MODERN MAGICS. Tianyu (Tony) Zhu

boy named Damian was alone now. Most of them were laid on the ground, stunned by the tazers protruding out of their bodies, while the rest cowered behind him. Someone boldly shoved through the line of security -- an old, haggard lady, whom I was not familiar with.

      Damian stood up to the old lady and talked like he spat the words out of his mouth. A second later, the guards resumed hauling out the scared kids from behind Damian. Though it seemed as if none of them were going to fight back, the guards shot them all the same.

      It was at that moment something strange happened.

      Damiam seemed to stagger for a moment, but straightened himself immediately. Sapphire squinted her eyes at the screen, something unordinary had just happened. Even through the grained security footage, she could feel a change in his aura.

      The old lady seemed taken aback, but then regained her composure. She raised up her arm, and a lightning bolt formed in her hand. She then threw it at Damian, who somehow managed to dodge it. He threw a punch with unparalleled speed, knocking the old lady into the metal fence that caved in around her in response. The guards started shooting at him, but he somehow managed to narrowly avoid them all, dodging them by the sliver of a hair.

      She watched in awe at the precision and strength of his attacks until he threw a guard at the wall the camera was attached to, cutting the video out suddenly.

      “Are you sure he’s just a seer?” Sapphire asked her uncle. His skills were better than some of the most skilled fighters in the world. He had overwhelming strength and agility.

      “Not just any seer, obviously,” Aaron responded, fiddling with pages in the file folder. “We know exactly who he is, and we want you to teach and employ him.”

      “What? Me?” Sapphire stuttered, confused at his request.

      “Yes you, are you deaf or something?” Ethan yelled as if he couldn’t bear to let a single chance to insult Sapphire go by.

      Aaron held his hand up, and Sapphire swallowed the retorts that were threatening to burst out of her mouth. “So? Will you accept this job?” He asked.

      “Why would I? Have someone else do it.”

      “We’re short-handed at the moment. And since you just came back from your runaway, let’s just say this is punishment for your actions.”

      “Yeah? And what happens if I refuse?” Sapphire retorted.

      “Well let’s see…” He contemplated as he nonchalantly cleaned his nails, “Your pathetic attempt at an escape has provided for quite the endless source of nuisance and rumours around our family.”

      “I’m aware of that,” She responded curtly.

      “Say if I were to strip away your powers right now as the alternative punishment if you choose to not comply.” He continued as my face quickly grew pale, “If that were to happen, do you really think anyone would bat an eye towards an Impure-bred like you?”

      The tension thickened in the room, all three members of Sapphire’s family stared at her with eyes full of malice. She balled her hands into fists as her uncle rose from his chair, slowly strode towards her, leaned down, and met her hateful gaze. “Last chance, are you going to take this job?” He bent further forward and whispered into her ear, “Or do you want to follow the pathetic footsteps of your father?”

      Anger and frustration coursed through Sapphire’s body as every muscle tensed to spring, threatening to launch herself at him. But she knew that it would be for nothing. She would be cast out, stripped of her powers in the blink of an eye, just like he said.

      The pathetic footsteps of my father. She repeated her uncle’s words.

      She gritted her teeth and whispered, “I’ll do it.”

      “What?” Ethan said loudly and held a hand to his ear, taunting her as if he couldn’t hear her. “I can’t hear you, can you speak up-”

      “I said I’ll do it you bastard!” Sapphire screamed and turned to open the door, slamming it shut for the second time as the hinges completely came off.

      She stomped back into her room. Clutching her head, Sapphire tried to control her ragged breathing. Looking around, she found her pile of weapons. She picked up a shortsword sitting on top and unsheathed the blade, its curved edges glistening in the sunlight pouring in through the windows.

      It’s always been like this, you’ll get through it, just like how you’ve always managed to . Sapphire thought to herself as her breathing became slower and more controlled.

       One day, Ethan. One day.

      When she had finally calmed down again, she stood up tall. Sapphire raised the sword, gripping it with both hands, and readied her stance. She charged and slashed at the wall. The blade bounced off of the stone wall several times, but she steadied herself and kept hacking at it, again and again. The sparks of her blade evaporated into the air as the anger from within slowly dissipated, replaced by a calming emptiness. Sapphire’s tense grip on the hilt of the sword loosened as she stood, sweating and gasping for air.

      Chapter 2.7

      “You sure this is the right place?” Owen asked.

      “Don’t think I got it wrong this time,” Sapphire responded with the same phrase that she used every time he has asked that question today. They’ve been all around the merchant city of Caphis in search of the right hospital to no avail. They managed to stumble upon a hair salon, a construction site, and a Chinese restaurant, but never a hospital.

      “Well too bad.” Sapphire lifted her head to find a storefront with the big bolded words: Get your own pet lightning-breathing lizard today! Sapphire’s heart fell for the fourth time that day.

      “I give up,” she sighed, “I can’t use this map for the life of me.” Sapphire then finally handed Owen her phone with the map drawn up.

      “Should’ve been like this in the first place.” He grinned as he took her phone and walked ahead of her, confident and proud.

      “Why did you even want to come in the first place?” She asked as they made a turn onto a tightly packed plaza, with stands set up in rows and narrow passages churning with people.

      His smile was suddenly replaced by a grim expression, he looked up as if he was contemplating something. He seemed as if he wanted to say something, but shook his head a second later and said, “I just wanted to help you out.”

      Her brows furrowed at his vague response. “You’re hiding something from me.”

      He blinked, realising how easily he had been caught, and sighed. “Was it that obvious?”

      “You’re terrible at acting.”

      “Fine,” He said, “I owe a… debt to your father.” They emerged from the thick crowds of the plaza and made a turn onto a narrow street.

      “You owe him a debt?” Sapphire’s suspicions heightened at his words. The only things she could hear about her own father were the misdeeds and crimes he had committed, never had she once heard anything about another member of the Anaroths owing him a debt.

      “As weird as that sounds to you, yes.” He replied, “He was a special person to me, before…” He drifted into silence. They both knew well enough about Aidan’s exile from the Royal House that didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

      He cleared his throat, “Anyway, we’re here now.” Sapphire lifted my head up and saw the words “Blackblood Hospital”, named after a small family of healers, who started this chain of hospitals, along with a pharmaceutical company of the same name.

      “That wasn’t so hard was it?” Sapphire looked at his expression and immediately spotted his guise. A plastered-on fake grin and uncharacteristically wide eyes were on his face, desperately keeping his sorrows from surfacing.

      “Yeah,”