Chapter 2: The New Apprentice Wizard

I woke up the next morning with a knock at my room door. Lazily, I opened the door and found myself staring straight at Maqueda Firocco, the current Head of the Council of Wizards who replaced Grandpa’s position.

Maqueda was a man whose age was near to a century. He was wearing a purple robe and a pointed shoes, the official outfit of the Supreme Wizard. His face was pale. Maybe the Shadow’s awakening had made him feel stressed.  Grandma was standing behind him. She was clasping her hands together, an act that she always did whenever she was feeling uncertain.

The sorcerer waved his hand in the air while murmuring an ancient language and as he did so, purple sparks appeared out of nowhere and they went sipping into my palm.

“Aarrrghh!” I let out a scream. It was painful. It felt like my palm was pierced to thousand pieces.

“Maqueda, you said that it won’t hurt him!” said Grandma in terror.

“I’m sorry. The pain won’t last any much longer from now,” and as he uttered the last word, the pain was replaced with a cold sensation.

The sparks had formed an ancient symbol on my palm, a phoenix. Maqueda glanced at my palm, then at me. Then a grin of satisfaction was formed on his face.

“Rowena, he is The One we have been searching for,” said Maqueda, excited.

“No, there must be a mistake. My dear grandson is too young to handle wizardry,” Grandma gave at me with a sad look.

“Look for yourself Rowena. You know the legend as well as the rest of Gorwath do. This boy is our only hope,” Maqueda showed Grandma my right palm on which the phoenix symbol was embedded. Grandma nodded but with much hesitation.

            “Could someone please explain to me what is happening here?” I was totally dumbfounded.

“You, dear child have a great power of magic. It will become stronger as your age increases. You and only you have the power to go against the Shadow and put an end to its life and immortality. You are the key to a new peaceful life among Gorwathians. The phoenix symbol is a valid proof of that.” Maqueda explained to me. Then he glanced at Grandma and said, “Rowena, I must take this boy to the Tower of Angus where he will begin with his first training with wizardry. Come, boy. We don’t have much time to waste.”

Grandma went to the wardrobe, took out something from the drawer what looked like a twig from a willow tree to me. She approached me and waved the twig in the air. My old torn clothing turned to a turquoise robe. It was the official outfit of an Apprentice Wizard. I had never seen one before but I knew it from a story that Grandma had once told me when I was little. It felt comfortable on me. I never knew that Grandma could do magic before. I ran towards her and gave her my biggest hug and said, “Thank you, Grandma.”

Maqueda and I left Grandma’s cottage in a hurry. Maqueda seemed to be in great excitement. But he was still slow in pace. A man of his age wouldn’t be able to move faster than a seal on land. We were about to reach the Tower of Angus when an enormous scorpion appeared in our sight. That put us to a halt. It was an eerie sight. It had taken hold of a merchant in one of its grasping claws. The scorpion was about to devour a merchant with its sharp black teeth when Maqueda shouted “Thundorisa!” and a thunder blast towards the creature. The effect was so great that the scorpion turned to ashes in the blink of an eye. We ran towards the injured merchant who went sprawling on the ground. There was a deep cut on his abdomen and red blood was constantly oozing from the wound. He was wailing in pain.

“Riko, turn your right palm against the wound,” asked Maqueda .I did exactly as what the old sorcerer told me.

“Now repeat after me,” he added. I nodded to him.

“Connoquious!” said Maqueda. I repeated after him. The phoenix symbol began to glow and amazingly, the wound started to heal. The torn tissues reconnected till they were again intact in perfection. Maqueda seemed to be happy with how my first spell worked. He patted me on the shoulder. The merchant was in complete astonishment. His eyes were widely opened and that looked funny to me. He would look like a clown if a red fake nose were to be put on his face.

       “Thank you young man!” said the merchant. He shook my hand repeatedly, pulled himself up and went screaming around the town telling the incident.

To be continued...