Chapter Twenty-Five.

Instead of answering the guard's question, Noah continued moving forward. Several spells shot at him, most of them either force or air magic. He altered time for the world around him to slow it down, allowing him to easily move around them. It produced almost the same effect as the spell to alter his personal time, but cost him less magic to perform.

Noah quickly reached a force bolt-slinging guard and kicked his neck before ducking beneath a fireball. He swept the guard's feet out from under him before running to the fire mage who threw the fireball, delivering a swift kick to the guard's crotch before delivering another one to their chest, jumping back to avoid a wind spike, which pierced into the guard's chest, the armor weakened by Noah's time magic.

The time mage heard the sound of gunfire and glanced over, noting the guards shooting at him. He snorted, then took a few steps away, kicking another guard into the path of the bullets, which cut through him and two others.

With a roll of his eyes, Noah jumped into the air, kicking another guard in the back of the head. With his power over time, the guards were unable to touch him. He continued easily avoiding spells and bullets, throwing guards into the attack paths or taking them down with a kick or two. By the time most guards had aimed at where he was, he had already moved on from the spot, their spells missing by a wide margin.

It only took the time mage ten minutes to take down the guards, though for the time that passed around him, it had felt much faster. Only a minute of real time had passed from the moment he began his assault to the end.

He gave them credit for their abilities. In sixty seconds, the guards had managed to fling off an average of ten spells, for the ones who made it to the end of the fight.

With all of the guards down, Noah rolled his head around, then stretched his back before glancing at the front of the building as he allowed time to return to its natural state.

Noah looked around for a still-conscious guard to begin his interrogation with, only to feel a tingle down his spine. He altered his personal time so that he could process everything faster. Almost a minute passed for Noah before the front of the warehouse formed two holes and a pair of black orbs of the void flew through it.

Nothing was left in their paths, as was the nature of the void. It consumed everything, devoured all, and made no discrimination as to what it affected. Only an opposing void of greater power could stop it in most cases.

The orbs of the void disappeared after passing Noah, a third one passing through the center of the warehouse's front, moving straight towards the time mage. He walked out of the way. Based on his estimates, there would've been no avoiding them had he been in normal time.

Noah stepped around several more orbs of the void as he walked out of the warehouse and towards the mage flinging the massive, all-consuming spheres. She looked around his age and had caramel-colored skin, black hair, and brown eyes. She wore sneakers, black skinny jeans, and a dark green top.

The closer he was to her, the harder it was to avoid the orbs she was aiming at him, but he still managed until he was twenty feet away. Then, one nearly touched him, and he halted time for all but himself.

It wasn't something he liked doing, as it was draining and he could only sustain the spell for around a minute of his own time, but it was necessary. He'd not heard of a void mage with her description, but she was clearly rooted in it.

If the traffickers had her on their side without a collar, he needed to take her out. Not only that, but if anyone there would know what happened to the spatial mage, it would be here. Someone with her level of power was bound to be high in their ranks.

Noah walked forward. He couldn't run while sustaining frozen time, but the distance wasn't far enough he would have issue. Instead of stopping in front of the other mage, Noah walked around her, then released his frozen time, altering his own time for a moment to strike at the back of her neck and the back of her right knee, forcing her to the ground.

As she dropped, he held onto her right shoulder to keep her from face-planting, his hand quickly releasing as she reached for it.

Damn, I didn't strike hard enough, he realized, kicking her in the side as he returned to his state of altered time.

"Where is he, asshole?" She asked, spinning around and flinging a small orb of the void as his leg.

Noah lifted his leg up to avoid being struck as he narrowed his gaze at her.

Where is he was the question? Was she looking for him, too?

"Answer me!" She flung another orb at his legs, and he jumped to the side. "You can't do that forever, jackass! Now tell me where he is!"

"Are you looking for Eden?" Noah asked as he dodged another orb, releasing his altered time.

"Who else?" She summoned up another pair with her hands, holding them ready. "Now tell me where he is! I don't know how they acquired a time mage, but-"

"I thought you worked for them," Noah told her. "Why are you looking for him?"

"I don't work with those assholes," she said. "I-wait, you thought-how can I trust you actually thought that?"

"I was contacted to keep an eye on him by a friend of mine," Noah said. "I arrived too late, followed them here. He's not here. You?"

"Same," she said. "Cody was his name."

