“There!” Naz shouted, pointing across the street.

  Without thinking, Eli darted through the road with Naz hot on his tail. He weaved between the slow-moving cars, sliding across the hood of one before jumping to avoid another. Around him people honked their horns and yelled but he paid them no mind, focusing entirely on the small figure as it jumped into another alleyway.

  Got you. He thought to himself.

  Reaching the other side of the road Eli sprinted towards the alleyway opening just in time to see the figure scramble up the wall of the nearest 1-story building. He blinked in surprise before realizing the bricks were just rough enough to create handholds and footholds at regular intervals, allowing the figure to climb the wall. Realizing he needed to bring this chase to a quick end he moved deeper into the alleyway before throwing himself at the wall, gripping and pulling as his feet found alcoves in the concrete between the bricks.

  As he swung a leg over top of the wall he instinctively dropped into a crouch and looked around before realizing that his quarry was gone – around him was a grey, flat roof with air vents. He narrowed his eyes and walked across it as Naz followed behind him.

  “It’s too bad, I liked those heels.” She lamented as she looked down at her bare feet. “You have no idea how hard it is to get them in a size that fits me.”

  “I’ll get you a new pair.” He replied, finishing his search.

  “Promise?” She said hopefully.

  “Of course.”

  “Sounds good. Now, where are they?”

  The sound of a trash can falling over in another nearby alley made them both turn their heads. They ran to the side of the building to see the small figure darting towards another busy street. Realizing this was not going to be a short chase Eli turned to Naz and tossed her his phone.

  “Coordinate with Minerva and follow on foot! I’m going airborne!”

  Without giving her a chance to argue, Eli triggered his transformation. His arms elongated to a full wingspan of 20 feet while his legs shrank and his feet turned into talons. His clothes disappeared and his face elongated into an avian one. Blue feathers erupted in a wave across his body, covering him from head to toe. The entire dramatic conversion took less than 5 seconds, giving just enough time for Naz to catch up to him.

  “Show off.” Naz grinned, shaking her head. “Go get them.”

  With a wink, Eli flapped his new wings once and shot into the night air. The clouds gave him just enough cover that he was confident he wouldn’t be seen from the ground, but were transparent enough that his sharp avian vision never lost sight of his target. The chase seemed to activate some sort of primordial ‘bird-of-prey’ part of his phoenix form’s mind, causing his body to unconsciously make any minute adjustments needed to follow the cloaked form.

  The figure continued to run, never slowing as they darted through the crowd. He could see the surprised looks on several people’s faces as they pushed through, but by the time any of them tried to stop the witness or say something, they were already gone. Flicking his eyes backwards he saw Naz enter the same busy street several hundred yards back, speaking rapidly on his phone as she stepped into a waiting car – one that he recognized as belonging to the car service the Hightower family liked to use when on Earth.

  Suddenly, a small metallic object crashed into his right wing. He cawed in surprise more than pain as the thing’s spinning parts impacted his shoulder. His avian mind went into overdrive as it dipped and compensated for the impact before flapping frantically, regaining the lost altitude.

  Fucking drones. He thought as he saw the object crash to the ground beneath him.

  His eyes flicked back upwards just in time to see the figure launch themselves into a flying tackle at motorcyclist waiting at a stoplight. Even though the rider was far larger, the surprise of the attack caught them off guard and knocked them out of their seat. Eli blinked with surprise as he watched the figure pull something from their cloak and point it at the biker before there was a bang and a flash of light. Suddenly, the rider was thrown backwards onto the pavement.

  Wait, what the fuck was that? Eli thought to himself. That looked like magic – and if it was, this chase just took on a whole new meaning.

  His target continued to fiddle with the controls for a moment before the bike’s engine roared. Apparently they figured out how to take it out of neutral because they were suddenly speeding down the road, narrowly dodging cars and pedestrians as they did. Their front wheel popped into the air for a few moments as they hit the throttle, adding to their speed.

  Recovering from his momentary shock, Eli cast a glance at the prone human motorcycle rider – one who was quickly being surrounded by well-meaning pedestrians. Hoping they’d be alright he began to flap his wings faster, chasing after the still-hooded creature. His surprise was replaced by concern when he saw the motorcycle reach the onramp for the local highway without slowing, juking between cars as the rider pushed the engine to its limits.

  They’re going to kill someone. He thought, turning to follow them southbound, then west.

  As the seconds turned to minutes, Eli saw the flashing lights of police joining in on the chase. Traffic behind the motorcycle parted, but the rider was able to outrun them all the way to the city’s outskirts through a combination of reckless speed, daredevil maneuvers, and a callous disregard for the life of any bystanders.

