Hostages in a World of Wonders.

In which a fifteen year old street chef is held hostage, and the seeds of a grand adventure are planted.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you couldn’t help but wonder how you got into it in the first place?

Because that’s what was happening to me right now.

“We want fifty thousand sephals!” A hulking red-skinned figure, probably from a universe that spanned multiple planets, shouted through the window of the small second-story fruit shop. “You have twenty minutes before we start killing hostages!”

Seriously, all I wanted was to get some ingredients for later today, and my life was already in danger!

“I can’t believe there were only four people in here!” A shorter man with red hair, who I was thought might have been a human, shouted angrily.

“No, this is good.” An elf woman said, watching us as she sat on the shops counter. “I mean, it probably would have been better to have more, but at least we can keep an eye on all of them at once like this.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The human said. “Still, why the hell did everything have to go so badly? It just… RAGH!”

As he shouted, I saw his foot light on fire, and he kicked an unfortunate watermelon hard enough for it to explode.

Alright Michael, don’t panic, let’s just try to find a way out of this, shall we? What can we figure out about the situation?

Ok, so first things first, I hadn’t been able to make out any weapons on any of the hostage takers, or at least not anywhere on their bodies where they could easily access one. That meant that they had either hidden them really well, at the cost of making it harder to access, or they all had cores that they could use in combat.

Or one of them had a core that let them make objects invisible…

That was also a possibility.

Oh, well, at least I could say with fair certainty that the human’s core was fire-based, so I only had to worry about the other two.

Next was the red-skinned man. While his physique might have just been a feature of whatever his species was, I was able to make out a lot of old scars on his knuckles. This suggested that he likely used a lot of punching in his fighting style, and it was equally likely that his core had something to do with it.

And then there was the elf.

Form what I could make out, she seemed to be the one giving the orders, and she also seemed confident enough in whatever her plan was that she didn’t feel the need to hide her and her accomplice’s identities.

As for her core…

Yeah, I had no idea what her core could be.

I tried as hard as I could, but I just couldn’t figure it out! She didn’t seem to have any clear features that suggested what her core could be, or at least there was nothing that I could see… The best I could do was assume that it was combat based, but only due to the reasons I’d mentioned before…

Oh well, if I couldn’t figure out anything else about our enemies, I may as well get started on figuring out what I could expect from the people I had on my side…

Alright, so there was Harry and Zoe Marlon, the owners of the shop. Great people, but they really didn’t seem like the kind who’d be much help in a fight. Maybe thirty years ago, but at their current age? It would be a miracle if they could even throw a punch without breaking their wrists, let alone take one.

And then there was the girl kneeling next to me.

The first thing I noticed was that, unlike the Leo, Jen, and partially myself, she didn’t appear to be worried in the least.

In fact, it seemed like there was a distinct lack of any emotion…

It was actually kind of unnerving.

She also appeared to be fairly short, and was dressed in the kind of clothes that you’d see on a wizard in a stereotypical fantasy story, with a big pointy hat and everything.

Although, seeing as there were somewhere around one hundred and fifty known worlds that directly resembled stereotypical fantasy novels currently connected to this one, that kind of outfit wasn’t exactly uncommon.

Anyway, the point was that she seemed to be a magic user of some kind. That would have been a big plus, if not for one small roadblock.

All of our hands had been tied behind our backs.

Seeing as most magical cores required hand gestures to use effectively, it was unlikely that she would actually be much help…

Which meant that I’d have to be the one to get us out of here, and I’d have to do it alone.

Yay…

At least we were all kneeling behind the counter, so the only person who would really notice anything from us was the-

“Alright kid, I can see you looking around over there.” A voice said, and I looked up to see the elf staring at me. “I’m sure you’re trying to figure out a way to escape, but let me stop you from embarrassing yourself right here… You aren’t getting out of here unless we let you out.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” I sighed. “Still, I don’t suppose that you’d let us go if I offered you a delicious, home cooked meal, would you?”

“Well, it’s a tempting offer…” She said, and I almost felt a little bit of hope for a second. “Sadly though, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. Perhaps next time we take you hostage though, we’ll take you up on that!”

“Right…” I said sadly. “Well, it was worth a shot…”

I wasn’t sure how long it had been, but I was beginning to get nervous anyway. I had always imagined myself saying something incredibly charming as I died, something that people would remember for generations to come.

