Chapter 25

In the madness of the morning, in the midst of the peculiar celebrations and in the shadows of the city walls, the Great Wizard sneaked his way back to his cave, fleeing the city before any of the gods among the royals could identify him in the capital. That would be his death for sure, considering what just happened. However, in the youngness of the day, his mind could not reason with much wisdom or any form of intelligence. Unknown to almost everyone, the Great Wizard was as ordinary in the morning, in the attenuation of the dew, as anyone else in the empire. It was like the mornings feeble rays of the sun blocked all the magical vessels in his brain, leaving only the ones that transit blood. It was easier for anyone to kill the Wizard in the morning than it was to kill an infant.

He reached the Hill of Doom when the rays had already matured , riveting all his magical powers to every inch of him and returning to him the eye of the devil, the unparalleled magical powers that could cause tremor with just a clap of a hand or a flip of a finger. He may have chosen evil but deep inside, the Great Wizard commanded such powers that even the High Priest, Lord Parafon, could not imagine possible. He could listen to the entire empire's secret talks as if he were with them in the secrets of their rooms. He could destroy families and he could bind families together, he could build bridges overnight only to destroy them in the daylight to gloat to the empire. He could make an entire town magically disappear and be forgotten. He always wondered why he wasn't referred to as a god for he possessed all the powers that was required of a god, all except that his heart was painted in darkness of Doom, nefarious and satanic.

But even in the mightiness of his evil, there was nothing he could do about the royalties. He couldn't harm them or kill them. This knowledge of inferiority to the royals always saddened him. But this time, he almost made it happen, he almost destroyed their superiority, or he actually did. His hatred for the Emperor had blossomed in the dark satanic gardens of his heart for years and not a single day had passed without him wishing evil upon the Emperor. All because the Emperor had banished him from the palace and the city at large for practicing dark magic yet other magicians were allowed free entry into the palace. He had, by the time of his banishment, promised the Emperor that he would avenge his banishment. To some extent, he had succeeded but today he almost completely succeeded.

Had Prince Mamadu not become a slut and remained faithful to their plans then maybe right this moment he could be staring at the magnificence of the palace and not the hard rock that roofed his cave. But Mamadu was a fool he regretted teaming with. His death however, was a big blow to him. With Mamadu out, his chances of returning to the palace or of having to laugh and spit on the face of Micaleaon were all squashed.

His thoughts were disrupted when he looked at the empty mat upon which the Oracle had lain. "Damn!" he cursed. "How could this have happened?" His hands akimbo, he looked at the mat searchingly, wondering whether the day hadn't matured quite enough and his eye were playing chess with him.

"Greetings the grand master of horror," a deep familiar voice called out to him from the entrance of the cave. Instead of turning back to look at the person, he straightened his neck and looked at the wall with a small hole next to the roof that overlooked the city. "Surprised to hear my voice," the voice continued.

"No," the Great Wizard answered, still looking forward. "Not surprised to hear your voice but disturbed by your timing."

"I see," the voice replied as the Great Wizard turned around to face him. "You are still the same devil I used to know, you haven't changed at all Wizard."

"What brings you here at this hour?" The Wizard asked, evidently unpleased with the presence of his guest.

"You are not going to say hello to an old friend Wizard?"

"You are not and you have never been my friend. I don't have the whole day, what do you want this time, to kill the Emperor?"

"Ok. Since you don't have much time to catch up, let's go down to business," the guest said as he moved into the cave and sat himself on a chair-shaped rock opposite to the Great Wizard. "I was hoping you could help me locate some people who I suspect could be in Dalawa empire but cannot ascertain there whereabouts."

The Great Wizard laughed loudly at his guest's request before screwing his face to look stern and serious. "You? You want me to help you locate some people? Why should I do that? The last time I helped you with something you disappeared and now you return to me just because you..."

"I know what you mean but I didn't expect you to be such a whine. What did you expect, that I should return and thank you?"

"Yes," the Wizard yelled. "You should have done that because now I'm not willing to help you anymore. My powers must be appreciated and not taken for granted like you did. I don't care about who you are looking for or why you are looking for them. The only thing I care very much about is that you need to get your ass off my chair and get lost."

