Infinity Legends

Chapter 15: The Mystery of the Ice Mage

“Blondy, I hope you drive a car better than you do a spaceship,” Dana said as she leaned by the passenger’s window of Luca’s old car. Given the way she leaned and the blouse she wore, Barry, sitting on the passenger’s seat, had to work extremely hard not to let his eyes wander.

“I was drunk,” Luca said, reeving the engine. “You got me drunk.”

“Not my fault you can’t hold your liquor,” Dana said, then turned to Barry. “And you. You go build the best team the galaxy’s ever seen, ‘kay.”

“Wish you could be in it,” he lamented.

“Me too, kid. Me too…” Dana let her eyes drop. It was impossible not to compare the memories of the train wreck of a training session from the previous night to the fantastic times she had on the days of ancient Star Rangers. When Barry was around and they were a group of friends rather than a brand. “You got the TOPAS?”

“Right here,” Barry patted his jacket’s pocket. “Thank you for getting it, Dana. It’ll really help in putting together the right people.”

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

“Bye, Barry! Bye, lizard guy!” Gummybear waved from behind Dana.

“Bye?” Barry asked. “I’ll be seeing you for practice tonight!”

Gummybear grimaced, maybe even blushed.

“Well, go on,” Dana patted the car’s hood and backed away. “And do come visit more often, will’ya?”

“Will do…” Barry said, then rolled up his window as Luca drove away from the Crooked Goose.

It was early in the morning, and it being a Sunday meant the city streets were mostly clear. Luca drove steadily, calmly, eventually turning on the radio for a relaxing morning jazz. They had driven about three blocks in utter silence when Luca yawned, then proceeded to try and think up a topic of conversation. They had gone into the night gaming once Dana returned from her practice, and discovered a rather interesting questline involving a murder in the Temple of Light. Add to that the benefits of spending the night in the backroom of a pub, and Luca was nowhere near awake enough to start a conversation. It had taken a lot of coffee for him to be fit to even drive.

“So…” Luca started, not knowing exactly where he was going.

“Can we please not talk about it?” Barry immediately replied.

Suddenly Luca didn’t feel sleepy anymore. What was Barry even on about?

“Not talk about what?” Luca asked.

“The elephant in the car…”

“What elephant, dude?”

“I know you’re mocking me,” Barry crossed his arms. “It is impossible for you to not have noticed.”

“Noticed what?!”

“You will really make me say it?”

“Say what?! I have no clue what you’re on about!”

“Please!” Barry threw his hands up. “I know how obvious it is that I have feelings for Dana.”

“You what?!” Luca entirely forgot the road and redirected his eyes to Barry.

“Red light!” Barry screamed and pulled the handbrake, bringing the car to a stop right before a busy intersection.

The yank provoked by the sudden stop was brutal, but not as much as the recent revelation. Luca brushed a strand of blonde hair out of his sight and returned his attention to the road. Or at least most of it.

“You’re into Dana?” Luca asked again.

“Oh, drop it. I know you noticed.”

“No. I didn’t,” Luca frantically shook his head. “And neither did she. How could we know?”

“Because I was clearly acting oddly around her, being totally obvious about it…”

“Barry, listen to me…” Luca started the car again and proceeded with the trip. “You were not obvious about it. On the contrary, you gave no clue at all. I had no idea. She has no idea.”

Barry stared ahead for a moment, cogs visibly turning inside his head for a solid half minute.

“Really?” he asked at last.

“Yes. Really.”

“Good!”

“Good? How’s that good?”

“If she knew I would be embarrassing myself. I prefer it this way.”

“But…” Luca frowned, “if you never let her know, then you’ll never…”

“Be frustrated?” Barry interrupted. “Yep, that’s the plan.”

“No!” Luca punched the steering wheel, the jabbed a finger at Barry’s arm. “If you never let her know, you’ll never know the truth.”

“Oh, I know the truth! She calls me ‘kid’! No woman is interested in ‘kid’.”

“How long have you known her, again?” Luca asked.

“Since I joined the Star Rangers, when I was twelve,” Barry bit his lips. “Been in love ever since.”

“Daww, that’s cute!” Luca pinched Barry’s cheek, and Barry slapped his hand away in response. Luca chuckled. “Seriously, though, she calls you kid because you were a kid when she met you. Of course she wouldn’t be interested then.”

“I know you’re studying law, so you don’t do math often, but our age gap hasn’t changed,” Barry whined.

“Oh, but it has… According to the Golden Rule!”

“I don’t see how Fibonacci has anything to do with this.”

“What? No! Whoever this Fibonerd is, that’s not what I’m talking about,” Luca shook his head. “The Golden Rule is a simple formula that lets you know the minimal acceptable age you can hookup with.”

“This makes no sense…” Barry said.

“It does! It’s a rule. And it’s math,” Luca said, then shrugged. “But, if you don’t wanna know…”

Barry firmed his lips, eyes stuck on the road ahead of him, thoughts rummaging until he finally sighed and snapped.

“What’s the rule?”

“Ha! I knew you’d cave! The older person’s age, divided by two, plus seven. Round down. If the younger person is younger than that, the hookup is officially cringy. If they’re equal to or older than the result, it’s officially fine!”

“So…” Barry ran a quick calculation, muttering to himself: “When we met, she was seventeen, so… fifteen. I was only thirteen.”

“Unacceptable by the Golden Rule!” Luca concluded. “How about today?”

“She’s twenty-five… that returns twenty. I am twenty-one…” Barry’s jaw dropped. “Does that mean…”

“Golden Rule says you have a shot now, my friend!” Luca patted Barry’s shoulder.

