Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

  It also meant that if Mr Black had impregnated her mother just before he had travelled back in time, then her younger-self would be born in around nine months. Time was growing short, she thought, and it felt like they had a lot to prepare for still.

  “I think our time here is at an end,” Amanda said.

  “Here?” Gentle Water asked.

  “At the temple. We have a lot to prepare for.”

  “Of course, Graceful Phoenix,” he said.

  She smiled. “From now on, outside of these walls, I’m Amanda, and it’s time to introduce you to the Legacy.”

  1500 AD – Sol Prime Station

  Amanda stood at the window, looking out over the countless spires of this part of the station with its graceful lines and white architecture. Ships and skiffs zipped around, moving through the huge Space Station while larger capital ships hung in space against the velvet black of interstellar space. Far off, Sol twinkled in the black. It was by far the brightest star that could be seen from here.

  Thinking what Earth was currently like, in its pre-industrial era state, and knowing all this was out here still boggled her mind.

  “I’m thinking of starting a group,” Astrid said from behind Amanda. Amanda turned to the room. Astrid stood bolt upright in her fitted grey and black stealth suit with her shoulder-length blue hair, looking over at Amanda, while Rane Ormond, dressed in loose fabric and glittering jewellery, studied Astrid.

  “A group? What do you mean, a group?”

  “Like, an elite team of Riven and Magi who fight for what’s right. We’ll offer our services to the Nexus and the Dynasties as guards and special forces personnel, but we’ll have a code of ethics, and we’ll stick to it,” she said.

  “Where’s this coming from?” Amanda asked.

  “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but, I don’t know, I just think now’s a good time, you know? And I think I could do with some help…”

  Amanda smiled. “You want help founding your group of special forces operatives?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Okay, yeah, sure. I’ll help,” Amanda said.

  “Count me in, too,” Rane said with a smile. “I’ll expect a discount on Ormond Dynasty missions, though,” she said with a smile.

  Epic Calling

  “You’re all ready?” Amanda asked Gentle Water.

  “I think I am ready,” he said. “But... it will be... strange.”

  “I know, but I have total faith in you. You remember where that clearing is that I showed you, right?”

  “Yes. I practice there every day at same time when you tell me to start,” he said.

  Amanda smiled. She felt nervous. Today was a big day. “You’re sure you want to head over there so early? We’re a few weeks away from when you need to meet… well, me, I guess.”

  Gentle Water nodded, his bald head catching the light. “I want time alone. It help me to separate you, from younger-you, yes?” he said in his Chinese accented English.

  “Okay, whatever works for you.” She pulled him in for a hug. “Good luck,” she said and watched her apprentice disappear in a flare of Magic.

  The build-up to today had been huge in her mind. Maybe she was turning it into something it really wasn’t, but she couldn’t help it.

  In the weeks and months leading up to today, she’d looked into her old friend Georgina’s family, and there was no family connection to Ireland. At first, she’d panicked, wondering how on earth Georgina had inherited the cottage in Donegal, Ireland until she realised that she had been the one to set it up.

  She’d shaken her head at that realisation. Of course, she’d set it up. It was just too big a coincidence for it to happen any other way.

  Working with Royston and the team of Riven the Legacy employed, they soon had everything in place, and Georgina was the sudden benefactor after the death of a long lost relative that she knew nothing else about, and who didn’t actually exist.

  Of course, there had been all the organising of the people who were in the know about her and her younger-self, from the Legacy members, Balor, Royston, Raven and Gentle Water, through to people like Trevelyan and Stephen Bathory. But everything was now in place, and the next big milestone was just about to be reached.

  “Are you nervous?”

  Amanda turned to see Maya standing in the doorway, her pale skin almost glowing in the dusky hallway.

  “Of course,” Amanda replied.

  “It’ll be fine, I’m sure,” Maya reassured her. “If the Weaver trusts you, then everyone else should, too.”

