Crystal Esprit's Story

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New Cairo's city was almost as diverse as its population, boasting a number of different locations and districts, all home to different types of people. A cacophony of voices echoed through out the Red Sand as fans watched their favorite sports teams battle it out in the stadiums, none of them ever becoming too unruly with the ever watchful eye of the Raptora staring at them. When such one of these fans dared so, they were almost immediately rounded up and taken to one of the smaller facilities, some even grateful that they'd never be stuck in one of the cells in Ivaldi.

It was a place where reality seemed to bend and warp given the unnatural silence of the building, and if put in there for so long it wouldn't be a surprise for them to come out missing a few screws in their head.

Although seemingly ancient to most citizens, the Old Market held a lot of history in it, history that shouldn't be waved away by a hand and forgotten. A casual stroll through the market stalls could lead to seeing many old relics of the past, some which the older citizens will fondly remember, but others may see them as collectables, or even worthless. Though none can deny that there is a certain piece about the area.

With the abscence of city lights, noise and the more advanced technology, you're simply left with you're own thoughts and the presence of those around you. And while technology is beneficial in many ways, taking the time to have a honest conversation with another human can have its perks as well. Nethmar University's halls were filled with its all mage student body, the only real quiet locations in the school being the occasional classroom and the many libraries. If you happened to pass one particular room you might have even seen a myriad of mages practicing their branches of magic.

The Pulse District was as lively as it always was, despite the occasional fight that broke out in bars, and sometimes spilled into the streets. But under all of everyone's drunken, carefree attitudes was dormant anxiety. The Red Triad has been particularly incessant on attacking the Pulse District, and in the darkest hours of the night, you can often see members of them openly recruiting people.

While there are some that will openly mock them and all other mage supremacists, others are more hesitant to speak of them. Though there isn't any doubting that the Red Triad is in the corner of every New Cairo citizen's mind, everyone is waiting to see what they do next, especially the Raptora.

It was loud and dark. The entire room vibrated with life as it moved across the world. The only light in the room was what little could flit in through rusted out portions in the walls and ceiling. The air had a lot of salt in it, contributing to the poor state of the room. Crystal had been inside the room for nearly 18 hours, though to her it felt like eternity. Her face was covered in a mask of dried tears. She couldn't have known it, but the container she was in had been through dozens of different ports, both for air and sea. She had left one in eastern Africa last, and was nearing her final destination in iraq, where women were treated poorly. The plan was that she would die there or be swallowed up in the local way of life. Or, at least that was the plan. But, someone must have been looking out for her, as her ship was no where near on course for Iraq; instead, it was nearing this ships destination: New Cairo. The shipping container she was held within had managed to be put on the wrong ship by mistake and this would be what changed her life forever, next to being a mage.

Eventually, the whole room began to vibrate much less, the sound of the huge iron beast coming down from a roar to a low rumble. Lots of people could be heard walking and talking about outside. One of the ship hands running inventory came across one container that shouldn't be there and got curious. He spoke to his superior officer, who found a port authority and they all came to see what was inside the unmarked container. With a loud groan, the mighty door slowly swung open to reveal Crystal, who shielded her eyes from the harsh sunlight. When they spoke, it was in a language she could not understand. They nodded to one another and approached her.

The officer was in lead, followed by the deck hand and then the port authority. The man grabbed her arm roughly, yanking her to her feet. He spoke again, this time in English with a gruff voice. "Get on your feet! We don't have room for stowaways! You're gonna explain how you got a whole container on board and then you're going to pay for the trip we just gave you!" She tried to pull away from him, screaming in vain for help. She may have been a victim of circumstance, but what happened was still illegal. No one on the ship did anything to help, only giving weird stares at the spectacle. However, the deck hand did speak up.

"Sir, aren't you being a little rough? She's only a little girl, what could she have possibly done on her own? Maybe we should be a little more gentle, I'm sure she's scared right now." As the deck hand was right and she was very much scared, she resorted to biting the man's hand. When he let go with a howl of pain, she darted past him and the other two men. They both tried to grab her, but she weaved between them. She may not have been as strong as them, but she was definitely more agile and fast. One of the nearby gangways was clear of anyone and she ran down it, onto the dock. There, she was surrounded in a sea of people. All their thoughts leaked into her head, drowning out her own thoughts. After turning in circles a few times and unable to get her bearings, she darted in one direction as fast as she could. She had gotten away from the immediate danger, but she was still lost somewhere and she didn't know where that was.

