3 The Soothseeker

The Stone's Throw was a small pub not too far away from The Astoria. It was dank and dimly lit, comfy booth sofas that were a deep shade of red, the walls plastered with vintage posters of old bands and the local football teams merchandise, chairs and the bar were a glossed wood, it was fairly obvious it had been refurbished a few times but the decor suited the customers that still arrived occasionally.

There were a few people minding their own business, having drinks and chatting amongst themselves quietly.

Anthony sat at the bar on a battered and worn out stool and ordered a drink, the bartender slid a beer glass to him then snapped his fingers against his palm, the glass filled itself with ice cold beer, he watched in bewilderment "What kinda magic's that?"

The bartender furrowed a brow like he had just been asked why he hasn't got a second head "It's replenishing magic… It's very common."

Anthony shrugged his shoulders "I'm not from around here. How could you tell I'm not a Mortal?"

The bartender snapped his fingers once more and the bottles of alcohol on the barback refilled themselves "You came in with Jesse."

Jesse came back from the toilets and sat next to Anthony, when the bartender approached him he mumbled "Usual." and swiped his card on the reader, a glass was placed in front of him which filled halfway with Whiskey, Anthony watched in amazement.

Jesse frowned at his reaction "Forgive my say so, but you don't appear to be the most well-educated when it comes to magic."

"I live with Mortals and have done most of my life, it doesn't exactly come up in conversation."

"But you come from a Mage family, surely you would have learned from them?"

"Yeah, you'd think so, but that's not always how life works."

"You're an interesting one to say the least."

Anthony thought for a few moments "What was that magic that guy used on me?"

Jesse took a swig of his drink "High Sage Booker? That was Necromancy. Shadow magic, Death magic, it has lots of names."

"Right. And on the way you mentioned Elements-"

"Elemental. There are different branches of magic, Elemental which controls earth, wind, fire and water respectively."

"Respectively?"

"Well, there have been some cases of Mages teaching themselves how to harness and control electricity but that's up to personal debate, depending on the Mage, anyway. Necromancy is what you saw High Sage Booker use, that's another branch. Adepts use their magic to harness one particular skill, like knowing all languages, energy gathering, everything that isn't the elements."

Anthony nodded as he listened carefully whilst taking another sip.

"And then there are those that are born with a set magic."

"Aren't we born with magic? I don't understand."

"Right, but in most cases Mages are born and able to dabble and play around with what they want to choose as their discipline until they reach the end of adolescence, then they are bound by the magic they choose for the rest of their life."

"And these people born with a set of magic are different how?"

"As I said, Mages can interchange whatever they want and try out different kinds of magic until they find one they want, but some Mages are born with a particular set of Magic and they tend to be very rare, they're called Legacy's. Teleporters and Shapeshifters are two that come to mind, very rare to find Mages. Then finally there's magic that every Mage can do, regardless of their other magic, which are Sigils."

"Sigils?"

Jesse took the last swig of his drink and set it down, it filled up again almost instantly "Sigils are essentially symbol magic. Etchings of symbols on any surface that can cast spells like shields, traps, but they're commonly used for tracking Mage Realms. That's how we know it's a Mage-friendly place. You'll find this etching in at least one area." he pointed behind him to a wall, Anthony could just make out the symbol of two circles intertwined with a cross going through them.

"So what's your magic?"

"Me?" Jesse shrugged "I'm an Adept. I specialise in Symbol magic."

Anthony looked confused "But didn't you just say that everyone has access to symbol magic?"

"My magic is to create them so others can use them. So what's your branch of magic?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"Maybe later," Anthony took a few mouthfuls of his beer and set the glass down before blurting out what he had been holding back for what seemed a long time. "Mortals aren't what they might have been before, y'know? I know you're older than I am, probably by a lot-"

"I'm Sixty-Eight."

Anthony tilted his head, he didn't look any older than he did. "Some skin-care routine you've got there, gramps."

"Magic has the benefit of slowing down the aging process drastically. High Sage Booker is Three hundred and High Sage Savage is Two hundred and twelve."

Anthony didn't care about the High Sages, after meeting them in person he didn't want to be humiliated any further. "Mortals are probably different to what they were like back in the day. Sure, there might be a few people who might not accept us, but how can we know for sure if we don't try?"

"And if the worst happens? The Mortals don't accept us? What happens then? Our way of life won't be the same, we hide ourselves now and live our lives among them, if we choose to do so, as a secret. Imagine us not being able to take that secret back. Cullings, exterminations, mass imprisonment, camps, you name it, the Mortals have done it. We can't risk it happening again, not to themselves and definitely not to us."

"They're not like that anymore-"

Jesse grew exhausted of the conversation "If only more people had your sense of naivety, maybe this world would be different. Listen to those of us who know better and have lived longer, you are still but a child in your natural lifespan, pressing matters that have been around since the first Mages Millenia ago, boy."

The silence between them was long and awkward.

The bartender felt the tension between the two and cleared his throat with his back turned to them "Southern boy, hm?"

Anthony finished the rest of his beer, he watched it fill up again "Huh?"

"You." the bartender shrugged "America, what part are you from?"

"New Orleans."

"I bet you love Mardis Gras," The bartender chuckled "got another kid from across the Atlantic over there. Said he's from New York."

