"Where is he?" Mr. Alex Sewall, principal of North Lakeview High School, glanced impatiently at his watch for the sixth time in ten minutes, and in doing so, missed his guest's appearance entirely. The young man manifested apparently out of nothing, but for a moment remained transparent and slightly out of focus. He was out of breath when he became opaque, his long, straight hair was a bit mussed, and his thin wire glasses were balanced precariously on one ear and the edge of his nose. The young man's white shirt was rumpled, though his black slacks were neatly pressed. His black trench coat had seen better days but was by no means shabby, though the laptop shoulder bag he carried looked new.
"I'm here!" He panted, trying desperately to catch his breath. Mr. Sewall looked up when the man spoke, and jumped when he realized the arrival's proximity.
"I didn't hear you come in.." The principal exclaimed, calming down.
"I forgot my, er, visual aid." The presenter explained and smiled weakly. Had to get it from my office."
"Has this been approved by the school board?" Mr. Sewall frowned, looking at the VHS tape the other man provided from his shoulder bag.
"Er, no, sir." The younger man's expression fell. "I've been working on this for the past two months straight. I haven't had time to get it approved. I only finished it late last night."
"All videos are supposed to go through the school board." The principal sighed. "But I think that just this once, it couldn't hurt." The speaker's face lit up with a brilliant smile.
"Thank you, Mr. Sewall, sir!" He bowed politely.
"Never mind that, just go out there and do your presentation." The elder man took the tape and ushered him out to the stage. "I'll run this to the projection room."
The violet haired man beamed and sauntered onto the stage where a podium and microphone awaited.
"Good morning." He said into the mic, eyeing the crowd through his closed eyes. There was a loud moment of feedback, and he pulled away from the podium with a surprised expression. The audience chuckled.
"Er, good morning." He tried again, without feedback. "My name is Sollex Lium, and I am from Aftermath Graphics and Communications."
A myriad of "hello" s, "yo" s, and "so what" s greeted him in response.
"I'm here to share with you the wonderful world of computer animation and programming." Sollex cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Most of you here have probably played video games at one point or another, so I'm sure you know that it's programmers like me that make these games work. Therefore, I'm not going to stand here and tell you what I can do. I'm going to show you. If the people in the projection room are ready...?"
A screen dropped behind him.
"A, thank you." He smiled again, but this was a more mischievous grin. "I made this myself. Please, enjoy." The lights went down as his violet eyes opened wide; he felt a familiar, yet ancient and long absent power spike.
Magic? he thought with confusion etched in his expression. Someone here has magic... old magic... His eyes narrowed. Powerful magic.
The screen caught his attention as he returned his thoughts to his creation. A fairly simple pixelated character, much resembling the ones from early video games, ran across the black screen, carrying what could have either been a stick or a sword. Several people in the audience laughed at the low level graphics and cheap sounds until the little man suddenly held up his weapon. 'Light' gleamed off the top and swirled outwards until the whole screen went white. A heavy drumbeat filled the auditorium and was shortly followed by guitars and an electric keyboard synthesizer. The screen cleared, and the view panned down on a sword totally unlike the one before. The graphics were smooth and infinitely more realistic, right down to the metallic sheen and illusion of three dimensions to the blade and then to the strong hand gripping the hilt. A voice began to sing with the background music.
[Author's Notes: Lyrics are mine, I wrote them. Think techno music.]
The sun sets and rises, giving life and death to every soul
The sword's blade clashed with another like it, except this one was made of black metal. The view pulled back to reveal two men with their swords locked. One had long blond hair tied back at the nape of his neck and azure armor. He held the regular sword. The other was dressed in a long black cloak and hood with a black tunic and pants underneath. He also wore a lower-face mask, offsetting his pallor, violet hair, and blue eyes.
The beginning and the end are one and the same
Light glinted off the blond man's armor and his opponent's ebony sword. The 'camera' spun around them as they pulled apart and struck again. The dark clad man quickly slashed at his enemy, who neatly deflected the attack. A small streak of crimson blood spouted from the armored man's face. He gritted his teeth and blocked a crushing blow from the pale man.
