Zargan

A Story by ecole-artcom.

When I was a child I was told that nothing would come of a life filled with greed, and yet all I see is money hungry fools waiting for their next area rated meal, I was told that nothing would come of ill intent towards others but still all I see is gangs fighting one another and the passersby for the most simplistic and idiotic of reasons, I was told that if I lived an honest life I would be free of such evil, that if I lived to help others, others would help me, whereas I do abide by these teachings of my parents, I have yet to see them come to fruition.
My name is Alex Eluvan, I am a detective for the Z.I.S, Zargan Investigation Society; each detective is given an area code and are bound by law to stay within the boundaries of that area at all costs, unless escorted by a political adviser or someone else of higher power. Our job is to keep the members of our area in check and report law breakers to the tower, the largest building in all of Zargan, which happens to be home to our mayor and saviour Telai, when the third world war ended and the Mastirrion bomb hit America, he was the last to survive, unaffected by the magic spill of the earth’s core he remains the world’s last living Human and protects the citizens of this great city from there monstrous natures of what is known as the Kronos Gate, a protective barrier that allows us, creatures of magic, to have human emotions and thoughts; we dread the day when his life ends.

~*~

Alex placed down his pen and cracked his neck to the right with a groan, a small voice came from behind his black fedora “Why do you feel the need to write this garbage Alex, it’s not like you send them to anyone” from behind Alex appeared a tiny black fairy with a red scarf around its neck and golden key on its back.

“Well, Jaq, it’s not a need but a want, I want to write these letters so that in the event of my inevitable death I can be remembered through my writing” Alex grabbed his black leather jacket from the bristled wooden chair it sat on and placed it over his shoulder. “Anyway, we have a job to do, go wake Claire”

“But she-“

“No buts, go and wake her, I’ll be waiting in the car” And with that Alex left his small apartment with his hands in his pockets and a lollipop stuck to his tongue.
While waiting in his car Alex adjusted his tie and noticed a sinister shadow staring at him from the alleyway opposite him, he stared back to the shadow and smirked, within a second he stood in front of the figure with his shotgun pointed at their nose. “Who are you?”

The figure with wide eyes stepped back revealing a frog-man dressed in complete black clothing, his eyes wide and jaw wide open. “How did you? When did…”

Alex smiled, keeping his shotgun firmly pointed to the frog he answered. “Have you ever heard of shifters? One of the rarest magical creatures in Zargan, a direct descendant of fairies, we’re able to transport ourselves from one place to another as long as we leave a stationary clone of ourselves behind.” The frog looked over to the car and saw Alex sitting there with a newspaper in his face and looked back to the Alex standing in front of him. With a frightened expression. “So, tell me, Mr. Frog, why were you spying on me?” Alex ordered slowly moving forwards, sliding the lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.

As the frog moved back at the same pace Alex moved forwards, he spoke, stuttered. “I… I was to- told by email t-to tail you and write down your h-h-habits.” The frog tripped on a littered can of beer and fell to the ground sniffling and splitting his breaths.

“My habits huh?” Alex bit down on his lollipop and fired a shot from his shotgun into the frogs stomach spreading blood across the alleyway, Alex then dropped the newspaper from his face and looked to his apartment door with a narrow gaze.

“You know you’ll never kill a mythic with just one shot Alex.” Jaq, his arms wrapped around a naked Claire, in a coffee cup filled with water; looked to Alex with a crooked smile, his black wings folded over the rim of the cup.

“He knows that Jaq, he’s not stupid.” The white fairy Claire spoke with her feminine and squeaky voice.

“That’s debatable.” Spoke Jaq, in witty response.

“Right”! Alex slammed his fist on the glove compartment of the car his expression furious. “We’re going on a mission.”

Alex calmed himself down by taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment before continuing his sentence. “There have been loud noise reports coming from Brath Street, we should have been there ten minutes ago, so I would like it if we could all just shut up and get going.” Alex ordered, as he started the car, pulling another lollipop from his jacket pocket and placing it in his mouth staring intently at the road.

