Solomon kicks in the abandoned warehouse’s door. He alongside Joshua and Louise rush into the building. There’s a massive metal pot kept in the center of the room. The floor is covered in blood as headless bodies lie on the ground. Their empty skulls are piled in one of the room’s corners; separate from the bodies. Five figures are throughout the room. Two around the pot and the other three playing a game of cards around a table located in a corner unblemished by the corpse’s entrails. How they could withstand the stench and play cards was beyond Solomon.

Contained inside the metal pot is a stew of crushed brain matter. Solomon pulls his gun as the pot’s contents levitate into the air and the brain matter glows as it forms many small blue orbs. The brain matter melts and merges with the light into a gelatinous goop. Solomon fires a shot at the duo but the orbs flatten and form a thin membrane that blocks his bullets.

Without hesitation Solomon changes his target and fires three shots to the side at the men playing cards. Each one hits them in the skull. At this point the other two accompanying Solomon have managed to draw their weapons and flank the duo as they try to move around the barrier.

The gelatin fires itself at them and splatters. At the same time gunshots ring and miss. They all leap back but are unable to escape the getting some of the liquid on them. Solomon takes the brunt of it as he’s closest. Solomon throws his black trench coat off without hesitation. The gelatin explodes off his coat and sends Solomon forward. He rolls with the impact and regains his posture. He fires two more shots at the mages. The one controlling it stumbles as his chest is hit twice.

The other man fires pellets of force at Solomon creating two holes in the right side of his chest. It’s likely that he held quite a grudge for the death of his friends. It doesn’t matter though as he’s soon shot down by Louise and Joshua. They’ve already recovered from the explosion and are mostly unharmed.

“I should’ve brought a gun…” The who just got shot groans as he’s slumped to the floor.

The one complaining is a young man looking to be in his early twenties. They all appear to be in their twenties with only the one who’d controlled the blue gelatin appearing to be middle aged. If Solomon wasn’t so distracted by the holes in his chest then he’d perhaps have had some cynical comments on college students. He would also use this to explain to himself why they were so obvious. Normally these kind of things are much harder to find.

He’d also speculate that it was some kind of private practitioner. Maybe he owned a mortuary or something along those lines where he’d get the chance to siphon mana extracted from brain matter. He was likely able to get plenty of practice that way. Normally mortuaries are required to turn in extracted mana to the government but sometimes, if they’re careful enough, they can take some of that mana and use it for their own purposes without being discovered.

He probably wanted to gather some more mana so he could use it to heal some life threatening illness, sell it on the black market, or perhaps he was preparing a ritual of immortality. Whatever the case may have been it ended with him screwing up massively. They probably hadn’t been doing this kind of thing for long.

Solomon’s vision fades to black. He wakes up to find himself in a hospital bed where he’d spend the next few weeks. His chest ached and he was having some trouble breathing. All in all Solomon was feeling utterly pissed about his whole situation.

“You look like crap.” Adam, a bald blackman dressed in a long brown coat, says. His face stretches into a lopsided smile. “Shame I couldn’t be there. Sounds like you were havin’ some fun.”

“Ha.” Solomon snorts before shaking his head. “No, can’t say I particularly enjoyed that.”

“Well, we found an interesting case while you were stuck here.” Adam smirks. “We’re looking into some cult that had moved into town recently.”

“Cult? What’re they about?”

“They’re one of those eternal life after life kinda guys. You know? The do this, do that, and you live forever kind; not the ritualistic sacrifice to stop your body from aging kind. At least that’s what it seems like so far.” Adam grimaced in disgust. “Accursed mages; may they all die a cold death in some ditch. Anyways, they’re called Eternity’s Embrace. Real weirdoes but nothing too awful.”

They continued exchanging some small talk for a while longer before Adam exited the room. Solomon frowned, tried to wiggle around a bit, felt the dull pain in his chest, and gave up on his plans for a walk. He gave a few irritated curses before lying back down and trying to sleep.