  “Thanks,” Amanda said to her daughter. Maya stepped forward and gave her a hug. Amanda smiled and hugged her back.

  “Shouldn’t you be going?”

  “Yeah, I should,” Amanda said, “I was just…”

  “Procrastinating?”

  Amanda nodded.

  “Go on, go,” Maya said.

  “Okay, okay, Jaysus, I’m going, don’t yeh know,” she said in mock exasperation. With a smile, Amanda worked her Magic, and with a flare of golden light, she was standing on a New York rooftop.

  It was night-time, but the sounds of the city were as loud as ever. Buildings towered all around her, their incandescent lights glowing a yellowy-orange with a few white LEDs mixed in.

  A siren blared several streets away as a helicopter buzzed by in the sky above. Ah, New York. She loved this city.

  Amanda walked over to one edge of the building and stopped, looking down onto the street below, being careful to stand in the shadow of a water tower to hide her shape. Below, she watched a familiar scene play out from an unfamiliar angle. She could see her younger-self down there chatting with Stuart. She remembered the clothes she wore. The thigh-high boots, the red tartan skirt, and the denim jacket over a black lace top. It was bizarre to see herself all those years ago. Looking up, she saw a dark shape on the rooftops opposite, peering over the edge and looking down onto the street below. The dark shape, which she recognised as Horlack, spotted the young Amanda, before moving quickly and dropping into an alleyway a little way up the road as her younger-self started to walk in that direction.

  She could spot the glowing pinpricks of red light coming from Horlack’s eyes in the shadows of the alleyway. As young Amanda drew level with the Scion, he lashed out, grabbed her, and threw her down the alley.

  She couldn’t help but wince as she remembered that night and the pain Horlack inflicted upon her.

  Up the road, she noticed Stuart—who must have seen Amanda get attacked—begin sprinting up the road and charge into the alleyway, running straight into the back of the great hulking Scion.

  With her enhanced hearing, Amanda could hear the shouting and screaming, but it was being drowned out by the traffic and some emergency vehicles a few streets away.

  Seconds later, Horlack smashed Stuart into the wall, killing him, before he advanced on her younger-self. Amanda could feel the build-up of Essentia and the feeling of something being pulled, like a balloon that’s being squeezed until eventually, it pops.

  With a bright flash in the darkness of the alleyway, her younger-self threw lightning at the Scion. He resisted for a while, but within moments, his Aegis was gone as raw power from her Epiphany tore it down before blasting Horlack himself.

  Back then, she had no idea what she had been doing. She had no idea that she’d broken down his Aegis before hitting Horlack himself. There was another flare of Magic, Astral Magic this time, and Horlack was gone.

  Amanda smiled as she watched young Amanda get up and run deeper into the alleyway, ducking out of sight.

  Back then, she’d thought she’d killed him. But she’d learn later that wasn’t the case. Instead, somehow, she’d managed to throw Horlack into the Abyss, only for Dust Devil to bring him back years later.

  With the show over, Amanda stepped back, away from the edge of the building. It had finally started, and there was no going back now, but there was still so much to come. Stil
l so much she needed to do, but all in good time.

  The next step would be to meet up with someone she never really enjoyed the company of, but it needed to be done. There was no getting around it.

  That would not be just yet, though.

  Concentrating, Amanda focused on her Null Realm and crossed over into her lobby. She needed some time alone.

  ***

  It didn’t seem like five minutes since she’d been standing on this very rooftop, looking down at her younger-self getting attacked by Horlack, and now she was here again, but this time to meet someone else.

  As she watched, Essentia flared in her Magical sight, and Yasmin popped into existence in the alleyway below.

  Amanda grimaced. It had been a while since she’d last seen her, and she wasn’t sure if Yasmin would make it here, but it seemed that the information about the attack in the alleyway had indeed reached Yasmin’s ears.

