Arcana's Path Ch. 02

With that, she extended her beads, chanted, and disappeared from the middle of the street. Rin saw people around staring, rubbing their eyes and... Shrugging it off. They just ignored a vanishing witch in the middle of the street.

She sighed and pushed open the door, fishing out her swipe card from her uniform.

---

Her eyes jerked open as the plane jolted down onto a runway. She sat up blinking and stretching. She hadn't expected to fall asleep that easily, but apparently being near Kitty was enough.

Arcana leapt to her feet, cocking her head. One of the soldiers went to steady her and she waved him away. She could hear it, what none of them could. The pain in the distant roar.

"What did you do to him, mum?" She winced.

The angry words of beastkind were nothing but frightening roars to most people. From cat to dragon. It was the trainers who could hear them and make sense of what they were saying.

Her bitch of a cat could be downright eloquent when he was annoyed. Yet, when she heard the distant screaming of Marduk, a god who inspired an entire race, she couldn't understand him.

He wasn't screaming words.

He was just plain screaming.

The plane screeched onto the runway and spun as the distant roar suddenly became a deafening earthquake for a moment. The landing gear snapped, and Arcana flicked her wand into her hand to stay upright as the vehicle spun in circles.

She walked over and tossed the door open, stepping down and jumping to land solidly as it drifted away behind her. It wasn't night, but the sky was dark.

Wings spread out to fill the horizon as he wheeled over her head. A pissed off dragon the size of a large mountain, screaming.

Purple light appeared like flecks beside her with a crackling and popping before a witch in a black cloak and pointed hat appeared. The woman looked up, "First impressions?"

"He's not talking mother. He's in pain. What the fuck did you do?"

The woman ground her teeth together, "Do not swear, daughter. I raised you better than that. I also raised you to respect your elders."

"Respect can be lost." Arcana replied, "Now, if you would kindly tell me what you fucking did so I can stop the god of dragons from fucking us all!"

The witch groaned as the darkened sky suddenly burst into flames as it engulfed its whole body. "That can't be good."

"No. He's about to dive bomb Akihabara and turn it into a Nagasaki." Arcana stated and frowned, "I need to get up there. No dragons for flying so... Broomstick?"

Her mother held one out, "We don't have the time for me to explain the full details. I'll send you what I can through a mindlink."

She sat on the hard and uncomfortable wooden pole and drifted unsteadily into the sky. Arcana had always been middling with magic, but this? She hadn't actually managed to get her broomstick license. Failed three times.

She could feel the air getting denser as she approached the descending fireball, and reached down to pull out some goggles and slip them over her eyes so she wasn't completely blinded.

Arcana decided she regretted the choice not to grab her helmet instead, when she left home.

All the usual tactics and strategies were already a failure. An apex predator like Marduk should never have left his territory, flying over a literal ocean. Not unless some other predator was threatening him.

Bursting into flames, and crashing down towards her, it was a territorial display. Except, he had already decided to attack exactly this spot before Arcana or her mother had even turned up.

Why would he attack a bunch of irritatingly tiny and pesky ants with a massive display of power?

He shouldn't be interested in humans or their cities. She knew that nearby windows were already blowing out from his approach. People would be frightened and screaming. He had no reason for this.

"Any time, mother." She muttered.

The scornful voice spoke into her head, "Who taught you how to ride a broom? It certainly wasn't me. What chance do you stand?"

"None, if you don't start explaining. What did you do!?" Arcana winced as her jacket spontaneously burst into flames from the proximity.

"We attempted to forge a link between his mind, and my own. We intended -"

"Blah, blah, mind control, dumb idea, blah." Arcana cut her off and stared up at the enormous face inside the flames. She watched his nostrils flaring, and his wide reptilian eyes focusing on the lone figure approaching him.

He was confused and frightened because someone had tried to suppress his mind. Made him uncomfortable in his own body, unable to tell what was the waking world and the sleeping one.

He lacked the perspective to realise that humans weren't worth his time, right now. He could remember feeling familiar to them, because of the link. So he saw them as a threat. He might even think one had tried to smother his soul.

Well... This was going to go badly.

"I... Uh... I'm going to have to saddle him." She said nervously, and stood up on the broomstick, balancing unsteadily on it as she stared at him, "You should really start evacuating the city if you haven't."

"Would you like to run that idea by me again, daughter?"