Anthony swivelled on his seat to take a look at who the bartender was talking about, the only person in that general direction was slumped in his seat, short brown messy hair was the only thing he could see from his face buried into his arms.

"Is he okay?"

The bartender shrugged "He only had one drink."

"Want me to check on him?"

"Go nuts."

Anthony grabbed his beer and got up, Jesse sighed and reluctantly followed, wandering over to the booth, Anthony nudged the stranger's arm "Yo, buddy?" but was met with no response, he raised a brow at Jesse, the both of them put their drinks on the table and took their seats opposite the slumped over man.

Jesse nudged him, but with a little more force this time "Hey!"

The man jolted awake, he was actually less of a man and more of a guy fresh out of his teens, he couldn't have been older than 20, he rubbed his face and groaned.

"Hangover?"

The young man shook his head and gave Anthony a confused look. "What d'ya want?"

"I was checking to see if you were alive, kiddo." Anthony tilted his head as he watched him open his eyes and wake up from his nap fully "You okay?"

The stranger grunted.

"Got a name?"

It took a few seconds for him to answer "Tobias." he took a double take when he looked at Anthony, those distinct chestnut eyes glinting at him, a rim white light circling his pupils "I know who you are."

Anthony was skeptical "You do?"

"Anthony Barnum, you run the Circus thingy."

"Circus thingy- You mean the Circus… How did you know that? Have you seen a show before?" he couldn't help but have a smirk across his face.

Tobias stretched his arm in front of him then groaned quietly to himself "A drink might refresh my memory."

Anthony craned his neck to the bartender and called out "Coffee please."

Tobias huffed "Coffee? Well you're no fun at all."

"Want to make that a tap water?"

"Black, two sugars." Tobias whined but took what he could.

"So you've seen my shows?"

"No, I haven't. I don't need to."

Tobias rested his arms on the table while the bartender brought an empty mug to the table, snapped his fingers and the empty mug was now filled with piping hot coffee, the both of them gave the bartender a thankful nod as he walked away.

Anthony was quiet for a few moments "Look, kid. I don't need your games, I've had a rough day-"

"I know you have, getting humiliated and shaken down by the High Sages like that must have been an experience, usually they don't let people walk away so easily."

There was just silence between them, Anthony felt himself sinking into his seat as he stared, dumbstruck. "Have you been following me? How did you know about that?"

"I know a lot of things. A lot of secrets." Tobias gave a playful smile.

Anthony narrowed his eyes "Are you trying to blackmail me? Considering you're here asking for free drinks you're not exactly in any position to do that."

"He's a Soothseeker," Jesse folded his arms and looked unimpressed. "I'd know those eyes anywhere."

Tobias' grin soon faded to a hardened scowl, though he had nothing to say.

"Soothseeker?" Anthony asked.

"You remember what I told you about Legacy's? Ones born with a certain set of magic? He's what you might refer to as Psychics, Sensitives, Mind-Readers, Fortune-Tellers, there's lots of names for them, but they aren't to be trusted."

"So you just go ahead and use stereotypes, huh?" Tobias glared at Jesse.

"I go by dealing with the likes of your kind in past experiences. Luckily I learned and have a mental barrier in place so you're useless against me." Jesse was cut off by his phone ringing, he dug it from his jacket pocket, shuffled from his seat and went to answer it outside.

Tobias shook his head "Ignore him, I'm not blackmailing or extorting anyone."

"I don't know," Anthony leaned back in his seat "you got a drink from me, it can only go up from there."

"If I was going to exploit you I'd at least start off by saying that I know your little secret."

Anthony grinned "Oh no, now you know my big bad secret that I've never seen a Star Wars movie all the way through."

Tobias leaned in close "I was talking about your magic. I know what it is."

Anthony became visibly tense, each question he had was tripping over the other in a bid to leave his lips first, however, in his wisdom, his reaction was to call his bluff "Elementa-"

"Nice try, Demon boy."

"How do you know about that?" he whispered.

"I know things."

"You keep that to yourself."

"And if I don't?" Tobias had a smug grin on his face, "What are you gonna do, Ant? You do prefer Ant, right?"

"I didn't tell you my name."

"You didn't need to. Like I'm sure I don't need to tell you that a lot of people would like to get their hands on the sort of power you have."

"What do you want from me?"

Tobias smirked as he finished his coffee then slipped from the booth, "I haven't decided yet, but when I do I know where to find you." he shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled out the front door, giving Jesse a not very intimidating stare as they crossed paths.

Anthony slumped in his seat and had a lump in his throat, had he just fallen for the exact thing Jesse told him not to in a matter of seconds? Anthony's gaze fell on Jesse.

"He just blackmailed you with personal information, didn't he?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Anthony finished his beer and stood up from his seat "I think I'm going to go home."

"That would be wise."

"I'm going to see a lot more of you, aren't I?"

Jesse shrugged. "I want to say no, but you've caught on that the High Sages have sent me to keep an eye on you."

"To spy on me."

"If that's what you'd like to call it."

"Why are you telling me this? You're probably the worst spy I've ever come across."

"You come across spies often?"

"You're the first, so that would make you one-hundred percent of the spies I've come across, by process of math that would make you the worst."

Jesse's lips curled ever so slightly "I do like you, Mr. Barnum. Perhaps that's why I don't wish any harm to come to you."