MODERN MAGICS. Tianyu (Tony) Zhu

bunch of them . Sapphire said to herself irritatedly as she turned to run.

      I’m over here -- running for my god-damned life from a trained assassin of the highest caliber -- and somehow I also have these idiot drunkards chasing me halfway across an entire city, and for what? A damn wallet!? Sapphire seethed to herself as she ran down the packed street, shoving aside and barreling through unsuspecting pedestrians violently as the workers behind her followed.

      She ground her teeth as she hissed in frustration, quickly growing tired of these annoyances following her around. If Sapphire wanted to take them out without the fear of being caught by that stalker, who was probably running to catch up to her, now is the time.

      She ran over to the nearest alleyway and turned a few corners. Eventually, she came upon a dead-end, the ground was littered with trash and cobwebs, shadowed by the elevated rooftops of abandoned buildings -- perfect.

      With a huge leap, Sapphire jumped and flung myself onto a nearby rooftop. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself as she waited for the workers to appear.

      Slowly but surely, the seconds passed into minutes as a growing restlessness took over Sapphire,and she started to wonder if they were so terrible at tracking that they had lost her after only a few turns. Sapphire’simpatience grew for an end to this petty wild goose chase.

      A few minutes later, she gave up on the silent approach. She pushed off the wall she was leaning against and quickly jumped down from the rooftop onto the wet, muddy ground, blackened with age. She listened for any footsteps, but only heard the occasional skittering of rats near trash piles, and the horns that blasted from the vehicles outside. Sapphire stretched her arms up high as she prepared to take the fight to them instead.

      A loud shout suddenly pierced through the calm, “Get back here!”

      A few figures finally burst out from the darkness behind Sapphire. She took a brief glance at their winded, ugly faces and raised an eyebrow, it seemed that they were able to find her after all, however long it took.

      “Still not giving up?” She asked tauntingly and brought one hand up, the mist that lazily flew around her arm suddenly snapped into attention, poking out from the sleeve of her jacket.

      Their eyes widened in surprise and they stepped back, realising that she was a Royal - one of the most infamous bloodlines at that. She almost had hoped that they would just leave, now that she had exposed her identity as the daughter of the Anaroths, but that quickly went away as they regained their confidence.

      “Not until you give us back what you stole, you royal brat!” One of them spat. They started taking out their weapons and preparing their magics.

      Sapphire’s eyes twitched briefly. That insult got underneath her skin, but she didn’t dare show it.

      “It was a mere five thousand but,” Sapphire shrugged, “Fine by me.”

      She held her hands out, and the mist trailing her body lunged out onto her hands. It was only a brief second before it started spinning, weaving themselves into two small sparring swords, courtesy of the Anaroth bloodline - the power of conjuring any solid object with any texture that one can imagine. This unique flexibility in the Anaroth’s magic made them the most feared family of assassins and infiltrators. The mist flowed rapidly within the confines of the near-transparent weapons as Sapphire spun them in her hands.

      One of them charged at Sapphire, a Tapper, she quickly assumed. He threw a slow punch that missed her entirely as she easily ducked down. In one swift move, Sapphire spun her sword and struck him as he turned to attack again. His eyes went wide as the hilt connected with his forehead. He slumped to the ground.

      The others hesitated, but Sapphire didn't. She briefly tucked her blonde hair into her jacket and pulled up her hood before she dashed in and made quick work of the rest of them. None of them stood a single chance. Sapphire danced around the clumsy swings of their fists and dull knives as she hopped from one person to the next, taking them out with a single strike.

      As she was about to finish another off, she saw one of them retreating as they began to take out something from the pocket of his jacket. He briefly brought his arm back behind him before hurling the projectile. An arc of green smoke formed in the air as it flew towards Sapphire.

      Clumsy. Sapphire thought as she caught it. A small glass vial that she immediately recognized as a form of sleep smoke made by a brewer. With one hand, she slammed a thug down with enough force to daze him, while simultaneously throwing the vial back at the other thug in the far corner with her other free hand. His surprised expression could be briefly seen as the vial exploded in his face. The gas spiraled outwards and enveloped his head as some of its green mixture raced up his nose. He immediately collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

      In a brief matter of seconds since the fight had begun, they were all bruised and laid unconsciously on the ground, groaning in pain as Sapphire emerged triumphantly among them.

      “Well,” Sapphire said as she caught her breath, patting the dust off of her pants and jacket. “I’ll leave you to it, yeah?” She started to make her way back onto the main road.

      “Yeah,” The remaining, conscious worker coughed out as he leaned against the wall, clutching his sore arm. “Go scurry back to your little safespace and rot with your other damned royal nitwits.” He said as he chuckled in his hoarse voice. “None of you ever care about us anyways.”

      Sapphire stopped in her steps as she turned towards his bloodied face with eyes full of anger. The worker laughed a raspy laugh, knowing that he had hit the mark with that insult.

      Sapphire’s eye twitched constantly as her breath grew shallower, and anger began to fill within her. Royal nitwits ? He had the audacity to think she was a part of those good-for-nothing nobles? Especially when he had no idea what she had been through with her own family? And what these “nitwits ” had done to her life? He dared to pair her in with those no-good tyrants? As Sapphire’s knuckles turned white from tension around the hilts of her weapons, she thought to herself, He is not getting away with this.

      Sapphire’s sparring swords started to change shape, becoming smaller. The blade, which was wide and round, grew narrower as it gained an edge on its tip.

      The laughs of the hoodlum turned into a scream, as she flung her new throwing daggers into his shoulder.

      “Don’t ever pile me in with those damn stuck-ups, you hear me?” Sapphire threatened him in a low and lethal voice. Her piercing blue eyes drifted from his face that was white from shock, and took a look at his shoulder which now had blood streaming down his arm. She beheld his form, twisted in pain, once more and turned the corner, not looking back.

      Chapter 2.3

      Slowly, Sapphire made her way out of the twists and turns of the alley, as the sun slowly set behind the smoke and fog of the engines roaring in the distance. The dull colors of the gasoline pollution faded away as the light also faded from the sky, leaving only the faint, blue residue of arcane, whose thin threads of magic wove together like a tapestry in the night sky. She reentered the street, packed with the acrid smell of trash on the sidewalks. She sighed as the adrenaline finally left her body and she patted the dirt from the fight off her clothes.

      Walking down the road, Sapphire tried to do an inventory check on what she had left, only to realise that she only had the wallet that she took from the workers and the clothes on her back. Meanwhile, the supplies Sapphire had were gathering dust on the other side of the city. To go back would be dangerous, it would mean that she could cross paths with the mysterious person tracking her, and the last thing she’d want would be to be brought back home, humiliated.

      First, she needed a place to settle down, then the next day was for supplies. She made up her mind and started looking.

      Sapphire pulled her dark hood down, as she approached a Lesser. “Hello,” She said, he turned his head and looked at her. “Do you know where the nearest hotel is?” He blinked for a second as if he couldn’t comprehend what she was saying, then he started