His girlfriend looked at him in that moment—the look on her face betraying everything in that space of a single second.
“You? A sorcerer?” she whispered in awe.
Charlie nodded—turning around in that moment. Away from her.
“Tillie…I haven’t been entirely truthful or honest with you.” He said in a moment of absolute conviction.
Tillie Gunderson nodded even though she wasn’t catching on completely to what he had been trying to say for the past few minutes.
“So…you’ve been…lying to me the entire time—about what…exactly?”
Charlie turned around and faced her. “You’re taking this rather well, for someone whom doesn’t know who she’s dealing with.” He taunted straightforwardly.
“Well…how cannot I not know when you’ve been this great and wonderful towards me the entire time I’ve been a guest here of Level One?” Tillie tried to disarm jokingly. But even then, she could see he was having trouble with whatever was on his mind.
“Unless…it’s something more?”
Charlie reached out and grabbed both her hands in that moment and shut his eyes in order to concentrate on something important.
“Charlie…?” She pressed worriedly—even though she didn’t mind him holding her hands like this.
“Quiet,” he said. “I’m trying to concentrate.”
“On what?”
“You’ll see.” He said without further preamble. Just like magic, the full moon peeked out from behind the clouds at just the right time and its soft light bathed Charlie’s still form and hers.
The older boy said something different in an arcane language which the other girl didn’t recognize and he kept repeating this phrase until his body started to glow with ethereal light—his face piquing as well—and finally…
All the hair on his head stood straight up. Like magic—complete with sparks of electricity.
In that second, Tillie found herself enveloped in a strange energy field that was not unlike her own magical aura. Instead of competing for the same possible space as her own energies, the newly surging energy entering her body at all sought a peaceful coexistence on a level which blew her mind entirely.
“Charlie…” She said in open astonishment. “You…you’re doing this…?”
The effect lasted only a couple of minutes before the full moon ducked behind fresh cloud cover and the boy’s glowing form faded as time went on—except of course…his new spiky hairdo.
Tillie looked him up and down—trying to see what else he would do. But the girl never felt this powerful or charged up before. Whatever he did, it gave her an incredible boost of energy beyond even her most wild expectations.
Charlie opened his eyes, the glow fading from them in that moment and he smiled toothily.
“See? I told you this was going to happen. And it only happens at certain times of the year—especially during a full moon like this one.”
The other girl stared at him stupidly. Then she nodded slowly. “So…your power is based on the lunar cycles?” She bluntly charged.
“Yep.” The other boy said, before drawing a deep breath and then releasing it. “My foster dad told me that it was extremely rare in a sorcerer. But he didn’t want me to do it all the time. Said it brought bad luck. Of course, being as young as I was back in those days—I listened to him.”
“But…why? Charlie—you have such an incredible and rare gift indeed! To my knowledge there hasn’t been that many Lunar Casters in living memory! You could be the first in a good long time!”
Charlie nodded nervously—shaking just a bit from the experience. “I know. That’s why you must keep this a secret, Tillamook. You must. Even from Kara Plummer. Because that Dragon’s Tear you have in your possession isn’t the only thing she’s after. Nor is the Regency Council.” He explained in a harried rush of emotion and spent energy.
“What do you mean?” Tillie asked—a bit confused by his statement of fact.
Charlie reached out for her again—taking her hands into his.
“Tillie…you must listen, okay? Every word I say to you now is the truth. It is not a lie. It is not a lie!”
The girl nodded breathlessly—waiting for him to continue. But inside, the first kernel of doubt was making itself known to her. For now, she pushed it aside and just listened as she was instructed too.
By the boy that she now loved with all of her heart, mind, and soul.
“Okay. I’m listening.” She reassured him gently. “I’m listening.”
Charlie blinked at her sudden change in tone and that took him completely off guard for a split second.
“Huh? Okay. Sorry. But I’ve been holding this back since Orah and I talked before the meeting got started. I still haven’t decided on what to do with the new information—but since you already found out that I’m a Lunar Caster…? You need to hear the rest of my story.”
“Go ahead.” Tillie urged at that point. “I won’t shy away.”
Charlie had a troubled look on his face. “You may not think so after what I have to tell you.”
“Charlie—? Spill. Please. You’re making me nervous. And I don’t do nervous.”
Charlie nodded some more, apparently having no more room to maneuver on his part. Taking a deep breath, he said bluntly: “I’d like the Dragon’s Tear back—if you don’t mind.”
Tillie shrank back a bit in surprise. “What? What do you mean?” She asked.
“Because it’s mine. Or at least…it used to be. Before it got stolen by Greta Freeman herself that one night my parents were away on business—or so both Felix and my foster dad kept telling me.”
The other girl’s hand went to her chest—cradling the Dragon’s Tear.
“You can’t have it. It’s wed to me now.” She told him.
Charlie let go and made a grab for the trinket. In that instant—the necklace broke apart from around her neck and wrapped itself around the boy’s left wrist.
Tillie’s eyes betrayed shock and awe at the moment the necklace left her for him and she didn’t know what to think after that—except when her boyfriend dangled the Dragon’s Tear in front of her face.
