The 13th Mage

by Inelia Benz

  “Excellent! Just in time for dinner,” said Owen looking at the alarm clock on his bedside table, “I had better tell Raul there are two more for dinner. Make yourself at home, you’ll find some clothes in that wardrobe, choose some, I’ll be right back, we might have to make them a bit bigger in order for them to fit you, no worries, I’ll look into that when the time comes,” saying this Owen left Sean on his own.

  The amount of changes made Sean feel small and vulnerable, he felt bad about all the trouble he had caused even if Owen said it wasn’t his fault. He knew it was his fault. He knew he should not have taken the mages offer, it felt wrong every step of the way. If only he had listened to himself everyone would be happier now. If only he could make time go back, if only he could undo all he had done.

  “Sean, this is Raul, I will introduce you to the rest of the staff later on. We’ll have a quick wash and eat, we can worry about cleaning up properly after dinner,” he said and sped past toward the bathroom.

  “Master Sean, it is an honor, your brother told me you were identical twins but I didn’t realize how very much alike you could be. Welcome home, you will be very happy here.”

  “Very nice to meet you Raul.”

  Sean offered his hand as he’d been taught in Ireland but the aging man went up to him and gave him a hug.

  Dinner was roast meat in ground pepper, rice and spinach, for dessert a bowl of fresh fruit. “All fresh from this morning’s market,” Raul informed them.

  Owen ate enthusiastically, he seemed very happy indeed. Every now and then he would stop talking and would stay still, listening, watching something invisible to Sean’s eyes. Then he would carry on as before.

  Owen smiled and nodded, yes, he had taken a decision. Why had they come here? It was the closest thing Owen had to call a home. Owen had brought his brother home.

  Sean moved in the chair uncomfortably, he had to get used to people, to the noise, to the food. He wouldn’t be going back to his lonely paradise. He would never be alone again. Somehow the thought released the tension he had felt since arriving on Earth.

  His brother smiled again, he could hear his thoughts.

  “Don’t be afraid. This world is but a big adventure. Life is but a big adventure, your journey has just began and luckily for you I am your guide,” Owen said.

  Sean thought of Jennifer. He had always known he would lose her one way or another, but when he finally felt her disconnecting it had taken all wish to live away from him. Now he knew that without that wish to live he would not survive in this world.

  Owen put down his fork and took Sean’s hand in his.

  “I didn’t find you so you could go off and die on me brother,” he said.

  Sean felt a surge of energy reach him from Owen’s hands, it was golden colored, it was blinding, overwhelming.

  He pulled away, “what is it!”

  Owen looked at him puzzled, “what’s what?”

  Sean looked at his hand, the light was still there, traveling up his arm, covering him from head to toe.

  He wanted to live, he wanted to shout to the world! He felt alive.

  “I feel alive!”

  For the first time in his long and lonely existence Sean felt truly alive.

  His complexion changed, Owen felt satisfied his brother wouldn’t leave him. He still didn’t know why Sean was looking at his hands, then Owen’s hands, moving his own up and down, but it didn’t matter, his brother would stay. He thought of borrowing to find out what Sean was seeing, but then changed his mind. He’d had enough of the prohibited arts for some time to come.

  Shifts and changes shook the world. It felt like a giant had stretched after a long sleep. Both brothers stopped in mid thought and felt the vibrations around them.

  Never underestimate the enemy.

  The thought arrived from the front door, the doorbell rang.

  The brothers waited in silence.

  Raul came in, followed closely by an old lady dressed in white trousers, a flowery blouse and a baseball cap with a small battery powered fan attached to the front.

  Owen bolted upright.

  “Your Aunty Señor, she has just flown in from Paris,” said Raul smiling from ear to ear.

  “Keeper,” said Owen.

  “Owen, young Sean, how nice to see you both together.”

  “Shall I set another place Señora O’Neil or have you eaten already, some tea perhaps?”

  “Lunch I think Raul, I love your cooking,” the old lady answered.

  “Oh, yes,” Raul answered proud of the compliment. He was very fond of the boys Aunt. She often visited, bringing gifts for all the staff and their families.

  “And have the chests put in the guest room, I shall be staying a short while.”

  “Straight away,” he said leaving them.

  “Owen, please sit down, I am not going to eat you, you know.”

  “Sorry Keeper,” he answered, sitting down. Then frowned and got up again, this wasn’t going to happen to him twice, not if he had any say in the matter. He wasn’t about to be meddled with anymore, and he was not going to allow any being, no matter how powerful it might be, to meddle with his brother’s life. Not without a fight anyhow. His legs folded and his chair moved to meet him.

