"There is no need for you to panic allen…" the old man said, his eyes gazing back to the group of men that had held Allen captive, "this will be done in a jiffy.."
"What are you all waiting for?! Get him, he's alone!" the leader yelled as the group of federal agents ran towards the old man, Such a grave mistake the old man thought to himself as he released a hearty chuckle. Raising one hand on the air, as the group of man got within range to attack him, a snap of a finger is heard.
Blood…
There is only blood on Allen's mind. Allen wanted to scream, it's a bloody massacre, the thought that he had gotten used to after hearing so much death of suicide from his workplace has evaporated in an instant, the events that had just transpired left him with no voice. Everything is quiet, only the strong tang of human meat and blood filled the room.
In the center of it all is the old man, covered in blood splatters from top to bottom, in front of him are pieces of flesh that used to be the group of men that had attempted to attack him earlier. What part of all this is a part of magic? This is not some men with a top hat to pull bunnies out of, nor was it someone burning some napkin into a flower, this is a straight-up murder.
The old man then starts to walk forward, in front of him is the man that has been punching Allen earlier with an electrically charged fist, his hands and legs are severed, blood pouring out of him as he coughs, slowly looking up at the approaching figure of the old man, a twisted smile on his face as he walked slowly towards him, taunting his near-death state.
"Why….." the man coughs as the old man lowered himself to him.
"Why are you doing this Mr Yuri…? Y-you're supposed to be together, with us. On top…you're…supposed to be my hero…damnit!" the man yelled the remaining air in his lungs as the old man whose name Yuri just chuckles, shaking his head slowly.
"Then perhaps…it's time for me to be the villain then?" yuri said, a blue streak glisten over his dull brown eyes before his hand formed a fist.
"It is a shame you must die, but then again surely you know how this feels like from the other side don't you?"
"N-no! Ple-" The man pleaded before getting cut short, Allen flinches in fear as he can only watch the man's face destroyed into pieces by Yuri's hands who then proceed to sigh. Rising up slowly, the old man snaps a finger as the blood on him is seemingly removed, giving himself a look of approval before approaching the dazed figure of Allen, releasing his restraints over the chair as Allen stoods up, still focused on now the corpse of the man that has been torturing him earlier.
"Y-you killed them…" Allen manages before the old man just chuckles at his response.
"It is rather unfortunate that they must" he said before looking at the still dazed Allen that now looks at him, raising his hand towards him, smiling.
"I know you have a lot of questions young Allen, however, an explanation here would be rather…." he looks at the blood-filled scene. "Wrong and uncomfortable.."
—-------------
It's a very quiet night in the street of chicago, Allen didn't know how long he have been kidnapped, his only communication device that also serves to tell him the time and day is not in his possession. But how could he fret about that after what he had just saw and experienced? W 18th street has never been the crowdest of the streets but tonight it was as if the street is reserved just for him and the old man, there was no one around them, all of the surrounding buildings has their lights turned off leaving the street lights to provide the barely adequate source of light.
Allen tucked his hands inside the pockets of his pants, trying to pass of the trembling of his hands as just a reaction to the chilly breeze rather then the spine chilling events he had just witnessed. He didn't know what to feel as of the moment, is he scared? In a denial? Is he angry? All of those emotions stirring up inside him into a complicated stew as he looked to his right, the figure of the old man just slightly visible as he hummed an unknown tune. So many questions hovering above his mind, what the heck is going on? What on earth has Yuri given to him that he got into this situation in the first place? Why are there federal agents wants him dead for a highly nonsense reason as magic?
A few moments passed as the ring of a bell broke up Allen's thoughts, in front of him, Yuri can be seen leaning by a easily recognizable doorframe of his bookshop, patiently waiting for him as he gestures an invitation to enter with his hand.
"Come in, Allen.." he nods as Allen just stays silent, staring at him for a few good seconds before he went inside as yuri closed the door behind him.
Allen kept quiet, and there's no need for yuri to need him to say anything either. They knew the topic they are going to sit over and talk about so with that in mind Yuri gone to the back as Allen seated himself by the counter that he always sits on whenever he visited the bookshop as he waits for the old man until he walked out with two cups of warm tea. A relaxing smell Allen thought as the steam still oozes from the top of the cup, indicating that it has just came from being blended placed in front of him.
