Flow stared at Al’s message again, even though they pretty much memorized the whole text by now. It was the last in a long row of messages wishing good luck, asking about the trip to Pollapolis, then about their new home, the school, how their parents were doing. There came a few days break, probably to give Flow some time to process everything and write back. When that never happened, Al sent the last message. It was two days old.

They opened the notepad on their phone, typed a few lines and copied it. Then went back to the messenger app and prepared to paste and send their answer, but their finger froze in the air. They stared at all the messages from this week. The ones from last week.

They sighed and closed the app.

Why was it so hard? Al was their best friend, he was always there for Flow. They put up with everything that made them feel like a nuisance in every relationship they had. The least he deserved was knowing that they were okay. A line. A word. An emoji. Flow felt like the scum of the earth. The more they waited, the more they felt like they needed to explain their silence and the more they felt that the harder it became to write anything. Where was the point when answering would be simply mocking Al’s efforts? Did they pass that already?

They knew it was stupid. Al would understand, he would be happy to hear anything about them. But answering them would mean acknowledging that the last two weeks really happened, and their best friend will be lines of black text on a screen from now on.

They quickly destroyed the remnants of their lunch then stood up. Walking out of the mess hall, they opened up Al’s messages again. Maybe just send a few photos of the school and the apartment? Would that be weird? Probably, but it would be something, and much easier than figure out what to say. Was it okay to take photos of the school building? Flow guessed as long as they cropped all the students’ faces…

That was the point when walking with their nose in their phone, they bumped into someone, hitting his tray out of his hands.

“Watch it you assplug!” he snapped at Flow.

The tray with all the food landed on the floor with a lot of noise. Luckily the school only used plastic plates, so nothing broke, but it was a big mess.

“Oh my god, sorry!” Flow gasped.

They quickly put their phone away and grabbed a few paper towels from a nearby table. They cleaned the floor the best they could and put everything back on the tray, but the food was unsalvagable.

“Sorry,” they told the other kid again. “Let me get you another meal.”

He was a tall, muscular boy with his hair cut so short, he looked almost bald. He was wearing faded jeans and a black, zipped out hoodie over a shirt with the name of some kind of band Flow never heard of. Some of the text actually seemed to be missing, probably due to more rounds in the washing machine anyone could count.

With hands on his hips he looked over the short and chubby Flow for a moment longer than what the enby would be comfortable with. They noticed he wore a simple looking bracelet made of wooden pearls, kept together by an old leather strap.

He gave a wide smile and slapped Flow’s shoulder so hard, they almost collapsed on the ground.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. Accidents happen, right?”

“Y- yeah,” they stuttered, not sure what else to say.

“You’re the new kid, right? Flew.”

“Flow. But, uh yes.”

“Nice,” the other smiled again.

Flow noticed he didn’t say his own name. Should they ask? Would it be rude, pointing out his slip-up on etiquette after Flow just almost pushed them over and spilled their lunch on the floor?

“See you around.”

The boy took back his tray with the ruined lunch and walked back toward the serving window to get fresh food.

“What was that supposed to be about?” Flow thought to themself.

<> 

By the end of the day Flow already forgot about the strange encounter. They went to the locker room before heading home to put down some of their books and they were still thinking about some trick to bypass their mental block about messaging Al, when they heard footsteps behind them.

“Flu?”

They closed their locker and turned around to see the kid from before. He was standing behind them, hands in pockets in the otherwise empty room.

“Uh, Flow.”

“Right. That sounds even more stupid.”

He took a step forward, now getting uncomfortably close. The smell of cheap deodorant and menthol chewing gum filled Flow’s lungs, but they tried to not frown.

“Did you make it up?” the boy asked.

“Look,” Flow said, leaning their back against the locker. They felt sweat drops forming on their temple. “If it’s about earlier, I’m sorry. I should’ve looked at my step instead of being on my phone while walking. I’m sorry that I bumped into you. Can I fix it somehow?”

“Fix it?”

He leaned even closer, putting her left hand on the locker, right next to Flow’s face. They tried to shrink even though it would be hard to look even smaller compared to this guy. Flow wished if they could just slip under the locker’s door and hide there in the dark.

“You don’t have to do anything. Actually, I will give you something… let’s call it a quick lesson of respect.”

“Seriously Richard? What are you, eleven?”

Flow and the boy both turned toward the voice coming from the door. They saw a girl with red hair, taller than Flow but still short compared to Richard. She had green eyes, freckled round face and she was wearing tightly fitting jeans with a lacy blouse.

“Not your fucking business Natasha,” the boy turned to her, momentarily forgetting about Flow.

He raised his fist toward the girl in a clearly threatening gesture. Instead of taking back, the redhead launched herself, power walking toward Richard. This surprised the boy enough to take a step back, making space for the girl.

She walked through the space between Richard and the cornered Flow, stopping a little further away inside the room. She looked the enby in the eyes but Flow couldn’t read anything form her gaze. Then she turned her eyes at Richard again.

“What’s the big idea? What are you now, the school’s new superhero?” the boy asked. He grinned at Natasha mockingly.

“You screwed up, you know that right? You might be quick enough to get away from me on your own, but how will you escape with this assplug with you?”

He pushed his elbow into Flow’s stomach. He didn’t seem to put much momentum into the move, but it was enough for them to lean forward, holding their tummy.

“You should’ve stuck with crying to teachers, this idiot can’t even take a beating with dignity like you do,” Richard said to Natasha. “But whatever. I will enjoy getting back to you for all the times you pissed me off.”

“You got a big mouth for the softy you actually are,” Natasha said calmly.

“Wanna say that to my face?” Richard held his fists like he was in a professional boxing match.

“I just did. Come on, you've had this junk since what, first grade?”

She held up her hand with a small wooden bracelet. Richard blinked, then checked his left wrist – his bracelet was gone. His face ran red with rage.

Even Flow was so dumbfounded, for a moment they forgot about their pain. They clearly saw the bracelet on Richard’s hand when he was leaning on the locker next to them. Natasha managed to remove it without any of them noticing in the split second when she passed them?

“It’s no shame staying in touch with your childhood self, except you were an asshole even back then,” Natasha said, spinning the bracelet around her index finger. “How about a deal? I give you back your chewing toy and you go home and take a cold shower for whatever made you this pumped up.”

Richard growled and launched himself at Natasha, swinging his fist widely in the air. She spun out of the way at the last moment and Richard’s punch landed on a locker behind her with a loud clank. Richard shouted, holding his fist. Flow was sure that the door of the locker dented a little.

“I’ll flay you for that you bitch!”

“I take that as a yes.”

She threw the bracelet on the ground and stepped to Flow. Without a word she grabbed the neck of their gray hoodie and dragged them out of the locker room. She only stopped for a moment in the door and turned back to Richard.

“Oh, and maybe check that hand with the nurse.”

<> 

“Thanks for that,” Flow managed to force out as the girl dragged them through the school’s corridors.

Natasha looked back at them for a second then just continued to pull them.

“If you want to thank me, stay out of Richard’s way from now on. He’ll be on to you, even more now that you slipped away. I won’t come to save your ass next time.”

“Uh okay, sure. Thank you anyway. That reminds me, how did you know that I’m in trouble?”

“I saw your stunt in the mess hall. I know him well enough, I could tell he was hunting you down, so I kept an eye on him after class. You’ll end up being run over if you keep walking like that, you know.”

“I… sorry.”

Flow noticed something. The locker room vanished behind them long ago, and there was no sign of Richard following them, but she kept dragging them by the neck of their hoodie.

“Hey, actually… where are we going?”

Natasha let them go and turned around to face them.

“You’re the new kid,” she said, didn’t ask. “You moved to Pollapolis two weeks ago. Have you made any friends since then?”

Flow shook their head.

“I guessed so.”

Then she just grabbed them again and continued to lug them.

<>

Natasha led them (on her own way) out of the school. Beyond the entrance there was a small public park with a few trees and benches in order to boost the arriving and leaving students’ spirits a bit. She went to a small table with two benches where two other kids were sitting.

“Natasha!” one of them said with a surprised but cheerful expression. “And… new kid!”

They had messy blond hair with blue, green, purple and pink highlights, blue eyes and wore a sleeveless shirt with a white lumber jacket. They were playing on a handheld console what they now put on the table to talk to them. Flow took a peek and saw that they were playing the new game, Alpha Cross: Rising.

“Flow, right?” the other kid asked.

He had dark skin and short brown hair. He was wearing glasses and a red hoodie.

“Uh, yeah,” they answered, surprised that someone actually remembered their name.

“Hey, nice to meet you!” the other kid grinned at them. “I’m Igne, and he’s Matis. What brings you guys here?”

“Flow needs help,” Natasha said, hands on her hips.

“Do I?”

“They were living here for two weeks, but they don’t know anyone yet,” the girl continued, ignoring Flow’s question. “You two should watch out for them.”

The other three exchanged some awkward looks.

“Uh, sure?” Matis said. “Yeah, we can hang out.”

“You heard him,” Natasha turned to Flow. “Sit down.”

She pointed at the empty spot next to Igne, like she was sending a child to eat. Flow quickly obeyed.

“Okay,” she said. “You guys have fun.”

