Fan Fiction ❯ The End ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

The End

By Shi-koi

Summary: When a young Crafter (Mage) is betrayed, he retaliates in a drastic manner. He wipes out the Earths magic with a blast, at the cost of his own life. 700 years later, a boy is born with magic. Could he be the one to bring it back? Set in present-day times, the mixture of fantasy and reality merge in one breathtaking adventure.

Warnings: Will contain violence (fights), some swearing and shonen-ai.

Rating: R (see warnings)

Disclaimer: The plot and characters are mine. I created this universe from my imagination and some long-forgotten mythology lurking around in my head. Please don't steal.

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Prologue

1303 A.D.

Japan.

"Please....forgive me." Dark brown eyes pleaded with the young man walking away.

The youth spun round, amber eyes glittering, his shoulder length night-red hair tugged at by a fierce breeze.

"Never." He snarled. "You betrayed me. All of you."

His eyes narrowed at the villagers behind the woman. They were watching warily. A few of them supporting their wounded brethren.

"We had no choice!" The woman cried. Her red-robed arm swept out, encompassing the entire village. "They told us we would have be destroyed!"

"I see." The youth's voice dropped dangerously low. He took a step towards the woman. She flinched with guilt and not a little fear.

"So you decided to what? Sell me out...? Manipulate me?" He stopped in front of the woman, amber meeting brown with chilling intensity. "Well....mother? Or would you feel more comfortable if I called you Meiko? That way you wouldn't have to be reminded of our," he paused, baring his teeth, "....relationship."

Meiko turned away, unwilling to meet her son's accusing glare. "We never meant for things to get this bad, or go this far."

"You tried to kill me."

"Shouji...please..."

"See to the wounded. I merely injured them, but I will have no un-necessary deaths on my shoulders." Shouji turned away, continuing on his path to the forest on the outskirts of their village.

"SHOUJI!"

He ignored Meiko's cries, his ebony and silver robes soon lost within the thick foliage.

~*~*~

The light breeze rustled the trees, dappled rays of sunlight brightened up the well-trodden path through the Ikosukoro Woods.

Shouji never noticed. His steps were brisk, even, his destination firmly planted in his mind.

Fools, thinking I would not find out. His eyes darkened with pain as he remembered.

#~#~#

Shouji clutched the stem of the violet-hued blossom in his hands. It was his mother's birthing day. He had chosen the small, rare flower as his gift, knowing how much she loved their exotic scent.

Shouji took a short-cut through the Village Council chambers, his silent tread alerting none of his presence. Cutting through the large building cut his journey in half.

He stopped suddenly, startled to hear his mother's voice coming from one of the private discussion rooms. There should have been only general guards left.

Shouji listened in confusion as she spoke in hushed tones with the Elders.

"Is there time?"

A man's voice, raspy with age, answered. "Yes. Everything is set. Your son must be made ready by the next moon."

There was a pause.

"What do we tell him." Meiko asked.

A small sigh seemed to echo loudly. Shouji held his breath.

"We tell him they are a part of his Passage Rites. By the time he realises, he will be too drugged to stop us."

"And his power?"

"It will be split between us." There was a rustling of robes, then another equally ancient voice spoke up. "The boy is simply too powerful for his own good. If he should become Aware...."

"I understand."

"Good." There was another pause. Then, softer, "I'm truly sorry Meiko. But if Shouji lives it could mean the end of us. There is no other way. The ritual must be performed."

Shouji ran. The small, delicate flower dropped, forgotten on the dark hardwood floor.

#~#~#

"Mother."

Meiko turned, flicking a strand of black hair from her face. "Yes Shouji?" She asked, frowning when her son would not meet her questioning gaze.

"I...I heard you.....last night. With the Elders."

Meiko smothered a horrified gasp, "Sho..."

Amber eyes suddenly pinned brown, anger and disbelief glittering through unshed tears. "How could you?" Shouji cried, his slim frame tense.

"Shouji...I..."

"I hate you." Shouji's softly uttered words struck Meiko. He pushed past her, leaving the room.

Meiko eyes widened. She ran after her son, towards the Elder's chambers.

#~#~#

Shouji stopped when he reached the large chambers from which the Elders ran the village.

"Sorry sir, no-one may pass without approval." A guard held out his hand, blocking Shouji's path.

"Move."

The guard frowned. "Go away boy. This is not the place for you."

Shouji's eyes narrowed. "Let me past. Or I'll make you."

"Problem?"

Shouji and the guard turned to face the newcomer.

"Sir. This youth is causing trouble. He's trying to enter the Chambers."

"Hmmn. Sorry boy. They're in a meeting. You can't disturb them."

Shouji bared his teeth in a feral snarl. "Move out of my way."

"Shouji!" Meiko reached her son, tugging on his sleeve.

He shrugged her off. "Go away."

"This won't solve anything. Please, just let me explain."

"Explain? Explain?" Shouji spun around angrily. "What's there to explain? I heard you and the council planning last night to have me killed!"

He didn't notice the discreet signal the guard made, nor the fact that he was slowly being surrounded.

"Why mother? How could you?"

"There was a prophecy. That's all I know."

"Get him!"

Shouji's eyes widened and he instinctively ducked and rolled as the first guards grabbed for him.

"Damn!" Shouji snatched a long knife from one guards' belt, slashing at another's arm before somersaulting out behind the guards. He made a mad dash for the heart of the village, trying to lose his pursuers.

Shouji was shocked when the villagers tried to grab him, rather than move out of his way. He realised, a bit belatedly, that he was the only one who hadn't known of the so called 'Prophecy' his mother had mentioned.