“I think not,” he said in that decisive moment. “It is mine—now. And forever.”
Instead of getting angry with him, Tillie sank to her knees in astonishment—before looking up at him in shock.
“But…how? How did it happen? I thought the Dragon’s Tear was mine to control. To use!”
Charlie laughed. “It was never yours to use, Tillamook. Susha wouldn’t have allowed it. Instead, he sought out a temporary vessel so that both he and the necklace could come back to me—for I am Susha’s master. The reincarnation of the First Being.”
Tillie croaked upon hearing that. “Y-you’re Susha?”
Charlie nodded. “In human form, yes. The Dragon’s Tear contains all the power that I—or rather he—used to wield so long ago. But because I was born as a rare Lunar Caster, my original power didn’t come with me as my parents would have liked. Or even hoped.”
“And then it was…stolen from you. As its original master?” Tillie hazarded to guess.
“That’s correct.” The older boy said, before bending down and showing her the back of the Dragon’s Tear. A small key emerged from the top and the boy used that to unlock the back of it.
A small metal plate popped out from the equally tiny compartment and he asked Tillie to use one of her light incantations to shed some light on the situation.
She did so quickly. Respectfully.
“See?” He implored gently. “The numbers engraved on the plate? They are the same as those on my wrist.”
“Which means…the Dragon’s Tear does belong to you.” Tillie breathed with quiet awe.
“The numbers don’t specify universal ownership, Tillamook. They are a date. The first set of my numbers is the date of my birth, the next set, my death. And the last set…? They signify my rebirth. But for you, the numbers are meaningless unl
ess they are read in the reverse.” Charlie said, reciting each number set slowly.
Tillie’s eyes widened. “This century?”
Charlie nodded. “And when I die again, the numbers will randomize and I will be reborn once more—in a new body. In a new century. But only for a short time.”
“Why?
“Because that is the natural order of things, Tillamook. Even gods like me must know the joys of life, death, and rebirth in every given cycle. It’s how I survived this long without raising anyone’s suspicions—save for Orah’s. My foster father’s and Felix’s. Now yours.”
“Did you…have to kill anyone to keep your secret safe?”
Charlie grinned. “I’m not telling.” He said with a mischievous glint in his eye. Then he sighed. “Now you know the truth, witch girl—how I’ve always wanted to say that. But Tillamook was better to my ears. More warmth. More compassion.”
Tillie got back up onto her feet. “I still…is it okay to say that I love you, Charlie? Even though you’re a reincarnation of Susha?”
Charlie nodded. “I’m not going to stop you from that, Tillie. But you must know it was very difficult for me to just be around you—than being in love with you.”
“Because of the Dragon’s Tear.” She guessed correctly.
The older boy nodded. “And I wasn’t going to lie to you either. I really wanted to tell you the truth the moment you graced me with your presence with the Dragon’s Tear. But I felt it was too early and besides…I have been dying for the company of someone I know I can trust with my secret. And my enduring love—however short it may be.”
“You can’t grow old?” Tillie asked with heavy dread and disappointment.
Charlie laughed. “Tillamook…I’m already old. By a few billion years old at the least. It was I whom created both the heavens and the Earth—gave it new life. Purpose. A chance to grow. That’s how I spent my time as a solitary god of creation don‘t forget.”
“And destruction.” Tillie giggled, bopping him on the nose lightly for emphasis.
“Yes…even that. That is the price one must pay for a chance at rebirth: Things must be destroyed in the here and now—for life to begin again anew.”
“By your hands, or by humanity’s?”
“It could swing both ways—once I grow powerful enough as a Lunar Caster. That’s why I needed the Dragon’s Tear back. One of its unique properties on the old Gregorian calendar—of which you already are undoubtedly familiar with.”
“The full moon.”
“The waxing and the waning of Heaven’s brilliant light.” The older boy quoted reverently. “And in that moment, a mote of stardust shall appear in your hands.” Then he nodded towards Tillie.
“Open them up, Tillamook.”
Tillie didn’t realize she even had her hands closed at that point and she opened the first—empty—but the second was not.
In the center of her palm was a twinkling piece of lunar stardust—as bright as the moon itself.
He reached over and closed her hand over it.
“My gift to you, High Witch in training. Or as you would like to be called: Field Mage.”
Tillie nodded humbly, her throat catching in response.
“Can…can you make it happen—Charlie?” She asked, almost pleading. Practically begging her boyfriend for something she had always wanted since she first awoke as a witch.
“Can you?”
Charlie chuckled at her innocent request.
“If I did I would have to give not only the Dragon’s Tear back to you, but also have a meeting with the High Sorcerer as well. And I don’t really believe he would like that very much—since it was I whom decreed that only a High Sorcerer—upon his death—shall bequeath the title and role that of a Field Mage upon a most deserving and humble High Witch…in training.”
Tillie’s eyes had been squeezed shut against the cold reality upon which her mother and everyone else had drilled into her since she became a full fledged witch.
