7 Serpents and Magic on Earth
Terrified, Tyler takes a few steps backwards along the freedom trail. Dani plants herself in front of him. She keeps her eyes on the man as crowds of people pass on both sides.
"If there is just one I can take care of it," she hisses, scanning the nearby rooftops.
After a few moments, she focuses back on her target. Stumbling forward, her confidence fades.
"What's wrong?" Tyler asks.
"It... it's not working! I should be right behind him."
"Your Magic is gone?"
"No! That... can't... be... why would it be gone?" She turns to Tyler wide-eyed, tears starting to form.
Tyler looks at her. For the first time since they have met, she looks unsure of herself. He glances up at the man in the hoodie, who looks around and ducks into an alley.
"It'll be okay," Tyler assures Dani. He clasps one of her hands and smiles. "Your friend isn't after us, but he is up to something..."
"We should get out of here. Moko can pick us up; the Royal healers will know how to restore my magic."
"I don't think he did anything to your magic."
"What do you mean? Of course he did, it's gone."
"I mean that no one in my world ever uses magic, but it was so easy that I accidentally did it in Qaplurg. Don't you think that's strange?"
"Why was he here then?"
"I don't even know who those guys are, Dani. What do you know about them?"
"They call themselves the serpents. Appearing in every country of every realm, they are the largest criminal organization in the universe. Occasionally they assassinate, rob, or undermine rulers; however, no one knows what their objective is. None of them have ever been captured, and we haven't found any base of operations."
"So they are like inter-realm pirates. Seems like an organization like that would require a large base to function."
"We searched everywhere in the unified five-realm alliance to no avail."
"What about the other two?"
"No one travels to this realm... until recently it was impossible to even get here. The seventh realm belongs to the monks of the third eye... they won't let anyone without Galarophs blessing stay there. If the Serpents had that, we wouldn't be alive right now."
"Okay... How recently did the five realms figure out how to come here?
"Oh, I'm glad you asked! Let's see... about... 15 hours ago."
Tyler stares at her for a moment. "Dani, that is when I came to visit you..."
"Yeah, it's a funny story. In theory, a two-way multidimensional wormhole cannon can connect any two points, but they need to be connected by matching psychic signatures. No one ever had a psychic connection to this world, since we thought it was cut off from magic and all. Once you opened the app, I could get here.
"Wait, what if this world was cut off from magic?"
"Then you wouldn't be able to use magic; that can't be the case."
"Not here, no one would be able to here."
"That's..." Dani's face lights up. "Maybe my magic isn't gone!"
"If there was a world without magic that no one could travel to, it would be the perfect spot for the Serpents to hide! How does someone cut an entire world off from magic though?"
Tyler furrows his brow and racks his brain, but he doesn't know enough about magic to come up with any solutions. Dani, however, thinks for a moment and claps her hands. "That's it!"
"What is it?"
"Where did that guy go?"
"He ducked in the alley, why?"
"Come on!" Dani yanks Tyler by the hand, forcing him to run after her to avoid falling. "We are following that serpent!"
"Your kidding!"
"Nope!"
"We can't use magic!"
"They can't either! At least, not if they are doing what I think they are!"
"Fine, but they could still be armed!"
"Quit being so pessimistic! Goddess, you Bostonians drive me crazy."
With a heavy sigh, Tyler accepts that there is no changing her mind. What could be wrong with charging into the base of the largest criminal organization in the universe? He thinks to himself, pointing to the alley the serpent ducked into.
Hand in hand, the two of them charge into the alley. Having overcome her lack of confidence, Dani leads the way. Unfortunately, the narrow lane is empty.
Tyler peeks over his shoulder just in time to see two more men in grey hoodies approaching. He tugs Dani's shoulder and positions them behind a pair of trash cans. They manage to stay out of view of the hooded figures, who stop a few feet from the bins.
"What do you think the big announcement is?" the larger man grunts to the other.
"I bet those idiots failed to kill the princess that managed to travel to our world," the smaller man replies.
"That would be bad..."
"They shoulda sent me; I woulda killed all three!"
"Didn't you fail the combat training though?"
"Nobody asked for your opinion, Kurt!"
Opening the door in front of them, the two serpents stand at the top of a steep stone stairway. Rather than leading into the building, it appears to lead below into the subway.
Before Tyler can stop her, Dani rushes the two men from behind. A sucker-punch to the back of the head sends the larger tumbling down the first ten steps. Only then does the smaller man notice her.
"What the—it's youse guys!" he shouts, glancing at Tyler before fixing his eyes on the red head in front of him.
"I heard you were going to kill us both," Dani taunts, cracking her knuckles.
The short man's eyes flash towards his fallen buddy. "Well... I would, but I can't use my magic here... ya know? You got lucky."
"Is that so?" A devilish grin spreads across Dani's face. "I'm actually kind of angry about not having my magic... looks like you aren't lucky." She takes a step forward, causing her opponent to flinch.
"Wait, hold it! I... I might be able to help you!"
"No, you would have to know what is happening to my magic to be useful..."
The man's stands up straighter and stops shaking. "Oh, that would be the magic nullification field!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, yeah! We built a long-range magic canceling device thousands of years ago. After they sealed the portals to other worlds at Stonehenge, our founders saw that magic could be useful if tightly controlled. The pyramids were built in Egypt to both conceal the Magic canceling device and to store psychic energy siphoned from the people living here. We use that store of energy to open Stonehenge and create temporary portals to the other realms."
"Wow, you really were useful!"
"Yes mam! I know lots of stuff!"
"Do you know what your leaders are after?"
"Uhh, you mean the unification?"
"What is the unification?"
Tyler's eyes catch a glimpse of motion. Focusing his gaze down the alley, he notices four more hooded men marching towards them. Scampering out from behind the trash, he grabs Dani by the shoulder.
"It's time to go," he hisses, gesturing towards the four newcomers.
"Help! Help!" The short man Dani is interrogating yells. Alerted to the presence of Dani and Tyler, the hooded men break into a run.
"Fine, let's go," Dani huffs.
"That's right, you'd better run!" The tiny man taunts.
Dani spares a second to roundhouse kick the midget in the face, sending him sprawling next to his larger friend. Then the two of them sprint out of the alley and into the crowds of tourists in the street.
After their pursuers give up to check on their unconscious comrades, Tyler leads Dani back toward MIT. A scowl is painted on her face, and she is unusually quiet.
"At least you're found their base," Tyler offers.
"I guess," Dani sighs.
"Count it as a win. Once you tell your friends in the other realms, they can all come here to help."
"Help what? Fight a war without magic? Against an enemy that has been controlling the entire world and storing its psychic energy from the shadows, no less."
"It is better than knowing nothing."
Dani sighs and stops walking. "You are right... this is the closest anyone has gotten to them." She forces a smile. "Thanks."
Tyler just nods. The two walk in silence for a moment. "So, I've told you about my countries history... were you going to tell me about Qaplurg?"
"Ha, how much time do you have?"
"Well... I guess I don't have any other plans tonight..."
"Oh! I love sleepovers!" Dani squeals, back to her usual chipper self. "I'll have Moko bring us snacks!"
