It all happened so fast. One minute, Cyrus and Freddy were on their way back home from the movies. The next, they were fighting for their lives in the middle of an empty road against a bunch of masked thugs.
-(o)-
The night was unusually thick with fog, the kind that clung to the windshield and blurred the streetlights behind their ghostly halos. This kind of weather wasn't exactly unusual for this time of year, but the density at which the clouds layered the road made it hard to see for the average driver.
Freddy casually adjusted the rearview mirror with one hand, while the other rested loosely on the steering wheel as he maneuvered his old silver sedan around the gentle bends of a narrow and winding road. While at the same time, Cyrus was in the middle of rambling on about the movie the two had just seen.
"Okay, but you can't tell me that rooftop chase wasn't the best scene in the whole movie." Cyrus said, while grinning at his friend.
Freddy chuckled, his eyes briefly flicking to the mirror once again before looking at the 'tree magic' user. "It was cool, sure. But do you really think that guy could've jumped from that tower all the way to the other building and survive?"
Cyrus smirked. "Adrenaline, bro."
The two young sorcerers were so wrapped up in their conversation that they failed to notice the car that was steadily gaining speed on them. For a split second, the headlights of the vehicle flared, but Freddy was quick to brush it off before he began speaking again.
Suddenly, the vehicle began to speed up and close the distance. So quickly, in fact, that neither Cyrus nor Freddy had the chance to notice it before it was less than a car's length behind them. Then, without any warning, the blacked-out van roared like a beast in the night, only a second before it swerved sharply and rammed into the back of the silver sedan.
"Jesus!" Freddy shouted, gripping the wheel as the Honda lurched forward. "What the hell?!"
Cyrus turned in his seat, eyes wide. "Who the fuck is that?!"
Before Freddy could answer, the blackout van accelerated once more, coming right up alongside them. Its tinted windows offered no glimpse inside, its reflective surface only providing the reflection of Freddy's panicked face.
Then came the impact.
The van veered, smashing into the side of their car with brutal force. Freddy's old sedan then skidded off the road, its tires shrieking on the damp pavement as it careened into a shallow ditch, shuddering to a stop against a dead tree stump.
The airbags deployed with a deafening pop, and smoke quickly began to fill the car.
Freddy, now fully dazed and disoriented, coughed before looking to his right. "You okay?"
Cyrus groaned as he clutched his shoulder. "I-I think so... What the hell is going on?"
Before the two could fully process what was happening, the black van screeched to a halt behind them. The unknown vehicle's headlights stabbed the night like claws as its engine continued to roar. Suddenly, the doors flung open, and several dark figures spilled out from the inside. Thanks to both his mana sensing and the way that the car was positioned, Cyrus was able to see the men approaching them. All of these mystery men were clearly sorcerers, and a couple of them were armed with either batons or crowbars.
"Shit!" The young 'tree magic' user shouted as he rushed to get his seatbelt off. The two agents were in some serious trouble. The young man didn't have time to worry about his condition at the moment.
"Get out!" Freddy ordered as he pushed himself off his steering wheel and used his free leg to kick the driver's side door off its hinges.
Cyrus did as he was told and threw open his door before immediately leaping toward the first thug that he could see. Without a second thought, fists and feet began flying in all directions as the 'tree magic' user tried to subdue the unknown assailant. At the same time, Freddy was already fighting off one thug. The 'dark magic' user's fists swung wildly and desperately as he managed to hold off his opponent.
Cyrus lunged at the nearest attacker, fists swinging as he caught the woman square in the ribs. For a second, it worked; the thug staggered back, but another was already behind Cyrus, swinging a baton down onto his back.
"Ah!" Cyrus cried out before dropping to a knee.
On the other side of the battlefield, Freddy ducked under a crowbar swing before landing a punch to another assailant's gut. Unfortunately, it was barely strong enough to make the man flinch. A second later, a boot connected with Freddy's chest, sending him sprawling onto a patch of wet dirt.
