Prologue

 

     "Vieren, is it true?" The woman's gaze anxiously searched the taller man's face, which was distant and blank behind his bushy brown beard and mustache, and shadowed by his hood.

 

   "I'm afraid it is, my dear," Vieren replied monotonely.

 

    "Why, though? Why is he doing this?"

 

    "He says that people cannot be trusted. He says they need someone to rule them, someone honest and good to help them be so."

 

    "But.... is- is that even possible anymore? After what he did to all those people?"

 

    "No, my dear. The Trancendant is no longer of Light. The Mage is no longer White. He has abandoned his light magic to embrace the dark. The White Mage is gone; now he is Black."

 

     "What will we do? What can we do?" She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

 

     Her desperation softened his distant coldness. He placed his hand against her cheek. "Not all is lost yet, Enevlyn. We have one hope remaining."

 

     "What? He was always the strongest among us. Now that he has embraced the dark, it will consume him, but empower him. What could possibly stop him?"

 

     "The light he cast aside is not gone. It did not dissapate or become corrupted. Come. Let me show you..." Vieren swept his arm out, gesturing towards a door. Enevlyn followed, hesitantly. Vieren walked over to a bed, where a heap of blankets surrounded something. Vieren stood back as Enevlyn leaned forward to peer under the blankets.... and gasped.

 

     Chapter 1

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     "Come here, Luminous," Enevlyn beckoned. "What did you do today?"

 

     "I had class," the boy replied shortly. He was clearly in a poor mood, and Enevlyn could probably

guess why.

 

     "Is it about Vieren again?" she sighed. Vieren was trying, he really was, but he wasn't good with

children. He had more of a college-professor style of teaching than an elementary school teacher.

 

     "He looks at me in a strange way. He stares and looks like he thinks I am going to do something

bad," Luminous complained.

 

     Enevlyn ruffled his short white hair. "Oh, Luminous. Vieren likes you, he really does. He just has a lot

to worry about. He wants the best for you,  but doesn't know how to help you best. And you Luminous,

you're special. Remember that, and know Vieren's trying. It's not you he's worried about doing

something bad. You remind him of someone he used to know and care for. It's him that Vieren's worried

about, not you."

 

     Luminous just pouted. "Now, now, none of that," she scolded him gently. Even though he was

growing up without parents, the whole organization of Aurora cared for him as if he was their own. He

knew better manners than that.

 

    "I appologise for my rude behavior," Luminous said stiffly. Enevlyn knew he was in too bad of a mood to feel sorry now, but he was going to later. He really was a good boy, but not having parents was hard. And Aurora had, for his whole life, been dealing with the growing threat presented by the Black Mage. Those two things together did not make for an easy childhood.

 

     "After you settle down a bit, I'll try to get Helioson to show you a new trick he learned," Enevlyn coaxed. Luminous nodded glumly, before slouching off to his room.

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     "Rraaaah!" Luminous shouted, charging towards his sparring partner.

 

     "This practice is to help you with your dodging and with your new skill," Helioson announced to the two in a practice fight. Luminous, you're already good with dodging. Focus on your Flash Shower attack! Gerrick, you have good offense but your dodging sucks! Work on that!"

 

     Luminous ducked under Gerrick's attack. Gerrick was three years older than Luminous, but everyone said Luminous was a real prodigy. He was the only one who had lived in Harmony his whole life. The only one raised by the organization Aurora. Everyone else had been recruits. Even Lucia, who had moved in to Harmony at a very young age, hadn't always been a part of Aurora. Gerrick fired off another burst of Flash Showers from his double-sided staff, called a Light Rod. The Flash Showers looked like arrows, almost, spiraling and feathered, made of blue-white light. But their insubstantial appearance was misleading. They hurt if they hit you. Especially Gerrick's. He'd been practicing.

 

    Fortunately, Luminous was quick and had already mastered a difficult technique called Flash Blinking. He could basically teleport out of the way. So he did. A bubble of blue-white light enveloped him, and he focused on the space right above Gerrick's head. He reappeared in the space he had been focusing on. Now he was hovering in the air, directly above Gerrick. A good strategic position.

 

    "Lumi, I told you you need to attack! You haven't done anything yet! This is training!" Helioson shouted at him.

