Close Shave

A full week passed by since Orion and Ed's memorable talk which introduced Orion to the Hidden World. He didn't get any time to talk or meet with him again.

Either he was busy with college or restaurant, Or Ed was always out of his house. Normal direction returned to his days. Sometimes he wonders if all of this was just a big prank called by Ed upon him.

But the fees of repairing the door and touch of a corpse in his room still lingered in his mind. Right now, He was sitting in the college auditorium listening to the lecture of her English teacher.

She was the beautiful Irish lady who was devoted to her field of study. You can always find her reading books in the library or her office. She also encourages many non-native speakers to learn and adapt comfortably to the English language. All in all, she was one of the popular Professors of the faculty.

Suddenly, without any warning, the wall from one side was blasted engulfing students sitting on that side in the area. Orion was also seated near the wall although not exactly next to it but he was too caught in the explosion wave.

It was like setting off of dynamite or IED which are preferred by terrorist groups in their attacks for quick and easy demolishing explosions effective for both buildings and people.

Bodies of Students fell across like some broken dolls were tossed out. Cries of pain and broken bones sounded in the shocked hall. After a few seconds of painful and silent ringing, chaos commenced.

The students which were relatively fine ran from the room like it was on fire, even those who were in a state of little less serious injury dragged their bodies out to the exit.

In a few minutes, the whole room was empty, only containing some seriously injured twenty students which were unconscious. Surprisingly, the teacher didn't bolt off but she was trying to check the condition of the very seriously injured students helping them to patch up.

Orion was one of the students who was lying unconscious, on the floor. If he could see he would have been surprised to see, Professor was using minor healing spells to quick fix students who were close to death. She was a Mage, but alas he was not awake at the time to witness her in action.

Suddenly a weak ripple passed by and the whole of the students disappeared from the floor leaving only her there. She removed her scarf and yelled,

"How dare you attack civilians? Who are you?"

A man with blue hair and a cigarette in his mouth walked out from the outside in the auditorium. His eyes were dilated like he was high on the drugs. He had hands inside his pockets like he was on tour instead of attacking a college.

He scrunched his eyebrows seeing her alone and yelled in visible confusion,

"You are not the target? "

Her eyes turned red and she sent the benches and fallen debris flying at him at supersonic speed. She was channeling this spell for a long time as she was anticipating the Preparator to show himself soon. She knew it could not be a simple attack, magic is involved here, this she was prepping from start.

The Man had super fast reflexes. He barely dodged the benches and concrete slabs but was still hit by two large sharp chunks due to the large number of them.

"I asked who you are? Why did you attack? "

He was thrown off to the outside on the ground, He lifted himself off and patted his jeans to remove dirt and soil. He looked at his cigarette who was nowhere to be found and swore under his breath.

He high on some drugs, rubbed his eyes, and said to the lady in a gruff voice,

"I am a Bounty Hunter lady. Sorry, for that attack. I thought the target was in that room. So I disturbed your class.

You can go back. I will pay you remuneration if you want. We can end things here. You know no harm is done, you are fine, I am fine. "

She was disgusted by the Magic holders like him who considered the lives of civilians below them. She was annoyed at herself for not recognizing the attack before which could have saved a few lives. It was smart of this bounty hunter to use a simple Bomb instead of a magic attack which could possibly give away his intention.

And for the target. She didn't care about that. If they want to find someone they can do it outside, not going destroying innocent lives like that.

America, the hub of various powers. All kinds of powerful creatures come here and gather together in this nation. That's why they have no control over the rogue Magic users or Supernatural creatures.

The MoA works fine by catching them but they don't have fear in the hearts of these unruly elements which could prevent them from doing such crime again.

Well, that's why America is emerging as a hub for the power for both the civil and magic world. Freedom and Freedom, it's what that both communities either magic or civil need.

She wanted to teach him a lesson but as she focused she found that he had already disappeared. The hubbub around her made her aware that she was back in the real world from facet one.

The realization hit a few seconds later. When A facet world is created, its boundaries are held equally by all Magic users present inside it. This means even if one wanted to leave, he can't until she lifts her side of control over the barrier.

But his without any alert, appearance and now instant disappearance, even throwing her out of facet world without her knowing meant only one thing.

He was far far stronger than her. Cold sweat poured in her back, she found that her hands were shaking in fear. If he wanted he could have easily killed her. Thank God! he was not looking to kill everyone. Because she could not grasp that if she could even delay him with her spells.

But such a powerful and proficient Bounty Hunter missed his target completely because he attacked the completely wrong place. Not possible.

Which only means one thing: his target was as strong as him, who managed to escape without anyone even knowing him and not to mention her.

She came to her senses as she heard a distinct siren of ambulances ringing in the college. The medics were running with students on the stretcher to load them into an ambulance. Cops and S.w.a.t. were all around College sniffing possible suspects.

After what could be called an unpleasant long dream, Orion woke up from the unconscious state and found himself in the hospital. He was strapped to the IV. He tried to sit straight when he found out about the injuries on his body.

Apparently, his whole left arm was fractured from the shoulder. And on the left side of his stomach were two terrible wounds due to some sharp things piercing him.

He was so high on pain-killing drugs that he could not even feel his injuries and pain. Even his arm and lower body were feeling numb. Memories rolled in, telling him why and how he was here.

Suddenly he heard a low voice from the corner of his room,

"Cough. See here, Dude."