Consequences (Alex POV)

Alex watched his youngest daughter leave the barrier for the last time, with a heavy heart. He knew she wouldn’t be coming back. He prayed to Gaia that the reason she wouldn’t be coming back was because she had to stay away, rather than because she was killed. He sat on the front porch of the fancy modern house that held most of his family.

His wife, Mia’s mother, Petunia sat next to him. They had their arms around each other, and there was little to be said between them. They both knew what was coming. Mathias’ right hand man, The Enforcer, would be here any minute. He would demand an explanation for Mia’s behaviour, and Alex would be unable to give him one.

Petunia had disagreed with his decision to allow Mia to join the guild of The Gamer. She had said that it would lead to this, to Mia breaking the Burgess family neutrality. Alex had insisted though, because he wanted her to be happy. When she talked about it, when she talked about Gemma, her face lit up like he had never seen it before.

He wanted nothing more than for her to be able to experience that, all through her life. And so, probably against his better judgement, he hadn’t raised an objection when he found out. He hadn’t talked to her about her multiple girlfriends, or what she got up to during the day. The fact was that she was getting stronger than ever before and making use of her inherited power, whilst also being so incredibly happy that it made his heart fly as a father, and he couldn’t be prouder.

But now, what Petunia predicted had come to pass. They had gotten themselves into a situation, he wasn’t sure what. He would find out what happened soon enough from The Enforcer. But she had gotten herself into a fight with a gang in the city and fled the scene, unable to win. Mathias had called him personally, and he was furious. He had dispatched his right hand man immediately and Alex was going to answer for what his daughter did.

Without warning, The Enforcer entered the barrier. Alex had made sure to leave the gate open for him, otherwise he would be suffering for the inconvenience caused. Alex and Petunia both stood up. His wife kissed him and whispered to him. “Good luck.” She headed inside and would probably watch from a crack in the blinds and listen through the walls, despite Alex’s wishes for her to remain safe and out of sight or earshot.

The Enforcer was an incredibly large, bulky man. A comparison to a comic book character like the Hulk would not be inaccurate. Not that Alex ever read comic books or paid much attention to superhero media. He wore a black suit that consisted of a black suit jacket, black pants and a black tie, along with a white undershirt. His jet black hair was slicked back and his face was clean shaven. He did not look happy.

Behind him, more men materialised inside the barrier. Each one of them looked just as mean and predatory as their leader did. They reminded Alex of sharks, ready to feast on the slightest drop of blood that landed in the water. They would not hold back if he did not appease them. He had to be very careful with what he said in this interaction.

He strode forward towards the bulky man, his stomach turning over itself, his heart sinking more with each passing second. His limbs felt weak but he **** himself to walk at a steady pace. The air slowly changed as he got closer to them. All of his instincts were screaming at him to run from these people and never look back. But he had to face them. He had ****.

“Good day sir, what can I-” Alex started as he approached The Enforcer, holding out his hand in an offer to shake it. It was as far as he got before the black suited man slogged him in the face, hard. Well, it felt hard. To the mountain of muscle before him, it probably required little effort, but to Alex, it felt like being hit by a freight train, and one that was blindingly fast, a speed the aeromancer could never hope to match up to.

“It isn’t a good day Alex. Do you know why that is?” The bulky man was scarily calm despite the situation. Alex, having been knocked back onto the ground by the sheer **** of the punch, struggled to stand up. He tasted blood, his jaw was probably broken and some of his teeth felt loose. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so simply shook his head.

“Your daughter broke your family’s non aggression pact.” The Enforcer said quietly. “Now that would be pretty bad normally. That was one of the terms of our deal, after all. You stay out of our affairs and those of every gang around, you pay us a tribute each month, you train some of our men and any gang member who asks for it, and in exchange, we protect you.”

“Mathias gave you that offer because he is a generous man. And what have you done with his generosity?” He continued quietly. Alex, finally having managed to stand up, closed his eyes and looked down. The Enforcer began to raise his voice. “All of that is bad enough. But that’s not all that happened, no Alex.”

“Your little shit of a daughter and her whore friends stumbled into OUR barrier. They didn’t just pick a fight with any random gang. They picked a fight with US, with Mathias!” The men behind The Enforcer began to jeer at Alex, clearly not happy with what had happened. “And the cherry on FUCKING TOP? She took three pieces of fresh meat from us!” He yelled over the small group of his henchmen.

The cries of anger from the group reached a crescendo at that and The Enforcer held up his hand after a few seconds to calm the frustrated crowd. The blood flowing inside his mouth had dried slightly and his jaw felt slightly better, so Alex did his best to speak. “We...we disowned her. She is no longer a part of our family.” He said, wincing slightly in pain. He fought through it.

“Please…allow us to retain our neutrality pact on the basis that she will not be included under it.” The Enforcer threw back his head and laughed. Laughter echoed from the group of men behind him. “You hear that boys? This pathetic little man wants us to let him keep his precious neutrality, and he’ll let us hunt down his daughter if we agree! As if he could stop us if we wanted to do that anyway!” The Enforcer scoffs sarcastically, rousing a fresh round of laughter.

Alex felt his face redden slightly from embarrassment as the crowd laughed. Internally he was frustrated and he wished that he didn’t have to do this. He showed no sign of that externally though. He couldn’t afford to. “Please.” He said instead. The black suited man appeared to contemplate the idea. Alex knew he had already made up his mind though, he just wasn’t sure in which direction.

“Fine.” The Enforcer said after a few seconds. The aeromancer breathed a sigh of relief. Then the predatory grin spread across the bulky man’s face again. “But your tribute is tripled. We expect the first new payment by midnight tomorrow night.” Alex nodded. That wasn’t ideal, but he could make it work. It was certainly preferable than his entire family being massacred.

“Done, no problem.” He said. “Good.” Came the response. In the blink of an eye, The Enforcer crossed the distance between them. He gripped Alex by the neck with one of his massive hands, hoisting him up easily. The strength and bulk of the man meant that he could probably crush Alex’s head in his palm, like a normal person might an egg.

Alex struggled to breathe as The Enforcer brought him closer, face to face, until there was barely a foot separating the two of them. He spoke in a low voice, but the words he spoke would have been enough to bring Alex to his knees. “You better pray that your daughter runs far away from here, Alex.”

“Because come tomorrow morning, I swear to Gaia that I will be hunting her down. I will personally hunt down and slaughter each and every single one of the four of them. I will drag your daughter’s lifeless corpse back here and dump it on your fucking doorstep.” The Enforcer threw Alex backwards, and he landed sprawling on the grass, gasping for air and winded.

The Enforcer and his men laughed at the treatment of the aeromancer. They turned and began to walk away. “Pleasure doing business with you Alex. Midnight tomorrow, or there will be consequences.” The black suited man assured, before him and his henchmen left the barrier.

Alex managed to sit up as he gasped for air, tears coming to his eyes as he thought everything over. He rubbed his throat and jaw, still hurting from the **** and impossibly powerful punch delivered, respectively. As he sat there in the grass, he couldn’t help it. His emotions overwhelmed him, and he began to sob desperately, grieving for a daughter who was already dead, but just didn’t know it yet.