To Hunt A Magick

Prologue

Smoke curled through the air, her heartbroken sobs melded with the crackling of the fire. "How could you do this? Why would you do this?"

He smiled, "It was as easy for me, as it was for you to turn me away. Now you know what it is like to lose it all. To lose your heart."

"You are a monster, and I am glad I did not choose you. I pray you rot for this."

He chuckled, the fire surrounding her rose higher and higher, her screams filling the quiet night, "The monster is victorious, this time."

When her screams were no more, and the fire had died away, the man turned to walk away but found his path blocked by a woman dressed all in green, almost as if she were covered with vines. "What did you do?"

"I gave her what she deserved and if you do not move, the same will happen to you."

The woman tilted her head to the side, "You think you are powerful enough to kill me?"

Fire leaped into his hands, "Final warning lady, move."

The vine-covered woman smiled, "No, I do not believe I will."

With a yell, the man shot flames from his hands engulfing the vine-covered woman in front of him. The woman however did not scream, or turn to a pile of ashes, as he had expected. Instead, she merely dusted herself off and looked at him with big brown eyes. Shaking his head in disbelief the man whispered, "Who are you?"

The woman smiled, "I am the one who will give justice to the three souls you have destroyed. I will make sure no one suffers at the hands of a Magick, ever again. You, Malcolm have doomed the world."

Malcolm fell to his knees, "My Lady please, I beg you. I know that I have done wrong in your eyes, but I have not done wrong in the eyes of this world. The woman, she betrayed me, she did me a great unjust, I have only sought my own justice for her crimes against me. If you are truly one to give justice, then let this matter pass, for I sought only for the justice that I deserved."

The woman tilted her head to the other side as if listening to a voice only she could hear. Finally, she spoke, "The actions you have taken for your justice break every law of this world. You a being blessed with magick used your blessing to end the life of three people. People who had not been blessed with magick, people who had truly done no wrong to you. I might have been willing to look away if you had taken your quarrel with the woman alone, for she had done some wrong to you. But you chose to torture and slay her husband and her baby; both of which were innocent in this affair. For this reason, I will not overlook your crimes."

Malcolm shook his head, "They were not innocent. They were the products of her unfaithfulness, and I have washed them clean with fire, as deserved."

"No, Malcolm. You destroyed innocent souls with your blessing, and you will pay for it. I hereby strip you and this world around you of magick, in the hopes that no others face the same cruel fate at the hands of the blessed."

As the woman spoke, she raised her hands, a green glow grew, and as the glow grew, Malcolm felt his fire being torn from him, he could feel its warmth vacate his body. A terrible scream wrenched itself from his lips when he tried and could not summon the all too familiar flame. Sobbing he begged, "Please. I promise to never do it again. Please return my power to me. Please, I cannot live without the fire."

The woman shook her head, "I will not undo what I have done. A damned soul will barter with its damner to get what it wants, only to return to its wicked ways. No, a lesson is needed, but I am not overly cruel. I will give you this hope. You will live to see the magick of this world restored. In time, pure hearts will be born, and in them, the blessings of magick will be born again. When a heart purer than the rainwater that falls on a spring day, gives their last breath for one who betrayed them, then and only then will magick flow freely to everyone once again, and then only then will you finally have peace."