Free Contractor by Andrew Ball

trust
    anyone, can I? Wizards, or contractors. I’m
    wanted by one group as a criminal, and by
    the others as a potential source of power."
    "Not everyone is bad. But yes." Xik
    turned away. His voice was quiet. "Stay
    hidden, Daniel. Stay safe."
    "Are you leaving?"
    "You’ve put me behind schedule." Xik
    smiled. "…I was surprised you changed your
    mind so quickly, though. Even if it was for
    your brother."
    "…if this…" Daniel murmured. "If it’s
    all a dream—if it’s all some insane
    nightmare, it doesn’t matter what I do. But on
    the off-chance it’s real, I should take it
    seriously. That’s what I decided."
    "You would come to that sort of
    conclusion." Xik walked to the end of the
    roof and raised a hand. "Until we meet
    again."
    "Happy trails."
    Xik paused. "A question. Do you really
    think my appearance is off-putting? No one
    else said anything."
    "Totally. Just get a simple black suit.
    My eyes bug out every time you move."
    Xik tipped his puke-colored top hat.
    "Then I suppose I will." And then he
    vanished.
    Daniel slipped the stone Xik had given
    him after explaining how to conceal himself
    out of his pocket. It was a smoky green oval,
    cold and smooth. He rolled it through his
    fingers. It didn’t even need magic to work; he
    just had to squeeze hard. Xik couldn’t help
    him fight, but if he absolutely needed to talk,
    Daniel had a line of communication to the
    Klide.
    For a moment, Daniel almost didn’t
    believe any of it had happened. He closed
    his eyes. The tang of his magic power was
    there, a burning ball at his center, a white
    little flame. But for some reason, his insides
    were numb. He laid back and folded his
    arms behind his head.
    A multiverse hurtling toward an
    inevitable heat death 100 trillion years in the
    future. An alien race of religious fanatics
    bent on absorbing all sentient life. Another
    alien race fighting back. A world of
    magicians living in secret. And himself, a
    contractor, a human Vorid that could absorb
    his enemies and grow stronger.
    All in less than 24 hours. And here he
    was, relaxing on his roof. Maybe video
    games really did desensitize you to this stuff.
    Except if he died, he wasn’t going to
    pop back to life.
    There had to be a good reason the
    absorption magic was forbidden. Something
    terrible had happened; he was sure of it.
    That’s how people operated. Given a car
    accident, they put up a stop sign. After the
    fact, sure, but at least they acted.
    But it was also the only choice he had.
    Besides, it was like Xik had said—weapons
    weren’t intrinsically good or bad. It was
    how they were used that mattered.
    Or, he’d just made himself the bad guy.
    A monster. A nuke about to go off.
    Daniel sighed. Worrying about the
    morality of it wouldn’t do him any good. He
    was a contractor now. A Klide mercenary.
    More practically, he was isolated. He
    couldn’t rely on whatever organization was
    already out there, and he definitely couldn’t
    rely on other contractors. He was on his
    own.
    Daniel put the green stone back in his
    pocket and jumped down from the roof.

    ****
    On Sunday night, Daniel lay awake in
    his bed. He stared at the clock for a while.
    His jaw ached. He clutched his sheets up to
    his chin.
    It felt like cowering from the
    boogeyman.
    Tense as he was, he could easily feel the
    tiny white orb at his core, his very soul
    itself. It was his connection to magic—to the
    underlying motive force of the multiverse.
    The width of that energetic pipeline that
    determined magical strength. Daniel’s was
    still small…but bright.
    As Xik had taught him, he hid it away.
    He mentally buried himself with plastic
    wrap, one layer at a time. Like scrying, it
    wasn’t that hard—willing it was enough. He
    just had to stay focused.
    Xik hadn’t gone into much detail on the
    sigil-based human magic, but the contract
    made it possible for him to exercise his
    powers intuitively, just like Xik’s race. He
    didn’t have to direct things with