Chapter 6
Over the next few days, I took Milo’s suggestion to heart.
I needed to prioritize my work on searching for the Celestial Coven, to give Gladiatrix a lead she could use to finally put an end to this organization.
And I also needed to check on my students.
I couldn’t ignore them if I wanted. My telepathy wouldn’t allow such things.
So, while I went about my day at Cerberus, working on paperwork and channeling magic for my manifestations to harness from a distance, I looped my telepathy around the city and followed closely to my students during their internships.
Currently, I found myself drawn to Yaritza as I’d gone far too long ignoring her pain. Unintentionally or not, I’d never noticed the deeply etched depression she masked.
Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie followed close behind Enchanter Ortiz, who’d gone with simple patrol work since, like many guilds, cases had been slow as of late.
Ortiz wore a leather jacket, no shirt, and ripped jeans with more holes than fabric.
Supposedly, this stylistic wardrobe had to do with his primal branch burning hot at all times—even in the bitter chill of autumn weather.
Personally, I figured he liked to add to his bad boy heartthrob image.
Name: Santos Ortiz
Branch: Primal (Fire)
Unlike Melanie, Ortiz could create and control flames. Additionally, his fire burned white and black, each possessing unique qualities. I’d wager they were more on the arcane degree than the primal, but his license claimed they were purely primal.
“It’s always important to remain vigilant and public.” Ortiz kept them on the main streets, casting small black flames on the alley streets, to lure in wisps and small fiends for him to banish.
Only, he didn’t banish them. Instead, he allowed the fiends to feed upon his flames, absorbing the magic and swelling in size. Once they’d devoured the nearby magic, they consumed the lingering wisps, growing more in the process.
“Oh, I got it.” Yaritza took a step forward, but Ortiz blocked her path.
“Wait for it.”
And in a matter of seconds, the fiend sniffed the barren street and lunged into busy traffic searching for a new bounty. Cars swerved, but thanks to well-timed telekinesis, Ortiz prevented a collision.
“The most important part of our job.”
“Protecting people,” Yaritza said.
Ortiz scoffed. “Hardly.”
The fiend drew the attention of others, and soon they’d blocked off the entire road. Traffic came to a halt, and people squirmed uncomfortably in their cars as the fiends searched for magic to consume.
“In order for the public to be grateful to guilds, they have to see us in action.” Enchanter Ortiz lunged ahead, abandoning his interns and demonstrating his public prowess.
In a few swift blows, he hurled white flames at the fiends, lacing banishment into his deadlier white fire, while levitating with an extra boost from his black flames.
The fire was all for show. Completely unnecessary for casting against such small threats, but Ortiz wanted the public to clamor, to stare in awe, to see his majestic strength.
And they did. People rolled down their windows to cheer him on, to applaud his valiant efforts.
All completely oblivious to the fact he’d orchestrated this little inconvenience before resolving it.
I tsked, nearly drawn back to my mind on the other side of the city. I wished Enchanter Ortiz’s behavior was an outlier of uncommon practices. Sadly, too many enchanters relied on these strategies to gain public notoriety.
“You see,” Ortiz said, returning to his interns. “It’s that small inconvenience that reminds people why they need guild involvement.”
“But you could’ve stopped the fiends on the streets,” Jamius said. “We could’ve filmed it. Shown everyone how important—”
“Banishment posts rarely go viral,” Ortiz interrupted. “No. Citizens need to see firsthand how much we help them. They need to feel the threat looming near them. These reminders are good for everyone.”
“How so?” Jamius raised a brow, skeptical but curious.
“If we help them without their knowledge, they just see us as overpaid slackers,” Ortiz explained.
“So, I do my part by allowing the threats to lurk a little closer than some would prefer. It’s a healthy reminder that if they want to stay safe, they’ll always vote pro guild and do their part to pay the way to keep our salaries competitive. ”
I rolled my eyes. Ortiz’s obnoxious ideology on guild philosophy would definitely worm its way into my students’ heads. Hopefully, they’d see through his shallow behavior given time.
“Normally, we wouldn’t spend our days patrolling the same streets on repeat,” Ortiz said.