Running quite the distance, she found herself in some kind of market area that had fewer people, but was instead lined with stands selling goods. There were fewer people here so it was more quiet, but the area was more dense, so it would look like there were actually more. Ever more scared, she debated calling out for help and asking anyone she walked into where she was. She was completely indecisive, only standing in the middle of the crowd biting her lip. As her emotions began taking more control over her mind, she lost even more control over her Telepathy; her thoughts manifested in the minds of other people around her in the form of her voice screaming for help. While everyone reached to their head in pain, she held hers as she fell to her knees in fear. Eventually, she could no longer even hear or speak to others with Telepathy and everyone went on almost as if nothing had happened. It seemed as if everyone wrote it off as some mage playing a prank and paid it no mind. Exhausted and in the open, she moved slowly into a nearby alley and sat in the darkness, holding her knees close to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs.

"Someone.... Anyone.... Please help...." tears streamed down her face again.

Someone coughed delicately. "If you mean help by 'help me scream into everyone's heads until they set the police after me and get sent to jail for a year', then no thank you, I prefer my dignity and my prison record intact."

The voice came from further down the alley, deep and somewhat bemused. Further observation would reveal that it came from a tanned guy with white hair tied up in a ponytail, dressed in a simple sleeveless shirt and jeans. He was of average height and weight, but his arms were muscular. Taking a step forwards, he crossed his arms and raise an eyebrow at Crystal, looking as if he held no symphathy for her crying.

"Though if you are talking about helping with powers..." he tilted his head at her, eyes assessing her curiously. His lips didn't move, but she would hear his voice inside her mind. "I can help. Maybe."

"Y-you... can help? You can help me stop my powers!?" She practically cried out in joy. "Please! I'll do anything if you can just make all this stop! I don't know where I am.... I don't understand why I'm here.... I just want things to go back to the way they were...." her tears had started to dry up but left a distinct look behind that anyone would recognize.


The man blinked at her, bemused. "Um." He said aloud, looking somewhat hesitant, as if he didn't want to burst her bubble. "I can't help stop your powers." He said bluntly, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I can't help you get things back to normal either - whatever normal is for you, anyway. I don't think that's possible considering how nobody came when you yelled, anyway."

"But... you just said you could help, didn't you? What kind of help do you-" she was cut off midsentence when he continued with what he was saying.

"I can, however, give you a free meal." The man continued, shooting her a serious look, a small smile in an attempt to look welcoming. "I can also give you a place to stay for the night, if you want."

It sounded suspicious. Free food, and board for the night free of charge? People normally weren't that kind. Was he a pervert or something? But still, he seemed honest, and Cyrus looked her straight in the eye as he said with complete seriousness "I can also teach you how to control your powers if you want, I guess, but if you want to know more about that we can talk it over food."

"We're gonna head over to the cafe," the man replied. "Well, after I meet with my friends and see if the job offer is still there. He added, shrugging. "They're at the stadium - we'll need to pick them up before we can eat. C'mon, let's go." The man turned, beginning to walk out of the alley, but then he paused and looked back at her. "Hey, kid," he asked. "What's your name?"

"M-my name? Its.... it's Crystal. Just crystal....." she said with a saddened look. She would have said Esprit, but that name no longer belonged to her she thought. Besides, what would this mage think if he heard that nane?

"The name's Cyrus." For the first time, Cyrus smiled at her. It was a faint smile, but it made him look more welcoming and for the first time, Crystal would notice that he seemed only a few years older than her "Nice to meet you, Crystal. Now c'mon, let's go." Her head perked up if only slightly seeing his smile. It seemed true what they say, about how infectious a smile can be; one began to crack at the edge of her mouth.

---

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Cyrus lead the way out of the alley. It wasn't far - just a few twists and turns and they emerged into a small street filled with flat-like houses, colored in greys and blues and browns, with a lamppost every few yards. It wasn't entirely empty, but it wasn't crowded either. There were a few people walking down the street, and a group of kids were emerging from a convenience shop right around the corner, laughing and teasing each other as they held popsicles in their small, tiny hands.

They weren't the ones Cyrus were looking for, however. He looked around with a frown, searching for familiar faces, clothes, figures. Where were they?

On impulse, Cyrus closed his eyes. Like a diver on search for a specific coral, he dove deep down into the waters of thought, spreading his consciousness around to search for his friends. Thoughts flashed around him like little lights in uniquely shaped bulbs, glowing with different intensities and colors with words that were intentionally blocked out, and Cyrus knew that if he wanted he could reach out and connect to them, hear them, suppress and change.

But that wasn't what he was looking for right now. Frowning, he looked -

There.

One small chat later, Cyrus opened his eyes, sighed, and took a couple of steps away from Crystal towards the center of the sidewalk, facing the right corner. There was an amused and long suffering expression on his face. "You might want to stand away a bit," He warned to Crystal, doing a couple of leg stretches and arm stretches, as if he were warming up for a sports game. "My friends are -"

"CYYYYRRRRUUUUUSSSS!"

