Another Day

An alarm blared in Alec Lee's ears as his brown eyes burst open and he shot up from his bed. He quickly tapped a button on the holographic projection of his Zero Screen phone beside him to turn his alarm off and picked up the small metallic rectangular prism to check the time.

7:00 AM

I barely feel like I got any rest at all.

He had about 30 minutes to get out the door if he was going to make it to his job on time. Alec got up from the floor and brushed his fingers through his black dreads while scratching his head then stretched his arms, torso, and legs feeling all his old sores resonate through his entire body. Some of them stood out even on his dark brown skin.

Alec winced in pain, then chuckled "Nothing takes nothing."

As Alec walked the 15 minutes it took to get to his job, he took in all the things that were all around him. Even though he had been in Centre City for almost a month now, he was still amazed by the sights and sounds that were so different from his small hometown.

Overhead, flying golems whizzed about delivering food and other goods around the city and holographic signs hovered in front of stores. Passing by him, horseless carriages zoomed down the street along with people on Auto Bikes who were barely paying attention to the road as they poured over their Zero Screen craftphones with both hands.

"Man, Centre City really is a place where magic and technology come together.", Alec mused. "Sometimes I can't even tell which is which."

"Can't say that much for back home. Even though it's been ten years since the Emergence and magic became known to the public, Millerton's still as boring and plain as it's always been."

As he walked past a construction site, he stopped when he noticed that despite all the materials present such as large blocks of metal, wood, and concrete there was no machinery as well as no crew aside from one lone figure who didn't have the typical appearance of what you would expect a construction worker to have. He was wearing wizardly robes and was standing in a large metallic platform that was covered in large glowing ether crystals brimming with magical energy. In front of him, on the platform, was a miniature holographic model for a building. He looked like he would more fit larping as a wizard in the park instead of being at a construction site. However, Alec knew that nowadays looks could be very deceiving and that something extraordinary was about to take place.

The man in the wizard's robe outstretched his hands towards the building materials in front of him.

"Builder Craft, Page 10 - Formation of the Palace!"

A giant mystical crest appeared on the ground under the materials encircling them entirely. The blocks of metal, wood, and concrete became covered in light then started to mold and reshape into the form of a building. As the structure extended into the air, the more similar the structure became to the design of the holographic model. When the construction was done and the light had faded from the newly made three-story building, it was a mirror image of the projected blueprint in front of the mystic Craftsman who built it. The light had also faded from the ether crystals that covered the platform having been depleted of their magical energy for the mystic skill to be performed.

"Amazing.", Alec uttered out after it was finished.

Overall, the entire construction had taken only ten minutes and Alec had watched the whole process play out. Suddenly, he looked at his phone and realized he was a few minutes away from being late to his job.

Crap, I better hurry if I'm going to make it on time.

He broke out in a brisk jog down the sidewalk.

***

He stopped in front of a small store and looked at its antique neon sign, Coffee & Chronicles. In the display window, there were popular books of all different kinds and a strong and fragrant coffee smell wafted from the edges of the door.

Alec breathed a sigh of relief. "On time, with a whole minute and sixteen seconds to spare."

After this brief moment, he walked into the shop and began his day at work. Coffee & Chronicles was both a cafe and a bookstore and the building was evenly split between two sides with each one having its own counter. On one side, was the coffee and tables while the other had the bookshelves.

"Morning Alec, you're a little later than usual, anything happen on the way here?"

Alec was greeted cheerfully by a young woman with dirty blonde hair and light gray eyes who was wearing the same uniform that he was. She was standing behind the coffee counter in the back of the room.

Well, not anything that unusual happened just now."

Alec decided to keep the events of earlier this morning to himself for the moment.

"Nothing much Amy, just had to fight off a flock of vicious Griffins on the way here. You know how it is, right?" He proceeded to walk to the book counter where he usually worked since he was knowledgeable about many types of literature.

Amy raised her hand to her chin in suspicion, not believing his fake story for a second.

"Hmmm, so what magical thing caught your eye this time?"