In that moment, all of the two agents' past training instantly kicked in. With the ferocity of a pair of cornered animals, Cyrus and Freddy began firing off mana bursts in all directions to create a bit of distance between them and their attackers. The moment the two had some breathing room, Cyrus reached into his pouch and tossed a couple of acorns to the ground after pouring a tenth of his mana into them.
In seconds, a massive domed wall of magically enhanced wood surrounded both Cyrus and Freddy while separating them from their opponents. Both of the boys knew that this was only a temporary solution, but at the very least, it now gave them some time to think about what their next move was going to be.
"What do we do now?" Freddy asked his friend as clouds of dark purple energy swirled around his hands.
"We need to call for help." Cyrus immediately replied in between heavy breaths. Creating a construct this large as quickly as he did caused him to feel a bit fatigued. "Do you have your phone on you?"
"It's in the car."
"Fuck! Mine too...."
Cyrus was well aware of how bad their current situation was. Here he was, trapped inside of a wooden barrier of his creation, with five unknown thugs right outside of it, with no immediate chance of being able to call for backup, and no clue as to how he was going to get out of this mess. This was definitely not an ideal situation in the young 'tree magic' user's mind.
Whoever these guys were, they knew what they were doing. Their attack patterns had been way too coordinated to suggest anything otherwise. On top of that, it was clear that they weren't trying to kill them. If they were, they would've already done so when Cyrus and Freddy got knocked to the ground earlier. Which meant that these guys needed them alive for whatever reason.
Cyrus hadn't the faintest idea as to why these masked lunatics were attacking them, but the freckle-faced teen wasn't interested in sticking around to find out. Whoever they were, they were bad news; that's all that mattered. And although the idea did trouble him quite a bit, Cyrus quickly resolved himself to get him and Freddy out of this mess by any means necessary.
The young 'tree magic' user then let his instincts take over as he chose to go on the offensive.
After letting out a deep breath, Cyrus focused his mana-sensing skill until he could pinpoint exactly where each and every one of the thugs was located outside of the wooden dome. The moment he did so, the young man used his control over his construct to create five large wooden spikes out of the available material and send them flying towards the nearby thugs as fast as he possibly could. Accelerating the growth of his trees to this extent was taxing on the body, but Cyrus couldn't afford to worry about that right now.
Thanks to both his sensing ability and the pained scream that one of the thugs let out, Cyrus could immediately tell that he had landed a hit on one of them. He had no clue what the extent of the damage was, but he could tell that it was bad, considering how unstable the victim's mana became.
"Alright." Cyrus then looked at Freddy. "Here's the plan. I'm going to drop this barrier and-"
"Heat Death!"
Before Cyrus could finish what he was about to say, half of the wooden dome suddenly went up in flames. And not just any flames, deep purple flames that practically tore through the structure as if it were made of ordinary paper.
'This is the same magic that one of the thieves used at the fundraiser.' Freddy quickly realized as he watched Cyrus's dome burn to ash before his very eyes.
It was now clear to the two agents exactly who they were dealing with. These weren't just any criminals; these guys were Iznana agents. The very same Iznana agents who attacked the fundraiser.
"Let's hurry and finish this." Aaron ordered his three remaining minions. The 'fire magic' user's voice was currently being distorted by the same synthesizer he had worn during the heist. "Someone might show up at any moment."
"Who the fuck are you people?!" Freddy shouted at the apparent leader of the group just as he raised a mana barrier in front of him.
Aaron, ever the silent type, chose not to respond. Instead, the raven-haired man decided to rush at Freddy and attack him directly. With an impressive amount of speed, the 'fire magic' user was able to close the distance between the two of them. And after charging up his right fist with a body reinforcement technique, the man was able to completely shatter the shield that Freddy had put up.
Freddy instantly put his guard up to defend himself from what was about to happen next; however, the 'dark magic' user was saved when Cyrus activated his flying enchantment and used it to propel himself into Aaron before sending him flying in the opposite direction. This resulted in Aaron being pushed back a good twenty feet into the nearby ditch right next to the car.
"Shit, this guy can fly?!" One of the thugs questioned in disbelief.
"It doesn't matter!" Aaron shouted before standing back up and throwing a fireball at Cyrus.