She turned away to leave.

“Wait!” Flow blinked. “You won’t stay?”

“Can’t. I gotta go home.”

With that, she dashed away.

“What… was that?” Flow asked without really addressing anyone. They weren’t good with people to say the least, but they were sure Natasha’s behavior wouldn’t be considered normal.

Igne laughed.

“Don’t worry about it too much. Natasha can be like that sometimes.”

“On my first week here, one day I forgot to bring my own lunch,” Matis remembered. “And I couldn’t eat the school lunch either because of my allergies. She came up to me and simply asked me what foods I couldn’t eat. She seemed to think something over, then she just handed me her lunchbox and walked away without a word. I was so confused for a moment, I couldn’t even say thanks before she was gone.

“The next day I tried to thank her but she just waved me off, didn’t even take her box back. For a while I thought I hurt her feelings somehow, but then why would she give me her lunch?”

“Yeah, she kinda keeps herself to herself and can get quipy if you try to get her to open up. But I never saw her being mean on purpose to anyone. Once when I tried to fight Richard and he beat me up really badly, she got a teacher to help and even brought me to the nurse. He got away with it, since technically I was the one starting the fight, but that’s how it is. She called me a dumbass then left.”

Flow looked at Igne. They weren’t much taller than Flow and seemed to have a pretty slim build.

“Did you really pick a fight with Richard?”

They didn’t want to be mean but couldn’t exactly blame Natasha for her comment either.

“Yeah!” Igne grinned brightly. Flow just noticed they had some missing teeth. “And one day soon enough I’ll get him.”

“You couldn’t do that in kindergarten, nor in elementary, but high school will be different for sure,” Matis said.

“Exactly!”

The boy shook his head with a resigned sigh.

“So, Flow, how did you meet Natasha? She isn’t really the type you just get into random conversations with.”

So Flow quickly told them about the mess hall and the locker room.

“Oh man… uh, is it okay to use phrases like that?” he looked at Flow. They nodded. “So Richard is after you. That sucks, you got some serious bad luck. Try to keep your head low for a while.”

“Or better, I could teach you some sick moves to protect yourself.”

“Igne, watching martial art videos online doesn’t make you qualified to teach people self-defense,” Matis scolded his friend. “And if you keep trying to teach yourself, you’ll end up seriously injured one day. If you wanna learn how to fight, why don’t you get a proper tutor?”

“I tried, but none of them could handle my vibes,” Igne shrugged. “But that’s okay, because I’m building my own fighting style.”

They fiercely punched the empty air ahead of them.

“We had some bullies in my old school,” Flow said. “But Richard seems like another category completely. It sounds like he runs amok in the school. Couldn’t the staff do something?”

“Well, it’s not like they can just kick him out, that’s against the law,” Matis shrugged. “If you’re a kid, you have to be in school, so some school has to take him. He doesn’t give a damn about detention, and his parents either don’t care about the constant complaints or they can’t keep him under control either. The school should probably hire some expert to talk to him and dig into why he’s such an ass to everyone, but that’s expensive.”

“That reminds me, where are you from exactly Flow?” Igne asked.

After finishing his impromptu martial arts show, he returned to his game, but seemed to be following the conversation just fine.

“Oh, from Lakeside, but I don’t think you know the place. It’s in the Northern Conglomeration.”

“It’s rare to meet new people from outside of Pollapolis,” Matis noted. “I remember lots of kids I used to know before their family moved out of the city, but I only know a handful of people who moved here since I was born. Dad says since the economic collapse everyone leaves.”

“My mom got a job opportunity, and we found an apartment for a really good price, so we moved,” Flow said. They tried really hard not to sound sour about the subject.

“Hey, I got an idea,” Igne grinned. “Why don’t we bring Flow to that shop you told me about? We wanted to check it out for a while, and it sounds like a fun tour in the city.”

“Shop?” Flow blinked.

Matis quickly produced a flyer from his pack and showed it to them.

Artemis Holmes

Antiquity and Souvenir

“I know it doesn’t seem like much, but from what I heard it’s quiet fun. It used to be a normal antique shop, but the owner got bored always selling stuff to rich people only. So he figured he’d turn the shop into a kind of free exhibit where people can try out all kinds of fancy antique stuff and if they like it, they can buy an affordable replica for themselves.

“Of course if you break something you have to pay for the damage, but other than that, you’re not expected to purchase anything. If you just feel like taking a nap in a renaissance noble’s bed, or trying a civil war general’s pen, you can try them for free. Apparently it turned out to be a big success, because a lot of people end up buying some souvenirs after being hyped up by the original items.”

“That does sound like fun,” they said uncertainly. “But you guys really don’t mind playing tour guides for me?”

“Don’t sweat it, we’re just hanging out,” Igne said, putting their hands behind their head.

Going to new places with people they just met really wasn’t something Flow usually did, but maybe it would help to get their mind off of the whole Al situation a little. And besides, despite the weird way Natasha just dropped Flow on them, Igne and Matis seemed genuinely trying to make friends with them. Flow didn’t want to reject their efforts of making them feel welcomed. They should text their parents about staying out longer, but if anything, they would be happy that Flow spends time with their peers.

“I should tell you though, this place is in the Ghost District.” Matis said. “There weren’t any warlock attacks recently, but we can never be a hundred percent sure that we won’t run into one.”

Flow froze for a moment. They knew all the news of course, but the warlocks being an everyday reality for this city was something they still had to process.

“Did you guys ever… been there for an attack?” they asked.

“Nope, only watched them on TV,” Matis shook his head.

“Once I got stuck on a bus for two hours,” Igne said. “Apparently there was an attack and the gendarmery closed off a huge chunk of the city. We couldn’t move anywhere and we weren’t allowed to leave the bus either, but I didn’t see anything.”

The warlocks showed up around a year ago. People tried to come up with all kinds of descriptions for them: eccentric criminals who displayed unexplained abilities, wore flashy outfits and attacked people for apparently no other reason than to cause chaos and get attention. For all intents and purposes, they were supervillains in real life, but then some people started to argue online that calling them that makes them sound like some quirky attraction, rather than the actual threat they were. Then someone came up with the name “warlock”, based on the loose logic that since their powers couldn’t be explained scientifically, it must be magic. Flow didn’t get how the term warlock was any more serious than calling them supervillains, but it sounded good enough and stuck with the public.

There was a lot of fuss, but the authorities were unable to arrest any of them so far.

“It’s theorized that there’s a warlock hideout or headquarters of sorts in Ghost District, since most of the attacks happened there,” Igne shrugged. “It makes sense, with all those empty buildings, it’s the perfect place to hide something like that if it really exists. But the Ghost District is huge and there were only a handful of warlocks identified so far.”

“Six at top, given that they never change their costumes and aliases,” Matis added.

“There’s not much chance that we get attacked just because of going there, but I understand if you rather wouldn’t.” Igne continued. “This stuff must be scary if you’re not already used to it.”

“You shouldn’t take it so easily either,” Matis rolled his eyes. “But I generally agree, simply going there for a few hours should be fine.”

“It’s okay,” Flow said, quickly texting their dad. “I’ll go with you.”

<>

Flow let Igne and Matis lead them as they took the tram near the school. It was pretty cramped at first, but by the time they entered the Ghost District, the wagon was practically empty other than the three of them. While Igne kept playing on their console and Matis looked the way on his phone, Flow stuck to the window, staring out. The Ghost District was built thirty years ago as an ambitious attempt to expand the city and attract new businesses. It was supposed to launch Pollapolis to a new age of prosperity, but then the economy crashed and it was the first part left abandoned by the citizens. Empty city blocks ran past the wagon as the orphaned buildings gazed down on them with their dead window eyes.

The shop was several minutes walk away from the tram station. Seeing this abandoned part of the city was eerie but atmospheric from the wagon, but walking among the empty buildings and hearing their footsteps echo in the unnatural silence started to get genuinely creepy. Warlocks were one thing, but now Flow started to think about muggers and other, much more dangerous types of people who might have made their nest here. But Igne and Matis seemed to walk with calm confidence and if someone wanted to rob or kidnap others why would they come here where there’s barely any chance to find a possible victim at all, Flow reasoned to themself.

Absentmindedly, they kicked a thin can on the road. It flew a few meters above the concrete, toward a nearby building and hit a trash can that wasn't emptied long ago.

From behind the trash can, a dark tabby cat jumped out with a loud meow. It ran through the road before them and vanished in a nearby alleyway. Startled from the unexpected movement, Flow took a step back, stumbled in their own feet and fell on their butt.

“Ohw…”

“Hey, are you okay?” Igne said, jumping there to help.

“Didn’t hurt yourself?” Matis asked.

“No, I’m fine,” Flow said as Igne helped them up. “Guess this place just freaked me out a little more than I thought, sorry about that.”

Igne chuckled.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Ghost District gives me the creeps too. But the peace and quiet can be nice sometimes.”

Igne seemed to be anything but someone to enjoy peace and quiet, but Flow smiled at them and nodded.

“I remember, back in elementary we used to do tests of courage by sneaking out and coming here after dark. Once I got lost and I was only found the next day, sleeping next to a dumpster. My parents freaked out big time,” they laughed.

