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[center][h2] Zephyr [/h2][/center]

“Come on big guy, it’s not like they don’t already know you’re here - Sam, you ready to drive fast?” The kid gave his older, considerably more anxious counterpart a big, stupid grin as he practically threw himself into the backseat.

“I hate driving fast.” Sam replied, as he pulled his own door shut and turned the key in the ignition, causing the engine to-

Nothing. No noise.

That kid was still grinning like an idiot.

“Ya, you’re right, I guess,” Zephyr didn’t really want to argue, especially when he had other things on his mind. Like why the car was making no noise even though Sam had turned the key.

“Is the car in park? Why isn’t the engine turning over?” By now Zephyr was sure whoever saw him go down the alley had gathered up a group and was on their way. Looking in the back seat again the kid was still grinning like this was a great thing. “You seem not worried, is this normal? Is this some special car that doesn’t make noise when it runs?”

Zephyr really wanted the car to start moving, he didn’t want to fight whoever it was that was coming down the alley. They probably weren’t even bad people, just folks doing their jobs.

“This is a Mercedes EQC2 sports electric,” Sam began, “and it runs like the wind, but quieter.” A wry smile began to creep up the sides of his face as he hit the accelerator and the car jerked out of the alley faster than it should logically have been able to.

“Uh, sorry, I can’t hear you!” The kid shouted, his eyes and ears gradually beginning to glow violet.

“Zachary is also muffling the motors with magic at the moment. He can’t hear when he does it - just sucks that we can still hear [i]him[/i].” Sam pointed backwards with a thumb as the car - stunningly nimble for its size - weaved between a parked police van and a burning civilian car, speeding through the streets.

“Are you guys talking about me? I can’t see you either.” Zack replied, half-interrupting Sam.

“Which means we’re also invisible. To [i]people[/i] at least - cameras can still see us, the way I understand it. Hey Zephyr - it’s uh, its Zephyr, right? - can you check if Zachary has his seatbelt on? If he’s deafblind he’s helpless if we have a crash.”

So this is what magic was like, Zephyr was in awe, almost enough to not feel nervous as Sam drove. The operative word being almost. He did what Sam asked and checked the kids seatbelt. Of course he hadn’t put it on before he started doing his magic thing. Zephyr clipped him in and gave him a pat on the shoulder, trying to convey a “good work” kind of message.

With that done, he wasn’t sure if he should talk to Sam or just let him focus on driving. He figured Sam would just tell him to shut up if he needed to concentrate more. “So, are you a mage too?” Conversation would also help him to not think about how fast they were going, Zephyr preferred a nice safe ride as opposed to an intense one like this.

“Nope. I’m just a guy.” Sam chuffed. “I have some money and I’m pretty innocuous looking. Our opponents don’t look at me once, let alone twice. Don’t need magic if you’re really just that nonthreatening.”

“Thanks for pluggin’ the seatbelt in, Zeph! I knew you were gonna be a swell guy. Just gimme another tap when we’re uh, I dunno, anywhere safe.” Zack grinned dumbly, looking around the backseat of the car blindly.

“You had the chance to use any magic yet?” Sam turned to give Zephyr a glance as he braked and a police car came speeding by in front of them.

Zephyr gave Zack a thumbs up for a brief moment before immediately realizing what was wrong with that and stopped, turning his attention back to Sam. The driving was a bit less hectic now which made Zephyr feel a lot better. “Uh, no, no magic yet. Haven’t really had time to try it out, I have no idea where to start. Like, how do I even activate it or know what I can do?”

Zephyr hoped that wherever they were going he’d be able to practice his magic without fear of hurting someone. He also really hoped more than anything that whatever his magic could do it wasn’t anything too destructive. If Zephyr couldn’t use his magic without hurting people then he may as well just not have it at all. “I suppose we’re going to meet up with whoever it is you guys work for?”

“Yes. Sort of. Typical procedure is to gather the refugees in secluded spots so the various agencies looking for you guys have a worse chance at actually finding you. You’re going to be left with a group of people who’ll look out for you while the heat dies down, and then see what can be done for you from there. As for how to activate it? I can’t really help you there, I’m not a mage, but from what I’ve heard it’s mostly something you have to feel your way around.” Sam jerked the steering wheel as a police car shot out of the smoke that had begun to cover the streets.

The smell of burning plastic and paint was making its way through the air filters by this point, more and more of the buildings glowing internally with spreading fires, cars with broken windows littering the streets.

“The riots hit here harder than I thought they would. I hope our exit is safe.” Sam grumbled, a look of concern spreading across his face.

