her right hand to prop up her daughter, who to her surprise abruptly avoided her, violently falling on her own face, hitting her forehead on the bed.

Allix ran away with tears in her eyes, and an expression of revulsion on her face that frightened Ivana, who didn’t realize what happened. Without the strength to pursue her daughter, she could simply lay back down, depressed; asking herself why was there was a strong smell of something burned.

 

XIIII Kazan

 

The old Avramenko Mansion turned into an Arcanum military base; a squad of cadets waited for instructions in a luxurious ballroom with tsar imperial decorations.

"I thought that the Aquamarine was a seaside resort." Mayara Pitanga cast a dispirited glance through the window and sighed. "This cold annoys me. It doesn't even feel like it's the end of the summer."

Among the behaved cadets from the Arcane army, she stood like a red rose in a daisy bouquet. She was a beautiful, half-Indigene with tanned skin. Besides her exotic look, her misbehavior and lack of poise lying face down on the couch could make anyone think that she was a delinquent disguised as a cadet.

They, also do not scream 'military'.

"It was the consequences of the Noza air strike."" Yuna Ogami, the composed half-Japanese cadet, properly seated at her side pushed Mayara’s boots from the couch and explained, "There's a layer of particles blocking the sun and all sorts of long transmissions."

"If I knew about that, I would never have tagged along."

"Rembrandt Kazan arrived." Yuna announced jumping from the couch, immediately attempting to conceal her excitement.

Before Mayara could say anything, Yuna greeted him with a mischievous expression. "Where did you go, Oni-San?" she called him lovingly by Oni-San; which meant "Older Brother" in her native language.

"Would you believe that I almost lay down with a fierce red-haired Slavic girl?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Of course not!" Yuna answered.

"I took a little walk.” he answered, cool as a cucumber. "Here and there, just to get the blood moving again, you know?"

"Are you made of stupid?" Yuna flicked his forehead, "Do you have an idea about the actual state of this place? Not long ago, the Noza Empire, also known as the Magic Empire, attacked. Magic, you hear? There was an attack at the end of the street, and they left a mark of a hand in the melted floor as a signature. People are very, very scared. The last thing they need is a hairy weirdo with his face covered with arcane symbols. And those fancy western clothes? What were you thinking?"

"Sorry." Kazan said a little ashamed, "But you know me. I wasn't thinking at all."

"You were lucky that we covered for you.” Mayara scolded, "If Derek found out that you were gone; he would make Lieutenant Madison punish you again."

"I thank you for that.” Kazan bowed to her.

"I don't do it for free.” Yuna said, looking curious and biting her lips, "How is it outside?"

"Overall, the place wasn't too destroyed. The attacks targeted the biggest buildings in the most populated areas, like the markets and the railway station. Outskirt's houses were nearly intact. I believe they wanted to terrorize the population."

"And they answered.” Mayara agreed, "It is nearly a ghost town."

"So? You found what you were looking for?" Yuna raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I think so....” he answered. "I found a jewelry box in a pile of rubble.” Kazan pulled from his sleeves, a necklace with emeralds the size of olives, "I think you will like this."

"Rembrandt Kazan!" Mayara pretended to scold him, holding back a laugh, "Bribing reputable cadets now? "Bribing reputable cadets now? If you are found out will get into a pretty mess."

"So it's better that nobody knows about it.” Kazan put the astonishing silver bracelet with diamonds in Mayara's hand.

"How did nobody find it before?" Yuna asked, trying it on the gift.

"It was in a restricted zone, close to a bomb that hadn't detonated."

"What were you doing scavenging in a pile of debris close to a bomb?" Mayara asked, surprised.

"Getting another present for you.” Kazan pulled out a little metallic contraption.

"It's an arsonist cartridge from a Noza cluster bomb?" Mayara picked it up, "It's similar to our FG40 or 48."

"Take care, it is dangerous.” Yuna had barely finished her sentence by the time Mayara already had disassembled the cartridge on a table.

"I believe we're out of danger.” Kazan pulled out a piece of wood with a kind of melted adornment on it and showed it to Yuna; who was admiring the necklace in the window's reflection, "You guys can analyze this?"

"I don't need to analyze it to know that it was created by magic.” Yuna took it from his hand, "This is a gate ornament, am I right?"

"Correct.” Kazan, confirmed.

"Half of it melted as if was exposed to extreme heat, like lava from a volcano.” Yuna widened her eyes, "No fire or explosion could do it."

"You think the Empire attacked with something we don't know about?" Mayara asked while finishing reassembling the cartridge.