Yeah, that sounded much more like them.

“It’s just around the corner,” Matis said, checking the locator on their phone.

The shop was a wide building stuffed between two empty apartmenthouses, its forefront decorated with a large sign heralding the shop’s name.

“Greetings, young people!” a young, tall man greeted them from behind a counter. “Welcome to my shop!”

He had white skin, young, freckled face and curly blond hair. He was wearing an elegant but pretty normal combination of gray pants, white buttoned shirt and gray waistcoat, fitting for the owner of an antique shop. Above those however he done a floaty red long coat, the type that was quite the sight on the streets, let alone indoors. To complete the look, he was also wearing a large, wide brimmed hat and pink rounded sunglasses.

The room they entered was covered in old, shiny wood. There was a big counter, from which behind the man who was apparently Artemis Holmes himself talked to them, and a few chairs and coathangers. It looked like the front of the shop was dedicated to welcome and make customers comfortable, rather like trying to sell them anything, a sure sign it was no everyday business.

“First time here? Yes, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen your faces before. Let me quickly explain the layout to you then!

“Beyond that door, you find the gallery, home of many fascinating historical items. Feel free to touch and try them, as long as you're careful. If in doubt, just consult with the cards you find next to each item, they will inform you what are the accepted ways of interacting with them and what you should avoid doing – but it’s pretty self-explanatory in most cases. For example if you see a chair, it’s okay to sit on it.

“Through several doors in the gallery, you can go to the atrium. It has no antiquities on display, but it has several benches and is quite nice at this part of the year. If you ever feel the need of a break during your tour, you can go out and enjoy the sun. Our set is large, impressively so if I may be so bold, so take as long as you wish checking it out, and give a try anything that picks your interest.

“If you pass the atrium, you get to our sinful temple of capitalism – the gift shop. We have replicas of several of the displayed items there, and you can order those that are not in stock. Feel free to check it out before leaving, but if you’re only here to enjoy the air of history, that’s perfectly fine too.”

He waved toward a door.

“Thanks, we take a look around,” Matis smiled, taking the lead.

They all headed to the gallery.

<>

It was like they stepped into a mixture of a museum and a furnishing shop. The gallery was a large, looping square corridor surrounding the atrium outside. Things were arranged to create an illusion of several different rooms being fused into an endless loop: bedrooms with canopy beds, working rooms with writing tables and chairs, library rooms with huge shelves of antique books, there was even a section that looked like a huge closet, with fancy outfits hanging everywhere. Everything was well-polished and classy looking. Large windows let the bright sunlight in from the atrium.

The three teens soon scattered, taking interest in different items. As the owner said, everything was marked with a small white paper with simple instructions about interacting with the items, and also interesting trivia about their history. Flow didn’t see any other guests at the moment, which was weird given the supposed popularity of the place, but maybe more people visited at the weekends.

Flow noticed a large mirror on one of the walls with a fancy silver frame and absentmindedly stepped to it.

They weren’t much to look at to be honest. Flow had a fondness of baggy clothes that were more comfortable than seemly and right now was wearing an oversized gray hoodie that reached down almost to their knees. Their light brown, half-length hair had just a bit of natural curve near the end. They were thinking of growing bangs, maybe going for a peek-a-boo style, but they were afraid that it would be annoying to have their hair in their face all the time.

They turned away and were about to leave the mirror, when something weird happened. While they moved, their reflection stayed in place, then gave them a slight smile.

“What’s the hurry?”

The voice sounded like Flow’s when they heard themself talking, not like when they heard a recording of themself.

“Huh?”

They turned back to the mirror. Was it some kind of magic trick? This shop had a show like that? They really should warn people in advance, Flow thought, a surprise like this can go very badly very easily.

“It doesn’t have to be this complicated, you know?” the other Flow said.

“What?”

“Al. The moving. The new school. You try to hide it, but you’re scared to death, don’t you? Back in Lakeside you had a few people to care about you while most just let you alone. It was easy, but you somehow still managed to struggle with a life like that. You can’t even figure out how to talk to your only friend.

“Richard was just the first warning sign. You’re such a pushover, a city like this will eat you alive then digest you before you even realize. You know that, right?”

Flow wanted to step back, run away, but it felt like their feet were stuck to the ground. They couldn’t say anything either.

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” their reflection continued. “You could just sit back and let someone else deal with it. There are some of us who could actually use your life instead of just wasting it like you do.”

It flashed a grin and Flow saw that they had sharp pointy teeth.

“Why don’t you give it to me Flow? I could take care of everything that scares you so much.”

“Hey Flow?”

The enby jumped in place and turned around to see Igne standing behind them.

“We were here for a while. Matis and I going to check out the atrium, wanna join us?”

“Yeah, sure,” Flow said, playing with their hair.

“Are you okay?” Igne frowned. “You look kinda pale.”

“I thought I saw something. But it was probably just my imagination again.”

“Yeah, all this old stuff can make you feel a bit weird. But they’re pretty cool otherwise. Let’s go, fresh air probably will make you feel better.”

<>

“Wow,” Artemis said. “One of those kids picked out the mirror almost immediately.”

He was sitting in the backroom of the shop, looking at the live security camera from the gallery on a screen. Another man, working on something on a laptop, turned around.

“Since how long was that thing dormant?” he asked.

“For two hundred years at least.”

“Hmm. Maybe the kid just lucked it out?”

“Possibly. Or they have some serious potential. It doesn’t really matter, they’re way too young. They could be an excellent candidate in a few years.”

A discrete bell signaled that another customer arrived, so Artemis left the room to greet them.

<>

Richard stepped into the gallery and looked around with a scoff. Showing off all this expensive stuff in this dead part of the city, just how stupid is that? He never in a billion years would find this place if that idiot Matis didn’t post it online that they were heading here.

Looking for his targets, Richard carefully clenched his bandaged right fist. The nurse said he was lucky he didn’t break a finger and warned him to be more careful. His knuckles still aching, part of him just wanted to go home and fume silently – but no. No way he lets those two sleep tonight with the satisfaction of screwing with him like this. Maybe he couldn’t get Natasha today, but if this new kid meant so much to her for some reason, Richard will enjoy seeing her face when they arrive with a bloodshot head the next day.

He just had to find them.

“What a pathetic loser you are.”

Richard growled and spun around without thinking – just to face himself in the frame of a fancy mirror.

“What, you will beat me up too?” his reflection said with a mocking smile. “Good luck with that. You couldn’t even teach that assplug their lesson, and now what, you run through the whole city just to find them and save your face? Seems like you lost control of your life buddy… soon nobody will take you seriously like this.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Richard snarled, raising his fist. But he was unsure what else to do.

“Easy boy, you don’t want to blow the chance I’m offering you. Lucky you, one of the people you’re after happens to be my own prey. Because of that, I’m willing to make a deal and help you.”

Richard smiled. He didn’t know what kind of weird dream this was, but he won’t be messed with. He leaned close to the glass with a threatening grin.

“Deal? Help? I don’t know which one of us is in the mirror. My guess is that you need more of my help than the other way around, am I wrong?”

“Are you sure I’m the one here who is trapped? All you ever do is scaring little kids. For how long will you be satisfied with being the big fish in the small pond? With my power you don’t have to worry about adults – not even cops. You can show everyone who you are and what’s the price of messing with you. Then we can both go our own ways.”

Richard frowned, gnashing his teeth.

“And how will you make that happen, huh? What’s that ‘power’ of yours?”

“First things first, boy. To seal our deal I’ll need something from you, a pledge. It has to be something that’s important to you.”

Richard blinked, his eyes flashing on his bracelet Natasha took from him earlier that day. Seeing his reluctance, his reflection laughed.

“Which is more important, some junk you took from a kid in elementary, or the brats disrespecting you here and now? You’ll never be a man if you keep playing with kids’ toys.”

Richard sent a hostile look toward the mirror, but then he took off his bracelet and held it up.

His reflection reached out for it. Its hand easily crossed the glass as a real, blood and flesh hand, identical to Richard’s, and grabbed the accessory. Richard let out a surprised gasp and let go of it.

His reflection stepped out of the mirror, leaving the reflected version of the room behind it empty. Suddenly two Richards stood in the empty gallery.

“That’s fucking weird,” Richard said, looking up and down his doppelganger. “What will we do now?”

The other grinned, flashing a row of sharp teeth.

“We won't do anything.”

Richard felt like the room turned around him. He leaned to the closest wall, searching for something to hold onto, then collapsed on the ground.

The doppelganger pulled the boy’s bracelet on its own wrist.

“Sorry pal. Don’t worry, I’ll still keep my part of the deal. You just won’t be around to see it.”

<>

Flow, Igne and Matis found a nice spot in the atrium, and sat down on a bench next to a small but nice looking fountain. Tiny bird sculptures were spitting water into a small stone pool, for real birds to drink it.

Igne was playing their game again, but they seemed to enjoy the environment nonetheless. Matis was busy uploading all the pictures he took online, and Flow was switching between staring at the stone birds and their message app.

“Uh-oh,” Matis said as he suddenly tensed up.

Igne followed his gaze then jumped up.

Flow looked up too, and they felt their stomach sink.

