A Story of Magic: Part 1

THE MOON WAS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN THAT NIGHT. THERE WAS ONLY CLOUDS, RAIN, and storm. Mayhem, chaos. Just what he liked.1

A dark figure made her way through the black forest. The limbs of the trees reached out to her like sinister fingers, tearing at her cloak. The fierce wind added to the evil aura of the scenario, whipping at her face—she had long since given up on keeping her hood in place—making her hair swirl around her as if she was casting a Spell. 2

But she wasn’t. This wasn’t one of the virtual stories some Wizards conjured up to scare their Apprentices. No, far from it. This was real. As real as the cry now issuing from inside her cloak.3

She glanced swiftly behind her before ducking behind a huge oak tree and produced a bundle from under her cloak. 4

Inside the blanket was a baby girl. Her normally beautiful face was twisted in screams of grief, agony, or just plain wetness; the small tuft of blond hair that adorned her head was plastered down with rain despite the woman’s best efforts to keep her dry. The tall Sorceress sighed. Some things just couldn’t be helped. 5

And he was coming after them, merciless in his plan to kill the baby cradled in the woman’s arms, not caring how many lives he would have to take in order to reach his goal. Hers would be one of them, but it didn’t matter, as long as the little girl was safe.6

She laid the baby down gently on the forest floor, and produced something else out of her cloak. She held the small thing in her hand for a moment.7

It was a locket, a small gold heart with a purple stone in the middle and a word printed in almost indiscernible letters across the front. Inside was something infinitely more important than any picture could possibly be, something the woman could not release. Not yet. The world wasn’t ready for it, though the said world was in dire need of saving.8

The locket wasn’t hers to keep. It was the little girl’s inheritance, the only thing her mother could give her. 9

And he wanted to take it away. The dark-cloaked woman shook her head in pity for her pursuer. When had he come to this—tracking down and murdering innocent babies? This was no ordinary baby, but still.10

The woman fastened the locket around the little girl’s neck in a way that assured it would stay there. Then she took a deep breath. She really hated verbal Spells. Usually, a mental one would suffice for the task at hand, but this case was special, and deserved a spoken incantation. She knew that, but still hesitated, thinking. The reason she so despised verbal Spells was that they had to rhyme. Even when she was an Apprentice, she’d hated making up couplets on the spot.11

Still, she had no choice now, when she needed the most powerful Spell she could get. So, closing her eyes, she waved her hands over the baby and said in a loud, clear voice:12

I send you faraway tonight,13

Hoping this will turn out right.14

It wasn’t very good, but at least it rhymed. And when she opened her eyes, the baby was gone. She smiled sadly. Her triumph would cost her greatly; most likely with her life. 15

And then she heard him, stomping through the forest like a Dragon. She supposed he didn’t really need to be sneaky about coming to murder her; he knew he would be successful. That was how his life worked. No one ran from him for long.16

The stomping stopped suddenly. He’d caught her Scent. She cursed herself for being slow enough to let him put a Mark on her.17

“Alright,” his voice resonated through the clearing, “why don’t you just come out, little sister? You may be able to save yourself a lot of pain if you do so.”18

The woman’s attention was not fully turned to her brother, for she was having an internal and very heated debate with herself. She knew she should go out, it would be, as he said, slightly less painful. On the other hand, the longer he had to wait, the more agitated he got. She thought it was fair to her to cause her sibling a last streak of frustration before he took her life. Finally, she stood up. She was going out. Not finding the girl was a lot of trouble in itself. She hoped that she’d be alive long enough to see his facial expression when he discovered this fact.19

The oak she had been crouched behind was on the opposite side of the clearing as her brother. They were opposite each other now.20

He smiled. “Rose,” he said.21

She just nodded.22

“Am I correct in thinking that you are the current guardian of your little savior?” he asked in a cool, calm voice.23

“You are.” Rose replied in the same tone.24

He waited expectantly for a moment. When he realized that his sister wasn’t going to hand over the little girl so quickly, he continued in his calm voice: “And where is she?”25

“I don’t know,” Rose replied truthfully.26

“You aren’t a very good parent.”27

“Oh, I think I’m a very good parent.”28

“Maybe you should hand the girl over to her uncle.”29

“I can’t. I told you, I don’t know where she is.”30

Finally, the Dark Wizard realized what his sister was saying. “Did you send her away?” he asked in a dangerously low voice.31

