As Xaden prepared to get everything needed to help Astra get rid of his bio-tracker, they all took this chance to relax and shower before coming up with a plan.

  Everyone will need to be on their toes for this mission tomorrow morning, thought Astra.

  Miraculously, the removal of the bio-tracker was exactly as easy as Xaden told them. With the bio-tracker gone, everyone settled down for the night. The night was cool and comforting. It helped lulled them to sleep so they could be ready for anything tomorrow morning.

  Morning arrived, and as expected, everyone was ready to go, except Xaden. Xander, unfazed by his brother’s predictability, rolled his eyes at the delay. Xaden, it seemed, had encountered some unfortunate last minute “toilet troubles,” keeping the group on hold for hours. Xander spent the morning loudly berating him from outside the bathroom, declaring Xaden’s diarrhea was now everyone’s problem. His patience thinning, Xander even threatened to toss all of Xaden’s experimental concoctions from the fridge into the trash. Instead of hurrying up, however, Xaden doubled down on his bathroom break, much to the growing exasperation of the entire group.

  “Sorry about the delay. Xaden’s usually a lot more solid than this,” Xander said, his tone steady and confident as he gathered everyone around the small kitchen table. “I’ve trusted him with my life more times than I can count. He’s probably just… nervous. The jitters, you know.”

  “Xaden is the type of dude who will tell you the sun is not some mystical ball of fire but is actually a dense core of hydrogen atoms undergoing nuclear fusion to become helium and giving off energy. Real geek stuff.” Xander shifted nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Then again, he is also the whack dude to tell you he won the staring contest with the sun because he didn’t see the sun anymore that day.”

  “Astra and Bootstrap somehow looked both reassured and more nervous after hearing Xander talk about Xaden,” Xander said, his tone shifting into something more casual but still carrying a hint of conviction.

  “Look, Xaden’s been kinda off lately, but I think he’s just been busting his butt to make this mission work, you know. Xander straightened up and gave a small nod, his confidence starting to seep through. “But trust me, once the heat’s on and things get real, Xaden’ll show up. He’s rock-solid when it matters. You’ll see soon enough.”

  So, when late morning finally arrived they all met outside the university’s campus. “Everyone ready? No turning back now. We are all pulled into this mess together.” Xander asked one last time.

  Everyone relied in unison.

  “Yep.”

  “Of, course.”

  “Was born ready.”

  Bootstrap and Astra donned sleek jackets and clean slacks, their outfits helping them blend into the sea of students milling around campus. Bootstrap, as always, clung tightly to his journal. It was a personal artifact he refused to leave behind. The well-worn book not only held priceless knowledge but also conveniently allowed him to pass as just another diligent student, blending seamlessly with those clutching notebooks and textbooks.

  Leaving the journal behind, especially in the hands of strangers, wasn’t an option Bootstrap was willing to entertain. It gave him a sense of purpose and confidence as they wove through the bustling crowd.

  The timing of their infiltration was no coincidence. With students crisscrossing the grounds during the day, the pair could move inconspicuously through the throng. Their plan relied on the natural chaos of the daytime routine to shield them from unnecessary attention. According to Xander, security staff were less vigilant during daylight hours, often distracted by the sheer volume of activity. The crowds, along with the busy energy of the campus, provided the perfect cover for the pair to slip closer to their target without raising suspicion.

  “Act like you’ve got somewhere important to be,” Bootstrap muttered under his breath, his voice low but sharp. “Move quick, but don’t stick out. The cameras will be scanning for anything that doesn’t fit, not just faces in the crowd.”

  He glanced down, patting his jacket pockets to ensure everything was in place. His journal, tucked snugly under one arm, was an ever-present weight of reassurance. “And, Astra,” he added, barely moving his lips, “you’ve got Xander’s fake ID, right? Because if not, this is about to get a whole lot messier than I’d like.” His tone carried an edge of warning, his eyes scanning their surroundings like a hawk.