If I didn’t act soon, then the only people who would remember those last words would be the other six people in this room, and the words they’d be remembering would likely be somewhat less than most people’s idea of charming…

“Hey… Leone?” The red man asked, approaching the elf. “I’m not sure if I can do this…”

“Do what? Kill them?” She asked, keeping her eyes on us.

“Yeah.” He answered, a slightly distressed expression on his face. “I mean, I get why we have to, but it just… feels wrong…”

“Don’t worry.” Leone sighed, before turning to the man. “I understand how you feel.”

This was my chance!

As soon as she turned away from us, I shimmied the satchel around my waist to where my hands were as silently as I could manage, thanking whatever deities existed that they hadn’t taken it from me when they tied my hands.

“In all honesty, killing these people is something I would rather avoid too.” Leone continued. “But as much as I hate it, we have to go through with this now.”

I quietly slipped my hand into the satchel, terrified that they’d look back before I could think of something. There was literally no plan going into this. Whatever I did, I would have to make it all up as I went. And then, like a gift from god, my hand closed around a round, knobbly object, and everything fell into place in my head.

“If we don’t, then there’s next to no chance that we’ll make it out of this place, let alone surviving what would happen afterwards.”

Deep inside my mind, I thought the word that would manipulate the fabric of the universe, using the energy of my very soul.

My core.

FOLD.

A grenade landed at my feet, and I screamed.

“Oh god!” I shouted, trying to kick it away from me. “They threw something through the window!”

Everyone except the mage looked over to the object at my feet, and their eyes widened simultaneously.

“Kaien Thel!” Leone shouted, leaping to the other side of the counter and pulling the red man down with her.

Now!

As soon as no one was looking at us, I threw myself at across the laps of Harry, Zoe and the mage.

FOLD.

I felt the world warp beneath us, and we fell to the floor of the story below us.

“Damn!” Harry shouted as we landed, and I looked over at him to see a very obviously broken leg.

“Harry!” Zoe shouted. “Let me hel-”

“Shut up, Zo!” He shouted before she could finish. “I’m fine! Let’s go!

Apart from Harry, who had taken to slowly pushing himself along the floor and swearing a lot, we all managed to get to our feet and run to the entrance of the building.

We had made only it about half way, when a barrage of muffled shouts rang out from the floor above us.

 Suddenly, a massive explosion burst through the room’s roof, and the human hostage taker landed between us and the door.

“No, Zeph!” I heard Leone shout from above, before the red man cut her off.

“No Leone! We have to leave!”

Slowly, Leone’s voice faded into the distance, still shouting for ‘Zeph’, who I was guessing was the man in front of us, to come back. All the while, Zeph just stood there, looking in the direction of the shouting with a small, tired smile.

And then he looked at me, his smile reverting back to fit the general ‘short tempered maniac’ vibe that I’d been getting from him earlier.

“So... A teleporter, right?”

Oh god, he had already figured it out!

I had really hoped that we’d at least have the time to escape before something like this happened.

“Pretty clever…” He continued. “Teleporting the grenade like that. Thank god you didn’t have an active one though, huh? If you had, you probably would have taken at least one of us out in there.”

I frantically looked around the room we had fallen into, even though I already knew we wouldn’t be escaping that easily.

“Don’t bother.” Zeph said. “Leone did her research when we chose this place. This bar was made for nocturnal races to enjoy all throughout the day.”

He slowly walked over to the metal, windowless door.

“Now I’m sure that you’ve probably already noticed, but just in case, can you figure out what that means?”

His middle and index fingers started glowing, as he slowly ran them down the center of the doors, fusing them together.

“No windows!” He said, his smile growing to just the right length that it would greatly impact my sleep tonight. “And now there’s no door!”

He stepped away from the door and started walking towards me.

I chanced a quick glance to the others out of the corner of my eye. Harry and Zoe were both looking at me with worried expressions, and the mage…

She just looked bored.

A few decidedly inappropriate words popped through my head when I noticed that particular detail…

“Nowhere for all your little friends to run now!”

“Oh?” I asked, moving back towards the wall and trying to keep the trembling in my knees from affecting my voice. “And what makes you think I’m going to wait around for you to kill me with them?”

“Yeah, because you’re the kind of person to leave them at my mercy, right?” Zeph asked with a laugh.