They saw Richard marching through the atrium, right toward the tree of them.

Igne stepped forward with an excited grin, holding their fists in the air.

“Hell yeah. Time for my big comeback.”

“Igne, don’t do anything stupid,” Matis warned his friend.

Richard stopped a few meters from them and slowly looked over the trio. Then he raised one of his large hands and pointed at Flow.

“I’m only here for them. The two of you can bounce.”

“In your dreams!” Igne spat while doing some jumping moves, like he was warming up for some exercise. “This time I’ll teach you a lesson of respect, big boy.”

Richard stared at the jumping enby, unfazed.

Matis quickly held up his phone, pushing something on the screen.

“Smile for the camera!” he said to Richard. “I’m recording everything. You didn’t think this through. This is not the school, it’s someone’s private property. If you make trouble here you won’t be dealing with some teachers scolding you. Do you really want to explain things to the Civil Guard?”

The large boy held up a hand, pointing skywards with his index- and middle finger. Suddenly, smoke arose from Matis’ phone, then with sparkles it fell out of his hands in two pieces.

“Argh!” Matis shouted in surprise, holding his hand.

“Oh, how did I miss magic,” ‘Richard’ said with a cold smile.

“What was that? Do you have some kind of weapon?”

Not waiting for an answer, Igne jumped ahead, going for a gut-punch. But Richard just stretched one of his long arms, touching their forehead slightly. Igne’s eyes turned around and they fell on the ground, not moving.

“What… what’s going on?” Matis asked, shaking.

“You really should listen when you’re told to leave.”

He stepped to Matis and touched his forehead too. Just like Igne a moment ago, Matis collapsed on the ground too.

‘Richard’ turned to Flow, who just managed to stand up with shaking legs.

“That leaves you.”

Flow stared at the two kids on the ground, then the huge boy. Their fingers wrapped around their phone in their pocket, but looking at the still smoking remains of Matis’ device on the ground didn’t promise much good if you tried to use it to call help.

“Dammit.”

Their stomach wriggling with guilt, Flow turned their back on their new friends and ran toward the shop. The atrium was empty other than the three of them and Richard, but if they could just get an adult’s attention…

They heard a whooshing sound, then a large shadow fell on them as a tall figure appeared ahead of them from nothing.

“Still trying to run away from your problems? You can’t do that forever you know.”

Richard smiled, showing off his pointy teeth.

“You should’ve just taken my deal Flow,” he said. “That way less people would have to get hurt.”

He touched Flow’s chest. Golden lights ran up on his hand, starting from his fingertips and vanishing under the sleeve of his black hoodie. Flow felt an unbearable coldness growing in their body until they collapsed on the ground. They felt so weak, they couldn’t move a finger.

“Finally, a soul worth taking,” the creature with Richard’s face said with a satisfied smile.

Then his form changed. It shrunk, brown hair grew on his almost bald head. His black hoodie turned gray and now was hanging at the height of its owner’s knees.

With their vision clouded, Flow looked up at an exact copy of themself.

“Hm,” the other Flow raised their hand, bending and stretching their fingers like they were testing something. They were still wearing Richard’s bracelet. “What a disheartening look… but whatever. With this glow, I can leave the Mistworld. Then I look for a better target among the humans.”

“Who… who are you?” Flow asked weakly on the ground. Breathing was hard, talking felt almost impossible.

“Oh!” the other looked down with a surprised expression. “So you’re still kicking after I tapped into you like that? That’s honestly impressive.”

They seemed to think something over.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what,” the other Flow said. “I could just kill you right now, but this is the first day of my freedom and I have better things to do. That blockhead wanted me to teach you a ‘lesson’, but he was too much of a wuss to say it out loud that he wanted you dead. So I let you off the hook for now. Just stay low for a few days, I have plans with your face and I don’t need you to interfere. But hey, if you stay out of my path you might even survive this. That’s something worth celebrating, right?”

They gave Flow one of their pointy grins – it was terrifying to see it with their own face. Then they took a few steps and vanished.

Flow put their hands on the ground, trying to push themself up, but the effort was too much. They fell back into the grass and everything around them turned black.

<>

Natasha was sitting on a bench outside, listening to music and watching the people pass. She didn’t like shops and malls, but for some reason the shopping district made her feel calm. It wasn’t the things she could buy, she preferred ordering online if it was possible – but something about sitting outside, at the sidelines of other people’s bustling life who didn’t waste a second look on her gave her a feeling of security.

Much to her annoyance someone stepped to her, trying to get her attention. She looked up and saw Flow, the new kid she met earlier in school. They smiled and waved at her.

With a sigh, Natasha removed her earbuds.

“Hey. I thought you were hanging out with the two dorks.”

“And I thought you were heading home.”

Touche.

“If you need to know, I went home. Then I left because I had to pick up some groceries. Then I decided I didn’t want to go back home right away, and now here I am.”

“Oh. You don’t have any groceries with you.”

Crap. Natasha reached out for her earbuds, deciding to end the conversation, when Flow chuckled.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to be like that.”

“Like what?” Natasha looked at them, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, rude I guess?” they shrugged. “Or sounding like you owed me an explanation. I just noticed you and realized I still haven’t thanked you properly earlier today.”

“Yes you did. That was the first thing you said to me.”

“No, I mean…”

Flow looked around and noticed a cafe nearby.

“I know. How about I treat you for something?”

“That’s, uh, really nice of you,” Natasha said. “But I’m fine.”

“Come on,” the enby gave her a charming smile. The heck, this kid never struck her as someone who couldn’t take no for an answer. “You said I needed friends, didn’t you?”

“Okay, maybe that was misleading. But I didn’t mean it as an invitation to hang out later, sorry.”

“Then why did you save me from Richard?”

Natasha really started to lose her patience.

“That’s something called basic decency. Maybe you live in an RPG or something, but in this reality just because I helped you with one thing you don’t have to join my party and follow me everywhere in a neat line.”

“Okay,” Flow said, letting their shoulders fall a bit. “I get it, you helped me because you thought that was the right thing to do, not because I mean anything to you as a person. That’s fair, you don’t even know me after all.”

Natasha looked away. She might’ve been a bit harsh, but she didn’t like people being pushy with her. How else is she supposed to get across the message?

“Listen,” Flow continued. “You helped me because you felt like you should. But that still makes me feel I owe you something. I feel like I’m supposed to thank you in some way. Of course if you say the best I can do is leaving you alone, I’ll do that. Or, you know. You could let me buy you some food. We don’t have to talk. We can sit in silence and you can look grumpily, so you don’t accidentally make friends with me.”

“I’m not looking grumpily,” the girl said as she put away her phone and stood up.

“Is that a yes?” Flow smiled.

“You talked so much about food, I got hungry,” the girl shrugged.

But she still looked at the other uncertainly.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You act kinda… different.”

“Oh, yeah I’m fine. Just a bit excited I guess.”

They smiled.

“It feels like my first day out of prison.”

<>

Flow woke up with a headache and their whole body feeling sore, but at least the terrible coldness in their chest went away. Looking around, they found themself in a small, half-lit room with only a bed and a small table next to it. The bed was occupied by them and the table was occupied by a plate with some chocolate chip cookies and a large glass of water.

Realizing how dry their throat felt, they grabbed the glass and downed its whole content. Only then it hit them that they really shouldn’t drink something a stranger left here for them in a place they didn’t know where was. Well, it was too late now, but they fought off the urge to stuff a handful of cookies into their mouth.

They still felt weak, but after cautiously trying, they found that they could walk without problem. They stepped to the door and opened it, finding another, much larger room on the other side. It was bright and nicely furnished, looking like a living room from the last century.

“Thank god,” Artemis Holmes sighed. He was sitting in a big cushioned armchair and looked at Flow with a mixture of worry and relief. “I was really afraid that we didn’t get to you in time, but it appears that your glow is exceptionally strong.”

There was another man standing in the room.

“The two friends you arrived with are okay too,” he said. “The Vessel just knocked them out. They lost some of their memories, so after fixing the boy’s phone it was easy to convince them that they just fell asleep in the atrium. We told them that you got an urgent call from your family and had to leave.”

“I’d advise you to confirm that story next time when you talk to them,” Artemis said. “However, ultimately it’s up to you what you tell them of course.”

Flow blinked at the two men, not sure what to say. Artemis still had his long coat, but he didn’t wear his hat and sunglasses this time. A much bigger change was that now he had two large, curvy horns seemingly sticking out of his forehead and surrounding his face. Flow was pretty sure, no matter how ridiculously large it was, his hat wouldn’t be able to hide those before. He blinked at Flow with, now they could see, bright pink eyes.

If possible, the other guy looked even weirder. He was a large man in simple black pants and a gray shirt. It was a bit hard to tell apart his clothes though, as his skin had a dark gray tone too, one Flow never saw before on humans. He had white hair, and most conspicuously, he seemed to have big pieces of white crystals sticking out of his body at random places.

“Wh… who…?” Flow stumbled on their words.

“You mean what are we?” Artemis smiled. “Don’t worry, while it’s not the most polite question to ask, completely understandable in your situation. Nox and I belong to the mistfolk – our people normally not visible to your kind, so no wonder you’re surprised by our looks. This shop however is one of the rare locations where the Mistworld overlaps with the Human World. For humans, this is a place of magic and miracles – some of which, as you certainly realized, are dangerous.”

