Chapter 1: When the Moons Exploded

“WHAT are you reading?” 

Elena jumped out of surprise and tossed the crumpled paper back from the litter basket. “Nothing. This literature is ridiculous. We could not find anything here.”

Jason appeared from nowhere, his little ball-plaything bouncing back on his hands. "Startled?" He gave her a devilish grin.

They were friends who both shared the same thirst for truth in answer to the call of their blood. They went from far places, then after two years, they found out their truth. They did not know that they were Magicians until they found out about the school – or, at least, she did not. They were both orphans. And then, they found out that Magicians were all orphans. 

Elena grew up in an all-girls institution and quite exceptional in almost everything. Her mates of the same age struggled with solving precise equations; she mastered advanced calculus when she was twelve and could make formulas no one could understand except her. 

“What’s with their literature by the way?” Jason asked. 

“There’s mention of Magicians. But, not good mentions.”

“How come?”

“They were evil and on that paper. It mentioned that Magicians had gone rogue and there existed black magic. It said that Magicians were evil.”

“Let me see,” Jason raised his hand and scrambled the papers on the bin without blinking his eyes and not moving from his standing position. When he felt that it was the same paper Elena threw, he closed his fist and opened it to receive the paper. He read the paper for a minute. “There’s no mention like that in there.”

“Like what?” Elena asked. 

“That’s it’s all the root of all evils,” he replied. 

“That’s the same assumption,” she replied. “I’m done here. This place is so dead. I could not tell how long. There are no fossils available except for the papers. But papers are so tricky. They can be rewritten, and therefore, we could not trust it to calculate how long this place has been.”

Jason did not argue. She just watched him as he sheepishly scrutinized the crumpled place she just disturbed. “You do not trust the papers but you have read each of the scrolls. How does that help you?”

He just grinned, teasing her. “I don’t know. I was just searching for hidden tunnels or maps or whatever tells something. But those are boring scribes. Fantastical.”

“Let’s call it a day,” Jason said. He took Elena’s open bag from the floor without standing like a magnet pulling an object. “You know, I can make you stand even without asking you.” 

“I know,” she replied. “But you won’t do that.” 

“Why not?”

“Because you love me?”

“That may be,” Jason teased. “But sometimes I’m bored and I’m free to do whatever I want to do.”

“Then, why not?”

“Because magic has limits,” Jason replied. “You know that.”

“I know,” she teased back. “But why don’t you do that? How could you know your limits if you won’t try it?”

“Because of the cost of it.”

“Is there some cost on magic?”

“Yes,” Jason replied. “Just like what you have read.”

“So it might be true.”

“True what?”

“That Magicians might be the cause of the Great Silence.” 

Elena watched Jason weighing his response. She caught his attention and she loved how innocent he looked when he’s troubled by his choices. Nonetheless, she stood and grabbed the bag from Jason who, by cue, followed after her leaving the balcony of what looked like an empty throne room. 

 When they were outside the palace, they both looked back. There was such magic that covered the place. It was enormous that Elena could not describe it. It’s too thick to imagine compared to what covered Los Barrios. The place was calling her. She would like to understand it but she’s too young to magic.

“I would love to train you, Elena,” Jason interrupted her thinking. “I know you are new to magic and I was not sure that you’re one of us until you went to Los Barrios.” 

“How old were you when you found the place?” 

“I was born inside,” Jason replied. “Mother died. Raised by an uncle who’s a Traveler.”

“So, when we did meet, you already knew what you are?” 

“I’m sorry,” he replied. “But everyone was watching you from there. Someone has to be a guide. I volunteered.”

She spoke not a word out of anger. Jason lied. He said he did not know when truly he was looking after her. For all the years they were together, he did not even give her a clue about this magical world. Without a delay or a second glance, she stormed back to Los Barrios. Jason never bothered her after that last conversation. After dinner, he just left her on the Dwelling Palace's balcony after wishing her goodnight. 

It was too chilly for a summer night. On her evening dress, sleep did not visit her. She was tossing everywhere until she decided to rise and read something. There were some books on her upper shelves which she found rather instructive than most of the teachers in the Palace. She’d been reading it when she arrived two weeks ago  -it could explain some of her questions.  She thought she knew Jason quite well when she did not even know that Los Barrios as a school existed but just a forest. She's disappointed on that revelation - no one actually knew anyone. There were secrets only known by the bearer. 

