He gunned the motorcycle and headed out to get the sorcerer. If they were going to run into any trouble, he wanted to have the man by his side. No matter how annoying he was, Bingwen was irreplaceable in a fight, and he had to contend with that.
He found the man’s truck at an intersection, and quickly drove up beside him so their vehicles were driving side by side. Axle knew he wouldn’t need the bike, so he led the man to a parking lot where he paid the ticket and left the motorcycle, before heading to join him. He walked over to the passenger side and got into the vehicle.
“Nice shirt,” Bingwen chuckled. “Did you get it at Walmar?”
Axle ignored the man and began directing him as they made their way toward Natalie’s office. It was in the heart of town, and with all of the traffic ebbing and flowing, Axle knew he could have gotten there faster himself. The only reason they stuck with the vehicle was because they had to believe that Kanai wouldn’t be crazy enough to attack her in a public place, with other people around.
“So, you said we needed to talk,” Axle said.
“Yeah,” Bingwen replied, holding on the brakes. “I figured it out, the connection between everything.”
“Great, are you going to tell me?”
Bingwen scoffed as the sound of honking behind him drew his attention. He turned back to look at the vehicle, flipping his middle finger at the man before turning back to the car. Axle chuckled, seeing as the man could take down powerful demons but was powerless against road rage.
“Something funny?” Bingwen asked.
“No, not at all,” Axle replied. “You were talking about the thing you figured out?”
“Yes, so the cave was the meeting point of very powerful sorcerers a long, long time ago,” said Bingwen.
“Considering that they were in a cave, that sort of makes sense.”
“Are you going to keep cutting me off, or are you going to let me finish?” Bingwen replied, looking at the driver as the man tried to cut him off in traffic. “Anyway, from what I picked up from the heritage site, they had vanquished something from some other realm. Whatever it was, it was something very powerful that had a lot of power. The sorcerers had to come together to put it down, and when they did it had a lot of residual power left in our realm.”
Axle whistled.
“So, instead of letting the power go to waste, or birth something else, they decided that it would be best if no one had it, so they decided to lock it away. They crushed the power down into the bracelets, using two of them as mediums to store the power. The thing gets a little muddled from there, because I guess the sorcerers themselves fought for the power, but eventually those who were left brought it down to the cave, and decided to seal it there forever.”
“Two, huh? And I guess Natalie and her folks decided to dig them up, huh?” Axle asked. “Do you think they know anything about it?”
“No, just sheer dumb luck, or fate. I don’t know. But whatever it is, once they dug out enough for the energy from the bracelets to emanate, Kanai picked up on it, and I did as well.” Bingwen let out a breath as the traffic began to move. “I didn’t know what it was, as a lot of magical occurrences take place every day, but now I recognize the aura.”
“So why can’t we get it off?” Axle asked.
“We can, it’s just a lot of power. It’ll take more than just my power to get it off, but I have an idea that could work. It’s supposed to bond with a creature of magic, and I have no idea why it’s behaving this way. But we can figure something out. Point is, we have to get to it before Kanai does.”
“Why?”
“Unlike us, he doesn’t need the power to take it off. He’ll just kill her,” Bingwen finished.
Axle nodded, and then pointed to the building in the distance. “That’s the one. We get there, we take her back and get it off of her.”
“Keeping her safe isn’t the only duty we have right now. You do understand that we have to make sure Kanai doesn’t get his hand on this? He is already very powerful, and if he gets this power, I don’t think I’ll be able to match him in strength. We can’t let it happen. So keep your focus.”
They drove to the parking lot of the building, but Bingwen brought the car in closer, taking a breath before turning to Axle and nodding. While Axle had heightened senses, Bingwen had heightened magical senses that allowed him to sense other beings of powerful magic. In this case, he could tell that Kanai was close and was coming for Natalie.
“We’re not too late,” Bingwen began, getting out of the vehicle. “He’s in the vicinity, I just can’t tell where. But he is doing something.”
Axle quickly got out, looking at the building. It was a large one with multiple rooms, and considering that he wouldn’t be able to run through the building at his top speed, it could take several minutes before he would find her. If Kanai was on the scene already, then he would have a head start on them.
“We have to stop him,” Axle began, about to run off, but Bingwen put out a hand in front of him.
“We have to be smart about this, Axle,” Bingwen replied, implying that he was the smart one. “I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t just sense Kanai, I sensed the other bracelet. If they found one, it’s not hard to guess that they have the other. Maybe that’s why she’s here, and we have to get it. Kanai might not be here for her, he might be here for the bracelet, and we cannot let him get his hands on either of them.”
“So we split up then,” Axle replied. “I’ll get Nat, you get the other bracelet.”
“No,” Bingwen replied as he adjusted the buttons of his jacket, taking them off. “I’m going to need you to trust me with getting Nat. You have to get the other bracelet, and get it away from him.”