"Geez, you got it right instantly. You could've at least pretended it wasn't that obvious." Alec skimmed his fingers through his hair in a tinge of embarrassment.

He let out an overexaggerated sigh. "A Craftsman was using his magic to construct a building down the street so I sort of stayed and watched..."

"That sounds almost as boring as watching paint dry doesn't it," Alec stated abruptly just now coming to that realization.

Amy smiled revealing a small fang on the right side of her mouth. "Almost, to me at least, but probably not to someone as interested in that stuff as you. I gotta admit though, it's still crazy how ten years ago everyone thought that magic was fake and now we have people like that walking around."

Alec grinned back at her "Yeah, you're right about that. I mean Craftsmen are basically wizards. It's pretty fascinating watching them do magic in person."

...and it's probably as close as I'll get to using magic myself.

***

'Ding Dong'

Hearing the sound of the store's doorbell, Alec looked up from his counter to see who had entered the store.

"Hey Charlotte, how's your morning going?"

"It's going well, thank you."

Charlotte was a regular of Coffee & Chronicles, buying a new book every other week or so. Alec and her had gotten along pretty well since he started working there. She had dark black long hair and deep blue eyes and was wearing a bais shirt and jacket.

"Already finished the Quest of Loriel Silenda? How was it?", Alec questioned.

"It was great! Thanks for the recommendation. The final battle between the House of Hypogriffs and the House of Sphinxes was super riveting to read. It kind of made me wish the series had another book to it, but the end was closed so neatly that I can't imagine what another addition could be about."

As Alec listened to her, he couldn't help but think to himself, Wow, I still can't believe a girl as pretty as her is as much of a book nerd as I am. Can't judge a book by their cover I guess. Man, that was a lame pun.

"So anything you're looking for in particular today?"

"Yes, could you get me Jack and the Bean Stalker?"

"Huh?" Alec was surprised by her request.

"Is something wrong, do you not have it?"

"No, it's not that, it's just that it's not that popular of a book. I didn't think you knew about it."

Alec had read the book himself and knew Jack and the Bean Stalker was a dark retelling of the classical fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk and was much less whimsical of a story than what it was based on.

"Oh, I just got nostalgic for it recently. I used to read it a lot as a kid. Going on an adventure and slaying monsters, isn't that basically what being a Venturer is like?"

Charlotte clutched her arm and sighed wistfully, " I've always wanted to be one myself, but I've never been the physical type, and being a Blank like us doesn't help either". She chuckled slightly.

"Yeah..." Alec was already retrieving the book from one of the shelves.

"That's the reason why I'm not sure if I'll ever get to know what it's like firsthand since I'm probably not going to pass the Venturer exam this year not having any magic at all though."

"Well, I hope you do. You're way more capable than you think you are and a lot of things can change in six months." She was smiling brightly while looking directly at him with her piercing blue eyes.

"It's kind of unnerving how optimistic Charlotte can be sometimes."

"Thanks, I'll make sure try the best I can but don't expect too much okay."

After Charlotte had purchased the book and left the store, the rest of the day went by as usual for Alec. Once it was time for him to leave, he said goodbye to Amy and walked out of the building into the warm summer afternoon.

5:07

Alec looked at the time while he mulled over what Charlotte had told him.

"I've learned it's best not to have too high expectations about anything. That way you can never get disappointed no matter what. That's especially true for my situation, Venturers are extraordinary people who do the impossible on a daily basis, and I'm just an average eighteen-year-old guy who works part-time at a bookshop with nothing extraordinary to speak of...but being a pessimist doesn't help either. I might feel like I'm not getting anywhere, but I got to make everyday count."

Alec pulled out a pendant that was hanging from a necklace from underneath his shirt. It was a red jewel enclosed by silver-colored wings. He stared intently at it then gripped it tightly in his bandaged hands.

"That's why I'm not going to give up and I'm not going to let today be just another day."

