The Hidden World

Chapter 4: Combat Experience

"So, would you mind telling me what we are doing here, exactly?" Sarah asked Jasmine, who was leading her deeper and deeper into an abandoned warehouse. "It's simple. We're heading to a remote location, after which I will lure some mana-sucking vermin toward you. You will then proceed to pulverize them," Jasmine responded, as if it was obvious. "Yes, yes, I got that. But why do I have to do that?" Sarah insisted. She had been training with Ernie for a month now, and could regulate her mana flow, more or less. Yet she had been surprised when Ernie had told her that she would be going out to the field for the first time, as she hadn't developed any spells of her own. "Didn't Ernie tell you? Well, I suppose he really didn't have too much time..." Jasmine contemplated. And whose fault do you think that is, Sarah thought to herself. When she had arrived for her bi-weekly training session, she was met by a very tired-looking Ernie, who had then told Sarah that she would join Jasmine on a training session. Judging by Ernie's tired expression, and the fact that Jasmine was calmly sipping tea next to him, Sarah concluded that Ernie had been strong-armed into this; though she had no clue as to why.

"Oh, this looks like a good spot," Jasmine exclaimed, snapping Sarah from her reverie. "You wait here, I'll go and gather up some nasties," she continued, pulling her hands out of her pockets. "Wait just a second. You still haven't answered my question!" Sarah yelled. She was starting to understand Edmunds attitude toward Jasmine; her heedless personality was starting to get grating. "Well, I suppose I could tell you. You've been having trouble with actually using mana, right?" Sarah nodded reluctantly. Apparently, a mage can start to create their own magic only after gaining a clear view of 'what they want to do'. This usually occurred right around the caster's 18th birthday, but as Sarah had only now started to practice mana control, she was going to have a much harder time creating a unique mana application.

"Oh, don't you frown now. I realized my calling when I was in a fight, so I figured that doing that might help you," Jasmine added. "And besides, you should get used to fighting these guys, since now you have the means to do so," she continued, pointing at the object in Sarah's hand. Sarah raised her hand and examined "the object": it looked just like a normal telescopic baton, but it was actually made from a special alloy that conducted mana. In the hands of an individual who could manipulate mana it became a fairly efficient stun-stick that even worked on imps and the like. Or that's what Jasmine had told her. Sarah turned her gaze back onto her instructor. "Fair enough, but don't you think that this is a bit too soon? I've only ever done some martial arts, so I'm not exactly a pro fighter," Sarah remarked, to which Jasmine shrugged her shoulders. "Don't worry, I don't think that there are any particularly dangerous creatures here, so you'll be fine. Oh, by the way, you've got a spider on your shoulder." Sarah turned and indeed, there was a weird looking spider on her shoulder. She quickly brushed it off, and turned back to Jasmine, who had already left. "This is just great," she grunted.

For a while, nothing happened. Sarah examined the area around her. The warehouse floor was empty, save for a few boxes strewn about. This meant that she would have ample room to move around and dodge. Sarah started to wonder how Jasmine was able to disappear so quickly, but before she could any conclusions, she started to hear noises. Soon a group of imps arrived. Of the five creatures two appeared to have 'matured' somewhat, most likely by consuming mana; they now sported short arms and legs. Nevertheless, their diminutive stature made them a lot less intimidating than the one she had encountered at her apartment. Sarah readied her baton and rushed forward. She managed to surprise the smaller ones and smashed two of them easily. The third small one and the bigger imps quickly leaped away. For a split second, they all froze. Sarah was the first to move and swung her baton in a wide arc. The last small imp was hit, but the other two managed to dodge.

The more developed imps made some distance and started to appraise their opponent. "It seems that you're not only stronger, but also more intelligent than your smaller friends. No matter, you still seem rather weak," Sarah huffed, mostly to calm herself down. The two imps moved so that they were both on Sarah's left and right side. She understood what they were up to, and smirked. She then quickly turned to her right and swung at the other imp. It was caught off-guard and the strike connected, killing the creature. The other one realized that this was its chance and attacked Sarah's back. The sense of victory the creature might have felt was short-lived, however, as its claws bounced off without doing any damage. Had the attacker been more intelligent, it would have noticed that Sarah was covered in a thin sheen of mana, known as 'mana-armour'. Sarah turned around and finished the dazed creature off. She took a deep breath but couldn't celebrate, as yet another creature appeared in the room. This time, though, it was no imp.

