Worthy Of Magic

Part 60 - Prey And Prederator

When he saw the face of the newcomer everyone was talking about, he recognised the monster and painful daggers of vengeful emotions struck deep in his heart.

It was him. The demon who had torn his life apart.

The boy was always quiet. He was an orphan who had spent some rough years in the system. Adoptive families kept returning him like a disappointing commodity within the first few weeks.

Then the apocalypse came, and he was thrilled to be the only survivor in the orphanage until the food ran out, and then, he was forced to confront his worst nightmares as a harsh reality about his past and future became an agonizing truth of his existence.

Until his path lead to the settlement.

There he had managed to hold on to the fringe end of the camp, the border between the ones who lived and the ones who died. Here, he learnt of the monster who brought the apocalypse and his hate deepened.

The same monster had killed his parents.

The teenager watched his path and unconsciously his fingers curled around the knife sheathed on his belt.

-x-

It was night fall when Harry left the Research Centre. He headed down to the beach and walked the path of ripples in the sand in search of a remote spot where he could feel undisturbed.

He remained alert for distortions but felt none as his stroll neared the hour. It was a little while later he spotted a faint image of what looked like a rocky cliff hanging over a rough part of the ocean.

Perfect, he thought and teleported to the edge.

He could still teleport within the desert. Just not out of it.

He sat down cross-legged and with the salted wind whipping through his hair he looked up at the bright night sky.

The catacomb enchantment was rooted in the manifested runes of confusion, space and travel. But he was not confused and the image of his destination of clear in his mind. And yet he was prevented from travelling. Was there a rune he was missing? A catacomb always had a way out.

He reached for the void and looked deeper into the sky. Was he missing something or was it staring right at him in the face and he was unable to perceive it?

Harry leaned back and lay on his back. There were billions of streaks of light hurtling through the sky, over endless horizons. There was no colour that dominated and no rune that stood out. Everything was interlinked on a level that was far beyond his capabilities.

This was the curse he had conjured from the depths of a cruel void. It was a place he could not go back to. He was no longer that person.

What he was now he was yet to understand. And the only way to understand was to keep moving forward.

The wall that now stood in his way was his own a part of his curse, fuelled with an infinite power of an unending universe.

Could he undo just a little bit of it to travel to the Eye of the Sahara? He was sure of finding answers to the most historical question of all. How did it begin? If he knew how it began, he'd know how it had to end.

His journey had taken him further than he could have ever imagined and now it demanded him to find the first magical singularity.

Harry closed his eyes and let his subconscious mind take over. Atlantis. His knowledge of the myth was brought to the surface and he drifted to sleep.

What would it take to reach there?

And the end of all the thoughts and ideas there was only one truth. He needed more Power.