In the cafe, a young man was sitting with his friend. On his hand was a beautiful ring with calcite core encrusted in it.
Both men were handsome, but both in a different way. The man with the ring, Kayle, was in a black coat, white shirt, and black pants. There was a certain beauty in the simplicity of his clothes. Moreover, his eyes that were a collection of myriad colors, made it impossible to avert your gaze after looking just once into that colorful abyss.
His friend, on the other hand, had a silk robe similar to what young masters used to wear in a period of Ancient China. His long hair was collected into a high horsetail. His eyes were a dark void and overall he was giving a vibe of an emperor.
Both of them were sitting quietly at the table just looking at each other speaking nothing. At some point in time, the waitress came to take their order.
"Young men, would you like to order anything?"
"Coke and your best desert," said Kayle.
"Green tea. Thank you."
"Okay."
After the waitress left, both men continued to stay silent. But soon, one of them spoke:
"Stop pretending I am not here."
Kayle ignored him and continued staring in his eyes. Funny thing is, that he was staring in his eyes as if his friend wasn't there in the first place.
After some time, coke and deserts came. Kayle finally took his eyes off the other man and started enjoying his order.
Seconds after he finished his dessert, he for the first time talked. He calmly said to the other man:
"Close your ears."
"Hm?"
After which Kayle closed his ears and eyes.
*Boom*
Sound of the explosion shattered the air and the door of the cafe was blown off. 5 soldiers in sci-fi armor rushed into the building.
While that was happening, Kayle was already close to reaching the back door.
He opened the door and calmly exited to the alley behind the building. After that, he turned right and left the premises.
Surprisingly the man in the strange clothing followed right behind Kayle. After a few minutes of silent walking, he couldn't stop himself from asking:
"Who are those people?"
"Ants hunting for an elephant."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"..."
But Kayle kept silent.
"Where are we going?"
"..."
"What are you planning to do?"
"..."
"Tell me something?"
"..."
"Baah, you are so annoying. Two people can play this game. Hmpf..."
"..."
But after 10 minutes of silence, a strange man couldn't stay silent and asked:
"So... where the heck are we going."
"I thought you aren't speaking."
"So you aren't deaf after all. Finally some reaction. As for your words, I don't remember promising anything. I just said that 2 can play this game. I never said I will play this game. Plus you kept ignoring me, so I used some very smart tactics to force you to talk. This, my young friend, is a strategy. Hmpf."
"..."
Kayle said nothing and remained silent.
"Really? You gonna continue ignoring me? By the way, those 5 are still following us."
"I know."
"Yeah, yeah. Your BS skill just leveled up."
"..."
Two more minutes of silent walking. At some point, they came to the entrance of a grocery store. It looked like a normal grocery store, except for its logo.
It was a gray eagle holding a golden ring in its claws. Strange logo for a shop, no matter what it sells.
"Are we visiting 'him'?"
Kayle ignored him and, looking at the logo, said:
"Master, please open the path."
Seconds were going by, while these two were waiting.
Finally, the eagle on the logo came alive. It glanced at the duo and nodded, after which it returned to being a simple picture.
"Here we go again."
The duo calmly walked into the store, but inside wasn't a store selling stuff, but a... kitchen?
***
*Few seconds prior*
Magnus was languidly sitting in a rocking-chair, enjoying the fresh air. The chair was just outside the ground floor kitchen with doors leading to an open-air garden with a pond in the middle.
'Hm? Aha, the "Order" must be upon her as well. These people got some balls, to send people to my territory, he-he. But at least her prediction proved to be right.'
Magnus waved his hand and got back to what he was doing, which is reading a book.
At the kitchen itself, a ton of work was happening. A knife flying in the air and cutting carrots into thin strips. A red-hot pan on the stove, contents of which, meat & onions, were constantly stirred. Cupboards were opening by themselves, and spices from them were flying around, with some of them dropping into the pan. And that was just a small part of what was happening at this kitchen.
However, this scene didn't feel chaotic. On the contrary, all these different tools and ingredients interacting with each other created some sort of harmony and gave a sense of aesthetical beauty.
Facing this magical sight was a door leading to the rest of the house and to the right from the entrance was an opening with sliding doors leading to a veranda where Magnus was reclining.
Soon, a small whirlpool appeared where the door leading to a kitchen should've been. A petite girl came out of this whirlpool and on her hand was the Mind Ring. Her height was around 1.5 meters (5 feet or 59 inches). Her blond hair was collected into a ponytail. Based on her appearance alone you could see that the girl wasn't pure Chinese.
As for her clothes, she wore blue pants and a white shirt.
Despite her cute looks, she was giving a vibe of a young cold man, rather than a girl.
She looked around trying to find her master, Magnus.
***
Kayle came out of the portal and started scanning surroundings for the master. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found.
"Wow, look at this marvelous showcase of magical skill. Isn't it amazing?"
"..."
"Reeeeeeeeally? Brother, are you seriously telling me that you don't feel jackshit from this beautiful scene? All these spices flying around and carrots being masterfully fried together with meat. Look there! Different patterns are drawn in the air with spices! Soooo cool! Is that dough for pancakes? Is that freshly baked chocolate cake?!"
"..."
Kayle focused on the opening leading to the garden and decided to walk there.
"Aha! You think he is there, right? Hm... Smart. As expected of my friend, fu-fu-fu."
"..."
After a few steps, they saw a rocking chair with Magnus sitting in it.
"Welcome, Kayle," he said, "What brings you here?"
"Wow, he actually noticed you are Kayle. How does he know without even looking?!" the strange man asked.
"Well, I reached the level where vision is just a method to appreciate beauty."
"Eh? You can hear me?"
"Hearing is subjective. But, well, let's say I do "hear" you. Anyway, Kayle, you can leave. I need to talk to her."
"She doesn't want to talk."
"It wasn't a request."
Magnus for the first time took his eyes off the book and looked at the pond.
"Sabrina, we have a few things to discuss."
Soon, another person appeared near Kayle, which was a tall busty woman in glasses. As soon as she materialized she said:
"Throughout the whole conversation, you haven't looked in my direction even once. Is something bothering you, master."
"Sabrina, you were right about the attack. Good job. However, I would prefer to actually hear from you. Reading thoughts of a person with a dissociative identity disorder, inside of whom a ton of imaginary friends for each of the identities live is quite a hassle."
"Okay," after these words Sabrina took the place of Kayle, while both Kayle and strange man disappeared, "Also, master, as always your thoughts are simply too beautiful. Those carps transforming into dragons are too mesmerizing."
Magnus slowly turned his head towards the girl, for the first time actually looking at her and said:
"And as always, please stop intruding into my thoughts, girl," and smiled.