The door slammed shut behind me after I passed through. My two targets had already walked a block ahead, leaving several dozen people in a crumpled state in their wake. I never really much cared for the other people in this town, a scarce amount of them ever treated me decently. Despite that, seeing this level of disregard for others, and knowing that Buchanan was rolling with the person responsible for this got the heat building in my chest. I start running my way over to catch up with them, once they’re in earshot I inhale until it hearts and yell at the top of my lungs. “Hey teach! Where you going?! I brought you your lunch!”

I kick off my shoes with all my might as Buchanan turns around and sprint toward him with laser focus. The bastard turns around and casually slaps both of them away with his cane, then he taps his cane on the street, shooting magis charged seeds into the earth below. Alina warned me all about that trick though. Interesting as his style is, I’ve got intel and I’m ready for him. I start to top out my speed and watch the ground around him until I’m in range. The asphalt is cracked about twenty feet in front of me, time to boost.

It’s looking like I’ve placed my bets correctly as roots shoot out of the ground to try and snag me as I approach the site of the cracks. The problem is, I’ve already blasted off by the time they completely sprout. With a fresh technique from the Thompson playbook of body horror, I blow my legs up and torpedo my way into feeding range. Buchanan’s eyes looked like they were about to burst out of his skull! I flip forward and reform my legs just in time to plant them both right into the creep’s chest. Damn that felt nice. I put my right hand at my brow, and peer over cheekily as I watch the bitch sail down the road. I assume he stayed conscious because his gross plant hair tried to dig into the ground to slow him down. That all comes to a stop when he collides with the fire hydrant though. I catch his hat and cane that got lifted from where he stood when I launched him. “You forgot these!” I taunt, focusing magis into my grip to snap his stupid cane in two before frisbee-ing his gaudy hat. The hydrant was damaged from the impact, so I got a nice little bonus watching water get perpetually barfed onto our ex-mentor who just got bodied by a remedial student.

“How unceremonious.” Big red jingle hood guy gestured to the defeated botanist. “After the body count, he reported leaving behind here, and the amount of damage the youngest lord of House Grannus inflicted before being slain, he’d given me the impression that he was nigh-untouchable to the swill filling the gene pool here. It was only on that condition that I allowed Lord Buchanan to accompany me in the retrieval.”

I ignore the long-winded lug and start walking to puke-cannon to go make sure he doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve. Once I tie him up and bust up his hands, I’ll make him beg everyone for forgiveness once he comes to. A familiar tap of the foot goes off in my ears, I jump to the side as I whip around. In the position I was just standing asphalt had oiled itself to about waist height.

“Yeah sorry, I’ve seen that one before. I’d rather not. Listen, you really haven’t gotten on my nerves yet. I would take advantage of that and plan your escape route while I handle your little escort. I promise of you stick around the only thing you’re going to retrieve is a beating. Then after that I’m gonna make you kiss the feet of every single surviving person that you and your goons affected today. So, unless you’ve got some sort of fetish…” I turn my back on him. He seems the arrogant type, let’s see how he handles trash talk.

The answer is, not well at all. I feel the spittle hitting the back of my shirt as he belts out “Boy! Do you know who you are speaking to?! You are in the presence of the heir of the very air you breathe! The very land beneath your feet! You should be on your knees, just like every last vermin that has laid eyes upon my majesty this day! Now bow.”

I face him, in disbelief of the garbage that just grazed my ears. Taking the time to examine the man finally and size him up. About 6’4”, toned but not crazy jacked. Dark hair and porcelain skin with runic tattoos running along both arms. He had to be wearing about seven necklaces, all silvered, with a ring on each finger, each bearing a different stone. How this rube hadn’t been mugged yet, especially with that mouth of his I’ll never know. The ink around his wrist emanates a purple hue like the stone on his pinky ring. Looks like he’s too lazy to learn and incantation, or practice enough to not need them anymore. I notice in the corner of my eye some people that were kneeling before were laying flat now, some of them groaning weakly. After recognizing a few, my teeth grind involuntarily.

“No, I don’t know who you are. Also, knock that shit off whatever you’re doing. My actual landlord is on the floor over there and his health is waning as it is.” I make eye contact with Lloyd, who manages to muster the strength to flip me off. Hang in there, old timer.

He’s furious, and somewhat panicked looking back and forth between me, his casting setup, and the people on the ground. “Why? Why aren’t you on the floor like the rest of them?!” He strains to crank up this gravity-like effect. Screw it, I already asked him to stop.

While the pompous punk is preoccupied, I lunge in and snatch at his pinky, snapping it to his right to make an L-shape. He lets out a howl in agony. Truth be told I didn’t mean to put that much sauce on it, but after a moment I realize that blue smoke is drifting out of my pores again. I’m not in any distress but for some reason I’m amped up like that one time with Wyatt. Oh well, now I’m feeling even better about the situation, and some people begin to rise to their feet.

“Suffer!” He rages, bringing forth his other hand, this time it the ring on the pointer finger sparks up a lightning bolt. I instinctively guard with my palms and use my magis to redirect the arc into the ground. His eyes light up before he raises the earth beneath his feet with the black stoned ring on his thumb. He looks down from about thirty feet above and begins to chuckle. “Now things are starting to make sense! It was you all along, my quarry, my birthright.”

“I don’t know what you’re on about, but you better get down from there and let me finish this or get out of here if you’ve wizened up.” I muse once again.

“The Objection. The one thing that has plagued my line for millennia in our pursuit of union with the maiden! I’ve been conditioned since birth to put an end to your ilk and bring my bloodline to the apex of all magia!”

I charge up my arms and legs, all that talking gave me plenty of time to get comfortable with this surge of power and get ready to drop this guy. “I don’t remember crashing any weddings, but if all of that is true… Sorry to say but it doesn’t look like you’ve met expectations.” I send a roundhouse into the pillar, toppling the whole thing. “Send mom and pop my regards though!” I wait the idiot to fall down straight into the uppercut I had loaded up for him, but he must have caught his second wind. The pillar clings to his palm and he uses it like a battering ram straight into my chest. It sends me sliding back as my body buckles under the weight.

I focus with everything I’ve got and muster up the strength to crush the beam of earth caving in my chest. Breathing’s tough now, that’s one, two, four ribs. I could already feel the damage reversing though, Wyatt sure knew his stuff. It’s like my body is amped up to resist change. As long as I don’ take too much damage I-

Pain shoots through my back and out of my chest. I can’t breathe. I look down and barbed vines are protruding through my chest. Fuck. I should’ve double-tapped that bastard…

I look back and a craven faced Buchanan has his mane installed into my respiratory system. Seriously?! I was creaming these guys with the stuff I learned.I’m starting to fade and… damn it, I promised Wyatt.

“Boy! You better get up! Damn it!"

“Tyson!!!”

My bad Lloyd, I got too cocky… I’m so sorry. I lament mediocrity as my body starts to slump over. I could practically hear Alina crying out to me. Sorry to leave you guys like this, hopefully the next me will be able to make a difference.