WHITE DARKNESS - BLACK MAGIC SAGA - BOOK 1

PEGASIPHIX

“Where are we going again?” asked Mason helping Thea go down the hill the chateau was on so they could go to the cabin that had been built for the few Stouvania professors.

Lhu, finishing eating her sugar-made snowflake, said, “We’re going to see the Pegasiphixes that came from Stouvania,” as now Mason helped her go down so she wouldn’t fall. Leevanna dammed herself for letting Lhu dress her today. She was wearing heeled black boots and going down that hill now seemed almost impossible. Rhazel was helping Freya and the only person she could ask for help was Vailant, who was behind walking like f*****g nothing. Oh how she envied men. And she would not ask Vailant for help.

Trying to not twist her ankle, she continued walking and tried to maintain her balance, however the height they were on didn’t help much, so, she stumbled.

However, she didn’t fall.

A tight grip on her forearm prevented her from rolling down the hill like a potato. Her eyes looked up, seeing a tall figure being her support. His expression was stern, almost tight. “Could you watch where you walk?” he bit down the words. Leevanna yanked her arm from him looking up and down.

She continued her walking, stumbling every five seconds.

When she was about to ask Rhazel to help her, she felt again that tight grip around her arm. Vailant started walking, dragging her along. A good thing was that she didn’t stumble anymore. The pace was accelerated, yes, but right now she just wanted to reach the cabin and see the Pegasiphixes. When they reached the end of the hill, Leevanna separated herself from him. Eyes flickering against his.

Once they were all down, they continued walking. Leevanna opened her old school book, Guide to Magical Creatures, on the marked page she had about the creatures they were going to see. The Stouvanian Headmaster hadn’t wanted Professor Crunswor Conleun, the caretaker of all the creatures which lived inside the forest, or Gleaxsiaran students to get near the Pegasi he had brought, said they were capricious and difficult to handle. And that was enough for Leevanna to start investigating. She was sure they were just not Pegasi, so she had gathered her usual friend group and leaded the way to see the supposed Pegasiphixes, creatures were supposed to be illegal to have.

“How did you manage to open that thing?” asked Thea. “Last time I was in the library and tried to open it, the book hissed at me,” she scoffed. “I hissed back though.”

“You have to ask for the information nicely first,” Leevanna answered while still reading the book. “Enchanted books acquire the personality of the user while they are with them.”

Rhazel laughed, “She just called you hot-tempered.”

Leevanna smiled. “Didn’t want to put it that way.”

Thea just opened her mouth in protest, still knowing it was true. She was the most capricious of the group and if she didn’t get her way she would throw a tantrum. “Don’t you even try to deny it,” snickered Freya.

“You’re supposed to be on my side!”

When they reached the cabin, they made sure no one was inside of it. Rounding it, they discovered there were not a single Pegasiphix around. “I thought they would be here,” said Mason with both hands on his hips. Leevanna stopped mid pacing, still reading, and then she continued walking towards the entrance of the forest. The group looked at each other and, shrugging, they followed their friend.

“Are you sure they are not just Pegasi?” asked Freya with a frown, she wasn’t much fan of nature and bugs in specific. “I’m almost sure Pegasiphixes are a myth,” and she was right, to a certain extent. Pegasiphixes weren’t something you see every day; nobody had seen one since the first years of the Rebellion. They were protected magical creatures.

Leevanna continued walking. She loved magical creatures — and they loved her too. She had this alluring affinity for them that was captivating.

They continued walking inside the forest until they reached a clearing. Leevanna stopped and upped her gaze from her book. Vailant’s voice soon leaking through her ears, “I swear if you made us come here for nothing and Freya is right, I’ll kill you.”

“Shut up,” she said calmly.

Her eyes then wondered by the tall trees and diverse kinds of flowers. She closed them after a few seconds, perhaps seeing wasn’t something she needed. Her remaining four senses amplified, all the sounds coming to her, the feelings, the smell, all of nature coming straight to her, thing her like waves. She then felt a projection of her leaving her body, floating away to find what she wanted. It took a few moments, but then, when she opened her eyes again, there it was, hiding behind a robust tree. A Pegasiphix.