  “Earth is all very well for a little while, but it can become rather hot at times,” she said, “Owen, you can be very stubborn, I know, I have seen it in you, but at this present moment you have to sit and listen because time is short.”

  Owen stopped struggling to get back on his feet and looked at the light-being turned tourist, he had a short temper, that, he knew. It had got him into more than a bit of trouble in his lifetime. He calmed down considerably at the thought and watched as his brother and the Keeper became acquainted. If only Sean knew how much trouble this creature had caused him. He realized that Sean and Jennifer meeting and having Heather was also part of the Keeper’s plans, probably anyway. She had probably planned the entire thing, why shouldn’t she, she had the power. She had the power to do anything she pleased. She had the power to stop the Shadow in their tracks with less than a wish, so why take the trouble to ruin their lives in order to defeat the Shadow Ones? Maybe she didn’t want to defeat them. Maybe she was one of them. But then this didn’t make any sense at all because she could just delete him and Jennifer and everyone else he knew from the face of the earth any moment she wished to do so.

  Raul came in bringing a new set of cutlery and a plate of food. He walked carefully around them and set it in front of the Keeper. He seemed to be under the impression that this being was a harmless aunty, come for the holidays. If only he knew, thought Owen.

  “Yes I could,” said the Keeper before Owen had a chance to think that she could save the forest, could eliminate pollution, could make hunger a thing of the past, “but that would be like doing your favorite child’s homework.”

  “Sorry?” Asked Sean who had been asking about his twin soul’s whereabouts, apparently the old lady was his father sister and knew rather a lot about him.

  “How can suffering, decease, death, be homework? How can you stand aside and let these things happen?”

  Before she answered Owen realized he himself had taken no notice of those things until this very moment, that he could have done plenty to stop them happening but he had not. He had simply let mortals do as they pleased for as long as he could remember. He could have stopped pollution at the start, he was there when the first mills were made, the industrial revolution happened around him, but he was too fascinated to think it was a bad thing. Yet he could do plenty now, he could travel the world fixing things, he could find out how things got this bad and reverse them. He could, if he had a world to work with.

  “The biggest enemy the human race has, a race you are part of, and the biggest strength the Shadow has, is apathy. No one does anything to stop destruction and suffering. Not unless it touches them directly. No one but a handful of individuals, none of which are mages I am afraid,” The Keeper sa
id while cutting into her roast.

  “I’m sorry, I’m a bit lost. We were talking about one of my twin souls? You said one of my twin souls is here?”

  “Ah! Yes, one of your twin souls.”

  “His twin? He has a twin soul?”

  “Yes, as I was telling your older brother here while you were busy thinking is that we are all born into families of souls as you might say. Our essence is of the same makeup. Groups are born together but not necessarily in the same world or at the same time, not unless you decide to do so before hand for some reason, these are what we call brother or sister souls or twin souls as they are popularly known seeing as gender often changes between one life time and another. Many choose to stay together throughout eternity, they are born and advance at a similar rate, often at the same time, in the same world, often meeting each other lifetime after lifetime.”

  Owen felt his heart quickening.

  “Sean is here for reasons beyond this battle, he and this twin soul have arranged to meet here from the beginning of time, and they have a great job to do.”

  She pulled off her baseball cap and switched the little fan off, “great inventions these, they keep your face cool even in the hottest weather, I am not very good with the heat, never was,” she said, putting the cap back on and carried on eating.

  The brothers looked at each other.

  “Yes, it happens often that twin souls will be born as twins, you two for example, you chose to come here as twins for very specific reasons, the link between you two is very special.”

  “So you know the reasons we were born for?”

  “Oh yes,” she said smiling, “but that’s another story to be discovered at another time, as the saying goes. For the time being, time being short, we need to get Owen back to where he is needed. You have the power to stop the Shadow winning Owen. You have managed to develop it unaided as it should be for it to be genuine, a skill very few people have been able to learn in such a small amount of time.”

  “It’s the golden light,” Sean said, smiling broadly.

  “What golden light? What are you talking about, I haven’t developed a thing for years, I have been stuck at the same mage level for decades and I am ashamed to say I have worked hard to advance with no results whatsoever. Anyway, I still don’t see why you don’t simply wipe the Shadow from the face of the earth yourself. You are quite capable after all.”

  “If I destroyed the Shadow it would be like destroying the left side of my body to allow my right to survive, it is quite impossible. Besides, without the Shadow there can be no light dark game, it’s just that sometimes it gets a little out of hand being ambitious as it is. The Shadow cannot and should not be destroyed at this time, it can only be overcome. You have the power, the energy needed to overcome this particular Shadow.”

  “There is more than one Shadow?”

  “More than one manifestation of it, yes.”

