Chapter Text
Beyond the sky, beyond reality, laid the realm beyond. A strange world full of stars, each one a reality in of itself. This is the realm of beings lower forms of life would call gods.
One such so called god soared through this realm. A being of heat and fire, it flew amongst the realties in peace. For all who saw the godly beast knew of its nature. So long as heat and life existed within a single reality, it could not die.
So it kept flying, its mighty wings shooting out the flames of life with every beat. How could it know it would soon get just a bit too close to a reality much like our own? That it would soon inadvertently cause the rise of a champion?
At the same time, two men stood around a table centered within a large stone chamber. On the floor around the table was a circle of carved runes.
The older of the men was draped in white plain robes and had an eye patch over his left eye. His skin was old and wrinkled, and his hair was a long mane of gray tied together in a neat tail.
The younger of the two was dressed in modern burgundy suit with a black shirt underneath. His skin had a sun-kissed tan and atop his hair was crown of bleached hair. He glared at the old man who kneeling down to inspect the runes.
“For your own sake, This had better work. I’ve put too much money into to this project for it to fail now,” he grumbled as the old man rose to his feet.
“And both your investment and faith will be rewarded young master,” the old man placed his hand on the stone table. “I have been waiting my entire life to witness this. I will not fail to fulfill my dream when it’s so close,”
The young man frowned as he glanced down at the runes on the floor. “I’m not going to claim to be an expert on magic, but I guess I do have one question. You said this great flame last appeared thirty six years ago, and it could take hundreds of years for it to show up again. Why give it to me? Why not take the power for yourself?”
The old man barked out a laugh.
“That is a good question young master,” his laughter died down as he gestured towards himself. “And it’s quite simple. I am too old. I learned of the flame when I first laid eyes on it all those years ago. I put my entire life into finding a way to bond it to a human soul. By the time I realized the kind of strain the bonding would take, I was far too old to risk such a thing,”
“Let me guess, you figured it was better to bond someone else’s soul than to kill yourself trying it?” the young man sneered.
“Close,” The old man looked at his old withered hand. “I realized I would rather use my research to give someone else power then see years of work wasted,”
“And that someone else being the son of mob boss isn’t a problem for you?” the younger man pointed out.
“Power leads to conflict,” the old man started droning, as though he had repeated these very words to himself countless times over the years. “Conflict leads to growth, and growth leads to power. That you plan to use these powers to rise above your father only means your powers will grow all the faster,” the old man gave the younger one a grandfatherly smile. “My only wish is to live long enough to see you as a phoenix reborn,”
“You won’t be disappointed, that I can promise you,” The young man glared daggers at the table he would be reborn on in just a few hours. “I’ll show you that you bet on the right horse,”
“Step right on everybody, do I have a show for you,” I gestured towards the crowd as a couple of tourists got close enough to become my lovely audience. It was time to give these folks a show.
“Watch the card,” I held up an ace of spades for the crowd to see. Had to make sure everyone’s eyes were on the card. Okay old man’s watching, obvious couple on honeymoon, family with young kid…
Yeah that was everyone. I had quite a few people today. With any luck that meant a bigger payout.
I placed the card back into deck and shuffled it in front of everyone as I worked my skills. I set the deck down as I picked someone from the crowd.
The dad would do. He looked like a fun kind of guy, and the kid would be convinced her dad had magic for at least a little while.
“Now, as you can all see all the cards are right here on the desk. And there’s nowhere else the ace could be,” I lifted my arms away from the cards to show them my palms and sleeveless arm. “But just maybe, the cards not on the table? Maybe it found a new home, elsewhere?”
I reached for my fiddler hat as I spoke and pulled it off my head. I showed them the red outside, and then the black inside. I reached into my hat and turned it inside out, then back around again.
“Now just what will I find?” I moved my fingers around before thrusting my hand into the hat. I made a show of moving my arms around and faked a look of confusion. “Well that’s odd, the card should be in here,”
I made sure to use a tone that got across that this was all part of the act without being too cheesy. Getting it down was harder then one might think.
