M A G I X!

CHAPTER III

"What are you going to do with the baby, Anchor?" shouted another man.

"Hm, her mother was dead, so I'm going to take care of her." Anchor said with a stern look.

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1206 DURING THE BLACK SKY

Two young boys, one aged around six or seven and the other one around 12 or 13, were duelling with their wooden swords in a forest.

"En guard!" shouted the boy with crimson brown hair and green eyes while charging at the older boy. He dodged it easily, hitting his opponent square in the face. The younger boy fell on the grass, rubbing his now red forehead.

"Ouch." he muttered under his breath. "I'm gonna get you this time, brother!" he shouted while getting up and charging again.

The blonde boy with green eyes parred every hit, then disarmed his brother.

"You will have to work harder, Xander!!!" the older boy laughed, shuffling Xander's brown hair.

"Hmpft!" the little boy pouted in annoyance. "One day I'm going to be better than you, Arcana, and I will defeat you!" Xander shouted.

"Yeah, you will..." the blonde boy said with a soft smile. "We better go home, it's getting late and mom will start worrying." he continued looking at the crimson sun.

The two brothers were from a rich family, a noble one. The older boy, Arcana, was tall and slim and had mid length dirty blonde hair and pure green eyes. He was good in combat and also archery. The other boy, Xander, had brown crimson hair and the same deep green eyes. He was very stubborn and determined, so he often got into trouble. The week before he had broken 50 bottles of milk while sneaking into a farm, was chased by a bull after hitting it with a rock and also he was about to get eaten by a giant Venus Flytrap. Oh, boy!

The sun was setting slowly, leaving crimson veins on the lava orange sky. The two boys were walking on a gravel path as Arcana sighed.

"Hey, how determined are you to defeat me?"

Xander stopped with wide eyes, lifting his head up. He didn't respond.

"Let's make a deal: when we grow up and leave home we will get stronger and will find each other eventually. When that time comes, let's have a real battle. For dad. So that we will never forget him."

The younger boy grinned and looked at his brother with a wide smile.

"Okay!"

As soon as they reached the path of the mansion their dropped their wooden swords. The house was on fire.

"Stay here!" Arcana commanded and ran towards the fire. Being the kid he was, Xander followed.

"Brother! Mom!" he shouted. No one came out of the house. He took a deep breath and entered the mansion. The black smoke made him cough violently. The boy looked around, breathing heavily. Then he looked up and... black.

"Xander! Xander!" he could hear vaguely through a blurry vision. "Please! Please don't be dead!" Even though he couldn't see the figure very well, he distinguished the sound as being his brother's. He slowly tilted his head and saw something that looked like a human laying beside him. When his vision got a little bit better his eyes widened. I-it was his mother, but you could hardly tell.

"A-ar-ca-na" he stuttered, breathing slowly, but hardly.

"Xander, I'm sorry! I should've stayed with you. I should've protected you!" the boy said in tears.

He tilted his head again to look at his right arm, but there was none. His hand was cut from the elbow. It was strange, he couldn't feel a thing.

"I-I'm sorry!" was the last thing Xander heard before falling into darkness.

"So many souls have come to our judgement in the last years, don't you think, Konios?" laughed Hades while looking at the soul.

"Don't you dare touch that child, Hades!" Zeus' words echoed loudly.

"Hmpft! So you have seen the hatred, tears, determination and stubbornness of this soul, too?"

"NO! I have seen goodness, purity, determination, loyalty."

"Aww, but he would be such a good servant." said Hades in a high pitched voice. "Ok, so we're going with the good old judgement, then?"

Konios clenched his fist and a wooden chest with gold borders appeared. Then white and black rocks started grouping themselves on each side of the pair of scales. The scale appeared to be balanced for one second, but one last white rock defined the child's destiny.

"He wouldn't have been any use with his slim complexion anyway." Hades pouted and then disappeared in flames.

"I have seen your will to live. You are as lively, as stubborn, as strong, as loyal as fire, so I make you, Xander, The Lord of Fire. I, Konios, give you the gem of flames. Through this silver bracelet you will show your purity. I give thee the ability to fly. Freedom. Wings of fire." The soul glowed red and disappeared.

The boy woke up in a plain field. On his right arm was a silver bracelet with an orange red ruby gem. He slowly stood up and looked at the ruins of the mansion. Everything was burnt, only pitch black ashes were carried by the wind. A hot tear landed on the ground as the boy fell on his knees, crying.

"Mama, Arcana!" he shouted, but no one answered.

He was tired. Xander just wanted to sleep. His eyes slowly closed as he fell to exhaustion.

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