Читать книгу MODERN MAGICS - Tianyu (Tony) Zhu - Страница 9

Lightning whipped through the dark sky and briefly lit up the dark clouds, whose rain, gentle just a few minutes before, transformed into a full-scale rainstorm, battering heavily against the canopies of the pedestrians’ umbrellas.

Sapphire’s heart pulsed frantically as some scattered, scrambling in search for dry shelter. Her identity -- along with the blood dripping down her face -- was now more noticeable. Some faces even stole glances at her from their dark umbrellas as she was passing by. Sapphire ducked her head down further, trying to cover her face with her hood.

Through the crowd, Sapphire spotted the words “WitchBrew”, a conventional chain grocery store in Novati and various other cities. It was a surprise seeing one out here in such a poor sector of the city.

She wanted to buy supplies, but it was risky to leave the crowd. It would open up the possibility of the stalker seeing her, and after her second encounter with him, she was in no condition to fight.

But, on the other end, the slow and steady stream of blood from the gash running down her face warned her of a more dangerous risk. Waiting for the morning to come could save her from possible fights, but would also very likely result in her losing too much blood and passing out somewhere, where she would be left utterly defenceless.

Sapphire checked her remaining pocket. She sighed out a breath of relief. The stolen wallet was still there. It was the other side of her jacket that had been sliced off by his blade.

With that, she made up her mind. She started squeezing through the crowd, passing along various “excuse me”s to whomever she pushed past. After a few more shoves, she arrived at WitchBrew’s front door.

Although the curtains were already drawn shut, the neon “Open” sign was lit. Sapphire came into the shop and shut the door behind her swiftly. The loud bang of the door scared the young cashier at the corner on the far end into attention.

“Oh! Uh, hello. You’re coming in pretty late.” She said, while readjusting her cap with the company logo and straightening out her short, mouse brown hair.

Sapphire looked at the clock, which read 2:38 AM, approximately two hours after she had checked into the hostel.

“I won’t waste too much of your time.” Sapphire said with her head held down, covering her face with her clothes in fear of being recognized. She quickly got to the point, “Grab me a first aid pack please.” She lifted up her hood, revealing her wet hair, as well as the dark red, bleeding gash on her pale forehead.

The cashier’s eyes widened briefly before she nodded and walked into the storage room behind her.

While Sapphire waited for her return, she picked out a few packs of snacks for the road ahead. With the situation she was in now, she was not sure when her next meal could be, definitely not in a restaurant like before, where she was caught in the first place.

Sapphire lifted the bloodstained sleeves of her torn jacket and examined her arms. With the expulsion of that much magic in so little amount of time, it would be a day or two before she replenished all of it. Until then, she just needed to hope she didn’t encounter someone like him again.

Next time, she might not be as lucky as she was tonight.

Five minutes passed, then ten, and Sapphire was starting to get impatient.

“Hey, did you find it yet?” Sapphire yelled over the countertop.

She was met with no response, it was silent except for the raindrops on the ceiling.

A sudden sense of dread washed over Sapphire as she realised what had just happened.

She turned to run for the exit, but it was too late. A loud noise sounded through the tiled ceiling above her and one of them abruptly split in half and fell to the ground from some mysterious force. Moments later, a familiar black figure dropped down from the ceiling, who then quickly cut the chains holding the rusty metal shutters up, making them collide onto the window frames with a deafening crash.

“You just don’t know when to give up, do you?” The stalker said softly as he turned around and pulled his longswords out of the cracked tile floor, pointing them straight at her. Sapphire took a moment to finally get a clear look at his face. He had white hair that went down to his shoulders, a sure sign of a purebred member of the Anaroths, an offspring of two separate Royal families. Under his cloak was a muscular build, as expected of Anaroth, with a bare stubble of beard on his chin. At first glance, he looked like an older version of Sapphire’s dreadful older cousin in his mid-twenties, Ethan, which was a connection she did not enjoy making. She didn’t want to ever see the face of her moronic cousin again.

Sapphire sprang away from him in an attempt to reach the room behind her. She knew that the front door behind him was completely inaccessible now, and the only possible escape would be through some kind of exit built into that storage room.

To her surprise, she managed to make it past the threshold of the front room without him catching up, was she faster than he expected? As she ran into the corridor leading into the storage room and closed the door behind her, Sapphire looked to her left and saw the cashier lying limply on a pile of boxes, either unconscious or dead after an attack by the stalker.

Sapphire ignored her slight urge to check on the limp cashier, knowing that she did not have the time with him right behind her. In the dim lights, Sapphire could barely make out the handle in front of her that led into the storage room. She gulped as she put her hand on it, this was it, if there were no exits in this room then… she didn’t want to think about what would happen after she was forced back into the Royal House.

Sapphire gripped the handle and turned it. A bright light shined into her face as the door opened. She braced herself to run for the door, whichever side of the wall it was on. As the door completely opened, Sapphire sprinted into the bright storage room, filled with boxes of shelved goods. But her speed didn’t last, as she stopped in the middle of the room, her heart fell in disbelief and despair as she saw the enclosed concrete walls around her, with no exit in sight. Behind her, she heard the door she closed seconds before being kicked open.

“Good attempt, but your escape ends here.” The stalker said in his low voice as he too, entered the room, walking closer and closer to Sapphire as she unconsciously backed away in fear, even though she wanted to stand up and face him. It was as if he entirely knew her circumstances, how much better he was compared to her, how the difference between the levels of their experiences would doom her to this situation. Sapphire couldn’t do anything as he came right in front of her, cornering her between two walls, and leveled his blade to her throat.

Her mind finally unfroze as death was staring at her right in the face and quickly made her realise her stupidity. A million plans of escape flashed through her mind at that very moment, but in the end, none of them could disarm the immediate threat, a mere inch away from ending her life.

With that, Sapphire slowly held up her hands in surrender, humiliated and defeated.

“Good.” He said, and turned her around and pushed her front into a wall. Sapphire looked back to see him taking a pair of handcuffs out from his back pocket with his remaining free hand. She could tell they were unusual just by looking at them. An invisible aura surrounded the cuffs, making her want to shrink away by instinct. He took both of Sapphire’s wrists and bound them together behind her back. She yelped as a new sensation coursed through her. An unwelcome and unnatural feeling, as if parts of her brain has just been shut off.

“Anti-magic equipment.” He said as a response to her gasp, “To make sure you won’t try anything.”

He finally lifted his hand off of Sapphire’s back, only to yank her by the chains of the cuffs back to the entrance, where he had her wait as he lifted the shutters that he had closed just a few moments ago.

“Act natural, unless you want your name ruined even more in the media.” He whispered and picked up Sapphire’s torn jacket from the ground, which he draped over her shoulders to hide her handcuffs.

The sound of rain against the umbrellas and the chatters in the streets resumed immediately as he lifted the shutters.

“Would you please,” He gestured for Sapphire to go out as he held the metal gate on his shoulder. She ducked under his arm and walked out into the streets again. The thought of escape briefly flashed through Sapphire’s head again before she put it away, realising how stupid that would be under her conditions.

As they passed by the entrance of the grocery store, he picked up an umbrella from a stand and ripped its price tag off. Opening the umbrella, the stalker guided me into the crowd, seamlessly blending into the scene.