“Why I think my card’s gone missing. Maybe it needs the magic touch of someone else?” I pretended to look over the crowd like I hadn’t decided who was going to do this as soon as the crowd finished forming. I took long enough before pointing right at the dad with the baseball cap and khaki shorts. “You sir,”
“Me?” he pointed at himself as a grin broke out onto his face. His wife rolled her eyes but smiled as his daughter started giggling.
“Yes you sir, there’s something about you that makes me think you just might have the magic touch I need,” I held the hat out for him. “Mind lending me a hand and trying to convince the card to come on out?”
“Sure why not?” he carefully reached into the hat and started feeling around before pulling out the ace from the start. “Is this it?”
“Why yes it is good sir,” I accepted the card and hat. I put the hat back on my head and placed the card next to the deck on the table. “And just to prove it’s the same card,”
I took the deck and flipped it over, laying the whole deck down for the crowd to see.
“As you can see, no ace to be seen except the one out of my hat,” I took my hat off again as I took a quick bow as the crowd started to clap. I put the hat on the table with the open side up.
“I’m here all day folks, but I’m going to be doing the same trick so I suggest finding something else to do in our fine city,” I pushed the hat a little bit forward. “And of course, donations are always welcome in my line of work,”
In the end, I made a decent haul. Tourists are always more willing to part with their cash than the general population. The dad who helped me even gave me a fifty. Money he probably considered well spent with how his daughter walked away demanding to know how he found the card.
I finished counting the cash and putting it in my wallet when I felt an arm on my shoulder.
“Make a good haul there Percy?”
I gulped and slowly turned around to see a man wearing a distinctive blue uniform.
Now, if I wanted to be technical, what I was doing was somewhat illegal. My little show had no permission from anybody to be here, so I was kind of loitering. But I was doing my show on the boardwalk with the open sea right in front of me and shops to my sides. And those shops appreciated having sideshows and attraction to attract more customers and keep them around longer. I wasn’t even the only street performer in sight.
Of course I couldn’t count on them for any help, because none of that mattered. I knew full well I wasn’t being stopped because I broke a law.
“Hey grandpa,” I nervously waved as I put my wallet into my pocket. “Yeah I might have made a dollar or two. My shows does really well you know,”
“Oh I know, but you know what would make you a lot more money?” he leaned over me, his tanned skin and gray moustache filling my vision.
“Is the answer going to school and…?” I started to say before he cut me off.
“Going to school and getting a degree,” he proudly declared.
Needless to say, I ended up in the passenger seat of a squad car a few minutes later.
“Why do I even have to go school?” I protested as grandpa started the car up. “I have a job, I have a way to earn money, what do I still need it for?”
“Because this… this magic. It’s not a real job Percy. It won’t put food on your table, it won’t support a family. And you look ridiculous while doing it too,”
“Hey I look amazing,” I argued as I gestured towards my outfit, a long sleeved burgundy shirt with a black half cape that reached my left elbow. Below the black belt were a pair of black slacks and polished shoes. And atop my head was my trusty fiddler’s hat, my own personal touch to the outfit.
“Your best bet is to go to school, graduate, and then get a real job,” my grandfather droned on, ignoring my point about my clothes. “Come on, your father and I have connections, we can get you through the police academy with no trouble,”
“I don’t want to be a cop,” I grumbled as I sunk back into my chair with my backpack over my chest. Grandpa glanced over at me for a second before looking back at the road.
“Well if you need another reason, there’s the fact that you’re fifteen and it’s illegal for you to not be in school,” he earned a chuckle out of me with that one. “Come on Percy, isn’t there anything that you like doing in school?”
“Well there was the drama club,” I looked out the window and sighed dramatically. “Ah the drama club, where I always had a stage to perform my tricks and a willing audience ready to watch in between rehearsals,”
“Well, there you go. Last time I checked, they don’t let kids with failing grades into clubs like that,” I smirked, my come back ready to go.
“Well the drama club closed down at the start of the year. It got shut down so the money could go to something called ‘future police captains of America’. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
I heard grandfather mutter something under his breath that sounded a lot like the name Nathen. Looked like Dad did have something to do with the drama club closing down after all.
We arrived at Fort Malkin High shortly afterwards. I got out of the car as grandpa walked me into the main building.
