The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Five - Magic

A funny thing about the kingdom is that they somehow tamed the magic users. They keep mostly to their designated land that the High Council had sanctioned for them many centuries ago. It was said that many centuries ago, when the demigods reigned, magic users were at their very best. There were also many druids, those who had learned all that there was about magic and life. It was said that one druid was to have as much power as a god. Truly, the taming of magic wielding folk then is something that isn't really known. There isn't a single person alive that would know how such a thing happened. The druids were a different matter though. The only thing stopping their supreme rule over the world was their self-imposed code. All druids abide by the code, and the code, they reasoned, separated them from the unnecessary conflicts of existence. The druid code, though, said nothing about inter-druid fighting, and after a great schism arose only one remained. The druid went by the name of Calorn and he offered to teach others in the way of the druid. Though only one person was ever taught.

It is also said that all magic came from the three gods of creation. The one who made the earth and created objects out of nothing, the one who imposed bright light unto the world, and the one who casted every shadow to ever exist. From these three arose schools of thought that then turned into entire cultures. Only by the Great Reunion of so many centuries ago was the Magus Uni created, a pact between those who casted light and those who casted shadow. The art of creating and shaping the earth and its inhabitants was something that was of little interest to humans and was lightly studied. The study fell onto those who were of the earth, like the Zorfec of the volcanoes towards the north.

The ones who studied either light or dark lived in an area dubbed the Witch Permagrounds, though it was called the, much friendlier, Witch Community by most of the kingdom. Here was where most magic users lived. They had their own system of government that answered to the heads of Aviagard. They had a royal family, a caste system, universities, shops, trading, and their own military force that they train so they can be hired by the kingdom. It was, in many senses, a different country that lied in the south west. In this "country" Prodigies were no secret to its citizens. The Prodigies were something to be idolized in a sense, to be gawked at, to swoon over. Many couldn't wait to pull a hair out or cut a tuft of it to turn into a relic. Many wanted to amputate a finger or two to sell the knuckles and bones of Prodigy in an attempt to gain some of their power. No one would dare attempt to attack a Prodigy though, they knew what they were capable of. For the most part.

In the Witch Community you would go nameless until the age of three, and then you have to earn your name through a test. The test could only be taken once, and the Witch Council, the highest in the caste system, would oversee these tests. Names were given by a variety of factors including personality, attunement, affinity, talent, and power. Most names weren't anything special, though some names held greater weight than others. Some names could only be gifted once, while others appeared only once in many lifetimes. The names of Prodigies were of greater caliber. If you were to hear their name and knew the significance of such a thing you wouldn't dare get on their bad side. Names were everything to magic users.

One Prodigy was named after a great pioneer. Nano was a man who was a great pioneer of the darker arts. Darker magic wouldn't be as formidable as it is now without Nano. While the Nano of the present had little to innovate or pioneer he had discovered the magic of voice and sound. He, without controlling a single mind, could convince an army to do his bidding, with enough time of course. His silver tongued arts were not perfect, he was missing an ingredient. Something wouldn't allow him to have immediate persuasion. This was of course inconsequential due to him being a Prodigy, he hardly had the time to study outside of studying for the inevitable battle with Equinox.

Nano, was sparring in the Tomb of Peace. A place where peace came to be buried. The special thing about darker magic was that it was more administrative and required being able to control the flow of magic. Darker magic required no real energy from the user, it only needed willingness to be able to control. Lighter magic required purely your energy output while natural magic needed a balance of body, mind, and the environment to be used – a place between serenity and rage. He was sparing against two magic users, neither of them Prodigies but both were using darker magic. Nano was using strictly lighter magic and natural magic for he has already mastered all there is to master about darker magic. Their fight was to start once Nano made his move. He stared his opponents down. One wearing red and one wearing blue. How cute he thought. He subtly mouthed a few words, they almost seemed like he was cursing at the situation.