Ch. 2-The Changing Tides

It was a normal day, no different from most, although the days that change our lives seldom give a hint at the plans that fate has for us. Artemis' daily lessons with Broderick were close to an end, and Artemis was indeed happy to move one to greater heights of his magic, and to be out of Broderick's house and out from under his thumb forever.

"Have you practiced your Musica lately, Artemis", Broderick said, "I've noticed that you begin to loose focus from time to time."

"Well it's, just that...we only do happy music which of course produces happy results", Artemis replied. "Could we do something a bit more intense, and dark sounding, perhaps toccata fugue in D minor or Beethoven's 5th sym..."

"Artemis I have told you time and again, musica is a very dangerous type of magic. It can be used for wonderful things or terrible things; imagine the power you have in the hands of someone dangerous like Voldemort", Broderick explained. "And remember", Broderick added, "Just because the music is happy doesn't necessarily produce happy results, it's all about what you will the music to do, about the will of the caster, the song is merely a vessel."

It had been 17 years since Artemis' parents sought the help of Broderick Muldoon to assist in helping Artemis master his antiquusmagicom, or ancient magic, after only one year at Hogwarts. But Broderick loved Artemis, like a father loves his son, and because of this truth it was apparent that Broderick did not let Artemis explore the dangerous and destructive side of his rare magical abilities. He loved Artemis so much that he tried to deny what he saw in Artemis, seeing him for the first time when he was only twelve, Broderick tried ever so hard to put away what he saw in him. Through all the energy and spirit of a boy, Broderick saw a very dangerous man. Through all this, Artemis and Broderick had established a relationship of respect and friendship yet there was something that irked Artemis, he longed for more, as most young men do. Outside of their world a storm was brewing. The forces of evil were arising, led by someone so feared that the masses dare not speak his name. Voldemort was coming to power and Broderick had told Artemis all the terrible things Voldemort had done, and had explained how to be cautious of the dark lord; as he was always looking for young minds to corrupt.

However Artemis looked forward to the future as he would soon graduate as Broderick's apprentice and soon would be out from under his thumb forever.

"Let's try the Moonlight Sonata once more", Broderick said.

Artemis grumbled as he found this song boring, but than he found most of Broderick's selections to be unfulfilling. "And let's work with water today." He said as he got a bucket of water and placed on the table. Artemis knew this one by heart now and didn't even need his music. The sheets of music given to him by Broderick had turned into quite the collection, almost like a book of spells, all of which Artemis found completely useless, but not one to argue with his master he raised his wand, breathed deeply, and began conducting Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It is regrettable that Artemis could not see how beautiful this magic truly was, it is a shame that he could not appreciate that he possessed a power unseen by the world for thousands of years. However this beauty was clouded over by Artemis' impatient spirit and the view of the rest of the world upon him. At Hogwarts he was viewed as a freak, a dangerous monster that might kill all of them at any moment, but things had changed for Artemis, finding Broderick was the best thing to happen to him, he just didn't know it. As he began the song, the water lifted from the bucket, and waved ever so gently, and as the song progressed the water formed into the shape of a small woman dancing on the water, a beautiful woman of the sea gently touching her toes to the water as if it were solid ground. And as she danced loops of water circled around her forming her own little sanctuary and she touched them as if they were her home, and she danced around her cave of water. The water than transformed and became a large sphere rising out of the bucket casting a shadow upon the woman and from the sphere it rained on the her, but when it seemed she would simply be destroyed by sadness, she danced in the rain and the sphere enveloped her within it, and she danced inside the sphere of water with all the joy in the world. Then as the song came to a close the whole sphere became a swirling jet of water that looped around Artemis than back into the bucket and than there was only the woman left, and with the closes she blew a kiss and descended into the water.

"Beautiful! Artemis absolutely beautiful!", Broderick exclaimed.

The clock chimes three o' clock. "Three already", Broderick said, "well you'll want to be off them Artemis, keep practicing and try to take real appreciation for your gift, there's no shame in creating beauty in this world, in fact, no more than now the world needs people like you who can make the world a little bit more beautiful." Artemis left on his way home mumbling, leaving Broderick with a pain in his stomach that would soon have just cause

"Maybe I don't want to make beautiful things."