“Caught myself something on the boardwalk,” He explained to the receptionist. “Figured I’d bring him in,”
“Thank you officer,” She have him a cheerful smile before sending me a harsh glare. “We are currently in third period, I trust you will not need any help to find your way to class?”
“Of course I won’t,” I dipped my hat and headed towards a classroom I knew had nothing waiting for me.
Meanwhile in another place, a young man was staring out of an office building and into the city beyond.
“Mr. Valenti, you’re father has arrived. He does not know that you know he’s here,” a man standing at the door announced before leaving.
“Okay then, show time,” he took a deep breath before sitting down at his desk and doing his best to appear calm. A few minutes later, an old man with a cane walked into his office.
“Father,” the young man rose to his feet in faked surprise. “I didn’t know you were coming,”
“You weren’t supposed to,” The old man laughed as his son fought back a wince. That it had been so easy to get his father’s men to turn on him in his old age was just another sign of the rot that had been allowed to fester.
“I see, so what can I do for you today?” He walked over to his father and helped him to the sofa he kept in the center of the room. Once he was sure his father was comfortable, he took a seat in the chair across from him.
“Well it’s more like what you can do for me,” His father began to explain as he leaned in to hear him clearly. “I’ve been hearing things. Worrying things,”
“Well that’s not good, what kind of things?” He felt a cold sweat going down his back. Did his father know he’d started moving people over to his side?
“I’ve been hearing whispers that captains and lieutenants have been meeting without us. And these are no friendly gatherings of a few people. Last night alone, a quarter of our organization was gathered in a single building,”
“What do you think it means father?”
“What I think is that someone is gathering strength to depose me,” he sneered. “Personally I think its Julian. That boy was always too ambitious for his own good. Make sure to watch your back around him and keep your people close,”
The two kept talking about matters of family for a while more, of what to do if the father died, and a couple of connections to be used in emergencies. After about an hour, the father found himself needing to leave to deal with business elsewhere. The two of them made their farewells and soon the young man was watching his father enter his car and drive away.
As soon as he was out of sight, the young man rushed back up to his office and collapsed in his chair.
“So he still doesn’t know,” he muttered to himself. His fool of a father still thought the idiot Julian was the real threat. He had no clue that the one egging Julian on to make such obvious and flashy moves was none other than himself.
And once father was gone, and Julian attempted to seize power, he would be ready to usurp him in turn. The avenging son deposing his kin-slaying cousin.
And who would blame him for making sure he won his little battle with a little supernatural help?
Speaking of, he had to finish some paperwork if he wanted to be out of this office early enough. The ceremony had to be done as the sun set, and in these cool winter days, that didn’t leave much room for error.
At least the ceremony sight itself was close by in the very heart of the city. Who knew an abandoned industrial area owned by the family would come in handy like this?
He chuckled to himself as he put pen to paper. Since discovering of magic’s existence, everything had come up heads for Roberto Valenti.
I sighed as the teacher whose name I’d already forgotten droned on about… something. Honestly I forgot what class I was even in. Probably math if the number based decorations were any indications. Why was this guy even decorating his classroom like he was an elementary school teacher? Replacing two plus two with high school algebra didn’t make it look any less kiddy when they were still made out of bright bubble numbers.
The bell rang, releasing me from my torment. I walked out of the class ready to head back to boardwalk and make a bit more money before the day ended. At least, that had been my plan until a better opportunity arose.
“Hey Prax,” I stopped in the middle of the stairwell and looked up. There at the very top was a girl with bright pink hair done up in a ponytail. She jumped down the stairs two at a time until she caught up with me. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that you were gone all morning. You make any good cash out there?”
“You know I did Fair Vivi,” I bowed with my hat as my oldest friend rolled her eyes.
“Oh my god, where is your off switch?” She reached up for the top of my head as I started trying to fight her off. “Is it somewhere in here? Is that why you’re always wearing that dumb hat?”
I gasped in horror
“My hat is not dumb,” I took it off my head and spun it around a little. “This is a beautiful fiddler’s hat, a work of art,”
“Which is why you have at least six more like it in your room,” She pointed her finger at me in accusation.
