Memories
Without any suspense by the third fireball, Lance's opponent was on his knees trying to catch a breath. The ground around him was completely scorched.
John watched on amazement. Even though he has no idea what level these two were on, it seems like Lance's opponent was of a higher level than him.
John also had a feeling he was able to replicate whatever Lance did. It was a very strange feeling.
After the defeat of the smug kid, John returned to the pitch-black space. There were still three more fragments left floating around.
After a good amount of time, John was finally done watching the last three fragments. From these fragments, John gained a deeper understanding of what was happening.
In this world, there were Mages. Real powerful humans who do more than card tricks and illusions. These magicians were so strong they make guns and other modern weapons look like toys. A powerful Magician can obliterate a city if they so desired.
From Lance's memories, John found out that there were hidden realms were communities of Mages thrived. The reason why these powerful communities hid in the shadow was also a mystery to Lance. All lance knew was that it was a law of the world.
Lance was from a hidden realm called Southern Magic Association. Its location was surprisingly the infamous Death Valley. There wasn't much information about the association in the memories but John could tell they were quite powerful.
According to the memory fragments, Mages are categorized into ranks. A rank 1 magician is the lowest while rank 10 is the highest. Each rank is then divided into low, mid, and high. Lance himself was a low rank 5 mage.
After sorting through these memories it took a while for John to believe it was actually true. If he wasn't currently experiencing these mystical events, he would've never believed in actual magic. Magic was only ever seen in movies and books but now he has just gone through the memories of a powerful mage.
John stood inside the pitch-black space again without a single clue on how to get out. The complete silence of the void made his consciousness drowsy and he slowly fell into a slumber.
When John woke up bright lights entered his eyes. It took him a bit to adjust but he realizes that he was on a hospital bed. There was an IV drip injected to his arm and some other machines. On the side, Alfred was sleeping on the couch. John looked at the time and it was 4 am which meant he only unconscious for a few hours.
"Hey Alfred," John called out but Alfred didn't seem to even notice. John got off the bed and immediately regretted it, he wasn't able to stand up straight at all. It was like he hasn't walked in ages.
"John?" Alfred's sleepy voice rang out. when he saw Jonh on the ground Alfred sprang up and helped him to his feet. "Oh, my goodness John we thought you weren't going to wake up again." Alfred sounded very relived like john has just risen from the dead.
"Slow down Alfred what's going on. why am I attached to all of these monitors?" John was confused. In his mind, he was only asleep for a few hours.
"Well to start off we found you and this woman at the back of the club after someone reported seeing a very bright light from there. When we found you were both unconscious. You guys were brought into the hospital and the woman woke up in hours. She said she didn't remember what happened but madame was very pissed. You didn't wake up no matter what the doctors did. " Alfred explained.
"So how long was I unconscious for?" John asked nervously.
"2 weeks"
"come again" John was shocked. He would've never guessed it.
"Yea you were out for quite a while," Alfred said as he helped Jonh back on the bed. "I'm going to go get a doctor" with that Alfred left the room.
After a while, John heard footsteps heading in his direction. A woman in nurse attire appeared in the doorway. John felt she was very familiar when it suddenly dawned on him. It was the same woman he met at the club. Now that he thought about it he did remember her saying she was a nurse.
"Hi, I heard you were awake," The woman said with some relief.