The Detective and the Possibility Mage (Chapter 1)

"Unintelligible symbols and a letter I think it's safe to say it's our killer. Though he's changed his style up again this time the vices female, two cuts to the throat and complete mutilation of the abdomen. Nasty business" says Jane hiding the disgust behind her professional demeanor, or is it Jackie, as she walks up to me and attempts to hand me the preliminary report.

"I don't have time for this, just run it by me quick." I say as I hurry through the scene, this case has been getting to me this will be the thirteenth victim and we've got nothing on the guy no DNA no fingerprints nothing, it's like we're tracking a ghost.

"Actually sir you might want to read this there a picture of the letter and well its addressed to you sir" Jackie said forcing the report into my hands, no wait her names Janis, she a newbie joined the team just in time for this mess to start up, smart and confident but lacking in experience. I scan the symbols at the top of the letter nothing jumps out at me, though I doubted anything would, are tech have been working on these symbols for weeks and they've got nothing. I jump to the actual text.

Dear Agent Drake

I truly hope you enjoy my recreation of my past work especially since I so rarely give in to sentimentality. I did so enjoy the chase back then but alas I doubt you will put up as good a show as my good friend Ried, though you are much more fun to watch. However you are slacking you only accredit me with 13 bodies you really must start looking harder. I would continue but you know how it is places to go, things to see, people to kill. Though I will truly enjoy watching you read this it will make my day 10/23/13

Patrick Jepher

That last line really catches my attention. I check my watch for the date 10/23/13. How could the killer have known when we would find the body? I look around the alley where the vics body was found, its dark and dank not really a high traffic area, only cops not even a crowd gather around the entrance. They've probably been scared off.

"Hey has anyone found any surveillance equipment around" I shout to know one in particular. Out of the corner of my eye I notice a glint in the window of the shop across the street, Pete's butcher shop. The window explodes outward and a massive shockwave shots down the alley followed by a crash like two mac trucks slamming together. Next to me one of the techs slams forward crimson blossoming form the back of his shirt. I'm sprinting forward not really thinking about the consequences by the time I reach the street three more crashes and three more bodies have hit the ground. The shooters silhouette is no longer in the now shattered window. In second I'm across the street and crashing through the door to the shop. I hear someone running behind me but I don't have time to look. A corpse in the tattered remains of a white apron greets me hanging from a meat hook attached to the ceiling in the center of the shop.  A pool of blood covers the ceramic tiles on the floor and symbols cover the wall painted in dried blood. I take all this in, in the seconds it takes me to sprint through the shop and to the door in the back of the shop. As I pass through the door I drop to my knees as a wave of nausea hits me. As I stagger to my feet wondering as to what had just hit me. I glace around in time to see the newbie falling face first into the ground as she comes through the door. The next thing to catch my eye has me turning and raising my gun the gun that I barely remember drawing. I fire bracing myself for the recoil but instead my gun just goes click.

"Hey man, look I'm all for the shoot first and ask questions later approach, but just chill. Neither of us look like we belong here and I've been trying quite hard not to be noticed by the guards." Says the man in a relaxed tone. The man standing in front of me looks to be mid-twenties tall thin, with dark hair and wearing a flamboyant white suite. My brain finally catches up with my body and I lower my gun the killer couldn't have been wearing white the contrast would have been two high against the dark back room or a meat locker I find myself standing in what looks like an office space cubicles spread out in rows in all directions. I turn to the door I had just come through Human relations is written in block letters on the plaque in the center.

" Damn looks like they found us anyway" the man says looking down one of the rows at two men, although that doesn't seem like quite the right word, wearing business suits purposefully walking down the aisle towards us. Neither appeared to be armed and they both had blank expressions on their face. It just so happened that at this point Janis had managed to get up and brought her gun to bear against the two approaching figures. Before she even got a chance to speak one of the figures gestured with their hand and Janis was blasted back into the wall behind us with a sickening crunch. As he body slumped to the floor it left a trail of blood covering the once white wall.   The other figure began to make the dame quick gesture but this time the man in the white suite step forward a strained look on his face. The door I had just been examining exploded in splintering as if hit by a car revealing more office space. I had just come through that door from a butcher's shop what the hell was happening here.  My train of though was interrupted by more explosions around me