"Now…let's just get straight to the real elephant in the room.." Yuri sighs as he takes a sip from the cup of tea, urging Allen to drink the tea for himself. Allen stays still, observing the cup for a few moments until he slowly reached out one of his hand, grabbing the cup gently as to make sure he does'nt spill the liquid into his clothes
"Y-you…killed them…th-they said…."
"That i have something to do with what has unveiled?" Yuri chuckles as he took another small sip.
"Hmm…tell me Allen…" Yuri mused, drawing Allen's attention towards him as a small smirk appeared on his otherwise cold expression on his wrinkled face
"Would you believe that it has been in your blood all this time?" he asked, Allen could feel his emotions flaring up, he wish he could just stand up and smash his hands on the table and demand what the fuck is actually going on, and yet, he can't. He knew the old man would probably let him knowing their dynamics but at the moment the instilled fear of the old man killing his captors in cold blood with just a snap of a finger still lingers in his mind that he decided against it. Denial also still in his mind as his logic tried to explain everything tentatively even if it does not explain everything well.
"No…that is just simply impossible.." he mustered, shooking his head slowly
"No? Then how would you explain the inaugural pain that you experienced recently?" Yuri muses as he rested his chin on one of his hand, smirking. Allen widens his eyes in surprise.
"Ho-.."
"How about the fact that you also managed to conceive a relatively easy spell recently? Something like light orb perhaps?"
Allen didn't know how to respond, while all the 23 years that he has lived through has been an absolute misery everything still goes their ways the way you expected them to do, living through loansharks and black companies still makes sense, That is how the real world works.
But now? What is he supposed to believe in? He has already been burdened with a man who have a gambling problem that left his family for dead that dared to call himself the father, faced with such a problematic and poor working condition from the company he got tangled in, but now, what is he supposed to do to the fact that federal agencies is now on his back for playing fire with magic?
"Magic has always been for us Allen…it has been the way since the start of mankind"
"If that is the fact…then why is there no traces of this in our history?" Allen asks back. Such a simple question, but holds the key to everything of what actually is going on to him, Yuri once again just chuckles, a not very appropriate response to Allen's frown.
"Hmm…why don't you tell me why..? I am sure that agent spills quite a lot just before he attempted to shot you no?"
"Magic is real, Mr. Ramirez. As real as the bullet about to drill through your brain. You got a taste of it. That is unnaceptable, Mr. Ramirez. Someone as unworthy as you can't wield magic. No one is worthy. We won't let you peasants get your dirty hands over what belongs to us"
Allen's eyes went wide, a bewildered look appeared on his face as the words of his former captor repeating over and over in his mind, his body shook filled in with fear as he rested both of his hands on his head. What is he supposed to do? Their absent-minded colleague who had no idea about what their doing is going to look into their deaths. Even if their bodies has been destroyed their dissapearance is not going to be unnoticed. This is federal agencies for fucks sake.
A hand tapped Allen, gaining his attention. He looked up, meeting the sharp and ever so menacing dull yellow orbs of Yuri's eyes, his mouth curves slightly not reaching his cheeks, indicating he had something in store for him.
"Join me Allen…"
Join him? What benefits is there for him? After all this whole mess got started because of him…if only he wasn't given that book, if only he didn't try to mess with it…could he still live a peaceful life? Allen thought about everything that had happened to him. The mess of the mafia, the fac that he have to bust his bones everyday just to work at that damned company…there's no more running…this is his chance to do more…he asked for it, and the world hears it. He still have to get the bastards that turned his life so damned bad after all. However…
"What's in it for me..?" Allen asks, nothing is free after all.
"Oh? Getting straight into it here are we?" Yuri laughs, linking his arm through Allen's neck and shoulders, his smirk from earlier plastered onto his face as he looked at Allen with interest.