“If it’s worth owning, it’s worth owning multiple backups of,” I grimaced as I remembered today’s magic trick which needed me to turn my hat inside out. “Especially with how much wear and tear they take during my acts,”
“Speaking of your act,” All of my attention zeroed in on Vivi as the rest of the world fell away. “I may have a little bit of an opportunity for you. I heard from one of the old theater kids that a bunch of them are meeting up kids from all over the city today. They’re going to do a kind of talent show, and the winner gets a hundred dollars,”
I let out a whistle.
“That is a lot of money for an event like that. Where is it?”
“Some abandoned industrial park, I know where it is and I can take you there. We have to leave now though, the whole thing starts at sundown,”
“Well what can I say, lead the way,” I smirked, never happier that I’d had the foresight to fill my backpack with magic supplies.
“Are you ready young master?” the old magi made sure the straps were carefully secured. There was no room for error tonight. “We will only have one shot at this,”
“I’ve been ready for years now,” Roberto starred at the ceiling above him as his rage burned ever cold. This thing that was giving him power, the old magi had called it a phoenix. What better symbol could there be for his rise?
He still remembered a time when their family was feared and respected. When he had been a child, he could walk from one end of the city to the other carrying a plate of gold and none would have dared touch him in fear of angering his father. Now fifteen years later, they were a shadow of their former selves.
And it was all thanks to a handful of cops who dared to still breathe.
With these powers, he would rise the Valenti family from the ashes. Their other families and the cops would fall at their feet once more. And he would make a point to hunt down the ones who destroyed his family and extract his revenge.
“It’s beginning young master,” The old magi announced as Roberto saw glowing red lights start to rise around him. Above his head a tear started to appear in space. His eyes widened as he looked beyond and saw infinity.
Infinity and for a split second, fire.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Despite Vivi’s promise of a willing audience, I found no such thing at the industrial park. Instead the whole place was empty. For the show to have been hidden from the outside was expected.
What I hadn’t been expecting was for us to not find anyone at all no matter how deep into the industrial park we went. We had even reached what must have been the sight of the show.
Between three of the buildings was an open space in the shape of an L. Near the walls were a set of tracks that led down the other alley and would have lead into the building if the door wasn’t sealed shut. On the tracks was a single train car kept in place by metal jammed into the wheels. The side facing had been opened and turned into a makeshift stage. In front of it were rows and rows of cheap seats that looked like they were taken out of one of the buildings.
And every single one of them was empty.
“Yeah, this is supposed to be it,” she glanced over at the sky and peered at the sun. “I don’t think we’re that early, this thing is supposed to start at sundown,”
“Well unless everyone’s extremely late, I think there might be something going on,” I climbed up onto the stage and looked over the seats. It was paltry compared to the old auditorium we called home, but it still would have been the biggest audience I had ever had to myself.
Now it was just another lost opportunity.
I sat down at the edge of the stage and sighed as the sound of someone stepping on metal caught my ears.
Vivi must have heard it to, because she rushed over to me and we both went silent and deadly still. I perked my ears as two sets of footsteps got a bit closer.
“You sure you heard someone from over here,” The first voice said.
“Not a hundred percent,” The other voice replied, they sounded like they were getting closer. “But you remember what the boss said, take no chances,”
“True, maybe it’s more of those brats?”
“You mean some latecomers? Maybe,” There was a slight pause before the voice started yelling. “And if there any kids here who came here for a weird talent show, now would be the time to come out so we can get you out of here,”
Well that sounded like a trap if I ever heard one. Vivi and I gave each other silent looks before shaking out heads. I was the son and grandson of a cop, and pretty famous ones at that. Grandpa and dad had been the ones behind taking down the Valenti mafia years back. Almost kicked those guys out of the city before they decided to go as underground as they could.
They had apparently done a bunch of cool action movie stuff, but they also apparently swore to never tell me any of it.
So if these guys were Valenti, then that was bad news for me. We were in what used to be their core territory too, so I didn’t like these odds.
Now some might assume the smart thing to do was to hide in place and wait for them to pass. With how slowly these guys were walking down the tracks, they weren’t in a hurry. What would probably happen is they would get just close enough to glance around the train car, shrug their shoulders, and then head back.
