THE PHOENIX CURSE
Henry N. Silva
Age of Magic - Act I
The boy, barely a man, looks upon the endless ocean…
He stands on a cliff, just beyond his home, a humble little village of cottages, made of wood, straw, and nothing much more… Slowly, he turns away from the water, making his way to one such cottage. His robes gently brushing along the grass… Inside, he finds exactly whom he expects; his mentor, the last wizard, old as ever…
The wizard looks up, as he hears the door open, raising an eyebrow, “Are you ready now?”
The boy breathes a heavy sigh, “I believe so.” Carefully, he walks towards an ancient book, resting on a small table nearby. He opens to a page at random, while lifting his free hand high in the air. He then begins reciting spells in the ancient tongue, and his lifted hand suddenly glows red, with sparks… But then, something goes wrong, and with that, his hand ceases to glow, and the sparks fade…
The wizard rises to his feet, “Again!”
The boy tries a different spell, now his hand glows green, emitting sparks yet again… But once more, something goes wrong, and his hand returns to normal, like before.
But the wizard is not prepared to quit. “Again,” he repeats, at the top of his lungs.
The boy moves on to yet another spell, his hand glows purple now, still with sparks… But as always, the spell goes sideways, and the magic ceases to be…
With that, the boy grunts, slamming the book shut, “I cannot do it… I will never be you.”
The wizard sighs, “But you have to be. We are running out of time as is.”
The boy lowers his head in fear, “I know.”
As clear as day, he remembers first hearing the tale of the dying demon who drank the blood of a phoenix, allowing him to be reborn, once every thousand years. Only magic can defeat the demon, a magic that has been dying for centuries…
The wizard continues, “I cannot kill him alone, and if we wish to find a way to end the rebirth cycle, then we must do so together… This is the only way.”
The boy lifts his head back up, “I understand.”
The elder smiles, “Soon, you will take my place, as the last wizard there is, and when that time comes, you must teach others. For someday, magic will thrive once more.”
Age of Science - Act I
The girl, barely a woman, looks upon the endless ocean…
She stands on a balcony, there at home one of many tall, metal buildings, densely packed together, on a land that once belonged to a humble village… Slowly, she turns away from the water, making her way to a lab below. Her trench coat brushing along the floor… There, she finds exactly whom she expects: Her mentor, the professor, old as ever…
He looks up, as the door lifts open, raising an eyebrow, “You done with your break?”
The girl breathes a light sigh, “Yeah, I guess so.” Carefully, she walks towards a thin piece of stone, resting in a glass case, on a steel table.
The professor looks over, noticing a puzzled expression on the girl’s face, “You’re still in doubt about all this, aren’t you?”
“I still don’t understand how this could be a piece of the demon’s skin,” she admits.
As clear as day, she remembers first hearing of how the demon was last defeated by the last wizard, and a ‘being of light,’ and how only a piece of his stone skin remained from there…
“It’s just a chunk of rock,” she continues.
“I know,” the professor acknowledges, “But it’s an indestructible chunk of rock, and we gotta find out what weakens it.”
Suddenly, he begins to cough.
“It’s getting worse.” The girl asks, “Isn’t it?”
The professor smiles, “I’ll be fine.”
Age of Magic - Act II
The boy and the wizard walk on through the night, with only the moon and stars to light their way…
All is peaceful, as per usual… Until suddenly, out of nowhere, a tall pillar of smoke appears before them, quickly morphing into a demon of stone…
“He is here,” the wizard whispers, trembling, “The time has come… And we were too late.” He turns to his pupil, “Go! Run away!”
“No!” The boy shouts in return, “Let me help!”
“No!” The wizard pushes him away, “You are not ready… I am sorry.”
The boy proceeds to step backwards, in shock… The last wizard then faces forward, a dozen feet away from the enemy. He raises both of his hands towards the beast, firing beams of energy from them both. Alas, the demon remains unharmed, his stone skin shielding him from the magic.