Sarah assumed a stance and stared at her new opponent. Unlike the imps, it was a quadruped. In fact, it resembled an upscaled bull terrier, except that it was jet black with red eyes and had razor sharp claws. Ernie had shown Sarah illustrations of the most common 'outsiders': she seemed to remember this one being called a death hound. Sarah quickly lost all the confidence she had gained in her fight against the imps: this creature was much, much more dangerous. The hound locked its crimson eyes on Sarah and let out a bone-chilling growl. Then it charged, and Sarah only just managed to jump aside. The hound then started to walk in circles around Sarah, looking for an opening. Meanwhile, Sarah was trying to form a strategy. Judging by its speed, she needed to either surprise it or hit it with a counter attack. Surprising the creature seemed impossible, but she didn't want to provoke any attacks because of the risk of injury.

The fight fell into a stalemate, until Sarah tripped. The hound seized its opportunity and lunged at Sarah, locking its jaws around her arm. Her armour held, however, and she swung her baton, only to hit the death-hound's hind leg. The creature yelped and jumped back. It resumed its laps, but it was limping. Sarah rubbed her arm: her armour had negated any major damage, but she could tell that bruises were starting to form. In addition, she was starting to feel fatigued. She had a lot of mana, to be sure, but she was still not very efficient at using it. She estimated that she had only around ten minutes left, and as there was no guarantee that this was her last enemy, she had to finish this now. "Let's do this," she yelled, which seemed to startle the beast somewhat. Sarah feigned tripping and readied her baton. As she had expected, the hound charged, but because its leg was injured, Sarah could easily dodge, and struck the death hound's head. The creature let out a whimper and died, its body disappearing soon thereafter. As if on que, Jasmine appeared. Sarah was about to greet her, but Jasmine ran up to her and put her finger on her lips. Jasmine's expression was worried, something Sarah had never seen before. Jasmine pointed at a box in the corner of the room and started to move toward it. As she could sense that something was wrong, Sarah followed suit.

Just as they had reached the box, two men wearing black suits entered the room. Sarah looked to Jasmine who just shook her head. Sarah decided to gauge the strength of these men by looking at the way their mana flowed. One of the first things Ernie had taught Sarah was observing mana. In other words, by focusing all her senses Sarah could tell a what a person's mana flow looked like. As an individual can supress their flow, it cannot be used to detect mages under normal conditions. The men who entered were quite clearly ready for combat, however. As it stood, she could only compare the men to Ernie. Indeed, the quantity of their mana was larger, although not quite as well managed. This led her to the conclusion that the men were dangerous, very much so. "You feel anything?" the first man, a burly giant, said. "Nothing. They must have moved on. Let's go," the other man, bespectacled and lanky, responded. They ran to the next room, leaving Sarah and Jasmine alone.

Jasmine gestured for Sarah to follow her, and they left the warehouse in silence. Only when they had reached a nearby parking lot did Jasmine speak. "Man, I saw the last part of your fight against the death hound. Good stuff. We'll make a mage out of you yet!" she exclaimed. Before Sarah could raise her voice, Jasmine lifted her finger and continued. "I know, I know. The proverbial elephant in the room." She took a deep breath and looked at Sarah sternly. "Those men are from a criminal organization. Now, I don't know why they were there, but they were alerted by our magic usage. The reason we hid was that I don't exactly have the best relationship with them. And you being there just complicated things." Jasmine relaxed, and her trademarked mischievous smile returned. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that you won't run across them anymore." Sarah had many things to say but decided to just let it go for now.

"...let me talk to you manager, young lady!" Sarah nodded and feigned a smile. "Yes, ma'am. I'll go and find him." Sarah turned around and left the customer to vent her anger on the other people in the queue. It was the next day and working almost made her wish that she was still fighting the death hound. Soon she found her manager, an older man called Nick. "Manager, there's another customer who wants to talk to you," Sarah said, apologetically. Nick sighed. "Jesus Christ, of course there is." He took a look at his wristwatch. "Why don't you go and have your break now? The evening rush will start in an hour..." Sarah nodded, and headed for the break room. A smile crept on her face: breaks were the highlight, and only positive moment, of every day. She had made it a habit to watch videos of magicians performing while she isolated herself from the hell of the store. She had always loved to watch them create elaborate illusions, and even the fact that some magic was real had not diminished the feeling. However, as soon as she opened the break room door, she realized that she would not be watching any videos today. A familiar woman clad in a Victorian dress was sitting on the sofa, sporting a rather ominous smile.