Rei Griffin noticed the impending rain when he looked up at the dark clouds, brewing up above. He clicked his tongue. The thought of his feet getting wet in the rain. He hated the feeling of wearing wet sandals. Worse was that he hadn't got any other pair, so if it got wet, he would either wear it till it dried or wear nothing at all, which he also hated.
He raised his shoulders and sighed. He was just unlucky, that was it. Everyone knew he had bad luck tailing him all the time. That was why everything was always blamed on him. It had always been for the seventeen years of his life living on the Kid Ranch. And because everything and everyone around him almost always ended up in a bad place, nobody wanted to play with him. Nobody wanted to get close.
It was just a random thought that came to mind as Rei held the grocery bag tightly while stepping out of the mini-store. The wind blew hard, tossing his short, split-in-the-middle brown hair. Looking at his white tees and blue jogging pants, he realized it was probably best not to get caught in the rain. It'll be much more uncomfortable than just wet sandals. But, just as Rei reached a waiting shed a few phases from the mini-store, it started raining.
"Of course…" he sighed. No choice. He had to stay and wait for it to stop.
To somehow relieve some anger, he crumpled a piece of paper and threw it on the side of the road. It was the list of the things he bought. It wasn't very effective, really.
"That, child," said a woman behind him, "is the number one reason why there are floods everywhere. Aside from the illegal cuttings of our trees, that is one of the top reasons."
Rei looked back. It was Mrs. Lita Scott who liked to wear floral outfits all the time, and beside her was Mrs. Susan Summer, who was more of a bitter winter than summer.
"Oh, let the child mind his own business, Lita," said Mrs. Summer.
Mrs. Scott was visibly shocked. "I worry about the planet, Susan!"
"You should be more worried about what happened to the Norrises! They're much closer to us than that nonsense you're blabbering about."
"Susan, I told you, a gas explosion is what happened to that mansion!"
"Impossible!" Mrs. Summer exclaimed, "It couldn't be! Nobody heard a loud boom! What a mystery 'twas!"
"Bah! That land was over what-number acres! A land so big like that, we wouldn't hear it even if one of those war bombs fell on it."
"That is nonsense, Lita!"
"Don't tell me you believe the rumors?" said Mrs. Scott, "That they were not of this world?"
"How else could you explain it? Who knows? Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Too many mysteries in this world, I tell you!"
"Wanna hear another mystery? My husband, he's starting to care more for me these days! I suspect he's cheating."
As the two old ladies continued their conversation, Rei's attention started to focus more on the rain that was starting to ease off. He couldn't stay and listen, and he didn't want to anyway. Rei grabbed all his things and went for it. A little drizzle won't hurt.
"Be careful on your way home, child!" said Mrs. Summer.
Rei smiled at Mrs. Summer and kept on walking. He couldn't delay any longer, or Sister Annie back in the Kid Ranch would start breathing fire. Not literally, of course. But she was mean, really nasty. One time, Rei was a bit late, so she made him stand under the sun with his arm overhead.
But, so what if he was late? Rei's steps started to slow. He realized he was days away from turning eighteen, days away from being dismissed from the Kid Ranch. All his life, all he did was chores, be cute, play around with the other kids (if they played with him), and hope someone would adopt him. Things were about to change. A little scolding wouldn't be a bad thing.
Passing by the final block on his way back to Kid Ranch, he noticed the Norris Mansion. It was far from its gates, but still very visible. It was once a proud mansion. To be reduced to ruins overnight, who would believe that? And rumors were that all the maids, butlers, security guards, kitchen staff, and the whole family were turned into ashes. Nobody saw what happened, nobody heard anything, nobody knew until they saw it in that state in the morning.
Rei never did have the chance to see what was inside the mansion. And while he stood by the gates of it, he distinctly recalled the nights of parties and gatherings of different social beings that walked like they owned every land they stepped on while covered in diamonds and gold. They passed around people like him as if they didn't exist. Rei grabbed the iron gate; it creaked as it opened.
There was an unspeakable darkness and dullness in the air as soon as he entered. It was extraordinary. Rei thought maybe he was just hungry, but he knew well enough it wasn't because of that. The dark, cold feeling of heavy air worsened as he reached the front stairs. The air got thicker, and it was suddenly harder to breathe. It felt like there was something inside that wanted to crawl out. It got worse as he reached the top of the stairs. His heart pounded harder.
It was made out of mahogany, the door. He remembered it, and that was about the only thing he could do to see what the door looked like, imagine it as though it wasn't replaced by a huge hole.
It looked like it was blasted from the outside, he thought. How can that have been done without causing any racket?
Even the interior of the mansion was completely destroyed. Pieces of wood were scattered everywhere. The smell of burning materials lingered. He reached the next room. Amazingly, the ceiling was still intact, although it appeared to have been touched by fire; the painting was still visible. It was a group of people, raising their bloodied hands on a red sun above them.
Rei's eyes jumped from one thing to another. He didn't even realize he was already stepping into another room. He only snapped out of it when a loud crack echoed under his foot as it got stuck between the cracked floor.
Am I really this unlucky? he thought.
He stared up and saw, in front of him, eight eyes from four gentlemen, covered in black cloaks, looking at him as though he was fresh meat. They looked amused as they watched Rei struggle to free his foot. But one of them looked more shocked, with no intent to kill. It was almost a mix of surprise and disappointment, like blaming him for something.
Rei found it amusing. Yet another person blaming something on him. Rei opened his mouth. But before he could utter a word, two of the gentlemen grabbed a long, black, thin stick inside their cloaks. Suddenly, they all looked like a principal conductor in one of those orchestras.