A tall man with glasses sped round the corner and charged towards them like a rugby player aiming for a touchdown. Cyrus watched warily as the man approached him, body loose but tense and ready to move. When the man spread out his arms wide at the last second, Cyrus cooly ducked and dodged to the left just in time to avoid the hug, leaving the man blinking in surprise as he grasped at empty air.

Then they turned around and the process repeated. Rush forward, attempted hug, dodge like a matador. At the third try Cyrus gave up and allowed himself to be hugged with a pained look on his face, although there was a twitch in his lips and a light in his eyes that implied that he was holding in laughter.

"Cyyyrrruuuss," the tall man whined, draping himself over the back of Crystal's yet-to-be-and-possibly-not-mentor. "Cyrus where have you been? Why'd you disappear when we were getting books? I was looking over the physics and Gary was looking for comics and Dell biology and then BAMPH disappeared -"

"I told you guys, remember?" Cyrus let out a long-suffering sigh but didn't do anything to dislodge the tall man, ignoring the other two running up towards them. One looked like a college student with purple hair and droopy eyes while the other was short, had asian features, and a frown on his face that made his eyebrows wrinkle. "Something came up." He looked at the other two questioningly. "Gary, Dell, did you get my books?"

"Yup." The asian-featured guy raised a bag full of books while the other one nodded. "We got all of them, you ass. Next time give us the money before running off like an idiot, will you? And..." He turned his head, noting the girl standing in the alley for the first time. "Is that... Crystal? The girl you talked about." He frowned at Cyrus. "Seriously, yo-"

"Yeah, yeah. It's not like I could just... anyway, that's her." Cyrus interrupted, frowning back. Shaking off the tall man's hold, he strolled over to the asian-featured guy and held a hand out, gaze challenging. "Are those my books? Gimme. How much do I owe?"

"$46.80, pay up before I give you your books."

"Wait. It should only have been around 37.20. I've calculated it multiple times, it should be 37.20."

"You're forgetting that time you asked me to buy snacks for that dog. I still have the scars, idjit."

"Seriously? That was weeks ago-"

"Oohh, you must be Crystal!" The tall man said over the sounds of Cyrus and the asian man arguing. He bounced over to her with a grin on his face that light him up like the sun. The tall man had a very open face, despite the glasses. "Cyrus told us about you just now! Hi!" He gave her a hug, gentle and soothing despite his lanky frame. "I'm Ale Ermacora! Grumpy face over there is Gary Liu," He said, gesturing to the short asian man arguing with Cyrus. They were now playing tug of war with the book bag. "Don't worry, they do that a lot," he said cheerfully, rolling his eyes. He smiled reassuringly at Crystal.

"The guy over there is Dell Hamstzhelm," He said cheerfully, pointing to the guy with purple hair at the back. He still looked bored, but he was texting on his phone. "Don't worry, he's always like that! And obviously, you already know Cyrus. Hey Dell! Who ya texting?"

"My brother." Dell answered so quietly that it was hard to hear his voice over the squabble going on. HIs voice sounded dull, but surprisingly young. "He wants to know where to meet; sending him the location."

"Meet?" Ale's brow wrinkled in confusion before clearing up. "Oh yeah, dinner! C'mon, lets go. Uh, lessee, us, them..." he counted off his fingers with a frown of concentration, rocking slightly on his heels. "Oh yeah, them too!" Face brightening up like a lamp at high speed, he whirled towards Dell. "Oi Dell, text Rou and Mary too! They don't know yet too haha!"

"Mmn." Dell looked down on his cell and texted as Ale whirled back to face Crystal with a beaming smile. "We're all heading out to Alkafiin Hann now," Ale told her, grinning merrily. He patted her on the back. "It's a good cafe in the Old Market! You can come with us!" Bounding over to Cyrus and Gary like an energetic puppy, he smacked them merrily on the back, interrupting them mid-fight.

"Oww!" Gary hissed the same time Cyrus hissed in pain. Wincing, they both whirled to face Ale at the same time. "The fuck was that for?!" They yelled at him, glaring identical glares of meanness.

"You two were arguing like idiots and I didn't know how to stop it. It was either that or burning and you all said no burning or electricity!"" Ale smiled merrily at them, cheerful in the face of death. "Also we're heading off now! Don't want to be late, yeah? So stop arguing and c'mon already! Don't wanna be the last one there, right?!"

"Ugh." Cyrus huffed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine, we get it, we're going. Oi, Crystal!" Cyrus called, twisting back to see her. "We're heading to Alkafiin Hann now. If you don't want to come, suit yourself, but they've got good food and you'd be passing up a free meal."