“Look,” Flow said. “If you’re going for some kind of immersive roleplay theme park thing with this place, it’s great. The effects, the costumes, ten out of ten, really. But you really should let people know what they’re jumping into before…”

They shrugged weakly. After seeing what they saw and knowing about the warlocks roaming free in the city they knew very well, this was a situation where the impossible answer was more likely than the improbable one.

“I’m sorry kid, but this is all real,” said the man who Artemis called Nox. “But you’re right in one thing, we should’ve been much more careful. Art and I were looking for humans with strong magical potential. It’s something hard to do with magic being much less prominent in your world than it is in ours.”

“So in order to identify the people we need, we put several magical artifacts into our gallery,” Artemis took the word. “By observing people’s reactions to the items displayed we could get a good idea who got the abilities we needed. The items were all supposed to be harmless, but I made a terrible mistake…”

Guilt flashed through his face.

“… and you and that boy paid the price of my carelessness. I am terribly sorry, Flow.”

“Boy?” Flow asked with fright. Didn’t they say that Matis were all right…?

With a somber look on his face, Nox stepped closer to Flow and opened a door next to the one in front of they were standing. In a similar room they woke up in, they saw Richard lying in bed. His face was pale and he was motionless.

“He’s alive,” Nox said. “But whatever the Vessel did to him, we weren’t able to reverse it yet.”

“What’s this Vessel you’re talking about?” Flow shook their head. This was getting way too much for them. “That was the thing that attacked us? That looked like Richard then turned into me?”

“Yes,” Artemis said. “Very long ago, there was a human with a really strong soul, but they had issues. One day, looking into the mirror they wished if they could leave everything they hated in themself behind, sealing it away to become someone else. They didn’t realize but that wish created a wretched spirit, full of malice and spite. It broke out of the mirror and devoured the soul of its creator and took their appearance. After living their life for a while, it found a new target. Its killing spree went for a long time before a group of heroes called the Enchanters defeated it and it was destroyed.

“Or so I thought – apparently its intent and essence survived in the mirror, waiting in silence for centuries to find a strong enough target to break free again.”

“Richard?” Flow asked. But they knew that wasn’t true. “No. I know the mirror you’re talking about. My reflection talked to me from it.”

“I’m incredibly sorry, Flow,” Artemis said. “I never should’ve displayed that mirror to the public.”

“It tried to get you first, since it could tell that with your soul it could break free again,” Nox said. “But it wasn’t strong enough and you shrugged it off, so he used Richard to get away just enough to go after you. Which is weird. You were able to survive the encounter with the Vessel because your glow… your latent magical power so to speak was strong enough to keep you alive even after it tapped into it. I couldn’t sense any similar power in Richard. The Vessel wouldn’t have much use of his soul and if it took it anyway, Richard should be dead.”

“The security cameras went out in the gallery when Richard interacted with the mirror, so we can only speculate,” Artemis said. “But I have a theory. I think the Vessel tricked Richard into agreeing to a magical contract. Those can let the participants do some really powerful stuff they ordinarily wouldn’t be able to pull off, for the price that they both have to uphold their part of the agreement. It probably used the little glow Richard had, strengthened by the power of the contract to get out of the mirror, and the strain on their soul made the boy fall into this state. But even if the Vessel was just using Richard, it had to promise something in exchange, something it had to keep, or the contract would be null and void.”

“It told me that Richard wanted to teach me a lesson…” Flow said. “It said the reason it left me alone at the end was that Richard didn’t specify he wanted to kill me.”

“Makes sense,” Artemis said. “If Richard had a grudge against you, the Vessel could use that to promise something it would do anyway. It was already after you.”

“Except… it doesn’t actually explain why it spared Flow. It was made purely of negative emotions and never shown any mercy before. Sure, it could interpret the contract in a way that allowed it to leave Flow and their friends alive, but why bother when its nature is to kill?”

“The only explanation I can think of is that there’s another part of the contract that it didn’t fulfill yet. That could compel it to move on and get it done as soon as possible,” Artemis said, scratching his chin.

Flow blinked and felt breezing cold run through their veins as realization hit them.

“Natasha!” they shouted suddenly.

They lost their balance and almost fell over, but Nox caught them at the last moment.

“Easy kid. Who’s Natasha?”

“This girl I met in school,” Flow explained hastily. “Richard was picking on me and Natasha saved me from him. They seemed to have some old beef… if Richard made a deal to get revenge on me that must include Natasha too! That thing is probably after her right now!”

The two men looked at each other.

“You have to save her!” Flow said pleadingly.

“But we can’t,” Nox said.

“The Vessel is in the Human World now and we don’t belong there,” Artemis grimaced. “Not even our magic works there. That’s why we were looking for powerful humans, because we need them for situations like this.”

“We must be able to do… something,” Flow insisted.

Artemis looked at Nox.

“Bad idea,” the larger man said.

“I know. But we’re out of options. At least we should let them choose.”

“What are you guys talking about?” the teen asked.

“I know how unfair it is to say this after causing all this mess and being unable to fix it,” Artemis turned back to Flow. “But right now, the only person with any chances of saving that girl is you.”

“How?”

Artemis opened an ornate commode next to his chair and took out a black wooden box decorated with silver shapes. He opened it and shoved its content to Flow.

It was full of small, neatly arranged pins in various shapes. Most of them looked like they were made of silver. Some had tiny gemstones in them.

“These are the Enchants,” Artemis said in a ceremonious tone. “Ancient and powerful magical items meant to wield by the powers of justice and peace.”

“They work a lot like people expect magical charms to do, but these are the real thing,” Nox explained in a more pragmatic manner. “If you put one on, it will use your own glow to protect you from both physical and magical harm.”

“And you… really expect me to face that thing… that Vessel or what wearing one of these?” they looked at them dumbfounded.

“No,” Artemis said. “You have every right to walk out of the door right now. But I felt like you needed to know about the option. We were looking for appropriate wielders for the Enchants for a while Flow, and I didn’t see in a long time someone with as much potential as you have. You have a powerful soul, but what is more important, you have a good heart. Your first thought after learning the truth was helping Natasha. You even showed concern for the boy who has hurt you.”

“I’m not a hero,” Flow protested. “You weren’t there in the atrium when the Vessel attacked. I ran away, leaving Igne and Matis behind.”

“There’s no point to put yourself in harm’s way against an overwhelming opponent with no means of fighting it,” Nox pointed out. “Sometimes recognizing when you should retreat and ask for help is exactly what a hero is supposed to do. But this is very risky and nobody will judge you if you say no.”

Flow looked at the Enchants in the box again.

“How do these work exactly?”

“They don’t just bring good luck, but turn the innate magic you have into actual, tangible powers so to speak. You’ll be stronger, faster and more durable. They increase your intuition so you can recognize and react to dangers before they manifest. They turn a human with a strong soul like you into what your kind would call a superhero.

“Beyond that, each Enchant comes with its unique power that you can call upon by saying its name. However, in your current weakened state and with your lack of experience, you can wield only one Enchant at a time. You should pick carefully what kind of power you want.”

“I don’t know… if these stuff are real magic isn’t there one that can just make everything right again like this?”

They snapped their fingers nervously. Artemis smiled.

“I think I know just the Enchant you’d like.”

He took out a simple looking pin. It was a silver circle with a lowered section, making it kinda look like a pizza with a slice being cut out.

“This Enchant has the power called disentropy . It lets you fix something that’s been broken or destroyed, by restoring it to an earlier state. It also can heal living things, even though that takes more time.

“But be careful, whenever you call on your power, it takes out a big chunk of your glow. To compensate for this and prevent you from accidentally draining yourself completely, the Enchant will slightly weaken your magical protection every time you do so, until you have the time to rest and recover.”

Flow took the pin and put it on their hoodie. They half-expected a sudden surge of power or maybe some tickling feeling, but there was nothing. Part of them still tried to convince themself that all of this was an elaborate joke.

“I really need to fight that thing?” they asked in a low voice.

“Not necessarily,” Nox said. “If you can get to Natasha first, just bring her here. Then the Vessel needs to follow her – the contract will force it. We set up a trap and handle the rest.”

“However, if you’re not that lucky you should be prepared to face it,” Artemis frowned. “The Vessel is a terrifying opponent, but it has its weaknesses. The form it takes is just a projection. Its essence – its soul if it had one – is trapped in a physical object.”

“Originally, it was the mirror you saw, but it’s not there anymore. After it tricked us for so long we wanted to make sure and destroyed it. But since Richard is still in the state he’s in, it confirmed our suspicion that it managed to possess another object.”

“It’s probably something small, something Richard had on him. The Vessel probably used the power of the contract to make its new home in it. Like downloading a file from a PC to an USB drive.”

“Richard’s bracelet,” Flow said. “The Vessel was still wearing it, even after taking my form. That must be it.”

“If you face the Vessel and have the chance, try to grab the bracelet,” Artemis said. “Then run back here with the girl if you can. With the bracelet I can safely undo the contract, bringing back Richard and erasing that spirit from existence once and for all. However, if you’re cornered, you can also destroy the bracelet. With no item to hold it’s essence, the Vessel would be destroyed.”