The issue was that if these guys were just a little bit more diligent and did more than the bare minimum, they would spot us inside the train car. And if that happened, the two of us would be sitting ducks with nowhere to run.
In other words, it was time for a daring escape. I reached into my pocket and took out a small steel ball. It was meant to be used for magic tricks, but it would serve just as well as a loud distraction.
I gave Vivi a sign to let her know to run on my signal. She took one look at the metal ball and shook her head. She instead pointed at herself, than towards the directions of the quickly approaching goons. She then pointed at me and then pointed down.
Her plan was clear, she would give herself up while I waited it out and got away later. If these guys were Valenti, they were only a danger to me.
“Okay you caught me,” Vivi yelled as she left the train car. “Is the show cancelled or something?”
“Or something, come on kid we’ll get you out of here,” the first of the goons said.
“I think I’ll just head the way I came,” She argued as she started walking away from the train car. I slightly moved to hide myself behind what was left of the car’s wall.
“Alright fine, but we’re keeping an eye on you,” the second voice argued back as I peeked behind the wall to see Vivi leading the two Valenti guys away. I was going to owe her for this big time.
I waited a few minutes until the coast was clear. Once I was sure that there was no one else around, I left the train car and started heading back to the entrance too.
“Let’s see here, what would Vivi like?” I muttered to myself as wracked my brain for a decent answer. There was that one band she liked that just put out a new single, maybe I could get her that?
I walked past the edge of the building still deep in thought.
A big mistake on my part.
“Hey you!” I broke out of my thoughts and remembered just where I was. I didn’t even wait to see who was yelling at me, I just started running the other way. Which luckily for me, was the way I needed to go to escape.
I rushed past the buildings and pipes as the sound of footsteps followed after me. The longer I ran, the more I could hear. But just because there was more of them, didn’t meant they were getting any closer.
I turned the last corner I needed just in time to see two familiar goons in the distance standing in front of the entrance. I was going to need to find another way out of here. I dashed into the first side path that crossed my way.
Instead of another alley or path between the buildings, had gone into of the buildings itself. The whole thing was a single room with another door on the opposite side. Between both doors was a single unobstructed path. To either side of the one path were endless seas of metal and junk.
I ran up to half way thought the building when an idea hit me. The goons would keep chasing me, even if they couldn’t see me. All I had to do was hide in here for a little bit and I could escape after they passed by me.
I found a good spot and settled in. The goons rushed into the warehouse and spotted the door and made the logical conclusion. I watched as the goons ran past my hiding place, their eyes locked onto the door at the end of the path. And among their numbers were the two guys who had been standing by the entrance. The whole squad rushed out past the door, leaving me in the clear. I took a few extra seconds to make sure they were gone before coming out.
“Can’t believe that worked. Now time to get out of here,” I dusted myself off as I emerged from the trash. Now that I had thrown them off my trail, I needed to meet back up with Vivi. She was probably worrying about me at this point.
I turned back the way I came and took a single step, putting me in the very center of the room.
There exists in this world grand coincidences. A single sandwich plunged the world into one of its most brutal war that set the stage for another. A single vacation taken at the right time led to humanity discovering one its greatest weapons against death.
Now it was time for fate to throw its dice and roll double six’s once more.
The beast of heat flew over the bubble that contained earth when it flapped its wings, not a worry on its mind as the flames flew from its wings and over the reality below. The vast majority of the tiny sparks materialized in empty space and quickly died. A few lucky ones hit a planet or moon, where they were free to smolder for a short time before fading away. A handful hit stars, creating a series of supernovas and explosions that would confuse astronomers for years to come.
And a single spark landed on a world full of life. A vibrant and green world full of hosts to bond to. However the ember emerged in a place of metal and decay.
It had been drawn there by ceremony, a calling that would have seen it bond to a man by the name of Roberto Valenti. However as soon as the ember emerged into the world, it felt a second pull.
Roberto called to it from below, wanting to use it to control the world around him. But from above it felt a second soul, one that lounged for freedom. One that seemed such a better match for the little ember.
The ember stood still before rising up through the stone and into the warehouse above.
Prax Decant’s eyes widened as a roaring flame erupted around him before folding in on him. His vision faded as he collapsed onto the ground, the flames surging into his body.