“Thank god Brath street is just three streets away, he seems a bit temperamental, what do you think Jaq?” Asked Claire with a slanted expression

“No” Jaq smirked. “He’s excited” Looking to Alex’s face Claire noticed a smile brushed over him, his eyes glistening with excitement, like a youngling receiving a present.

~*~

Alex Jaq and Claire arrived at the corner of Brath Street the squeak of the car breaks alerting everyone of Alex’s arrival. Thugs and thieves fled the scene while the mundane and normal residents stayed put with newly lit smiles on their faces.

A single mugger stood out from the rest of the villains, obviously a newcomer to Area13, he looked to be six foot seven, vampiric, with teeth rotten and his mouth frothing, he wore a dark shirt, jacket and pants, no shoes and one sock, he was simply poor. “How much dough do you have on you then?” The creature of night said with a misshapen stare, a knife pointed to Alex.

Alex looked at the knife in the man’s pale hand and then to him with a cheeky smile.
“There is a bakery not far from here, I’m sure the nice lady you robbed over there had some money for bread.” Alex pointed to an old woman across the street, knocked out on the pavement. “Now” Alex’s tone suddenly got serious startling the man, making him jump and then react by thrusting the knife forwards with a curved arm.

Alex noticed the incoming blade and sprung into the air placing his hand on the hilt of the blade to suspend him in the air for a moment before he slammed his knee down on the vampire by bending his arm and kicking his arched leg, as the man fell to the ground Alex dropped behind him rolling over his back landing feet first onto the ground ending the squabble with a back kick to the vampires back sending him head first into a pole, blood from his scalp spitting up the steel and down to the pavement. “Scum.”

~*~

Alex looked at the unconscious old lady on the pavement, opened his wallet and dropped a wad of cash in her purse then continued on his way.

“Where’re we going Alex?” Jaq questioned as he flew just slower than Alex’s walking pace.
“Do you think it’s a murder?” Jaq flew onto Alex’s nose and sat on its end. “A suicide?” Alex stopped and spat out the stick his lollipop used to be attached to.

“God, you’re annoying.”

“Just tell me, and then I’ll sit quietly on your shoulder like I always do.” Jaq smiled, squinting his eyes.

Alex sighed and continued to walk, but slower this time. “I think it’s a trap.”

“A trap? How do you figure?”

“I got a call from a woman with a deep yet seemingly feminine voice complaining about noise coming from the house across from hers, she said it sounded like virgins having sex on a constant basis and then I heard her lick her lips, anyway, I’m obligated by law to check it out but it seems a bit farfetched, its either a serial rapist or a trap, murder can be a factor but I’m sure the caller would have mentioned a strange person or persons entering the house so it’s unlikely, if it were a serial rapist it would have to be the owner of the house, otherwise the previous reason would come into play again so my vote is on it being a trap.”

“You never think inside the box do you Alex?” Jaq said with a snicker as he then flew to Alex’s shoulder and perched himself with his legs crossed over a crease in his jacket.

“Neither do the bad guys Jaq.” Alex smiled, turning the corner of the house, a brick layered building looking to be two storeys high, big enough to hold a family of eight or manage a home hotel, two chimneys on either side and black curtains over all of the windows. “The door hasn’t been opened for at least two years, the handle is covered in rust and moss, they must have entered through one of the bottom windows or the back.” Alex then noticed that the window on the far left was the only one not covered in dust and looked to be left slightly open, a perfect entrance for a robber or murderer, the entrance was covered by a thickly bushed tree, Alex pulled a green lollipop from his jacket pocket and placed it in his mouth.

“So now it’s starting” Jaq gripped onto Alex’s jacket and smiled intently while looking around the building, his eyes glowing white.

With swift feet and key precision Alex ran to the window propping it open to look inside before he entered, his left hand holding a hook attached to some string “Jaq, can you see anything?”

“Only furniture, but the next room has some heat signals, I can’t see them clearly but they’re there.”
Without any further word Alex jumped through the window turning his body to the side in his jump so as not to hit the latch, landing on his right foot and left knee he propelled himself forwards stopping at the corner of the wall, peeking past to see what was going on in the room.

Two homeless Orcs sat in front of a barrel fire with another sat at the opposite corner staring at the ground covering himself in a pink blanket.

