Victor chokes on his food again. He starts to cough profusely and needs a drink of water.
“You okay over there?” Leo chuckles.
Victor nods and holds up his index finger as he takes a drink of water. Leo snickers some more as he takes another bite.
“Did you just say mid-60s?” Victor asks once his airways are clear.
“Sixty-six, to be exact. But you would never know it,” Leo winks.
Victor blinks a few times, comprehending the information given to him. “Damn, you look really good for your age. I need to know your secret.”
Leo pushes his finished plate to the side. “When you start to use your magic, you’ll realize that it starts to slow down your aging process. It’s partly because you begin to use the life energy from other sources,” Leo explains.
“For me, it’s Fire and Water. Even though they aren’t technically living creatures like you or me or those stray dogs outside, they still give off a source of energy. When you absorb that energy, it helps preserve your life. Magic always comes with a price.”
“And because of that, necromancy has a bad reputation,” Victor remarks.
Leo clicks his cheek and shoots a finger gun at Victor as if he were saying,“You got it.”
The server comes back and sets down their steak dinners. Victor and Leo start to eat in silence. After several moments, Victor begins to get a tingling in his shoulders and arms. His vision starts to go in and out of focus. He tries to blink but still has trouble seeing.
Leo is about to take a bite but stops and looks concerned. “Is everything all right?”
Victor starts to look around but has difficulty keeping his eyes open. “I . . . I don’t know. There’s something . . . off. It’s hard to tell, but my vision is getting blurry.”
Leo sits up, alert as he starts looking around the dining room. He notices another empathic witch who is also alert. Leo sets his napkin on the table and stands up. “Stay here.”
Victor is trying to see where Leo is going, but his vision is still blurry. He can barely see Leo talking to the witch. The room starts to spin around Victor. He braces himself by holding thesides of the table. There’s a ringing in his ear, so loud he can’t hear any commotion that erupts.
Suddenly, a huge flame heads toward Victor. All he can see is a blurred orange and yellow object coming his way. Out of nowhere, another warlock grabs Victor and drops him to the floor. Dazed and confused, Victor looks up and sees a blurry Leo blocking the flame. A witch on the other end intensifies the spell she’s casting.
Leo does his best to absorb the blaze with his Air Magic, but it’s too much for him to handle. He tries to counterattack with his Water Magic, but the fire is still too intense. Two other warlocks try to defend Leo but are knocked out of the way.
“Hand over the melee warlock, Leopold!” the witch shouts.
Leo pulls one of his hands out of the inferno and holds it to his side as he tries to grab something with a claw-like gesture. He struggles as he tries to turn the claw into a fist. The flame glows brighter, blinding Leo. He continues struggling to conjure another spell. When Leo finally makes a fist, the witch starts choking.
She tries to keep the spell going while she struggles to breathe. Leo uses his Air Magic to suck the air out of the witch. She grabs her chest and scratches at her throat. When she drops down to her knees, the flame extinguishes. Her eyes grow wide with fear as she’s gasping for air. Leo holds his fist out as he walks towards her.
Victor starts to regain his vision, and the room is no longer spinning. He sees Leo’s aura swirl around as if Leo were inside a tornado.
“Leo!” Victor shouts. But Leo doesn’t hear him. “LEO, STOP!”
A flash pulses off of Victor and breezes by everyone. The lights flicker, and the candles are blown out. Leo lets go of his fist, and the witch falls to the floor, gasping as she can breathe again. Leo looks over at Victor as a couple of warlocks are helping himup. He looks down at the witch as two witches pick her off the ground and use a binding spell on her.
“Who sent you?” Leo aggressively asks the witch.
She sneers as she tries to hold her head up to look at Leo. “As if I’m going to tell you, pole jockey.”
Leo lifts her head by her chin. “Take her to my Superior. I’m sure he’ll love to interrogate this one.”
The two witches drag the attacker away while everyone else in the dining room returns to their seats. One of the servers flicks her wrist and snaps her fingers, lighting all the candles. Everyone returns to normal, except Victor, who looks on at Leo, befuddled and bewildered.
Leo stops in front of Victor and places his hands on Victor’s shoulders. “Are you okay?Were you hurt?”
Victor shakes his head. “N-No.I’m fine.”He takes his seat as Leo pushes the chair in for him.
Leo tries to smooth out his shirt with his hand as he takes his seat. “Are you sure? I understand it will be a lot to process what happened just now.”Leo clasps his hands and rests his mouth against them as he studies Victor.Victor looks down at the center of the table.“Would you like to go?”