For a moment, everything seems lost… But then, a few dozen feet to the east, a humanoid figure appears, seemingly made of strong, pale-blue light… Immediately, this new being fires a green ball of energy towards the demon, managing to blow open a piece of its rocky surface. The shard of skin falls to the floor, revealing the monster’s true, vulnerable flesh below…
In fear, the demon places his hands on his head, snapping his own neck. Instantly after, he fades into smoke once more. Defeated, for now…
The wizard then collapses to the floor, completely drained of all his energy… The boy runs over, desperate to save his mentor. Alas, he is too late. The wizard is dead…
He then looks back up towards the strange figure made from light in the distance, “Hello! You! Yes, you over there! Who are you?!”
Alas, the figure doesn’t answer. Instead, it vanishes instantly, into the fog…
The boy spends the next several days alone, sulking within the cottage of the wizard. Constantly, he looks over at the spell book, afraid to open it once again…
But eventually, he faces his fears, opening the book to a page at random. Quickly, his eyes fix upon a certain spell, perhaps the most difficult of spells, one which no past wizard could ever achieve…
But he knew this spell could save the future. A future that likely had no magic. Despite his shortcomings, he knew he had to try, even though he knew he could only travel forward. There would be no going back…
Breathing deeply, he begins to recite the words, preparing to travel through time…
Age of Science - Act II
The girl sits alone in the lab, sulking…
Beside her sits a photo of the late professor, when he still looked healthy, as well as a metallic ray-gun, one that could penetrate the demon’s skin. The professor finished making it just before he died, after studying the stone shard he already possessed, endlessly…
Calmly, the girl picks up the weapon, and then makes her way through the lab, reaching a tall, tubular device, leaning against a wall, a device that her mentor had warned her to never use…
“It’s only a prototype,” he used to say, “Your particles may be completely changed.”
It was a risk she would have to take, for she knew that, had the demon been truly defeated before, the professor would have never exposed himself to the energy that made him sick…
Breathing deeply, she steps into the machine, preparing to travel through time…
Age of Magic - Act III
The girl finds herself surrounded by fog…
In the distance, she sees the demon, locked in a duel with an older man… She then looks down at her own body, noticing that her skin now grows bright-blue. Her particles had been rewritten, just as the professor had predicted… For a moment, she panics, but then calms herself;
I’ll find a way to fix myself later…
She then refocuses on the duel ahead, raising her ray-gun straight at the demon. She fires a blast in his direction. Moments later, she sees the beast snapping his own neck, fading into ash and smoke. She then hears a voice calling out to her;
“Hello! You! Yes, you over there! Who are you?!”
She wants to answer, but before she can, her skin suddenly returns to normal. In that moment, she feels herself growing sick. Further effects from the time travel, no doubt. She presses a touch-screen on her watch, her only way home, but nothing occurs. Her heart sinks, as she realizes she is trapped forever in the past…
Frantically, she runs away from the scene, searching around. Soon enough, she finds a cottage with a sign;
Healer
She makes her way indoors, collapsing on the floor. A doctor rushes over to treat her, but it is no use. The girl takes her final breath…
Days later, a blacksmith enters the same cottage, “Greetings, doctor! Was wondering if you could help with my cold.” He then looks over at some gadgetry, resting on a table, “What is that?”
“A strange woman was wearing those things,” the doctor explains, “She stumbled in here and died the other night.”
The blacksmith studies the technology carefully, “I would like to take these home with me. Hopefully this is alright with you.”
The doctor nods, “Feel free to do so.”
Age of Science - Act III
The boy finds himself in a strange land…
His mind does its best to comprehend the dense, tall buildings that surround him. The locals all around stand there in shock… Suddenly, a familiar pillar of smoke appears, just a few feet away from him. Soon enough, the demon comes into view, his wound still visible on his side…
Looking closely, the boy sees the exposed flesh, vulnerable in a way that only magic could defeat. He knows well enough that this is the key to destroying the vicious monster, for good…
Breathing deeply, he raises his hand, as he begins to recite a spell. A bolt of lightning then emerges from his fingertips, hitting the demon’s wound.
The beast crumbles into ash, defeated forever…
The boy then looks around at the others there with him. Perhaps some of them possessed the potential for magic. Perhaps he could teach them all he knows…
Perhaps there was a chance to begin again…
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