Work Text:
Chapter 53- Searching The Rubble
Part 1- Searching the rubble
Liz, Bip, and Alex walked down the old mostly uninhabited cobblestone streets. Alex stretched his arm out above his head as he let out a long yawn.
“Don’t be like that,” Liz said in an annoyed tone.
“Like what?” Alex replied as he rubbed his sunken eyes.
“All tired, you’re the one who wanted to get into it asap. Besides, it’s nine o’clock, barely even that early.”
The group came to a stop as they reached the crumbled Ora building. The sound of workers going about their business behind the tape cordoning off the area filled the air. The worker closest to them turned around from his task, revealing himself to be the man from the day before.
“Hey, kids! What did I tell you yesterday, don’t make me call a guild to take care of you,” The man yelled?
Liz, Bip, and Alex turned to see the man staring at them with an irate glare. Liz stomped over to the man, ducking under the tape and reaching deep into her pocket. She pulled out a small box and held it up to the man. He looked on in confusion for a moment before Liz flicked her finger across a small latchet on the box, letting it flip open and revealing a guild medallion inside.
“Good news… their already here.”
The man's jaw dropped as he looked at the medallion, glancing between it and Liz's face over and over.
“Yo… You’re Mages? but you’re just a couple of kids and a flying rat,” the man stammered.
“Who are you calling a rat,” Bip said as him and Alex ducked under the tape and joined Liz.
“Oh ahh… sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you… I just didn’t know you lot where mage’s,” the man stammered awkwardly. “Please do whatever it is you’re here for, don’t let me get your way.”
Liz flipped the box closed before returning it to her pocket.
“That’s more like it,” said Liz.
Alex walked past Liz, squatted down and began to shifted through the rubble intently. He looked up to the rest of the work sight, seeing a massive pile ahead of him.
“This is gonna take forever, no way we’re gonna be able to find anything in all of this,” said Alex before turning to face the man. “You wouldn’t have found any interesting in all this? What about you’re coworkers?”
“Interesting? Nah nothing that id call interesting, a couple of old documents but other than that....”
“Documents? where are they?” Alex asked, standing back up and turning walking over to the man.
“All that stuff gets put in the big bin and thrown out every night.”
“Damn it, guess we gotta search through all of this after all then.”
“Sorry if I'm intruding too much but… I've got to ask, is this all to do with the curse?”
Liz, Alex, and Bip all looked at the man inquisitively for a moment.
“Curse? You mean the one that’s taking all the children away?” asked Liz.
“Yeah, that one. The city's been completely miserable ever since it all started and no one knows what to do about it. the way I figure it, a couple of mages show up in the middle of all this then they’ve gotta be investigating it.”
Alex turned his head away and clenched his fist tightly as he tried to ignore his desire to follow up on the mysterious curse.
“Sorry to burst your bubble but we’re here for our own reasons, someone else is gonna have to help you out with all that. Besides if you believe in all that then shouldn’t you be afraid of talking about the curse or something”
“Course I believe it, it took one of my buddy’s away a week ago… he hasn’t been back to work since. Not a problem for me never had time to make any young ones so not much it can do to touch me." he chuckled.
Liz glanced across to Alex, a hint of frustration behind her eyes before looking back to the man.
“Sorry we can’t be of more help, you could always submit a request to a guild. I'm sure someone would be happy to come out here and help you out… for a reward of course,” Liz said kindly.
“We’ve already done that,” the man replied.
The group's ears perked up as they heard the man's words.
“You have? And no one’s come to help?” asked Bip, in a confused tone.
“Not a soul. A bunch of others and I petitioned the premier to get help, even managed to find room in the budget for a big cash reward but no one’s come to claim it yet.”
Liz began to scratch her chin in confusion as she turned once again to look at Alex who continued to shuffle through the rubble, pretending not to be listening to the conversation.
Part 2- No Time For Rest
The group walked down the now dimly lit streets of the city. The silence was broken only by the hum of nearby cicades and the sound the group's feet being dragged along behind their weary bodies. Liz looked up to the stary sky and let out a long groan, breaking the quite.
“That was exhausting… I can't believe you made me do all that work, not to mention we don’t even have anything to show for it,” Liz complained, her head still aimed at the sky.
Silence once again filled the air as Liz once again let out a long sigh. She waited for a moment for a response before lowering her head and looking across to Alex. He looked down at the ground as they walked with his fingers raised to his chin clearly deep in thought.
“Alex… Alex!” Liz yelled
Alex shook his head as he snapped out of his concentration
and turned to look at Liz.
“Huh… oh right, yeah… sorry what did you say?” stammered Alex.
“What’s the matter? You haven’t seemed like yourself since we started searching through the debris, so what up?”
“Nothing really… just been thinking, you know about the whole curse business. it’s just… do you really think that no one’s come down here to help these people out? I mean sure it’s a bit of a way’s out sure but do you really think no mage was willing to make the journey but if there was money on the line surely someone would take the job? It just doesn’t add up.” Alex replied
Liz looked down to the ground and thought on Alex's words for a few moments before glancing back up to him.
“I guess not, what are you getting at exactly though?”
“I’m not sure exactly, jut got a hunch that somethings not quite right here. This is a pretty big city right, there’s probably an outpost for the Guild Of The Silver Sun somewhere around here. I know it’s getting late but would you mind if we go pay them a visit, I think that we’ll be able to get some answer’s there.”
Liz smiled at Alex.
“Ha… are you kidding me, I’ve got plenty of energy left, besides I’ve wanted to do some investigating about this whole curse thing anyway.”
Alex returned Liz smile.
“Come on, let’s go find that outpost.”
The group continued to walk through the night, turning a corner and heading to search for the outpost.
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TO BE CONTINUED
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Thanks you for reading Chapter 52 of Mage. If you like what you see please consider dropping a Kudos and maybe checking out the rest of my work. Also for any updates or if you just wanna see my cosplay adventure please consider follwing my tumblr here https://www.tumblr.com/blog/50funny and until next time have a good one.