We Stand Together

4.2

Alexander Song

Three Years Ago... From The Perspective of Alexander Song

Mysterium is beautiful at night. The lamp lights glow softly over the road and the twinkling specs in the road mimic the ones in the sky. Very few people are out at this time of night, but those who are are peaceful are quiet and every move is almost like a dance. It's peaceful in Mysterium at night... until... BAM.

The door of a cafe down the street is burst open by a few masked thugs dressed in black. Ever since the Neverseen were defeated, people who were related to the members, or members found "not guilty" due to being minors, have formed gangs that roam Mysterium at night, causing trouble like we elves have never seen before. They were known to wear simple masks that stuck to the face with just a potion and burning down places after they've looted them. It's my job during this night shift, as a new CFRO (Council Fire & Rescue Officer) to take them down and put them behind bars. I whirled around and started to run towards the cafe, pulling out my containment blaster that blasted out ropes to hold the criminals and my shock gun in case things get... difficult.

The crooks were already inside the cafe and were looting the glass case by the time I arrived. I tried to sneak up on them, but as soon as I blasted a set of ropes at one of them, the other two pulled out blasters of their own. With the front side of the cafe being mostly glass, it was difficult to hide, and I ducked down under a window ledge as the shots broke the window above me. Glass shards fell down on me like rain and I did my best to shield my face and take aim.

I felt one goon grab me and haul me to my feet while his buddies held their fire as they came to join us. I was about to make an attempt to escape before I was hit with a wave of cologne... it was pungent and kind of smelled like fake fruit mixed with cocoa beans... it was Braylon's cologne. But this couldn't be him, Braylon was known to be a pacifist... right?

I twisted my neck up to look at the goon and saw a stray lock of long, golden hair at the back of the guy's neck. I couldn't see his face through the flat, black mask with nothing but two eye holes and a rectangular air channel for his nose, but when he grumbled at me, "What're you looking at?" I had to know.

I bent my head down, waited a few seconds, then suddenly threw it back at an angle so it hit the goon square in the chin and knocked off the mask to reveal...

"Braylon! You idiot! You let him knock your mask off!" One of the other goons said sharply.

"Thanks," Braylon said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I can see that."

"Well, what are you fools waiting for? Tie him up!" The third goon barked.

"Yes boss," Braylon and the other goon mumbled, and I took this as an opportunity to concentrate on the pavement, using the magnet feeling in my hands to pull large rocks out of the earth through the tar and hit the goons. Braylon's grip faltered at the sight and I slid free, raising my blasters and hit both goons in front of me with electricity bolts before blasting them with rope. I then turned to get Braylon next, only to find his fist colliding with my cheek.

With little thought, I grabbed the underside of his arm and twisted it so that it was shoved up behind his back, but he reached into his pocket with his free hand before I could catch it and pulled out a knife, slicing a curved line under my cheekbone blindly. I kicked him in the back of the knees as he tried to stumble forward to untwist himself from my grip and he fell to the pavement... bringing me down with him. He used the momentum of me falling to pull himself up and start to run off. Feebly, I reached for my blaster and aimed it at him, my hand shaking as I gripped the trigger with my finger. The blast missed and hit a street sign and Braylon disappeared into the night of Mysterium.