The Lightning Thief

Chapter One

Chapter One

Ignatius Illuminon was no ordinary man. He was a thief.

Nor was he an ordinary thief; he stole Lightnings. And he had done that for a very long time now, ever since he had been a boy.

In the land Ignatius lived in, and at the time he lived there, every possible power was the Shadowsmith's.

The Shadowsmith was the only person who could make magical Shadows. Those were used as payment and more valuable the darker they were.

Ignatius Illuminon lived in a small flat in a town near the mountains. In his flat he had a room, very small and without windows; there he kept his Shadows. He was not exactly poor; his "Treasure Chamber", as he called it, was filled with Shadows almost to the ceiling.

The cheaper Pale Shadows were just those you could see on the streets at night, when the street lamps were on; everything cast a shadow then, and when the Shadowsmith made them come to life, they became payment. The Pale Shadows kept themselves at the floor of the Treasure Chamber; they did not want to disturb the more powerful and valuable Dark Shadows at the walls and the edges of the ceiling.

Shadows were not able to fly through empty space, but had to slide around the walls. You could keep them in a small glass bottle and carry them around. They had to obey their master, and their master was the person they belonged to.

Ignatius possessed so many Shadows because he was no ordinary thief. But stealing Lightnings had even been kind of an accident.

When Ignatius was a boy, he had always loved two things most: alchemy and smiths. Often he could be seen hanging around some strong smith's working place, watching the sweaty, dirty man make horseshoes or swords. Ignatius always had wondered how the powerful Shadowsmith might work, because the Shadows were, of course, of no known metal. It must have been some kind of alchemy, his most beloved subject.

One night young Ignatius wanted to go out to a meadow, to get some flowers for his alchemy experiments.

Unfortunately there was a thunderstorm that night. He even would have stayed at home because of the bad weather, but the flower was urgently needed for the experiments and could only be picked at night. So he took his cloak, grapped it tight and went out into the night- his parents and siblings were already sleeping and noticed nothing. Even at this age- he was not more than twelve years old- Ignatius liked to operate in silence and secrecy and had a dark, mysterious look about him. He confused most people.

The meadow was not far from his family's house- Ignatius' father was a farmer-, but by the time the boy reached it and hastily started picking the flowers, he was soaking wet. He was keen to get home, for it was very cold.

Suddenly, when the thunderstorm was right above the meadow, a Lightning flashed down from the dark, cloudy sky, and struck Ignatius.

Lightnings in this land and time were even more dangerous than the lightnings in ours. The Lightnings were as magical as the Shadows, but nobody had managed to tame them yet. So the parents forbid their children to go out when a storm was coming. The Lightnings seemed to strike any person who was out in the storm on their own.

But when Ignatius was struck, he got to no harm; he only received a light blow to the head so he had to stagger back to keep his balance.

First he just wondered how in heaven he could have survived the Lightning's stroke, but when he finally was calm enough to look around, he found a bright, glittering stone on the ground beside him. When Ignatius lifted his arm, trying to examine the stone better, he saw that the bracelet on his left wrist was glowing.

Ignatius always wore this bracelet; it was silver with a chrystal on it, and, most important, in the chrystal imprisoned there was a Black Shadow, one of the most powerful Shadows that were ever made. The bracelet had been passed down through the family, always to the eldest son. Ignatius had two older sisters, but since he was the first boy born, his father had given the bracelet to him when he was ten years old. It was the most precious artefact the Illuminon family possessed, and Ignatius was very fond of it and never let it out of his sight.

A few days later, when Ignatius had secretly searched all his ancestor's old journals- his father kept them in some old chests in the back of his office- the boy had finally found out what made the bracelet special: It had been forged by a former Shadowsmith, who had been deeply in love with one of Ignatius' ancestors. Since Shadowsmiths were forbidden to have children or even marry, this particular one had only given her love a Black Shadow, hidden in a silver bracelet, which made sure the true owner would not be killed by magic. The true owner of the bracelet would always be the eldest son of the Illuminon family. So when the Lightning struck Ignatius, the prisoned Black Shadow had absorbed it and turned it into the bright stone. Ignatius was thrilled.

The same year young Ignatius became a smith's apprentice. He learned the boring things, how to make horseshoes and swords and other things out of metal, but when he finally was through with that and had his master grade done- four years later-, Ignatius went to a jewellery maker. And he learned from him, too. Ignatius was very talented, and by the time he received his master grade- another four years later- the ladies would have killed to wear jewellery Ignatius Illuminon had made.

That was mostly because of the stolen Lightnings, which Ignatius had continued to collect every time there was a thunderstorm. His body attracted the magical Lightnings, and his bracelet turned them into gems. It was incredibly easy.

Since he had, in his free time, also continued with his alchemy experiments, Ignatius had soon found out how to make jewellery with Lightning gems, which were brighter than every other jewel and could even be coloured- if you were as talented as young Ignatius.

Ignatius' father did not like the fact that his eldest son earned his Shadows with jewellery for ladies. He had wanted Ignatius to be a farmer, and when he realised his son would not work on a farm for all Shadows in the world, he was glad that Ignatius was going to be a strong smith. When Samuel Illuminon found out Ignatius had become a jewellery maker, he was furious. He forbid Ignatius ever to come to his house again.

But Ignatius did not even want to. He had a job, he had Shadows, he liked his work. He did not like his family.

He returned once, to fetch his belongings, including the journal of the ancestor who had been given the bracelet (but that his father never found out). Once he had his things gathered, Ignatius moved into the town, where he opened a small jewellery shop. He rented the flat and lived there ever since.

The shop went good; the ladies loved the Lightning gems, and Ignatius could not get enough of them. When he realised he needed to steal more Lightnings than he could, he started his experiments again. That took another year. The young ladies were going mad because Ignatius could not give them any Lightning jewellery any more.

But then Ignatius had finally invented his rescue: A kind of summoner for Lightnings, which was mostly made of Lightning gems and in which were several Dark Shadows imprisoned.

Of course a Black Shadow would have been better, but they were rare and most difficult to find.

With his Summoner Ignatius could go out and take the Lightnings from the air; they were always there, but could only strike when there was a storm. Ignatius only took a little every night, because he did not want to disturb anything- or anyone. If there was a god, Ignatius thought of him with a small smile; he did not believe this god could be so great and allmighty, when he, Ignatius Illuminon, could steal from heaven without being punished.

The only problem using the Summoner was that the bracelet on Ignatius' arm was better at attracting the Lightnings. And it was useless. The bracelet simply absorbed the little Lightnings in the air and could not turn them into gems, unless they really struck its bearer. Ignatius soon realised he would have to take the bracelet off for work, and after some time he forgot to put it on again. He even forgot where he had left it.