File 6
Date: September 1st, 808 E.C.
Time: 20:50
Location: Twilight University of Magic Dorms (District 17)
I was standing face to face with a man clad in a dark, skin-tight suit on my balcony, not a trace of his skin could be seen. Over his completely black suit, he wore a long, flowing trench coat that went down to his shins. The hems flapping gently to the rhythm of the wind. His head covered by the hood, not even a strand of hair escaped it. His face was covered by a white mask that seemed to glow as brightly as the moon in the sky and beyond that glow, I could see his eyes. The colors of his irises kept switching from dark violet to sapphire as if they were jewels in a display case.
My heart stopped and my gaze fixated on him.
My mind went blank for a moment.
My arm went limp, dropping down to my side with the lamp still clutched firmly in my hand. I don't even know how.
I wasn't sure what to do.
He took walked over to me. His footsteps were completely inaudible. He was as silent as a ghost. No, a shadow would be a more fitting word to describe him. It was completely obvious who he was. He was the rumored Phantom of the Moon that Ian was talking about earlier and he was standing on my balcony! What the heck!
My heart was beating at the speed of light. I think it was on the verge of exploding as I could taste iron in my mouth. Thoughts ran wild as I tried to come up with an escape plan but that clearly failed.
Wait, would he kill me for seeing him? He only kills the rich right? One part of my mind screamed louder than the other one trying to tell me to flee. I swear I don't have any money! Don't try asking my family for ransom! Oh god, Kris, he's gonna kill you!
Knowing that he was a Shadow Magician with superhuman abilities, he was obviously going to be faster than me so running to the door wasn't an option neither was jumping off the balcony since I was on the freaking top floor. Both of those solutions were the equivalent of suicide. I could pull out my phone in my back pocket but I highly doubt Cam or Ian would pick up. Plus, Phantom could destroy my phone with the wave of a hand. On top of that, all my pre-made Arrays were on my desk two arm lengths away. Within that time frame, he could easily chop off my head without me even knowing it.
"Relax, Kris." A masculine voice escaped the Phantom's non-existent mouth which was covered by his mask. It wasn't his real voice, of course, as he was wearing a distorter right around his neck. The static at the end of his statement also gave it away. "I won't kill you."
I was shocked to the point where I almost collapsed yet somehow, I kept standing. I think my nerves managed to overpower my brain.
How did he know my name? Was he a mind reader? I continued to ask myself in my head.
"What a smart girl you are." He chuckled in his autotuned voice, which sounded as terrible as static over a radio, facing me as he leaned against the railings of the balcony. "Although, you are close~"
I felt my body freeze.
Death.
Gulping down a mouthful of saliva, I mustered up my courage to confront him despite how stupid that sounded. After all, people like me cannot go up against a full-fledged Magician. Doing that would mean I would turn into mince-meat but what choice did I have in this confined room, on the eighth floor, with nowhere to go?
"Yo...you are Phantom?" I said, my voice trembling with fear as I wrapped my fingers tightly around the lamp, faltering back ever so slightly. My shoes digging into the floor, leaving faint marks on it. Okay, Kris. You only got one option left...that is to talk sense with this madman and wait for an opening to hit and run.
He clapped his hands together. The sound echoed off the walls of the room.
"Ah, I guess I've become famous amongst outsiders. Your accent seems like you're from Arista. Woah! I'm glad I'm gaining more attention these days."
I could tell that behind his mask, he was smiling like a predator toying with its prey. I don't want to think about it but I couldn't help but wonder. However, that's not the matter at hand. I need to figure out what exactly he's doing on my balcony!
"What business do you have with a random girl such as myself?" My voice crescendoed. "I'm a foreigner and I don't believe I hold any significance to you. "
He shrugged.