 

     Couldn't Helioson see he was getting into position? Luminous knew enough not to attack when it would leave him open to his opponent's counterattack. As gravity began to reach him again, Luminous raised his own Light Rod and shot a Flash Shower at Gerrick. It wasn't as fast or powerful as Gerrick's was, but it struck true, slicing him in the arm. Gerrick spun around, preparing his own attack, but Luminous had been ready. As soon as he had attacked, he had started a Flash Blink. Right before he fell into Gerrick, the bubble of light enveloped him, and he landed safely on his feet, on the other side of the room, Light Rod at the ready.

 

     "Good, Lumi. Timing and execution down. Put more power into it though! Gerr, that was an epic failure! You need to be aware of where your opponent is! Try again!"

 

     Gerrick roared, spinning in a circle while firing Flash Showers off in all directions, rays of light radiating out from a center point like lines from the sun in a child's drawing. A good idea, actually.  But easier to dodge farther away. Luminous sucessfully dodged all of them without even Flash Blinking. He sidestepped one, jumped over another, and ducked under a third. An omnidirectional attack is harder to avoid closer to its centerpoint.

 

     But that gave him an  idea. What about  a converging attack? What if he implemented Gerrick's attack, but in reverse? It was risky, but would be hard to dodge without using a magical skill, and Gerrick wasn't exactly known for his evasion. This would require speed to pull it off well.

 

     Luminous raised his Light Rod. Gerrick saw Luminous was ready to attack, so he took a defensive stance. Luminous began to swing his Light Rod to shoot a Flash Shower- but he feinted. Instead, he went straight into a Flash Blink without attacking. He appeared behind Gerrick to shoot a Flash Shower then Flash Blinked again.

 

     Gerrick blocked the first attack with an attack of his own, and barely managed to dodge the next two, but Luminous kept on coming. Luminous watched as realization dawned on Gerrick's face that, to escape this attack strategy, he must use a magical evasion.  Which Gerrick was far from mastering.

 

     Serves you right for being in this situation, Luminous thought. You neglected your other training. Imediately, Luminous was filled with guilt. He knew that wasn't true; Gerrick had been training hard, and put in many hours. The nasty thought had been spawned by jealousy of Gerrick's greater power. Luminous knew he would have to get a hold on his envy; Enevlyn and Vieren had warned him of its dangers.

 

     A glow gathering around Gerrick snapped Luminous's attention back to the sparring match. Gerrick executed his move, reappearing several yards away just in time to avoid Luminous's most recent attack. Light Speed, the technique Gerrick had used, was more convenient for rapid travel, but was much less precise than Flash Blink. It was more likely to leave you in range of the danger you were attempting to escape, because it could only carry you so far. Perhaps Luminous could use this to his advantage.

 

     If Luminous could corner Gerrick, leaving only one escape route, and could predict where he would reappear, Luminous might be able to win the match quickly. But to do that, he must figure out exactly how far Gerrick could Light Speed. The problem, though, was that Luminous was running low on mana after that converging attack. Once he was out of mana, he couldn't do any more magic until it naturally replenished, which, unfortunately, took a while. If he was to succesfully execute his 'trap,' he would have to save what mana he had left. That meant the only feasible way to force Gerrick to use Light Speed again was a crude physical attack.

 

     Luminous charged at Gerrick, shoulder out, as if to body slam him in the chest. Gerrick sidestepped with a smirk, unable to believe that the 'prodigy' would try such a pitifully obvious and avoidable attack. What Gerrick hadn't realized was that this was exactly what Luminous was hoping he would do; Luminous scythed sideways and outward with his leg, and slashed backwards with his Light Rod in a pincer-like attack. It was too high to jump over, too low to dodge under, and too long to jump backwards to avoid. Gerrick would have to use his Light Speed again.

 

    As Luminous recovered his balance from his charge, skidding to a halt, he carefully scanned the area to watch where Gerrick would reappear. When, in a shimmer of air, Gerrick reappeared, Luminous quickly calculated how far he had traveled. Now he was ready to implement his plan. Luminous ran at Gerrick again; not to tackle him, but to drive him towards a corner. Swinging his Light Rod like a staff, he struck at Gerrick repeatedly and quickly, forcing the latter to step back to dodge. Every time Gerrick tried to sidestep, Luminous threw a punch towards him to keep him moving backwards. Luminous didn't leave Gerrick enough room to launch a physical or magical attack. When he was satisfied that Gerrick couldn't try to run backwards any farther, because of the wall, when he executed his move, Luminous began. Using Flash Blink and Flash Shower, Luminous set up a much closer range converging attack- deliberately leaving one line of escape. Gerrick, seeing the attack and the escape route, began to use Light Speed since there was no way to physically outrun the attack. As soon as Luminous saw the air around Gerrick begin to shimmer, Luminous Flash Blinked.

