4/7/2019

  2 PM

  Ling Ranch, Chandler, TX

  The backyard was like the safe space of the Ranch. It reminded him of home, but being on the farm, the rear of the ranch house was enormous. A golf course could be built, and vast amounts of non-farm land would still remain.

  When Daniel asked Ling Wu, she told him it was thirty acres; it was relatively safe. He summoned his sword under a motion like opening an expandable baton. "Valence…A perfect name," he muttered, glancing at his shining blade. A ring of fire summoned and briefly encircled him upon the summoning of the sword. Its heat from the blade was all from his own qi. Hotter than the depths of Death Valley. The surrounding lawn fell into darkness. Grasses burned in an instant. Before Ling Wu reacted in horror, a surge of qi unleashed from Daniel's body, releasing a cold front at thirty degrees.

  His sword cooled down, and Daniel was ready for a demonstration. Before it began, he was interrupted by Ling Wu, who called out the dead grass. Daniel was aware of it, knowing the risks of even releasing a trace of qi. Earth was pretty fragile.

  Gripping two hands on the hilt, sky blue qi surged out of the crossguard, overwhelming the blade in the shape of a flame. The color switched to dark blue with a white outline. With no power lines ahead, he unleashed a behemoth wave of energy in a diagonal upward slash. It transformed into a wave. It wasn't small. Fifteen meters high and three hundred feet in length.

  Ling Wu ran right up to Daniel, causing Lian to teleport with her.

  "Careful, you're gonna get burned!"

  "It's my field!"

  "It's water!"

  The wave of dark blue qi transformed into water, swarming across the lawn. Thirty acres of land as the backyard has no meaning to the wave. Only ten seconds left before it passed the lawn, so, in a hard grip, Daniel raised his sword upward and went for a downward vertical slash. Raw power with no element and condensed. It overpowered and cut through the entire wave, removing all flooded water.

  After the water was discarded, the majority of the backyard turned glossy green. One demonstration concluded. He went over the small trace of grass next to him that was burned. A summon of water from the palm of his hand, pouring it to the ground. It resurrected them back to greenery.

  "Free service…Wow, I didn't expect this," Daniel said, turning back to the view of the rest of the thirty acres. "I guess I've improved, but I'm at my healing limit." When he turned back, Hank was running to the scene from his tractor.

  Daniel summoned a sheath on his back and put his sword in.

  "This is unbelievable. Is this all you guys do because this is not…something to be ignored."

  Lian agreed. "Yeah, we do, but we are slowly becoming more open."

  "It's from the Raal Art of Magic," Daniel said. "A big book that you will have to read to understand how it performs and works."

  Solomon with a notepad. "It's a hard read."

  "That wasn't helpful."

  "What? I'm just being honest about the words."

  "I mean, it's not that bad because Ling Wu is fluent in Mandarin. Hank too, but I don't know about Amara. Sucks, there's no English yet for an average man."

  Hank arrived composed despite running for at least a mile to get to this point. His short hair was all over the place from the gusts. And his face was red from all the sweat and hard work on the field. The same signature smell of cigars came with him. "Who's this?"

  "Damn, I'm really that unrecognizable."

  The voice was really the only thing left, prompting Hank to greet Daniel with a firm handshake. It was then that he noticed the massive height difference. "My god. I can't believe this is Daniel all along. A giant motherfucker."

  "Did you see what happened as you were sprinting your legs down here?"

  "My eyes saw a wave, and I thought I'm hallucinating." Hank looked at Lian and Solomon. "You guys must have something with this, too, right?"

  "Very observant of you," Lian commented.

  Ling Wu tied back her long silver silk hair. The gusts start to pick up, signaling to get inside. Daniel saw the tractor was still outside, so he asked Hank about it. The latter was going to head back and drive it to the barn. Hank didn't expect Daniel to help as he followed him to the field. Lian and Solomon followed Ling Wu into the ranch house.

  "What do you mean carry it?"

  "I'm very literal. I'm going to lift the entire tractor with the plow attached and bring it back to the barn."

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  "You know that's a 9R 640. The thing is at least twenty-four tons!"

  Daniel's sword unsummoned from his back as he and Hank were close to reaching the tractor. He ignored the uncontrollable gusts blasting like a hairdryer on his face. "Are you still on standard warranty?"

  "No," Hank shook his head.

  "You didn't get an extension?"

  "Nope."

  Funny how it turned out. Daniel expected Hank had requested and gotten an extension on the warranty. Since he didn't, the thought eased off his shoulders, giving him the leeway to lift it without concern. "How much did you pay for this again? Was it eight hundred thousand before tax?"

  "It was nine hundred flat with tax after a coupon and local contract deals applied."

  Reasonable for the size of the ranch. Daniel found that there was no issue since there was no warranty. He asked him if he was ever thinking of getting an extension under any circumstances. And Hank again said no.

  Daniel's arm was covered in his sky-blue qi. He kneeled down, putting them under the chassis. In a count of three, he exerted his body. With a little struggle and strain on his entire biceps and triceps, the qi took over and enabled him to raise the entire tractor above his head.