"He can do that if he wants but I'll stick around until you give me a credible answer," a woman said as she entered the cave, surprising the Wizard.

"Cinderella," the Wizard called as he walked to her and kissed the back of her hand. "Long time no see. Where have you been? And you have grown into a fully mature woman, and beautiful too."

"I didn't expect the grand master of horror to be charmed by the beauty of a woman," the man teased.

"That's because you get charmed by everyone one of them Nicadeaus, including the very ugly," the great Wizard retorted angrily.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult old Wizard?"

"A compliment or an insult, I don't care."

"Oh really? You seem to be forgetting..."

"Enough of this nonsense," Cinderella interjected. "I didn't come here to listen to your egos bickering." Turning to the Wizard, "I need your help to find my daughter who..."

"Hold on," the Wizard interrupted her. "Did you just say your daughter?"

"Yes, my daughter, is yours also missing?"

"No I haven't had the misfortune of siring one. But you have to understand my reaction youngling. You cannot possibly have a daughter, it just can't happen."

"Unfortunately for you, I do have a beautiful daughter named Revina," Cinderella replied, getting irritated by what she thought was a stupid statement from the Great Wizard.

"Revina?" the Wizard asked knowingly.

"Ye, Revina, do you know her?"

"No, I don't think I know her," the Wizard replied and then turned to Nicadeaus. "And you, who are you looking for?"

Rising up from his seat, "my son Malin and her daughter Revina. Do you know where I can find them?"

The Great Wizard walked to them and touched each of them's cheeks as if measuring their temperatures. They had to be terribly sick to think they had children. Maybe the dark-rage magic that had consumed them for decades was finally turning them mad. First, no residents of Dalawa could sire any children within or outside the empire contrary to the popular belief that it was only women who were barren. Secondly, anyone who was possessed by the dark rage magic was incapable of conceiving or impregnating anyone or anything. The claim the two were making was not just improbable, it was impossible.

But on the second thought, wasn't Malin the hero and Revina the heroine? If Malin could kill an immortal, a royal Prince, then who exactly was he? Could it be possible that he was Nicadeaus' son and therefore a prince? Malin had shown that he could rise above any dark magic and defeat anybody possessed by it. A normal Dalawan could not do that. To some extent, it made sense that Malin could be Nicadeaus' son but to some extent such an occurrence was implausible. Malin was not thirty years old. He looked younger and as such couldn't be a Dalawan. This was just madness.

"So the two of have children?" he finally asked.

"No. If you put it that way it sounds as if the children in question belong to the both of us. I cannot sleep with this bitch..." Nicadeaus responded before being interrupted by a blow on his face from Cinderella who was mad because he referred to her as a bitch.

"If you ever call me like that again..." Cindy said before quieting abruptly when she saw the Great Wizard standing on a pool of water, floating on it like a boat.

The Great Wizard summoned his magical powers, forming a pool of water upon which he stood. The pool seemed to have magical boundaries, separating the Wizard from Cinderella and Nicadeaus as different types of fish could be seen swimming on the pools edges as if about to fall out of the water. Cinderella and Nicadeaus just stood there, awed by the amazing spectacle. Cinderella made as if she wanted to join the Wizard but the Wizard waved her off as he concentrated on his magic, mumbling inaudibly and in languages they could not understand.

Through the eyes of the devil that were nicely placed on the Wizard's forehead, he saw what at first numbed him and made him question the accuracy of his powers. Malin was not just a prince, he was the crown prince. He herald such powers that even a normal prince could not summon, powers so powerful that even the Great Wizard could not challenge. He was the positive to the Great Wizard, the good that could trounce all his evils, the challenger he had never thought existed. But what shocked the Wizard more was the royalty that silvered through his chest, the reincarnation of the first emperor of Dalawa, the god of the priests and wizards of Dalawa empire.

baffled by what his powerful eyes of the devil were seeing, he decided to put his powers to test, to verify if in deed Malin was a royalty and whether by any chance, he was Nicadeaus' son, a royal dwarf whose jealousy and greed had turned into a monster, slaying his younger brother because he couldn't stop a woman from leaving him and falling into the arms of his brother. As far as he was concerned, Nicadeaus' course had fell into his own path of vengeance, presenting him with such a wonderful opportunity to finally make Micaleaon mourn. But just like today, he failed then in an incomprehensible pattern for Medan was never and has never been officially declared dead. The empire had forgotten about him as if he never really existed and even him, the Great Wizard, could not ascertain what really happened to them. But to some extent, he succeeded in making the cunning prince, Nicadeaus, a fugitive, an outcast just like him who couldn't climb the ladder of power for he was loathed most by his father and the laws of Dalawa outlawed a bearer of dark magic from ascending to the throne.

