That's So Wizard

Chapter 44 - How I Met Your Mother

A couple times over, the sun rose up and fell back beneath the winter horizon. Renatta was still cloaked, both to keep her unique appearance on the down-low, but also to shield herself somewhat from the frigid breeze of the night—not to mention that, even if she wasn't used to it, it was in fact illegal to carry around two big, bladed weapons in most places in Canada.

She had learned a lot since meeting her friends. Recently, she was set up with a phone, and while she was completely baffled still by how it functioned, she was learning. She had recently been playing a frustrating game where she had to navigate a bird through a series of pipes. Not even her magic could help her get even remotely far. But it wasn't the time for gaming. She had work to do, for her mother, her late father, and for herself.

Both her and her mother had been looking into the whereabouts of the men responsible for her father's demise. It was recently that Renatta was confident she knew the location of the final man—the one who committed the murder. She could finally rest her hunt.

The hamlet of Opal was hardly an hour from Edmonton, and it's where she tracked down her prey. Hardly anybody resided there. It was the perfect place to hide for someone evading attention, but unfortunately for the man in question, it did him little good. Renatta followed her leads to a large structure on the opposite end of town that seemed to be an incredibly old, unused factory building.

If it was unused, then why would the front doors be locked? The owners of the structure likely didn't account for wizards, however, and Renatta glanced an eye through the keyhole. In a flash, she was on the inside, and although the entry room was expansive, it was also completely vacant. The only lighting came from the reflected moonlight off the snow outside.

Renatta brought her hand over her gaze, and her irises shifted to a glowing green hue. She could now see quite easily in the darkness. There was a door up ahead, so she quickly made her way along, and passed on through.

There were two figures on the opposite end of this new, much smaller room. It seemed like they didn't notice her yet. Upon closer inspection, the figure at her right was on the ground, on its knees.

It was a younger girl. She was sobbing—face full of terror. A pistol with a suppressor was being pointed down towards her forehead from a man beside her, while her hands remained obediently behind her head. The sound of him loading his gun resonated off the walls, and it caused the poor girl to cringe.

"You think you're cute, sneaking around a place like this? You little pissant. The door was locked for a reason. And now your curiosity is gonna cost you," he said.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"What? I can't hear you," the man snarled. "You make me sick, snivelling on the ground."

He thrust his boot into her shoulder and knocked her to the floor, but his gun remained pointed at her body. He spit. Then, he decided to pull the trigger.

The man didn't succeed in firing. Renatta jumped forwards, and with a snap of her wrist, she let go one of her chakrams, and it flew through the dimly lit room—bits of light flashing off the golden blade that was otherwise nearly invisible. The crash of metal on metal launched the gun from his grip, followed by a small spray of red. He gripped his hand in agony.

"My finger!" he called out. "Who—You bitch!"

But before he could do anything more, Renatta unleashed a series of precise blows to his chest and stomach, both with her fists and feet. He crumbled to the ground. The room went silent once more, with only Renatta and the terrified girl remaining.

"Are you all right?" Renatta asked softly as she knelt down.

"Yes," said the girl. "I was just exploring. I know now it was a stupid idea. There's bad men here, and they didn't want me sneaking around. I don't know who they are. I think they might be responsible for some people from our town disappearing."