Eleven pairs of eyes met Amethyst's curious ones. She noticed that the magicians were arranged in a different fashion. It looked like they each represent different races in the world. Each of the magicians was seated in a golden chair with a symbol that probably represented their magic. One of the middle seats with a swirling blue symbol was empty and Amethyst figured that it must be for Zenobios.
Amethyst wasn't really familiar that there were actually twelve kinds of magic. She couldn't figure out what the other twelve kinds of magic were even if the symbols in the chairs already serve as clues. Her curiosity was reaching its highest peak.
"We have awaited your presence," said the woman next to the empty seat. Her glaring eyes bore into Amethyst's bluish-gray ones. Amethyst could see that the woman had literally swirling black eyes, as if she were hypnotizing each one of them.
"Morana, please stop looking at the girl. You're scaring her," said the brown-eyed woman next to her.
Morana raised her eyebrows and motioned for Zenobios to go to his own seat. Zenobios complied. As he seated on his golden chair, the chair began to glow and the swirling blue symbol lit up in front of him. It suddenly disappeared in a flash and Amethyst jumped in surprise.
Zenobios motioned towards the seat next to him. "Please pardon Morana. At times, she can be a bit---"
"Terrifying?" John offered.
Zenobios chuckled. "You could say that."
Morana glared at Zenobios. "My magic is supposed to be terrifying, Zenobios."
"Death magic?" Amethyst tried to guess.
Morana looked at her and half-smiled. "Impressive. I am a Necromancer and my magic is Necromancy which is Death Magic."
"How'd you guess that?" asked Erica, raising her eyebrows.
Amethyst shrugged. "It's kind of obvious. Since Zenobios has Life magic, I figured that maybe his counterpart has Death magic."
"It's just logic," muttered Marcus.
Zenobios shifted in his seat. "I think it is now time for us to explain everything."
Morana coughed a few times. "Not everything, Zenobios. Just everything they need to know."
"Right," said Zenobios blankly.
Morana waved her hand in the room and started speaking. "Ages ago, when the first mortals arrived in our world, magic does not exist, at least not yet. However, four kingdoms called the Greater Realms do exist. They contain the powers – magical powers – of the elements themselves. Each element has a Soul which contains the life force of each element."
Amethyst asked," What do you mean by Greater Realms? Also, what is the Soul? What is its importance?"
Morana smiled knowingly. "The Greater Realms consist of four kingdoms. Terra is the Realm of Earth. Aqua is the Realm of Water. Atmos is the Realm of Air. Fiera is the Realm of Fire. The Soul of each element is its life force as I said and they're like the guardians of the Greater Being. Of course, it's important. The life force gives the element itself the powers. The Soul also lets the hosts receive the powers."
Amethyst wrinkled her eyebrows. She could vividly remember Erica telling her dream. The man in Erica's dream called them 'chosen ones' and she wanted to ask if being a 'chosen one' means being a host of the elements. She decided to ask more about Quarter Five instead.
"Quarter Five?" asked Morana.
Amethyst nodded. "We recently discovered that that circle has been stalking us for years. One of my classmates five years ago was a part of that circle."
"How come you didn't know that time?"
Amethyst winced. "He was a good actor. Plus, I didn't even know that magic actually existed by that time."
Morana shrugged unsurely. "That circle is one of our main problems. We promote magic and powers to be used for the greater good. Quarter Five exists to fight our cause. They want revenge because their leader's brother was punished for treason."
Amethyst thought about what Morana had said. She could sympathize with what Quarter Five is fighting for. All her life, Amethyst wanted to fight back, to have revenge on her bullies for ruining her life. From what she had heard, maybe the death of the leader's brother caused him to get angry at the magicians. She would feel the same too if she was in the leader's shoes. Not that she would actually get revenge if he was in the leader's place.
"Amethyst, revenge is never the best way to fight back," a voice next to Amethyst said.
Amethyst looked at the owner of the voice and gaped. A red-haired woman was smiling at her. "You can read my mind?"
The red-haired woman chuckled. "Call me Alitza, dear. I wouldn't call it exactly reading your mind. It's more of a looking at your thoughts. Our minds are not books. Our minds are more of a collage. Instead of pictures, ideas and memories make up the collage which is our mind."
"So you have a kind of like mental magic or something?"
"My power is Psionism, dear. Empathic magic, the others call it. My magic revolves around thoughts and ideas rather than solid beings."
"Oh," replied Amethyst.
"So the Quarter Five's mission is to get revenge on you?" asked Erica, raising her eyebrows.