Careful only to wound the villagers and guards, Shouji changed his route, heading instead for the woods on the edge of the village. He almost made it. Meiko was waiting at the last row of buildings. His breathing ragged, Shouji put on a desperate burst of speed, trying to outrun his attackers.

"Shouji! Here!"

Shouji dragged in a heaving breath into his burning lungs, making for his mother. He made a wild stab at a villager who had come to close, a sharp cry of pain letting him know he'd hit his target.

His last, desperate bid worked, and Shouji left his pursuers behind. He held his hand out to his mother, intending to draw her to safety with him in the forest.

The last thing he heard was her soft voice saying "I'm sorry son."

#~#~#

Shouji blinked, his eyes adjusting easily to the torch-lit room. He tried to sit up, frowning when he realised he couldn't move.

Someone leant over him. It was Meiko. Her eyes were sad, but resigned.

Meiko brushed a blood-red bang away from Shouji's face. "I'm sorry Shouji." She whispered, before leaving her son.

Three Elders took her place. "You've caused far too much trouble for one so young."

"I'm nineteen!" Shouji snarled, pulling at his invisible bonds. "I'm not a boy!"

"Hmmn. This would have been best done during the rise of the new moon," the ancient Elder paused, accepting a long silver blade from Meiko before continuing, "but we can no longer afford to wait. You have become a liability."

"So you're just going to kill me!?" Shouji asked in disbelief. "Just like that?"

Another raspy voice spoke up, this time from the oldest of the three. "There is much you are not aware of. Your Magic is dangerous."

"Have you never wondered why you were born looking so different from any other in the village?"

Shouji scowled. "So I have red hair and weird eyes. That's no reason to kill me."

"Yet everyone else has dark hair and dark eyes. Your skin is pale, where ours is tanned. Your Magic is also different."

"Different?" Shouji whispered, ignoring the voice niggling inside him where all his doubts resided.

The Elder closest quirked a brow. "You never noticed? Your difficulty in mastering simple spells, outcomes which none expected and a natural talent for multiple areas of Crafting?"

Shouji closed his eyes, remembering the taunts of his classmates when he failed his tests over and over again. "I got better." Shouji growled.

"Yes." The Elder nodded. "You did. You found a way to harness your Magic quite effectively. You certainly surprised us."

Realisation struck. "You...that's the only reason you waited, wasn't it?" Shouji gasped, horrified. "You were waiting for me to gain control over my power. You would have been unable to steal raw power from me, it would have killed you."

"Clever boy. Yes. If we had tried to draw the Magic from you in it's bare form, it would have killed us. But you did such a good job of molding it, shaping nd controlling it that it's a simple matter for us to simple absorb your power within our own."

"You..." Anger welled. "I trusted you, all of you. Was the entire village in on it?"

"Well, we had to find some way to keep tabs on you. After we made up the 'Prophecy' it was simple to make the villagers afraid of you. That's why you could never make friends."

"So this 'Prophecy' is fake?"

"Quite." The Elder looked pleased. "We found an old, abstract prophecy about a child of fire and after a few ....modifications....we had a tailor-made prophecy, perfect for keeping the Village, and you, under our control."

"Enough talk. Begin!"

Behind Shouji, three Elders began chanting. The simple silver blade raised over Shouji's chest. As the Elder's chanted the torches flickered.

Shouji found his mind retreating. The comforting presence of his magis began to pool in his belly, threading out through his veins in a dark coil of power. Shouji closed his eyes and relaxed, allowing the Magic to possess him.

The chanting stopped abrupty. Shouji opened his eyes, making the Elders stumble back in shock. Shouji's eyes were completely red, flames seemed to dance within his eyes.

He sat up, the bonds simply vanishing.

Shouji raised his hand towards the Elders, a peaceful look on his face.

A softly whispered word and fire erupted from Shouji's palms, engulfing the entire room. The Elders raised protective barriers around themselves and Meiko, backing away from the oblivious youth.

Shouji walked putside, the villagers parting silently when they saw the fire surrounding the youth.

Then, as swift as it had come on, the power subsided, calming itself and settling back into the core of Shouji's being.

Shouji stopped at the edge of the village.

"Shouji!!"

The youth closed his eyes at his mother's cry. Blocking out everything he had ever felt towards her.

#~#~#

Bastards, the lot of them. Shouji clenched his fists, veering off the path into the heart of the woods. They had no right to use me.

He stopped in a small clearing, surrounded by the tall trees and thick plants. They will never do this again. They have no right to twist the Magic like that. What they did to me was wrong. They were wrong..

A single tear fell unnoticed to land on the grassy earth beneath Shouji's feet.

Closing his eyes, Shouji brought his arms in front of his face, palms against each other. One hand held to the sky, the other directed to the ground. He started chanting. Pouring everything he felt into his words. The anger, hurt, betrayal, confusion, sorrow and determination becoming part of his spell.

A spark of white lightning suddenly flashed over his hands.

Shouji started to pull his palms apart, a ball of black light slowly beginning to coalesce with his steady chant.

Arcs of blue-white light shot out over and around the glowing black orb. Building in strength as the ball grew.

The breeze shifted, a harsh wind suddenly whipping out Shouji's robes, his hair flying in a fiery halo around his face. Beads of sweat forming around Shouji's face with the exertion of maintaining his spell.

The ball grew until it reached the size of Shouji's arms. A harsh cry later and Shouji shot the ball directly at the ground at his feet.

Everything exploded and the world went black.

Shouji whispered one last promise before he was enveloped within the blast.

"This isn't the end."

~*~*~

Tbc...

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