"A little help would be appreciated here." the man in the suite said the straining his voice was evident. I turned and instinctively raised my gun. I wasn't going down without a fight. I pulled the trigger and the gun responded with a resounding crack. The first shot hit the figure and it seem to jerk back then straightened up and continued its relentless advance. I fire two more shots the last hitting the creature, because nothing human could keep going like this, directly between the eyes. The creature let out a screech that no human could ever make and fell to the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief the damn things could die. Next to me the man in the suit seemed locked in his own struggle although he didn't seemed to be moving. The second the body of the creature I had shot hit the floor a smile ran across his face. Hand went into one of his pockets and came out with a large coin. He held it between his fingers and threw it directly at the other creature which had begun to charge forward. The coin embedded itself in the creatures head and exploded leaving nothing but the creature's legs to fall to the floor.

"I've been working on that trick for a while glad to see it work out so well, I really didn't expect them to have Zans( temporary name) damn things aren't particularly smart or tough but hey pack a hell of a punch in terms of telekinetic power." The man said turning to face me his tone relaxed.

"What? How?..." I stammer trying to understand what is happening. All of what I had just scene made no sense.

"Well that trick is a simple possibility inversion turns out all matter has the slightest chance of instantly converting to energy." The man said with a straight face.

"Possibility inversion? Telekinetic power? Are you crazy, none of that makes any sense." I shout my anger at all that's been happening boiling through.

"Wait hold on man, you really don't know where you are. God damn you really are just a cop. Ok. Let me guess you ran through that door after that guy in the black coat probably you thought it was just some perp. Well all I can say is welcome to the Crossroads at the heart of the universe, now I'm perfectly willing to explain what that means preferably over copious quantities of alcohol, but right now I think we are a little busy don't you." The man said while pulling me down the hallway. At this point I gave up thinking about the situation there will be time for that later right now I need to stay alive.

"Ok, I'm not even going to begin to think that I understood anything you just said but right now I feel that staying alive is more important." I mutter as we run the office floor. As I look out the windows we pass all I see is darkness I can't tell if its night out there or if it's something else. As we round the next corner three figures stand are standing waiting. Two look like the Zans from before the third is wearing military style clothing and carrying a blade that seems to radiant an impossible mixture of light and dark.

"Oh shit, combat sorcerer that's a serious problem, I really didn't want to do this, using gates without looking through them first is usually a bad idea but were out of option and im out of power, sorry buddy this is going to seem like a really bad idea but go with it." The man said as he push me towards the one of the nearby windows.

"What the …" I say as I crash through the glass. I feel that sense of nausea again followed closely by the sensation of falling. Them the ground came up and hit me hard but in that time I couldn't have fallen 15 floors.

"Well damn it worked we're out, the gate is already closed so where safe. Now lets see bright lights, music that more decibels than anything else seems we landed near some of the clubs good I don't think anything going to try to kill us at least not unless we do something to annoy them " The man said with great relief.

"I've just gone from a crime scene to an office building through the back door of a butcher shop, seen a fellow officer killed in a way I can't even explain and been thrown out the window of what I thought was the fifteenth floor of an office build by I man whose name I don't even know" I say with exasperation trying to hide the anger. This man may be infuriating and insane but he saved my life.

"Well not much I can do about the past but my name Alex Kaitan and I'm the one of the strongest probability mages in the crossroads. Bloody lot of good its done me recently but that my own problem." Alex says once again speaking in his relaxed tone as he starts to walk down the sidewalk.

"My names Ryan Drake and where the hell are you going" I say as I try to get my feet under myself. Once again the nausea passed as quickly as it came. I don't know what the hell causes it but I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

"Well Ryan Drake, I do believe I offered to explain things over a few drinks. So we're off to a bar I know that should be nearby. The place is a bit of a dump but the booze are good and after a few strong drinks it really doesn't matter." He says cheerily. I'm never going to get used to this guy's speech patterns it infuriating. I know my New York like the back of my hand. Ten years on the force will do that. But this street is nothing like anywhere I've ever been. More importantly it was the middle of the day when I ran after that killer the street is pitch black save for the lights form nearby stores and clubs with names I've never heard before and some that didn't even seem to be in English. What the hell happened did I black out and more importantly where the hell am I. Even if I somehow ended up somewhere in the city I don't know, New York is the city that never sleeps so where the hell are all the people and all the cars. Now that I think about the road next to me is completely empty not a single car in sight.

