Prep Time

Simon and Helen slept soundly that night, taking shifts to watch over Camila and the other to ensure that she did not try any funny business and to see if anyone would be on to them.

"You're really paranoid, huh? Is there like… a reason for that?"

Helen poked Simon's cheek as he woke up."

"I'm just making sure that whatever happens, we're prepared for it as soon as possible. That's how I stay one step ahead of everyone."

"Yeah, but this is a little bit excessive, isn't it? Like, you seem really scared someone is going to catch you."

Simon sighed and began to go through his back to sort out his supplies. "I have to be if I want to survive in a world like this…"

"Well, why don't you use Magick then…" Suddenly, her words choked into her mouth as her eyes widened.

"Oh… Oh…" A realization dawned on her as she remembered that every trick that Simon had ever performed had been without the use of Magick, which could mean.

"Do… do you not have-"

"..Yes, well…it's complicated, but I don't have much Magick."

Helen gasped, covering her mouth as she got closer to Simon. "Why not? Were you cursed? Do you have barely any affinity for it?"

"No, I just couldn't afford it when I was little."

His answer vexed Helen for a bit, causing her to tilt her head. "Wait like, is it that Epithet thing? Like you literally could not afford Magick?"

He nodded. "If you want Magick, you need to pay for a license of each spell to use them, and it's constant, a subscription service."

"But what if you use it without a license?"

Simon walked over to a window and gestured out to the police on the street, who were currently tackling somebody on the snowy ground.

"A lot of the police forces have a Magick specifically made to find those that used registered Magick without a license. It sets off an alarm, and suddenly, the coppers are busting down your door, and you're sent straight to the slammer."

"Yikes, really? It's a crime to do unregistered Magick? That's lame, but at least mine doesn't need to be registered, right?"

Helen twiddled her fingers.

"You're right, and that's why it's amazing. This Magick is new, something special. You are able to use it without setting off any alarms. And that is why we need to be careful. We don't want you getting caught in the wrong hands now, do we?"

She nodded along with Simon's statement. A small smile crept on her face as she giggled. "Hehe yeah, look at that, ahhh, I can feel the main protagonist status flowing through me! You must be so excited on the inside, aren't you?"

"…You can say that since it connects to me especially. But you're also going to be hunted if anyone gets the word out on what and who you are."

"Hehe, classic, evil government after the plucky young heroine. A tale as old as… well, it's not that old, but the trend died out a long time ago, so I'll go with it!"

Helen pumped her fist excitedly in the air as she did a little dance. However, she frowned, there was still an important question in her mind.

"Man, how did that even happen anyway? Who in their right mind, copyrights Magick of all things?"

Simon could only shrug as he carried the still sleeping Camila in a bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he covered both himself and Helen in a tarp.

He luckily already paid the motel attendant and told them they would be leaving soon, even pretending to do so earlier.

"Well, I don't exactly know. I never really focused on history class, and if I did, I would forget it after an examination was done."

They began to move together, hiding in plain sight and pretending to be a group of homeless people scooting to the alleyway.

"But, what I can tell you is that it's mostly Epithet's fault. After Phorash was founded, it was made into a trading hub, then when more and more people came here to take a fortune, it started to grow and become its own continent."

Simon opened the hatch to the secret tunnel and quickly entered with the rest.

"Soon, it became a global superpower, and here we are. One of the trades that it specialized in most of all was Magick Research. That's what Epithet was specialized in after all. They needed funding too, so probably the idea to capitalize and market it must have been mentioned, and the rest was history."

Helen nodded along while they passed into the underground, heading back to that metal lobby.

"Wow… that's just wow, alright then, why was this place chosen as a trading hub?"

Simon carefully brought out Camila, but before he could shake her awake, Helen's question reached him, and he nearly doubled over.

"…Why it became one…" A memory flashed in his childhood; it was him making a sword out of wood and swinging it around with glee in his eyes.

He was such a naive boy back then, so full of hope and wonder… so full of foolishness.

"…"

"Uhm… Is anyone home! Helen to… you?"

Helen waved her hand in front of Simon's unblinking face.

"Oh… yeah, well… Ehem."

Simon faked a cough as he snaked out of his trance. "The reason was because there was a legend way back in the old days. About a great king who forged his sword there. The ultimate sword, to rule all other swords and weapons in the world."

Helen's eyes sparkled as she got closer. "Oh oh,? What was it called? What could it do? How was it forged?"

Simon shrugged. "Nobody knew the extent of its powers, but it's Name and what it was forged by were the same, for it was forged by the sharpest things in the world:"

"The Sword of Broken Hopes And Dreams."