The City of Mages Arc: Witch Of Rebirth
Alex's vision blurs as he tries to make sense of the nightmare he is trapped in. The new born infant's cries ring out muddled with the dark cult's chanting, the lad's breathing becomes erratic and heavy, his knees buckle, the light in the room slips in and out of shadows, no doubt the venom in his system eats away the little strength he has left. In the intersection of darkness, the lad is bound by chains conjured from Maria's magic, which violently yank him into the blood paddle that is oozing from Grace's lifeless corpse. Maria walks up to him and kneels by his side, her face has a soft sombre regret. She raises a hand and covers her face as tears slip through her fingers onto Alex. But her face hardens with indifference as she slowly drops her hand and places it onto the child's head cradled in her arm.
"I wish there was another way, my sweet apprentice" She says as she draws a glowing symbol on the baby's head. "This is the only way to insure the innocence of all future generations."
"Don't hurt…the baby" groans Alex. "You aren't a monster."
"This world doesn't need another knight; it needs one last monster." She replies before rising to her feet leaving the lad lying in a pool of blood as the venom ravages his body.
Time becomes warped as Alex lays burning in the cold puddle.
"Max…" he groans repeatedly in the dark confides of the room but Max doesn't answer him, no one does he is alone, the bite on his neck throbs as black tar-like pass oozes into the pool. His breathing weakens as he feels death's embrace chill the burning sensation in his neck and chest. As the darkness creeps up on him he whispers deliriously as he passes out "Dad… I guess I just wasn't good enough."
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Suddenly Alex feels a sharp prickling sensation shoot through his body, he opens his eyes to find Gavin before him with the estate burning in green and blue blaze behind his mentor. Alex's tries to move but his body is entangled in thorn vines, its thorns barrowing into his flesh. Flowers bloom from the vines and emit a blue vapour. The green and blue flames merge with night sky as Alex's consciousness fades to black once more. In the darkness he hears his mentor mumbling, he is too delirious to interpret what the mumbling is but all he can make out is the single word "failed". The black of his subconscious blends with bright green flames, and the all too familiar memory of the emerald night. In the heart of the cataclysm he sees a young Maria traversing deeper in the inferno in the direction of the colossal monster, the end of life itself, the Behemoth. He stretches out his hand but just as he is about to call to her, the flames disperse and his hand is reaching for a wooden ceiling, tears trickle down his face onto the white pillow he lays on, as he slowly brought his hand down to his chest gripping it as tightly as he could. The lad curls up in a ball and weeps silently.
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Time stands still in Alex's room, the sun had risen and set three times but he remains stagnant in a state of depression, he didn't move, he barely ate. No words escape his mouth. This particular day the room is greyer, due to the cloudy weather in the city of mages, cold winds wash over the uncertain town as people hide in their homes, lock their doors and draw protective symbols on street walls out of fear of the wicked magic Maria and her followers would unleash from their ritual. Alex peers down the window by his bed side and sees Gavin barking orders at a squadron of knights as the rain begins to descend softly. His eyes are cold and disinterested, he looks away placing his gaze on his sword in the corner, suddenly the door creeps open as an old man enters hesitantly. Alex immediately remembers him as the old man who attacked them outside the city, but he doesn't say a word.
"You can imagine my surprise when I heard the son of Broin was being taught magic by Maria. My grandson's favourites stories where of the Redwood wolf and the order of Manticore." Alex's dead eyes shift from the old man to the distant lighting in the horizon. A few seconds pass as Graham uncomfortably waits for a response, Alex with his gaze firmly fixed into the distance suddenly retorts with a hollowed, shallow voice,
"Here I am, the son of a legend. Am I everything you hoped I would be?" asks Alex with a nihilistic tone.
"I don't understand" answers Graham; Alex turns away from the window and faces the old man by the door, his eyes swell with hostility and contempt as they stare hatefully at Graham.
"Or am I a fucking disappointment? A legend's son, who had no fucking idea he was being deceived then poisoned and should have died if he wasn't saved again. A dog masquerading as a wolf" The room falls silent after his outburst, Graham simply stunned, hesitantly begins to walk towards the bed, he abruptly halts when he sees the full pain seething in Alex's eyes.
"Does guilt keep you up at night?" Alex's throat hardens, he can't find the voice he needs to answer the question.
"It keeps all of us all up till the dawn of the morning son, you are not special."
"He's right Alex, if you can't kill your feelings to do your job, you're better of going back to Redwood." Gavin's voice rings through the room, as his mentor steps into the room drenched from the rain. "Knights are instruments to uphold the safety of humanity, when you call yourself a knight you are reconfirming your purpose as a tool, the Realm has no need for a tool that's too busy feeling sorry for itself to do its job." Alex remains silent, as the anger on his face regresses into the very same vacancy that he had shown the last three days.
"I know this too well teacher. Father taught me the Knight's conduct. So until these feelings are resolved I won't, no I can't be a knight."
"Child, you…" mutters the old man,
"If this, is what you've decided Alex, pass my regards to the people of Redwood." Gavin speaks over, as he turns and leaves the room. Graham slowly bows his head and follows Gavin out the door leaving Alex alone in the room.
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The drowning sound of rainfall and thunder is all anyone can hear as the squadron of knights and mages stand on the edge of the mystical forest. Men and women from the surrounding villages armoured in silver, iron and robe stand in silence waiting for Gavin's orders. Their commander gazes up at the black sky stretching over the forest, the only light shed over them is from the crooked lightning which occasionally races across the sky. His mind is lost in the storm as he reflects on the last conversation he had with his mentor and the conversation he had with his apprentice that morning.
"We await orders Sir Blackthorn?" a voice calls from the squadron, breaking his trance. Gavin drops his gaze and wears his helm, just then a figure forms from the cover of darkness. He has not a single piece of protective metal on his body, just a regular tunic, with bandages covering his arms and neck, a sword dragging against the wet forest soil, lightning reveals the distant expression on his face. All the knights and mages turn and whisper as the lad walks up to Gavin, his face shrouded in messy dreads he hadn't bothered tying up.
"Where is your armour boy?"
"I am not here as a knight." The lad retorts.
"If that's what you've decided. But if you want to participate fall in line." Alex nods in compliance.
"Your orders are simple." Gavin speaks over the wind and thunder to the Party, "search and destroy"