Tenebris Renasci: A World of Magic and Gunpowder

"Yo, where we headed?" Mikey asked as Jack zoomed down the expressway without a care in the world.

Jack smirked, "How are you going to get in my car without even knowing where I'm going?"

Mikey shrugged, "All you said was that you had an opportunity for me, who am I to question your generosity."

Jack knew all too well how suspicious he sounded, but he couldn't be too careless when it came to matters such as these.

Jack laughed as he fished his phone out of his pocket, before quickly putting in his passcode and opening his messages.

He briefly looked up to check his position on the road.

Upon seeing the expressway was relatively empty. Jack looked back down at his phone and opened up his messages with a girl he was talking to from his college.

He began to scroll through the messages until he reached the most relevant, then handed his phone to Mikey.

Mikey grabbed the phone and began to read the messages, his eyes slowly scanning the screen as a mischievous smirk crept onto his face.

"You set up a two-man job, nice!" Mikey exclaimed.

Jack nodded with a grin. "I couldn't have all the fun myself," he said with a laugh.

However, Mikey's smile slowly faded as a notification popped up on Jack's phone.

"Hey, it's your sister, she's asking where are you, should I text her?"

Jack sighed as he switched lanes.

He felt that his sister was too clingy, a man needs his space after all.

But obviously, he couldn't tell her that, because he'd lose access to her car.

"Tell her I'm heading to a friend's house for a few hours, that should hold her over till I get off the road."

Mikey nodded and began to text Jack's sister.

Jack then shifted his gaze towards the radio.

"Wanna listen to some music?" He asked as he reached for the radio controls.

Mikey nodded, "Put something on that has a lot of base to it, I'm trying to bobble my head off!"

Jack grinned, "Hell yeah!"

He turned the radio up and switched the station to something good.

The rest of the ride was full of anticipation and excitement.

His mind began to fill with thoughts of the girl he was driving to see.

He was meeting with two girls from his finance class, and they're twins….

He's been eyeing the older sister for a while now.

She was 22 years old, with blonde hair, long legs, big breasts, everything that a man his age dreams of….

He eventually mustered up the courage to ask for her number, which she gave to him almost immediately.

She'd been eyeing him for a while too, but she was cautious of his sister, who was a bit on the eccentric side.

But Jack quickly cleared up that little issue, but unfortunately, another one from popped up almost immediately after.

You see, the girl's twin sister is a bit of an introvert and likes to spend most of her time with her sister, the same sister Jack was trying to sleep with.

But fortunately Jack is a resourceful guy.

He told her he had a man just for her sister.

Jack claimed that his friend was a calm and cool guy, smart and caring, tall and handsome, and best of all, he was an introvert as well.

And his name was Mikey.

"Hey, you're getting a phone call, do you want me to put it on speaker?" Mikey asked as he gestured toward the radio.

Jack shifted his gaze towards Mikey and nodded.

Mikey answered the call, and it began to sound through the radio.

"Hello? Jack? We're still on for our double date?"

It was Fantasia the girl Jack was driving to see.

"Yeah, I'm on my way with Mikey now, what's up?"

"Good. Can you stop and get some wine before you get here? It'll help set the mood for later on tonight."

Wine huh?

That's possible.

"Sure, anything else while I'm at it, or just the wine is fine?"

Fantasia paused for a second before answering.

"Some snacks would be fine too, I'd like some chocolate-covered walnuts or chocolate-covered almonds."

She then paused again.

"And my sister wants tea and a chocolate cake, or oatmeal cake, or some donuts."

Jack sighed.

"Alright, alright, now get off my phone before you think of something else you want." He said sarcastically.

Fantasia giggled as she hung up the call.

Mikey placed Jack's phone in the cup holder in the middle of the car.

"Dude, are you going to buy all that stuff?"

Jack chuckled as he nodded his head.

"Unfortunately this is what we must do to get a little something, if you catch my drift."

Mikey sighed as he looked out the window.

"This is too much, why can't they just let us smash?"

Jack grinned as he turned off the expressway, "Patience my friend, thee who waits for the tail, shall receive the head instead, while thee who pounces upon the tail, shall receive nothing."

Mikey chuckled, "I like your funny words, magic man."

Eventually, Jack pulled up to a random grocery store, parking in one of the various empty spaces.

He quickly grabbed his wallet and got out of the car, "don't drive off without me, or I'll hunt you forever." Jack said teasingly as he turned back to look at Mikey.

Mikey chuckled, "Whatever, just hurry up bro!"

"Patience my child…."

Mikey rolled his eyes as Jack closed the door.

As Jack began to head towards the store he noticed two nuns sitting behind a desk with a jar of cash and a sign that read "Support the Lord by helping children in need".