This is how he spent the next couple weeks before being allowed to leave and heading back home. First thing he did was grab his pistol and head out into the woods, his house was built next to a patch of wilderness, with a bag of cans. He began stacking them on a tree stump he liked using for this kind of thing. He stacked six cans into a tower. Three at the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top.

Six shots fired and all the cans had a hole in them before the first had even hit the ground. Solomon had from a young age been taught how to shoot a gun by his grandfather and after his grandfather’s demise had practiced his shooting religiously. At this point in time it’d been two decades since he first picked up a rifle. Solomon was well beyond what most people would consider proficient. In fact, he was likely one of the best gunmen in the entirety of Northern Merope.

He sets the cans up again and fires another six shots. He continues shooting and practicing for hours on end, as he doesn’t have work for the rest of the week, until he runs out of bullets. Then he packs up his broken-up cans and heads home. He spends an hour and a half on anaerobic exercises, breaks taken often due to his injuries, and then goes for a walk. Normally he’d jog but he’s still recovering so he refrains.

Solomon is what most would consider a violent man. The agency he works for specializes in finding mages and, while usually they just call in someone else, there are still the rare times when an opportunity presents itself.

This happens when they’re forced to engage the mages for whatever reason. Here it had been because the warehouse was too far out of the way and screaming had been reported when they were close. They’d known some mages were in the area but hadn’t yet gotten the police involved

How are mages usually dealt with? Normally police officers are sufficient but at times there are more experienced ones who special forces will be called in for. That middle age man who was blocking their bullets likely would’ve warranted such a response if they’d had knowledge of him. The average mage though is less lethal than a man with a gun.

Solomon smiled as he thought back to his kill. Truly Solomon was a brutal man. If it were up to him then every mage would be executed upon discovery. That was why he’d joined his agency. It was so he could be the first one to get any info on mage activity. It wasn’t just once or twice that he’d gone out on his own and executed some vigilante justice. He’d held a vendetta ever since his grandfather’s death.

Solomon continued recuperating for the next week. After that day he brought more bullets and practiced far longer. He’d practice ‘til his wound became irritated. Overall time well spent in his opinion.

The next week was more boring. Hours spent writing reports, catching up on work, talking to people living in the area of the cult, and all that was something Solomon found very dull. If he could just spend all his days training and fighting then he’d likely choose to do that. There’d been a few times when he’d considered joining the army after they launched a campaign against the eastern mage lords but he’d heard far too many rumors about the atrocities being committed against the citizenry by their forces to be comfortable with such a proposition.

Another boring day was just in the way of passing when something truly interesting began taking place. There’d been an explosion outside of the city. That was direction where Fort Luk was located. It was a notable location because it was one of the few designated areas for largescale storage of mana. If anyone was attacking it then it was likely…

I did a sharp U-turn and nearly drove into a car going in the opposite direction. Horns blare as I speed like I’ve never sped before. I dodge around cars, ignore red lights, and at one point I driven through someone’s yard and nearly hit a pedestrian.

Ah, I’m getting too excited. It wouldn’t do if I were to actually kill anyone. I’d probably end up bathing in hellfire for that after all. Mages are one thing, they all deserve death, but normal people are another. With that thought in mind I tamper down on my reckless driving and slow down a little bit.

Soon I make it to the office. I take out my key and with quick steps I head towards the safe kept in the boss’ office. This is where the guns are stored, and I plan on taking everything I can.

“What’re you doin’ Sol?” Louise asks as she comes out of her office. “Thought you were out in Newville looking at the cult that’d moved in.”

Louise is a blonde haired girl. Right now, she’s wearing a brown leather coat and blue jeans. She has big brown eyes. Her skin is tanned since it’s summer and she makes a point of getting a tan.

“Louise, I gotta go grab something.” I smirk at her showing my teeth. “There’s something interesting about to happen I can feel it.”