Don't fight me, because I am your shadow
The blond struck his opponent, and a particularly strong guitar riff accented the blow. The screen went black suddenly as a bright blue line streaked across it.
You know you can't destroy me anyway
The silver sword's broken tip fell at the feet of a young woman who baked up past it. The image panned up over her, revealing her long, fiery red hair and scarlet eyes. She frowned, then threw an orb of pure energy in front of her. The video followed the sphere's path as it flew toward another girl dressed in white robes with black hair. The fireball smashed against an invisible wall.
I am here, I am now, and I am everything
The girl in the robes also threw an orb of energy at her enemy, but the redhead easily dodged and threw a blue power spear at the smaller girl. The javelin missed and dissipated. The redhead's black cape billowed around her crimson clad body, and the gleaming rubies that adorned her flashed with power.
I am gone, I am then, and I'm the past
Crimson light gathered in the dark sorceress' hands. The screen was filled with the red glow, blinding everyone. When it faded, the dark-hooded man appeared against a white background. He threw his cape to the sides, revealing the stars of infinite space on the inside of his cloak.
I am the emptiness of despair
His once blue eyes turned gold as he leapt towards the audience, embracing them with the darkness. That illumination did not fade as the emptiness enveloped everything.
A soft laugh filled the air as the music faded.
I am...
The lights came back up, and there was a brief pause.
"And that, boys and girls, is what you can do with computer graphics." Lium cleared his throat and watched for a reaction.
One student stood up and clapped; a girl with auburn hair and hazel eyes. A tall blond boy with short, spiky hair, a short-dark haired girl, and a slim girl with long black hair plaited over her shoulder shortly followed her. Slowly, every student in the auditorium stood up and joined in, but Sollex's eyes never left those first four teenagers.
The smile faded from his lips as his vision slipped from the physical plane to the astral plane. Four pulses of power touched his demon's vision, dancing like fire on a still pond.
Magic... He though. Magic? Here? Now? How is it possible? There's been no trace of magic since the Angel... An image filled his mind; it was the memory of a man with huge black wings spread across the heavens, of a wild golden power reaching out and destroying everything it touched. It was the memory of the last resurrection of a monster that would have destroyed all of humanity out of revenge, the Angel of Vengeance, which had disappeared more than five thousand years ago.
A violent earthquake suddenly shook the school to its very foundation, also snapping Lium from his reverie. In the trembling earth he felt the same burning power that had hit him years ago, raw energy that screamed for blood and pain. The cry was stronger than any instinct he possessed as a demon; it demanded the destruction of all life.
But oh, it was a surge of pure and unrestrained magic.
In that tidal wave of ancient forces, Xellos could feel all of his old abilities return. It tingled in his veins and made hem want to weep for joy at the brief taste of freedom. Then the building began to collapse, eliciting screams from the students around him. He ducked under the podium so as to not have to explain why he was uninjured if falling debris hit him. He peered out into the audience, instantly noticing that the doorways had collapsed. Many students had ducked down below the seats, but the four who he saw earlier were scrambling to protect people who could not fit underneath.
They're just humans, he thought. I don't have to do anything. It's been a long time since I got this kind of open buffet. I -
His determined thoughts were interrupted by a scream. The purple haired programmer heard a girl's scream and saw one of the metal support beams break free of the ceiling. The heavy lintel began to descend, but in its path was the girl with auburn hair. The girl was frozen with fear, holding one of her classmates who had been knocked unconscious by other ceiling parts. His violet eyes opened wide as he felt his heart constrict.
"I've been hanging around the humans too long," he muttered to himself. He reached out with his newly unleashed power and shot a small beam of silent force at the wreckage. The support beam swung backwards, missing the girl entirely. The auburn haired student stood a moment longer, then looked straight at the 'presenter'. Her hazel eyes narrowed as she studied the trench-coat wearing man.
