The Heroes' Guild

Viktorya saw a Chimera, which turned into a serpent, then a dragon.

She saw a woman with true white skin, freckled in card suits, and a man in a green cloak, a card thrown from his hand.

She saw Mandie, dressed in white, jumping toward a Dark Mage, sword in hand.

People she didn’t know, but recognized as Masters. One of them was on that team with Mandie and Catherine.

Jon, Val, Herself.

A horde of creatures.

“This has been the age of superheroes for a long time…”

Weapons, swords mostly.

Royalty.

Music?

Debris.

A drone.

And then she was awake.

Harold checked the photos again. He didn’t know much about Magek, but Wise hadn’t led him astray yet.

“Mom!” he finally called.

“What is it, sweetie?” she asked, walking up behind him.

“He’s on the forums again,” Camera snitched.

“Those people aren’t as smart as they might seem, and significantly less trustworthy,” mom reminded him.

Harold gave her a stare that communicated he knew all of that already.

“And I will keep reminding you until you stop going on the forums,” she assured him.

“Wise has always been helpful,” Harold insisted, “Like right now.”

He pulled up the post. The images weren’t great, but there was an explanation underneath.

“See how the darkness grows on the serpent, then disappears after the Ember Phoenix purifies it? It’s Dark Magek, I’m sure of it.

“This has happened at every Elementals event for the past month, maybe longer. I can only hope they’re working on a cure.”

Mom took Harold’s hand.

“You don’t have anything like that on you.”

“I wasn’t infected,” he pointed out, “I was cursed.”

His mother stared at the images, and the statements, and the username.

“WiseWinter111,” she said, “You trust this person?”

“They haven’t steered me wrong yet.”

“Yet.”

“It’s worth checking out, letting Tetra know, maybe.”

Mom watched him.

“Should I be worried about how often you want me to talk to someone who could reactivate your curse?”

“She’s the one who put anti-magek runes around the house, so I don’t have to worry about it.”

“You do have to worry about it,” Mom corrected, “Because no matter how hazy the specifics get, you remember the pain you felt when that curse was active.”

He did.

“That’s why I want to make sure the animals aren’t hurt anymore. The Elementals already had to kill a few that wouldn’t calm down.”

Mom put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll call her.” Mom looked up, “Camera!”

The sound of ringing surrounded the room, only to be swiftly picked up.

“Catherine, m’dear, how have you been?” Victoria said.

“You’re on speakerphone,” Harold said, “Camera’s here too.”

“If our little conscience is there, I suspect it might be for the same purpose I planned to call you. His forums must have caught on to the Elementals’ antics.”

“Exactly!”

“So is it Dark Magek?” Mom asked.

“Yes, and our royal pains have finally asked for a meeting to discuss it. I wanted to ask for your accompaniment.”

“Why me?”

“Because if a Master and a Wizard are both struggling to find a way to stop this, a xenologist may be just the perspective we need.”

Harold looked at his mother as desperately as possible. If this was a problem of xenology, he’d be a great extra set of eyes.

“With that much magek?” Catherine whispered.

“The drone’s fine around Tetra.”

“Tetra and at least one other Mage, not to mention some lingering Dark Magek.”

“I’ll meet you at the café a block from the Quartz institute,” Victoria said, “You already forwarded the coordinates of the meeting, so prepare appropriately.”

Mom’s pupils grew smaller looking through her messages. If Harold focused, he could tell what she was looking at, like the exact latitude and longitude of their meeting space.

“I’ll let you know when I get there.”

Mom looked at him in a way that made him cower.

“You saw the location, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Harold admitted.

“And I can’t stop you from sending a drone there?”

“Correct.”

Mom sighed.

“I’m having Aunt Mandie teach us psychic defenses. This is getting dangerous for both of us.”

Harold beamed.

“I’ll take a small drone in my jacket,” Mom agreed, “And you won’t say anything to the Elementals until I say you can. If this turns out to be a bad idea for us, you’re the one who needs to call the rest of the team.”