She closed her book, leaving it on her bag, and started walking tiny steps until she was in front of the creature. The great white-pearl animal was mesmerising.

The Pegasiphixes were hybrids out of the mix of Pegasi and Phoenixes. They were as rare as reaching the end of a rainbow in a sunny day, almost impossible, just a few could do it, and that was that made the creatures so special, and so forbidden too. Some enchanters and even Nonchanters, hunted them because of their eyes, that were said to be hidden Time-shifters, and even that their wings, having gold in their feathers, had curative powers.

Their blood was also especially important due to be said that in dark rituals, the drinker would acquire their strength and astronomical knowledge, because Pegasiphixes had been living on earth since the creation, just like their tears were using in healing and beauty potions or deadly poisons.

The surprise though didn’t end there, because the creature lifted its wing a bit, revealing it had a newborn. Soon another Pegasiphix came, this one was bigger, probably the father of the newborn due to its palpable projection of protective and possessiveness. Leevanna had a bit of enough knowledge to understand that Pegasiphixes were most of all an egocentric and jealous creature that acted as a peacock in the art of seducing a female. So yes, because of the pheromones her body liberated, the creature wouldn’t like much that she acted in a rude way.

Still, her body tensed at the sight before her eyes, and her hands flinched slightly as she took more steps. A certain boy saw the hesitation colonising the body of his housemate, and, unconsciously, he took a step forward in the attempt of going in her direction, but when he realised, he quickly withdrew the hand he was extending and passed it through his hair. Nobody noticed.

The creature in front of her examined her presence for what seemed a minute or so, and Leevanna’s brain was functioning faster than ever as she thought about what to do now.

Choosing to guard her composure and maintain a straight back, she breathed out letting some of her magic act as a barrier in case something happened.

And then, with a hand over her chest, she bowed slightly towards the three of them.

The father was the first one to approach a few steps, making a kind of whine with its nose. Leevanna felt her magic stopping itself before it could fully protect her.

Leevanna gulped but stayed there before looking up slowly. Instead of a barrier, her magic started to act as an alluring charm. Seeing how the creature hesitated if taking a step forward, she let more of her magic out, making small yellow flowers appear around the creature. She had read somewhere Pegasiphixes liked to be spoiled, and that was exactly what she was doing. If the creature were a male as she thought it was, she could use more of her physical magic to liberate pheromones so it would try and ‘seduce’ her — in a kind of way of saying it.

The female Pegasiphix started walking towards Leevanna, her newborn still under her wing, leaving the male one a few steps behind. Then the creature bowed to her. Using some of the courage she had inside her, she looked straight in to the grey eyes of the creature, being instantly hypnotised by the mesmerising sight. It was as if looking at smoke through a glass, and she instantly was transported to a world of nature and almost no wrong, she could feel it, and just there she knew that she was in Paradise, the earth were gods and goddesses lived before humanity. And for a moment she felt she belonged there.

In Paradise.

Leevanna stood straight as the animal let its head near so the girl could caress it. To her surprise, it hadn’t even tried to impress her, which was strange after the quantity of pheromones she had let her body produce. But instead the creature seemed to respect her, somehow at least, as if she were special or above its level.

Paradise was all she had dreamed of knowing someday, even if that meant sacrificing her soul, and the mere thought that a Pegasiphix itself had shown her voluntarily the land that was forbidden for mortals, had her almost crying her eyes out. It was beyond gorgeousness. There seemed to be gold instead of sun and diamonds instead of water drops. The flowers and plants appeared to be crystal and the smell… There was a murmur, faint and vague, just loud enough for it to be heard by the wind, which captured it between its sighs.

“Krisha…”

Leevanna blinked a few times as she had gone back to her reality, where her friends smiled and let out small laughs of astonishment. Leevanna smiled and pressed her forehead against the creature’s, giggling to herself as the Pegasiphix almost purred against her, even the newborn approaches her. The whisper went to the unconscious part of her, the one that was sleeping, ready to someday be woken up by her magic.