“And Richard?”

Artemis sighed.

“No way to tell. He might be back. He might stay like this forever. He might…”

“He might die,” Flow finished. “That’s a lot.”

“We know,” Nox slapped their shoulder. “Look, you can still turn back right now. But if you really wanna give it a try but realize you can’t do it later, you can always change your mind. Just turn around and run.”

Flow nodded and took a deep breath.

“Okay. How do I find them?”

<>

“You weren’t kidding about the prison thing, huh.”

Natasha took a bite of her apple pie. Her hot chocolate was still a bit too hot to drink without burning her tongue. For such a small cafe they had a pretty big variety of sweets to choose from.

“Aren’t these a bit too sweet?” Flow asked.

Natasha looked at the tower of empty plates before them. The waitress had no time to bring them away, being busy delivering Flow’s constant orders.

“Well, they’re called sweets for a reason. And it didn’t look like you had any problem with them so far,” she said, watching the other basically downing a slice of strawberry cake in one piece.

“Yeah, at least it’s real food. I don’t know when I had that last time.”

The girl frowned but tried to hide her reaction. She knew nothing about Flow’s home situation. Was their family struggling? Maybe she could pay for this stuff, it wouldn’t be a problem for her.

A young waitress stepped to their table, reaching for some of the plates before Flow.

“Hey!” they protested. “Where are my muffins?”

The waitress’ hand stopped in the air.

“Muffins?”

“Yeah,” Flow rolled their eyes. “Six chocolate muffins I ordered like fifteen minutes ago? I’m pretty sure you were the one taking my order.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I must have missed that. I’ll go get your order right now.”

“Good fucking decision, geeze,” Flow said as the server dashed away, leaving the plates behind. “What a mess.”

Natasha gave them a look.

“No need to be rude. She’s just doing her job.”

“Yes, and? Maybe she could put more effort into it next time.”

They picked up some crumbs from a plate and licked them from their finger.

“Seriously, did something happen today?” the girl asked. “You act really strange.”

Flow smiled, scratching their chin.

“Richard was right about you, huh? You act all though, like you don’t care about anyone. But in your dreams you’re some superhero, trying to help everyone. Even if it’s none of your business.”

“You weren’t complaining when I was helping you, ” Natasha pointed out.

“But you said it yourself, you won’t do it next time, right? So how should I survive in this city? Hiding in the shadows like some fucking looser? Like a rat, living on the crumbs of other’s happiness? Who wants to live like that? Maybe I realized if I wanted to take things in my hand it might be time to toughen up a little.”

“This is not what I meant,” the girl said. She was already regretting being dragged into this situation. Hell, how many gut punches will it take to learn her lesson? Trying to be nice won’t make other people any nicer.

Flow seemingly got tired of their argument. They picked up one of their empty plates, spinning it between their hands. Then they suddenly stopped and with a simple move broke the plate in half.

They raised one of the porcelain pieces to their mouth and before Natasha’s eyes, took a bite out of it. Then they started to munch on the shards with a horrible noise that made the girl’s hair stand on end.

“I… I think I’ll go now.” She slipped her chair back, getting ready to stand up. “Don’t worry about treating me, I’ll pay for my food.”

She felt a small hand wrapping around her wrist with surprising strength.

“Not before the dessert,” Flow said.

The girl looked down at Flow’s hand holding hers. She saw a bracelet on their wrist, a bunch of faded wooden pearls on a simple leather strap. She raised her head and looked into the other’s eyes coldly.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Doesn’t matter,” they grinned at her. “Soon I will be Natasha Alexton.”

Natasha grabbed her mug, full of steaming hot chocolate, and smashed it on Flow’s head. They gasped in surprise, and using their momentary confusion, Natasha pulled out her hand from their clutch. Then, without a moment hesitation, she kicked over the table, sending it, its contents and the other teen on the ground in a big heap.

Natasha spun around and without looking back, ran to the street. The day was getting close to its end, but there were still many people outside – the shopping district typically remained crowded for several hours after dark. She just needed to get some attention, then that freak can’t try anything in the crowd. Many people already turned toward her and the cafe, looking for the cause of the ruckus.

She made eye contact with a tall man looking in her direction and prepared to call out, to call for help.

Then the man’s eyes turned skywards and he slammed to the ground. Next to him a woman fell over too. One by one, all the people around Natasha fell to the ground like a bunch of bowling pins. She stopped and looked at all the unconscious people around her.

“Oh come on, don’t stop running just yet,” she heard a voice behind her. “It just started to get fun.”

She turned around and faced Flow, or whoever that was, standing behind her. The burning hot chocolate and furniture Natasha threw at them a moment ago didn’t leave any mark on them. They flashed a grin at her, revealing sharp, inhuman teeth.

“Chasing is the best part.”

Her heart pumping, the girl stared at them for a moment. Then she turned around.

Run until they get tired of chasing.

She started to run.

It isn’t over as long as they don’t have you.

Soon she saw new people who were on their feet, but she just pushed through them and kept running.

As long as you’re alive you can take anything from them.

She never turned back as she heard the blunt thumps of bodies falling on the ground behind her.

That’s how you play the loser’s game.

She ran.

<>

“Now, before you go,” Artemis said. “If the Vessel gets to her first Natasha might have a good reason to not to trust you when you show up, so it might be a good idea to disguise yourself.”

“Also humans can get pretty weird about the whole magic thing,” Nox added. “They can’t notice us, but they can notice you. So it’s generally a good idea to hide your identity whenever you’re using magic publicly.”

“Do we really have time for this?” Flow asked nervously.

“Don’t worry, the Enchant will take care of it. One of its abilities is that it can create disguises and gear, based on your thoughts and appropriate to your current situation.”

“Really? That’s… convenient,” Flow said, looking at the small pin. They still had doubts that it was actually going to do anything .

“Think of it like this. The Enchant creates a protective shell of magic around you when you’re wearing it. By default it’s invisible, but you can customize it. To do so, just touch the pin and say ‘enchant me’”.

Flow reached toward the pin but Nox stopped them.

“Wait. As everything the Enchant does, it uses your own power for this too. Doing it too often has a similar effect as overusing the Enchant’s power. Also the equipment it creates may vary depending on the situation, so you should wait for the right moment. For example…” he tried to come up with a good example.

“For example… if I fell in water it would give me scuba gear?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Nox nodded. “But only if you’re already in the water when you transform. Generally if you can, you should wait until the last moment before jumping into action. Otherwise you might have to transform again later if you run into a difficult situation, wasting your energy.”

“I think I get it. Basically it lets me do all kinds of awesome stuff, but all of them make me weaker and more vulnerable, right?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much how it works,” Artemis smiled. “Now, to find the Vessel and Natasha, just follow your instincts. I know it sounds like banal advice, but the Enchants were created to fight magical threats like the Vessel. If you let yourself, it will lead you.”

While they were talking, Flow let Nox convince them and swallowed a few cookies. He said it would help recover their full power after the Vessel’s assault more quickly.

“Okay,” they said. “Anything else?”

“One more thing. The Order of Enchanters exists to protect life,” Artemis told them. “Don’t forget, if the only life you can save is your own, that’s still a victory.”

“Good luck,” Nox said.

They showed them the way back to the main entrance and Flow left the shop. As soon they stepped out, it collapsed on them how absurd and ridiculous all of this was. Part of them just wanted to go home and forget everything like a fever dream.

Then the image of Natasha charging at Richard in the locker room appeared in their head. And from there, the pale and motionless Richard back in the shop. They balled their fists, filled their lungs with air and started to walk the way they were coming from.

Follow your instincts – it was easier to say than to do it. How did that work? Should they just close their eyes and go wherever their legs brought them – no, that was stupid. First things first, they should get back to the tram. Luckily they seemed to remember the way Matis led them. Then maybe go back to school? Natasha wouldn’t be there, but maybe they can find someone who could tell them where she lives? It was more like a plan (the vague it was) than instinct, but they had no better idea what to do.

They boarded the tram, slipping a ticket into the checking machine, and threw themself into a seat on the empty wagon. They stared out the window, trying to figure out what to say in school. What to say to Natasha if they find her. And what to do if…

The tram was crossing the downtown area and it was getting pretty crowded again when a strange feeling came over Flow. They couldn’t name or explain it, but following a sudden urge they pressed the stop button and got off at the next station. They just managed to catch another tram going in a different direction. They went three stops, then, following the same feeling as before, they got off again.

They were in the shopping district now. They weren’t familiar with this part of Pollapolis and they might have trouble getting home, even though they could always look for a route on their phone. But they couldn’t think about that now. It felt like being in a half trance, their head and senses filled with a pulsating feeling coming from their chest. It felt like their heartbeat – it took a few moments to recognize that it was radiating from the pin on their chest.

They suddenly realized people were running past them.

“Get away from here kid!” someone shouted, but they didn’t stop.

“There’s a freaking warlock attack right here!” someone else screamed into a phone. “Someone get the Civil Guard!”

“Fuck the Civil Guard, call the gendarmery!”

