I don’t trust Magic.

Never have done. Even before it cost me my career as a Corporate Troubleshooter. And now that I run the shadows, I’m in contact with it almost every day. Makes me shiver.

My new boss knows I don’t like magic. I think that’s why he put me in the team I’m in. His little joke.

Zak, Nate, Kat, Varn.

Zakery Allen is the only other mundane on the team. A hard bitten Elf, on the outside he’s so cold it’s frightening. But once you get past the surface, you realize its all an act. The guy has a surprisingly big heart, but he rarely lets it show.

Right now, Zak is crouched behind some rubble off to my left. He fires calculated bursts from his SMG, conserving ammunition. Our attackers outnumber us badly. A bullet hits home and his target spins and drops. A mist of blood spraying from their shoulder. Like a machine, Zak checks his clip, then picks a new target. Like I said, cold.

Nate and Kat. Shaman and Mage. They’re inseparable.

His full name is Nathan Summers, but everyone calls him Nate. I once asked him the difference between a Mage and a Shaman. The explanation left me non the wiser, but I gather that Shamen follow a totem, Mages don’t. Now I need to know what a totem is. Weird kid.

Nate is the only other human on the team though, so despite being a bit odd and a magic user, I quite like him.

Currently, Nate is busy keeping the enemy distracted with his magic, which mostly centers around illusion and trickery.

Kat is Nates girlfriend. She’s an elf. More accurately, she’s a Night One, an elf Meta-Variant. Very short deep blue fur covers her entire body, hair and eyes are sliver.

I know Kat isn’t her real name, Nate has slipped up often enough for me to realize that. I wonder who she really is. Nate knows, but he’s not telling. I don’t want to know, really. Night Ones give me the creeps, too magical for my tastes. She’s dueling a mage that the opposition has, spells twisting the air between them. She looks exhausted, but won’t back down. She’s too competitive. That’s a comfort, knowing she won’t give up.

She and Nate are standing in the open, totally oblivious to the barrage of small arms firm directed at them. The bullets are being stopped several meters from them, by a barrier I can’t see.

Nate glances at the person firing at them, a Troll. That’s all I see happen, but the Troll sees something else. Roaring, he drops his gun and lunges at the man next to him. Soon, three of them are fighting to subdue the troll, who continues to howl and lash out wildly. Four down in one go. Nice one, kid.

But even so… the power to effect mens minds like that, with little more than a glance, I fear that power.

Varn is a gnome, a Dwarf variant. His physique is too childlike to disturb me much, but he’s an adept as well. Someone who uses magic not to sling spells, like Nate and Kat, but to enhance their own abilities. I’ve seen him jump nearly ten meters straight up, scuttle across a ceiling like Spiderman.

Varn is at least ten years older than Nate or Kat, who are both about twenty. He has a girlfriend of about his own age, I forget her name. They’re planning to marry in a few years time.

In situations like this, Varn normally uses his small size and unreal agility to flank the opposition and then take them down with his Tranq-pistol. He’s not doing much right now though. He was hit early on.

He’s curled up in a ball, arms wrapped round his damaged guts, sucking his breath through clenched teeth.

His wife-to-be is going to kill us. If this lot don’t first.

I’m lying on top of Varn. Half hidden by a small pile of rubble, I use my own body to shield him as best I can.

My name is Richard and I’m a forty something ex-corper. Currently, I’m keeping still, listening to Varn suffer beneath me and praying that the others can drive these guys off before he bleeds to death.

The others normally call me Rich, an ongoing joke about my current financial situation. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s rich.

Suddenly, Zaks voice sounds over the comlink I’m wearing.

‘Rich make your run now. We have you covered.’ Cold, calm, in control.

I scoop up Varns small form and run towards Kat and Nate. Kat has healing magic that can save him. I hate having to rely on magic like this.

Bullets whistle past me, and one smacks into my armour. I stumble, regain my balance and keep going.

Zak fires another burst. Nate confuses them. Kat starts to prepare her healing spell. I run, Varn cradled in my arms.

Why do I risk myself for them like this?

Magic has altered them all in some way, and I hate and fear magic.

Why do I risk my life for these people? People whom I am wary of, simply because of who they are.

Why do I do it?

I guess they’d call it friendship.