"No." Arcana snapped, "I'm here because you were stupid and panicked the god of all dragons into stampeding! You spooked him, you dumb fucking bitch. I can either saddle him and rein him in, or I can lunge him. In his case, if I let him sprint around me in a circle until he calmed down there wouldn't be a Japan left. So shut the fuck up, and evacuate the motherfucking city!"

Mounting a wild and spooked dragon was, generally speaking, a stupid idea.

Arcana's hands were sweating as she balanced atop the thin rod of wood, preparing herself. She took a deep breath, feeling the rest of her clothes bursting into flames, and then she jumped.

---

"Holy shit." Kitty swore as Arcana suddenly separated from the broomstick in the distant sky, a hand reaching out to grasp at the scales as the burning fireball descended at the city.

The soldier grabbed her elbow, "Come on! We're evacuating the city. That means you, civilian."

"Why the fuck hadn't you already!?" Kitty shook her head and sprinted for the waiting jeep with the man. She jumped easily into the back of the vehicle and couldn't help but notice the ground was already becoming a spiderweb of cracks, sinkholes and generally an apocalyptic highway.

The damn thing hadn't even touched down yet.

Marduk was so much bigger than Kitty could even begin to comprehend. She knew he was going to be huge, considering how big her first dragon had been and that it was just a baby... But this... It rattled her.

She held onto the back of the vehicle as it began to weave away, staring up at the tiny speck of dust atop the enormous dragon and couldn't help but grin.

Arcana was trying to ride the damn thing bareback.

She was wild.

Which was right when Kitty started noticing just how deep into the shit she was, herself. Broken glass and roads didn't much worry her. However, some of the nearby buildings were also beginning to look like a kid's birthday cake from the heat, tilting and creaking like they were on the verge of collapse.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and glanced the way they were going and saw car pileups, screaming people running, and military vehicles full of evacuees failing to get through the crowds.

"Well, shit."

She stiffened and glared as some sort of candyflossing purple sparkles crackled beside her before a literal witch appeared. The woman was taller, older, and cruel looking, but she still looked vaguely like Arcana.

The witch raised both her hands, "Astraenicus frakenia!"

Kitty rolled her eyes and glanced back to see the military vehicles rising into the air before sort of torpedoing into the distance like they were hyperspacing in some sci-fi movie.

"Emeragus ineteria!" The witch shouted again, and the crowds suddenly began moving again as giant holes in the air seemed to rip open violently in front of them, comically showing images of another city through them.

Kitty snorted derisively, "And you didn't think to do that before the mountain-sized dragon showed up?"

"This is actually quite difficult, so if you would bother keeping that uneducated tongue between your teeth it would be greatly appreciated." The witch replied scornfully.

"Huh?" Kitty's eyes lit up angrily as she stared at the witch.

They were unimpressed, speaking with dripping sarcasm, "Oh. So very terrifying. Do I need to repeat myself about the difficulty of this task? Perhaps the useless mundane would like to be killed by getting too close to the beast? Feel free to jump and be left behind."

She chuckled, "Oh, so you don't like that I'm Arcana's girlfriend, then. Sorry, she didn't give me the impression that her mother gave a shit about her."

The witch's hands shook lightly, and her brow furrowed, "G... Girlfriend? My daughter does not... She... Shut up! I need to focus."

Kitty shrugged and turned around to calmly lean on the jeep's roof as it bucked its way up the road towards the weird gateway magic things. The metal was actually really hot to the touch, now. Almost painful.

Pissing off the witch probably was a bad idea, and Arcana had asked her to avoid doing anything she might think was stupid.

Caring what anyone else thought sucked, big time.

The jeep moved through one of the gateways, and Kitty blinked in confusion for a moment as she found herself in a place that was more frigid than it was a sauna. There was even snow beginning to form in the air.

She yawned with boredom, glancing backwards in time to see the hole shutting on a scene of flames shooting out everywhere like a bomb going off. "Huh. Guess that was close."

The witch swayed, holding her head, and then glared at her. "Do you even care that Arcana is back there?"

Kitty shoved the witch off the back of the moving vehicle. She stepped off as she heard panicked shouts and saw the woman groaning and holding her bleeding head.

She walked over slowly and glared down, "Huh. I was expectin' more from a witch. Ain't ya meant to be a god?"

The woman groaned painfully, her entire body contorting as she tried to stare up at Kitty. She flinched, "What is wrong with you, trash? You threw me off a car!"

