MidReal Story
Magic's Last Stand: A Teenage Hero's Journey
Scenario: In the far future magic and science have intertwined. One teenage boy must overcome dark forces in the ruins of new York city and stop an evil wizard from building a time portal.
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Professor Elijah Grey
wise mentor and former wizard hunter, mentor to Alex and ally to Mia and Alex, tall with graying hair, stoic yet caring.
Mia Rodriguez
skilled magician and ally, friends with Alex, petite with vibrant eyes, clever and empathetic.
Alex Mercer
young hero, friends with Mia and mentored by Professor Grey, lean with sharp features, brave and resourceful.
I was running for my life.
The wizard’s goons were right behind me, and I could hear their heavy boots pounding the pavement.
I had to get to the subway entrance, or I was dead.
I was almost there.
I could see the entrance up ahead, a dark hole in the side of the crumbling building.
I pushed myself harder, my legs pumping like pistons as I sprinted down the street.
The goons were gaining on me, and I could hear their heavy breathing over my own ragged gasps for air.
I was almost there, almost at the entrance.
And then I was there, skidding to a stop in front of the gaping hole in the side of the building.
I didn’t have time to think about what might be lurking in the darkness of that tunnel.
If I didn’t get inside, I was dead.
So I took a deep breath and plunged into the darkness.
The tunnel was pitch black, and I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
I sprinted through the inky darkness, my body moving on pure instinct.
I could hear the goons clattering down the stairs behind me, and I moved faster, my heart pounding as the sound of their boots got closer and closer.
I was almost to the end of the tunnel when I heard a shout and a flash of light illuminated the darkness around me.
I skidded to a stop, unable to see who—or what—was up ahead.
The goons were almost on top of me, and I didn’t have a choice.
Turning on my heel, I ran back the way I had come as fast as I could.
I couldn’t hear the goons behind me anymore, but I didn’t slow down.
I had no idea where that tunnel ended, but I knew I couldn’t let them catch me.
Not if I wanted to stay alive.
I could hear my ragged breathing echoing off the walls, and my heart continued to race in my chest as I ran through the darkness.
We were in so much trouble.
I didn’t dare slow down, but I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up.
The light at the end of the tunnel was still just a pinprick in the distance, and I was running out of steam.
I was about to stop and take a break when I heard a noise behind me.
A noise that made my blood run cold.
It sounded like something snarling, followed by the sound of claws scraping against the pavement.
I had no idea what was behind me, but I knew I didn’t want to stick around and find out.
Gathering all the energy I had left, I pushed myself harder than I had ever gone before, forcing myself to keep going even though every muscle in my body screamed for relief.
And then I was outside again, gasping for breath as I stumbled into the daylight.
The city looked just like it always did, with its crumbling buildings and streets choked with debris.
But it wasn’t.
This wasn’t the New York City I had grown up in and loved for so many years.
This was a different place altogether—a place where magic had supplanted technology, and the city was ruled by an evil wizard who demanded absolute loyalty from his subjects.
And now they were after me.
Shaking off my unease, I squinted into the sun—revealing a group of men stalking toward me with their weapons drawn—and then took off running again.
I couldn’t keep this up forever, but there was one thing I knew for certain:
I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I ran for a few more blocks before ducking into another alleyway to catch my breath.
I leaned against the wall of one of the buildings and tried to slow my breathing as my heart slowly returned to normal.
I was trying to figure out where to go when something small and fast shot across the street.
At first, I thought it was one of the wizard’s invisibility spells, but then it reappeared.
And that was when I saw who—or rather what—it was.
“Mia, is that you?”
I called, moving forward so she could see me.
She skidded to a stop and turned to face me.
She was so small and petite, with her wild black curls, dark eyes, and skin that was almost as smooth and olive-colored as mine.
She was also one of my best friends, and it was her presence that proved to be my undoing.
“Alex, what are you doing here?”
She asked, looking at me like she thought I might be crazy.
And maybe she was right.
It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time that someone had said so.
“I’m running for my life,” I said, shaking off my surprise at seeing her and focusing on the task at hand.
She looked even more confused than before.
“Why would you be running for your life?”
“That’s not important,” I said, shaking off her question.
“You should be running for your life, too.”
I could hear footsteps echoing off the walls of the alley, and I knew we didn’t have much time.
“We need to get out of here before they find us.”
Instead of listening to me, Mia studied me for a moment longer before her eyes went wide.
I could see the moment that she got scared, and it made her look even younger than her already youthful appearance.
“Why would they be after me?”
“Because they’re after us,” I corrected, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her closer to me so we could talk without being overheard.
“Now come on, we need to get out of here.”
She looked like she wanted to argue with me, but then she must have realized that she didn’t have any other options.
So instead of fighting me, she let me lead her down the alley at a fast jog.
We hadn’t gone more than a few blocks before she asked, “How did you find me?”
I didn’t have time to explain, so instead, I said, “I’ve been living in the underground bunker with the professor ever since they came for us.”
She looked surprised when she heard that, but she didn’t say anything, so I just kept going.
“And we would have been fine—”
“If we hadn’t gotten greedy,” she said, finishing my sentence for me.
I nodded, not sure what else there was to say about that.
We’d made our decision, and we had to live with the consequences.
The good news was that we were still alive, and we had managed to make off with one of the most important artifacts in the wizard’s collection.
And that was all that mattered… except for the fact that they were after us now, and it didn’t look like they were going to let up anytime soon.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Mia said after a few minutes of silence had passed between us.
“I missed you.”
I gave her a small smile.
“I missed you, too.”
When the door swung open, we passed through the small concrete room into the underground tunnels and continued on our way, our feet echoing off the damp pavement as we walked.
I led Mia through the darkened hallways, my heart pounding in my chest as we whispered to each other in urgent tones, hoping to avoid the evil wizard’s goons who were no doubt lurking around every corner, waiting to pounce on us when we least expected it.
I tried not to let her see how scared I was, but the truth was that I was terrified, and if anything happened to her because I’d been stupid enough to come here, I didn’t think that I’d ever be able to forgive myself.
“You’re sure he’s okay?”
Mia asked, and even though she was whispering, her voice was filled with concern for the man who had taken us both under his wing when we were just kids and showed us how to survive in a world that had gone to hell much faster than anyone had expected.
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully, though that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“He’s going to be fine,” she insisted, though something in her tone told me that she didn’t believe it any more than I did.
“He’s always fine.”
I knew that she was trying to convince herself as much as me, so instead of arguing with her, I just nodded and said, “We’re almost there.”
By the time we reached the secret door that led into Professor Grey’s hideout, I had no idea if anyone was following us or not.
And when Mia asked if we were going to be okay, all that I could do was shrug and hope that we were.
We didn’t see any sign of the goons as we made our way down into the professor’s hideout.
Which was a good thing… until it wasn’t.
Because when we finally reached his room and opened the door, it was clear that something bad had happened here recently.
The place had been turned over in a hurry, and it didn’t look like there had been any attempt to hide the fact that someone had broken in looking for something… or someone.
I couldn’t stop the lump from forming in my throat when Mia looked at me like she was afraid of what she would find when we passed through the doorway together.
And when she saw that it was empty except for the overturned chair in the middle of the room, all she could do was shake her head and say, “He can’t be gone.”
“We don’t know that he is,” I told her even though my heart wasn’t really in it.