A blinding light exploded as a voice bellowed words Rei had never heard before.
"Ivato Magnus!" said the voice, followed by a muffled thud.
Naturally, he covered his eyes. There was a loud crash, and then there was groaning that was evidence of immense pain. Rei opened his eyes. The men in front of him were already gone, except for one.
"Cendierus!" a distant voice yelled. A faint orange light glowed from the outside, followed by a stream of flame.
The one who was left slashed the stick in his hand, and the flame disappeared.
"A spy!" the distant voice screamed.
The other one shouted something that Rei wasn't able to hear clearly; it sounded like the word "protector". Rei had no idea what it meant. Then he heard them running away till it gradually faded.
The man in front of him let out a sigh. With a frown, he looked at Rei. "You ruined my cover," he said, pointing the stick at the cracked floor. As he muttered a word Rei did not understand, the floor holding Rei's foot turned into dust.
"What did you say?" Rei asked.
"I said you ruined my cover."
Rei dropped his jaw in disbelief. "That was hardly a cover, mister," he said with his hands on his waist, "Your eyes betrayed you. The other guys were just stupid enough to miss it."
"Doesn't matter," he said, "They wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for your clumsy feet."
"You're a magician," Rei said out of the blue.
"Wizard," he quickly corrected, looking away from him. "Magicians pull rabbits out of hats. Wizards can kill you with one whip of a wand. But if that's how you want to call us. Be my guest."
So that was the thing in his hand, a wand.
"I knew I wasn't crazy," said Rei. "I saw one of you before. So, people with magic are really real?"
"If you can't figure that out by what you saw, then you're as stupid as those men you just insulted."
The man faced Rei, enough for him to have a clear view of his face that had the same features as his: brown hair and brown eyes, except for the part where his jaws were broader, eyebrows were thicker, and his complexion was fairly darker than Rei's. The man gazed at him and almost dropped his jaw in the process.
"What?" said Rei.
"Nothing," answered the man as he looked abruptly away again.
Rei reached in for a handshake. "Rei."
"Eliot," he said, pointing his wand at Rei, which immediately triggered him to pose in an awkward fighting stance. Eliot raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to be?"
"I know how to fight! I grew up in a tough neighborhood!"
Eliot let out a cackle. Rei intended to scare him, but it wasn't very effective.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, "I'm just erasing your memory."
"What?"
"Code six," he said, "We can't be seen by a Magicless. That's you."
Before Rei could utter a word, the tip of Eliot's wand lit up. "Dediscio!" he said.
Rei closed his eyes; his heart pounding, heavy breathing. He was waiting for something that would hit him. He was expecting something hard, or warm, or hot, or maybe something liquid-like. But there was nothing. He was still aware of everything. He was still aware of what had happened before and what had happened just then.
He opened his eyes, and Eliot wasn't there anymore. Was that just a trick so he could escape, and that he couldn't follow him? Eliot may have tricked Rei, but he's one tenacious-seventeen-year-old orphan who doesn't know how to quit.
He just saw evidence that he wasn't being crazy in believing that, apart from animals and humans, other earthly beings roamed the earth. He just dove into something magical, and he wanted more. He knew it was real, magic.
Rei looked for clues and found that the marks from the earlier fight were still on the wooden floor. That was real, and he was not dreaming at all.
A cracking sound from outside interrupted his thoughts. He followed the sound and reached the outskirts of the forest, quick enough to catch Eliot in his line of sight. Eliot's hand was stretched up, holding his wand, and he slashed it in a downward motion. The bushes and trees split and gave way inside the forest. Rei followed him, trying his best to stay quiet, to tiptoe. Still, behind Eliot, he crouched behind the bush, watching the wizard's every move.
Standing in front of a big tree, he did it again with his wand and slashed the tree straight down in the middle. The big tree became an inosculation. It split in half and made a hole in the middle, enough to fit a ten-foot man if there was ever any.
Eliot entered and vanished behind the inosculation, leaving Rei the chance for observation. It was seconds, was it five or six? Rei didn't count. The tree began to move again, reverting to its original form. Rei never jumped that fast before. It was so fast that it happened before he even realized that that was a stupid idea.
Everything swirled. The trees and leaves dematerialized. Rei had been spinning for some time. His stomach turned upside-down. His vision spun, followed by a high-pitched ring in his ears. He could easily vomit. But everything returned to its place as he felt the dirt rubbed his face.
Rei quickly got up and turned his head in every direction. With great certainty, he figured that wasn't the forest behind the Norris Mansion. And then he slapped herself. Because why not?
"What have I done?"
Another branch being stepped on and brushings on the grass pulled him out of his thoughts. He continued to follow Eliot. And while following him, he breathed a little bit heavier and thought, What if this guy is a bad guy?
"Impossible," he whispered.
If he were a bad guy, he would be dead already. He had a chance back in the Norris Mansion to end his life, but—
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crack from a branch that he landed on.
Clumsy feet! he thought.
Eliot's voice echoed. "Viniculum!" he said.
A long rope shot from his wand and wrapped Rei till he fell to the ground. He met Eliot's glare as he slowly walked closer to him. Rei spoke; if he could raise his hands, he would have done it.
"Are you gonna kill me?" he asked. "Because I'm innocent."
Eliot waved his wand, releasing Rei from his binds. Rei pushed himself up and dusted off the dirt on his clothes.
"What's your name again?" Eliot asked, curiosity was beginning to show in his expression.
"Rei Griffin."
Rei stretched his hand to reach for a handshake. And while Eliot stared at it, not reaching back, something sparked. Rei felt a thousand needles pierce his back.
Everything went black.