"No.” Kazan said, "I suppose that was a Merami magic, done by someone from Aquamarine, who couldn't bear her own powers."

"A person like that should be found and detained, because he would be a danger to himself and everybody.” Yuna kept the piece of ornament, "Of course; such a a person doesn't exist."

"Why doesn't such a person exist?"

"Because a Merami is impossible to make spontaneously, is a very advanced spell.” Yuna answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Only experts in flame spells can make it."

The laid-back mood ended when a group of soldiers and officers entered the room accompanied by a group of civilians. The three hid their jewels and pretended that nothing had happened.

Zoya appeared bringing her book of the eye to an afflicted captain Volonaki. She took from her hands and after a quick flipped sited in a chair relived. “This is instructions to play the card game.”

“Yes!” Zoya stared wondering at her reaction. “Every deck comes with a illustrated rulebook explaining how you play the cards. This one is from the prototype edition.”

“No! I mean…” The captain looked awkward for a few moments.

“You know this is very valued?” Kazan intruded.

Zoya was surprised with that very distinct group. A Native American girl and a Japanese with a tall civilian. "Why a civilian is here?" She thought. He guy was pretty with a long black hair covering half of his face that she noticed was covered with scary tattoos. "You are not a cadet, right?"

"I'm an autonomous civilian adviser." Kazan winked and waved his hand. What made Yuna punch his ribs. "I work with them not 'for' them."

"You mean, like a mercenary?" Zoya asked.

"I would say to skive!" Dereck Dietrich a tall blue-eyed blond cadet approached and interrupted them.

"Why you are so happy Derek?" Kazan raises an eyebrow holding his ribs. "That annoys me."

"Just to looking at your washed faces I can tell you three did something wrong, and that's annoying me." Derek takes out his coat and cap, "However, I had a good morning, the raid flows like a sweet song."

"Oh!" Kazan isn't in so good mood anymore, "You killed people, that is why you are happy."

"Not so much like Paolo." With a smile, he pointed at a brunette guy with spike hair and a kind of gas mask. "He hit the leader of the bandits in the head from 200 yards."

"I saw the bald head pop up with my binoculars, I'm sure that was absolutely necessary.” Kazan said sarcastically.

“Sometimes is necessary.” Yuna said.

"You know what I think about the 'shooting first, ask questions later', policy.” Kazan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Some people aren't natural-born killers."

“Talking about that…" Derek turned to Volonaki. " Excuse me captain. Belle and a couple of cadets don't come back well from the raid. I fear they have PSTD!"

"Belle gets the best grades in the simulations, but the reality is very different." Captain Inazuma sighed crestfallen. "In the old times people were executed for 'cowardice'. I wonder if the army evolved or if all the Braves died."

“What is that?” Zoya asked.

"Post traumatic stress disorder." Derek answered.

“I need to go now.” Volonaki apologized to Zoya, and showed the leather book. “I like to read it if you don´t mind.”

“Of course.” Zoya nodded. “That’s why I brought to you.”

"This young lady is Zoya, her father is Mr. Avramenko who gently borrowed his home to use for a base. I hope you take good care of her.” captain Volonaki introduced her to each one of the four: Derek, Mayara, Yuna and Kazan. "I want you to escort her until Idania high school for the registration." Saying that she leaved.

"I hope that ´take care´ has the same meaning I´m thinking of.” Kazan joked.

"You mean, kill her?" Yuna didn’t understand the innuendo.

Derek puts his finger to his mouth in signal of silence. "Let’s sit down, the Colonel Hand was about to speak."

The cadets got chairs and sited to hear the lecture.

"Great!" Yuna complained. "Now that I'm desperate to go to the toilet."

 

 

XIIII Allix

 

 

Desperate situations lead to desperate acts.

That wasn't a popular dictum, or a manifestation of wisdom. It was a sad and undeniable reality. Despair commonly blinds us to all forms of reason, logic, wisdom and consequences to our actions.

There were many different reasons for despair and the usual is the protective instinct, when we fear for our welfare and the ones we care about; the ones we love most.

Allix raised the cleaver over her right hand lay upon the table. The damned hand responsible for everything bad that was happening. She could do so many things if wasn't for that horrible hand. Many people died because of the damned hand; and she feared that she would eventually end up hurting her mother. And if one day that happenes... a tear slipped down Allix's face. If she ever hurt her mother, she could never forgive herself.

To calm down, she picked the a little crochet pouch around her neck and thought about her father and the happy times they had together back when everything was fun. He loved to tell her stories about his travels to foreign countries, and his extraordinary magical adventures. When he went off on his last adventure, he never returned. Now he was gone.

