Strangers From Another World 15 Unsettling Premonitions

Alex and Tina returned to their rooms, though Joseph stayed. Gene didn't mind, it's not like he had anywhere else to go and he prefers everyone to be close by.

"You rest too Joseph, you looked rather haggard, go ahead and use my bed."

"And you?"

"I'll sit around the corner."

"If you say so."

That being said, Gene did not sleep, instead, his mind began to work on the question of the Oracle, and what she may be hiding from him. How far can she really see, he questioned, and how could I know for sure?

There is one way, one way that comes to mind. The Sight Jacker, Fittoa Valencia, if she could get her hands on the Oracle's eyes, then she'd know the extent of their powers. But why would the Sight Jacker give that information up? Because she won't be able to get to the Oracle alone, only with my help, does she stand a chance, and I'll lend that help for the price of a small bit of information. Once she has the Mystic Sight of Knowledge from the Oracle, she'll have no reason to go after Alex, who has a similar, albeit, inferior mystic sight. It'll be taking two birds with one stone.

Feeling eyes on him, Gene came out of his thoughts and turned towards the gaze casted upon him. There, Joseph stares at him from the bed.

"You have a sinister look about you."

"I was merely considering my options. That is all."

"Really?"

"Yes..."

To turn against the Oracle, and by extension, the entirety of the Strangers' Administration, or to trust them, and keep faith in the information network they provided as a condition for joining them. Which to choose? The path is still unclear.

Without gaining any definite answer, Gene packaged his thoughts away and tried to sleep, but perhaps he isn't quite tired enough to be able to ignore the discomfort of the floor, he simply could not fall asleep. Around this time, he heard something from the next room, Alex's room, it sounded like rocks falling onto the wooden floorboard. Gene decided to go check it out.

After knocking the door to Alex's room, Gene was let in, and upon entry a number of rocks can be seen laying about the floor. Having picked one up for a closer look, the rock that he took into his hand begin to break apart, turning into dust, then the dust was reduced to mana. Clearly, they were born of magic, and therefore easily broken down by Gene's innate magic resistance.

"You're practicing I see," he said to Alex.

"I got bored from just waiting around so I thought I'd try something, but for some reason I'm not doing as well as I hoped."

"Oh? What were you trying to do?"

Gene leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, making himself comfortable.

"Well, remember back at the sewers? When you knocked those guards into the slime?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"That time, you created three separate [Shield] bubbles didn't you? I was trying to do the same with my spells, but I was only able to produce one thing at a time."

"Ah, that. You sure pick up on the most interesting things don't you?"

"Is there a special technique involved?"

"It's nothing special, to create multiple objects, you simply need to make mana flow in multiple paths."

"Hmm..."

Alex though about it a little, and then he pointed his wand at an empty s.p.a.ce, channeling his mana up to his arm and then into his wand. Soon, a small piece of rock formed in mid air, floating. Once the rock had been formed, Alex tried redirecting his flow, but the moment he did so, the rock fell to the floor with a thud. Alex could only stare at the fallen rock with disappointment.

"I'm afraid it's not something you can just pick up. You're going to need to practice if you wish to do as I do. However, there is a trick to making it easier," said Gene.

"How? Do tell me."

"Well, you have two hands right? Have you tried channeling your mana to both? Know that the easiest place where mana could be controlled is within one's body, so practice manipulating the flow from within you, and soon you can easily do it even when it flows outside of you."

Alex nodded and tried again, channeling mana into both hands, and once more, he tried to forms small [Stone Boulders] in mid air. On his right side, a solid rock was then formed, but on his left, there was only a small could of sand and dust.

"Yes, just like that, keep at it and you'll learn to distribute your mana evenly, and in time you'll be able to fire off multiple spells at once."

Alex kept at it until his focus wanes, ending up with two rocks of differing size.

"Oh, and while we're at it, can you do something for me, Alex?"

"What is it?"

"It's nothing too complicated, I just need you to create another rock and move it slowly away from you, just that, and without using your wand."

Alex didn't understand what it'll be for, but he supposed that he'll find out as pretty soon. And so, he did as he was told, creating a rock, moving it away from himself slowly. Eventually, he felt his control over the rock weakens and the rock fell to the ground.

"What was that!?" Alex was confused. It was the first time he distinctly felt himself losing control over his magic.

"About two meters..." Gene muttered as he measures the distance between where the rock had fallen and Alex. "That was the range of your magic control, anything outside of it you'll lose control over. It's something every mage should keep in mind and key to combating another mage. Now try again, this time with your wand."

Once more, Alex did as he was told, creating a rock and moved it slowly outwards till he loses control.

"That's an extra meter with the wand, as expected of a wand of this quality."

"I never quite realized that there was a limit to how far I could control my magic."