  Finally, Eli saw the bike slowing down as it neared an off-ramp. He mentally prepared for the police to surround it only for the rider to toss a handful of something on the ground behind and around them. The pavement was immediately swallowed by a set of explosions of sickly green fire – ones that engulfed the police cars giving chase, leaving the motorcycle alone for the moment.

  No need to guess anymore. That was definitely magic. Eli thought to himself grimly as he dove towards the offramp, determined to confront whoever this was.

  Shortly after exiting the highway, Eli saw the now-lone figure abandon their stolen motorcycle and continue on foot into a construction site. They quickly scaled the 10-foot fence before darting towards a half-finished condominium building. As they reached a side door they opened it quickly before practically leaping inside and slamming it behind them.

  Guess I’m going in too. Eli thought to himself.

  Dropping from the sky the rest of the way, Eli lightly perched on the roof of the building before triggering a transformation back into his human form. When a gust of cold wind hit him he shivered slightly, grateful that Freya had taught him how to change into his phoenix form while preserving his clothes underneath. As he refocused on the task at hand he wracked his brain, trying to figure out what kind of creature he was chasing. His target’s hooded cloak somehow covered their body the entire time, leaving him with precious few clues.

  A dwarf, maybe? He thought as he stepped onto a construction elevator and descended. That’s the only being I can think of that’s short enough to fit the bill, unless it’s one of the lesser known races.

  When he finally reached the bottom floor he stepped off the elevator and murmured quietly to himself while making a simple motion with one hand, causing it to glow gold. “Qoy’ chaw’ qulSar!”

  Around him, the darkened construction site began to shine with an otherworldly light. His magical sight pierced the darkness of the first floor, allowing him to quickly scan the unfinished building’s lobby. The sight of a whisp of sickly green mana matching the same shade as the earlier explosions caught his eye, and he cautiously followed it towards a stairwell.

  Opening the door with one hand he cast a duo of spells, the golden glow reappearing as he did. "Aegis! Qarn al-Dhilat!”

  A thick wooden shield appeared around his arm before becoming transparent, followed quickly by the rest of his body. He knew that in the darkness of the stairwell his mirage spell would make him almost invisible, but he also had no desire to potentially expose himself to someone who could apparently create magical explosions at will. His apprehension grew with every silent step, half expecting someone to dart out at him as he descended the stairwell.

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  Following the remnants of the mana still hanging in the air, he reached the bottom and let out the deep breath he didn’t know he was holding. If not for his mana-sight he’d be completely blind – the overhead construction lights were turned off, and none of the security lighting around the construction site penetrated this far underground. With a steady hand he reached forward and turned the knob of the door in front of him, minimizing the amount of noise he made while slipping into the garage.

  Luckily for him, his quarry seemed far too preoccupied with a magical ritual to notice him anyways.

  With their hood still on, they were hastily pulling items from their bag and placing them in precise positions around them – all while chanting in an unfamiliar language. It was unlike any sort of spell Eli had seen before, but he’d seen enough of the chaos caused by the creature to guess that it was going to be dangerous. Abandoning all semblance of stealth he stepped forward and cast another spell while dismissing his mirage.

  “Mellonamin coimasen!”

  Vines and roots erupted from the ground, ensnaring the creature. To its credit it produced a machete-like blade from somewhere inside its cloak and slashed at them while managing to put a final item down on the ground. As Eli poured more mana into the spell though, the vines overwhelmed the form and for a moment he thought he’d successfully captured them.

  That illusion was shattered a moment later when the figure screamed a guttural incantation, causing a portal to appear underneath its feet. Unlike Eli’s own portals it was green rather than blue, and seemed to crackle with electricity along its borders. It quickly swallowed Eli’s target – roots and all – before closing, leaving Eli standing in stunned silence for a moment.

  “Well, this is a shitshow.” Naz’s voice came from the doorway behind Eli.

  He whirled to see her holding a flashlight in one hand and a truncheon in the other. “Did you see that too?”

  “The green portal thing on the ground?” Naz questioned as she stepped deeper into the parking garage, followed by several elven attendants in human disguise. “Yeah, I saw that.”

  “Ever seen anything like it before?” Eli said as she neared.

  “Never. Portals are blue, everyone knows that. And they’re almost never on the ground, always upright.”

  “They were performing some sort of ritual when I got here. I tried to disrupt it but I guess I got here too late.” Eli said as he started to move towards the space where his target was a few moments ago.

