The Boy Witch

14: History Lesson

"A history lesson?" I ask incredulously as I slowly ease into a nearby desk. His golden warlock eyes flicker with interest as he observes my caution.

"Yes," he says, leaning back on his desk. "But before that, you had asked me a question." I nod my head slowly. True, there were a lot of questions running through my mind, but only one of them really needed to be answered.

"Who exactly are you, Mr. Wiser?" I ask.

He chuckles. "Such a basic question, but I will answer it either way. To put it simply I am a warlock, but you know that. I have been around for a very long time, lad. I have seen the rise and falls of kingdoms, empires, and countries. I have seen the scourges of war and famine, disease and disaster. I have seen many things in my lifetime, both life and death, prosperity and destruction. I know as much as well, so I teach my knowledge for others to heed." He shrugs his shoulders carelessly. "Not as if anyone actually listens to it."

It was silent for an uncomfortable stretch of time. Mr. Wiser was quick to examine my appearance further than he had before. He slowly pushes himself off his desk and walks to my own, circling around me like a predator would around his prey. "Do you know anything of your heritage, Northern?" he asks me.

I hold my tongue from correcting him on my name, as I prefer North to my full name. He didn't correct himself when I first told him to call me North, I would think he wouldn't change now. "If by heritage you mean parents and family, then no," I reply, instinctively leaning away from him. He hums in interest. "You are adopted," he mumbles to himself.

"While that is important," Mr. Wiser said, setting himself in front of my desk, "what I mean by heritage is the history of your kind, the history of witches." He leans forward, his golden eyes drilling into my own. I lean back slowly as he begins to get too close for my liking.

"How can I when I get attacked everywhere I go?" I retort. It was true, I can't learn half the things I want to when people were after my head. Mr. Wiser looks at me for a moment longer before he felt satisfied and took a step back. "You make a good point, lad," he chuckles.

"Well, for every species, there is a legend or myth or fable behind their creation," he starts, circling my desk. "For witches, it starts in the City of Stars up in the Sky.

"In the City of the Sky, there was a lonesome star. She, among the other stars, loved to look down from their heavenly perch and watch the mortals of Earth. One day, the little star leaned too far out and fell from the Sky. The only witness of this was her goddess, the moon.

"Instead of helping the little star the Moon Goddess decided to leave her on Earth to learn what it meant to actually live. When the naive little star landed on Earth, she was found by a young shepherd boy. He took her in and cared for her injuries from her fall from the City of the Sky.

"Over time, the two fell in love and bore a child. As a child of both the Heavens and of the Earth, the three realms fought over which the child should reside.

"'The child is of a star's decent!' declared the Lord of Stars. 'She must come up to the City of Stars for her rightful place!'

"'While that may be true,' reasoned the Mother of Earth, 'she is the daughter of my son and of a star fallen. She belongs down in the mortal realm.'

"'If the child should not be welcome anywhere else, she will always be welcome in the World Below,' said the Messenger of Hellfire. 'My Lord Lucifer is interested in the halfling as an apprentice; he wishes for help monitoring the lost souls of Helle.'

"The three representatives of the realms fought for years, never coming to a final conclusion. The star and the mortal man were oblivious to the fights over their child. They lived peacefully for a while, their child well loved and cared for, and the three were happy.