***

The mace crashed against his face sending him toppling backward and his entire world was sent spinning. Alec refused to go down despite this and charged back at his opponent, Nylat Frinx, a young muscular man with brown hair, about the same physique and height of Alec who was 6'0''. Nylat swung another heavy blow at him, but this time Alec anticipated it and diverted the mace out of the way with his halberd then whirled his weapon around to strike Nylat. He jumped backward quickly, just barely able to dodge the attack with it narrowly grazing him. He glared at Alec and then they both unleashed a flurry of strikes while parrying all of the others attacks until Nylat initiated a bind between them.

As they pressed their weapons against each other, even though they were evenly matched when it came to natural strength, Nylat's aura was giving him the edge and he was slowly exhausting Alec of his energy. Realizing this, Alec relaxed his halberd and twisted around Nylat allowing his own force to carry him forward resulting in Nylat almost falling down. Alec took this opportunity and swung his halberd at Nylat but he was still able to block Alec's attack from knocking him down even while he was stumbling.

Alec was currently in a sparring match inside the Knight Arms Gym one of the training centers in Centre City for aspiring and professional Venturers to hone their skills. Since moving to Centre City, Alec had been coming here every day to train, so he would be able to pass the Venturer Exam in the winter and had also been challenging Craftsmen there with less than favorable results.

Nylat regained his footing and glowered at Alec again who was trying to find another opening to attack. Both of them could hear the jeers of the crowd that gathered around the ring to see them spar.

Most of them were wearing the same gym wear that Alec and Nylat wore, a collection of form-fitting and breathable dark red and gray clothes such as a shirt, pants, and gloves. They offered considerable protection contrary to their lightness and thinness being force and tear-resistant. One exception, however, was a young woman sitting at one of the tables in the gym near the wall. The young woman was away from anyone else and was wearing a regular purple-striped black tracksuit. She moved some of her black and white hair to reveal her metallic ear. The woman's violet eyes matched the lines on her clothes and she was watching the match intently with both them and her hearing.

"Come on Frinx, your not going to let that Blank beat you are you!? Show him what you got, Frinx! Are you going easy on him or are you just that weak!?"

Nylat grimaced, if there was one thing that he couldn't take, it was being called weak. Even more so with it implying that he was inferior to a Blank as well.

"You really think you can take me on? There's not even chance of you getting your license, just why are you even here?"

"A bunch of reasons, one of them's to prove you wrong right after I beat you."

Nylat scoffed then raised his mace in the air to the side, glowing orange sigils appeared along it.

"He's going to use his Craft, huh. Well, that's what I wanted, but I'm probably going to regret this later. It's worth it though to get to be able to go against it firsthand."

Alec tensed his body up, readying himself for anything.

"So you aren't chickening out, Blank. Bad move. It's about time I show you what separates you and me so you don't get hurt worse than what I'm about to do now." Nylat's mace was now emanating energy. He raised it with both hands over his head and shouted.

"Bludgeoner Craft, 5th page - Impact Shock!"

His mace came down incredibly fast, faster than should have been humanly possibly. The practice weapons they both had were made from a soft material and normally harmless, but with the amount of force behind this attack, they both knew Alec would not get out of this unscathed if this attack was to hit.

"BOOOMM!!"

The mace slammed onto the ground with so much power that it shook the ring itself with a wave of orange energy spreading out from it including under Alec's feet. Alec had seen that attack coming from a mile away but he still had only just scarcely avoided the strike with his shirt having been ripped straight through by it.

Alec was suspicious about the full extent of the Nylat's mystic skill's effects but didn't hesitate for a moment after his opponent's weapon hit the ground.

"HAH!"

Before Nylat could raise his mace, Alec took his halberd and swung at Nylat with all the strength he could muster.

...or at least he tried to. Alec found that he could not move his body at all, he was completely petrified in place.

He then felt a tremendous blow crash against his skull slamming him to the ground and leaving his vision and mind covered in dark blurry fog. Even without his body being petrified, he would not have been able to raise himself up after taking that hit directly with his consciousness slowly fading.

So...that's what ...that skill did...not bad...if only I...

These were the last thoughts Alec had before everything faded to black.