Barry smiled faintly as Luca drove out of town and into the highway, picking up speed. Turning the radio station to something faster and more energetic, Luca went on:

“So, you gonna talk to her?”

Barry laughed. “Of course not.”

“Cool, coo… wait, what?”

“Your stupid rule solves like, ten percent of the issues!” Barry banged his head against the window.

“Come on, man, you can’t live in fear of rejection.”

“Oh, I’m not scared of her saying no. I’m scared of her saying yes!” Barry sighed. “Just look at her. She rides a bike, she wears leather pants and jackets, she has wild tattoos, she own a bloody pub! She’s got experience, she’s used to living life. I’ve kissed two girls in my life and that’s it!”

“Ah, I see…” Luca nodded. “You just need to get some practice…”

Barry half snorted half laughed. “Easy for you to say, Aquaman. Not everyone is captain of a sports team.”

“Good thing you are!” Luca nudged Barry. “Even if said sports team still consists of you and a prepubescent girl. But more than that, you’re a legend in said sport! I’m a team captain, you’re FSL’s Michael freaking Phelps!”

“Yeah, I don’t think most people in campus would call FSL a sport,” Barry grunted.

“Then we go where your fans are!”

“You mean…” Barry slowly picked Luca’s intention.

“Yup. Get you a hot date in game!” Luca smirked. “There are plenty of cute space marines and alien ladies out there looking for a night with a famous cyborg Spawn-Master.”

“How will we know the player’s not a guy?”

“We won’t!” Luca shrugged. “Who cares, really? If you like their character and they like Kramen… Ah! Important question. Do you get any in-game rewards for winning FSL tournaments?”

“Yes. When we won the World Cup Kramen got a unique set of glowing golden laurels.”

“Would people recognize that?”

“Anyone who knows anything about FSL should.”

“Awesome! When we’re back, you’ll put those on and we’ll hit Paradise Station. Bet you that Kramen will be buried in suitors in a sec.”

“Paradise Station?” Barry scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t know, Luca. Paradise’s a bit too wild for me. A bit out of my comfort zone.”

“You should really see what my coach has to say about comfort zones,” Luca chuckled.

“That they are safe places we should all strive to reach and remain on?” Barry risked.

“No. Definitely not. But if you don’t feel like it, we can think of something else…” Luca chewed on his lower lip as he kept his eyes straight on the road, until suddenly snapping his fingers in the air as his face lit up in excitement. “I know! You like blondes?”

“If you’re talking about yourself, I’ll pass.”

“Your loss, smartass,” Luca flicked Barry’s ear. “But no, I was not talking about myself. You’ll come on an adventure into the Silver Creek mines with a friend and I. I met her right after killing the Bluehorn, she’s really nice, very sweet and pretty hot… Okay, maybe hot’s not the best word choice, given how she’s an ice mage, but…”

As Luca went on with the description, Barry immediately zoned out, his friend’s words echoing hollow over the songs from the radio. The only think Barry could possibly focus on were those two words: ice mage. Right after he killed the Bluehorn? How coincidental was that?

“…she helped me carry the loot…”

“Her name!” Barry interrupted Luca’s tale.

“What?”

“Her name! What was it?”

“Uh… Serry.”

Barry allowed a long breath to escape his parted lips, eyes wide as he ran a hand through his short hair.

“Pull over,” Barry ordered.

“What? Why?”

“Stop the car, damn it!” Barry screamed. “Pull over!”

“Okay! Geez!” Luca raised his hands in surrender, then slowed down until they were parked by the edge of the road. A truck passed by uncomfortably close to Luca’s rearview mirror, honking. “Barry…?”

“Get your phone,” Barry ordered. “Do you have social media?”

“Which one?”

“Any one! The one with the pictures!”

“I do!” Luca said. “What’s going on?”

“Search for Sarah!”

“Sarah?” Luca shrugged. “What Sarah? There are a million Sarahs!”

“Just search and show me the profile pictures. I’ll let you know which.”

Shaking his head as he gave up on understanding, Luca pulled his cellphone and complied, going through an extensive list of Sarah’s who shared friends in common with him. It was not long before Barry quickly pointed at the fifth Sarah on the list.

“Her!” Barry said. “Open her profile.”

“Sarah Hobson. I already follow her, but I don’t think I’ve talked to her and…” Luca choked on his words as he read the last piece of her bio. “…A sister in the Kappa Kappa Delta Sorority,” he looked up to Barry, frowning, as he recalled a comment from the previous morning. Barry had told Luca it had not been the coach who convinced him to come back, but a sorority girl who played the game too… Was that more than a joke?

“Open a picture of her,” Barry said, and Luca hesitated.

His first impulse was to go for a full-body picture of a tanned Sarah in a bikini by the sea, but he knew the idea was to see her eyes, so he went, instead, for a selfie of her and Emma. As soon as the picture filled the screen, Luca’s jaw dropped.

“Her eyes…” Barry said.

“Yes,” Luca nodded. “Serry’s eyes. Exactly the same.”

“So, it’s her?” Barry queried, now calmer.

“It’s her. I’m sure,” Luca confirmed. “How did you know?”

“I played against hundreds of players in my career,” Barry explained. “Most I easily forget, but some were so talented and creative on their strategies that, even if I defeated them, I would never forget their characters. One of our most impressive opponents was gorgeou ice mage… Extremely powerful, skilled, clever… I beat her within minutes, but for a moment I worried that I wouldn’t.”

“And you’re telling me Sarah Hobson, the right hand to the queen bee and registered popular chick,” Luca gagged on his words… “You’re telling me that’s her?”

Barry nodded.

“Okay…” Luca heaved, then rested his head against his seat, eyes far into the blue skies ahead. “What are you going to do with that information?”

“I’ll recruit her.”