  Astra nodded. He was nervous and couldn’t keep still so he was happy to start moving. He started to move faster through the crowd. Flashing his student ID quickly, he ran through security saying he was running late.

  Astra watched Bootstrap stroll through the security line a few seconds after him, and he couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief wash over him. He’d been holding his breath, half-expecting something to go wrong. If either of them had been stopped, the whole plan would’ve unraveled fast, and Astra wasn’t sure how they’d manage to get past the rest of the tight security alone.

  Bootstrap, as always, seemed composed. Astra noticed how the older man kept his movements deliberate, his calm presence like a steady anchor amidst the chaos of students rushing around them. That calm was reassuring and a reminder that Bootstrap was definitely taking the lead on this mission, for better or worse.

  Once they cleared the first checkpoint, Astra followed Bootstrap’s lead, slipping out of the main flow of students. They veered into a side hallway with fewer people, the quiet making his nerves hum even more. Astra glanced around, his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets to keep from fidgeting. At least we’re in, he thought, trying to match Bootstrap’s confident pace.

  “Okay, the side control room should be nearby. Let’s pick up the pace, kid” said Bootstrap.

  Astra hurried down the long corridor behind Bootstrap, his heart pounding louder with each step. The hallway stretched endlessly, or at least it felt that way, until they finally reached the door marked “Authorized Personnel Only.” Astra glanced nervously over his shoulder, half-expecting someone to shout or stop them, but the corridor was eerily quiet.

  Bootstrap pulled out a small electronic scrambler and held it to the door’s lock. A faint beep sounded, and the door clicked open with surprising ease. Both of them exhaled at the same time, relief palpable in the air. Astra followed Bootstrap into the room, his eyes darting around as he took in their surroundings.

  The space was sterile and cold, lit by the glow of a couple of open monitors positioned to observe the front entrance. The faint hum of electronics filled the silence. Empty, Astra thought, though something about the stillness made his skin crawl. Bootstrap moved with practiced precision, pulling out a small storage device loaded with malware. He began scanning the setup, looking for a port to connect it.

  Astra tried to stay calm, but his eyes kept drifting to the blank monitors. They felt… wrong, somehow. “Why’s no one here?” he wondered, unease creeping into his chest. As Bootstrap worked, Astra saw the older man pause, his movements slowing. Bootstrap’s expression darkened as his gaze swept the room again, more carefully this time. That was when Astra felt it too, a sinking, gnawing sensation in his gut. Something wasn’t right.

  “This may not have been a good idea.” Bootstrap said right as the door behind them slammed shut.

  There was a quiet hissing noise, and the room started to fill with some kind of mysterious gas. Neither of them panicked and began to cover their mouth and nose. However, the gas was strong and there was no way to open the door again. They both tried to push and pull on the door, but was solid. The more they worked on knocking down the door, the more the sedative in the gas worked to weaken them. The tiny room filled up quickly, and there was no escape.

  “Oh crap. They must have recognized us. Here it is. The sleeping gas….” Astra said as he started to fall on one of the chairs. He saw Bootstrap attempted to use his magic, but something was tampering with it. Then, his eyes faded into darkness.

  When Astra’s eyes fluttered open, a sharp, throbbing ache greeted him, pounding at his temples like a relentless drum. Still, he quickly realized it was nothing compared to the nauseating sickness that followed every world jump. If anything, this headache felt like a mild annoyance in contrast. At least he wasn’t fighting the urge to throw up his last meal.

  Blinking to clear his blurry vision, Astra scanned the room. The space was stark and empty, a boxed in confinement room with smooth, windowless walls and a single steel door. There wasn’t even a chair or table to break up the monotony of the space. Turning his head, he spotted Bootstrap leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed, a smirk tugging at his lips.

  “Took you long enough.” He said in a low voice. “All according to plan, though. Now, let’s get to work on that door before our gracious hosts decide to check in.”

