Torva Messor

Chapter 7: The Next Generation

"I had just finished dealing with Maxus' sixth clone. Stronger of course, but still hardly anything to be concerned about. It would still take some time before he would be troublesome, I thought."

"How long ago was this?" The interviewer asks.

"About a month. It hardly took him a few weeks to close the gap. I'll get to that."

"Okay." He leans back against the couch.

"I was in the process of leaving the city when I felt another mage there. They had a strong energy within them, but I could tell they were suppressing it, trying to blend in. Around the time I knew I was getting older, slower, age was making its rounds on me. I had hoped perhaps to find a successor, or perhaps go home and train someone to my heights. Maybe all of them. Were the normals or Maxus to strike again, they'd need a new savior. Instead, I found her..."

I hesitated, wondering how such a power could have possibly slipped by me in my time here. Two ideas came to mind. This mage was emerging, just beginning to tap into their power. The other is that for some reason, they weren't masking themselves anymore. If it were the latter, they or someone they cared for were in danger. I flew quickly to the energy, feeling the area around them. The only other thing I sensed was other normals. I thought back to Maxus, how he uses mages to gain his strength, if he captured her, things would become difficult very quickly.

I landed on a roof near the scene and quickly got a feel for what was going on. My mage was standing, open palmed towards a man near a car. The man near the car had a gun and was pointing it at two older normals. Looking closer, the two older normals resembled my mage. Parents perhaps. Even so, a mage actively defending normals seemed preposterous in this day and age. I could feel the man with the gun tensing, his muscles around the gun tightening. Within the blink of an eye, I was on the scene, and his hand was flying away from his body. He grabbed at his arm as blood poured from it, confused and frightened. With a graceful spin, his head fell from his body, and his cries went silent.

"Telling them how you met me?" Lydia says, sitting on the windowsill behind me. The interviewer looks up in surprise, and so do a few people behind the camera. She was getting better. I glanced over my shoulder at her, she was swinging her feet gently like a child.

"Yes. Perhaps you should join me to add your perspective in all of this." She smiles at that. Then thinks back.

"Well a person tried to steal my parent's car, and when they came outside he drew a gun. I wanted to defend them so I stood between them, ready to knock the person out if need be. Then you came in and scared the crap out of me. I had never seen something move so fast or elegantly before in my life." She laughs, which prompts the room to smile. I glance at them, and their smiles evaporate.

"You. The mage. Who are you?" I asked, slinging my scythe over my shoulder. Lydia hesitated, shaking in her shoes.

"Why?" She asked, taking a step back.

"You have potential, but you do not use it. I want to know why." I asked, tilting my head to the side away from my scythe.

"I'm just trying to defend my family," Lydia answered and for a moment even showed a touch of confidence.

"Family? No mage is in my family!" The father said from behind her. I could see Lydia's shoulders tighten. So this was the kind of relationship normals had with mages. Even family. Terrible.

"Lydia, where have you been? Are you okay?" The mother tried to ask but the father pulled her back.

"She doesn't belong here, she belongs on that island with the rest of her kind." My patience was running short with that man very quickly.