"What are you?" She mouthed silently.
"Meet me later," he answered, equally quiet. "At Karma." He referred to a coffee bar not too far from the school.
She nodded gravely in return, and another small tremor ran through the school. Xellos felt the magic drain from the area, and knew that his powers were once more sealed.
"Karma, tonight at six." The girl mouthed. "Don't be late." She laid her classmate on clear ground and met up with her three companions, then disappeared into the crowd.
Karma was a small brick building with a neon blue sign out front. Blue hued lights, giving the interior a soft, relaxing atmosphere dimly lighted the inside. Round tables and high stools decorated the floor, as well as beanbag chairs, a bar, and a small stage. Karma was populated by an assortment of people, from jocks to goths, of the teenage to late twenties in range.
Lium waited at one of the tables, sipping occasionally on black coffee. His eyes were closed, but a troubled expression was on his face. He had left his hair down and removed his glasses to give him a more youthful appearance. Now dressed in a black silk shirt over a white tank top and black jeans, combat boots and a silver watch completed his outfit, while his trench coat and computer bag hung dutifully off the back edge of the chair.
He idly wondered who that girl was, and how she had known it was he that stopped the beam. While had had used magic, she shouldn't' have been able to see it or sense it at all.
Then she appeared, leading her other friends towards his table. She wore a rust colored baby-tee and black flare leg pants with flames decorating the bottom, as well as chunky, three-inch pumps. Her gold bangles jingled too softly to hear against the new-age music currently playing, but the gold hoops in her ears flashed under the blue lights. The blond boy wore a blue T-shirt with a loose black jacket with the sleeves rolled up and blue jeans. High-tops and a silver girl's class ring dangling from a chain around his neck accessorize his ensemble. His right hand clasped that of the girl with the long, dark hair, who wore a simple white blouse, navy skirt, and dress shoes. The last girl was decked out in a white tank top and a long white skirt with a slit up the side and shirt white boots with two inch heels.
"Mr. Lium." The auburn haired girl nodded to the computer programmer.
"Miss... I'm sorry, I don't know your name." He smiled in an embarrassed manner.
"I'm Lexiana, Lexiana Divaric, but please call me Lexi." She held out her hand so he could shake it, but blushed crimson when he attempted to kiss her hand instead. "Um, this is Gabriel Litowser, or just plain Gabe, Shannon Taylor, and Anya Baranova." She introduced the blond boy, girl with long hair, and girl with short hair in corresponding order. Gabriel shook Sollex's hand, but the other two girls refused to.
"Well, Miss Lexi, what can I do for you?" The programmer asked, folding his hands and leaning on them.
"First of all, I'd like to say that your presentation this morning was very interesting." The teenagers sat down at the table with him. "It's a shame the earthquake destroyed your tape."
"Those were really awesome graphics, by the way." Gabe gushed. "And it only took you two months to finish it? There's this guy in my art class who's into animation on computers, and it would take him, like, two years to do that!"
"Thank you." A smile tugged the edges of Lium's mouth.
"Ahem." Lexiana cleared her throat and narrowed her hazel eyes.
"Yes, Miss Lexi?" Sollex turned to face her, but still did not open his eyes.
"What are you?" Lexi asked bluntly.
"Direct and to the point, aren't you?" He winced inwardly.
"That earthquake today wasn't natural. You saved me from a falling beam, but you never left the stage. Something hit that beam, something you sent. What are you, Mr. Lium?" Her serious tone reminded him of ages ago when he knew people of a much darker demeanor.
Lium took a sip of his coffee before answering.
"Do you believe in magic, Miss Lexi?" He asked over the edge of his cup.
"I don't." She shook her head and looked to her friends.
"Nah." Gabriel said.
"No." Anya shrugged.
"I do." Shannon whispered.
"Eh?" Sollex put his coffee cup down. "Miss Shannon, you believe in magic?"
