Dark days: Legend of the Elder Wizards

Chapter1



My name is Aidan Carson, and since I can remember there was a war. A war between the good and evil. It seemed like a never ending war. The war was mostly fought by the most gifted humans or non-humans. You had to be either a witch or wizard to enter, or any creature of any kind that would be useful in battle, though there was a rare chance a normal human got to enter. You’d have to be very brave to enter as a human. I was neither magical nor creature, though I wanted to fight badly. I wanted to avenge my father's death, even though somewhere deep in me I believed he was alive. He joined the army of freedom some months just before I was born and had been deported to the valley of Thanan the very next day. Luckily my mom kept memories of him in a nemose, so I knew what he looked like. The nemose is a long round silver plate that had a silver glow glowing from it, as if it was some kind of white sun. It had figures of angels with halos of stars hovering over their head on the inner edge of the plate. Since I had gotten the nemose I kept it in my room, and looked at the memories mostly every night before I went to sleep. Thinking of how my life would be like, if my father was here with my mom. Would she be smiling like I saw her smiling in the nemose? Would I be listening to the elders like I was supposed to, and not get in so much trouble? Or maybe there wouldn’t have even been a war, for it was the day the dark forces took over most of human civilization, something happened to my father that made him join the army of Freedom. One night when I was looking into the plate again, lying on my bed, I could see my mother and father about the time I was born. I was in my mother's arms. She looked much younger with her striking red curls falling to her shoulders, round face, and beautiful reddish pink cheeks, looking from me to my father with her bright blue eyes. She was smiling, and it seemed as if she was the happiest I had ever seen her. She looked as if she felt at ease, totally satisfied with what she had, right there, in that room. Me and my father at her side. My father was standing right next to us, cuddled next to my mom with one arm over her shoulders, looking at me lovingly with his dark brown eyes. He had slick brown hair that went till his shoulder, tied with a rubber band that was level with his neck. I could see the scars that were on my father’s neck. Running down his throat, going further down hiding behind the red shirt he had on. I knew what those scars were. It was hard not to think about them every time I saw them. My mother had told me what those were. It happened the day the dark forces attacked human kind. It felt as if I was there when it happened, every time I thought about it. It happened just months before I was born.

My dad was bringing my mom for her monthly check up at the gynecologist. They were on their way in my father’s car when my dad had stopped by the grocery store to pick up the usual groceries. He left my mom sitting in the car with the windows down, promising he would be back within five minutes. When he went into the store it was then, when the city was attacked. In an instant the weather had changed from the beautiful golden yellow tint in the air, to dark grey. The sun disappeared behind thick black clouds. It seemed as if nightfall came in an instant though it was only three fifty-five pm on the clock in the car. The wind started howling wildly, blowing in different directions. The car shook lightly from the wind. It started raining lightly, lightning flashing in a distance, and within seconds an ear shattering thunder shook the earth. From everywhere came creatures most people had never seen. There were creatures that looked like men, but with coal black eyes and brown scaled skins and a short black horn on their chin, these creatures were called cyclans. And there were big grayish black hairy wolfs that stood on their two back legs, and used their two front legs as humans would use their hands. They were hairy all over their body except for the face, and had more than a dozen sharp pointed teeth. The wolfs snout came out half way true a dull grey humans face that was full with deep wrinkles, and they had eyes that were as yellow as the sun. These creatures were called werewolves. There were many other creatures my mom couldn’t describe, because most of them moved faster than any average human could, and all she could see were black blurs passing by at incredible speed over the cars. Suddenly my mom noticed a cyclan and a werewolf fighting right behind the car. The cyclan was eying the car with a murderous look. The werewolf growled and snapped bites at the cyclan. Out of nowhere a tall hooded figure appeared. He had on a big black cloak that went till his feet, and she couldn’t see his face for his was hidden behind the hood of the cloak. He pointed his scrawny pale white fingers at the two creatures and a thunderous clap was heard, and sparks of fire shot at the feet’s of the cyclan and the werewolf. For a brief moment they stopped fighting and looked at the hooded figure surprised.
“This is no time to think about food, we have other matters to tend to” the hooded figure snapped angrily, and disappeared as sudden as he had appeared.

The cyclan eyed the werewolf irritated, and walked away. A few feet farther he stopped behind another car that was parked in the grocery store parking lot. He walked up to the car, took it by the front bumpers, and swung the car in the direction of the werewolf as if it weighed nothing. The wolf stood there, dodged the car hitting it to his side with both of its strong hairy hands, and the car landed a few meters further on the freeway with a shattering crash against another vehicle that had just hit a lantern post. My mother hadn’t noticed that most of the cars on the freeway had stopped and most of their passengers fled terrified. Some cars had rammed into other vehicles or into various lantern posts. She saw a group of teenagers running terrified in different directions, when out of nowhere a cyclan jumped on a teenage boy burying his teeth in the boys throat, flicked his heads backward pulling part of meat from the boys throat in his mouth and snapped the boys head ninety degrees to the side.