"Well, you've only been using projectile based magic after all."

"Can it be extended?"

"Yes, through a better staff or wand, or through practice. I know someone who could go up to five whole meters without a wand or any sort of catalyst."

"I guess I'll keep practicing then."

Alex then went back to trying to cast with both hands.

"Try to-" Gene involuntarily lets out a yawn, "Try not to overdo it, you'll need to save it for tonight."

"Got it."

"And..."

"And?"

"And are you sure you want to go? We're not playing around you know, and this time we're against people, people most likely without protective gear against magic."

"I..." Alex turns towards Gene. "But what will happen to me if you don't come back?"

Gene could see the worry in the boy's eyes.

"I want to stick close. I feel that's the safest."

Gene lets out a sigh. "I get it, but you must listen to what I say, got it?"

"You said that already, and yes, I got it."

"Go-" Gene yawned again. "Good."

"You should get some rest, Gene."

"Yeah, I guess I should."

Gene then returns to his own room, finding Joseph already fast asleep on his bed. He must have been very tired as well. And so, once more, Gene sat against the corner, this time managing to fall asleep.

***

Dinner was light and swift that night. They ate only enough, no more, no less. Then, once it was deep enough into the night, they began to move. With Joseph leading the way, the four swiftly arrived at the location of the warehouses.

"This is it?" Gene asked.

"I'm certain, it's here all the warehouses in this area belong to them," Joseph replied.

"How did they get their hands on so many?"

"I haven't the faintest clue, but that's not exactly our problem right now is it?"

"No, it's not."

Gene went over the plan once more with the rest. They'll split the group into two, Joseph taking along Alex, and Gene taking along Tina. Gene and Tina will create a distraction, drawing the attention of both the guards and the Stranger Joseph had mentioned. Meanwhile, Joseph and Alex will be on standby until the coast is clear, then they'll move in to retrieve Joseph's belongings. Once that is done, they'll meet up at the rendezvous point and ride out of the city.

It was a simple plan, simple and straightforward, which meant only too many things could go wrong. However, there were only four of them, and only so much could be done in the limited time, and remaining in this city for long is not an option. The only hope here lies with Gene and Joseph, veteran adventurers who had survived worst, it'll be their job improvise a best course of action should everything goes sour.

"Any questions?" Gene asked after finishing.

"Sounds as good a plan as any," said Gene.

"No, no questions," said Alex.

"I don't like this," said Tina, "but I guess we'll have to get it done one way or another."

There were no questions from any of them; they each knew what they had to do.

"If there are no questions, then let us begin."

***

With Tina's [Critical Line], she and Gene moved through the most optimal path towards the far side of the warehouses, where they'll start a fire large enough to warrant the attention of every guard in the vicinity.

As they silently proceeds, Tina suddenly raised her hand, signaling for Gene to stop.

"What?" Gene whispered.

"Guards, there's too many of them. My [Critical Line] can't find a path."

"Must be something important in there," said Gene, glad that he chose to come to this side rather than the other. If whatever is in this particular warehouse is precious enough to place this many guards, then once they set it on fire, the rest will definitely come running.

And so Gene began looking around, in the end, the [Critical Line] can only point out the most optimal, most low risk, most perfect path. However, sometimes, one has to give up perfection and get a little dirty to get the job done.

Gene tapped on Tina's shoulder once he had found what he believes may be of use.

"A horse stable?" Tina said in amazement, "To have one so close by, these guys must be stupidly well off. You think they might take me?"

"If that's what you're thinking, I'm going to have to smash your head in right here and now."

"I'm joking of course. I like my stupid guild back home better."

"You do, huh."

"Yes..."

From here, Gene splits off from Tina and went towards the stable, setting the horses loose and startling them. Once they noticed the horses running off, a great number of guards quickly panicked and started running after them, only very few were left behind to guard the place. With her [Critical Line], Tina quickly found a way into the warehouse and after her, Gene soon followed suit.

"All right, let find the thing that's so important to them and burn it to the ground," said Gene, as he created a tiny flicker of fire at the tip of his finger with magic and uses it to light up a small torch.

"Gene..." All of a sudden, Tina tugged at his sleeve.

Gene turned towards her, wondering what was wrong and saw her pointing at something in the shadows. Feeling a sense of dread from her, Gene carefully moves his torch towards the direction Tina was pointing. And there they were, cages, large cages, and within them, children.

"Son of " Gene held himself back, his teeth grinding down as his anger rises.

These children, they were most likely kidnapped, and that's bad enough as it is, but on them are the strangest of clothing, strange for this world, though familiar to Gene, and most probably to Alex as well. One look at them, and one could easily tell, that these caged children were no from this world. They came from another world. These children are Strangers.

***

End of Chapter 15