Chapter 3: Destined?
A/N: Sorry about the late update, but thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter and to VampireMint for the kind feedback! As always, enjoy!
Focusing all the willpower in his head to his eyes, Nando stared at the heavy book so hard he thought it would burst into flames. Alight with a pale violet glow, it lifted into the air at eye level, hung there, then fell to the tabletop with a heavy thunk. Muttering in annoyance, he repositioned the book in front of him. "I am out of practice." Clicking his fingers, the mess of objects on the table realigned itself into neat piles, items sliding around each other this way and that in their rush to get back into place. The candle flickered, the shadows shifting restlessly behind it, as if spirits waited within. Almost subconsciously, Nando's fingers wandered to the small talisman threaded on the length of silver chain encircling the base of his throat. As he touched it, it glowed softly, purple sparks crackling around the crystalline base.
From behind him, the near-silent pad of small sock-clad feet broke the silence. A glowing lantern floated down the stairs, its seven-year-old bearer not far behind. "Dad? What are you doing?"
Startled by the voice, Nando stiffened, then relaxed as he turned to face his son. "You should be asleep right now, Conway."
"I was, but then I heard this thumping noise and then I came downstairs to see what made it." The boy's eyes roved over the strange pile of objects with interest - a handful of marbles, a plush doll, the heavy leather book, a gilt-edged tarot card, three silver coins. "What are those for - " Conway leaped back in shock when he caught sight of the wall. "Father! The shadows are moving!"
Nando laughed gently. "Yes, they do that. I make them."
"You...you can make them move?" The little boy's eyes grew wide behind his thick framed glasses. "How?"
Instantly, the shadows on the wall grew quiet and still. Nando's eyes began to glow softly with a dark purple aura, the same color as the gemstone in the necklace. "Do you recall the stories of the sky mages I have told you?"
Hesitantly, Conway nodded. Every night, his father would recount to him, out of the leather book, tales of a mysterious race of people with magical powers, stories of their deeds of how they used their powers for both good and evil. "Yes."
Nando flicked his fingers. The fading candle suddenly blazed into flame, casting a circle of light on the wall as the shadows flickered around it. Silhouettes morphed in the circle like puppets on strings, controlled by a steady hand.
Long ago in ancient days, a time when the shadows and the light were one, our ancestors walked this earth.
They were not like ordinary mortals, for they possessed a special gift - the gift of magic. They were ruled over by three celestial gods: the Sun Lord, the Lady Moon and the Morning Star.
They loved their people and their world, serving as its guardians and protecting it from harm at all costs. In return, the mages' loyalty to their protectors was so fierce that it was said that every mage was destined to defend the celestial kingdom from the very day they were born.
It was foretold that as long as the three gods remained at peace with each other, their kingdom would remain a paradise of harmony for all their subjects forevermore. And so the celestial kingdom was the happiest place on earth.
But as time went on, the Sun Lord became discontent with his share of the celestial kingdom. He desired it all.
The Lady Moon, knowing the disastrous consequences that would follow if this were to come true, refused his wish, saying that each of their domains belonged to them alone. Outraged, the Sun Lord declared that if the Celestial Kingdom could not be his, he would burn it to the ground until there was nothing left of it. Seeking to protect her people, the Lady Moon bestowed a gift upon them: the blessing of shadow magic. Thus the lunar mages were born.
In response, the Sun Lord gave to his people a blessing of his own: light magic, bringing forth his own soldiers, the solar mages. Loyalties now decided, from the threat erupted the Celestial War.
The kingdom was torn apart. Entire villages were destroyed, and countless lives were lost in the fight, mage and mortal alike. Destruction raged across the world, consuming everything in its path. Once a shining beacon of peace and harmony, the kingdom was now a ravaged, death-filled wasteland.
Alone of the three gods, Morning Star took no part in the battles, saddened by the ruin of their creation. He pleaded with the Lady Moon and the Sun Lord to stop their senseless fighting or the kingdom would cease to exist, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Morning Star was now desperate. The final battle of the war that would determine which of the two factions survived was about to come to a standstill. Powerless to quell the fighting, he did the only thing he could do. As the the Lady Moon and Sun Lord cast their final spells, he stood between them, stopping them from killing each other with his own spell, and the force of their combined spells struck him directly in the heart. As he lay dying, he called to his side the few mages that had sworn loyalty to him, and with his last breath, he bestowed upon them his final blessing: star magic, making them the third race of the ancient mages - the twilight mages. Fading into darkness, he wished upon them a last request: to go forth and use their powers to restore peace to the world.
The Sun Lord and the Lady Moon were filled with sorrow at having slain their friend and had realized the damage they had done, but it could not be reversed. The kingdom was rebuilt, but the war had left a deeper scar in it, one that would never heal - the solar and lunar mages would come to hate each other forever.
As the last words of the tale dissipated into silence, the shadowy aura faded from Nando's eyes. Reflected in Conway's glasses was the weak glow of the dying candle, his eyes as wide as the full moon.
Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Conway felt a question burning at the back of his mind, but didn't let it out until Nando's eyes flickered and he felt the strange sensation of his father's mind intertwining with his, probing around his thoughts. "Something troubles you, my son?"
"Yes..." Conway clasped his hands in his lap the way he did when he was nervous or upset, looking up at Nando with curious eyes. "Is magic bad?"
Nando shook his head. "Yes. And no." A violet spark of energy crackled in the palm of his hand. "Power alone is not simply good or bad by itself, Conway." The spark began to glow, shifting from black to white and back again. "It is how you use it that determines its worth."
"What kind of power do you have?"
For a few moments, Nando struggled with an answer, but finally came up with one. "I have committed to both good and evil deeds. Everyone has...or will."
Conway's little shoulders had relaxed when he saw that his first question did not make his father angry. "What kind of power do I have?"
A gentle smile touched upon Nando's face. "You are still young, little one. No one knows what your power may be yet, or what you may use it for. But I believe that when you fulfill your destiny..." - the magician clasped his son's hands in his own ones - "you will make me prouder than I have ever been."
"You really think so?" Conway's eyes were shining like stars, filled to the brim with happiness.
Nando's voice was even and clear. "I know so."
"When I grow up, I want to be like you, Dad." Conway spread his arms out wide. "You're never afraid of anything. It's like you have wings."
Nando laughed gently. "Thank you, Conway. It is true that I fear little, but the truth is that there are still things that scare me every now and then."
"Like...?" Conway leaned forward, anticipating the answer anxiously.
Nando's right hand found the fabric of his left sleeve. In one swift movement, he pulled it up, revealing a mark on his shoulder of a black sun with eight spikes. "Do you remember what this sign represents?"
"Sunfire Laboratories," Conway recited instantly. He knew the name by heart; they were always the villains in his father's stories, carrying out monstrous deeds of all manner from the shadows, but working toward one ultimate motive: to kill the heroes.
"When I was young, I was taught to hate them with all of my heart, more than anything else in the world. And then, they bade me to...to join them." Nando shuddered, the terrible memories flashing before his eyes. "When I refused, they did terrible things to me...things that destroyed my mind, until there was nothing left of me. I had no choice but to bow to their whims, perform despicable evils with my own hands...until your mother fought me, and she reminded me of who I was."
Listening to the tale, Conway's eyes grew wide once more, this time not out of curiosity but from fear. "Are they still out there?"
A shadow flitted across Nando's eyes. "I believe they are. Rest assured, we are safe. They know nothing of our whereabouts, or even that you still live. But if they ever catch you..." - his hand glowed softly as he clenched it into a gentle fist - "...run. Run, farther and faster than you ever have in your entire life."
At that moment, there was a knock at the door.