Hmmm, I hope someone helps those kids, but that's not what I'm here for.

Jack cracked a smile as he thought about his future "plans".

As he walked past the nuns the older one began to speak to him.

"You seem to be in a good mood sir, would you like to spread that happiness to children in need?"

Jack's smile quickly faded, replaced by a heavy sigh.

I don't give a damn about those kids.

"Nah," Jack said as he waved the nun off.

The older nun sighed as she nodded her head in acceptance.

But her sister in Christ perked up.

"Sir it'll only take a dollar!" She exclaimed as she pointed at the sign with a smile.

Ughhh.

"What the hell is one dollar going to do, buy a kid a sandwich?" Jack said sarcastically as he threw his hands into the air carelessly.

The younger nun shook her head, "No, it'll go to a larger fund, and once it reaches a certain amount, it'll be donated!" She said happily.

This woman….

Jack couldn't help but smile at her as he reached into his wallet, "Fine, but I still don't care about those kids, I'm only donating because you're forcing me to."

Jack pulled out a crisp fifty-dollar bill and handed it to the nun.

The nun giggled as she accepted the money, "then I'll be sure to force you to be a better person as well."

She smiled as she stuffed the fifty-dollar bill in the jar.

Jack chuckled as he headed into the store.

Jack began to look around for the wine and the snacks that the girls wanted.

In the end, he just decided to get whatever he could find, he reasoned that the snacks wouldn't matter all that much in the end anyway.

Once he had all the items, he made his way to the cashier and began to place down all of his items.

The cashier was an old man, with gray hair and wrinkled skin, the usual old man look essentially.

The man slowly began to scan Jack's items, and as time passed, Jack grew increasingly frustrated.

This guy is moving at the pace of a snail in molasses-like this dude is going comically slow.

"Come on Gramps, I got stuff I need to do before the year three thousand."

The old man began to move slightly faster.

But the man behind Jack seemed to have a problem with Jack's language.

He tapped Jack's shoulder and began to whisper to him angrily.

"Do you speak to your mother with that mouth? That man is at least in his 80s, and you are sitting here making jokes."

Jack sighed.

"Well maybe if he wasn't moving like a damn sloth, I wouldn't have been here long enough to make that joke."

The man held back a laugh.

"Kids these days." He mused.

Jack rolled his eyes as the old man finally finished ringing him up.

"That'll total to $29.67 will you be paying with cash or card?"

Jack reached into his wallet and pulled out a ten and a twenty, he then handed them to the old man as he gathered his items.

The old man opened the register and began to place the money inside, but before he could start counting Jack's change, he was already making his way out of the store.

"Keep the change!" He yelled as he reached the exit.

As he exited the building he noticed that the nuns from earlier were arguing with a shady man dressed in black with a ski mask.

Well, that can't be good.

"Look just hand over the jar you stupid bitch!"

The man was pointing a pistol at the nun holding the jar, it was the same nun Jack was talking to earlier.

Shit, this guy is serious.

Jack quickly dropped his items and rushed over towards the man and the nuns.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the man's neck and placed his head into a headlock.

He then slammed the man towards the ground and began wrestling with him to take the gun out of his hand.

As they wrestled Jack shouted towards the nuns.

"Get out of here, now!"

The nuns nodded and quickly ran into the store with the jar in hand.

The man and Jack continued to struggle for the gun until eventually, the man began to fire wildly, and several shots rang out.

Jack lost control of the gun and the man quickly turned the gun onto him, he then emptied the rest of the magazine.

7 shots in total.

Three of those bullets hit Jack directly in the chest.

Jack's trembling hands slowly rose to his chest as he hesitantly looked down.

This is bad…..

"Shit!" The gunman shouted as he ran off.

Jack dropped to his knees as the blood began to pour heavily from his chest and mouth, he could barely hear or feel anything, nothing but the cold hard sidewalk.

His warm red blood pooled beneath him.

He tried to stand up, but his body refused to listen, the pain he felt was excruciating, but he couldn't scream.

Jack's heartbeat was growing slower and slower, while his body grew colder.

His vision began to blur, things that were visible a mere minute ago were now nothing but a jumble of random shapes and colors.

His thoughts began to slow, lingering on one question.

Is this how I die?

He began to hear voices and see vague shapes of people surrounding him and applying pressure to his wounds.

But it was useless, he could feel his consciousness slipping by the second, and the voices of those surrounding him began to turn into a jumble of sound and noise.

His eyelids began to grow weak as his breathing grew shallow.

This was the end.

As he took his final breath, an image of his sister popped into his head, her smiling face and warm embrace, the overbearing love that he always ran from, was the one thing he missed right now…..

His heart stopped beating and his world faded to black.