Flow blinked and ran to the direction everyone else was running from. It didn’t take long to find where they were coming from. One of the nearby streets was still full of people – but they were all lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Flow looked around, looking for any kind of movement.

They spotted a shop, some kind of fashion parlor, that’s window was smashed to pieces. Inside the shop they saw two figures. One of them had bright red hair.

The other looked exactly like Flow.

They stepped back, leaning their back to a wall. They tried to calm their breathing with not much success.

“Please, please don’t let me screw this up.”

They put their hand on their pin.

“Enchant me!”

They hoped their voice would come out as firm and confident, but it sounded more like squeaking to them. Luckily other than the fainted people there was nobody around to hear it.

Energy washed over them, feeling like a gust of warm but refreshing wind.

Flow turned to a nearby shop window to take a look at themself. Their appearance changed completely.

Their light brown hair turned into a silvery color that seemed to gleam in the late afternoon sunlight. Their locks became more thickish and they had bangs now, falling on their forehead. Their outfit was replaced with a wide gray cloak with black sleeves, black gloves, and a black cape waving behind them. A silver colored domino mask appeared on their face, while their mouth and chin was covered under a gray scarf.

Flow knew it was still them under the disguise, but somehow they almost felt like…

They looked cool.

They heard clattering.

“Get the hell away from me!” someone shouted.

Flow recognized Natasha’s voice. Without wasting any more time, they turned around, dashing toward the shop.

<>

“Stay back!” Natasha shouted again, holding another large vase. She threw it at her pursuer, but with a smile, they just stepped away and it shattered on the floor harmlessly.

The room was big but it only had a few mannequins with fancy clothes, most of them in the window to lure the customers in. It was the type of shop Natasha hated to visit with her mother – instead of displaying the clothes to choose from, you spent hours here, letting the employees present them to you one-by-one. She’d go to a different room to change, come back for her mother’s opinion, then the process would repeat indefinitely until they found enough clothes that met Mrs. Alexton’s standards.

When her legs couldn’t take the chase anymore, she ran here hoping for some kind of shelter. Moments later, that cursed thing jumped through the front window, shattering it without getting any scratches. Screaming about a warlock attack, the employees all fled, leaving the exhausted Natasha to fend for herself.

“Dammit, I ran out of breath way too easily. I got out of shape.”

She still could escape Richard if she had to, but this something had otherwordly speed and stamina.

“You really make me work for your soul, don’t you?” the person or thing wearing Flow’s appearance said. “Not like I complain, after all those years trapped, I really can use some exercise. But we had enough fun now.”

It slowly started to walk toward Natasha who was out of weapons to keep it at bay. She desperately looked around for some place to hide. There was a big counter left empty by the employees, but it was just a bit too far away and it wouldn’t buy her much time anyway.

Another figure jumped through the already broken window, someone wearing gray and black clothes, with silver hair.

The Vessel turned around and looked at Flow.

“You?” it asked with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

Flow did the only thing they could think of, jumped ahead and swung their fist at the creature. They were pretty sure this was the first time they tried to punch somebody. They expected it to hurt their fist a lot, but it was only a blunt feeling of impact as they hit the Vessel’s (or from a certain viewpoint, their own) face and sent it to the ground. It was obviously taken by surprise by the attack’s strength.

Natasha quickly took advantage of the distraction and jumped behind the counter.

The Vessel stood up and gave Flow a wild grin.

“I can’t believe you blew the opportunity I gave you.”

It held out their arm and a long bladed dagger appeared in their hand from nothing.

“You could be the first and only human in history who survived me, but you couldn’t keep out of my way.”

It jumped at Flow, swinging the dagger quickly and widely. They were taken aback a bit, not sure if they trusted their magic protection to defend them from cuts. But to their own surprise, they managed to dodge just fine, and they didn’t feel exhausted at all, like they could just fight like this all day. It would be a fantastic feeling actually, if not for the dire circumstances.

Ducking under another cut, with a swift move Flow managed to grab the Vessel’s arm, bending it backwards to stop them from attacking. They noticed Richard’s bracelet on its wrist.

“Sorry, I’m taking this.” Flow said, reaching out for the accessory.

The Vessel’s eyes widened for a moment, then it waved its free hand. The shards of the smashed window raised into the air, then like a hundred knives, flew toward Flow. They stood there almost a moment too long.

“Disentropy!”  they shouted.

A new power came to life in their chest. The glass shards all stopped in the air for a moment as the Vessel’s and Flow’s spell seemed to fight to claim control over them. Then they changed direction and returned to the window frame, fusing into a complete and unharmed window.

They felt like static electricity ran through their skin as the bewildering energy pushing them to fight got a little bit weaker inside them. With a grin, the Vessel took advantage of their momentary weakness. It spun around, stretching its arm in an angle to let them move more freely and kneeled Flow in the stomach. Luckily the power of the Enchant still protected them, it actually felt less painful than Richard’s elbow earlier. But it gave the Vessel another moment to free its arm.

Instead of stabbing Flow right there, it grabbed them by the neck with its empty hand and raised them in the air. They were the same height and weight, obviously, but it didn’t seem to take any effort from the creature to hold the other above its head. Then they threw them through the room.

Flow landed on the counter with a thud, then unable to move for a moment, they just slipped behind it to the ground.

“Don’t come any closer!” Natasha shouted, swinging a piece of wood at their head. It looked like a giant ruler, maybe decoration, or they used it to take measures for custom attires. Flow ducked under the attack.

“Hey, I’m on your side!” they complained.

“Nice try. I think I can recognize a warlock if I see one.”

“I’m not a warlock!” Flow raised their hands. “Do you remember me from the news? I’m here to help you.”

“So who are you? Some kind of superhero?” Natasha asked. Her voice was full of doubt and she kept the ruler ready, but didn’t try to hit Flow again. Yet.

“Yeah, I guess? I’m…” they looked at their black and gray outfit. “I’m Dark Silver!”

“Did you just… come up with that name right now?” the girl asked.

“Look, maybe this is my first day doing this,” Flow sighed. “And while I can see why that isn't very reassuring to you, I’m still trying my best to help.”

The girl frowned, but let the ruler down a bit.

“Having a nice chat?” the Vessel asked, bending over the top of the counter.

Natasha jumped up and pushed the end of the ruler into its face, making the small figure falter a bit.

“Stay here!” Flow commanded the girl as they jumped at the top of the counter. They launched at the Vessel, bringing it to the ground at the other side.

Flow quickly reached out for the bracelet again, but their doppelganger’s hands wrapped around their neck. The two rolled on the floor as the Vessel forced Flow on the ground.

“Do you think that charm can protect you forever? I’ve eaten much more experienced Enchanters than you are. The Order must be really low on members if they sent a pathetic amateur like you after me.”

Flow felt something next to their hand. It was a small piece of porcelain, a remnant of one of the big vases Natasha tossed at the Vessel. Flow grabbed it, hoping their plan would work out.

“Disentropy!”  they forced out somehow, while the Vessel was choking them.

They swung the shard toward their opponent. Half-way through its trajectory, other shards joined it from the room as it repaired itself and became the whole vase again. Then a split second later it smashed to pieces again on the Vessel’s head.

It lost balance for a moment. Using the opportunity, Flow freed themself and grabbed the bracelet, trying to get it off of the Vessel’s wrist. But the other didn’t give up just yet, it grabbed Flow’s neck again with their free hand and squeezed mercilessly, while trying to get their other arm free.

“Did it get this strong because of the power it stole from me?” Flow wondered. “Maybe it was right. I’d be only wasting this much strength.”

Natasha appeared behind the Vessel and with full force, she hit it on the head breaking her ruler in two pieces. The Vessel finally shook and let go of Flow’s neck, trying to get some space from the two teens ganging up on it.

The leather strap of the bracelet Flow was still holding stretched a bit, then it gave in. With small knocks, wooden pearls fell on the ground, one by one.

“No!” the Vessel shouted.

Now fueled by anger, it pushed Natasha away first, then Flow. It held its wrist where the bracelet was, but it was gone.

It looked at Flow. They saw that its hands and legs became transparent, then slowly started to fade away completely, like they were slowly erased from reality.

“Don’t think you got rid of me just yet,” the Vessel hissed, looking Flow in the eyes. “I know what you really are deep down inside. Whenever you peek into the mirror, I’ll be hiding right behind your back. I’ll never be more than a bad wish away from returning. So be very careful what you think about in the night when nobody’s around.”

It gave a last, pointy grin before vanishing completely.

Flow collapsed on the ground with a big sigh.

“Thank you,” they told Natasha weakly.

“Well, I was only helping you in saving me,” the girl said as she tried to collect her bearings. “So guess I’m the one who should thank you. Thanks.”

Flow stood up and quickly collected the remains of the bracelet from the ground.

“This is a mess,” they looked around. “But if you say it was a warlock attack then hopefully they won’t nag you too much about the details.”

“You won’t just leave without an explanation, will you?” the girl crossed her arms. “That thing looked like a kid from my school and it wanted to kill me. And I got the feeling it wasn’t actually a warlock, was it?”

“Look…” Flow tried to come up with anything to say. “I’d tell you, but it’s a long story and honestly I don’t even know the half of it. I’d rather be out of here before the authorities arrive and ask me questions I don’t have an answer to.”