But when she heard his last words towards her, she gasped.
Her eyes snapping open in that instant.
“In training…?” She blurted out reflexively.
“My, my, my…did I just say that? Where is my mind at this very moment?”
Tillie lunged for him then—thumping him on the chest. “You inglorious bastard! You’re telling me that any one of us could have been a fucking Field Mage this entire time and—nobody was there to tell us that?!?”
Charlie was having too much of a good time to really take in his girlfriend’s sense of loss and anger at that point.
“You fucking asshole!!!” She raged at him point blank. “I ought to rip your dick off for that!”
“Then where would I be? Besides a crucified eunuch?” He propositioned grandly—before he got hit again.
“You. Are. A. Jerk. Charlie! Or Susha as you’d like to be called!” She railed at him repeatedly.
But the older boy kept laughing at her expense. “I was right…it only takes one with a lot of gumption and spirit to see things in a different light.” He said with a grateful sigh. “Have I been asleep for that long between my last reincarnation?”
Tillie shook her head, her anger all but forgotten.
“It hasn’t been that long, man. Twenty-nine years.” She told him.
“It seems like an eternity of waiting.”
“Your dodging my point, man. You could have made any one of us into a Field Mage. You could have.”
Charlie nodded fatalistically. “That is true. But I have been around the block—as the humans say—and I just felt the time wasn’t right for such a drastic change. I needed things to run their course for just a bit longer.”
Tillie nodded then, her nerves settling back for what passed for them as normal.
“Were you waiting for me, Charlie?”
“Maybe.” He hinted at somewhat. “But then again, it was hard to tell who would be a worthy pupil of my tutelage. Like the legends foretold ages ago: A great man walks the earth. The only change he seeks is usually found within.”
“But they never took into account that a woman might become a Field Mage—did they?” Tillie pressed eagerly.
“Oh, heavens no. Women were forbidden in ancient times to become a Field Mage. That decree unfortunately stuck in the minds of many High Sorcerers for a time until the last two hundred years I would wager. Then something changed.”
“And you’re not mad?” Tillie asked straightforwardly. “You’re not going to smite the Earth of all its troubled denizens and start life over anew?”
“I would if I could, Tillamook. But unfortunately, my true power has waned greatly with each new reincarnation. I now keep it in that receptacle you once held in my trust for a short time. Perhaps…it’s time I give it back to you. As a token of my appreciation and eternal gratitude. But be warned—”
Tillie cut her boyfriend off.
“—I know. I know. My soul is for the taking in exchange for your wisdom, greatness, and power.” She groused unhappily.
Charlie laughed as he unwound the long chain and the Dragon’s Tear that came with it.
“It is more than that I’m afraid. Your soul is too precious to be taken on a whim. Even by me. No…when I was wed to you six years ago through a fragment of my esteemed vessel, I was able to see into the person you were. And I have to say, I have never met anyone as pure or gentle as you are right now.”
“I’m not as innocent as you might think, man. I’ve done quite a few questionable things in my life. Remember the cucumber story I shared with you two nights ago?”
Charlie kept laughing. “I’m not talking about your ability to sin with a passion, Tillamook. I’m talking about your purity of heart and mind. You are such a rare commodity in this world. You fight the battles that few would be willing to put their very lives on the line for. And you do it because you want to be the champion for good. You don’t ask for anything in return. Not even for the love of one boy.”
Tillie blushed. “Am I that transparent?”
“There’s no shame in being a force for the good of all kind, Tillamook. We need people like you to show us the way. To light the path of peace and harmony. That’s why I have entrusted you with so much in the short time we’ve been together. And why—” he handed her back the Dragon’s Tear. “This will be your guardian as well as shield for the things to come. Make sure you don’t lose it. It doesn’t like to be lost. Even for a second.”
Tillie nodded. “I suppose this is where we will part ways then, Charlie? Or Susha?”
“Either name will suffice. But parting—as you say—is all up to you. I can only aid and guard you when needed. I cannot choose your paths for you. That is only a decision that you can make, Tillamook.”
The other girl nodded—while putting on the Dragon’s Tear.
“I hope you’re right, man. I hope you’re right.” She said with quiet earnest—just as the emergency sirens started sounding off in the distance.
Charlie tensed.
“That’s the signal. It’s time. You better get going. Remember the plan. Stick to the plan.”
The other girl nodded—as the sirens began to taper off one by one.
“What about you?”
The older boy smiled broadly. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry: This is your fight as you envisioned from so long ago. Both in reality and in your dreams of days past. Don’t be afraid to embrace who you are. And I will always be with you. Right here.” He finished—tapping the Dragon’s Tear with a finger.
“Now…go. And don’t look back.”
Tillie nodded.
“I won’t.” She said. Then she stepped forward to kiss her boyfriend on the mouth. “Thank you. For everything.”
Charlie kept smiling. “You’re so very welcome. Now go. Time’s a wasting.”
The other girl nodded, before taking her leave of the only boy she knew and ever loved.
Even if he was the living reincarnation of an ancient dragon god.
Stranger things have happened she supposed.
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