Harold nodded. He would share any relevant information even if Mom and Victoria weren’t in danger.

“Go out and make sure the drone’s ready. I need to change in here.”

“Thank you!” Brit all but yelled into her microphone, causing it to peak, “Sorry, got a little excited there. We have been the Radi8s and we’re happy to introduce—” the audience cheered too loud for Bree to hear the name. She didn’t really care about their headliners anyways, so it wasn’t too much of a loss.

They took down their set as the other band started setting up. Bela made a bit of a show of handing her drumsticks over to the band’s drummer, who took them reverently.

“What was that about with the drumstick transfer?” Bree asked once their mics were safely removed.

“He broke his drumsticks while we were practicing together, so I told him he could borrow mine after our set. He insisted we do it on stage, said it would drum up intrigue in the bands’ relationship.”

“Bel, you painted those yourself,” Brit said, “That’s like homemade brownies, except seven times more intimate.”

“And I’ll paint a new set if I don’t get them back, so what?”

“Are you doing more than just practice with him?” Bree asked, “Because I’m pretty sure he wants to do more than just practice.”

“Are you why we got asked to open for them?” Brit asked, “You told us you knew their drummer when we got invited.”

“I’m going to kill you both.”

“What happens if you dump him on the road?” Bree asked, “Do we get fired? Or does it just end up being an awkward bus?”

Bela looked like she was about to explode.

The guitar stopped, then the bass, then the vocals.

“What the fuck is that?”

Finally the drums stopped.

The girls moved just enough on stage to look up and see a kaiju rampaging toward the venue.

“I think the answer to our frontman’s question is that’s Godzilla,” Bree insisted.

Bela reached her hand out, putting a large forcefield between the audience and the creature.

“Brit, Bree,” Bela said, floating up in another forcefield, “You guys may need to win a fight.”

Bree rubbed her hands together, building a small ball of radiation before looking at Brit.

“Ready to fly?”

Tesla Coil and Tetra landed in a seemingly random clearing.

Does this look like any photos posted on the forum? Coil sent through the drone.

Like them, yes. I don’t know if this is a known location though.

“What does the Voice of Reason say?” Tetra asked.

“Don’t mention his presence to the Elementals,” Coil requested, quietly, “Apparently though, this particular location hasn’t been recorded on the forums, and my source says forum members are incredibly resourceful.”

“Comforting,” Tetra noted, “Hundreds of people trying to discover our private lives are resourceful.”

“Makes you glad Heroic Theorists are even less popular than Conspiracy Theorists.”

Their discussion ended just in time for two statues of metal to appear, one a woman in thick clothes with curly hair, and the other an elf in armor that didn’t lose the copper sheen when the metal receded into their gauntlet.

“Tesla Coil,” Wizard Sylvan said, “I would have assumed your technological ability would make you resent Magek.”

Tesla Coil shook her head. Movies had gotten to the Elementals apparently.

“I was told a xenologist might be helpful.”

“A xenologist?”

“Power researcher,” the Ember Phoenix explained before turning to Tetra, “Good call.”

“Pray tell, your highnesses,” Tetra said with no further formality, “Where is the knight of Six Kingdoms.”

“We thought four of us would be too much. Lotus is our closest expert, and if another creature appeared, I wanted to be available to purify it.”

“So Phoenix Fire can curb the infection?”

“If it’s not too far gone.”

“Why meet here?” Coil asked.

“We thought you might want to see one of the portals.”

“Portals?” Tetra asked, “They’re coming through portals?”

“And we haven’t been able to remove them.”

Tesla Coil went through a mental list of every location. If every creature had come through a portal that was still around…

“I’ve put wards around all of them,” Wizard Sylvan said, “To make sure we don’t miss any creatures that sneak through on either side.”

Tetra prompted the Elementals to guide them.

Wizard Sylvan turned around, reaching a hand out to reveal a large black circle suspended in the air.