Tonight, the book helped nothing. By the morrow, she’d had to choose a mentor who would train her to become a better Magician. Los Barrios was a small school of magic though it was designed after the Celestial Palaces. Only a few Magicians and those few needed hands-on training and there were so few of the teachers. Some of the teachers, they admitted, were learners too - still learning the scope of their magic since the Great Silence. There was a point in history, Elena discovered, where Magicians were wiped of memory and did not know about magic. That is why they had to relearn the craft of the art which made them Magicians. 

Their numbers were few and every day they were watching for someone from afar to determine whether they were one of them. Elena discovered it herself when she accidentally calculated when the Lunar moons were spotted. Besides, she was a potential candidate that these Magicians were watching for years. 

Scientifically, the odds were impossible. But it was so many years ago, centuries even when science could explain that the rocks that orbited Mars were the remains of the two moons which exploded. She thought of it, ran the numbers, and passed it along to a fossil reader. The readings matched. Therefore, it concluded that those rocks were of the moons. Though it was not just magic, it was science. Still, she’s not convinced until she willed it and she was in space herself when the moons exploded.

She could not believe it. She willed it! 

She saw the world revolved around her feet. The world was a fireball, and space was built to entertain a massive nuclear bomb, greater than Hiroshima and Nagasaki; too strong to destroy two moons at the same time. Until she could not help it. Someone was calling her back – back to her body. She passed out. When she woke up, she saw Jason’s face leaning over her - on a bed, in Los Barrios Infirmary. 

That was the first time she realized she's not insane. Since then, things were not been the same anymore. She’s a prodigy on numbers, back with humans and without magic. People would look at her with awe and jealousy. Now, in this world, she’s just an ordinary person. She was willing to watch the moons explode but Jason went to Hell and caught with Hellfire. 

She’s considering Jason’s proposal. Things were not the same anymore. Better to make her mind soon. Then, she went out of her room and to Jason’s. 

“IT’S four o’clock in the morning,” Jason said, not bothered to turn on the light and not watching his bedside clock. 

“How come you know that it’s me?” Elena asked. 

“Your smell, darling,” he snapped back without even watching her. 

“How do I smell?” 

This time, he moved. He saw her face in the dim light of the moon. Her black hair shone, glistening in the beauty of divine seduction. She tried nothing to light a candle. She walked to his bedside and crawled beside him. Only wearing her sleeping dress, he saw the contours of her slender body. He jerked for a sitting position to cower over her beautiful face. 

“What are you doing?” he asked. 

“I’m trying to sleep,” she replied. 

“In my room?”

She just smiled - that perfect curve of her lips that tempted the first Magician to turn the apples to red. He felt the hot turmoil on his groin. 

He knew Elena when they were still orphans, out from the safety of the Palace of Los Barrios, wandering to search the place he knew already. He could just lead her here when he saw her. But that would be the end of everything between them. He could not just do that. He was given the task to look after her and from watching her afar, he knew that their souls were entwined. He was in love with her. And, demons and angels, though they slept with anybody or everybody for matters of pleasures, they only loved once. He knew he loved her. 

He could not stop gazing at her. He did not know what this message was all about but he knew that he wanted her. Having the upper advantage, he kissed her on the lips until she gasped. 

She took his right hand to scoop her boobs. She liked it, he thought. He kissed her on the neck, just at the back of her ears, while enjoying her beautiful curves and valleys of her body. He trembled with desire until he was led to the hot corners of her privates. She was wet and waiting. She unbuckled his belt and played with his wanting. Then, she turned and flipped over him. She’s on top of him. 

She played a little on his manhood until he could feel that she was preparing herself for the invasion. Then, he was inside her. Back and forth, rubbing his ultimatum; her, gasping with delight on top of him. She was saying something until when he reached his peak, only then he understood what she was saying – you’ll train me, but I’m your master – and he agreed. Such was unbreakable on Magician’s law once performed under the binding union of bodies. 

“Men,” she muttered. Elena rose from the bed and went back to her room - not a crumple on her dress and a touch on even a single hair.