The 'tree magic' user reacted just in time to put up a mana barrier. Unfortunately for him, Aaron quickly followed up that attack by sending almost a dozen more purple fireballs at the young man in rapid succession.
'This guy's powerful.' Cyrus thought while reaching into his pouch and grabbing another seed. 'And he has the elemental advantage over me. I need to subdue him, and fast!'
Cyrus then tossed the seed that he was holding into the air before activating his magical attribute. Everyone below watched as, in the span of a few seconds, the 'tree magic' user used his powers to create a massive oak tree the size of a bus in the middle of the chaos.
"Oak Binding: Magic Warding Ash!"
Almost as quickly as they appeared, dozens of magically enhanced tree branches began spreading all over the battlefield in the direction of the Iznana agents. The branches came at them so fast, in fact, that the remaining four thugs all had to dodge out of the way to avoid getting caught by the attack.
'Cyrus isn't used to accelerating the growth of his creations like this.' Freddy thought to himself as he activated his flying enchantment and began hovering above the ground. 'He's going to tire himself out before he's able to capture all of these assholes. I need to deal with at least one of them before that happens.'
Freddy quickly glanced around the now chaotic battlefield as he tried to find his nearest target. After a brief second, the 'dark magic' user spotted one of Aaron's minions trying to use her 'earth magic' to avoid getting caught in the whirling mass of branches that was coming her way. Since the woman was too distracted to notice him, Freddy used this window of opportunity to try and keep her in one spot.
"Perfect Cube!"
In the blink of an eye, a cube of dark purple mana surrounded the masked woman. One that was just large enough to encapsulate her entire body. From his spot in the air, Cyrus was quickly able to notice what his friend had done and used the opportunity to cover the entire cube in some of his branches. In a matter of seconds, the woman was now completely covered. And thanks to both attacks, it was unlikely that she was going to be able to get out of that anytime soon.
"Okay, now for the other- fuck!" Cyrus cursed as a stream of purple flames shot past his face, barely missing him by about a foot.
Down below, Aaron had finally managed to gain his footing and was now poised to go on the offensive. The Iznana operative knew that Cyrus wouldn't be able to maintain this level of control over his creations for long. But even then, it didn't matter. He knew that he had the advantage when it came to magical attributes, and he fully intended to make use of that fact.
"Jet Burn!"
Aaron proceeded to shoot a massive wave of fire out of his hands directly towards Cyrus's spell. Before anyone could react, the entire tree went up in flames, resulting in a blinding flash of light that momentarily disrupted their vision.
Time seemed to slow down in that moment....
After instinctively shielding his eyes from the sudden flash of light, Cyrus looked down to where Freddy was to see how the 'dark magic' user was doing. The moment he did so, he was barely able to catch sight of Aaron sprinting towards his friend at full speed. The man had somehow managed to close the distance and was now barely six feet away from the momentarily stunned agent. Unfortunately, that was all that Aaron needed to do what he wanted.
"Shit! Freddy, behind you!" Cyrus desperately shouted toward his friend.
Freddy managed to turn around just in time to see Aaron charging at him. Unfortunately for the 'dark magic' user, he wasn't able to react fast enough to avoid what happened next.
"Fuck!"
"I only need your boyfriend alive, not you!" Aaron growled as he lunged for the glasses-wearing teen.
The last thing that Fredrick Harvey Price's eyes ever saw was a brilliant flash of purple light completely enveloping his vision, followed by a searing pain that felt as if the sun itself had descended upon him.
Cyrus watched in horror as Aaron's attack burned the entirety of Freddy's head with such intensity that the 'dark magic' user's head turned to ash in an instant, leaving nothing behind but the now slumped over corpse of his friend lying in the wet grass as if it were some sort of broken doll.
"Feddy!"
In that moment, any sense of rational thought had left Cyrus's mind altogether, causing the young man's mana to completely go haywire as his heart began to race and the adrenaline suddenly coursed through his veins.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Cyrus screamed as every seed within his pouch began to sprout out of its container and quickly spread all across the battlefield in a wild and uncontrolled manner.
