THE ORPHAN

Chapter 2: Family

"What is love, Lucas?" the beautiful redhead asked while walking at the border of the balcony, fearless, teasing him. She knew Lucas loved her, she knew he was under her charm and yet she used to go everywhere, looking for the warmth of others. She didn't love Lucas.

"It's to give your best, so those you love could realize how important they are for you," Lucas answered.

Six years had passed since that moment, six years since he promised to himself that he would only love her and since then, every night he went up the roof of his wagon to see the stars, the moon, thinking about her, her beautiful voice, her smooth skin, and her lips. He always smiled while thinking about her kisses and all the crazy things she did and made him do: she was his inspiration.

"You should date someone else and stop thinking about her," his mother said. Lucas, surprised, smiled and helped her to get up.

"Are my feelings that obvious?" He asked, with half a smile, when she was finally sitting by his side.

"A lot," she answered, gently smiling.

He sighed in resignation.

"Life loves Irony," he said.

"My child," she said with her hand on his shoulder, comforting him.

"And you and father want me to forget about her and get a girlfriend and be happy," he continued.

"We love you," she added.

"I know, but this is something I have to deal with, alone," he declared and looked at the moon as he laid down on the roof of the wagon. His mother admired him, with half a smile.

"We know," Catherine ended and then kissed her son on his cheek and left him alone.

Lucas saw his mother leaving and released a gust of air from the deepest of his lungs: relief and yearning.

His eyes returned to the sky and he found the constellation he was looking for, the group of stars where the ancient tale said she lived: the stars of the goddess of love, the goddess who never kissed anyone, the woman whose lips he knew very well.

The fresh breeze felt gentle that night, the natural orchestra suddenly appeared to play even louder and he took his pen and wrote another poem after his love, praising not the perfection of her being, but the wonders hidden in her mind, wonders she showed him only.

Lucas exhaled with melancholy.

"Is he still thinking about that girlfriend of his?" aunt Sophie asked Catherine, and she nodded affirmatively.

"If you allow me I would prepare another potion of love and he would get rid of her memory," aunt Sally said.

"This time I've improved my technics and he won't notice, I promise!" Sophie added.

"No way! You won't try anything with my son!" Catherine warned, remembering that they tried to make Lucas forget once because one of the girls of the circus was madly in love with him and he didn't mind about her.

The potion they created didn't work at all and they ended so scared facing their furious nephew, who not only made useless the beverage but tracked the potion to them. They were never that scared on their lives and Lucas gave them a serious sermon about potions and ethics, about free will and the dangers of using those spells without covering the maker's signature. He even called them frauds.

While the women were discussing trivial facts, the men were working hard trying to build the best routes for the next journey and once they did and marked the path they had chosen on the map, they consulted their women who had better information about the political situation of the realms.

Women discarded nearly all the routes on the maps explaining how it was dangerous to approach to the Krol empire, how the trolls lived on the frontiers of Sitnalta, demons on the south realm of Rodnog, etc. But they found a route, the best route to Silvania.

The next day the circus was told about the decision and the preparations for the departure started while Lucas and Viktor were practicing again.

Another crystal was wasted by the kid, and Bruno, who was looking at the scene, couldn't stand such a waste and preferred to return to his wagon.

Orim was speaking with his creatures, his little army and Catherine was singing as she admired their children doing wonders with a warm smile on her face.

She cast a light spell, one of the most difficult ones, and gave to the light the shape of a pigeon; then she commanded the pigeon to fly and it joined the spell of Viktor at the exact moment of the end of his act. The result was wonderful and all those who saw the show of lights applauded, delighted.

"Mom!" Viktor protested because her mother stole his public.

"Take note of that, Viktor," Lucas said, smirking; "mom spent less Mana than you doing an even more complicated spell."

"And even more beautiful…" Viktor muttered and smiled at his mother who kept singing, the song she sang for him since he was a baby:

"Silver leaves fall,

The day is near,

Little one who grows tall,

The day of joy, my dear;

The light from elvish tree,

Will set you forever free…

A man you will be,

Strong, brave and bold;

And I'll miss your eyes on me;

Oh, my boy of gold…

Silver leaves fall,

From the elvish tree,

The pigeon grows tall,

To fly away free."

"Remember, little brother, efficiency… efficiency," Lucas reiterated and snapped his fingers. As he did a sphere of light, fire, water, darkness, steel, and air appeared, all at the same time orbiting him.

Acts like that served to remind Viktor that his brother was a genius, for even his mother was surprised and all those who could see the high magician started to whisper his name with admiration, wondered by the lights and the beauty. Only a few of them could see that the amount of mana he was using, was the same Viktor used for his own spell, but the most extraordinary fact was his mana: it wasn't decreasing at all, which meant that he could stay like that forever.

"One day I'll earn my entrance to college and I'll get a ring, like yours!" Viktor declared.