  "There goes the warranty—"

  "Stop playing with me! You said it then. No more ifs." Daniel began moving his right foot forward, taking one step. A loud vibration echoed when the soles of his boots touched the ground. By luck, nothing on the field was affected. He looked around and estimated the proximity of reaching the barn. "I'm heading back to the barn. Can you run back?"

  "Yeah…What are you planning?"

  Whoosh!

  Daniel leaped up forty feet into the sky, landing meters away from the barn. The ground rumbled for a few seconds before it subsided. There were three barns. The one Daniel stood at was fully green. And the green barn has the widest garage door. All open wide. He carefully placed the tractor down. He first unhitched the plow and pushed it into the desired spot. With recollection from his last visit, Daniel put where it should. The new change inside the barn was the many guidance signs.

  After taking care of the plow, he pulled the tractor towards its spot. By the time he was finished, Hank arrived.

  "It's done," Daniel said, heading out of the barn.

  Hank was hysterical, and he didn't restrain himself. "You fucking jumped! This is all in my head! That can't be real!"

  Daniel grabbed both of his shoulders. "Listen! It's real. Ling Wu was out there with us, watching the dying grass healed under the waters I unleashed from my sword.

  "It might look like CGI or a fever dream, but you're still here. In a minute, we are going to have a talk with everyone in the ranch house. The reason I'm here is to not only show that magic is real but to talk about the future of food production…Does that sound reasonable?"

  Calmed down a little, Hank nodded with affirmation. Daniel let go of the former's shoulders. And he watched him heading to his tractor, checking if it still works. When it turned on, the sense of confirmation Daniel felt from Hank's stable human level qi. If what he read and learned was true, the qi also defined everything in character. Magic use wasn't the only definition. Based on it, Hank was now relaxed and content.

  Daniel followed him out of the barn. After Hank closed the barn's entrance, the two headed into the Ling Ranch house.

  Entering inside, they were met with coffee and an inviting living room. Hank went upstairs, leaving Daniel at the spot. Lian and Ling Wu invited him to the couch. Solomon already surrendered to the comfortable cushions, drinking his cup of coffee and taking notes. Daniel joined in, sat down, and received a cup of bold coffee from Lian. The two ladies sat down.

  "Thank you for the coffee. It was pretty soothing," said Daniel, putting the cup on the coaster. "I want to get straight to the point that we didn't come here actually just to show magic. We came here for the facts on Chandler's future in agricultural production." He summoned a folder with the snap of his fingers and placed it on the table. He opened the folder and took out a few papers, handing them to Ling Wu. "Colemond is going through a tough change. I reviewed the self-sufficiency review and found out that it was a lie. We aren't truly efficient."

  Ling Wu was baffled at the recollection that Colemond was in a period of uncertainty. It left her no hesitation to ask. "May I ask why? Chandler produces three million tons of food annually. Half of that is for Colemond and us, while the other half goes out to the rest of the United States. We have plenty."

  "I don't know if you heard about a recent explosion in Colemond two days ago?"

  "No," said Ling Wu, "I haven't seen anything about it. What do you mean by explosion?"

  Daniel didn't expect her to know or most of Chandler at least. The disconnect of news outside of the local area was obvious. "Sooner or later, state, national, and international news will pick up on this, and they'll call this a nuclear explosion because of the mushroom cloud, and it's shaped like one."

  "Nuclear explosion? Good god."

  "It was me by accident. My capabilities are still unknown. The water healing the grass was just the tip of the iceberg. The explosion obviously was not nuclear but from my own…power. I didn't even know my body could generate that much. Me, Lian, and a few others, were dealing with alien eagles and that happened."

  Ling Wu demanded a picture, so he showed her the photos from a local editorial's latest daily paper. Hank came back in fresh clothes but still smelled like cigars. The bold headline on the front page of the newspaper caught his attention. He grabbed it before Ling Wu could get a full glimpse.

  "Nuclear Explosion in Colemond. What?!"

  Solomon put his notepad down. "We are moving on. To get you up to pace, there were alien eagles near Daniel's house. A battle ended with an accidental discovery of his powers that caused an eruption of qi…So, no, it's not a nuclear bomb. The mushroom cloud appeared like one, but we will let time take its course with attention. Now, sit down."

  A barrage of calls happened in the living room with many of Chandler's farmers and ranchers. Most was a test of Daniel's patience. Negotiations and farmers' emotional remarks were an obstacle to deal with. Some drove down to the ranch to talk in person. After multiple bottles of water and handshakes, the conversation ended after four hours.

  Originally, Daniel, Solomon, and Lian weren't going to stay over, but it was getting late. And dinner was around the corner. Ling Wu made a second offer with no rejections. All protein tonight with heavy pounds of steak. The gusts receded an hour ago. All helped carry the ingredients to the patio, and Hank fired up the grill.

  Ling Wu pulled her phone out when it rang in her pocket. "Ah, shucks, Amara won't be coming over."

  "Is she alright?" Daniel asked.

  "Give her a break. She's fine. Now, I'm hungry for steak," Ling Wu said, then looked at the three magic users. "And if you want, the magic play in the backyard is all for you."

  "With pleasure," Solomon muttered.