  Moving closer to the door, Bootstrap knelt down to take a closer look at the locking mechanism. “Yep, same design as the last one,” Bootstrap said, inspecting the door with a practiced eye. He traced a faint rune embedded near the frame, his fingers hovering just above the surface. “It’s a mana absorption lock. A standard issue for keeping magic users in check. Pretty clever, really. It siphons off any magical energy we try to use against it. Efficient, but not impossible to crack.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Uh, did they literally empty our pockets?” Asked Astra.

  Bootstrap’s grin deepened, and he pulled the gemstone from his pocket with a deliberate slowness, as if savoring the moment. Its swirling patterns danced in the dim light, casting faint reflections on the walls. “Ah, there it is,” he said, his voice carrying the weight of age and experience. “Our little gemstone. Just like Eadrich said, it’s got a knack for finding its way back to me. Guess they didn’t account for that particular quirk.” His voice carried a smug undertone, his confidence palpable.

  He turned the gemstone in his gnarled fingers, the swirling energy catching his tired but sharp eyes. “If the information we’ve got holds water, and in my experience, it usually does, then this slip-up of theirs might just be the stroke of luck we needed. Not only have they dragged us straight into the heart of where they’re keeping Xavier, but I’d wager we’re within spitting distance of their control room too.”

  Bootstrap leaned closer to the door, squinting at it as if inspecting the craftsmanship of an old rival. “Now, this lock… clever little contraption. A mana-absorption system, designed to keep the magically inclined in their place. Not bad. Not bad at all.” He let out a dry chuckle, the kind that hinted at countless battles won and lessons learned. “I could try to brute-force it with a potent shot of mana, but why go swinging a sledgehammer when you’ve got the right key?”

  He held up the gemstone again, letting its light play over his weathered face. “This thing? It’s limitless, boy. The kind of power they didn’t account for when they designed their fancy toys. You see, they built their cage, but they didn’t stop to think about who they were caging. Their mistake. Our gain.” His smile turned wry, the wisdom of his years woven into every word.

  Pressing the gemstone against the lock, Bootstrap activated it. The gem glowed and the lock gave off a little crack. The device seemed to have already started to absorb the mana from the gemstone. With a bit of smoke, the door unlocked itself.

  “Looks like it bit off more than it can chew there,” he said, nodding toward the lock. His eyes lit up as he glanced at the gemstone in Bootstrap’s hand. “They really thought they had us, huh? Big bad magic-absorbing lock, and they didn’t even think to plan for that.”

  “It’s like making an omelet. Easy.” Bootstrap opened the door as not to make too much noise and draw attention, and they both crept out of the room. They ran by a couple of other locked rooms, but eventually, they landed on another “Authorized Personnel Only” door.

  Bootstrap adjusted his stance, the gemstone glinting faintly in his hand as he inspected the lock. “Ready?” he asked, his voice calm but laced with the gravel of years gone by. “Once again, we’re putting faith in their information. Let’s hope this is just a standard lock and not some overcomplicated anti-magic contraption. I’d rather not find out the hard way they got it wrong.” His weathered face creased into a wry smile as he glanced at Astra. “Well, here goes nothing.”

  With a sharp nod from Astra, Bootstrap surged forward activating his runes. Gripping the door handle, Bootstrap twisted with a strength that defied his age, the metal groaning under his grip before snapping clean. With a swift, calculated kick, the reinforced steel door flew open, crashing against the wall. For anyone else, the door might have posed an obstacle, but Bootstrap’s force, honed by years of magical prowess and experience, made quick work of it.

  Inside, startled lab technicians froze mid-motion. Without missing a beat, Bootstrap and Astra moved in, swiftly but carefully incapacitating the technicians. They didn’t aim to harm, only to ensure the staff couldn’t sound the alarm. With hurried precision, they tied the technicians up and stowed them away in a nearby closet, their muffled protests subsiding as the door clicked shut.