Zephyr didn’t like the look on Sam’s face, though there wasn’t really much he could do about it. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, you seem like a good driver. If we need to make a detour I might be able to help, I do a fair amount of driving in the city.” He held on to the armrest of the car as he thought about Sam’s words of magic being something you have to feel your way around. He definitely didn’t want to test it out right now, he had no idea what he could do and doing something unexpected in this scenario would likely lead to injury or death.

So for now Zephyr just looked out the window and tried to ignore the increasing smell of burning coming in the car. He’d wished he’d left a note before he left. Nothing elaborate explaining what had happened to him. That would just put him and anyone who found it in danger. Just a simple note, something along the lines of “You won’t see me again, I’m sorry.” But he hadn’t left such a note, so anyone wondering where he disappeared to would be left with no closure.

Before long, after only a few more turns, the air had turned from smoke to heat and the glow inside the buildings they were passing had erupted out into the streets. More than once, Sam had to stop and turn back in order to find the thin paths left between the flames and the rubble. Scenes of chaos where either serious firepower or rogue mages had torn up the streets and set fire to gas mains dotted the city, turning the streets into a horrific maze of carnage and heat. It was more than riots that had gripped the city, now; it was magic. More than before.

Eventually, the car came to a stop, settling to a silent stillness in the patch of space before a ramp down into the bowels of an underground car park attached to a mall. Smoke was pouring from the road down, the place unlit and dark save for the flickering of improbably growing fires spreading from the vehicles within.

Sam turned around and tapped Zack, eyes suddenly wide.

Zack’s eyes stopped glowing and his senses returned to him.

“Zack, the whole fucking city is on fire, and our exit is too. I’d expected a little fire to avoid, but I think some fucking crazy motherfucker has an agenda.”

“Woah. Yeah, that’s fucked. Think we can still make it?”

Sam glanced to Zephyr.

“We don’t have a choice.”

Without a word more, the car jerked forwards again, turning down into the depths of the car park. One floor down, two floors down, a full three floors down below the ground before it came to a stop, with every floor above them creaking and groaning ominously.

At the bottom floor, Zack jumped out of the car before it even stopped, sprinting desperately into the smoke. After two minutes, he shouted back.

“Alright, it’s open, go go g-”

He was cut off by a shriek from above - the scream of tearing metal - as the ceiling gave way before Sam could hit the accelerator, and the torn end of an iron girder hit the concrete floor, blocking the car’s way as debris started to crumble down around the crew.

“Fuck!”

“No no no no no no NO!” Before Zephyr knew it he was out of the car and heading towards the girder which was now stopping them from reaching their goal. “It’s not ending here, not like this, if the gods have blessed me then it is my duty to do right by them.”

“Kratos give me strength, Patrons of the earth protect my body from the flames.” While Thoth may be Zephyr’s patron god, he believed all deities existed in some way, and he wasn’t going to be picky when asking for them to share their power.

Zephyr’s skin started glowing a faint red, and it was becoming less fleshy and much more rock like in the process. By the time his skin was fully covered he felt like he could barely move, but he could move enough to lift the girder out of the way. Is this what magic felt like? Because Zephyr liked it, he silently thanked the gods for bestowing him this gift. After moving the debris he focused for a moment and the earth on his skin fell off and turned to dust. He ran back to the car, the red glow about him gone, and jumped back in. “If you wanna say something do it after, we gotta move before something else happens.” Sam seemed like a practical guy, he’d probably agree they should get somewhere safer before he commended Zephyr or anything like that.

“Agreed! Hold on to your ass, kid!” Sam paled as his foot slammed on the accelerator and the car shot through the smoke like a bullet… straight at a concrete wall, with Zack pushing his hands up against it.

The car collided with it, and Zephyr’s stomach lurched up inside him like he was falling.

Then?

Then the front door of an old rotten boat shed by a scarce-visited lake, somewhere hundreds of miles from where Zephyr, Sam, and Zack had started the night, somewhere fruitful and natural and beautiful… was shattered into a billion damp splinters as an electric mercedes crashed through it, and then came to a silent, shocked halt. Next came Zack, grinning like a maniac as he stepped gracefully over the gradually collapsing remains of the boathouse.

“I knew you could do it, Zeph! Big fuckin’ rock… guy… yeah!”

Sam sat there, whiteknuckled around the steering wheel, breathing hard and sweating.

“God. Fuck. I hate my job.”

Zephyr gingerly made his way out of the car, putting one hand on the roof to balance himself and holding the other up to Zack letting him know not to come closer. “I think I might get sick, just, gimme a sec.” A few deep breaths later while focusing on a blade of grass which was longer than the ones around it, Zephyr felt good enough to stand up properly.

“That’s better, now, you thought I was cool? You teleported us super far away, that’s incredible!” Looking around Zephyr figured they were probably safe, at least for now. “So what’s our next move? We gonna do another jump like what we just did? I figure this isn’t the place we’ll be meeting whoever else was picked up tonight.”