“Yes, I did.”32

She was glad he’d given her the chance to hand over the little girl of her own accord before killing her, because now she would have a chance to see the predicted facial expression.33

“And where did you send her?”34

“The point of the action being, of course, to keep her away from you. It would defeat the purpose if I told you where I sent her, wouldn’t it?”35

His eyes smoldered like embers. “I really don’t want to kill you, sister.”36

“Please, don’t trouble yourself.”37

He smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s no trouble at all.” He waved his hands and fine smoky green tendrils seeped up from underneath nearby tree roots and coil themselves tightly around his sister. He smiled in sick joy as their grip tightened. 38

“You can kill me,” Rose said, her voice surprisingly calm for a woman who was being squeezed to death by electric green tendrils of a smoky substance. “But my life doesn’t matter.”39

“You’re right,” her brother laughed, “It doesn’t.”40

“You know,” Rose mused, ignoring his comment, “I’ve imagined my death so many times before. But I never imagined it like this. I always thought I’d die an old woman and be buried in the Catacombs underneath Calypso Major. I thought I’d have lived a long, successful life serving the Wizards of the world. I never imagined in my wildest fantasies that I’d be dying for the greater good of that same world.” She had been staring dreamily off into space for her short speech, but she now looked directly at the Dark Wizard she was ashamed to call her brother. She said, still with the same calm, now slightly strained due to lack of oxygen, “I never thought my life would mean something.”41

“Rose, you really shouldn’t delude yourself like this,” her brother chided, “Your life means nothing. You’re just another life, just another person who dared stand in my way. You mean nothing more to me than a cockroach I find on one of my Spell Books. You’re just a little irritation that the world can do without.”42

“So maybe I am. Maybe no one will find my body after these Dark kite strings squeeze all the life out of me. But you know what? I don’t care. Because I completed my task. The only thing that really mattered. I saved the world…not just that, I saved the future as well. Because she’s still out there, and she’s going to stop you. Maybe not for a long time, but she will. I can promise you.”43

“Noble words, little sister,” her brother said, “It really is too bad no one will ever hear about them.”44

She just gave a little half-smile. “You know I always keep my word.”45

“Habits can be broken.”46

She shook her head. “I really am sad about you. It’s sad how you decided to use all that talent. Perhaps, someday, you’ll see that there’s more to life than murder and world domination, but…I think you would have to go through great pain to realize that.” She gave him a smile that said her words were sincere. “I’m sorry.” Then she took a quick, deep breath and crumpled to the ground, the green tendrils evaporating, their job done. Rose was dead.47

The Dark Wizard was silent for a moment, looking down at the sad heap on the ground that was his sister. Finally, he went over to her and prodded her with his foot until she was facing upward. Her face was peaceful, even in death, her eyes closed and her mouth opened slightly, as if she was still drawing in her last breath.48

That wasn’t the case, however. The brother of the deceased knew the reason she’d left her mouth open. For her Soul. “Oh, no you don’t.”49

Even now, a silvery smoke was issuing from between her parted lips. He hurriedly took out a vial and captured the substance in it. He stared at it smugly. “You’re coming with me,” he told the stuff through the glass.50

Pocketing the vial, he stood up. With a quick glance back at his sister’s body, he walked swiftly from the clearing. Because Rose’s words were ringing in his ears. You know I always keep my word. What if she was right? What if the little infant was going to come back to get him?51

What if he was an idiot for thinking that?52

No one escaped from him. Especially not some little baby. He would find her. He would kill her. Simple enough.53

He took to the air, flying high and far away from the forest, leaving the body of his sister discarded on the ground.54

Far away, there was a knock on a door. The woman who lived in the house was woken up by the pounding. Wondering who could be calling this late at night, she made her way downstairs groggily. She opened the big front door, ready to scold whoever was on the other side for waking her up. But all she saw was a box. Inside was, to her surprise, a baby, a little girl with a tuft of blond hair. Picking up the baby, she noticed a locket around her neck. In the middle of the heart, which the woman couldn’t open, was a purple stone, and above that was one word. Scarlett.55