"Entertainment." He replied in that nasal voice that pricked my ears. "I just wanted to have a bit of fun before my next job-"
His body inched closer and closer to mine. The smell of cologne oozed off of his body ticking my nostrils. Ugh, why do all handsome guys have to be twisted in one way or another? Don't mind my random thought here. Anyways, once he was within my arm's reach, I tried to swing my lamp towards his head but was stopped a few centimeters by his finger. Since that backfired, I then attempted to kick him in the crotch but my legs were frozen as if someone had used super glue to keep them planted on the ground.
"Tch." I spat realizing that my plan had been foiled, yet, Phantom ignored the annoyance plastered all over my face.
He released his finger off my lamp then proceeded to fiddle with a strand of my hair. What could I do? I was frozen solid. In his mind, I was merely just a doll, a plaything purely for his enjoyment.
"-and you happened to fall in my line of sight, Kristina Steinbeck."
Letting go of my hair, I felt a surge of energy return to my body, causing me to fall knees first onto the ground. The lamp I was holding in my hand had dropped not too far in front, allowing me to see his back facing towards the blue moon in the sky. His hands gripping the metal railing of the balcony. I was lucky he didn't want to kill me.
"One more thing, Kris." He added. It wasn't the light playful tone he used in the beginning, it sounded more serious. "Don't play with fire, it's rather dangerous. Stay inside and enjoy the show."
What? I glared at him with a dumbfounded expression. Don't play with fire? What was that supposed to mean? Fire is obviously dangerous...wait, why in the world is he worried about me. A complete freaking psychopathic vigilante stranger?!
"Don't overthink it." He said as he leaned over the railings. "Sit back. Relax. And enjoy the show."
"Hey, look!" I heard a masculine voice shout from the ground. The sirens blaring not too far in the distance.
He chuckled, flicking a finger at me.
"Seems like they caught up ... gotta run!"
With that, he disappeared into the night. His black cloak fluttering in the wind as he fell majestically till his body faded away into a black shadow before bolting away in the other direction. The curtains, that seemed to have frozen in time, were ruffling once again as the lights in my room miraculously flickered back on. Out of fearsome weirdo may barge in, I immediately shut the door to the balcony going as far as to even double-checking that I locked it. The latch clicking into the hole resoundly. I leaned my back against the door, sliding down till my bottom was touching the floor. From there, I buried my head into my knees, wrapping my hands around my neck. I wanted to think this was all just some bad dream but clearly, the aching in my body from earlier told me it was as real as it could be.
"Liar," I muttered as the reality had hit me like a brick. The sirens blaring loudly in the distance.
Holy shit, Kris! You just met the 'Phantom' and had a near-death experience with him just because he wanted to fool around with you! I yelled to myself in my mind. My body was still shaking from the shock as if my brain disconnected from my nerves. My breath was staggering as I tried to calm myself down, taking large deep breaths. Unfortunately, that clearly failed so I decided I was going to head out of my room and take a walk around the dorm.
Pulling myself together, somewhat, I lifted myself off the ground and headed out of my room. From there, I took the elevator down to the ground floor where I was met face to face with Camilla.
"Hey, Kris." She greeted energetically. "You're twenty minutes late."
"I'm sorry what?" I said trying to figure out what was going on.
Then, it clicked to me.
"Oh, my bad! It's game night, right..." I chuckled feeling bad that I forgot.
So much had happened today that I kinda felt that I was out of the loop.
"Yeah, Ian and Darren had been at it for a while." Cam smiled gesturing over to the game room where Ian and Darren were pressing buttons on their controllers furiously with a crowd of people surrounded behind them, "They've played five rounds of City Fighter without any breaks. All of them have resulted in draws and it doesn't seem like either one of them is backing down soon."
"That's intense. I can understand how Ian is pretty good but I can't believe that jerk of a guy is actually good at games." I laughed walking with Cam over to the room.
"As much as a jerk as he is, Darren is actually a nationally ranked player for City Fighter. He and Ian were rivals in the City Fighter gaming club back in a secondary school which played competitively. So it's only natural both of them are really good. Anyhow, Ian said that he and Darren had an old score to settle. I didn't quite get it but there seem to be some unspoken words between them."