It was then when my mom noticed a shadow passing her stopping a few feet in front of the car. She looked at what it was, and noticed the werewolf eying her hungrily. Its yellow eyes had a deadly stare. She could feel his stare boring a hole in her chest. This is it she thought, this is the end. As the creature started walking slowly toward the car, she closed her eyes, filled with tears, hoping that whatever was to come should pass fast and painless. And all of a sudden she heard my father’s voice, then a loud scream and she heard a loud thud, and the car shook. She opened her eyes and saw a big dent and blood on the hood of the car. She heard my father groaning beside her and looked out the window. She saw him sitting on the pavement, looking at her with his loving brown eyes. His shirt was torn, and my mother saw blood stains on his blue jeans, and scars on his chest. He reached for his pockets and threw the car key to trough the open window. She could read his lips forming the words: “Go Emily!”
She shook her head. No, she thought.

“GO! NOW!” my father shouted at her, and she reacted impulsively making her way to the driver’s seat.

Thinking about her unborn child. Wanting to get me safe. Suddenly she felt strong enough to climb over the gear, despite her condition of pregnancy. She felt a sudden surge of getting me and herself to safety. She found the key in the driver’s seat, hurriedly forcing it into the ignition. When she finally heard the engine roaring to life, she saw my father running at the beast, taking two big steps diving head first at the beast, swinging his fist wildly. At that moment when the beast was distracted by my father, my mother put the car into gear and with all the force she had in her feet she slammed the gas as hard as she could and made a sharp turn to left leaving her husband and the werewolf behind. She stopped at the entrance of the parking lot and looked into the rear view mirror. She saw the werewolf lifting my father with one arm, holding him by his neck. With a swift movement with his hand he threw my father at a van that was parked about five meters further. It must have been when he released my father he sunk his nails into the skin of my father’s neck, because when my mom saw him hit the van and landed in a sitting position, he had four long bloody scars, beginning from his throat, going down strait to his stomach. It was then when my mom saw an opening. The beast had turned his back to her facing my father. She quickly put the car in reverse, and hit the gas as hard as could, steering the car in the direction of the werewolf. The car hit the beast with a hard slamming sound. She felt something passing under the car, and heard ruffling sounds, and a sudden crack. My mom stopped the car right next to my father. She quickly leaned over and opened the passenger door.

“GET IN! QUICK!” she shouted.

My father crept as fast as he could and climbed into the passenger’s seat. When he closed the door, my mom saw that the werewolf was already on his feet, looking at her angrily. She saw a small hallow hole in the pavement that looked as if the beast had hit his head there and left a mark of his face in the pavement. The beast took two big steps and launched into the air, arms stretched out wide, his eyes locked on my mother with a deathly stare. She froze on the spot her eyes locking on the beasts eyes. Suddenly she heard a loud cracking sound, and she saw what looked like lightning bolts coming from the grocery store flying at the werewolf. The beast landed with a loud thud on the hood of the car. When she turned to see what had caused this, she saw the store clerk, Mr. Markins, and old guy, who looked in his early sixties, running to her car, waving with a stick and shouting words she did not know. She knew who he was. She had several conversations with him when she visited his store. There were flashes of lightning bolts emitting from his stick, which he waved and pointed at the different creatures that made attempts to attack him from different directions. With little difficulties he was able to fend off the creatures and reach the car safely. He quickly jumped in the back seat.

“GO! NOW!” He said as he close the door.

My put the car in to gear, and pressed as hard as she could on gas pedal. The beast that was on the hood, slid off to side and fell to ground, his body limp and motionless.

“Take a left, go straight for the freeway, then make a right and stay on the freeway.” Mr.Markins said his voice firm.

“Where are we going?” My mother asked, her eyes filled with fear.