  Turning their attention to the room, the duo began rummaging through the storage boxes lining the walls. Astra sifted through one pile while Bootstrap methodically examined another. Sifting through the boxes, they found their confiscated items and a couple of other people’s belongings too. There in the box were some strange gold necklace with an eye in the middle, a box full of cards and some game die with symbols on it instead of numbers in a bag.

  Astra picked up the dice, turning them over in his hands. “What even is this stuff?”

  Bootstrap glanced over, his eyes narrowing at the necklace. “Artifacts from another time, another place, I’d wager. And possibly trouble if we don’t tread carefully.”

  “Ah! Okay, got it!” Astra rejoiced as he found their missing items.

  “Good work, Astra.” Bootstrap said, his voice warm with approval. “Now, let’s get that malware into the main system. If Xander and Xaden are keeping their eyes on the feeds, they’ll know the security grid’s been compromised the moment it goes down.”

  He gave Astra a small nod, his sharp gaze scanning the room. “We need to move quickly. If they’re not already suspicious, it won’t take long before someone notices the silence in here.”

  Astra went to the biggest computer and started to flip through the screens to find Xavier first. The computer system set up was a bit confusing at first, but pushing every button finally got it to a menu that Astra could understand. Knowing that they were twins, he flipped through the screens until he found a boy that looked like Xander. Popping out at him on the screen was a boy lying curled up on a mattress in a near empty room.

  “Ah got him. He’s in room Number 31. Now we can plug this bad boy in,” excitedly said Astra as he plugged the small transfer device into a slot on the main server computer. The computer had a small prompt open up, and then the malware went to town on the computer.

  “Wait! You don’t know what you are doing.” Cried one of the lab researcher. “We need him. We finally got everything stabilized. That boy is powering half the city with his magic right now.”

  “Excuse me?” In that moment, a suffocating feeling started to swell up in Astra.

  “Like, what do you mean he is powering the city?” Astra’s voice trembled, a mix of anger and disbelief swelling within him.

  The lab researcher struggled to get to a better sitting position and weakly began to talk with a mixture of fear and determination. “Xavier isn’t just any boy. He has a unique condition to emit mana by converting the fluctuation of everyone’s soul around him. If you take him right now, you will cut the power to half of the city. Think of all the innocent people who will be affected by the chaos. There are a lot of vital infrastructure that is on our power grid. Innocent people rely on him, Astra. Hospitals, families, the elderly…their lives hang on what he’s providing.”

  Astra’s fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, his voice rising with raw frustration. “Oh, don’t you dare get on a high horse now! Nah! You’re just using him, using him, like he’s nothing more than a living battery! How can you stand there and justify making this boy suffer, so the rest of you can live comfortably? How is that okay? That’s seriously fucked up.” His voice cracked slightly, but the fire in his eyes burned hotter than ever as he glared at them, the anger radiating off him like heat.

  The researcher shook his head, pleading. “You don’t understand. We’re not trying to exploit him. We’re trying to help him. We are trying to stabilize the side effects of his condition. Yes, he’s providing energy, but we’ve spent years on this research ensuring he’s safe also ensuring his power isn’t hurting anyone.” his voice cracked, laced with desperation. “Look around you, Astra.”

  Bootstrap stepped forward, his voice calm but laced with sharp disapproval. “Hold on just a minute. Are you genuinely clueless, or are you just pretending not to understand the basics of morality? Or maybe you’re just stalling until reinforcements arrive. Because let’s not play dumb. I’ve seen the notes, the reports. They’re not exactly subtle. It’s all laid out. He’s being used as a test subject to create weapons. There was something about building an ‘army generator,’ or whatever euphemism you’ve slapped on this monstrosity. Don’t try to feign innocence. We know exactly what kind of experiments you’re running here, and trust me, it doesn’t paint you in a flattering light.”

