Wielders of Magic, Book 1: A Spell Binding Tale

Tiranous may of lost a partner that day, but that did not mean he was alone. One witch hunter by himself is alright, but one with an army is something else. Why do you think, dear reader, people had started to fear the witches and warlocks around them? Why did they leave the magical race to rot in the gutter, only to be found by witch hunters?

Someone had to start the rebellion, and it was not everyone at one time.

It started with Tiranous and his brother Merivilous. (Tiranous would soon have grandsons later in life which would be Tiranous and Merivilous the third, but they are not the same witch hunters as the ones you see today. Those would be his grandsons.)

They had grown up like normal children in the village of the Black Dragon. They did things normal children would do, play worrier, make friends fast . . .

And be in awe at magic users.

They in fact loved the people, their child hood was built on respecting the magical race. Everyone was taught to be respectful to them because they just might refuse your service when a loved one, or yourself, needed healing.

In the brothers case, it was their father.

A well known healer was brought to their house, by the name of Jerok Fleligma. He had lived in the town of Black Dragon for most of his years, and had a daughter with lovely red hair. He was admired by all woman mostly, because he was a widower with a happy, beautiful little daughter and a smile that almost none could refuse.

But he would have no other but his wife, so he lived alone with his little girl and kept her safe from harm.

The man entered the brothers home and went to the bed where their father lay, drawing out a natural herb he would use in his healing spell. He rubbed it between his fingers and hands and blew on it the soft words of magic he used for the spell.

The herb started to glow as the magic wielder placed it on the deadly sword wound the worrier bore. It shown for a moment, than dissipated.

"What happened?" Merivilous asked, looking from his father to Jerok.

"It didn't heal that's what. The wound has been caused by a magical blade, possibly a master of Steel Blades. You can not heal it." He stood up and shook his head. "That is very unfortunate for you two boys."

"You can't heal it?" Tiranous asked, his eyes swelling with both tears and anger.

"No, he can heal it!" His brother grabbed the magic users caller. "He just won't! He has always had a grudge against our father!"

"I would not kill your father!" Jerok protested.

"Ha, right. They always told us to respect you magic using pigs, but deep down you are trying to destroy everyone who could possibly destroy you! My father was the most powerful man in this town, and you knew you had to pick him off, so you hired the master of Steel Blades and killed him! You murderer!"

"I did none of that! Get your hands off me!" The wizard tried to pry the young mans hands from his shirt but he was shoved up against a wall. Merivilous drew his dagger and ran it through his gut, watching in hateful pleasure as blood streamed out of the mans mouth.

"You killed him!" Tiranous gasped.

"I have killed a lot of people, and if you know what is good for you, you will support me, baby brother." He ran a hand through the smaller brothers hair, looking him in the eye. "We will wipe out all of those retched beings. They have over staid their welcome."

A small, quiet knock sounded at the door. Merivilous turned away from his brother and went to open it.

The twelve year old daughter of Jerok stood in its wake, her eyes large and innocent, with two white wings closed behind her small form. "Is my father still here? He told me it would be a short healing, but he has not returned in some time. Maybe its just me. Is he finished?"

"Yes. Why don't you come inside and meet him?"

Tiranous laid a hand on his brothers shoulder, whispering into his ear. "Brother please. She is just a child."

"Better to kill them now than to let them grow up and fight." Merivilous moved out of the way and let her come in. Her eyes searched the room for a moment before seeing the crumbled form of her father, blood staining his shirt.

"Father?" She gasped, fear turning her rosy face to a cold winter white.

"Fly Drusilla." He gasped, than the life left his eyes.

"Come here you little-" Merivilous lunged for her. She screamed and darted out of the way, kicking him in the face and running through the door. She didn't know how to fly, she was still learning and hadn't reached any heights so far. Maybe a few feet but nothing enough to escape these terrible men!

"Merivilous! Stop!" Tiranous tacked his brother as he shouted in anger. "She is a child! You can't do this! Please!"

"Get off me you weak idiot!" He threw his brother off of him and scrambled after her.

Drusilla wailed in fear and tried to fly, running and taking large bounds into the air, trying her hardest to take flight. He was chasing her towards a cavern, and she knew if she didn't learn fast, she would fall to her death on the jagged rocks.

Merivilous made one last reach for her, sending her bounding off the cliff edge and falling to her depths. She screamed terribly, her wings flaying all over the sky before finally extending enough to ketch her in the up draft. She flapped hard, slowly gaining ground towards the forest, far out of the terrible mans reach.

"Damn!" Merivilous cursed.

"Brother, we can not go after all of the magic wielders ourselves. That is plain madness." Tiranous said, coming to stand beside him and look off the cliff at the flying girl.

"No, but I know someone who can pick off a few. She is messy, but can sure kill things easily."

The boy was blinded by his own anger at that time, and set the terrible, hidden Black Dragon Shannaneria free. She laid captured below the town for more than five centuries, and it was her time to rage war on the ones that put her there.

The wielders of magic.

She snapped and bit and stomped on the houses of everyone she sensed had magic, tearing into their lives like a long forgotten terror of ones childhood.

"Mother!" Jaden screamed, trying to grasp the hand of his mother as the house split in two.

"Go to the cellar! Hide, my child, please!"