“You did seem pretty lost I guess,” Natasha said. “But then why? If you weren’t involved originally, why did you jump into it? Why put yourself in danger like that?”

“Would it be very cheesy to say that because that was the right thing to do?” Flow asked, stroking their hair. “Look, I met this thing before. It attacked me and some of my friends. I couldn’t do anything but run away… it felt bad. So when they offered me the opportunity to help you, I said yes. I don’t want to feel like that helpless anymore.”

“Okay,” the girl nodded after a moment. “I can understand that… and guess I still owe you for saving me. If you have to go, then go.”

Flow nodded and turned toward the door.

“Wait a minute!” Natasha stopped them. They turned back.

The girl pulled out a small pendant from under her blouse. Its shape was roughly like that of a tear drop and, as the light was playing on it, it seemed to change its color between black, gray and silvery white.

“It’s made of ruthenium,” Natasha said.

Flow raised an eyebrow. Natasha gave them a gentle smile.

“You know, if you're gonna stay in this hero business… Dark Silver is an okay name. But in case you want to consider other options… Ruthen might fit you?”

Flow smiled under their scarf and nodded again.

“Sounds good.”

Then they ran out of the shop.

<>

The people on the street already started to come to their senses. Not wanting to be seen by too many people in this outfit, they jumped into an empty alleyway nearby.

They held up their hand with the ruined bracelet.

“Let’s hope this works.”

“Disentropy!” they called out a third time.

It took out another chunk of their energy, but the bracelet mended itself in their hand. Flow really hoped Artemis would be able to use it to save Richard.

Okay, now they just change back, bring the bracelet to the shop – they probably should text their parents again that they will be home late, come up with some excuse…

Wait.

How do they change back? Artemis and Nox said nothing about that.

They touched the pin hiding under their scarf.

“Power off. Detransformation! Turn back!” they guessed. Nothing.

“Come on! Magic off! Change back! Enchant mode off!” that gave them an idea. “Disenchant!”

They wanted to say “disenchant me”, but halfway through the sentence another power wave washed over them, turning them back into their normal self. They sighed and put the bracelet in their pocket.

“Flow?”

They turned around to face a dumbfounded Natasha staring at them from the entrance of the alley. Flow sighed. Of course she followed them. They really should have seen this coming.

“I knew that thing couldn’t be you, but now…” she shook her head in disbelief. “What the hell?”

“Couldn’t we just say that you saved me, I saved you, and now we’re even?” Flow smiled sheepishly.

“No way,” the girl said firmly. “You will tell me what’s going on, or if you really can’t then bring me to those who can. I won’t be out of your hair until you do it.”

Well, the original plan was to bring Natasha to the shop. The circumstances have changed a lot since then, but Flow guessed she really deserved an explanation.

“Okay,” they said. “We have to go to the Ghost District.”

<>

“I see. So you used disentropy to fix it.” Artemis said, holding Richard’s bracelet in his hand.

“It got broken in the struggle, but I hoped we can still save Richard with it,” Flow said.

The two of them were standing in a smaller room in the back of the shop. Flow was wondering how big the place actually was – there seemed to be a lot of rooms that logically just shouldn’t fit into the building.

“Well, his state didn’t worsen when the bracelet broke, so hopefully the connection wasn’t severed. There is hope. However…”

He held his other hand over the bracelet as he closed his eyes. The small wooden balls glowed up with colorful lights for a moment before returning to normal.

“Yes, that’s what I was afraid of,” Artemis sighed. “The Vessel’s meddling and everything else that happened, it apparently turned the bracelet into a magical Artifact.”

“What does that mean?”

“Artifacts have been around as long as humanity has existed, Flow. When a person with a powerful soul has a strong intention, they can manifest it through a physical object, giving it incredible abilities. I’m sure you already heard of some of them – the Sword of the Kings, the Chalice of Life. But as you experienced with the Vessel, they can be incredibly dangerous if they left without supervision, let alone if they’re used with bad intentions. The people your kind calls warlocks all wield at least one such item.

“I still don’t know what this bracelet’s intention is, but Richard’s life force is still connected to it. Normally we should lock this thing away. That’s what Nox and I do here, we collect Artifacts to keep them safe – and to keep others safe from them. But the only way to fix Richard’s condition is if we give him back this bracelet. He can never be too far from it, or he will regress to this unconscious state.”

“Will you still do it?” Flow asked, giving the man a concerned look.

“Letting him run around with an unasessed artifact is very risky. We can never be sure what properties it will manifest. I won’t say that we shouldn’t do it. But if we do, someone always has to keep an eye on Richard.”

“You mean me,” Flow looked at him. “You can’t leave, so I have to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“You already did a lot, Flow,” Artemis said. “You saved Natasha’s life, you defeated the Vessel, something veteran Enchanters could be proud of. I know you want to help Richard, but you already did more than anyone could expect from you. It’s okay if you just want to rest and process what happened.”

“Richard is pretty mean I guess,” Flow said, looking at the floor. “But I don’t think he did anything to deserve something like this. If I can help him by just looking out in case something happens, I want to try.”

Artemis nodded.

“Very well. I’ll make sure he wakes up home with no memories of what happened to him.”

<>

Flow and Natasha were sitting in armchairs in the same salon Flow already saw before. In front of them sat Artemis, holding the box of the Enchants while Nox was sitting a little away in the room.

“A long time ago, humans and the mistfolk lived side by side in harmony,” Artemis said, almost chanting the story. “As a pledge of alliance, my people created the Enchants, our magic, but made to be wielded by the humans. The Order of the Enchanters were founded to protect the peace between the two people and to defend us against dark magic.

“But then the Mistfall came and the two worlds drifted away. Humans forgot about magic and most of them became unable to even see us. The Order was mostly disbanded, with only a few groups remaining to collect and secure dangerous Artifacts that could endanger humans and the mistfolk as well.

“Lately however a new threat showed itself in this city. Normally Artifacts only appear rarely, one or two in every century, so Nox and I had no problem taking care of them with some occasional human help. But in the past year, they started to show up en masse which can’t be natural. Our investigation showed that there’s a person behind the events, someone who calls himself the Sorcerer. We suspect that he’s the one behind the group called warlocks too.

“In the light of these new events, we realized we can’t keep going on our own. We need help from the Human World.”

He opened the box.

“We need to revive the Order.”

Flow opened their hand, looking at the Enchant Artemis gave them earlier.

“You know, it’s usually my friend Al who gets into crazy things like this. It’s kinda hard to figure out what I want on my own. But since the moment you guys told me that magic is real and I can have it, part of me was frightened from the moment when you’ll take it back. That I get to be the part of something bigger for a day of my life then it’s over and it will be nothing but a memory. And now you say I can continue?”

They smiled a bit.

“I don’t know if I’m really the person for the job you think I am. I’m not saying I will never change my mind or turn back if things get too much for me. I think you should know that before you take me. But if that’s okay with you… I’m in. I’m not ready to end this just yet.”

“This sounds stupid,” Natasha said. “Like Saturday morning cartoon stupid. But… I saw that thing. I saw what it’s capable of and I know it was real. And if there are more things like that out there…”

She reached out and took a pin from the box. It had the shape of a small, four pointed star.

“… guess it’s better if I get to them before they get to me.”

Artemis smiled at the two teens.

“Welcome in the Order of Enchanters.”

<>

< ⋁ >

A girl with short, wavy black hair walked into a bar at night. She was wearing a purple dress with high heels, a big purple domino mask that covered most of her face and was holding a black-purple umbrella in her hand.

It was a common misconception that there was no business in the Ghost District. There was a lot of business here, just not for everyone. She looked around and with a smile she saw that most people tried to shrink in their seats after recognizing her. She went right to a corner table where a short teen was sitting alone.

They looked way too young to be in a bar at all, especially at this bar at this hour. But the fact they were here and nobody seemed to care meant that they already earned the right to stay.

“That dramatic death was nice. Even I’d buy it if I didn’t notice your essence getting away. That kid had no idea about what favor they did to you.”

The Vessel looked up at her.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I think I can forgive your ignorance for how long you were trapped,” she smiled. “My name is Destracta and most people around here could tell you that it’s better to pick your tone carefully when talking to me.”

They gave her a pointy smile.

“Destracta? I recall that name from the kid’s memories. You’re one of those warlocks right? Bunch of clowns with a bit of magic thinking they’re tough shit.”

“I understand it might be hard to believe after how long things were as they are now. But a new age of magic is coming for humanity. As soon as enough of us wakes up, we will raise and take back from the mistfolk what is rightfully ours. You should think about which side you want to take in that conflict.”

“There’s only one side for me,” they pointed at themself. “My side.”

Destracta laughed.

“And for how long do you think it can stay that way? You’re an Artifact, but an exceptional one. You don’t need a human wielder, you can act on your own. Soon enough everyone will be after you. You can be the joker of this game, but don’t forget, for many games the joker is discarded at the beginning.”

The Vessel turned back to their table.

“That’s all?”

“Yes. We made the offer, it’s up to you to take it as long as you still have any value.”

She turned away to leave.

“Enjoy your freedom, Vess.”