Chapter two

Neah pulled her black hood over her short, black -what some would call 'boyish'- hair as she walked. She kept her eyes down and made sure not to get in anyone's way. The MWS' main building wasn't too far away. Today is as good as any to see what's up. Even if she couldn't free everyone this time, she wanted to make sure she was right about everything. She didn't want to run in there guns blazing to find that the magicians are dead and the djinns destroyed.

"State your business." One of two guards stared at her at the main entrance.

"My business?" Neah looked at him. "None of your business." She grabbed both of the guards by their helmets and slammed their heads together. They fell to the ground, and Neah stepped over them.

No alarms went off as she entered. Still, she walked cautiously. "Sharrar Magd," Neah spoke quietly, gathering water from a nearby water bubbler and using it to make herself invisible. Magic was a lot harder for her, she couldn't use a wand. She'd adapted to just using her hands to manipulate the rukh. It was a lucky thing, but took a while to get used to it.

Everything looked like a regular office, cubicles and all. Neah walked up to a large framed map hanging beside the elevator. A 'You Are Here' arrow pointed to the bottom of the map beside the main entrance. There were several floors, more than there probably should be. Reading through the list, Neah noticed the bottom floor. Archives? Sounds right... Although she wanted to use the elevator, she reluctantly took the stairs. This is going to take forever.

~

Once at the bottom of the stairs, Neah began realizing she couldn't keep 'Sharrar Magd' on forever. Dispelling the magic, she hid behind the stairwell door. The next room was full of bookshelves and filing cabinets. "I'm surprised it's not all computerized like everything else is..." Neah commented. She quietly opened the door and looked around. Two guards stood on the other side of the room guarding another exit. Easy.

Neah exited her hiding place, the guards noticing her instantly. "Thalg Thalgeyya!" She combined wind and ice magic to send tornadoes at the guards. Unable to do anything, the guards were forced to take the attack head-on. Wow, their armor is nothing compared to magic. Neah smirked. Then she began searching for the information she needed.

She searched for some time before she found a book that might be useful. She reached on her tip-toes to get to it, pulling it from the shelf. Suddenly, alarms sounded, and a red light filled the room. "Shit..." Neah shoved the small book in her sweater pocket and ran for the exit.

"There she is!" She froze and turned to a voice behind her. More guards rushed in from the exit she'd almost escaped through. She was surrounded.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" One man dressed in a suit of white armor similar to the other guards stepped forward. His armor, though, had several badges on it. The general. Neah stood her ground and prepared to fight. "We've been looking for you. I didn't expect you to run right on in here though, magi."

"What are you talking about? I'm not a magi." Neah tried. The general laughed.

"Then explain what you did to those soldiers." He gestured behind her where the two guards laid, soaked. "And how you look just like a magi from the Old Days."

Neah raised an eyebrow, "The hell are you talking about?"

"You know, Judar. You're great great granddaddy."

"Judar? My grandfather?" Neah frowned deeply. "Yeah, right, buddy." She knew that magi could only be related to magi of the Old Days, but she'd never really made the connection. She noticed the guards around her closing in. "Sharrar Baraq!" Neah sent a water dragon at the general. The guards went after her, and she jumped up -using gravity magic as support- getting out of the way. The guards collided with each other, some of them even getting injured.

Neah ran. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she needed to get out. More guards crossed her path, but she didn't pay attention. She just kept climbing the stairs as quickly as she could.

Once on the main floor, she exited the stairwell and froze. At least a hundred guards stood before her. All holding weapons that looked like tasers. Oh I'm screwed. Neah searched for the exit. It was just a few feet away. "Ramz Al-Salos!" She raised her hands and created a black lightning using her dark rukh. The guards tried to avoid the attack, but Neah could manipulate it at will.

One of the men dodged her attack, coming up behind her with the taser. Neah stopped the lightning and cast another spell to block him, "Asfal!" A wall of fog blocked his path.

"She really is a magi!" Another guard shouted.

"How are we supposed to fight her?!"

"You're all useless..." Another voice entered the room. It was the general, wielding a strange weapon. "This is why we've made specialized weapons." Neah inched her way to the door. "Watch this!" The general raised the gun-like weapon and shot it in her direction. The teen dodged, a perfectly cut circle in the wall where her head was.

"Oh, sure." Neah scoffed as she began running again. "You can use magic, but I can't?!" She dodged attack after attack as she ran down the street. "Get out of the way!" She yelled at a group of girls from her school, using her wind magic to knock them aside.

They screamed and fell to the ground, "Neah?!"

"She's..."

"Stop that girl! She's a magi!" The general called at them.

Neah ignored them and kept running. I can't keep this up forever. She took a sharp left turn down an ally, having no idea where she was. "Shit. Dead end." She stopped at a brick wall. "Ramz!" She sent lightning at the men from MWS.

The general deflected it easily, "Looks like it's the end of the line for you."

Neah searched for a way out, but found none. She was still nearby the MWS headquarters, meaning backup would be on it's way.

Don't move.

Neah furrowed her brow at an unfamiliar voice in her head. Was it a trick from the general? She watched him closely, not paying attention as he spoke. He was saying something about it being easy for them to know she was a magi because of her relation to Judar. She was truly stuck. She hadn't studied many spells, for obvious reasons it was very difficult for her to practice and get half decent books to learn from.

Suddenly, the ground below her disappeared. Neah screamed as she looked down at the empty floor. She began falling into what looked like some kind of galaxy. "What the hell is this?!" Everything turned black and she felt her consciousness fading away.

~