He cast images of Nicadeaus into the water and magically searched through him for any traces of Malin in his blood as he turned the water into dark-red blood. Not only was there no traces of Malin in his blood, but Nicadeaus also showed traces of incurable impotence and as such, could not bear any child even in the absence of the curse and the dark rage that he still lived in. This revelation reassured the Great Wizard of his powers for he had at least confirmed that Nicadeaus' claim that Malin was his son was complete madness. But the big question of Malin's origin still remained. He couldn't have just come out of nowhere.

He had heard very little details about Revina except that Malin was ready to go through hell to rescue her. But even this information gave him zero clue on how to summon anything from her beyond the fact that she was a non-resident. His powers on her were greatly stifled. But one thing was certain. She could not have been Cinderella's daughter since Cinderella, though fertile except for the infertility curse, was a resident of Dalawa and could not give birth to a non-resident even if she had a relationship with a non-resident. Unfortunately for Cinderella, her fertility was useless to her just as Nicadeaus' impotence since the dark rage that possessed her could not allow sperms swim in her womb. Unless she was relieved of the dark rage, her infertility was permanent. Revina was therefore, a mystery the Great Wizard couldn't resolve. Malin on the other hand was a man he could not dare face.

Nicadeaus and Cinderella had stood waiting, impatient impulses evoking their angers once in a while during this time when the Wizard attempted to get concrete answers. Nicadeaus was still doubtful about the presence of Malin and Revina in Dalawa. Despite agreeing to visit the Great Wizard to confirm Cinderella's weird theory which she narrated to him in a rare show of concern considering the so many years of enmity and warring between them, he still thought Cinderella was exaggerating. Had he not found difficulties in crossing the portal as they always do, he could have easily rubbished such claims and believed Malin and Revina were turned into dust by the powerful tornado back in Palawa Kingdom. But even him couldn't explain what really caused the bright coruscant that followed the destruction of the fourth floor. Tornadoes don't emit such bright lights.

Cinderella on the other hand, knew of the Oracle's prophecy that had warned her of a possible unification of the Dalawa empire once again, shutting the portal completely as the portal mirror finally healed. But, despite knowing what the light meant, she couldn't believe her own beloved daughter as being part of the healing of the mirror. Revina was her daughter, sired in the upper dimension with a man she killed immediately she learnt of her conception. She wanted a daughter or a son but she never wanted a man lording over her. There was only one man who could do that to her, one Prince Medan Ochondrion of Dalawa empire. She had decided to leave Palawa Kingdom hoping to find Revina in Dalawa but also very prepared if she realized that she had indeed died in the tornado and that the mirror had just malfunctioned and nothing more.

In what contradicted her love for her daughter, she more than anything wanted the prophecy to be a myth and if it meant that it would mean the death of Revina, so be it. In Palawa Kingdom she was the queen who controlled everything in the kingdom. As for her daughter, she could get another child from the many men who drooled after her. She just didn't like the notion of being stuck in one dimension, especially Dalawa empire where all the powers she had were useless against the royalties and she could control no one but herself.

The Great Wizard landed on the floor as if he had just been flying in the air, breathing heavily like he had just emerged from the gym. The pool of water had disappeared just as fast and as sudden as it had appeared and both Cinderella and Nicadeaus felt scared at first and then admired the Wizard's command of magical powers. But his panting was strange and they quieted impatiently as they awaited the good news they both couldn't define from the Wizard.

Looking at them scanningly, as if inspecting whether they had some terminal diseases that required urgent magical salvation, the Great Wizard moved closer to them without exchanging his feet like one would in normal walking steps. His eyes were full of questions that his mouth couldn't possibly ask.