  The elves joining Naz spread out like the professionals they were, each of them drawing concealed pistols from their black suit jackets. They secured the room, ensuring there were no other immediate threats before scouring the area for any magical artifacts left behind by the strange figure. When they didn’t find any they coalesced around Naz and Eli.

  “I take it you didn’t get a good look at them?” Naz asked as they reached the ritual site.

  “No.” Eli shook his head as he dismissed his mana vision.

  “We should clean this up. There’s already helicopters in the area, and it’s not going to take long for them to find the bike – then this place.”

  “News or police helicopters?”

  “Both.”

  “Shit.” Eli swore. “Alright, fine. Still got my phone?”

  “Here.” She replied, handing it to him. “Why?”

  “Hold up the flashlight while I record.” Eli responded as he carefully began to walk around the site of the ritual.

  His eyes darted between his phone screen and the ground as he walked. It looked like some sort of fine black powder had been spread on the concrete, and he could see the partial remains of some sort of intricate pattern – albeit one that was mostly washed away by the force of the portal spell. Further away on the ground he saw a strange jagged crystal – one that gave off an otherworldly green light when Naz pointed her flashlight at it.

  “Alright, that’ll have to do.” Eli said, picking up the crystal and gesturing to one of the elven attendants.

  “Something I can help you with sir?” She asked eagerly.

  He handed her the crystal carefully. “Take this back to Irandell and give it to Talaedra – she’ll know what to do with it.”

  “Right away sir.” The elven woman nodded.

  Eli’s phone buzzed with a message from Minerva. He read it quickly before looking back at their small group.

  “We should go, now. Minerva says we’ve got about 5 minutes to clear the scene before the cops get here.”

  After taking a final moment to hastily spread the black powder on the ground in an effort to destroy any remnants of the patterns, Eli followed the elves back to the stairwell. He raced up the stairs two at a time, reaching the lobby as the sound of police sirens steadily grew louder. Seeing the searchlight from an overhead helicopter Eli grabbed the elves and ushered them towards the opposite side of the building, as far away from the oncoming police as possible.

  “There’s no way we’re making that run without being spotted.” Naz whispered as they huddled next to an open doorframe leading out to the construction site. “That’s 50 feet, easily. Then we have to climb the fence, and run another 50 feet to the car.”

  “We could make an emergency portal out.” One of the elves offered.

  “That might take too long.” Eli replied, hearing the gate to the construction site squeak as it opened. “I’ve got a better idea. Grab that tarp over there and throw it on top of us. Make sure everyone’s covered from above, but leave enough room at the front that I can see.”

  Naz furrowed her brow but complied, tossing the blue tarp over the group. As she did Eli cast a spell again – this time on the tarp above them.

  “Qarn al-Dhilat!”

  Grunting at the mana drain, Eli began to push the group forward. To their credit they trusted in his abilities and moved, despite the fact that from below the dark blue tarp looked exactly the same as it did a moment ago. What they didn’t know was that from above, the tarp looked like the ground beneath their feet.

  Catching onto the ruse, Naz placed one hand on his back. “Keep going. It’s working.”

  The distance between them and the fence steadily disappeared, and they reached it just as they began to hear the voices of police officers in the building behind them. Knowing that they were out of time Eli called upon his mana reserves and cast one final spell.

  “Arennis!”

  A steady stream of sand shot out from his hand, cutting through the metal fencing like a sandblaster. He kept the stream up long enough to carve a hole in the fence that they could climb through. His mana reserves began to waver just as he completed his circular cut, dropping the mirage and falling back into Naz’s arms from exhaustion. The world seemed to spin even as he tried to focus on the image of her face.

  “I’ve got you.” She reassured him as the elves pulled the section out of the fence and climbed through.

  She passed Eli through before following, quickly stepping under his arm and half-carrying him into a waiting car. She practically tossed him into the back seat before they closed the door and peeled off, driving away with the police none the wiser. As one of the elves buckled him in she opened a secret compartment of the car and took out a mana potion before pressing it to his lips so that he could drink.

  “Ugh.” He groaned even as he felt the power returning to him. “Still tastes terrible.”

  “Yeah, well…just be glad we have them. Otherwise you’d be waking up with a pretty awful headache.”

  “Fair point.” Eli admitted before locking eyes with her. “I’m sorry our date night was interrupted.”

  “I’m not.” She grinned before turning to the elven driver. “Mind taking us back to our hotel? Eli and I have unfinished business to attend to.”