"Yes, I do." She nodded meekly. "Not the magicians that pull a rabbit out of the hat kind of magic, but I do know a little healing magic."
"Shannon?" Gabriel's jaw dropped. "You're a witch?"
"No! I mean, I, Gabe, I - " She winced and stammered.
"Mr. Gabriel, please don't think that everyone who uses magic is a witch." Sollex patted the upset girl on the shoulder. "Miss Shannon here is what is called a white mage, or a healer. Her magic, if it works, would only be used to aid people. 'Witch' is an outdated and inaccurate word to describe users of magic."
"Huh?" Gabriel stared blankly at the other two.
"She's a good witch, not a bad witch." Lexi sighed.
"Oh, okay." The blond took Shannon's hand once more, and the long-haired girl visibly relaxed.
"Well, Miss Shannon, I must ask you to take a look at something for me." Sollex reached for his computer bag. "I have an artifact that I cannot tell the exact origin of, but it has been in my family for countless generations. I believe it to be magical in nature."
"Mr. Lium, you haven't answered my question." Lexi frowned.
"Patience, Miss Lexi, this will answer your questions, I assure you." Sollex removed an article wrapped in black silk. "Miss Shannon, would you please see if you can - "
"A dark force possess the stone in your hand," Shannon murmured. "Ancient forces hold it, and you, tightly in their grasp. You are one of the deathless ones, from the timeless races that once walked the earth." The girl's green eyes glazed over as she spoke, and her three friends and new acquaintance watched in amazement. The object in the programmer's hand glowed a soft crimson.
"Shannon?" Anya asked timidly.
"Red was the color of True Love's eyes/ Held eternally by midnight skies/ Wrapped in the wings of Dark Angel's embrace/ Beware the Devil with innocent face." Shannon's eyes rolled back as she continued to unveil a prophecy. "Lord of Mystery cried before/ Harbinger opened Destruction's door/ Crimson eyes unlock the soul/ To make blue and gold once more whole."
"Shannon, snap out of it!" Lexi shook her friend by the shoulders.
Shannon did not reply but silently too a glowing stone from the silk wrapping in Sollex's hand. The violet-haired man gaped, having not seen the stone react like that before.
"Xellos Metallium." She said, holding the stone that once adorned the Trickster Priest's cloak. "Beware of the Golden Angel, who brings only Death/ Chaos and Destruction are his every breath/ Struggle to find the hidden mean/ Sanctuary lies in eyes of green/ Of golden eyes you must always beware/ For so comes the Harbinger of Despair."
The stone abruptly ceased to glow as it fell from the girl's fingers. Xellos' sharp violet eyes followed the scarlet gem as it hit the ground and dissolved into crimson sparkles.
"Shannon!" Gabriel grabbed his girlfriend as she fainted. "What'd you do to her?" The blond growled angrily.
"I did nothing!" Sollex protested. "I - "
"My God, look at his eyes!" Anya pointed at him. "His eyes are slit like a cat... and purple?"
"They're contacts, Miss Anya." The programmer lied easily. "Miss Shannon is merely suffering from exhaustion, she'll be all right in a short while. Acting as an oracle for such a long prophecy and in a magic-hostile area must have seriously drained her energy."
"What the hell are you babbling about?" Lexi hissed.
"It's magic, Miss Lexi, pure and simple." He answered calmly. "If you don't believe in it, then there's nothing more for us to discuss, and I cannot answer your questions."
The four teenagers sat in silence; the three who were conscious were quickly coming to doubt what they thought they knew.
"If, hypothetically, we did believe in magic, what would you tell us?" Anya ventured curiously. Sollex arched an eyebrow.
"Anything," he replied, "if you asked the right question."
"Can you prove its existence?" Lexi asked.
"Weren't the beam and the prophecy proof enough?" He countered.
"The beam could have shifted trajectories due to aftershocks, and Shannon fainting after some archaic poetry reading hardly qualify as magical examples, Mr. Lium."