Mr. Markins didn’t answer her. Instead he started mumbling in some sort of strange language. He kept muttering words she did not understand. She kept glancing at him trough the rear view mirror and away at the creatures outside. How they attacked helpless people who had been running about in different directions helplessly. Everything around her was like a scene of a very scary horror movie. Bloody bodies lay everywhere she looked. She could see limbs from people she did not know lying about. Cyclans and werewolves kneeing down by their prey taking big chunks of meat as they burry their sharp teeth into the people she might have had the chance to get to know. She noticed the cyclan had what looked like nearly a hundred sharp small teeth’s in his mouth, both up and down. She also noticed other creatures. There was one that was just one feet tall. His whole body covered with a dull grey slime. It had no eyes; instead there were just two black holes in the place of eyes. It didn’t have any feet. It just floated about six inches in the air, leaving a trail of grey slime everywhere it went. There were many of these creatures. She saw one hovering over a teenage girl that had fallen to her knees. She had gold blond hair that fell to her chin, and a beautiful round face and smooth spotless cheeks, that must have looked perfect when she blushed. But there was no blood in her face now. Her face was colorless pale, her eyes filled with tears and fear as she looked at the slimy figure hovering over her. As the creature bent over, she quickly lay on her side, putting her hands over her head and her head between her knees. She was trembling with fear, as the creature opened its mouth wide. Instead of seeing razor sharp teeth, my mom saw nothing. Just another black hole was there, in the place the creatures mouth was supposed to be. It slowly leaned towards the girl opening its mouth wide. And as it did so its head grew larger in both height and width. Its eyes disappearing, leaving way for the big black hole that was once the beast mouth. When the hole from its face was just inches from the girl, wide enough to swallow her whole in the way she was cradled up in fear. My mom quickly looked in another direction.

She tried to focus on the road ahead of her. Why were no creatures attacking the car? She thought. They were all quickly passing the car on both sides ignoring the vehicle. Some running very fast and some leaping over houses, shops, factories and trees. Her attentions shifted to Mr. Markins in the back seat. He was looking at the passing creatures with a sad expression on his face. Then she now for the first time since the attack, she looked at my father. He was leaning over, his hands on the dashboard and his face buried in them. She saw his back going up and down, giving her assurance that he is breathing.

“Nathan…Nathan, how are you feeling? You okay?” she asked my dad in a concerned tone.

“I’m fine, I just need some time to get over the pain. Don’t worry hon.” My dad said in a low voice without lifting his head.

My mom shifted her attention to Mr. Markins.

“Why aren’t they attacking us?” She asked.

“It’s because I used the chameleon charm, they can’t see us.” He answered soberly.

“How is that possible?” My mom asked confused.

“It’s because I’m a wizard, I can do magic, and the chameleon charm makes us blend in with our environment which makes us invincible to most.” Mr. Markins answered calmly.

My mom nodded, understanding what Mr. Markins was telling her. So that would explain all that lightning and explosions coming from the stick he held, which is probably his wand, she thought.

“And I’m going to tell you something very important Emily.” He said now more seriously. His eyes locked on my mom’s eyes trough the rear view mirror.

“And I need you to pay attention and listen to me carefully.” He continued keeping eye contact.

My mother nodded twice, and after she did so Mr. Markins cleared his throat and now looked out the car at the passing creatures. It seemed as if he was searching for some invisible force that was not there. Then he started:

“First of all, I’m going to tell you that everything you used to think did not exist, like vampires, werewolves, trolls, leprechauns, fairies and so on...” He paused now, looking at my mom again.

“They do exist, they just didn’t want to expose their selves...” He continued.

“I’m sorry.” My mom interrupted.

“What do you mean they didn’t want to expose their selves, what are they doing now then?”

“Please calm down Emily, I know this will be hard on you, and the world as you know will most definitely change.” Mr. Markins pleaded.

“And I’m afraid Nathan will also never be the same again.” He added with a serious tone to his voice.

“What...what are you talking about?” My mom asked, her voice trembling with fear.

“The creature you just saved your husband from was a werewolf, and if any human gets injured by the beast claws or gets bitten and that human survives, he or she will be cursed for the rest of their lives turning into werewolves by every full moon.” Mr. Markins explained and paused waiting for my mother to process this information.

Terrified my mom kept switching glances from Mr. Markins to my father. All the blood flushed away from her face, leaving behind a pale terrified expression filled with horror. She didn’t know how to respond to this. She was too shocked. Not only will the world as she knew it change, her Nathan, the one whom she loved and would give her live for will also be different. She couldn’t stand being away from him for too long, and now only staying with him would mean putting her and her unborn child’s life at danger.

“I know you may see this as a bad thing.” Mr. Markins continued, after seeing my mom’s terrified expression and failure to respond.

“But look at it this way, now Nathan will be able to do much more to protect you if there’s any danger lurking and for some reason I’m not around, he will develop extra instincts, and gain more power and agility even in human form, we will only have to keep him away from us on every full moon.” Mr. Markins explained further.