Jaden took one last look at his mother before she grabbed him and threw him down the stairs. He looked up at her as he fell and saw a huge beast crash through the walls and devour her, nothing but fire and destruction left in its wake, which took no more than a few seconds to perform.

"MOTHER!" He landed hard on his back, his head hitting against the back wall and knocking him out for a few seconds.

Across town, another mother was trying to save her children. Rey grabbed Jackson by the hand and the two ran into the forest, their mother left behind to try and destroy the dragon.

This woman was not like any other. She was a human, with deep dark hair and crystal blue eyes, who wielded a master Titanium Blade that her magic flowed through like blood in a vein. She ran out at the dragon, her dark armor strapped over her form.

Her husband wasn't here to save her and her children today. It was up to her, and no one else.

Rey and Jackson watched in fear and horror as their mother ran towards the beast, the flames reflecting in their large, teary eyes.

"I said run into the woods! NOW!" She turned and shouted at them.

Rey didn't want to move, he just let Jackson do as his mother had told him. He wanted to help her, he wanted to slay the dragon with her and than they would be a family again.

The mighty mother raised her sword and dug it into the eye of the dragon, making it shriek and throw its head back. Their mother than took a few steps back and grabbed a bow that was laying on the floor. She didn't have a weapon, but she would keep on trying. The beast had to be stopped by someone!

The dragon looked down at her, laughing terribly as she pointed the bow at its other eye. It brought one of its giant claws up and rammed it down upon her before she could dart out of the way.

Rey screamed as he saw his mother reduced to nothing but a pile of flesh and broken bones. He looked up at the dragon and roared back at it, his powerful, young magic blowing the beast to the ground and scaring it to death. It took to the sky after that, not wanting any other part of that little warlock, not in a million years.

"Rey!" Jackson cried behind him. He turned and saw his little brother being grabbed by a man in armor, laughing a little as his brother cried out.

Rey ran to him and whispered a low level spell under his breath, making the man freeze in place. It would only last for a few seconds, but it was enough time to get his little brother out of his hands.

The two ran through the woods, terror in their eyes. These men were everywhere grabbing people left and right and killing them! What kind of chaos was this? They were sleeping in their beds one moment and now were being hunted!

Rey found a pocket in the cavern beside their town, down a couple of feet but low enough no one would see them if they looked over the edge.

"Climb down there and get in the cave." He said, looking around himself nervously.

"I wish mom was here."

"Well she isn't so do as I say!" Rey snapped. "Get in the cave before I throw you off this cavern!"

"I am going." Jackson slowly crawled down into the cave, letting out a small cry as he lost his balance for a moment.

Rey came swinging down into the cave and kicked him into it, landing in front of him and grabbing onto the cave wall to pull himself in further.

They sat there watching as other children and people were taken and killed across the cavern, wondering how they alone escaped the hunters.

"Why are they doing this?" Jackson asked, tears streaming out of his eyes.

"Merivilous!" A man shouted as they stared at him. He stood at the edge of the cavern, holding a young woman over it by the throat. "I can't tell if she is a magic user or not!"

"Kill her anyway, better to be safe than sorry right?"

The girl let out a cry and did some sort of strange magical blast that released her from his hand and set her down on the edge of the cavern. She chanted very loudly and started throwing wild fiery spells at them, blasting them back with all of her might.

Someone came up behind her than and stabbed her in the back, making her drop to her knees and sit there with a shocked look on her face. She was staring straight at the two, looking into their eyes as death entered her soul.

Rey covered his brothers mouth, muffling a cry that would of alerted the hunters of their presents. They were witch hunters, things their mother had said were long gone. Now they had returned, and he couldn't help but wonder how.

"Was that the last of them?" One asked the other.

"I hope so. We need to move to other towns, form allegiances and get these people stopped. Come brother, there is a lot of work ahead of us." The two walked away from the edge and into the forest, cleaning their swords off in the possess.

"I'm scared Rey." Jackson whimpered, his tears unable to be controlled. His brother stared at him for a moment, anger at his weakness dying away and being replaced with the same despair. It was alright to cry when no one was watching, it was alright to be week when there were no other alternatives.

"That's alright, me-me too." He wrapped his brother in a tight hug and they cried together, wondering how they would survive in this newly changing world.

In the desolate town Jaden walked through the broken timbers and wondered if the dragon had gone. He soon found out it was, but the fact that his mother was gone, and that his father had left him before didn't give him much hope for the future.

None of them had much hope for the future.

"Hello small one." A soothing voice said behind him. He turned and saw a tall man with a grey long mustache and beard. His eyes were dark but they were shinning with a hidden smile. "I know you must be scared. Come with me, I will protect you from the hunters." He reached out his hand and Jaden took it hesitantly.

"Who are you?" The eight year old asked.

"I am the Master of the Steel Blade." He replied, picking him up and carrying him, his left hand wielding a long, slender steel blade that was covered in blood. "You will be safe with me, I promise."

That is how it all began, that is how the witches and warlocks, the wielders of magic came to be hunted and destroyed. It started in that town, and it spread through out others like a virus, a killing disease that only the mind can catch.

And it went on for five hundred years, five hundred and this day.

But the wielders of magic would soon rise together and say that they had had enough, destroying all of their enemies. Nothing but fire would be left in their wake, as the witch hunters had done to them so long ago.

Nothing but fire and death.