"If you really believe that, why did you ask to see me?" He raised his other eyebrow, a bemused smile playing on his lips.
"I - " She paused, trying to come up with an answer. Finding none, she leaned back in her chair and fumed.
"You three, can you sense anything?" He asked, holding out his hand. "Can you feel a tingling in the back of your neck?"
"I can." Anya nodded. "What is this?"
"I can." Gabriel whispered. "Is this magic?"
"I can." Lexi blinked, looking at the programmer's hand.
Sollex closed his eyes, not breaking his concentration as he tried to cast Lighting. A bead of sweat rolled down his face as he chanted the incantation. Very slowly, a white glow manifested above his palm.
"Please believe." Lium gasped, straining to intensify the light. "I cannot do this without belief."
Ironic, he thought, I was once one of the most powerful creatures in the world, and now I am struggling to cast the most simple spell in existence.
"I believe." Lexi, Gabriel, and Anya all said as one.
Xellos suddenly felt something snap, as if a dam had been broken. The light spell in his hand exploded into a blinding flash, and the five occupants of the table fell out of their chairs in shock.
Everyone in the club noticed the flare, and panic rippled through the crowd.
I need a distraction, Xellos thought, not wanting to reveal his true nature to everyone at once. He glanced up and unleashed a minuscule blast of power. One of the blue lights crashed down on their table, startling Anya as she tried to get up.
"Oh my god, are you all right?" One of the bartenders leapt over the bar and ran over to them.
"Yes, we're fine, but I believe one of the young ladies fainted. Could you be so kind as to find us some cool water and a cloth?" Lium rose to his feet, keeping his eyes closed.
"Right away." The waiter nodded and disappeared into the sea of people that gathered around them.
"You, come with me." Lexi was suddenly standing in front of the purple haired programmer, hazel eyes flashing with ire.
The side door of Karma burst open into an alleyway, and a young auburn haired woman dragged a violet haired man by the collar into the passage. She pushed him up against the wall and leaned in close. To the outsider, it would appear that the two were getting intimate, but that would be the wrong assumption.
"What the hell was that?" Lexi growled. "What did you do back there? What are you?"
"Miss Lexi, I assure you that I did not intend for the light spell to explode like that. As to what I am, I can't answer you here." He replied.
"Wrong answer, buster. You can and will answer me here." She snapped. Xellos' eyes opened and flashed with his newly unleashed power. He teleported behind her in a heart beat.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to scream?" he purred, covering her mouth with his hand. She elbowed him in the gut and mule-kicked him away.
"Sure." She hissed.
"I'm the devil," he grinned. Lexi crossed her arms and gave him a skeptical look. "Oh, all right. I'm not really the devil. But I am a demon." He pouted.
"Really?" She still looked skeptical.
"Technically, no." He glanced down, somewhat embarrassed. "The term for my race hasn't been used in several millennia. We were called Mazoku."
"What do you want with us?"
"That... is a secret!" Xellos grinned wickedly. It's been too long since I've been able to say that. "If you want to know more, please bring your friends to this address at any time this week. I'm on vacation, so I'll be home." He handed her a business card.
"What if we don't come?" She asked.
"Then you'll never really know what happened today." He smiled again, closing his eyes. "But don't worry, either way, I won't hurt you. See you later, Miss Lexi!" Xellos waved and vanished in mid-air.
"Damn it!" She yelled and kicked a trash-can.
"So Mr. Lium is a demon called Mazoku?" Anya walked alongside Lexi as the two girls accompanied Gabriel in escorting Shannon home.
"That's what he said." Lexi nodded. "I don't know if that's true, but I do know he's not human."
"He seemed like a nice enough man," Shannon shrugged.
"He was really, really weird." Gabriel snorted. "All that talk about magic and crap."
"You don't believe?" The long-haired girl turned on him, fear in her eyes.
"Hell no!" The blond shook his head vehemently. "If I can't touch it, it isn't real."
"That explains your devout Christianity." Lexi snorted. Gabe turned beet red and sputtered in protest.