“Well, pretty much, yeah…” I said, as I finally felt my back hit the wall.

FOLD.

Space warped around me and I found myself facing a brick wall.

Quickly, I turned around and started running in the opposite direction.

God I hope this works…

After about ten seconds, a huge crash came from behind me, and I took a quick glance over my shoulder to see a man I assumed to be Zeph, completely engulfed in flames and charging after me.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY LEFT THEM!”

“I didn’t leave them!” I shouted, using Fold to dodge away from his charge.

“OH REALLY?” He shouted, stretching out his hand and sending a massive ball of fire at me. “BECAUSE IT SURE AS HELL LOOKED LIKE YOU DID!”

“Really! It was all part of my clever plan!”

FOLD.

I folded space to warp into the building next to me, only for Zeph to burst through the wall again.

“WELL THEN…” He said. “WHY DON’T YOU REGAIL ME WITH YOUR MASTER PLAN?”

“Well, if you insist…” I sighed, or at least the closest to a sigh that I could manage, having already run more than I usually would in a month. “I didn’t abandon them, I just made them a door!”

Zeph stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head.

Slowly, I turned around and started running again, warping through the wall.

I had something which at least resembled a plan, but it all depended on me being able to run far enough without passing out.

And not getting lost.

That was also important.

I had almost made it a block away from the building I left Zeph in, when another explosion rang out.

“MAN, YOU JUST KEEP IMPRESSING ME KID!” Zeph shouted, with a laugh that sounded more like a rabid Pitbull than a normal person. “I MIGHT HAVE EVEN TAKEN A LIKING TO YOU IF YOU HADN’T RUINED OUR PLAN!”

There!

A flash of blue between the buildings!

I warped out of the way of two more fireballs, and ran down the alley.

When I reached the middle of the alley, I looked over my shoulder to Zeph.

Good, it looked like he had psyched himself up too much to notice what was going on.

Still, I was really hoping someone would interrupt us before it got to this stage…

“YOU GOT PRETTY FAR KID, BUT THIS IS THE END!”

I didn’t even have to look over my shoulder to know that he’d almost caught up to me. I could feel the heat on my back.

Come on, just a little further!

After what felt like forever, I reached the street on the other side of the alley, and ran across the road.

As soon as I reached the other side of the road, I spun to face Zeph, planting my feet in to prevent myself from being knocked back.

He was barely a metre away, his arm pulled back, and I was reminded yet again that this probably wasn’t the best plan.

Everything after that seemed to move in slow motion.

I saw his fist shoot forward, and I did my best to duck under it.

Once I was sure I wasn’t going to get punched, I locked my own arm around his, and pulled him backwards with me, doing my best to ignore the pain.

“WHAT?” Zeph asked, probably shocked at the fact that there was someone stupid enough to actually attempt to grapple with someone who was covered in fire.

“You’re too angry…”

And then I watched his eyes widen, as he finally realised that I had led him to the waterfront.

“So let me help you cool off!”

FOLD.

“WAS THAT MEANT TO BE A JO-”

And then we were underwater.

Thankfully, this meant that he wasn’t able to finish insulting my perfect wordplay.

FOLD.

We were back on the side of the street, a rain of displaced river water splashing over us. From my position on the ground, I looked back to Zeph, and was pleased to see that the water had reverted him back to normal like I had hoped it would.

“You son of a-”

Fortunately, I didn’t have to listen to anymore of his cursing, lest he taint my poor, innocent mind, due to the timely arrival of The Junction police force, who proceeded to pile onto him before he could continue.

I mean, I wouldn’t have objected if they had arrived a little earlier, like maybe before I’d had to grapple with the burning maniac, but at least I didn’t have to do anything else…

Speaking of which…

I looked down over my hands and arms, and almost cried with relief when I saw that they weren’t as bad as they felt, which I suppose was thanks to the water.

I did notice that a significant portion of the skin from my left hands palm was suspiciously missing though, reminding me that I was still terrible at using fold on other objects.

Oh well, I was too tired to think about anything else anymore.

I pushed myself up from the ground, completely ignoring the police officer who was trying to see if I was alright, and started walking down the street.

I still had ingredients to buy, after all.

Reviews

[Dysphoria]

This is really good and I loved it so much. It was so interesting and my eyes were glued to the screen. I'm so going to continue this book. Keep up the good work. Your writing is awesome.