Become a Magician

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means," Mr. Wizard spoke with a smirk. "You'll get your chance at revenge, brat."

Somehow, the nickname 'kid' was turned to 'brat'. That time, I didn't mind.

"Revenge? Against... him??" I asked, a feeling of excitement slowly churning in my stomach. "Are you really going to help me? Am I really..?"

Mr. Wizard nodded then turned to Vita. "She'll get her revenge, right, Vita?"

Vita didn't immediately reply. It was as if there was a sense of hesitation in her reply. After all, she was opposed to anything done with malicious intentions. "I will leave everything up to fate," she vaguely replied. "As long as you help Shiro, Axel. Keep her safe and raise her to be who she is destined to be."

But Mr. Wizard simply snorted. "Fate. Destiny. Prophecies. Bullshit. I'll weave my own destiny," he declared. "And because she'll be under my care, I'll be teaching her all I believe in and something as trivial as fate can't stop me. Not even you, Vita."

I watched in awe as an aura of confidence and pure magic seeped out from Mr. Wizard's body. He was smirking and standing tall. In his usually dark and lifeless eyes, there was a fire lit and, even as a child, I thought he looked absolutely handsome.

"So... I'll be living with you then?" I asked after a while. "And I'll be training under your leadership... but how exactly am I supposed to train?"

He knelt down to my height then until we were eye-to-eye. He had a bright grin on his face. "Brat, do you wanna become a magician?"

My eyed opened wide and a big smile formed on my childish lips. Pure excitement was the only thing I felt in my heart then, my previous sorrow temporarily gone. "Yes! Yes I do!" I said happily, jumping up and down. "I wanna become a magician like you, Mr. Wizard!"

And then a miracle happened.

Mr. Wizard laughed.

His eyes turned into half moons and his lips were turned up in a grin, his pearly white teeth showing. Even his cheeks were now slightly tinted pink despite being pale before. He looked absolutely handsome.

"Not like me, brat," he said as he finished laughing. He still had a small smile on. "Become a magician that only you can become. Be a magician like yourself, not like me."

"What?" I asked, confused at what he just said.

He shook his head, his smile now completely gone. But there was still mirth in his eyes. "Never mind. You'll know what it means someday," he said as he stood up.

Then he turned to Vita who had been silently watching the whole time. "Anything you want to say to her before we go? You won't be seeing her for a long time after we leave, you know," he said.

Two thin branches then reached out to me and cupped both of my cheeks. I looked up at Vita.

"My child, take care, alright?" she spoke with a motherly tone. It reminded me of my mother and so tears involuntarily filled my eyes. "This bad wizard will bully you a lot but he will keep you safe. Don't worry about me, I'll be alright but do promise me you'll come visit at least once a year. Is that okay?"

I nodded, tears falling down on my cheeks. The branches on my cheeks gently wiped them.

"Good," she spoke. "I know you'll be a great witch. Just be brave and diligent, alright, Shiro?"

"Alright, Vita," I said as I sniffed and sobbed.

I was about to leave home, to leave this motherly tree who took care of me for the past three days. I was about to leave behind all that I knew and loved, mostly because they didn't exist anymore, and embark on a journey I never knew I would with a man I barely knew. I was scared and excited at the same time. I never felt lonelier than ever.

So of course I'd cry.

I was a child, after all.

Later that day, after we left Vita, Mr. Wizard took me to my now dead home. I stared at the burnt remains of the building and of my family. Around it was the bare and ugly burnt ground covered in several ashes.

In the distance, our farm and snow-covered field remained still and untouched, as if nothing happened. Those monsters really only targeted me and my family.

On the road to the village, just a few distances away from the house, there were still people curious of what happened to the isolated house down the dirt road. Everything happened yesterday at dawn so people were too asleep to notice what was happening until noon. Now they were curious even though the knights prohibited people from coming close.

"Let's go," Mr. Wizard spoke beside me. "We can't be seen. The knights will be here any minute soon."

"Wait," I said, grabbing onto his coat. "Do you have some flowers?"

"Why would I have flowers?" he asked with an incredulous look.

"I mean, can you, er...?"

He sighed and relented. With a snap of his fingers, a bouquet of assorted flowers appeared on his other hand. He then gave it to me and I nodded to him in thanks.

I then walked towards the mountain of ash and soot of what was once my home and family. I put the flowers down at the foot and said a silent prayer.

I walked back to Mr. Wizard. "Let's go," I quietly spoke.

He gave me an almost sympathetic look before looking back up. Before he could snap his fingers, I chanced a look back.

What I saw broke my heart and shocked my soul.

I saw four ghoulish silhouettes on top of the ashes.

They were my family.

And they were smiling happily for me on this cold winter day.