The Unveiling - Modern Magic: Book 1

Chapter 2

Author's Note:  Everyone ready for some action?  Yeah, I thought so.

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Chapter 2 – April 10, 2019

The night of the concert rolled around. Diana had loved the idea and even let out a fangirl-like squeal when I told her the specific band I thought we should see. As an added bonus, we would have been celebrating our 6-month mark in just two days, so we opted to celebrate early.

This excitement made Tuesday and Wednesday's classes seem to drag into eternity. As soon as my last class ended, I was out the door, still packing my tablet away as I walked. I got back to my academic home and cleaned up. I took a quick shower and then picked a pair of dark blue jeans, a white undershirt, and a metallic silver buttoned-down. I checked my phone and saw I was still running on time as I left my apartment to pick up Diana.

I met Diana at her apartment, and she looked amazing! I could do nothing to stop my mouth hanging open when she opened the door and gave a little pose, "How do I look?"

"Wow, Diana... you look..." Why is it that even dozens of lifetimes of memories just disappear when you're faced with a beautiful woman asking how you think she looks?

Diana saved me by offering that perfect giggle. Her light gray eyes appeared more silver in this light, and they squinted happily at seeing my expression. "That's what I thought. Ready to go?"

I had to blink and shake my head to get my brain functioning again. "Um, yeah..." Diana knew exactly the effect her outfit would have on me. She had chosen a shimmering red top that left her shoulders and arms bare, tied at her throat, and modestly covered the rest of her torso. That didn't stop it from hugging the curves of her slender frame before following the flow of her hips, stopping just below where a knee-length jean skirt began.

Diana exited her apartment as I clumsily stepped backward, and as she turned to lock her door, my jaw fell open again. The red top that already looked amazing from the front was designed in such a way to leave her back bare from her shoulder blades up. "Gorgeous..." I finally found the word, and Diana peeked over her shoulder, wavy brown hair partially hiding her eye as she smiled brightly at me.

"Let's go, Mr. Smooth." I laughed and eagerly wrapped an arm around her as I joined her in descending to the ground floor of the building.

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Later that night

Diana and I walked down the street after the concert. The real location turned out to be an abandoned bar and brewery. It was probably some start-up attempt to cover the whole alcohol creation and sale process under one roof. The upside for us was the bar had an extensive basement where the company used to handle its brewing and storage. Being underground is a great way to muffle loud music from neighboring ears, so the concert didn't get interrupted by any noise complaints. I remember thinking about sending a 'congrats' on a job well done to the MIT hacker.

As we walked the few blocks back to where I packed my car, I saw a constant little smile on Diana's lips – a sure fire sign that I had been a good boyfriend that night. We chatted happily, but I honestly can't remember what it was about. Because as we turned down an alley shortcut to the parking lot, I felt something wrong.

Magi can sense other Magi. It has something to do with residual energies in our cells from previous use. It never fully goes away and is stronger the more magic they have used recently. The person following us felt like no Magi I've ever encountered. This Magi felt... dampened, or shielded or something, like he had somehow found a way to block those energies from being sensed by others. That was even more disturbing, but I didn't have time to ponder the implications of this because I felt the unmistakable feeling of magic being condensed into an attack.

Instinctively, I twisted Diana around in front of me and wrapped my arms around her to hold her close, safe. I threw an Antimagic barrier far behind me. I gave it enough distance to provide time and space to throw up a second wall if the same dampening effect was making the attack feel weaker than it actually was. Diana giggled, "Zaaannne!" She elongated my name, teasingly, probably thinking I was pausing for a romantic kiss. Her smile faded when her eyes met mine.

My bright... Violet... eyes.

Her tone shifted immediately to confusion, "Zane... what's going–" Her words were cut off when the unthinkable happened. My barrier exploded.

The shockwave knocked us both forward and my attempt to protect Diana wound up with me landing on top of her. My head was reeling and not just from the blast. How did he do that? My barrier didn't fail, it exploded. Any thoughts or answers to that question were put on hold when Diana's eyes fluttered open and focused on me for only a split second before looking over my shoulder. "Look out!"

We were both too slow to react, and I felt a sharp, intense pain across my left shoulder blade. The feeling was immediately followed by the sound of metal violently meeting concrete. Part of a fire escape had been blown loose and a side railing had gashed my back to the point where I couldn't feel my left arm. Not good. It must have cut deep enough to sever a nerve or two. I had no time to worry about the consequences. Reality Warping Magic takes time, and the longer I waited, the less likely it would work. Since I had no idea what happened to our attacker, I didn't have any other choice.

I closed my eyes and dove into the probabilities. There's a reason why Reality Warping Magic is used so infrequently. It's hard. Very hard. Not only is the power required to actually cast the spell enormous, but the mental strain of shifting through probable events to find what you want can give most Magi a whopper of a headache, or even cause permanent psychological damage. Thankfully, my Progenitor line is actually pretty good at this sort of thing, so it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for.

Just a short time before the explosion, a bird 200 feet away changed its flight path 10 feet past where it had before. The result was the wind pattern altered the blast enough to lessen the damage to a further section of the fire escape, making it hang for a half second longer before collapsing – thus missing me.

I wove the event into reality just as I realized Diana was yelled at me, worried over the wound on my back and my almost catatonic state. My pain disappeared, feeling returned in my left arm, and Diana stopped calling my name. I stood up like I had never been injured, because technically – I hadn't. It was Diana's turn to have her mouth hang open, but for a reason I never intended. "What... what?" She stammered, shocked by seeing a wound literally disappear before her eyes.

"We have to go. It isn't safe." I looked into her eyes, trying to show my sincerity. Diana frowned and I mentally cursed myself for giving her another close-up view of my changed eyes. I was already wondering if I had any plausible denial of tonight's events, and those possibilities were dwindling fast. I saw the doubt, worry, and confusion in her eyes, and I did the only thing I could think of to get us out of there. "I promise I'll tell you everything, but not now. We're not safe." Diana gave me a probing, accusatory stare before nodding and letting me lead her away.

We dodged around the wrecked fire escape on our way to my car. My senses were strained, searching for our attacker, but he was gone. Dead or fled? I had no interest in finding out right now; not when Diana would be in danger. We reached my car and I peeled out as soon as we were inside, not even waiting for us both to be buckled in.

Diana didn't even look at me through the whole half hour drive back to my apartment.

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