"Shit!" One of the remaining thugs cursed as he narrowly avoided getting impaled by a stray branch, only to immediately get hit in the face by another.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Cryus shouted as the 'tree magic' shot through the air like a bullet towards Aaron with a face full of nothing but pure, unbridled rage directed at the man who just killed his best friend right in front of his very eyes.
Aaron didn't even have time to react before receiving a devastating right fist to the side of his face. The resulting impact was so strong that it completely shattered the 'fire magic' user's voice synthesizer on contact.
Cyrus immediately followed up by giving Aaron another punch to the face before delivering a flurry of wild and erratic punches to the raven-haired man's body that had enough force to kill a regular human.
Somehow, Aaron was able to get himself together just in time to avoid a heavy kick to the left side of his ribcage. Once the man had his feet up under him, he quickly countered Cyrus's attack with a few well-placed punches of his own. And just like that, the two were locked in an intense round of hand-to-hand combat that even most professional boxers would be impressed by.
In the middle of all the scrapping, Cyrus had made numerous attempts at trying to perform a mana disruptor on his opponent. Unfortunately, trying a move like that against another sorcerer was significantly more difficult than it was against a cryptid. Each time Cyrus tried to use the spell, Aaron would conveniently dodge out of the way or counter it altogether.
Eventually, after a few more quick attempts, Cyrus gave up on the idea, at least for now. The moment the opportunity presented itself, the 'tree magic' user was going to try to stop the masked man from using his mana.
While all of that was going on, Cyrus's newly created amalgamation of trees and branches was still running wild in the background. The magical construct was spreading all over the area in such an erratic fashion that the two remaining thugs had to do everything that they could to avoid getting imaled by them.
Just as one of the thugs thought that he was able to escape the onslaught of wildly swinging branches, his foot got caught on one of the roots. The moment he made contact with it, almost every last particle of mana within his body vanished, causing him to instantly pass out before he even knew what happened.
'Okay, time to end this!' Aaron thought before throwing all caution to the wind and releasing a blistering wave of 'fire magic' in all directions. He needed to put some distance between himself and Cyrus before the guy could land another hit on him.
Cyrus instinctively put up a mana barrier just in time to avoid the attack. However, the flames were so powerful that they almost completely incinerated the grotesque amalgamation of trees and branches on impact. Unfortunately for Aaron's now unconscious lackey, the guy was unable to defend himself from being turned to ash.
With the tree now gone, all that was left was Cyrus, Aaron, and the 'fire magic' user's one remaining minion, standing in a field of flames, ash, and destruction.
"Why?!" Cyrus growled at Aaron as the 'tree magic' user's orange eyes burned a hole into his body. "Why did you do this?!"
Before Aaron even had a chance to think about responding, a beam of blue mana shot through the nearby flames and hit Cyrus directly in the back. The force of the impact was strong enough to throw the 'tree magic' user off balance and caused him to lose his footing. With that small window of opportunity now open, Aaron casted his body reinforcement spell and charged at Cyrus with all of the speed that he could muster. A second later, the 'fire magic' user hit the young man square in the side of the head with a punch so powerful that it instantly knocked him out.
With that final move, Cyrus's body slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Finally!" The minion shouted with a satisfied smile on his face from about ten yards away.
Aaron took a moment to inspect the destruction that was caused by the battle. All around him were nothing but burnt bodies and purple flames. Whatever remained of Cyrus' wild tree creation was still burning against the 'fire magic' user's previous attack, and Freddy's car was now fully engulfed in the flames and in the process of melting away.
"Mission complete...." The raven-haired man declared as he tried to get himself in order. The whole right side of his face was now throbbing, and his vision was beginning to blur. That earlier punch that Cyrus gave him was a lot harder than he originally thought.
The Iznana operative then looked at his one remaining subordinate and ordered him to secure their quarry before the two of them grabbed the lone female member of their group from where she was on the other side of the carnage. The woman had a few nasty burns on her face and arms, but she was still alive. Somehow....
With that, Aaron and his crew quickly hopped back into their vehicle before leaving the area as quickly as they could. They didn't have enough time to worry about cleaning up after themselves. And to be honest, they didn't really care. Their job was now complete; that's all that mattered. The DPA and the cops could worry about covering up this mess whenever they inevitably showed up.