  The Inquisition had investigated and pinpointed the alleyway where the attack had taken place, and now Yasmin knew that information as well.

  Amanda knew it would only be a matter of time before she showed up, and sure enough, she soon did.

  Magic flared again as Yasmin investigated the site of the attack. At least, she seemed genuinely interested in what had happened.

  Amanda worked Magic of her own and Ported into the alleyway just a few meters from Yasmin.

  “Good evening, Amanda,” Yasmin said without looking around.

  “Is it?”

  “For me, it is,” Yasmin answered.

  “I bet.”

  “It was you, wasn’t it? This was where you had your Epiphany, right?”

  Amanda smiled. “Correct.”

  Yasmin smiled at her briefly. “So, you have things to tell me. Places I need to be, right?”

  ***

  “The children are being held in a police station in London,” Trevelyan told Royston. “We’d deal with this usually, but we all know this isn’t a normal situation.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Royston said, before turning to Amanda.

  Things were going well so far, she thought. It had been a year since her Epiphany, and now her younger-self was a fully-fledged Magus and had arrived here in the Legacy House in Paris not long ago. She’d already been on a mission with Raven to a Magic shop in London where they’d encountered Angel and the kids Liz, Fran, Stephen, and Ben who were now in possession of the Golden Tablet that she’d planted in that Egyptian tomb so many years ago. It had been a dig sponsored and monitored by Yasmin that had found it, drawn to it by the Dead Magic Zone that was there before Horlack had escaped, killed everyone, and fled the tomb, leaving the Golden Book to be found by a passing local. It had eventually ended up on the black market and been bought by Stephen.

  All the dominos were falling into place, she thought, marvelling at the way things were coming together.

  “So, the younger me, she’s off looking at the tomb?” They were closing the circle there, too, giving her younger-self the information she needed to make sure that Horlack and the book were in the right place.

  “That’s right,” Royston confirmed.

  “When she’s back, send Raven off to rescue those children. Ask if she wants to go with him. She will, by the way.”

  “This would normally be handled by more senior Magi,” Royston noted.

  “She’ll cope, and she needs to build her relationship with Liz.

  “Okay, I’ll brief Raven,” Royston said.

  Amanda smiled. “I’ll be watching.”

  1511 AD – Sirius System

  “So, what do you think?” Rane asked.

  Amanda stood to one side of her friend and sometimes lover, looking out over the nearby planet and its orbiting moon. The binary stars of the Sirius system burned brightly in the black, with one of them being significantly bigger and brighter than the other.

  “I think that moon is perfect,” Astrid said. “The planet’s settled, correct?”

  “That’s right, but not heavily,” Rane said. “There’s a central capital city known as Silver City on Sirius Alpha.”

  “And the moon?” Amanda asked.

  “Canis? It’s relatively untouched. There’s been some mining, but not much,” Rane said.

  “Sounds like the perfect place for a base,” Amanda said.

  “On the moon?” Astrid asked.

  “Or in it,” Amanda suggested.

  “In it? Hmmm, I like it.”

  Shadows of Darkness

  Amanda’s Magic flared, and she appeared in one of the rooms of her Brownstone in New York.

  “Whoa,” Raven said, turning to her in surprise wearing only a towel. He must have just climbed out of the shower. “Jeez, don’t do that.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I was just curious to know how things are going with, you know, young me,” Amanda said. She still hadn’t settled on the way to refer to her younger-self. Everything she tried always felt clunky and strange, but she guessed it wouldn’t be for too much longer.

  “Oh, sure. I was fairly sure it was the older you, but you’re so similar, it can be difficult to tell sometimes.”

  Amanda smiled. “Sorry.”

  “No problem. So anyway, yeah, the move to New York went well, and Lucian has already put in an appearance. He didn’t attack us, though.”

  Amanda smiled. “I have been putting things into place, so, no, he shouldn’t attack, not right away anyway,” she said, thinking back to her recent chat with Yasmin about how to deal with Lucian.