At that moment, Vailant snorted, “Oh, please,” as everyone kept applauding Leevanna’s feat in taming the beast.

“Jealous?” the girl at his side, Thea, looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a mocking smile as the animal behind Leevanna guarded her person.

“Never,” he replied, fuming in indignation. “She is just a stupid b***h and nothing else.”

“Eisdrache!” reprimanded Lhu. He just raised his eyebrows and then huffed. He knew better to insult Vaughan in front of Lhu.

“Don’t bother, Lhu,” said Leevanna still caressing the creature. She had heard them. “He is just a jealous bastard.”

“What did you just say? Huh? Filthy b***h,” and that made Leevanna turn her head.

Her eyes icy at his comment, “That you are jealous of me.”

“In your f*****g dreams,” Eisdrache growled before he pushed everyone on his path to address his academic rival. “You think you’re better than me?”

“I don’t think it, I am.”

Leevanna felt the creature tensing behind her as it pushed her aside so she could not be harmed. In that moment, the jade-eyed knew she had earned the Pegasiphix respect and devotion — not knowing how, but it was obvious Vailant was extremely far away from achieving it.

Despite of that, he stood in front of her, ready to fight her.

However, before he could do anything, the male Pegasiphix stood in front of Levanna, and, spreading its wings, bored its eyes into Vailant’s, whose expression became one of pure horror. His eyes white as the colour and mouth agape, made various students scream in terror. The creature kept staring into Vailant’s eyes, and by the sight of it, he was suffering by the vision presented by the creature.

Vailant then fell onto the ground, eyes still white and body convulsing. Leevanna stood there, in shock and fear, watching the boy shake on the ground. Pegasiphixes didn’t like being threatened, but then, it hadn’t been the one who Vailant wanted to fight. She, motionless, felt the creature walk towards her, placing itself behind her body. It had protected her from being attacked by Vailant.

“Eisdrache!” Freya shouted, running towards the boy who continued to convulse on the ground.

“We have to call a professor,” said Mason also running towards her friend. Thea was being hugged from behind by Rhazel. “He needs to be taken to the hospital.” Rhazel nodded and grabbed Thea’s arm so they could go to the entrance of the chateau and search for a professor who could help them. Freya remained on the ground, holding the unconscious head of Vailant.

Lhu did a scan charm but didn’t quite understand the diagnosis it showed.

All was obscure purple and red.

Leevanna turned to the male Pegasiphix, a question inside her eyes, the creature nodded once before it looked at her straight into the eyes, and she was one more time taken to Paradise, a small orb made of crystal was between her hands. With a blink, she returned to her reality, hearing the voice of Lhu calling her. The creature was already gone when she blinked again.

“Leevanna,” Lhu called again, making her turn her head to her. “Do you understand something that says here?” the white-haired one nodded, looking down her hands with the universe compacted into a sphere of glass which she placed in a velvet little bag she had summoned to then make disappear into thin air so it could be locked down with many other things in a vault of gold inside her mind. It was at that moment that professor Sthepon Reeves and Alex Macnamara arrived at the scene. The second one asked them what happened and Freya and Lhu just started rambling.

“If you’re told to not go searching for magical creatures, just don’t,” growled Professor Reeves, his eyes glanced at Leevanna for a moment before levitating Vailant’s body as Professor Macnamara used her magic to apply some sedative charms on Vailant’s body so he wouldn’t convulse again on the way to the hospital wing where Madame Pamela could treat him. The two professors started walking, Lhu, Freya and Mason following them while explaining what they were doing inside the forest at this hour of the day. Lhu was sweeping some tears away.

Glancing the place the three Pegasiphixes had been moments ago, Leevanna sighed and followed the rest of them, oblivious to what were they saying about what had happened; her thoughts submerged into the small form of universe she had with herself. She knew what it was, certainly, but then there was the million riyals question.

Why?