As the van disappeared into the night, Aaron let out a deep sigh as he took the mask off of his face. He now had a nasty bruise on his right cheek, and it felt like he probably had a busted rib. But aside from that, he was perfectly fine. And on top of that, he had completed his mission.
This mission may have been a bit more chaotic than the ones he had previously gone on. But either way, he had done his job. Now, all that was left for him was to head to the warehouse and deliver his sister her new toy.
"I hope all of this was worth it." Was the last thing that Aaron said before leaning back in his seat and letting the air conditioner hit his battered face. His deep-blue eyes watched the city pass him by as the world around him slowly faded to black.
-(o)-
[Some Time Later]
Pain.
That was the first feeling, or at least the first one that Cyrus was able to register upon waking up. The entire right side of his face was throbbing, so much so that he could feel the blood rushing through his very veins.
The room was dimly lit, barely illuminated by a large, flickering overhead light that buzzed like a dying insect.
Cyrus tried to sit up, but he couldn't. His limbs wouldn't respond. And almost immediately, panic began to bloom in his chest. His arms were stretched out and strapped at the wrists; his legs splayed slightly apart and bound at the ankles. He was strapped down to something cold and metallic, an exam table, he quickly realized, by the sterile smell of disinfectant that clung to the air.
The air was freezing. His breath came in shallow, visible puffs that hung momentarily above his face before disappearing into the gloom.
He was still clothed, though that offered Cyrus little comfort against the cold. His mind was cloudy, sluggish even, like waking from a nightmare only to find himself still trapped in one. He then tried calling on his mana, the surge that should have answered instinctively to his demands.
Nothing.
No spark. No flow. Just stillness.
Suddenly, the memories came flooding back into Cyrus's mind like a chilling tsunami.
A thick knot formed in his stomach.
He remembered everything. The crash, the thugs who attacked him, the fight.
"Freddy..." Cyrus whispered out as the image of his now dead friend snaked its way into his mind. One that was so clear that it made him want to vomit right there on the spot.
Almost immediately, tears began to well in his eyes as he came to the realization that his best friend was now dead. It was the kind of thought that he wanted to refuse to believe. There was no way that Freddy was gone. It was impossible. The two had just enjoyed an awesome movie together. There was simply no way that something like that could've happened. It didn't make any sense.
'It's not true.' Cyrus told himself. 'He's not gone. It's just not true. Freddy's fine, I'm sure of it!'
Despite what his heart was telling him, a small part of Cyrus knew the sobering truth. And that alone forced his thoughts to scatter in all directions as he tried to come up with any excuse to believe that his friend wasn't truly gone. Even so, Cyrus had seen it himself. Capturing the very last moments of his friend's life with his very own eyes.
Suddenly, a deliberate click of boots on tile caught the young man's attention.
Cyrus immediately turned his head as far as he could manage. And right as he did so, a lone figure emerged from the shadows. Its outline was backlit by a dull glow that the overhead light provided. The person, a woman judging by the figure, was wearing a black beanie pulled low, along with a cloth mask that covered the lower half of her face. Faint strands of strawberry blonde hair fell loose from beneath the hat, catching the light like silk threads. She appeared to be of around average height. But aside from that, there were no other distinguishing features about her.
Well, except for one thing....
Her eyes. The woman's deep blue eyes were visible above the mask. Cold. Curious. Calculating.
"I was starting to wonder when you'd wake up." The woman said, her voice muffled but steady beneath the mask. "Glad to see you're awake, Cyrus!"
His stomach dropped. That voice, it scraped at the edges of his memory. He couldn't place it, but something about it felt... familiar. Wrongly familiar.
"W-who are you?!" The freckle-faced teen rasped, the cold having done a number on his throat. "Where am I?! What do you want?!"
The woman tilted her head slightly before stepping into full view beside the table. She had a thin frame, but something about her presence felt solid, anchored in a way that made Cyrus uncomfortable.
"Well... I can't tell you my real name, that would cause me way too much trouble. But for the sake of convenience, you can just call me Frost."