"Did I?" Kitty yawned, "Sounds like me. Guess I might have. Guess I might not have liked what you were sayin'. Guess you might want to think that through with that big educated head of yours next time."

A rifle cocked and Kitty glared over at the soldier threatening her, "On the ground! Get down on the ground."

She turned back to the witch who was beginning to stand up, still dabbing at her bleeding skull. "The only reason you are yet to suffer for an eternity is the mild and passing interest my daughter has shown in yet another piece of flotsam that has drifted in front of her."

"Lotta words there. Take it to mean ya got a problem with me. Lay it." Kitty sneered at the woman.

The witch trembled with rage, "If I were mortal, you would have killed me. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Kitty shrugged.

"You are nothing, mundane. Nothing! There is nothing that you amount to, and nothing that you can ever do that will ever matter." The witch raged, "That is my problem with you. You are unworthy! Unworthy of the friendship my daughter extends. Unworthy of the attention she grants you. You are irrelevant, and you are too stupid to realise your irrelevance!"

Kitty rolled her eyes, "And here I was, thinkin' ya problem was that Arcana fucked a girl."

A wand stabbed her forehead as the woman in front of her seethed, "Do not speak of her in that way, gutter trash. You have given me more than enough motivation to end your pathetic existence."

Kitty blinked.

The witch's face faltered, "Are you too stupid to understand the danger you are in?"

"Ya really think ya the first person to put a gun to my head?" Kitty rolled her eyes. "Or even the first girlfriend's parent to threaten ta kill me? Usually its the boyfriend's dad and his sawn-off, but whatever. I don't like the way ya talk about her. Arcana don't belong to nobody."

"She's my daughter."

Kitty smiled, "Who hates your guts. Move on. She's not a little princess anymore, she's the wild one willing to try and tame the god of all dragons. She's not a sidepiece or some little bitch to own. Ya fucked up. Ya thinking killing her girlfriend gonna go and make up for you being her biggest regret? She ain't yours. She ain't nobody's."

The wand pushed harder, but she could see tears welling up in the violet eyes glaring at her. "You are nothing."

"Ya keep bringin' me up. But I really don't think this has anytin' to do wit me. Think this has to do wit Arcana not givin' a shit what ya think. Maybe ya shouldn't have been such a shit to her." Kitty sneered.

The wand dropped and the witch began to cry.

She rolled her eyes, "Shit like that doesn't help, ya know? Ya her mum. Ya not supposed to treat her like crap. So don't. Cryin' and crap ain't got help dat. Ya meant ta do stuff if ya wanna fix it."

She shook her head and began walking back towards the pulled over jeep, the soldiers in front of her letting her pass with stares of awe despite still aiming their guns in her direction.

She pulled herself back up and onto the tray and turned, "Ladies! Weren't we headed somewhere? Rather be there when Arcana comes back with a new friend."

The witch sniffled, "Marduk might kill her."

"Nah. Arcana's got this handled. She's wild. Marduk's the one out of his depth." Kitty grinned.

---

Arcana patted the giant scaled head gently as two truckfuls of soldiers pulled up and jumped out, aiming at him. She smiled as he snorted angrily, shifting the trucks backwards and knocking the men off their feet. "Calm down boys, if you want to keep breathing. He's fine."

She reached up and scratched at the base of one of his horns, and the dragon tilted his head into it, despite trying not to embarrass himself. She grinned happily, "Who's a good dragon? Yes, you are. Yes, you are!"

"Nice."

Arcana looked over at the woman walking through the sprawled soldiers and grinned broadly, "Kitty!"

She waved her over excitedly, "Isn't he awesome? He's like a giant angry flame puppy."

Kitty stood in front of the gigantic head, the dragon glaring at her and his nostrils flared. He began to lift his head slowly, eyes narrowing and Arcana felt her heart drop, "No. No, bad dragon. No intimidating."

The woman however reached out slowly, to run her fingers along his jaw, "Now this... This is what I call friggin' amazing. You actually managed to ride him?"

Arcana breathed a sigh of relief as Marduk settled down again. He still didn't like Kitty, but he didn't see her as a threat anymore. She swallowed, thinking about how badly that had very nearly gone.

She gave him another pat, "Well, he's a bit tired from the rampage, so he's probably going to nest here for a while. I might need to help fly him back to China in a couple months, because they'll want to escort him. But he should be fine for now so long as everyone keeps their distance."