"Jason was my friend's," Noah told her. "Looks like different people are interested in keeping an eye on him. My friend was worried about him being kidnapped while investigating some traffickers."

"Same," she said. "I still don't trust you."

"I still don't trust you," Noah echoed her words back to her.

"What were you doing in there?" She asked.

"Taking out the guards," he answered. "Many of whom you devoured with your void magic. I was about to start interrogating the conscious ones for his location."

"You followed them here," she said. "Thinking they knew?"

"They did," Noah stated. "I followed the van they put him in. They teleported him out. If you really want to help, help me interrogate those guys."

"Temporary truce," she banished her orbs. "I'm Jade."

As soon as she gave the name, Noah realized who it was he had faced. He'd never heard a description for her before, and had thought she was older than that.

"Jade Night?" Noah asked.

"So you've heard of me," she smiled. "What's your name?"

"Noah."

"Tempo?" She asked, and he nodded. "Looks like two famous mages are here. If you really are Tempo, then I doubt you're working with them. Let's interrogate these fuckers."

The two mages entered the warehouse, ignoring the holes in the walls, floors and some of the traffickers who survived the voids thrown at them. They rounded up the guards and mages and began interrogating them.

"It's strange," Jade looked at Noah. "I would've thought someone would've reported the sound of the fight."

"It's empty around here," Noah explained. "One of the guards told me they own this warehouse and several of the surrounding ones. In addition, the gunshots were muffled by the enchantments on this building. You owe Cody?"

"No," she dropped the man she had been grilling. "I tried taking him under my wing during the summer of last year, teach him a bit about combat and help him train his power. He hadn't been awakened long. Kind of scared him off, I think he thought I intended on using him. Didn't realize he still knew my number. You owe Jason?"

"He saved my life," Noah nodded.

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Aren't time mages notorious for being hard to kill? I mean, you managed to evade every single one of my voids, and that's saying something."

"If you're mortal, you can die," Noah stated.

"So what happened?" Jade asked.

"I nearly died, he saved me."

"You're not going to say anything else?"

"No," Noah looked at the man he'd been asking. The last one to be interrogated, and he yielded nothing he hadn't already heard. "Did you get anything?"

"Other than that he's being sold at an auction on the upcoming solstice?" Jade asked as Noah knocked the guard out. "No, I didn't. Since you're here because you owe Jason your life, I take it you're not a registered mage? Or are you registered and just ignoring DoSS?"

"Unregistered, sometimes help DoSS," Jason stated. "I got much of the same, though one of the guards mentioned a location for a holding place for mage slaves waiting for sale. He doesn't know if Eden's there, but he might be."

"Cool," Jade said. "So how'd Jason save your life?"

"By saving it," Noah answered.

"You're not a talkative person, are you?"

"I still don't trust you," Noah told her. "But if we're under a temporary truce, then we'll work together to locate the mage. Let's go. Want to move in accelerated time?"

"I thought you slowed time?" She asked.

"I can do that as well," he nodded. "Changing my own time is my root, so I can do it with someone else easier. Keep up with me, though. You'll need to touch me for it."

"Alright," Jade linked her arm into his as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "So how does this work?"

"We're already adjusted," Noah told her and began walking. "You'll notice it once we're around others. Do know that your watch will be on the wrong time once we're out of this if it's not synced to a satellite."

"Got it," she said.

They walked down the street, and Jade looked around once they were around others. Everyone was moving abnormally slow to her, and she asked Noah what they would look like to others.

"Normally," he said. "We would be a blur. However, we won't be noticed at all. Angels and gods strengthened the Veil in Tejina back in October when a lot of fae attacked, and have left it buffed due to issues arising due to the same person at the focus of the fae's attack."

"Which is what?" Jade asked.

"A child of a High God," Noah answered. "And not the twins of destruction and chaos. This one seems to be a child of the High God of sex and has potent mind magics, a mage by the name of Ambrosius."

"The one who killed Titania?"

"According to the rumors," Noah nodded as he turned down a street. "They also say that he wiped out dozens of fae and a Fairy Lord by himself. Rumors say he can knock out an enemy with a thought, breaking through strong mind magic barriers in an instant."

"You seem to know a lot about him," Jade commented.

"I try to keep tabs of who all the powerful mages are," Noah told her. "If I can, what they look like, too. You and him are among the few strong mages in the world I don't – didn't for you, since I do now – know what they look like."