Artemis was to practice his musica everyday at home, if he didn't Broderick would know, he always had a way of knowing these things, like a father often does. He was to practice outside in case something was to go awry. Artemis looked through his book of music Broderick had given him, to look for a new song, but there were no new songs only the songs he had come to view as dry and useless. As he picked up the book, loose pieces of parchment fell out of the book. It was music, but Broderick had never given this to him, and would never it was far too dark. It was Mozart's Requiem, and in the corner was written, "Try it".

Artemis was torn between his desire to try out the dangerous part of his power versus what Broderick had told him about slipping into darkness. He tried to convince himself that Broderick must have given this to him, how else would it get there? Although he knew this to be untrue he reluctantly yet gleefully placed the sheets on his music stand, raised his wand, breathed deeply, and began.

The piece began dark, lowly, and dreary, but with intensity, he thought about stopping but pressed on with curiosity in his heart, no turning back now. Suddenly it began to rain, not heavily yet but thick droplets making the pattering noise echoed by the open field of his village. The rain fell as if it was falling to match the song. Than with a great rumble and shaking the earth cracked open and from the void in the ground he could hear the chorus of the Sonata, bellowing loudly, creating the darkness he had come to want. It began to thunder, and lightning cracked and flashed nearby as the rain got heavier and heavier. Flames erupted from the earth and swirled around and around and the fire took the form of a large beast. Similar to a man but with horns and bright evil eyes that glowed as the fire they were made from the beast roared and delighted in its magnificence, and the beast swung its arms and blasted flames all around. In the distance tornadoes formed and the wind blew heavily, and it began to rain heavier and heavier. The great beast shot jets of flame from its mouth and hands and they swirled faster and faster becoming tornadoes of fire. Artemis looked at the magnificent scene of destruction that he saw before him. He smiled a great smile of delight, and laughed wildly at the power of this incredible show of power.

"What do you think you're doing?" The voice came from behind and was quite familiar; it was Broderick with a horrified expression. Artemis whipped around and his concentration was lost, and in one gust of wind his marvelous demonstration of magic was gone.

"I was just practicing", said Artemis. And after a pause he said, "How come you never told me I could do this?"

Broderick ignored his question; furiously he took the music and said, "Where did you get this?"

"You gave it to me", Artemis defended.

"Lies! I would never give you this, where did you get it?"

"I found it in my book", he said ignoring his disappointment. "Broderick did you see what I did, it was wonderful it was astounding, I felt so alive."

"Look around you!" Broderick said furiously, "look at the destruction you have created." Artemis looked around and saw with new eyes what he had done. Trees burnt down and destroyed other houses near by him were torn to shreds and singed by the fires.

"I...I didn't know" Artemis said. "Why didn't you tell me I could do this?"

"Who gave you this music?" Broderick said once again dodging his question.

"Answer me Muldoon! Artemis had a fire in his eyes, the same fire his master had come to fear, "Why did you never tell me I was capable of such wonder and magnificence"

"You call this magnificent! Look at what you've done! Homes, forests, crops burned to the ground all because of your silly experiment, becauseof your so called magnificent display!"

"You lied to me Broderick! You never told me about this about what I could do, about the real possibilities of musica"

"To protect you, to prevent this from ever happening, oh how I wished this day would never come."

"But look what I did, it was incredible the wind and the rain was so intense and the..."

"Don't you understand you foolish arrogant child! You have destroyed people's lives and for what? So you could feel empowered?"

Artemis stood in silence with Broderick standing, staring at him with disappointment. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to go try and reverse your wonderful mess." With that he disapparated and tried to use his spells to undue what Artemis had done. Artemis didn't know what to say he stood in silence at the horrible things he had done, and although Artemis felt remorse for the destruction he caused, he couldn't help but think with delight in his head, "What else am I capable of?"

[]

[]

[]

~Cody Marcukaitis