Tale Never Told [Completed]

Prologue.

They were nothing like an ordinary plant. When their owner and the only one who had the ability to touch them passed by, the branches did their best to brush against his clothes, lean on him, feel the heat of his snow-white skin. Every time he would lovingly stroke them with his long white fingers that ended with black nails.

And then the true magic began. The bushes would move their branches and leaves away, showing the man what he always looked for - the berries.

Yes, berries. Tiny and round, they were incredibly easy to miss and very hard to take. Orange and blue, green and red, yellow and pitch-black, they appeared very rarely those days, but when they did, it was the job of that man to make sure they didn't have time to grow big enough.

Being, actually, living magical things, the berries grew very quickly. It only took them a little more than a full day to turn from small pieces of sand to apple-sized balls. And that's when the worst thing happened, the thing that was supposed to be avoided at all costs.

The man never ate the berries, for the power hidden in hik could kill him easily, even though he was not a mortal. No, he carried them carefully to his house and put them in the glass jar, from which none could escape, none could touch the ground and ruin the carefully balanced system that existed in the village.

But, even though the man was neither a mortal, nor a human, he was still a person, and a person that had to co-exist with the magical, thinking bushes. And those bushes were not something one could play with. They had personality, not like those flowers that love you for giving them water every week.

So what happened was not that surprising. It was supposed to happen sooner or later, and however the man tried to avoid it, to prevent it from happenning, he was destined to screw up one day.

And so he did.

One evening, when all other villagers once again huddled up close to each other in front of a fire and began singing songs, the man made his usual way along the line of the bushes. And it's still unknown what attracted his attention, but for less than a second his eyes darted away from the bushes, and he did not have the chance to notice that a new one had grown. Tiny, it was barely possible to see, but it already had dignity.

And when the white fingers of the man gently touched every other plant, the smallest bush didn't do what it was supposed to. Dissatisfied and offended, it didn't move its twigs and leaves aside to reveal three berries that were hidden deep inside it. Those three berries that had already grown to the size of a chestnut.

Maybe if they appeared just a couple of hours later, the man would've managed to notice and collect them the next evening, before anything dramatic could happen. But, unfortunately for him - and fortunately for them - they appeared at the best time imaginable.

And so, the three berries, unnoticed by the man with pitch-black eyes, grew bigger and bigger. With every passing hour they became heavier and heavier, making the branch they were growing on bend closer and closer to the ground.

The man felt that something wasn't quite right. He could sense the energy of this world, no, of all worlds in his palms, and something was not the way it was supposed to be. He didn't know what to think. He was at loss. Eventually one of his friends told him that he was just stressed or imagining things, and that's when he made his second mistake, which was probably even worse than the first one.

He listened to her.

And so, while the man with white skin paced around all day long, trying to distract himself from the buzzing in his palms, the bush was giving more and more powers to the strong and big berries. One, which was as red as the sky during sunsets or sunrise and a little stronger and bigger than its siblings. The other, just a little bit smaller, glowed calming pink. And the smallest of them, the one that shone bright golden, like honey.

And it wasn't even after noon when the branch, not able to hold on under their weight any longer, cracked. And the berries finally did something not all of their ancestors could do, they did something that hadn't been done in more than a century.

They touched the ground.

In that second few events happened at the same time. First, the ground swallowed the berries, and their light grew even stronger for a second or so, before fading away. The ground in the valley shook, which had never happened before, and with a horrible crack one or two of the buildings snapped into pieces. And the man, the man whose hair was as black as the darkest of shadows, flinched when the wave of agony seared across him.

"Marcus!" One of the villagers shouted, and just like that everyone stared at him with horror and dazzlement. "What's happenning? What was that?!"

The man - Marcus - just gazed in front of himself, the horrible truth settling in his body. This couldn't be. This couldn't be. Shivers ran down his spine when he suddenly stood straight and, barely noticing others, rushed towards the line of the bushes. He knew, he knew that the worst thing ever happened.

And then there he fell on his knees in despair, looking at the small bush in front of him in horror. Something sharp stang him right under his heart when he picked up the broken branch and looked at the spots where three berries had been growing. They weren't there anymore.

"Marcus!" A female voice called him again, but the man didn't even look at the one who had bolted to his side. He barely shook his head, his sharp teeth sinking into his black lip in anger at himself.

"I-I didn't know they were here..." He murmured, almost apologetically, and gazed up at the woman who was now sitting close to him, her hand lying on top of his. "I... The-the bush hadn't shown them to me yesterday evening, I-I... I never saw them..."

"Well, yeah, it's okay, it's alright." The woman hugged him tightly, not at all bothered by the fact that he was a much greater being than her. "It's okay. Happens to everyone. We all make mistakes..."

"But nothing as big as this, Chloe!" Marcus snapped angrily, but the hold of the human woman on him didn't loosen even a little. "This-this could ruin the balance in every world! If there was one it would've been fine, one Admin would never be able to cause much damage, but three of them! It-it will destroy everything!"

Chloe sighed and rubbed the arm of her Admin friend uo and down in a soothing manner, to which he responded by laying his head in her shoulder. They both knew that the future wouldn't be as bright and as calm as the present.

"They are from one branch, they'll grow in one world." The woman murmured to herself and made sure none of the black leaves touched her. "It's alright. You cannot take their powers away when they are young, it will kill them."

"But we can't wait for too long!" Marcus exclaimed and gently petted the leaves of the bush with a doomed smile on his snow-white face. "If they disagree, or - worse - become enemies, the universe will break to pieces! And you know that I would never be able to compare to the three of them. I mean, my powers would've helped me a lot, but there are three of them! They would destroy me so easily, and then..."

"Now hang on there, buddy." Chloe sang as she pulled her friend to his feet, feeling the power pulse in his hands. "Nobody says we will have to fight. Who knows, maybe they will be willing to give their powers up, like all of us?"

The man just shook his head and looked at the sky. The sun was shining brightly and he had to wonder how much longer it would be that way.

"Give them, what, fifteen years or so?" The woman took his hand and her thumb rubbed small circles on it. "They will grow up just enough to understand the importance of giving their powers up, and if we're lucky won't have a chance to wreck this all."

Marcus just sighed. Fifteen years? Those berries grew fast...

He just hoped his friend was right.