The bearers of magic

Training and history

Darius woke to the sound of his alarm going off. It was 6am in the morning, Darius didn't know there WAS a 6am in the morning but he had been told that training would be at 6.30am, so, up he got, washed his face, brushed his teeth and headed down the windy steps to the courtyard Alistair has shown him the day before. The meeting the night before had consisted of Darius being told what his day today would involve;

Training

Meeting with Alistair

Then Initiation (was that going to be like a secret group kinda thing, blind folded and swatted by people)

He was too tired to think straight, to be sad or miss his mum, he just moved one foot in front of the other until he arrived where he needed to be.

In the middle of the court yard stood a tall man Darius did not recognise. He had shoulders that blocked out a good bit of the morning's first light. Darius groaned inwardly. It wasn't that he was scared of this man, he knew he had been taught well and he had kept his training up, maybe not always to the same level of expectations of his dad and Grandfather, but he had worked on his skills.

The man introduced himself and Seamus and he had what Darius thought was a hint of an Irish accent. He was pale with light hair and freckles hap hazardously scattered about his skin. He asked Darius about his training over the years, nodding along to Darius's words and they then settled into a half hour warm up, followed by a run then a run down of various martial art techniques Darius knew. Seamus seemed impressed. Then the real training began. Seamus wanted to see Darius in hand to hand combat.

Seamus was a tank of a man and it was like moving a wall. Although he didn't hold back, he spurred Darius on, told him to watch his feet, protect his side and in the end Darius took him down but it has been harder and taken longer than expected, maybe he hadn't been quite as disciplined as he thought the last couple of years, the sweat dripping down his back was confirming that thought.

Seamus accepted Darius's hand and when on his feet, clapped him on the back and told him he had done well on their first session. He said that after this afternoon and Darius's official initiation, training will be taken to a whole different level and that he would then not be his only trainer. Darius had no idea what that meant but he knew that after lunch he was to meet with Alistair where all would be explained.

Darius took a long hot shower and came out feeling refreshed but not any less confused, he had been confused since the day of his birthday. He had no phone to scroll on, no way to contact the outside world so he got dressed, laid on his bed with the TV on and before he knew it he had drifted off to sleep.

A knock woke him up and after opening the door he found his lunch had been delivered to his room. He ate it greedily and when he was finished, waited for 1pm. That was when Alistair said he would come and get Darius.

Exactly at 1pm there was yet another knock on the door, this time Alistair stood in the doorway with that creepy smile plastered on his face.

'Afternoon Darius, this is a most exciting day, most exciting indeed.'

Darius thought that was Glee he could see on the man's face and hear in his voice but you could tell happy emotions did not come naturally to him and it was difficult to tell.

Alistair said no more so Darius followed him, not feeling it was a particularly exciting day at all, they walked until they stopped in front of beautifully carved, wooden double doors.

'This, this is our history' and with a push Alistair opened the door to a library of which Darius had never seen.

In the middle of the room was a long table with chairs around it, Alistair ushered Darius over and told him to sit while Alistair sat opposite.

Alistair began to tell Darius the history of magic, of Magic bearers and how there was a time when everyone lived in harmony. He brought out books and pointed out pictures and passages and Darius's head swam with words like, witches and fairies, yet they rolled off this man's tongue as fact.

Then the story took a darker turn. Vampires, yep vampires, are the youngest of the magic bearers only being linked back to Vlad the Impaler and it seemed that they struggled with their cursed magic. Alistair painted them as monsters who killed on a whim, men, women and children. They robbed, they r***d and they left destruction in their wake. Darius was horrified. These were the beasts that had killed his father and Grandfather and they had also upset the balance that had once been between human and non human.

Alistair continued, once the vampires had shown that they did not have to live by the human laws and did as they pleased it upset some magic bearers but also allowed some other bearers to follow the vampires path of mayhem and destruction. This led to conflict within the magical world that spilled out into the non magical world and hate and fear began to take root within the humans. Alistair's ancestors had formed to try and take control of the spiraling situation. This quickly turned into the Bureau it is today where the only course of action became the destruction of all things magic. He explained how magic bearers were monsters and how he believed no one should have the right to magic that can be used to abuse, this meant all with magic were threats. This is where Darius fits in as he is the ultimate destroyer.

There it was again, Darius thought.

Alistair continued,' These beasts cannot be allowed to live Darius, they may be in the shadows and living amongst us but their destruction and disregard for human life remains. They killed your father and Grandfather, they all have blood on their hands over the years, all of them. Will you be our saviour, will you help wipe them out?

Yes, thought Darius, yes I will, they do not deserve to live.

'Say it', said Alistair

'Yes', shouted Darius.

'Then let's go', said Alistair and far too gracefully for a man of his size he rose from his chair and swept out of the library. Not as gracefully Darius scrambled to follow him.

In the great hall, that's what the sign above said, there were about 60 people gathered. On entry, Alistair was almost floating in, again, the worst gleefully came to mind, all eyes turned to him and Darius.

Alistair walked to the middle of the hall and immediately there was silence and all eyes were on him.

'My sisters and brothers, the day we have waited for, the day that was prophesied hundreds of years ago is finally here. The one who has the lineage, the one who is able to bear the curses and become the destroyer has come of age. For too long we have had to protect this world from those bastards, those who should not wield the magic we have. Well today all that stops, Darius please step forward. Demarco, please step forward'.

As Darius stepped forward with anger in his heart at all the injustice done to humans over the years, Demarco appeared from the other side of the crowd. If Darius had to draw a picture of what he thought an old Wizard looked like, well the man now just in front of him would be it. They faced each other and Darius couldn't help but stare at his purple eyes, yeah, definitely purple, how strange.

Alistair spoke, ' Darius and I spent the afternoon going over our history. Darius in front of these witnesses do you agree to help ireadicate magic bearers from our world'.

Darius felt all eyes on him. Vampires murdering, r****g, killing babies, werewolves using brute force to take what they want and magic being used irresponsibly and dangerously. Human blood is being spilled, this cannot be allowed.

'Yes', shouted Darius as he had previously done.

' Demarco, my old friend, our prophet, the only one able to complete today, step forward and do what was sworn' Alistair's voice rang out.

Demarco stepped forward and before Darius knew what was happening Demarco placed both hands on his temples. Darius watched as the man's pupils actually began to glow a deep purple but then the pain hit. Darius was on fire.....everywhere, he felt like flames were licking over every part of his body. His knees buckled but the man, tall but slim, would not let him fall. Darius was sure his head was going to explode and his skin was peeling away from his body, this can't be right his mind screamed, I cannot endure this. Just as Darius was letting out and ear piercing scream it all stopped. Darius fell to his knees and dry heaved, sweat dripping from his face and landing on the floor. He managed to raise his head and in front of him was the old man, now dead, eyes wide open, purple no more. Everything went black and Darius slumped to the ground.