  The lab researcher’s eyes widened. “Weapons!? No. We aren’t a weapons program. We are a humanities program. We are trying to create a way to suppress the side effects of his condition and generate power for the people in this city. We are funded by the university to study how can magic be used to support society more.” As Astra and Bootstrap begins to realize something was wrong, the lab researcher said, “Just look around you. We are in a facility full of students and volunteers. With no armed guards!”

  “Well, what about the really deadly DNA cannons that were a part of the security system, then?” Asked Astra, his sharp gaze beginning to falter.

  “T-those are experimental probes that gather data to see if there are a lot of fluctuation in mana emission around this building due to Xavier. Please. We just wanted to make sure that no one else could be hurt by his emissions. The only security we have is the mana absorption locks on all the doors and a couple of guards…” Replied the lab researcher.

  Astra’s thoughts spun, conflicting emotions tearing at him. Rescue meant freedom for Xavier but would also mean throwing countless others into darkness. The truth weighed heavy on his heart challenging his very sense of right and wrong.

  “Also, I see that you guys think you are rescuing him, but you may not be doing him any favors letting him out of here. He came here willingly. If you talked to him he can tell you more about his story,” continued the lab researcher.

  “No way. Don’t mess with me!” Astra retorted.

  The lab researcher shook his head, pleading. “Please. I’m not lying.”

  “Xavier went to Shadow Garden on his own?” Astra said in disbelief.

  “What is Shadow Garden?” The lab researcher stammered as a huge explosion sounded in a nearby room. The blast shook the entire building, sending a tremor through the walls and floors. Astra froze, his heart pounding as the sound of crumbling walls and gut-wrenching screams followed growing louder and closer by the second.

  “What the-” Astra started, but Bootstrap grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door.

  The pair sprinted down the hallway, the acrid scent of smoke and destruction filling the air. As they rounded the corner, the scene ahead made Astra’s stomach churn. Half the rooms they had passed earlier were now obliterated, the walls reduced to rubble. All the occupants including scientists, guards and innocent civilians lay scattered in the wreckage. Some were unconscious, others broken beyond recognition.

  In the center of the chaos, standing amidst the debris in Xavier’s room, was Xaden. But he wasn’t the Xaden Astra remembered. He wore a sleek black suit that looked almost alive, its fabric shimmering ominously under the flickering emergency lights. His face was a mask of twisted fury, his gaze locked on Xavier with an expression that was equal parts disgust and rage.

  “What’s he doing?” Astra whispered, horrified. So much wreckage.

  Bootstrap’s face darkened. “That’s not just Xaden,” he said quietly, his voice tense. “Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong.”

  “Xaden! Don’t do it… It wasn’t suppose… to be like this.” Running up the hall now was Xander with Bootstrap’s broken sword, looking out of breath, he gasped, “Save them… please…don’t let… him take Xavier. Xaden… isn’t himself.”

  That was all Astra needed to hear. Hearing the desperation in Xander’s voice, Astra had no hesitation. Activating his mana, his muscles all tensed and a jolt of power shot through him as he bolted towards Xavier and Xaden.

  Behind Astra, Bootstrap spotted his sword in Xander’s hand. Darting over, Bootstrap reclaimed his blade and took off after Astra. “I slipped a tracker in your sword. Go on ahead. I’ll catch up!” Xander called, staying back to catch his breath. Bootstrap charged forward catching up to Astra.

  At that moment, Xaden locked eyes with Bootstrap and pulled out a lighter to light a small flame. The flame danced from the lighter to Xaden’s glowing fingers and bursted into a bright pillar of flames. Xaden quickly started to draw a sigil on the ground with the fire. Giving them a melancholy smile, he glowed quickly and the world seemed to glitched out for a split second. Bootstrap and Astra tripped and fell to the ground right as they got near Xaden. The next thing they knew, the sigil was finished. With no time to think about it, both of them recovered to their feet and made a mad dash to Xavier right as Xaden pulled a small object from his pocket. Activating it, right as Bootstrap and Astra reached Xavier, they all disappeared.