"Hey buddy there will be time to sight see later, sure there probably isn't anyone directly trying to hunt us. But that pile of trash has been following us for the last two blocks and its starting to look kind of hungry." Alex says. I honestly can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not so I pick up the pace. As I look around I feel as if hundreds of eyes are watching me and yet I can't see any of them. "Ah here we go, place doesn't have a name never really needed one people who know it just go here when they need a break."

"What the hell are you talking about there's nothing here just and alley" I look around trying to firgue out where this place is.

"You already jumped out of a window on my say so just trust me" Alex says smugly walking forward.

"You've got to be …" I stop talking as Alex disappears after passing through the entrance of the alley. Where the hell did he go. "Hey Alex where the hell are you" Not like I expected any answer but the silence followed scared the hell out of me. Well I've got nothing to lose, so I walked into the alley. This time I braced myself for the wave of nausea that seemed to accompany these strange events. Nothing came but the sight that awaited me had nearly the same result. Alex wasn't lying this place looked like a bar but the clientele was what really threw me. Some of the stuff the people were wearing look like it belonged in a comic book convention others were dressed like hells angels and some were wearing business suits. They seemed to be mixed together in ways that really didn't make any sense.

"Over here Ryan" Alex says gesturing towards a seat next to him at the bar. As I walk towards him it seems like several of the patrons seemed to stare at me but most of them turned away after only a few seconds. I've gone under cover within the Italian mobs and I've walked into rooms filled with gangsters and mob bosses and I can say that I've never been so uncomfortable.   It felt like I was staring down the barrel of tanks cannon. I finally reached the bar and sat down next to Alex.

"Well what is it you want to know buddy, you really helped me out there I would have been in bad straights against those tow especially after how I got in." Alex said gesturing towards the glass in front of me. The drink was mostly clear but it seemed to have a tint to it but the color seemed to be changing.

."How about let's start with where the hell I am and how the hell I got there" I say irritation plain in my voice.

"Well that's easy, you're at the Crossroads, it's a place all roads lead but only if you know where to look. It's a place to make deals with gods and powers from places outside of our universe. As to how you got here if I were to guess you stumbled on a one shot gate. The things occur naturally but there rare and unstable so I'm guessing someone opened it. Maybe the mystery man in the black coat."

"Gates, Crossroads, gods what the hell are you talking about Alex." I say. As I take a swig from the drink in front of me. It felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat. "What the hell is this stuff Alex" I say through clenched teeth.

"I find its best not to ask but it does a hell of a job" he says downing the glass in one go with no apparent ill effects.

"Ok I'll bite let's say I accept all this. How do I get out of here? I've got to get back to my job I need to report this development and give report the death of agent Janis. I say taking another sip of the drink in front of me. This stuff really is strong but with all that's been happening I can't say it's not appreciated.

"Getting out of here's pretty easy but getting to a specific time and place isn't exactly simple. There are some people who can get you anywhere any when but it's not cheap. I'm getting the feeling you don't have that kind of money on you. So your next best bets a god or a really powerful mage." He says ordering another drink. A bottle flew off the shelf in front of us and refilled the glass. "Hey buddy pay attention, yes the bottle is floating, yes this is normal, ghosts tend to be cheap labor and they make good bartenders, don't talk much."

"Ghost bartenders, gods what's next dinosaurs on spaceships, ring shaped portals to other worlds."

"Not quiet but I think things just got a lot more interesting." Alex says turning to the entrance of the bar. Two figures enter through the door appearing out of thin air. Instead of just staring this time it seems that every patron in the bar has some kind of weapon, guns, swords, sticks. The energy that suffuses the air feels like a thousand lightning bolt preparing to strike. For all I know that might be what happens. The two figures step forwards apparently unfazed by the myriad of weapons facing them. One of the figures seems to take the lead and opens there mouth to speak.