"Sometimes, I just can't understand why guys are thinking." I chuckled. "So no one's left the room or anything?"
"Just me," Cam replied pointing over to the vending machines near the room's entrance. "was heading over to the vending machines to buy some drinks for the others. They all pitched in some cash so I'm just getting their orders."
Cam pulled up the list of orders on her phone to show me. It was pretty long. It seemed like one of everything was requested.
"Why you ask? You kind of look pale. Did something happen once we got back?"
"Nothing really," I said as naturally as possible, trying to think of a way to switch the topic. "You want me to help out there? Not sure if you got enough arms to carry them."
"That'll be helpful." She smiled placing her hands on her hips. "You're the best Kris! I already know we're gonna get along fabulously."
"I think so too."
Thanks to Cam, all my worries had vanished into thin air. After getting drinks for the others, I got the opportunity to play a few rounds. Being a complete rookie at the game, I lost pretty miserably but that didn't discourage me at all. After my fourth round or so, I played against that jerko Darren. Though I still lost, I managed to get stock off of him since he fell off the stage. His face muscles were twitching but it made my day. But I was glad because for once, I felt like I won against him. Shortly he went back to settle his score with Ian and that went on for the rest of the night.
A couple of hours passed, everyone decided it was time to retire for the night. The guys packed up their consoles, leaving the room one by one until only Ian, Cam, Darren, and I were left.
"So, Mr. Tour Guide, what's on the agenda for tomorrow?" I asked brushing back my hair as I leaned against a table.
"We're going to head down to the City Center." He replied zipping up his bag of controllers. "We had some extra tickets to visit the Sky Tower Observatory so that's where we are going. I still have one ticket left...hey, Darren!"
Hearing his name being called, Darren turned around.
"What." He said flatly.
A devious expression formed on Ian's face.
"Since you lost to me today, I've determined your punishment. You're coming around the city with us for the next few days!"
"What a drag." He muttered under his breath. "Can I opt out of this?
"Nope. The loser gotta obey the winner. Plus, I don't think it'll be bad. On top of that, don't you have to clear up some things with Ms. Steinbeck here?"
Darren flinched. It was super effective. He knew he couldn't get out of this one. Nice one, Ian!
"Fine. What time are we leaving?"
"Nine o'clock and don't you dare try and escape out of this, Darren."
His expression looked kind but in reality, it was that of a demon in a priest's clothing. I could feel the chills running down my back.
"Did the temperature drop twenty degrees?" Cam sniffled.
I glance over at Darren. His face, smug as always but then I realized he was shaking. Man, I didn't know that Ian can be scary with actually showing it. Darren shirked back, quietly making his escape from the room as Ian stared daggers at him with the message of: I'm watching you. Scared of dealing with Ian, Darren quickly left until we could no longer see him from the corner of our eyes.
"I guess, I'll take my leave," I said. The fatigue was catching up, making my body feel terribly sluggish. So much has happened in this one day. Maybe it was all a dream and I was still on the plane but no matter how much I tried to convince myself, it was indeed the reality. My tired body was screaming at me to go to sleep.
"Same." Cam nodded, pushing open the door.
"K'ay," Ian smiled. "I'll wrap up everything here. See you guys in the morning."
"Sure," I replied, yawning as I propped myself off the table. "See you then."
"Oh, and Kristie. One more thing..."
"Hm."
"You seem a bit tense. Is everything okay?"
A look of concern formed on Ian's face. Despite being a nice guy and all, I couldn't exactly trust a person who I've known for only one day with my problems. Plus, I think the guy would end up worrying more, and that would ruin the entire tour. So I plaster a tired grin on my face before responding: "Yeah, I'm just exhausted. I'll be okay by tomorrow morning. G'night."
And with that, I had stormed out of the room and back to my own but I could've sworn I heard someone say something.
"She's lying."
