ARCOM (1/2)

[WP] You are part of an agency that tracks down unregistered magical girls/boys to train and register them in the system or to arrest them if they are uncooperative.

*****

“Magic made the world a better place,” Jonathan Xavier, the Minister of Magic said.

I didn’t believe in that bullsh!t, but I didn’t dare to argue with the logic of the ministry that put food on my table and ensured that there was a roof over my head. That would be foolish, and I couldn’t stress how much I hated foolish people. So I kept all that to myself.

The year was 2051. The location was New York City, but that did not matter since this was a worldwide phenomenon we were talking about here.

Magic.

For a while, we thought science had it all figured out. That we already had the basics and the laws set down, or at least most of them, and what was left was to apply that to technology, and voila! We would achieve futuristic feats.

But then, Magic, which we had debunked, tossed to a side and pretty much exposed to be nothing but tricks, made a comeback. Being able to levitate oneself, breathing fire, and mending broken bones completely in seconds, and healing all manner of life-threatening diseases as though it was nothing – Magic made a comeback.

No one could say when or where it started, this ‘movement’, but we all knew that it progressed faster than any of us could have expected. Of course, the internet was a catalyst, like spells, tips, and tricks of performing spells.

Yes, Spells.

Most magic could be performed by just concentrating one’s energy into the form you wanted to manifest, and of course, some people naturally had an affinity for certain elements like water or fire, or certain types of magic, like self-transformation, the transformation of the terrain, and so on.

To perform magic that was outside your natural affinity, or just too advanced to be harnessed and controlled by mere concentration. Spells were a binding contract that allowed the user to attain control of the magic by calling out the specific name of the magic and affirming control over it, one was able to use it for that period of time.

Most times, it was the forbidden magic that needed spells. That was because spells also served as the binding contract that permitted the forces in charge of magic to take whatever the cost of using that forbidden spell was. For example, the Terminus spell, which was sure to kill an opponent once it was invoked and its beam hit the target, had its spell as a 12-word chant. Whether or not a living target was hit, once the chant was finished and the beam released, 5% of the person’s life force would be taken.

It was that simple. The Terminus Spell could only be used about 14 times before one became seriously weak and close to being bedridden. Most people never even made it to the final 20th use before being put out of commission, comatose until the day they died.

But humans always found a way to tip the odds in their favor. The laws of nature and magic were left so to discourage people from abusing such spells which had grave consequences. While the 5% rule could not be circumvented, magic amplification spells were introduced.

Like adding a scope or muzzle to a gun, magic amplification spells were added as suffixes to normal spells and used to produce greater output at the same cost. In 2034, the world watched as Ignatius Rizzoli, leader of a renegade faction bent on seizing power in Italy for themselves, killed a hundred people with a single amplified Terminus Spell.

That was when the Agency for the Record and Control Of Magic, or ARCOM, was born. The world’s governments realized that while they could not prevent or impede the spread of these dangerous spells, they could regulate the users. Even though every human being was not capable of using magic, all newborns were imprinted with a mark that resonated with certain tools in ARCOM’s possession once their magic manifested.

It was then my job as a field officer to approach the kids within my jurisdiction and ask them to register under ARCOM, receive training on how to use spells, and then education on the ethics of magic use. Or they would be arrested and incarcerated until they agree to the first option.

The idea sounded totalitarian, but it was necessary to ensure that innocent people weren’t collateral damage of the war on renegade magicians.

And that led me to my current situation, one of many which made me accept that magic’s comeback was the worst thing to happen to a man.

“Fk ARCOM, f**k you, and get the f**k off our block,” the leader of the ‘gang’ said.

An 18-year old kid, Jamin Arkad, and his five friends had just realized their magic abilities six hours ago and had already used them to rob a convenience store in the neighborhood. And now, he had used the most colorful language to say he didn’t give a damn about my mission there.

“You must be mistaken…” I said, loosening my tie. I was well known among all the field agents for my temper and my ruthless approach towards defaulters. Two of them had an affinity for the fire element, and they were using high-level spells as well.

I couldn’t take chances.

“…I wasn’t asking. I was telling. You come with me willingly, or I take you back alive. I can’t assure you that you’ll be whole when I’m done,” I said, taking off my cufflinks and putting them into my pockets.

It was clear that we were going to dance.

*****

TO BE CONTINUED.

Maybe this will just be a two-part series. But I’m going to use this as material for some work in the future. I just hope you all liked the prompt as well.

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