  She might be a Nomad, but she did have her uses.

  “Good, we didn’t need that happening right away.”

  “Be careful though, he’ll still cause you trouble.”

  “I’d expect nothing less,” Raven said.

  “Are you okay?”

  “It’s all a little strange, having two of you around. The younger you seems to be interested in me, which is just... bizarre, you know?”

  “You’re not in a relationship with me, Raven. We mess around, but we’re not monogamous. You can be with her, too, you know.”

  “I know, but it’s just strange. Also, I’m kind of scared I’m going to say something I shouldn’t, you know. Pillow talk and all that?”

  “Oh, okay, I see. I understand. Well, do whatever you feel comfortable doing, but you’re right, it’s imperative that this all goes smoothly, so best to be careful. Wouldn’t want you revealing too much, now would we?” Stepping up to Raven, she pulled his towel from his waist and dropped it to the floor.

  With a thought and a working of Magic, Amanda’s clothes fell away.

  “You don’t need to worry about that with me, though,” she whispered to him as she reached around and took hold of his bum and pulled him in.

  “I guess not.

  ***

  “You’re getting dressed? Where’re you going?” Amanda asked.

  “What? You want more?” Raven asked.

  “Can you blame me?” she said, waving at his body as he stood there in just his underwear.

  “So, what am I supposed to say to that?”

  There was a knock at the door.

  Raven looked at the door and then back to her.

  “Well, go on then, get the door and then jump back in here with me, I’m not finished with you yet,” she said.

  “You’re insatiable,” he said and pulled a sheet from the floor to wrap around his waist.

  She giggled as he opened the door, smiling back at her before turning to look out at who had knocked.

  “Ah, no bother, I’m sorry. I thought, I mean, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” said a voice that was both familiar and strange-sounding from the corridor outside. It was her younger-self, and she’d known this was going to happen today, which was why she’d come to see Raven. It was so strange to hear her own voice as others heard it, and wow, she really sounded Irish. Her accent had mellowed through the centuries, but she could slip back into it whenever she needed.

  Sh
e watched as Raven stared out through the door, his smile fading before he finally spoke. “No, no, you’re okay. It’s not a problem, but I’m sorry I can’t invite you in. I have…”

  “Company,” the voice outside finished for him. “I understand.”

  Amanda heard the sound of receding footsteps and knew that her younger-self had walked away.

  Raven shut the door behind him and looked back at her. She held her hand over her mouth, smiling and enjoying his discomfort, her eyebrows raised.

  “That was close,” he said.

  She nodded and dropped the hand from her mouth, revealing the smile. “Certainly was,” she said knowingly.

  “You weren’t worried she might see you?”

  “Nope.”

  “No, I guess not.” He smiled at her before he put his hands on his hips and dropped the towel.

  “Well, Monsieur Raven, where were we?” she said enticingly and flung the bedsheet that had been covering her away, revealing herself to him.

  Aroused, he climbed onto the bed as he dropped his underwear and descended into her embrace again, her arms and legs wrapping around him as she pulled him into her, moaning in delight.

  1514 AD – Canis, Moon of Sirius Alpha

  Amanda moved towards the edge of the gantry and looked down through the enormous shaft that she along with Rane and Astrid had already hollowed out of the moon. Lower down, the walls were still just sheer rock, but up here, near the north pole of the moon, there were already walkways and gantries running around the edge while long corridors led off into the rock leading to rooms of all shapes and sizes.

  “I love it,” Astrid said, moving up to stand next to Amanda as they looked out over the colossal feat of engineering they had already completed.

  “And I’m happy to help,” Amanda said.

  “Will you be involved in the Wraiths at all? We’d love to have you.”

  “So, you’re settled on that name, are you?” Amanda asked. Astrid had been working through a series of names for this elite group of personnel she was planning to create, and the Wraiths had been one she kept coming back to.