"Leosvar?"

"Adam, I don't," Noah answered. "As he's a shift mage who constantly changes his appearance. His cousin and grandfather, I know the appearances of. Now that I know your face, there are only four mages I know of at a high level of power whose faces I don't know. We're almost there."

They walked past two more streets before Jason turned down an alley.

"Leading a lady into an alley?" Jade asked. "If I didn't know better-"

"Loading docks."

Jade glanced at the loading docks, noting the workers standing near the entrance, chatting. They were dressed in black shoes, brown pants, and green polos, both with a walkie talkie clipped to their belts.

The parking lot sloped down towards the building, something she knew was normal for places that relieved deliveries by trucks. It made it so that they could just walk right into the trailers to grab the deliveries and pull pallets out, only this slope wasn't that deep.

"Private shipping," Noah told her. "According to the guy who told me about this place, they store some of the slaves here until either they're bought or they're moved to where they're being bought. Or they're moved to a larger holding place."

"Where?" Jade asked.

"In the basement," he answered before they reached the guards and undid his spell, using his left hand to grab Jade's left arm, which was still looped through his right arm. "My girlfriend and I heard you had some goods we could examine. We were looking for something fun?"

"We only sell packaging things here," one of the men told him. "And you have to go around to the front to buy them."

"We heard you sold packages, too," Noah told him. "But that it was only through the back door. Something about a Christmas Special going on?"

"Let me see if we have any in stock," the employee pulled the walkie off his belt and raised it to his mouth, pressing the button. "John, we've a couple of college kids here looking for the Christmas Special?"

"Be there in a sec," a voice responded.

"Wait here," the employee told the two mages, and they waited.

It only took a minute before a man in his forties exited, "JOHN' and "MANAGER" on the nametag clipped onto his green polo.

"You two were looking for the Christmas Special?" He gave the two of them a curious look.

"Yes," Noah smiled. "We heard about it and wanted to see if we could buy one of the packages? We were looking for a little bit more fun in our lives."

"Come in," John told them, and they followed him inside, the heavy metal door closing and locking. "Don't mind the lock, it's only from the outside, so you can still leave. Did you walk here?"

"We walk everywhere," Noah looked around, noting the packages piled up in the room, waiting to be picked up by the customer or delivered somewhere. "Don't worry about us being seen with the package when we leave, we're able to perform some tricks that make things difficult to see."

"Alright," John said. "We'll need to get some ID, make sure you aren't feds."

"We aren't," Noah said. "And I don't keep identification on me. Jade? Sweetie, do you have something?"

"Jade?" John looked Jade up and down, frowning a little. "Jade Night?"

"Yes," Jade smiled. "I'm Jade Night."

"Mind demonstrating proof of that?" He asked.

Jade lifted a hand, an orb of the void forming. She flicked her wrist, sending it a few inches into the concrete floor. The orb then faded, leaving a cylindrical hole behind.

"Impressive," he said. "So you're looking for special packages, now?"

"We want some fun in our lives," Noah said. "Being as special as we are, we need some amusement."

"Alright," John said, walking over to a metal hatch in the ground and opening it. "Down this way."

He accepted that fast, Noah thought. Though he also looks a bit scared. Is he nervous of what she'll do if he refuses to let us check out the goods? She does have a nasty reputation of attacking first and deciding whether or not she cares later.

They walked down the steps, Noah noting that it led them under the building beside the shipping store. With concrete walls for the basement, and half of the room separated off by metal bars, it looked like a prison. There was a concrete wall halfway through the bars, separating the collared slaves by sex, with the males on one side, females on another. The slaves were all sitting obediently on the floor in the backs of their cells.

Another concrete room revealed a shower and toilet for the slaves to use, and only one guard waited down there. Since the slaves all had collars on, there was no need for extra precautions. If they were given orders to stay and not fight back, then they wouldn't, even when let out to use the bathroom.

"Thirty-four packages to choose from," John told them. "Twenty-one white, thirteen red. Any particular age you were looking for? We can have your preferences move forward."

"We were looking for one slave in particular," Jade smiled at him as she fired off a pair of orbs of the void, destroying the walkies on both traffickers before they could react. "Taken a little bit ago, placed in a platinum collar. You wouldn't happen to know where we could find him, would you?"