A Magical Word Revealed: The World Unravelled

Day One, Chapter Two, The First Conflict

Morticaya Household, Woodrow, Northern Territory, Australia

Thursday, 1/2/2024

17:10

Aurora Morticaya was home alone and bored as hell. She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Normally, being home alone was a heaven like no other. She could invent and experiment as loud as she wanted without having to worry about her mother or sisters getting mad. But she was too distracted to tinker right now. Her classmate was being recruited at this very moment. It wasn't the first time someone she knew got roped into the world of magic. After all, her two older sisters, Talia and Alexandria, were well known as two of the most powerful and influential figures in the Keeper's Order. They were great, unlike her. Only one in every thousand people were born a Magicae and Aurora was not one of them. Magicae develop their powers between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Aurora was sixteen. Ever since the age of ten, Aurora had dreamed of what powers she might one day have. At fourteen, both of her sisters had gained their abilities. Talia then pleaded with the mysterious Felicia Janus to examine Aurora. Janus had the Subpower Overanalyse, which is currently the only definitive way of telling whether or not someone would develop Magicae Powers. Aurora had been excited to confirm that she would one day have great abilities like her sisters did. Unfortunately, it was found that she had no inherent magical abilities whatsoever. From that point onward, she had devoted herself to inventing, hoping to somehow make herself stronger than her sisters through her own inventions. Aurora stood up and walked across the room to one of her cluttered workbenches. She aimlessly fiddled with several parts for a couple of minutes, then sighed and gave up. It was no use. She was too worried about Nathan Pendragon. She was aware that he was a Magicae. She was aware that he had been spirited to the headquarters of the Order where he would either be recruited, incarcerated or killed. But more than that, she was aware of who he was as a person. They were in the same classes and had become... friends? Yeah, friends was probably the best way to put it. They didn't talk to each other much, although that was not due to a lack of trying. Aurora often attempted to speak with Nathan during breaks, but she was usually dragged away before she got a chance. Aurora was popular. Very popular. Her peers thought that she was the perfect girl. She was cute, friendly and intelligent. No matter what quality you looked for, she had it. With her hair the colour of brass, captivating golden brown eyes and petite figure, she was both adorable and stunning. She was outgoing and could talk to anyone about anything. Almost everyone felt at ease when she was around. And she was outstanding in every subject. She was the top in maths, history, engineering, commerce and science. The rest, English, geography, and so on, she usually ranked second or third. But she didn't gloat. She was humble, and did her best to help classmates who were struggling. There was almost always a large crowd of friends and fans hanging around her wherever she went. No one at school had any idea about her other side. No one, but Nathan Pendragon. She didn't strive to be the best in everything due to ambition or desire, but because of a sense of inadequacy. Sure, she was clever, but compare getting straight A's in all classes to being able to shoot fire or infinitely clone yourself. She felt inferior to her sisters and was always trying to catch up to them. It was an overwhelming, unhealthy lifestyle. One day, she just couldn't take it anymore. She had managed to ditch her groupies during lunch and was sitting behind a small storage shed on the outskirts of the campus. She was crying, letting out all her pent up emotions. Thanks to the rumbling of a nearby train way and the thick vegetation, she would be undetectable. But then someone walked around the side of the shed.

'Oh, sorry. Are you okay?'

Nathan Pendragon was standing there, surprised. This was the first time Aurora had actually gotten a good look at him. He was tall and slightly more well muscled than the average man, although this was well hidden by his very baggy clothing. His face was impassive, showing the bare minimum emotion necessary to communicate. He had piercingly bright blue eyes which always seemed to have a vague yet calculating look about them. He had long, dark brown hair. And his face, it probably would have been handsome had it not been badly scarred. A myriad of ugly reddish jagged lines were clustered on his forehead, just barely peeking out from underneath his hair. One scar, on the other hand, was on the side of his face; a crescent moon shaped mark that curled around his right eye and twisted along his cheek. He wore the school's black and white uniform, although it was at least one size too large. And despite the warm weather, he wore long pants, long sleeves and a jacket. He looked down at her with a mildly concerned expression on his face.