Adults commonly talk as if children aren’t present, or are unable to listen or understand. As a child, Allix had sharp ears and was used to being talked down to, but she had twelve years when her father disappeared. She knew he was just a businessman who probably fell victim to the crossfire the war in some distant place.

Now he was gone, and the idea that her hand could get out of control and burn her mother like the monstrous rat, made her sick.

The worst was that she could feel the hand sucking the life out of her. She was losing strength and weight visibly each day. It was more than just the lack of food. In a few days, she would become sicker than her mother.

She just needed to chop her hand off with the cleaver, and everything would be better. She already didn't use that hand anymore. Her fingers were atrophied from forcing a clenched fist. She could say it was just an accident. Everybody knew how hard she worked, and about her ill mother and all her sacrifices. The people from the army never will know about her witch hand. They would pity and take care of her. She will have help. And she never needed help so much.

Until then, she thought that could handle it, that it could be useful. Now the lack of control crossed the line. The power failed when she needed it the most to protect herself and returned more dangerous. It almost burned her mother. Ivana could die. Her mother, who did so much for her and loved her. She never would allow anything to hurt her mother. Even herself.

Allix brought down the cleaver with all her strength.

It wasn't strong enough.

XV Kazan

 

"I´m not strong enough to tolerate this boredom." Mayara rolled in the chair like an impatient child.

Zoya thought that because she almost doesn't speak with anybody in the last months, the lecture was entertaining.

The Colonel Hand was an imposing man, and a good speaker. The big board with animated images illustrating his lecture took her attention.

He explains the actual situation in the Slavic countries after the end of the Trojan war against the Noza Empire. Now that the country of Taurica joined the Arcanum alliance, the armistice with the Noza Empire also protects them.

To influence other countries like Russia to join the Alliance they will make the new affiliate prosper, and Zoya was pleased with the Idea to begin rebuilding Aquamarine bigger than before.

The task of the cadets will be to register the citizens gathered in local schools to provide aid recruit young citizens through lectures to join a co-op organized by the Arcanum Army.

Zoya could not resist and raised her hand.

"Please!" The colonel saluted her giving permission to speak.

"All those weapons are really necessary?" Zoya asked looking to the armed cadets. "They look intimidating and not much friendly."

"Good point, young Lady." Colonel's hand smiled and dressed to all cadets, "Today in your assignment you all will carry the most discreet equipment, so be careful. Nobody is above suspicion. Is possible that an unknown Sorcerer with high destructive power in the vicinity. Act with discretion, and do not forget that the locals are frightened.” He warned, "Around here, we have already been known as Witch Hunters."

"Take care." Lieutenant Madison gave a gentle kiss on Derek's cheek, "You are going to the registration in the Idania High, close to where the Sorcerers was sighted."

"Idania is my school!" Zoya said. "It's not even a mile from here."

"That's the reason the captain introduced us.” Mayara showed her orders. "She is the one who makes the assignments."

"What?" Kazan complained looking through the paper with his orders, "I will be grounded here? I will miss all the action."

"Regardless of your unique skills, you are just a civilian collaborator, not an effective cadet." Madison rebuked, "Next time, enlist yourself." Saying that she goes back to deliver papers.

Kazan shrugged his shoulders and sat down, resigned.

"I know you?" Zoya stared at Kazan and join him at the table, "You seem familiar."

"Are you sure?" Kazan raised his hair showing his purple eye and skin covered with symbols. "My face is not easy to forget."

"Yes..." Zoya couldn't avoid touching the drawings in his face. "You stared at me like you know me." Zoya insisted, she really feels like she knews him. Even that never saw someone with tattoos in the face.

"My name is Rembrandt Kazan, and I have seen evil!" He greeted her again. "I have seen horror! I have seen the unholy maggots which feast in the dark recesses of the human soul! I have seen all this, officer. But until today, I had never seen... *you*!"

Zoya couldn't resist a giggle.

"That was rude." Derek scolded.

"That feels lubricious to me." Yuna commented drinking a swig of tea.

"Serious, believe me.” Kazan pointed to her face, "I will never forget a pretty girl with fangs."

"My canines are broken.” Zoya hides her mouth with the hand.

"No!" Kazan put his hand on her chin, "I know a fang when I see one. You bite hard?"

"Rembrandt is into Aquamarine girls?" Yuna asked maliciously. "I never saw you so interested in girls."

“Maybe…” Kazan thought a little. ”Hey! What you guys do if you find the a girl with magic powers?”

Lieutenant Madison answered as if it was obvious. "Why you think they call us Witch Hunters?"