Alitza shook her head. "It is part of the reason why they build their circle but never their mission. They started the circle because of their anger for us but their circle's mission is different. The mission of Quarter Five is to – "
"To lead the powers back to their kingdoms and to banish magic in the depths of our world," recited Zenobios. "Without magic, our world would not have balance. You see, each of our magic represents a life force of our world. Without it, the world would wither and die. The powers, on the other hand, are the life force of magic in all its forms. Without the powers, magic would cease to exist."
Zenobios opened a window next to him and waved at the sight outside. "The world before has been brutal. Mortals die very easily. Knowledge contained in every mind of the people is very limited. The world never improves. Then, one of the mortals accidentally opened the door to one of the Greater Realms. She was the first host."
"Ahem, ahem," John interrupted. "When you say host, don't you mean 'chosen ones' or am I wrong?"
Morana looked at John cautiously. "You know that term?"
John nodded. "Erica told us that the man in her dream called us chosen ones."
Morana looked at Zenobios and nodded her head. "You four are indeed chosen ones. You see, magic was formed when the first 'chosen ones' of our world accidentally released a part of their element's Soul. The fragments of each Soul formed magic."
"How did you get your abilities, then?" asked Marcus, crossing his arms.
Zenobios smiled weakly. "Magic has no Soul like the elements. It is a combination of the Soul of the elements but it never has its own Soul. Our magical abilities came from the former magicians. We twelve are the only magicians that exist in this world. Before we die, we must pass on our abilities to a person through teaching them. We choose a person we think is right for becoming a magician and by doing so; the magic inside us becomes tied to that person. I was chosen by my grandfather for this duty and I accepted it so here I am."
"There's also some oath-taking," a man near Alitza said.
"So we're all chosen ones. Big deal," said Amethyst, using her chance to get more information than they were supposed to know.
"It is a big deal!" Morana growled, causing Amethyst to step back in surprise. "You four threaten the existence of magic in our world. You are Soul keepers, the chosen ones by the Soul themselves. You were chosen as hosts of the Soul of every element. You're tasked to keep the Soul safe and free from harm. It is your duty because the Soul chose you."
As soon as these words fell out from Morana's mouth, she glared more than ever at Amethyst and stayed silent.
"Why is it our duty?" Marcus shouted. He unclenched his fist and pointed at Zenobios. "Is it because you'll all die if we fail our duties? What if we die?"
"It is your duty because of the first four who opened the door of the Greater Realms. Because they opened it, the powers escaped and brought the ability of improvement in our world. The door was locked for a reason. The Greater Being did not want the world to become more cruel and evil than before and He along with Souls made a pact that the Greater Realms should never be opened. It was a punishment for the woman who accidentally opened it and for the other three that went after her."
"Greater Being?" asked Amethyst. "You mean, God?"
Morana snorted. "You call him God, Allah, and other names. We call him the Greater Being. He created us all. The elements were locked in our world because the people could use it with bad intentions. But curiosity became our enemy and as a mortal, the woman opened the door. That's why you now have this duty. If you die, the Soul inside you would be trapped in your body until the end of this century comes. If you all survive until the end, all four of you will die in the same day you were chosen, the day the youngest one in you arrived in our world."
"What happens if Quarter Five catches us?"
Morana scowled. "Chaos will erupt. You four will be brainwashed and controlled to open the doors of the Realms for them. Then, they'll kill you and trap you inside. Your body and soul will cease to exist and our magical powers will disappear. Fate Village would become a normal village of mortals. Nature would be terribly affected. Improvement would never be achieved and knowledge would become limited once again. We would go back to the Stone Age era and our world would become savage as I call it."
Amethyst sighed. "I don't want that to happen."
Morana nodded. "Exactly."
"So what do we do?" asked Erica.
Zenobios looked at the other magicians before looking back at the four. "You stay here and you train. You will be safe here for a while. Then, you face Quarter Five and their leader."
Amethyst looked at Zenobios disbelievingly. "I thought it isn't safe for us to go near them."
"You have to," said Zenobios. "Your families' safeties are at stake here as well."
Amethyst looked fiercely at the window beside Zenobios. She had a job to do. "If you'll excuse me," she said, leaving her three friends and dashing towards the door.
Author's Note
Hi guys!!! So this chapter is a little bit longer than the others because I might not be able to update next week! I have a full schedule next week but the week after I'll post another chapter. So did you like this chapter? What did you think about the magicians? Do you want to know more about the twelve kinds of magic and explore each of their abilities? Leave your thoughts and opinions down below. I'd love to hear them! Also, don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter! - :) Irene
