1 A Weird Prophecy

The cold breeze of the winter blew past his face as Alex stoked the bonfire. He was being taught to hunt by his father who seemed to be in a daze as he looked across the horizon. Alex being an eight-year-old boy was very excited as it was the first time that his father took him to the forest. It was common knowledge to everyone in the village that the forest was a dangerous place. He was schooled a year ago about the basic dangers, the precautions one should take and things and actions he should avoid in the forest

His body was cold, tired and sleepy but still had forced himself awake as his father who always told him that the forest was dangerous decided to take him out during the night for the first time in his life. Alex lived with his father most of the time as his mother was always away due to her work. He rarely saw her and hardly even remembered her face.

His father had caught them a couple of birds with magic and they currently being roasted on the fire. A blue tent beside the fire had the clothes and sleeping bags surrounded by long coniferous trees which hid them from any being in the forest. As the smell of the roasting meat wafted into his nose, Alex couldn't help but smack his lips.

For a second, he was afraid that the smell would attract predators or that the fire would catch on to trees but looking at his father he calmed down immediately. Michael was the only magician and doctor at the village and he always heard that the village was safe and developed only because of him. He was the guardian of the village and no beast came close to the village ever since Michael arrived. There was no chance of the fire escalating or any beast attack in his presence.

As Alex had his thoughts full with the juicy meat and was cooking according to his father's instructions, Michael was extremely worried about the events that were going to transpire the night. Michael was a warlock and his wife Robin was one too. Warlocks were a type of magician who tried to model themselves after the beasts of the land. They even had blood or spirit contracts with various beasts. Some methods even allowed a few of the more talented ones to morph into the form of a beast and blend with others. Due to this, warlocks were always considered a kind of magicians who could easily navigate the woods and other habitats of the beasts.

Early in the day, he received a call from his wife asking him and his son to move away from his home for the day. The entire call was cryptic, and she had refused to tell him any reason for her request. Considering the fact that they were in a state of war against an organization of dark magicians, he didn't want to take any risk and followed through her suggestion.

He had requested her to move away from the front lines ever since the war started, but as she was one of three lieutenants of the special division created to handle the threat and also the head doctor, she refused his requests. It would be career suicide to do request a transfer and would probably be pushed to some remote place in the country if she did so.

Nevertheless, Michael was once the star of the army and was one of its youngest commanders till he met with a curse. Though he was cured, he wouldn't be able to reach his previous state for a few years and was demoted to be the guardian of a village during this time.

He still managed to pull some strings and get her the best group of magicians under her command and also get her posted to guard the Nature Palace which was the best magic academy of the East Moon Nation. It was second only to the army training centre in the number of mages and almost all professors in the academy were expert fighters. Thus, he considered it the most safe place for the mother of his child.

Despite all his efforts, a few days into the investigation, the military found out that the academy was one of the main targets of the dark mages. Since, then there was a hardly a day that Michael slept well. Nevertheless, he believed that the situation would soon come to a satisfactory end. So, he had been extremely concerned about her after receiving a call from her to abandon his home. The identities of all the special division members were a secret and they always covered their faces. So, her concern for their safety implied that there was a traitor among the special division.

Still, he had friends among the academy and was confident in their prowess. He was one of the graduates from the academy before he joined the military and had good friends among the staff of the academy. His best friend was also one of them. So, he had been worried for all of them. His only solace was the fact they would be looking each other's backs.

He had been with his son for the night as suggested by his wife, but he had hardly any peace nor did he have his focus on his son. He had a bad feeling from the instant he received the message from his wife. The forest in which he was hiding was a few hundred kilometre away from the academy.

His best friend, Derek Walker was a magic professor of the academy with whom he had been chatting a few minutes ago when he suddenly ran out after he suddenly ran out without even ending the call. There were sounds of fighting and explosions which he heard from the crystal ball. After which there was a large magical impulse which shattered the crystal ball and he couldn't hear anything. Even he felt the residual traces of the magic from such a long distance.

Since, then he was looking towards the direction of the academy while he held the crystal ball in his hands hoping that someone would soon contact him, but there was no response from any one he called. He would have flown towards the academy if he didn't have his son beside him.

After some time, he decided to let it go and joined Alex for dinner. As they were eating, he felt a whooshing sound of someone flying past them in the air. He had set a camouflage spell to cover them. So, they couldn't notice him and his son. After a few minutes, he heard someone calling out his name. The only one who knew his location was Derek and he believed that Derek would never kill him. So, he had a peek through and saw the ones waiting for him.

Recognizing them, he dispelled his spell. There were three people who were flying on a pair of griffins which glided down to stand beside the fire. One of them was a witch who served under his wife and the remaining two worked at the academy. He had known them all for a long time and the way they were looking at him, he knew that something bad happened to his wife.

"Warlock Horner, I am sorry," said the witch as she handed him the staff of his beloved. She was wearing tattered robes which showed clear signs of a battle. She looked very weary and only moved with support of her scepter. "This is all that remains of Robin," she said as sobbed.

He had already been expecting bad new since it wasn't his wife that contacted him, but this was the worst possible scenario. Though Alex recognized his mother's staff, as he watched the witch give it to his father, he was still too young to realize what it meant. Before, he could open his mouth, he felt extremely drowsy and fell backwards in sleep as his father cast a spell.