"Power…there is a lot of power i can make you earn Allen…so much so that it can grant you with a hefty amount of money…you crave for it did you not? With such power, i can assure you can take your revenge on the people that caused you pain easily…what used to be you have to be the one on the mercy of their knees, you can turn it around. When you toil in their knees as they think they stand above you you can make them pay...however" he adds, garnering Allen's attention.
"Should you head down this path…i will need you to stay committed Allen.. You won't be able to go back to your normal life, after this. They'll be looking for you. Day and night. When you eat. When you sleep. And hiding is not possible as an escape. You're weak, and this weakness will cost you more than you can afford. Your family," his eyes soften a bit, Yuri has never consider himself to be rather fond of someone's existence, certainly not from Allen. A very interesting character coming out of nowhere for him. Somehow Allen's able to sync up to his rather shut in close personality. To him Allen is a fresh sight to have in his vicinity, he does not ask much, he'll only spill things necessarily according to how close he is to someone, and most important of all, he respected Yuri's personal space and opinion. Considering how full of loathe and disrespect is the sorcery world that he spent his life in Allen is a blessing to have, but now his desire of bringing Allen into his world has turned into such a painful experience for the poor lad. He observed the young brown haired man, something in his eyes has changed, Yuri could tell that gears are turning inside Allen's mind as Allen just sits there silently.
"...."
—-------------------------
Vanessa Ramirez is a mother of 3, works as an assistant shop manager for a small convenience store in a small suburbs outside of chicago, she admits she is not young anymore by any means but still have quite the spirit that could burst anytime and right now she is beyond worried sick. It has been days since she have heard from her precious first born son. Normally she would not be this worried, as Allen has informed her that he can only text her once a week and that was if he was even lucky due to how busy he is. But this time it's different, last week he told her that he is going to lodged an entry to get a day off from his job, residing at a good friend's place for the day because he is granted a generous access to their internet so that he could spend some quality time with her to catch up with everything that has been happening with her and his 2 sisters back home.
Naturally, she is very excited to hear the news. As the day approaches she got more and more excited, although things has turned for the worst in the early stage of her life it has started to look up. She can't wait to be able to tell that Allen don't have to send as much money that he does ever since he left to the city after she got promoted to the position as the manager at the convenience store she has been working at, she can only imagine the hell that her dear son has to go through just to be able to send money to support their family of 4. She wanted him to be able to enjoy himself more with more money leftover, but, as the day came there is no such call from Allen.
An unusual feat of him considering he usually would leave a text message ahead of time to let her know that he won't be coming. But that is fine, he is quite busy as an employee of an enterprising huge company after all. A week passed by, there is still no news from Allen. By this time, Vanessa has started to grow antsy and realised there is something wrong. There is still no word from her son, she sent him texts after texts of messages but none of them are seen, she ringed quite a few times only to hear a voicemail telling her that his phone is not active and that raised a huge red flag for her. Her son never turns off his phone.
At this point she had enough, fearing something may have happened with Allen she decides to dial 911 but, as her finger come close to the dial up button her phone rings startling her slightly. An unknown number…who could it be..? Not knowing what to do, she calms herself, telling herself to act accordingly to whatever the owner of number wants from her. She picks up, a familiar voice.
"Mom…?"
"A-Allen?! Dear heavens! W-what happened to you?! A-are you okay?!"
"Yes yes…everything's fine…i just uh…had a freak accident when i was on my way to my friend's place and i broke my phone in the process.."
"An Accident?! Did you get hurt? Should i came over with Nina and Mia to see you?"
"No! I- i mean no..there is no need..it's just a scratch hehe.."
"Oh…are you eating well at least..?"
"I held up just fineeee, look, i gotta go, i'm sorry i can't stay for long but work is calling"
"O-oh…it's ok…be safe okay?"
"Yeah of course! You too as well" Allen closed the call. Vanessa felt slightly disappointed but she finally can breathe a sigh of relief. The past few days has been quite a worrisome hell for her, that goes for Nina and Mia as well. She wanted to tell him the news directly but for now a text will do, she still have to attend her motherly duty after all.
--------------------
"Are you ready?" Yuri asks, his arms folded as Allen give his phone back as he nodded.
"Yeah…where are we going to go from here?"
"China…" Yuri smirks.