He kept his eyes on my mother, waiting for her to respond, she couldn’t respond. She was too terrified. First of all, she didn’t know how she was going to spend one night without my father with monsters lurking in the dark. And what about her unborn child. She didn’t want to bring a child into a world filled with destruction and horror. She was too terrified.

“Don’t worry Emily, it’s all taken care of.” Mr. Markins continued.

“What do you mean, it’s all taken care of? You knew this would happen?”

Mr. Markins sighed softly.

“Yes.” Mr. Markins answered sadly, lowering his eyes to the floor.

“It had been foretold that the dark force would rise, together with all the horrors of the world, and roam the earth and do as they please, but we didn’t know when, but we knew it was only a matter of time before the dark force would rise.” Mr. Markins explained with a sad tone in his voice.

“We?” My mom asked.

“Yes we. I’m not the only wizard in the world you know. There are many witches and wizards in nearly every country of the world. We try to blend in and stay unnoticed, with our magic we tried to keep the more dangerous type of creatures in control, so that they didn’t attack any humans. The vampires we provided with donated blood from the hospitals, and we made a deal with the werewolves to only attack on mountain lions or more dangerous animals that are not endangered….”

“It was an dumb idea to make deals with werewolves!” My mother muttered under her breath.

“A werewolf is merely a human, whose been cursed to turn into a vicious beast every full moon, and cannot control his hunger. When in human form he or she most definitely knows the difference between right and wrong, the ones you saw out there were the ones who chose for the wrong path!” Mr. Markins explained.

“Anyway...” Mr.Markins continued.

“It was because of vampire and werewolf attacks that we noticed the signs of the dark force rising soon, about six months ago there was a vampire attack in Moscow, our kind went to investigate the case, and locate the vampire with the help of leprechauns and fairies, but it seemed as if the creature had vanished from the face of the earth, and believe when I say no one can be hidden in any corner of the earth if you’ve got fairies and leprechauns and a bunch of witches and wizards who are determined to find what they seek , but the vampire was nowhere to be found, and that was just the beginning of the attacks, in the past six there have been more than thousand attacks of vampires, werewolves, cyclans, leeches and many others…and what’s worse is that they’ve been creating others of their kind and not killing”

“Leeches…cyclans?” My mother asked.

“Cyclans were the beasts you just saw with the small black horn on their chin, they feed on your skin and some of your blood, if they wish they decapitate you and you won’t be cursed and transform into one of them, and leeches, they just cling on to you for a while, suck you dry, and take away all your feelings, it is as if they’re taking away your soul, leaving just your empty body behind, and soon you become one of them, feeding on others, a soulless body.” Mr. Markins explained.

My mom flinched at that. She now noticed that the world she had once knew, was never a safe place to begin with, and now it has gotten a whole lot worse.

“Don’t worry Emily, you and Nathan will be perfectly fine, like I said…we’ve been expecting the rise of the dark force for quite some time now, so we’ve been preparing.” Mr. Markins mused.

“And I think we’ll be quite safe.” He added now reassured of himself.

“What do you mean prepared?” My mom asked.

“We’ve set up undergrounds lairs all over the world so we can go in hiding, placing the chameleon charm at every entrance so they can be undetectable to the naked eye, we also tried to warn your government and at first they thought we were some ‘whack jobs’ on the loose, they wanted to get us admitted in a mental hospital, but when old Winfried, one of my friends, decided to levitate the prime minister and hang him up on the chandelier they got scared and didn’t trust us, so we knew we would have to stay alert and wait for the attack and protect as many humans possible and hopefully manage to get them to one of the underground lairs.”

As Mr. Markins said the last few words he lowered his head, a sad expression on his face. It stayed quiet for quite some time, and my mother wondered if Mr. Markins was sad because he didn’t get to safe anymore humans other than her, and my dad. ‘Nathan’ she thought. She had forgotten about him, with all these stories about vampires, werewolves and magic. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. He was now leaning in the far corner of the passenger seat. His head resting peacefully on the seatbelt which he hadn’t put on. It seemed as if he was entirely at peace with himself as he lay there sleeping. Totally unaware of what is happening in the outside world. No worries in his mind, until he awakes.

It was quiet in the car for nearly hours. Were my mom was driving there was no building in sight. Just massive acres of empty land. The air was dead, a light layer of mist hanging around just above the ground, which was edgy and dead with no grass. There were some trees just two feet high with no life in them, they just stood there leafless. The scent of the air smelled of dust from the surrounding silent dead dessert. And in a distance several mountain tops were visible, tough you could only see the tops, for the rest was little visible through the mist. The street lamps were not lit, which made the scene around look dead and abandoned.