"What game is this that the two of you are trying to play?" he asked, his eyes glued to their faces as if warning them of a great natural calamity that would befall them had they lied in their response.

Nicadeaus was the first one to master enough courage to speak. He was a prince and no matter how evilly powerful the Great Wizard was, he couldn't harm him even if he wanted to though he had momentarily cowed to his gaze. "We are not playing games Wizard, what have you found out?" he asked.

"Your lies. You cannot possibly be Malin's father and she cannot be Revina's mother. That's what I just found out."

"What nonsense is this you are talking about?" Nicadeaus asked as he looked at Cinderella over his shoulder to try and gauge her reaction to the absurd conclusion the Wizard just came up with. But Cinderella just looked back at him in perturbed expression, sending jitters down his spine.

Moving around the room with his hands crossed behind him while his face glued to the floor, the great Wizard spoke in a chilling and threatening voice. "You two lied to me and I want to know why."

"We didn't lie to you old man. If your magic told you something else then you need to ask for more powers. You need to tell me where I can locate them and stop pretending," Nicadeaus replied in an irritated voice, his patience waning.

"Come to think of it, where have you been and where were you last night? Had you been in the empire you could have known what happened or where the two people you are asking for are. So where have you been?"

"Wizard, I don't have to answer or explain to you my whereabouts. Let me remind you, I'm still a prince and as such you need to treat me with res..."

"Respect? You demand to be treated with respect as a prince? What prince? Did you forget you are a fugitive who cannot succeed the throne?"

"But that's because somehow your stupid power got corrupted and instead of letting me have what I wanted after killing Medan, your stupid greed or whatever it was made you sanction the death of Malia too using this witch here to kill her..."

"I already told you to refer to me with respect," Cinderella said as she eyed Nicadeaus angrily. "I won't won you again."

Nicadeaus just shrugged her off and continued to address the Great Wizard who had stopped pacing the room and stood straight in the middle of the cave, probably examining Nicadeaus' words. "What I'm saying is this, you are singly responsible for what happened or didn't happen because the evil in you got in the way."

Looking at Nicadeaus disdainfully, the Wizard inched closer to him until his nose almost touched his forehead. "I gave you what you wanted prince," he said, lowering his voice into a whisper. "You wanted Medan dead and that's what you got so be contented you ingrate."

"Yes I wanted Medan dead but I wanted Malia in exchange, I wanted Malia to remain alive, to be mine and only mine. But you and this... whatever this woman is, made sure I didn't get her. You made me a fugitive despite promising to cover my tracks."

Cinderella who had been quietly looking at Nicadeaus through her narrowed eyes as he ranted, pushed him against the wall, making him tumble and fall on a rock next to the Wizard. "Stop trying to justify your actions you coward. You had no right to kill my Medan because he was your brother you traitor. He was mine you monster, my Medan."

"Your Medan?" he asked as he steadied himself while he picked himself up from the floor. "Medan wasn't like me you whore."

Cinderella sprinted towards him with her fists ready to strike. Nicadeaus ducked and letting her slightly pass him, kicked her on the stomach so hard she bounced from the wall like a ball, screaming painfully. She quickly picked herself up and rose to her feet. She cheated him with a blow directed at his forehead and when he dodged by lowering his head, she knocked his jaw with her knees and before he could defend himself, she swept his feet off the ground making him fly in the air before falling with a thud on the hard-rocked floor. She bent over him and fed him several blows on his mouth, nose and head as he winced and turned beneath her, trying to get her out of him. He managed to push her off him and staggered to his feet but when he was just about to pounce on her, she spun in the air and hit him on the cheek with a powerful round kick that sent him reeling like a drunkard and finally fell on his butts, slouched and dazed. She dived with her right foot forward and knocked him down, catching him on the chest and making him slither on the floor like a trapped snake.

"I warned you but you just don't listen," she mocked as she stood bent next to his head where he lay on the floor. "I hope you just learnt your lesson."

"That was absolutely unnecessary though I must admit I enjoyed it," the Great Wizard said as he smiled broadly. "You really are a piece of art youngling."