The Wizard's Broken Angel

Chapter-1

"Why are my powers declining?" Zach Zero, the supposed saviour and ruler of the Strong Earth, asked his most trusted advisor, Ronan Seal.

Ronan, a man with kyphotic spine, completely dressed in white robes with golden patterns running from his hood to the lower end of his robe, looked at Zach with his white eyes. On carefully looking one could easily see his milky white long hair peeping from the hood. Using a huge branch of a tree, almost of his height, he limped towards Zach, who was standing near the window in his royal, intricately designed room. Out of all the rooms in the Zero Palace, Zach's room was highly decorated with wooden furniture with carvings of roses, leaves, swans, raven, etc. A feature that filled the aesthetic appeal was white jasmine pots near the window with white flowers covering green leaves like a snow blanket. The subtle scent of jasmine suffused in the room mixed with yellowish brown light entering through the humongous windows of glass.

"My lord, it was on my mind for a few days, this servant was too afraid to point it out..." said Ronan in his unpleasant and sharp voice.

"Just speak it out!" Zach snapped.

Ronan's hands trembled, fearing Zach, he took a few steps back, "your saviour symbol, it's fading."

"What! My symbol is fading? BRING ME TWO HUGE MIRRORS!" Zach ordered and the servant angels, standing outside his room. They immediately formed two mirrors out of thin air as they rushed into the room.

"Isolation!" The servants bowed and flew out of the room, closing the door from outside.

Standing in the middle of the mirror, Zach doffed his huge red cloak, unbuttoned his plain white shirt and looked at his back's reflection, from the mirror behind him, in the mirror in front of him. A moderate-sized black symbol of a dove with spread wings and a serpent surrounding it emitted very dim light now and then. Zach widened his eyes, "how? When? Why?"

"My lord, I noticed it a few days ago when you came out of your bath, but didn't want to bother you, so..."

"SHUT UP! How dare you hide such an important thing from me? You know it's because of this symbol, I am where I am today. If I lose it, I will be vulnerable to death in this horrible world just like any other wizard. I am the chosen one, I have the right over this saviour symbol," Zach glared at Ronan.

"Pardon me, my lord, but the chosen ones keep on changing. This saviour symbol appears on the body of the chosen one when they turn nineteen. When this symbol finally establishes itself on the saviour's body, time stops for them and they stop ageing. This is the reason you are still twenty years old, even when the world has already grown older than you," said Ronan.

"Tell me something I don't know!"

"My lord, this symbol chooses the chosen one or the saviour. There is no way this symbol will just fade away, as you already know, the saviour symbol can't be destroyed, it can just be transferred," Ronan walked to a bookshelf and grabbed a random book with his trembling wrinkled hand. Opening a certain page he showed the page to Zach who had dressed up properly again.

"When the chosen one is unable to fulfil his role, the saviour symbol transfers itself to a more potential candidate," Ronan read out a few lines from the book.

"Oh, so who is this person? How can I get back the symbol?" Zach asked.

"The fact that the symbol is still on you means the new candidate hasn't reached the age, we still have a chance to get back the symbol."

"And how is that going to happen?"

"Only one way, earn the trust of the new candidate and before they turn nineteen make them believe that you are the right choice to be the saviour," Ronan closed the book and kept it on the table near the bookshelf.

"What will happen when I do that?"

"When the new candidate starts believing in you, the symbol will also do the same and with their consent, you can transfer the symbol back to yourself."

"Find the new candidate, bring him to me, right now!" Zach ordered.

"Pardon me, my lord, I already searched for the symbol aura in the entire Strong Earth, but I couldn't spot the soul," Ronan bowed his already bowing head.

"Useless! You are useless! I will find that new candidate and kill him to get my symbol back," said Zach.

"No, you can't do that, my lord. First, even if you want to kill him, the symbol will protect him and if you somehow succeed in killing the candidate we'll lose it forever."

"Then what do you expect me to do? Sit back and see the fall of the Zero Empire?"

"We'll have to search for the new chosen one in the Weak Earth," said Ronan, smirking.

"Weak Earth? Humans? Don't be ridiculous, such a great symbol will never choose a human body," Zach scowled.

"The symbol — never chooses body, it chooses soul. Remind you, the soul of Iris Scintilla, it's still missing. Last time, the shadow prisoners said they saw their prince, Lake Shadow, carry her half-dead body with him to the Phorus Falls, the only path connecting the Strong Earth to the Weak Earth."

"She was a traitor. I loved her so..." Zach bit his lips, veins visible on his forehead as he clenched his fist. "Don't take her name before me, ever again or I will make the soldiers pull out your tongue."

Ronan lowered his head, "pardon me, my lord, but this doesn't change the possibility that she's the new chosen one and that she's possibly in the Weak Earth."

"Even if she is I will kill her the moment I see her. If she has been reborn as a human, I will make her life miserable and if by any chance she has the symbol I will make her regret every breath," Zach flounced out of his room, his cloak fluttering.

"Iris Scintilla, the youngest princess of the Scintilla empire that my lord took over, have you returned?" Ronan talked to himself, looking at a huge photo frame right above Zach's bed, covered with a black muslin cloth.

Is she back? Has she returned? Last time, you eloped with that Lake Shadow, this time, if it's you — you will pay for all your sins from the past. Gain your trust, huh! I will shatter you, Zach thought, strutting through his garden of Black roses to the flying pond.

Flying pond was a magical pond as still and shiny as a mirror. It was amidst woods with a dense canopy and huge trees. It kept on levitation above a huge black hole that repelled the pond to a certain extent and gravity pushed it down. All conditions made the pond levitate a few feet above the huge Blackhole. The pond had many uses and one of them was — connecting the Zero Palace directly to the Phorus Falls.

Zach pulled up his sleeves, revealing his hand surrounded by small chains. His eyes glowed and the chains unwrapped from his hands and surrounded his body, making him float in the air. He smoothly flew above the Flying pond and dived into it.

Ronan emerged out from behind a tree, "my lord, what exactly is driving you crazy? The fact that your saviour symbol is fading or the fact that Iris Scintilla has possibly returned? Don't be fooled like last time, love is decisive and dangerous. Stick to your ambition to take over the whole Strong Earth, don't deviate like last time."

Drenched wet, Zach teleported to the Phorus river that was falling into the abyss with huge force. He kept on flying above the river and reached the edge from where the fall began. His chains kept on revolving around him in circles, "I need to jump in this waterfall and I will be teleported to the Weak Earth, but what's the hurry? Why do I want to see her... No! I don't want to see her, I want to kill her and get my symbol back. Yes, it's the only reason, the sooner the better." Zach swayed his arms and the chains wrapped themselves around his hands again. He fell into the waterfall with a screech and drowned in the abyss.