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MODERN MAGICS. Tianyu (Tony) Zhu
Читать онлайн.Название MODERN MAGICS
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781649692955
Автор произведения Tianyu (Tony) Zhu
Издательство Ingram
It was Sapphire’s family’s signature coat of arms.
She couldn’t believe it, had she really been caught already?
No, she had to make sure.
Pushing through the door, she emerged outside, frantically breathing as the beggar slowly walked down the bustling street. As he turned the corner, he stopped. From under his messy hair and tattered hood, he glared at her. The intent was clear in his keen and hostile eyes, which confirmed her worst suspicions. her body tensed up. Did he really want to fight here? In the streets? She gulped as she stuffed her sweaty hands into fists, preparing for a fight.
To Sapphire’s surprise, he turned away from her a moment later. His footsteps were unheard in the sounds of bustling traffic as he disappeared from sight.
A moment of silence later, with nothing but the sound of the roaring city in Sapphire’s ears, she caught my hitched breath and ran.
She needed some method of escape and knew running simply wouldn’t do. Sapphire knew what this new stalker of her’s was doing - he was waiting for night time while he kept an eye on her. He would make his strike then, while it was less likely that anyone would see her. It was a simple tactic that everyone in the Anaroths knew.
Then something clicked inside Sapphire’s head: the Portal Central. That could do. Spread out through five sectors of the bustling city -- four in each direction and one at the center -- the Portal Central is a massive transportational station. Thousands travel through the portals to different parts of Akarthia at the speed of light.
Sapphire turned her pockets inside out and was greeted with the blank white cloth of her jeans. What money she had a few minutes ago was spent on food.
Time was of the essence. She could go back to the camp she recently set up, which was seven floors above ground in an abandoned construction site, and retrieve her supplies. But, what are the chances that the stalker wouldn’t ambush her? Especially when she’s all alone, where nobody can hear her?
“Ow!” Sapphire yelped as a few men in dirty uniforms pushed past her on the streets, all drunk and shouting in broad daylight. But then she saw something, it was a rectangular shape sticking out in one of their pockets.
Well, there’s only one way out of this situation anyway, She thought while rubbing her aching arm, as she snuck towards them.
Only one way.
Sapphire turned back around and swiftly stuck her hands into the pocket of the drunkard with the wallet. He was too sluggish to notice any slight movement. However, as she successfully pulled out his wallet, his nearby friend’s head turned slightly and stopped midway through their conversation as he saw her through his peripheral vision. As his sleepy eyes widened and his mouth began to open to yell, Sapphire began to bolt.
“Stop!” The shabby worker charged towards her with his entourage of friends clumsily trailing behind him as they, too, realised what she had just done.
“Sorry, no time to negotiate!” She yelled back as she slipped his wallet into the pocket of her jacket and hopped over a street stand.
Sapphire ran through multiple streets. She easily outmaneuvered the workers behind as she made twists and turns to slow them down, blocking them by knocking over tables, hopping over fences, and making shortcuts by climbing up various fire escapes. The workers, who were already sluggish from the alcohol, began to give up as they started panting and slowing down.
As soon as the Portal Central came into view, Sapphire sped up and left them in the dust.
“Hello, how may I help you?” The lady behind the desk asked in a monotonous voice, clearly bored of her job.
“One ticket to uhh…” Sapphire panted out and looked at the blue digital map beside her and rambled out the first number she saw, “512 please!” Then Sapphire handed her the newly stolen money.
A few seconds later, the concierge’s hand dispensed a little yellow slip. Not wasting any time, Sapphire snatched the ticket and ran down the hallway to the portal entrance with the matching number on her ticket. She inserted the ticket into a little slit that quickly devoured the paper. Click . The red light built into the door flashed green. She flung the door open and stepped into the portal room, lit with a violet ambience. In front of her was the swirling sheet of blinding purple light, held together by a ring of rusted metal sitting on the platform.
“Stop her!” Sapphire turned her head around and saw the workers from earlier, barred by the gate and the security standing in front of them.
With a mischievous grin on Sapphire’s luminous face, she waved at them one last time and stepped into the portal and disappeared.
Chapter 2.2
Sapphire stepped out from the portal onto the other side into an identical room she had just exited. She walked over, swung open the door, and was immediately greeted by the loud roaring of an engine passing by.
The sun was brighter here. The engine’s steam blew into the clouds as the cargo boats drifted off into the blue horizon. Sapphire stepped outside and ran, knowing that the workers behind her could be here any minute as they saw which portal she had travelled through. Quickly catching her breath, she sprinted down the bustling streets, making multiple twists and turns to thwart their direction. She passed by numerous colorful buildings along the seaside, which were owned by the more fortunate mages, who had managed to crawl their way out of the poverty that plagued this city.
A few minutes later, Sapphire finally stopped and hunkered down to rest, out of breath. She was now near a more affluent port city compared to Novati.
Sapphire stretched her arms out as the wailing and chirping seagulls circled around the docked ships. The sun beamed on her face as she looked upon the sea. She spotted islands lying in the shadows of the distance. Tall skyscrapers pierced through the curved, green landscapes under the sapphire sky.
But of course, Sapphire didn’t have time to sit back and enjoy the scenery.
She needed to head inland, where the population was more dense and where her identity would be more obscured from her hunter by the denser crowd.
Sapphire turned from the port and made her way inland.
As she walked, the stream of people became thicker as the roads became narrower. The city’s condition visibly worsened as she walked deeper and deeper into the depths of the city. The pleasant chatters of the strolling pedestrians slowly turned into the cries and croaks of beggars huddling underneath the roofs and balconies of aged buildings. The concrete pavements slowly dissipated into wet mud. The colorful buildings coated with fresh paint slowly dwindled in numbers and were replaced with smaller, dirtier apartments, smeared with dirt and faded graffiti.
The sunlight slowly faded away as gasoline exhaust and dirty smoke blotted out the sky. Gasoline and coal, power and heat resources that have been outdated for nearly two decades now, was still being used by the poorer people of Novati, who couldn’t afford the new, renewable arcane technology.
Sapphire turned onto another tightly packed street, her head aimed down at the ground as she thought about her next steps for evading the stalker her family had sent. As Sapphire plotted, she suddenly heard familiar and uninviting voices and instantly froze. The drunk
Lessers from earlier were merely a few feet away from her, talking to nearby pedestrians for the whereabouts of her location. Somehow, they had caught up and were right on her trail again.
She tried to back away and run, but it was too late. One of them noticed Sapphire’s blonde hair from the corner of his eyes. He quickly pointed towards her direction and yelled something to his friends, gesturing and waving at them to follow. As soon as they looked in her direction, they started