"You! Talk now. Who are we actually dealing with?" he asked one of the two wizards who were beside him. The man was one of the two vice-deans of the academy and was one of the strongest mages there He was also a warlock and was known to be a master of stealth and assassination. "Let us get into the tent," said vice-dean Falcone as he cast a few spells to camouflage and prevent surveillance. As he waved his wand, Michael saw that his hands were blackened and looked dead.

"You were cursed?" he asked in surprise. Falcone's strength was considered to be legendary. He was one of the ten pillars of the nation. Among warlocks, he was revered and was known to be an extremely powerful warrior who even his father could never defeat.

"There have been many losses today," said Falcone looking at his hand as he signaled Michael to enter the tent along with the man behind him. "This is the least of them. We lost the headmaster, Derek and few others," he said as Michael put Alex in his sleeping bag.

"What happened?"

"It was the Void Mansion," said Falcone. Void Mansion was an organization of the dark mages which recently sprung up on the Jambhudvipa which was the continent on which the East Moon nation was located. It had been extremely active and was considered extremely dangerous by all the countries on the continent.

"The Void Mansion? Why did the they come to the east end of the continent. Last I heard, they were building an army at the northern most end among the territory of the night elves," said Michael in surprise.

"Of that I have no idea. We had our seers targeting them and had Derek and Natalie try to pinpoint their location. Their attempts failed and Derek only managed to identify that they were hunting seers. So, Derek established a large array to help him and Natalie resonate better with the world and determine the reason for their actions. That was when the attack happened. The first attack was aimed at the special division. Hargrave betrayed us. His entire platoon attacked up and we lost Robin to him," said Falcone.

"I need to go after them. I will get Hargrave. Just take Alex to my father. He will look after Alex," said Michael in anger. He wanted to tear Hargrave apart and bury him. He found it hard to believe that Hargrave betrayed the country for the Void Mansion. That would make him an international fugitive. He wanted to hunt for Hargrave right now and nothing else mattered.

"Calm down, Michael. Don't let revenge cloud your judgement. The kid just lost his mother. It is not the time for you to go on a quest for revenge. You are not the best candidate for it and Hargrave knows you. He would see you coming a mile away," said Falcone.

"If you think that I would sit here waiting for him to escape, I disagree. He knows a lot about the current military structure. Losing him to the Void Mansion is the same as giving them quality intelligence of our forces," said Alex. Though his eyes were red with anger and pain, he still had enough sense to try and trick Falcone to let him go. He didn't want any permission from the special forces. All he needed was Falcone to make sure that his son reached his ancestral home to the safe haven provided by his father.

"There is someone else after him already. You have another job," said Falcone looking at him sternly. He could guess the state of his former student. He was in a similar state and understood that Michael would be in anger and pain for only a small duration and would soon get into a state of mourning.

Falcone signaled to his companion who was shrouded in a cloak, who pushed his cloak aside revealing a baby. "This is the son born to Derek and Natalie," said Falcone. "He needs a home."

"What happened to Natalie. I was told by Derek an hour ago that she wasn't due for another month," said Michael as he began to examine the boy. He was the village doctor and a spell was enough to determine if the boy was in good health.

"The headmaster and Derek fought with the leader of the attack forcing him to self-explode which led to his death. Natalie tried to use the array which was meant to be used by two. She was successful, but she lost her life in the process. She only told two things. One was to cut her open and save her child whom she named Dominic," said Falcone.

"It is a good name, but I am not taking care of her kid. She has a sister and the Walkers would want to take care of Derek's son. The man had been pestering Derek to get him a grandson since, seven years when Lucy was born. If Drake Walker heard that he had a grandson and I am his guardian, he would get an army to take him back. Moreover, Derek just died. Drake wouldn't even consider any friendship that I had with Derek and try to kill me to get his grandson," said Michael shaking his head in refusal.

"I am aware of the Drake Walker and his diligence to his clan, but I am would still insist that you take care of little Dom," said Falcone.

"I didn't think that anyone could give you enough guts to neglect them without support of the headmaster," said Michael. It was extremely odd as he knew Falcone. He could deny any clan if he wanted to, but he never would do such a thing without any good reason.

"I was never afraid of the headmaster, Michael. I only did what he told me to do as he was the best seer that I had known. I trust seers and their visions. The second part of Natalie's words before her death were to entrust her child to you and report to the rest of the world that he died along with her. I know that things were extremely crazy at that time, but she took a memory crystal and told those words as she spewed out blood due to backlash of her prying through the secrets of the world. We all know that the Walker could provide the most safe place for his growth, but she insisted on her death bed that you should be the one to take care of her child and the world should think him to be born to you and Robin. So, are you willing to accept her request?" asked Falcone as he took the child and placed him in Michael's arms.

"Doesn't answer my question. It still isn't a reason for you to follow through to her request," said Michael.

"She went into the array searching for an answer that would help us defeat the Void Mansion and came up with these words. I know enough about seers to realize that she considers this to be a necessity for the downfall of the Void Mansion. So, I am following through her suggestion," said Falcone.

Michael was surprised and confused by the sudden revelation. It made no sense to him at all that Natalie would ask him to do so, but he had studied alongside Natalie and Derek and knew enough to trust her judgement. So, he reluctantly took the baby as he agreed to Falcone.

"Fine, from now on, he shall be Dominic Morrison," sighed Michael.