“Well” Alex dropped his guard and let go of the hook. “I guess the homeless could have been having sex.” Alex suggested with a horrified look over his face, “No, no something is off here.” Alex scanned the room, looking for anything suspicious or out of place with the room

“Excuse me? Sir?” Jaq flew up to one of the homeless Orcs with a smile on his face, “Oh right.” His smile dropped in an instant as he remembered other creatures besides fairy related species can’t see him, their magical capabilities aren’t up to par with the requirements, however any creature can feel his presence and feel him, to this Jaq poked the fire barrel moving the flames into lettering that spelt ‘HELLO’ just above the barrel, the first Orc to see it fell backwards alerting the others, the second Orc jumped to its feet kicking the fire barrel over while the one closest to the wall calmly pushed a brick into the wall opening, a staircase slowly that was previously covered by the concrete floor and the fire barrel.

No hesitation came from Alex as he charged to the stairs, he was blocked however by the third Orc, it stood in front of Alex, a sash across its waist holding a large machete in place along with its pants, across its chest in an X was two leather straps holding in place various different coloured phials of liquid, his large build clearly showing that he was one to fight with brute force.

Alex shielded himself, placing his arms in front of his head as he continued his charge, The Orc removed a purple vile from a leather strap popping off the cork with its thumb. “Death comes to the daft.”

“What?” Alex stopped in his tracks, taking offence to the Orc’s comment, with narrowed eyes and a cupped fist Alex jumped on his toes and dashed to the Orc sending a straight right jab to its cheek, the Orc flung its arm out spilling the purple liquid through the air, without knowledge of this substance Alex thought it best to evade, thus, he ducked his body bending his left leg to the side moving his body into a slide under the liquid, with the small time gap he had he redirected his jab to the Orcs leg, before the punch hit Alex spread out his fingers, tapping the Orc under the knee, a small bang could be heard echoing through the room as the Orc fell to its knees, screaming out in pain.

Alex placed his hands on the ground to stop his sliding and picked himself up in a handstand dropping to his feet. “Jaq, don’t wait for me, go down the stairs and scout the area.”

“Rodger.” Jaq flew down the stairs, making a small glow as it got darker and darker.

“I have never been over powered so easily before, what fighting style is that?” the Orc spoke ordering for an answer.

“It’s of my own design really.” Alex flicked his wrist towards the ground cracking the concrete. “You see us shifters have an excess amount of magic in our body’s I myself can’t use spells so I made this fighting style to channel my magic through my body, but unfortunately I can’t control it that well so if I use too much I could destroy my own body, I use a clasped hand to build up the pressure in my finger tips and release the pressure when I open my palm.” A smirk came over Alex’s face as he noticed the Orc attempting to stand on its broken leg. “Each fingertip holds one thousand one hundred pounds of pressure when held for more than forty seconds, thats enough to break the Femur.” Alex walked towards The Orc with a proud look upon him.

“I admire your ingenuity, but” The Orc stood on his feet with a cringed expression he pulled a crimson vile from the sash and drank it himself smashing the vile on the ground when he finished.

“I have been given orders from the Prophet himself!”
The Orc screamed in agony as Alex backed away slowly with his hand on the hook in his jacket, an inquisitive look over him.

The Orc’s body started to jerk, cracks from its bones causing it to let out a blood curdling scream that continuously sent shivers up Alex’s spine, The Orc slammed its right fist into the ground sending a crack up the wall from the floor, dust and dirt covered the area in seconds and yet Alex did not move, he stood perfectly still with his hand twitching over the hook, his eyes fixated on the location of the Orc, the dust started to lift revealing an oversized shadow. “No way..” Alex’s eyes widened and dived to the left out of the window and looked back to see the house crumble down revealing a huge green beast, with arms the size of cranes, the height of a skyscraper and flesh like a zombie.

With a deep breath Alex crunched down on the remaining size of his lollipop and pulled on the hook in his jacket, a spring could be heard shooting up as from his side burst out the handle of a gun followed by an outburst of steam, Alex pulled out the gun and aimed its bladed nozzle to the monstrous being, with steam surrounding him and dust surrounding the monster the two stared at each other with murderous eyes.