 

     Luminous' move was executed perfectly. Both he and Gerrick reappeared at the same time- Luminous directly over Gerrick's head. As he fell he crashed down into the older recruit, pinning him to the floor.

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     "Luminous wins the sparring match!" Helioson shouted. Luminous stepped back and helped Gerrick off of the floor. The two of them shook hands then walked over to Helioson to hear his tips.  "Very good, the both of you. Lumi, good strategy and evasion, but you need to watch your mana. Don't forget you only have so much of it. Try to always leave a reserve, because if your opponent was holding back until you were running low, there's essentially nothing you can do to defend yourself. Try to find a balance between conserving mana and using it to make your attack strong enough to be effective. Gerrick, you did quite well there. Your Light Speed technique is much better than before. Keep working on it and your endurance. Don't worry, getting pinned is nothing to be ahsamed of.  You're both still learning, and you never know what to expect with Lumi. Ok, you're dismissed."

 

    Luminous and Gerrick turned to leave the sparring room, when Helioson shouted after them, "Oh yeah, I forgot. Don't forget we're going to be leaving in three days for a trip to Orbis! Don't just pack the night before!"

 

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     Luminous pulled his suitcase along as he followed Enevlyn. Lucia walked alongside him, hugging her stuffed animal cat. Lucia was

the only other child around his age. They were going to go to Orbis, home of the nymphs.

 

     Nymphs were one of the three species of fairies. Like all fairies, they had pointed ears and aged more slowly than humans. They

had feathered wings like angels, and their own special brand of magic that no human could replicate. Helioson and Vieren had spent

the past several days teaching them about the fairies, in preparation for this trip.

 

     Aurora had decided to seek help from the fairies. Vieren was taking Helioson to the forested Victoria Island to hopefully speak to the Sylphs and the Elves, and Enevlyn was going to Orbis to meet the Nymphs. Luminous and Lucia got to go along with Enevlyn because Aurora hoped that meeting the children would help convince the Nymphs that they were not lying, and garner support. They wouldn’t get to attend any of the important meetings, but that was fine since the meetings were boring.

 

     Luminous and Lania were expected to further their studies while on this trip. They were supposed to do some of their usual daily work, as well as meeting the Nymphs and learning about them and their culture. Enevlyn expected them to be on best behavior. Luminous wasn’t sure that this trip would be particularly fun.

 

     Soon, they reached a port. A small airship was waiting to take them to Orbis. Luminous was surprised how small it was. It wasn’t much larger than a rowboat. He knew that no humans lived in Orbis, and the only way to get there was to receive special permission from the fairies, but he hadn’t expected the ship to be so small. Enevlyn didn’t hesitate though, and climbed in, and beckoned for Luminous and Lucia to follow. They hauled their suitcases into the tiny airship, and sat down on the hard benches. “Pull out your schoolbooks please,” Enevlyn said once Luminous and Lania were seated. Luminous sighed but unlatched his suitcase. There wasn’t going to be much to do on the airship, so of course Enevlyn would have them study. “Turn to page 52 of A Guide to Ossyrian Fauna, and let us begin with the paragraph on Celions…”

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     “You may now put your books away,” Enevlyn informed Luminous and Lania. “We’re almost to Orbis. I’ve heard it’s a spectacular sight.” Lania excitedly climbed to peer over the airship’s side, but Luminous took his time repacking his suitcase. He had never traveled before, and didn’t know what to think. They had studied all of the major continents, but it had still felt so distant, and disconnected from the rest of the world.

     He climibed up onto the bench next to Lania. The clouds swirled below them, lazily floating in the sunlight. “Lumi, look!” Lania tugged on his sleeve with excitement. She was pointing to a different kind of white than the clouds, a vivid white, glittering and cold.

     Enevlyn gently rested her hands on their shoulders. “The El Nath Mountains. Quite impressive in person, aren’t they?” The snow-capped peaks rose above the clouds, stretching to invisibility at the horizon.