Chapter three

The night was beautiful that day with the full moon shining brightly in the starry sky. The sky was devoid of any clouds giving the stars a chance to light it up. As beautiful as it was though, many hidden terrors were starting to unfold below.

The town below the beautiful sky was also beautifully lit with crystals embedded in different places. Most of these crystals were shining azure and white in colour while a few were shining differently. This also made the streets in this town beautiful in this night but not all places were lit with crystals, especially in the slums. Many alleyways were dark and at this time of the night, it would be dangerous for someone to walk here alone.

Someone was doing so, though. It was a lady covering herself with a cloak, walking with her head low. It was obvious she didn't want anyone to notice her face.

Right then, she reached a point where four buildings met. There were in fact three paths for her to choose so she halted her steps.

The lady scrambled through her clothes and she got a ball-like glass. This was an unlit crystal. The lady muttered some words and then the crystal flashed. If one didn't pay close attention even in this darkness, they wouldn't notice that the crystal had been lit and then unlit in less than a second.

It was some kind of signal that she made because soon afterwards, the darkness seemed to lessen, in other areas concentrating in an alleyway opposite to the one the lady had come from.

And the darkness formed a silhouette. It looked like a human figure at the same time not. The lady squinted her eyes at the silhouette.

" Tell me." She whispered to the dark figure.

" My lady, everything is in the open now. The lord is aware of the young one's presence but he's not making any move yet. " The dark silhouette whispered back. It seemed that this woman wasn't simple either. The way the figure talked to her said it all.

" That old fox... nothing but treacherous. I want you to watch his every move and tell me but you must be careful." The lady whispered again and turned around to go back.

" Wait my lady, i haven't told you..." The figure suddenly spat out a bit loudly but again seemed hesitant to say.

" Tell me, what? " The woman asked without turning around.

" The other families...they seem to be on the lord's side apart from the House of Serah." The figure replied.

The woman seemed aloof to all this but there was a smirk on her lower face.

" Just be careful and watch the fox's moves for me. When the time comes, I'll bring the young one to his rightful place." The lady said before walking back to where she had come from and the silhouette also submerged into the dark ess. Everything returned to normal.

' Old man Serah, you sure kept your word to master. Haaa' The woman sighed after recalling what had been said to her. The next moment she was gone.

***

The day had been great. Surely, James would be lying if he said he wasn't envious of Nobert. The latter had good sorcery skills, James couldn't help but recall. All the decorations Nobert had created were gone by now since the sorcerer himself had gone away but the energy fluctuations were still around. This was proof that Nobert was now a strong sorcerer but had no profound control over his magical energy.

' So that's why the dude was so exhausted after a few spells...' James contemplated to himself.

It was already night time and the rest had gone to sleep. James wasn't ready for another horrible nightmare so all he could do was go out to watch the stars.

Immediately he went outside, another thought invaded his mind. ' Should I also learn magic by books?' James dismissed that thought the very moment he had welcomed it.

He knew his condition pretty well. James knew that he was what people referred to as " cursed".

Cursed people were the opposite of the blessed ones and all these two kinds were different from the normal humans. That is to say the blessed and cursed were kind of special when it came to magic.

While the blessed ones' power wasn't harmful unintentionally, the cursed ones' powers affected them and those around them. The effects were always negative in different ways that people found being near cursed ones dangerous.

Things weren't clear though, but all everyone knew was that it was highly prohibited for cursed ones to live. And the most incredible thing was that these cursed ones were kind of more special than the blessed ones in different ways.

Whoever started the facts about the cursed and blessed, no one knew but it was clear that cursed people were all evil and a danger to humanity.

" Haaa... I careless anyway. Nobody will ever find out." James sighed helplessly and gazed at the stars.

Back then when James was seeing his buddy off, he had received a warning from him.

" If you're to trust, trust only your family with that book. Don't even take it for a blood ritual." Nobert had warned James before leaving.

Ofcourse James couldn't trust anyone else apart from his mother and sister because people were hypocrites. All everyone cared about was strength, profits...such things in the current era and James and Sandra knew this the best.

In this world one didn't need to commit a crime to suffer but the other way round was a fact. The innocent weak humans had to suffer no matter what.

James had a feeling that one day, his life will change for the better. He hoped he wasn't born this way, too dazzling, having to hide his identity so as to live long...all these things usually got on his nerves. Well, at least he had another place where he could enjoy his life but little did he know that this place was also going to be hell.

" Speaking of which, there's one week left for school to start again..." James was a little bit excited after all, he was a teenager too and a normal but strange one.

The young man sat alone by the porch and continued to gaze at the starry sky and the full moon. Somewhere near James' house, in a dark part of the street stood a woman whose face was obscured by a dark red cloak. The lower half of her face was barely visible though, and one could make out a faint smile on her beautiful dark red lips. The woman disappeared into thin air that moment.

James, sensed some fluctuations of magical energy somewhere far from him but he didn't mind that much about it. ' Thieves and robbers are common nowadays...I better go to sleep.' He contemplated for what seemed like three seconds and then left into the house.

Early the next morning, Sandra woke James up since she was leaving for somewhere a bit far

" I'm off to meet someone. It'll take three days at most, so don't worry son. Mommy's gonna come back." Sandra said to James dottingly.

" C'mon mom. I'm not a baby anymore...I think Jane needs that last statement." James said helplessly to his mother.

" Mom, you have to promise us you will be back in three days okay?" Jane immediately said with a pout. She really looked cute.

" Okay dear, I promise you this. What now... I'll also bring you a second phase book at least then you'll be able to learn from the forth phase one you were gifted. " Sandra said with a charming smile, startling the siblings.

James didn't comment about this matter at all but he kept on wondering what his mother was up to this time. ' Hope she comes back quickly. ' James pondered.

" Mother, why do I have to learn magic bit James can't?" Jane asked a very challenging question abruptly. ' This girl... ' James looked at his sister and wondered. Jane was so attentive to every detail.

At that moment, Sandra seemed to be impatient so she hurriedly replied to her daughter. " James has an illness that hinders his body from wielding magic but sooner or later, he'll be in good shape."

" But what if he meets a bully at school?" Jame really cared about her brother so much that she worried about soany trivial things.

James saw that Sandra was being delayed so he I terrupted Jane's questioning session.

" Okay, let go of mom. She has things to do and for school bullies, they wouldn't dare to harass me since Nobert is my friend." Ant this time Sandra heaved a sigh of relief seeing that Jane was more calm now.

" Take care of each other and don't get in trouble. Otherwise, I'm outta here." Sandra said before turning around to leave.

The two siblings saw her off and a while later they returned to their own matters.

The rest of the day went normally for the Tuan siblings with Jane showing off her presents, those which she had received from her friends the day before. James could only smile and sigh helplessly at his sister's bragging.

Little did they know that all that time, they had been under surveillance. A woman whose facial features were obscured by a red cloak was near James' house. Like always she disappeared into thin air, leaving behind energy fluctuations.

These fluctuations weren't harmful to people but it was like some kind of signal to James.