“Around the next corner there has to be a dirt road on your right, slow down and keeps your eyes open, it’ll be hard to notice.” Mr. Markins said
After several hours of silence.

My mother did as she was told. She found the small dirt road just in time. She had almost driven past it. She drove for another half hour when the dirt road came to an dead end. She stopped the car in the middle of the road and eyed Mr. Markins trough the rear view mirror expectantly.

“Ok time to go by foot now, don’t worry I’ll take care of Nathan.” Mr. Markins said, while getting out of the car.

My mother switched off the engine, stepped out of the car and walked to the passenger side. As she did so, she saw Mr. Markins opening the passenger door and flicked his wand pointing it at my dad. She saw my father slowly hovering out of his seats, his eyes still closed. He was now out of the car still hovering just inches from the ground, his body up straight and rigid.

“Follow me.” Mr. Markins said, lowering his hands, his wand still pointing at my father.

Mr. Markins started walking hastily as if in a hurry trough the surrounding darkness. My mom followed the sound of the footsteps Mr. Markins made. Quickly her eyes adjusted to the darkness that surrounded her. She could see the outlines of my father and Mr. Markins just a few feet ahead of her. She speeded up a little to catch up to them. They were now walking in a deserted landscape. With no trees or other life form what so ever. The air was still misty and smelled of dust. After several minutes of walking she noticed they were headed for the big dead tree that lay ahead. It was the only tree in sight. It stood there motionless, it’s branches, that were leafless pointed at every direction. They stopped at the tree and Mr. Markins walked ahead leaving my father behind his wand still pointed at him. My mom stopped beside my dad and waited expectantly at what would happen next. Then Mr. Markins knocked on the tree trunk as if to see if any one lived in it, and said in a low voice:

“ Keeper of the gold, dweller of the dark
Please help me with this journey I must embark
For the darkness I do not fear
Trusting you will safely guide me there
Leprechaun who resides in this tree
With gold I shall pay my fee “

As soon as he had finished the last word an door had opened in the tree trunk. The doorway was big enough for one average human, and it was pitch black inside. Suddenly a small figure appeared out of the blackness within. The outlines of it looked like a child, but its body built like a man. My mother noticed that he limped on one leg as he came forward. She couldn’t see the features of his face in the dark too well, but she could tell that he didn’t have a friendly expression.

“Pay me first, for I do not trust thee, then I shall escort you to where you wish to be.” The leprechaun said in a rough eager voice holding out its hands.

Mr. Markins took from his pocket three small golden rocks and placed in the leprechauns hands.

“Bring me to the colony of Grindoor, I take it you know where that is.”

“Yes, and I’ll take over from the sleeping one, if you don’t mind.” The leprechaun said pointing at my father.

“Ok, now don’t be scared, we’re only going through the realm of the leprechauns, and it’s very dark in there.” Mr. Markins said, now turned toward my mom.

“And I want you to hold my hand, and do not let it go no matter what, otherwise you will be lost forever in the darkness of the leprechaun realms, and don’t worry about Nathan, he is bound to my wand so if this leprechaun tries to cast him elsewhere it would not be possible.” He continued now moving toward the door in the tree.

First my father disappeared into the vast darkness, then the leprechaun held out its hand which Mr. Markins took and held out the other for my mother to hold. She took hold of his wrist because he still held his wand.
And then they wandered into the darkness. Inside the tree it felt like an big empty space surrounded by darkness. My mother was terrified, because she could not see my father, Mr. Markins nor the leprechaun. She could only feel the person she was holding.

Until that part my mother had told me in every detail what happened, but what happened after that she didn’t tell me everything I needed to know. She said they stayed in the colony of Grindoor until I was born. And soon after that they traveled through the fairy realms to the colony of Spero which stood for hope. The fairy realm was exactly the same as the leprechaun realm, only instead of darkness it was bright. It looked like a great big endless white hall. And doors magically appearing before your eyes, opening to the destination you wish to be. And that was it, the end of her story.
She did not tell me why they left the colony of Grindoor, why didn’t they use the Leprechauns realm then? Why didn’t they use the fairy realm on the first day of the attack, since the leprechauns realm looked frightening? I had once asked her why we left the colony of Grindoor, I saw the blood drain from her face. She cleared her throat, and simply replied that it was necessary in order to keep me safe. Keep me safe I thought myself. Why did she refer to only me and not for us to be safe. I didn’t question her any further about it. I could sense she was keeping something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was. I pondered most of the days about it. What is it that my mother is keeping from me. I knew it had something to do with us leaving the Grindoor colony. I couldn’t remember ever being at a colony different than where I live in now. We must have left the colony of Grindoor when I was just a little infant. I needed to find out what happened there…