“Got anythin’ to do with that explosion?” She questions with a raised eyebrow. Her features are small and her stature average. Her figure is leaned and moderately muscled from spending every other day at the gym. “Mhmm, bring me along. I got some EMR training in case anything happens and I’d love to see me some guts.”

She also has a fetish for organs and that kind of thing. When I say that I do not mean she’s into necrophilia but rather she just finds missing eyes and such to be exciting. The number of people like her working in things like EMS is not insignificant.

“Got it, go get in the car while I grab the guns.” I hurry up and enter the room. The boss had given me the number last year and luckily I’d managed to keep it in my head.

I grab a shotgun and rifle out of the safe. There’s also a pair of handguns that the boss had gotten as gifts from family. I load the handguns and ammo in a bag while I personally carry the rifle and shotgun. With that I slam the pedal to the metal and with a screech the car speeds out of the entrance and onto the road as Louise’s eyes widen.

“Ahhhhh!”

Louise screams as I drive over the curb and into another lane; I made sure there were no pedestrians if you’re wondering. I swing the car back onto the road and cut off one very pissed off driver. He enters a road rage with me as his target but quickly crashes into another car.

I smile at the display. I’m truly not a very good person.

“Holy crap I’m lucky.” I let out a laugh before I refocus my full attention back onto the road.

I was planning on driving off road to get to Fort Luk but it seems unnecessary now. My target had saved me the trouble of going out to meet them by coming into town directly. I couldn’t think of a reason for why they’d do something like that, but I was grateful for it.

I let go of the wheel and trusted in Louise to know what to do. I’m right to do so as she, while spewing profanities, grabs the wheel before I crash into the side of a building. I push the upper half of my body out the window as I aim my gun.

The scene I’m looking at right now is a flying woman covered in red tattoos. Her body is covered in flowing robes made from tiny interlocking chains so finely made they’d be indistinguishable from normal clothing if I hadn’t researched this specific woman and known about it preemptively.

The high priestess of Samarkand is the leading figure in a theocratic dictatorship that had established itself in the eastern lands after she and her followers fled from here in the aftermath of a war her people had lost several hundred years ago. She specializes in manipulating magnetic fields and using electricity. Her mastery allows her to generate magnetic force with enough efficiency that the cost of flying is negligible.

As for why she’s flying right now? I couldn’t tell you but, as I stare, I soon conclude it probably has something to do with that crystal sphere she’s holding in her hands. It’s absolutely brimming with mana and, while its not noticeable to someone untrained, I’ve spent many years practicing this kind of thing for exactly this moment.

I pull out one of the bone bullets I’d stolen from a mage I’d killed in the past. Smuggling it was now proving itself well worth the effort. I always kept one of these bullets with me in case I ever faced a serious mage. Those kind tend to need some heavier caliber ammunition to kill and, while there’s no chance I’m getting access to those, these bullets are the next best thing. Best part of it is that they’re not metal. Truly god has blessed me this day.

I line up a shot and fire at the women. There’s an explosion on her chest and the women wobbles in the air a bit before... I jump out of the car as light flashes. The ball of lightning she’d just gathered, in a clear sky no less, arcs down onto the car I’d just been in. Louise is probably dead now.

I roll across the pavement as my skin is scraped and torn. The only thing lessening the damage is my burgundy leather jacket. It’s my favorite and I always wear it when I can. Still my knees are bleeding and my face isn’t in any better shape. Probably have a concussion.

My rifle is bent slightly so I throw it to the side. The shotgun and extra pistols had been left back inside the car so they’re out of the picture. Now the only thing to do is run. So, as soon as I slow down enough to roll onto my feet, I make a break for it towards the nearest building I go, an accounting building, I throw open the doors and run in.

Mhmm, it’s odd she hasn’t fired anything yet. I open a window and ignore the chattering of the people inside the building. Their words are like gibberish to my ears at this point. I focus and look for the woman as I lean forward. She’s not here. She just left. Probably after firing the first shot she didn’t bother checking and just went off on her merry way. I feel insulted by this turn of events.