"Sweet." Kitty continued to pat the giant dragon, clearly disappointed she wouldn't get to ride him, "Suppose that means we can head to a hotel or somet'in'? I could help you wash that ash out of ya hair."

Arcana blushed and smiled at her, "Uh... Thanks? That... Um... Sounds nice. Oh. Did you meet my mother?"

"Sure." Kitty shrugged, "She's the reason we're back here. Sparkly bitch has some weird wormhole spell or something. Took everyone to Tokyo."

She winced, "You didn't... Pick a fight with her, did you?"

"Little bit." Kitty admitted freely, "Won't be a problem though, girl. No need to worry ya head on it. Ya didn't tell me she'd have issues with a lil girl-on-girl. That why ya had a hang up on it?"

Arcana went bright red and looked down at her feet, "Can we not talk about this in front of the soldiers and the god of the dragons?"

"Marduk doesn't seem like an ass, doubt he cares about a girl getting a little nookie from someone she likes." Kitty patted the dragon, who rolled one unblinking eye to stare at Arcana.

She felt his intimidating stare and sighed, "Eugh. You two suck. I'm tired. You! Establish a twenty five kilometre radius around the airport. No one is to approach the dragon, and he'll hang out here. Probably wreck a few buildings as he makes his nest, but leave him be and there won't be any problems."

The soldier began barking orders, and Arcana turned and gave him one final pat, "Be a good boy, Marduk."

He snorted playfully at her and nearly knocked her off her feet.

Kitty walked over and swung an arm around her shoulders, looking like she was leaning on her, but actually letting Arcana lean into her and holding her up.

She sighed, "I must look a mess, right now."

"Burnt hair smells like shit. Actually, worse." Kitty screwed up her nose, "That's going to stick around a while."

The lead soldier crossed to them, signalling an approaching vehicle, "Thankyou, ma'am. We've set up -"

"I am not staying in a tent." Arcana yawned, "I don't need to be close. He's really not going to do anything. Take me to the nearest functioning city with a spare hotel room."

The man hesitated and then nodded, "As you wish. Thank you for your help, as always, Miss Astria."

Arcana kissed Kitty's cheek, feeling how stiff and angry the woman was at the soldier. "Come on then. So... We might be early into this thing... Like I'm not even sure if we're dating but... Um... When we get to the room... Could you..."

"Give you a massage?" Kitty cut to the chase, "Sure. I know how to pamper. Help you clean up, have a decent massage, pass out in a semi-comfortable bed. Sound good?"

She smiled, "Yeah."

"I'd say we're dating, by the way. Just so it ain't awkward." Kitty said as the car pulled up, "Call you my girlfriend, too. If that's too much, too soon, lemme know."

Arcana went pink, "Um... No. No, I like that. I just... I'm new at this."

"Dating is dating. Ya do what the two of ya like. Don't matter if one or both of ya has a dick or not." Kitty shrugged. "Take it ya like it when the guy makes the night all about ya? Like ya did for me."

She smiled sheepishly, "Everyone likes getting treated like a princess, don't they?"

"Sometimes." Kitty shrugged noncommittally.

---

Data entry might just be one of the most soul crushing jobs in the world. It isn't exactly difficult, but it is perfectly monotonous, endless, and without a single sense of accomplishment.

You can get better, faster. But it really doesn't matter if you do or don't. The work needs to be done, and can't always be automated away by smarter software. That's all she really was in the process. A piece of a better algorithm. A computational device for translating one input into another.

One of a dozen drones working away tirelessly on the floor, attempting to digitise over a decade of records for the telecom, to bring them into compliance with some law or another.

She didn't bother getting to know her coworkers. Nobody else had really lasted long. They moved on after a few months, finding better work. It was enough for Rin to exist, so she didn't feel the need.

She could pay her bills.

Usually, she'd either skip lunch or have a cup of noodles at her desk for her break. This time around Violet had offered to bring her tea, and it would actually be something that Rin could appreciate.

But, leaning back from her keyboard and stretching her neck, she couldn't imagine how she was supposed to actually tell Violet. They hadn't shared phone numbers or anything, and getting to the shop and back in fifteen minutes sounded like a giant ball of stress.

"Hey, Kisaki."

She looked up at her boss, "Yes, sir?"