“But cases are always slower closer to the holidays. No one wants to waste money on demonic energy or warlocks when they have to budget for flights home, presents, decorations, and everything else. It’ll pick up after Christmas. ”
Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie grumbled, trying to imagine how boring it’d be following Ortiz on street patrols for the next few months with no real work.
“Could we maybe search another neighborhood?” Yaritza asked.
“Yeah,” Jamius said. “The South Side has tons of fiends. Might even find some cases there.”
“Yeah, right.” Melanie rolled her eyes, making the typical assumption that folks on the South Side couldn’t afford to hire a guild. She wasn’t wrong, but mocking poverty wasn’t a great look on her.
“Technically speaking, guilds take cases from anywhere in the city that we’re hired; however, there are specific locations that the city pays us to protect on a regular basis,” Enchanter Ortiz explained.
“See, Kraken has always been active on the West side. We don’t patrol the whole area—far too many guilds fighting for turf—but we run the suburbs, and trust me, they’re grateful for our many hands always tending to their protection. ”
His mind fluttered with the imagery of an actual kraken’s ten tentacles shielding the city. Even though an actual kraken would probably attempt to destroy the city because they were a gigantic and threatening demon.
He wasn’t wrong about the city employing guilds to monitor specific regions within their jurisdiction.
It was a difficult balance because they didn’t want guilds to overstep on police protocol, but they didn’t want to risk citizens when guild interference would be beneficial.
They also didn’t want to pay exorbitant guild fees for exceptional acts of labor, so guilds only intervened in high-tier cases when the city offered proper compensation or a wealthy client stepped in to handle the costs.
Money was the only real way to handle any problem.
Magic was just an added bonus of assistance.
My students followed Ortiz for another hour as he lured fiends into more direct view of people, then allowed his interns the opportunity to banish them for small praise.
“Oooooh.” Ortiz came to an abrupt stop, showing his beeping phone. “Might have a case for you yet. The ole guild master only ever calls when we’ve got an emergency gig.”
Ortiz answered his call, revealing a video that had over fifty members, according to the small notification bubble in the corner.
“I need all enchanters near Humboldt Park to assist,” the guild master said. “There’s a massive disturbance, and authorities are being overwhelmed. Likely a warlock threat, but suspect fiend interference being drawn to the high volume of magical casting.”
“We’ll handle it,” Ortiz responded. “I’m eight blocks away.”
“Be cautious,” the guild master said. “By all reports, our enchanters on the scene have already been struck down. Stay vigilant. I’ll be sending teams to secure the scene soon.”
My mind buzzed with thoughts of enchanters from multiple guilds throughout Chicago being contacted by their guild master.
The leader of Kraken Guild wasn’t kidding about backup.
Considering Kraken was notorious for being glory hogs, it was surprising to see them reaching out for assistance.
Milo’s influence, no doubt. He pushed for collaboration nonstop.
It was nice to see the fruits of his labor paying off.
“Looks like you kiddos will finally get some action,” Ortiz said with a wicked smirk. “Remember the rules. You don’t interfere. You’re support roles unless the situation demands otherwise. But?”
“But it won’t because you’re a legend,” Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie all said in unison. Even their eyerolls were synced. They found it frustrating that he coddled them—if one could call it that—but I was grateful his bravado wouldn’t risk their lives.
“Scope the terrain, take out low-level fiends, help stragglers evacuate the area, and have a comprehensive report to offer any other enchanters reporting to the scene.”
With that, Ortiz bolted down the block. He used his black flames to enhance his flight, turning the corner in a flash.
My students barely had a chance to get off the ground before Ortiz’s mind had reached the scene.
Whatever he spotted stirred through him uncomfortably, but I remained latched to my students’ minds as they flew toward the incident.
By the time Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie arrived at the scene, there were black and white flames raging everywhere.
Black fire clung to citizens, shielding them from flying debris, while white fire burned gigantic arms that continued swinging erratically through buildings, the asphalt of the road, and everything else in their path.
“Fuck me.” Yaritza’s fear latched onto my mind, making it difficult to focus.
Towering above her, above most of the buildings on the street, was a huge witch.
“What is that?” Jamius asked.
“Giant magic.” Melanie gulped.
She wasn’t entirely wrong. They had the answer. They’d each studied the various branches in my class. They’d learned the names of thousands of known branch magics. All they needed was a little push, a little guidance. It was rare, but we’d covered this magic.