18 Chapter 18 - Once upon a Mage

"Black mage"

The Duke's words echoed eerily in Ophelia's ears.

She had been sitting for a while now at the Duke's office with a tea set of macaroons and croissants as company. It was a cool weather by the way, as the clouds displayed their fluffy glows by the Duke's vintage window. The room smelled of woody varnishing and papers. Ophelia sat by one of the comfy guest chair, red and bulky with foam which was way too big for her size. She couldn't help noticing the aura had just grown ominous by the moment, as the truth came to be disclosed by the Duke's words.

"...all of this is done by a black mage. I must tell you Ophelia, it is no longer safe to stay here."

"I thought so...please don't hold back."

Ophelia shrunk on her seat as she began to relax and sipped the cup of chamomile tea. She indeed wanted the Duke to disclose everything now.

"I see...first, I must do this much to ensure." The duke secured the situation for Ophelia, as he had scanned the room thoroughly, he was sure now that it was time to reveal himself.

As he closed his eyes, he began to enchant some foreign words which Ophelia couldn't make out. It was ancient magic, one of the old collections she had found on the library had flashed on her mind.

'So the Duke had been studying magic all this time...'

Ophelia thought so, and as she watched the duke turn the place into a dark layer of barrier, she couldn't help but remember that day when she met the masked man on granny's room.

'He must be behind all of this...for what purpose could it be?'

The room was now enveloped in sheer darkness. The windows had disappeared and so was the door. All that was left was Ophelia sitting on the big red chair, with the chamomile tea on her hands and the Duke himself who sat oppositely on the same chair.

"Magic...and black mages"

The Duke's face had turned bitter as he said this. There was sure to be a long story for all of this to happen in the estate.

"It began a long time ago Ophelia, back in the ancients, the great four regions were only two. The North and West Empires were called Ohr and the South with the East went by the name Kuu."

"Ohr were gifted with the power of light, they draw life around them and were very intelligent mages. On the other hand, Kuu was the opposite. In the day, they merely act like humans, but in the night they are twisted meticulous creatures who draw their incredible powers from the dark. Like how the moon shines brightly when the sun is away, the Kuu were barely humans that attacked the Ohr and villagers at night."

"So there were also light mages... but why would the dark mages attack them." Ophelia steadily glanced at the Duke as she took the cup back to her lips.

"The story actually leads us to eliminating the existence of magic. As more Ohr mages died, the Kuu were growing stronger and darker as they turned inhumane, they would have swallowed the entire continent."

"The wisest and strongest Ohr mages gathered and formed a council of what was left. And in the day, they gathered and attacked the Kuu who were all weak. At this, they enchanted a forbidden spell to bind the thousands of Kuu's sealing them into the sun which cleansed the black particles of their magic. The Ohr's took a great risk to seal the dark powers along with theirs. The result was a sun bead and a dark bead made of the impurities which were separated in the process."

"Kala, the Ohr princess from the West was the remnant of the light mages. By ingesting the sun bead, she turned unto a divine light creature with immortality, however the dark bead was never ingested or given back to the Kuu. As to what caused the division of the Ohr and Kuu into four regions. It was believed that Kala had caused this and had started a phenomenon to create balance."

"I read that before, but what is this phenomenon?"

The blue-eyed girl couldn't take her eyes off the Duke, she listened and asked questions from time to time. It felt revaluating and thought that her long sought questions were finally getting an answer.

"The twin beads, as Kala was the light remnant mage, she was given the bead and turned immortal. But this had caused a big rift, since magic was no longer allowed, people feared her existence and some worshipped her. Now the powerless mages were torn over the fact that they have lost all their magical potentials due to the sealing. Some would chase after the dark bead that Kala hid. To create balance and stop relentless pursuit, she ingested the dark bead which fought against her light magic. It tormented her at night, and finally concluded that one person couldn't do it alone."

"Since she have already ingested both the stone, she had no choice but to turn into a mortal being. In order for her to release the two beads, she had to die for it to be ingested again."

"What would happen if they weren't ingested?"

"The two stones were a relic of the continent's history, and its powers granted the host unlimited wonders. Anyone would look for it and hunt it down, since it would also be easier to govern and gain power."

"That means anyone with greed would look for it and became its host."

"Yes... ingesting it was never the problem, but because the stone's power is too tempting that finding someone pure to ingest it for the sake of peace is necessary. Kala, she died as a mortal and the two beads were retrieved by the council. At this, they were only mere humans now and their thirst for power had won. Kala saw through this and made sure none of the depose mages were able to ingest the stones, by sealing herself inside the beads, she was able to control whom the bead would bestow its power. And she chose two descendants of the light mages, since there were no more black mages left."

"Who?" Ophelia's heart accelerated, as if it would have involved her in some way.

"One came from the Eastern, as a light mage, he could only ingest the light bead. Upon ingesting this, the light bead dispersed and became one with the light mage. As Kala had promised, no one can ingest the stone now, the light bead's power would only pass on to the chosen light mage's descendants. The same thing happened with the dark bead, but since you need a black mage descent in order to control its powers, the light mage who ingested it had his head and sanity affected. He became possessed with the dark bead's evil desires."

"This person is?"

"He was just a patron in the East, I don't really know his name since the bead's power wasn't bestowed to his descendants. In fact, the bead itself acted like a parasite and chose its own host available in contact. The dark bead was able to dispersed, however Kala didn't have the complete control over it. This is why a phenomenon had occurred over the four regions in centuries."

"It turns out that when the two chosen hosts of each stones were together, the light mage would be able to suppress and try to balance the black mage's evil desires. Also, the people who were previously chosen by the bead's power didn't lose all of their magical abilities at once."

"Then you!" Ophelia shockingly guessed at the Duke's real identity. Since magic in this era is forbidden and almost completely forgotten, she had always wondered where the Duke got his influence in magic.

"Do you remember Vincent la Francoise, that crown prince guy who was rumored as a black magician, the black sheep of the first Royal Family, I was once chosen by the dark bead, but things got messy when I met her."

"By her, did you mean the Duchess, my lord?"

(Sigh) The Duke let out a long heavy sigh, he felt frustrated with how things were turning out because of him.

"She became the dark mage, after I had spent a night with her many years back, the bead's power went to her and lingered inside her, but along the years the bead's power had weakened as if it had disappeared from her. Though right now I can't tell what is going on in her head, it must be the bead's doing. It is stuck in this mansion, and somehow I get the feeling that it is looking for a new host and that it wants to get out of this estate."

"Is this why you're sending us out?"

"Yes, since that time when you got engaged with the Hastings, I could feel the bead's power lingering for the last time. I couldn't track it down, which is why Roselia and I sent things back to time when the dark bead was still active in the Duchess.

"Granny? Then she must have been chosen too right?"

"She is the wisest light mage since Kala, and she even manage to seal herself inside the Opal ring for you to return to this time."

The Duke smiled warmly at Ophelia, she couldn't help noticing that the Duke's appearance have changed as they continued to have their conversation. He had revealed his real face to Ophelia, as if a mask had been worn off. Golden blonde hair discolored his brown once, and his eyes have turned a brilliant noble blue. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of doubt that he was still hiding something from her as he looked away from her pair of blue irises. Looking at him, he had magnificently inherited the noble look passed down from the Royal blood.

'So all of this is happening just to track down the dark bead's whereabouts...'

Ophelia stared down at the empty teacup she held. For some reason her hands had been trembling slightly.