Tetra began walking toward it, but Coil stopped her.

“One of us isn’t a mage,” she reminded.

She finally pulled the small drone out of her pocket, letting it join her as she looked closer.

The circle was made of writing in the same alphabet Tetra sometimes wrote in.

You feeling okay? Tesla Coil asked.

No effects to my person. The energy reads like Dark Magek.

Now assured of her son’s safety, she tapped the side of her mask, activating a sensor that gave her pretty much the same information he had, but with better specifics.

A closer look proved that it was written in the same alphabet Tetra drew her rare circles in. Coil didn’t recognize most of the words.

Can you read this? Harold had been researching anything he could find on Magek in his free time.

Can I forward it to Wise? They seem to know the language.

We’re not sharing confidential information with a forum frequenter whose identity we don’t know.

Okay.

I’ll send it to Tetra.

She took a step back, made sure every word was clear, and sent the image to Tetra’s phone. Buying it for her was the bast investment she ever made.

A few minutes after a familiar ding, Tetra was next to her.

“What are you—”

Tetra slashed through the densest section with her sword. The circle disappeared.

“That’s where the reinforcement was hidden.”

“Reinforcement?”

“Runes tend to fail or fade after awhile, especially without any actual surface to build on. People who can’t hire a wizard use a series of runes that don’t significantly interfere with the effect to keep them active for longer. People who don’t want this effect to be obvious hide them behind a band of ink, or lingering Magek in this case.”

“That didn’t work when we tried it,” Wizard Sylvan said, “Even concentrated Phoenix Fire didn’t break it.”

“Of course not,” Tetra said, “Purifying as it may be, Phoenix Fire is still Magek for it to absorb. You need something that counters Magek and Dark Magek alike,” She gestured slightly with her sword before returning it to its sheathe.

“You wield one of the seven?” the Ember Phoenix asked, watching the sword intently, “Can I get a closer look at it?”

“Not a good idea,” Tesla Coil warned, recalling her allies’ damaged hands, “It’s fussy.”

“Understood.”

“But one of the seven can counteract this?” Wizard Sylvan asked.

“So long as you know where to attack,” Tetra confirmed.

Sylvan looked at the Ember Phoenix, who looked uncomfortable.

“I advise you play your political hand if you can access another weapon,” Tetra said, “I can’t handle this alone.”

“I’ll look into any mortal methods of disenchantment,” Coil offered.

“What of the Dark Mage?” Tetra asked.

“We haven’t found any sign of them beyond the portals.”

“Can you send all known portal locations to us?” Coil asked.

“You’ll have to take charge of putting out fires,” Tetra warned, “But we’ll do our best to handle the source.”

The Elementals looked confused.

“It’s not that we think you should be doing what you’re doing,” Tesla Coil explained, “But we respect your skill, and know it would be better put to use than stopped at the moment.”

Tetra nodded in agreement.

“I may request further discussion on the subject once this problem is dealt with,” she warned.

“We’ll get the info for you,” the Ember Phoenix promised.

“And we’ll start gathering resources.”

Jon Hunter woke up to an empty bed. He could tell Viktorya was at the desk, frantically drawing.

“The last thing we need is a prophecy,” he muttered under his breath as he walked up behind her.

He didn’t touch her at all. The drawing was almost complete, so he watched the corner for when she finally wrote any name it might have.

“Guild,” he read aloud as she dropped the pencil.

The drawing was incredibly detailed, the kind that usually became one of Viktorya’s paintings, if only to discern the actual details.

“Mandie’s here,” she pointed at a woman in a white dress with a staff and braided hair.

Jon pointed at the whole group around her.

“All her allies are here, except the Berserker kid.”

He recognized a few more faces from the news, and a few animals from mythology.

“Is it going to end well?” he asked.

Viktorya shrugged.

“Want to join me on an excursion tomorrow morning?”

Jon spun her chair slightly to show it was already morning.

“Can you call your sister for an excursion this afternoon?” she amended.

“I can call.”