"Use that ring I gave you and practice a bit more…" Lucas recommended. 

"I have to earn it, as you did!" He argued.

Lucas smirked.

"Be practical, little brother, pride is useless," Lucas told him rolling his eyes as Viktor attacked.

Lucas had no time to avoid it, no to block it, the ball flew directly to his face but at the instant before the impact, the fireball avoided the high magician, against Viktor's will, but Viktor had predicted something like that so as soon as the ball changed its course the hidden mechanism was activated and it exploded.

A cloud of dust and dirt covered Lucas.

"Nice try, little brother," the high magician said with a gentle voice and Viktor felt the immediate danger, as his magical senses told him to escape from that position.

The orbs his brother held approached at him at an unbelievable speed, but they stopped at ten centimeters surrounding him.

Viktor knew he had lost again, for if he moved, all the orbs would explode and unlike his brother, he was not good defending against magic. A breeze of wind from nowhere removed the dust, revealing the high magician, intact, without a scratch and his impeccable clothes untouched. He was powerful.

"That was awesome, mister Viktor!" Congratulated some of the members of the crew. 

Viktor ignored them, thinking on all the elements his brother was using, at a structural level.

He knew the water would hit him as ice and fire would burn him of course, steel was going to crash a few bones if it didn't kill him, pure light concentrated like that would explode at the contact with atmosphere dealing massive damage, dark would implode and explode dealing twice the damage. There was no possible way to escape from there. He was defeated and luckily it was a practice or he would be dead.

"Don't put on that expression, kid," Lucas declared, with a tough expression and for one second Viktor doubted about if he was his brother.

A burst of loud laughter was heard and everyone looked at its source. It was Orim, in the center of a circle made by his creatures. It was a fight on the other side of the circus, a fight against a big tiger man, and Viktor could finally see.

"I'm an i***t," he thought and declared, then he disappeared.

The obs flew like bullets, towards a wagon, the place where Viktor had reappeared, summoned, next to a silver lioness who yawned. The projectiles got frozen in the air at two meters of distance from where Victor was. The lioness had her attention on them, for a second, and then she just ignored them and as she did so, the orbs disappeared as she wished.

"What do you think about that, human?!" The tiger man proclaimed laughing. He had hit Orim on his stomach.

"Nice... try," Orim said in pain, Catherine rolled her eyes.

The tiger man attacked again, he was faster and stronger than the human, but Orim predicted his attacks and stayed at a safe distance anytime he was attacked. Then the other tiger man joined and Orim was forced to use his magic, increasing his physical abilities. Ten minutes later the two tiger men fell to the ground, exhausted, trying to catch their breath and Orim left them like if nothing happened.

"That's the reason why he is the alpha..." the silver lioness, Mimi, said. She was looking bored at both shows from the very beginning.

Viktor smiled at her. She was majestic, she was perfect and Lucas sighed as he closed his eyes, understanding that the practice was over.

"Don't you dare, Viktor, you're covered in sweat!" the silver lioness warned, but it was late. Viktor hugged her and a few minutes later, her loud purrs were heard.

"Kitty, kitty, kitty, beautiful kitty," Viktor muttered on her ear while the big cat enjoyed his cares.

"I'm a queen, I'm allowing you to pet me," she said on his mind, proudly, rubbing herself against the kid, impregnating him with her own scent, trying to erase the almost unnoticeable scent of a woman in him.

She loved him.

Viktor was the first human she saw when she was just a cub and it was Mimi who discovered that Viktor was a summoner, for regardless of the place he was when he needed her, she sensed him and Viktor felt the same. She was who told Orim about Viktor's skill.

A "summoner" was the result of the mixture of the skills: "alpha" and "enticement" and it allowed to create contracts with living beings, to control them, and summon them when they were needed just saying their names and with no magical cost. 

The skill "summoner" due to its amazing characteristics, was a skill of true kings, the evidence was the prosperous and perpetual countries of the seven Sultans where seven summoners ruled. There, poverty didn't exist, equality ruled and knowledge advanced at a rhythm only dreamed. 

No one expected Viktor to be a summoner for it was a really rare skill.

He hugged the lioness and kissed her, lovingly, as she purred offering her belly with pleasure until she got bored and left him to find a quiet place where to sleep, leaving him covered on her saliva, laughing happily, asking her to return.

Oh, time of beauty;

Of the alpha, of the enticement;

Of laughs and smiles,

As the kitty purred;

Whistles 

And hugs,

Mother's love;

Of honor,

Boldness,

Father's warmth;

Of brother's wisdom,

bittersweet magic,

Yearning a dream;

Purrs, hair, 

And meows,

Kitty's light;

Oh, true happiness,

How sweet,

Circus of dreams,

Symphony beyond my reach,

Oh, bitter and sweet perfection,

That is no more…

-Yearning, by Mr. Viktor Blake, leader of Silver Lion Society of Merchants.