Heroes Rising Fiction: The Missing Mythic Part 4

The market in Hong Kong clamored with activity. People packed the street as they shopped for everything from fine apparel to freshly made noodles. Cars zoomed one way, motorcycles the other, colors of neon lights blazed in the night's darkness.

Walking down a less-used alley, a hooded figure crept through this darkness. A man came out yelling at him about trespassing. This wasn’t a public area, it was for deliveries only.

“Be silent.” The hooded man stated.

The man didn’t quiet down; he yelled louder when he saw a police officer walking by. The officer came up to the hooded man to escort him away from this. It was when he went for his cuffs that the hooded man placed a single finger on the man’s forehead. The officer’s eyes rolled back and his complexion went pale. He fell in a dead heap. The business owner screamed, and slammed, then locked the door of his establishment.

Satisfied with his display of power, the hooded man left the alley for the street. No one seemed to have noticed the death of the officer, they were far too engrossed with their transactions. He pushed and shoved his way through the throngs as he approached an old noodle shop.

“BACK OF THE LINE!” A woman bellowed from where she stirred an enormous pot of noodles.

He ignored her and headed directly for a wooden shelf lined in golden cats. Each had an arm up, beckoning customers to visit this shop. Some cats were plastic, others made of stone. One shivered, its eyes twitched from side to side, and its paw trembled as it moved in jerking motions forward and back.

“Nice try.” He said.

Sheer terror riddled the cat’s eyes as she gazed into the face of Jinn, “Wha...wha...what do you want?”
Jinn smiled, “I have searched throughout China and beyond to find my father’s palace. He has moved it since I last visited. Where is it, Maneki-Neko?”

“I...uh...don’t know. Please leave me alone.”

Jinn laughed, uncaring of the growing eyes on him from the bewildered citizens. He reached over and brushed his hand down the cat’s little head, “Oh, you know. You’ve lived the closest to him all these years. Now, tell me.”

Maneki-Neko shook her head, “No, I don’t know. Leave!”

Jinn suddenly grabbed the cat by its throat and yanked it up, “FINE, I WILL DRAG IT OUT OF YOUR MIND!” His eyes lit up and the cat screamed as a pinpoint of light formed on its forehead.

Maneki-Neko thrust her arms out and thousands of golden coins rained down. The perplexed people instantly scrambled for the gold, several shoving into Jinn. He lost his grip on the cat in the confusion and Maneki-Neko raced up a wall and out of sight. With a wave of his arms, Jinn sent a massive force out that threw people in all directions.

“HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME, YOU PATHETIC MORTALS!”

“Stand down!” Several police officers came running with guns drawn.

Jinn laughed, “Foolish people. Your guns are no match for me!” He quickly slapped the ground and gravity reversed.

All the people near him, as well as carts, cars, and anything else not fastened to the ground, floated away. The officers fired, but the bullets were flicked away. Jinn, who was not floating aimlessly, ran at the tumbling police and grabbed a set of carving knives out of the air. He twisted around and threw them. Half an inch away from killing the officers, the blades stopped. Then gravity worked again, and everything hit the ground.

“Messing with gravity now.” Strange Quark stepped out of a shadow, his hands aglow with energy as he fixed nature.

Jinn smiled, “Oh, so it’s you. I thought I had dismantled you.”

“You did, for a brief time. But I have a way of putting myself back together.”

“I will scatter your atoms so far in this universe it will take you millennia to put yourself back together.” Jinn pushed both hands forward to cast his spell, but purple, translucent cuffs appeared on his wrists and they slammed him to the ground.

Krystal Fae flew down and landed in front of Jinn, “Nice try. I’ve had some time to study your magic.”

“Oh, so the pretty little Fae feels stronger.”

She shoved her hand down and his wrists broke the pavement, “Watch your tongue.”

Quark joined Krystal as he brushed his hands together, “All fixed. He really messed up the gravitational forces here.” He looked at the man pinned to the ground, “What about him?”

Jinn looked up at them, “I guess you must take me to my father.”

Quark frowned, “Father?”

Krystal thrust her hand upward and this yanked Jinn to his feet, “No, I have a special, magical prison waiting for you.”

“Oh, sounds nice.” Jinn said, “And I am sure you spent a long time working on it. However, I was only cooperating as long as you would bring me to my father.” He pulled his hands apart, breaking her magical cuffs and instantly blasted a massive magical beam directly at her.

Krystal pushed her hands forward and caught the beam with a small, potent barrier. She was shoved backward across the ground as he increased the intensity. “I...I CAN’T HOLD IT!” She yelled.

Quark dashed at him, phasing from one spot to another. Just as he reached Jinn, Jinn smacked him right in the face with a free hand and Quark crashed through the open window of a fish market.

“I AM SO MUCH GREATER THAN YOU HEROES! I WILL TEAR YOU APART!” He yelled as he shoved Krystal to her knees under the intense power.

Quark sat up, half-buried in various seafood. He spit out a fish head and said, “Needs more soy sauce.” Jumping up, he threw his hands out and a bubble of phased energy surrounded Jinn. His energy blasts bounced around the inside of that bubble.

Quark helped Krystal to her feet, “You okay?”

“Yes. I thought I knew his power better. He is...too strong.”

They both watched as Jinn cracked that bubble of energy.

Quark said, “With his power, he’ll level Hong Kong.”

“He’ll level the Eastern Sea Coast,” Krystal stated.

“We have to get him out of here.”

Just then the bubble exploded. Jinn was just about to attack again when a massive purple hammer appeared in the air and hit him like a golf ball. He went flying in a wide arc away from the city.

They jumped up and took to the sky. Krystal shoved Quark, “Go, warn them.”

“They know he’s out there. We need to keep him busy so he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“I’ll keep him busy. I still understand magic better than anyone else on Earth. You need to tell them where he is. GO!” She kicked Quark and he fell through a magical portal that dropped him fifty miles away in the ocean.

He tread the surface as he scoffed, “I hate when she does that.”