"That's completely different and you know it!"
"Lexi, cut it out." Anya ribbed the auburn haired girl. "Gabe never gets on your case about being atheist - "
"Agnostic," Lexi broke in, giving her friend a mock glare.
"Right, whatever." The dark-haired girl waved it off. "He never gets on your case about being agnostic, so don't bug him about being Christian. Everybody needs something to believe in."
"What if Mr. Lium was telling the truth?" Shannon asked quite suddenly. "What if there are other kinds of beings in the world, beings that can blend in with humans, but aren't human at all?"
"Why was he so adamant about getting us to believe in magic?" Anya added. "It seemed to mean a great deal to him."
"Maybe his power depends on belief." Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck. "I was watching this really weird movie, where this guy had a lot of power, but once someone stopped believing in him, the guy's powers wouldn't work on them."
"Well, Mr. Lium gave me his card and told me that if I ever wanted to know the truth, we should go se him." Lexi shoved her hands in her pockets.
"We?" Anya stopped mid-stride. "What do you mean, 'we'?"
"He said to bring you guys along." The hazel-eyed girl rolled her eyes.
"AGH! Lexi, how could you drag us all into this?"
"I didn't drag you into anything, Anya." Lexi scowled. "I simply said that I was going to Karma, and the rest of you kind of invited yourselves!"
"Please don't start fighting." Shannon interjected, quickly stepping between her two arguing friends. "It doesn't matter whose fault it was. Like it or not, we are involved with a demon now. Since he was, or rather, is, disguised as a computer programmer, I'd say we're dealing with a clever one. We have to be careful about this."
"Hey, guys?" Gabriel looked around. "Something weird is going on." When the three girls turned, the blond athlete gestured to the twisted suburbia around them. The trees were gnarled and dead, quite disturbing in mid-spring. The grass grew wild, and unchecked, but the flowers were shriveled as if it were late fall.
"Where the hell are we?" Lexi yelled.
"I thought you were leading!" Anya snapped back. "This is so unfair! How could this happen to me? Why is my life so complicated?!"
"Calm down, Anya." Shannon patted the shorter girl's shoulder. "We're on the road after mine. We're perfectly fine. We just missed the turn, that's all."
"You over-react." Lexi smirked at the short haired girl. "Drama queen."
"Lexi..." Anya's gray-blue eyes flared with anger.
Their banter was interrupted by another earthquake. The violent tremors sent the teenagers reeling; none could keep their balance.
Lexi screamed as the ground between her and Anya split open. The crack was almost as long as the road, wider than a car's length, and so deep that the bottom wasn't visible. Steam roared out of the fissure, whipping her hair back. The fog seemed to take the form of a face, and the mouth moved as if speaking. The wind moaned, supplying the voice of the mysterious figure.
"Why..." The mournful sound echoed wildly. "Why..."
In a heartbeat it was gone. The smoke dissipated, leaving only the clear moonlight to shine down on the crevice. Lexi's shoulders heaved as she tried to catch her breath.
"Is everyone okay?" Gabriel called out, helping Shannon to her feet.
"I think so." Anya replied, then looked over the gap and saw Lexi alone on the other side. "Lexi!"
"I'm fine." The winded girl answered.
A soft whimper echoed from the dark depth of the fissure. Lexi leaned over the edge, trying to see what caused the noise, but she couldn't see the bottom.
"Gabe, I think something's down there." She gestured to the blond. "And I think it's hurt."
"Well, let's check it out." He examined the sides of the crevice. "It looks like it should be pretty easy to climb. I'll go down and see if there's anything down there. Shouldn't be too hard."
"I'll go too, in case you need help." The auburn haired girl began to scale down the side. "I'd have to climb down here anyway, to get over to you guys."
The two teens descended into the darkness, while Anya and Shannon looked on in worry and curiosity.
"Holy shit!" Lexi's horrified voice echoed from the bottom.
Chapter 2 | Fanfiction