  “What is the energy that can defeat it?”

  “It’s the golden light, I just know it is,” Sean said enthusiastically.

  “What golden light?”

  “Yes, the golden light, a very fine type of frequency, very close to that which we are. It is known by many names, one I thought was rather nice is unconditional love. Love, with capital L.”

  Owen felt bitterly disappointed. Here they were at the end of the world as they knew it, energies shifting faster than he could think and the Keeper had come to talk to him about love.

  “Pity wisdom doesn’t come as part of it,” she said to him and blinked.

  Owen blinked in unison and saw a golden stream coming out of his hands and flowing into Sean’s. As he became aware of it the flow stopped.

  “The golden light?” He said looking at his hands, now empty.

  “The golden light,” said the Keeper.

  Sean looked at his hands and rubbed them together, then held them out projecting a flow of gold energy toward his brother.

  Owen ducked, but the energy followed him and engulfed him. The energy was pure, unpolluted, and powerful. He now knew they would defeat the Shadow.

  “One of your twin souls needs your help Owen,” said the Keeper.

  Owen looked at his brother, then at the Keeper, she meant Jennifer, he knew she meant Jennifer but he didn’t know how to locate her.

  “She will be close to the Staff, she will be close to Aeoife.”

  Owen didn’t want to leave his brother, if things got nasty his brother would be unprotected, he couldn’t leave him.

  “Don’t worry about Sean, we have a little trip to take, someone is expecting him at a little village near here.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Owen said getting up this time, “you are not going to mess with both of our lives, I don’t care whether you are a Keeper or not.”

  “I am here to watch over him while you go about your business, once you return, if you return, I will leave. If you fail I cannot allow Sean and his twin soul to perish.”

  Owen was taken aback by this. He hadn’t seen failure as a possible outcome.

  “The future is not yet written,” the Keeper said. Owen knew he had to leave, had to find Jennifer.

  Chapter 20

  A tremor shook the Irish town of Skerries. The gulls flew, screeching, into the air, the fishermen stopped knitting their nets, Rossini held on to his staff with both hands.

  Aeoife, looked at the sky, a dark shadow crossed it.

  “Evil is upon us,” she said, “we must get away from the town, we’ll walk up the beach, North, there is a little enclave there where we can wait.”

  “Yes,” answered Rossini, it wasn’t a good idea to face a Challenger in a built up area and the Staff was pulling, a strong mage was on his way to claim it.

  The sea was uneasy, threatening.

  As they walked onto the beach and North, away from the town, the sky grew somber, threatening. They sat on a rock to wait.

  “He’s here,” he said looking at the light growing inside the crystal. But the mage was out of sight, not ready, waiting for something.

  “All in good time,” said Aeoife.

  “This could be dangerous Aeoife. It might be a good idea if you took refuge, or get out of harm’s way.”

  “Ah no, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she answered smiling.

  Rossini felt vulnerable with Aeoife there. The Challenger might very well attack the woman in order to weaken him. Weak, he thought, he was turning weak by allowing himself to be taken in by the witch. It had probably been the plan all along, Owen’s plan, and he hadn’t realized it.

  No. He could trust his inner instincts, they had never let him down, never. Aeoife was harmless, she was part of no one’s plan. No matter. If she wanted to stay it was her choice, if he couldn’t protect one witness during the Challenge he was not worth the title he held.

  Aeoife tapped his knee and wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders, she looked worried.

  Steps were heard on the sand, a small crowd, mages, Shadow mages, were approaching.

  “I don’t believe it,” said Rossini, “They can’t expect to activate the Staff all at once, that would be unspeakable, they are not strong enough.”

  “Not yet maybe, not until the Thirteenth Mage gets here.”

  “The Thirteenth Mage? Are you talking about The Thirteen Mages?”

  “Yes,” answered Aeoife, looking expectantly at the approaching crowd, trying to work out their features, find out who they were.

  “Stellar?”

  “Hello Rossini, it’s so nice to see you again after all these years.”

  “What on earth happened to you?” He asked, taking a defensive stand in front of Aeoife, a detail Aeoife found very endearing.

  “Oh, nothing that can’t be repaired,” Stellar answered, “Aeoife,” she added looking past Rossini.

  “Stellar,” nodded Aeoife.

  “You know each other?”

  “Oh yes, we go a long way.”

  “Aeoife, please tell
me you are not the Thirteenth Mage,” said Rossini, looking back at the helpless looking witch behind him.

  “Me? The Thirteenth Mage? Oh, no, not me,” she said laughing.

  Owen materialized a few meters from Stellar.

  “Owen?” said Rossini, giving the younger man’s position away.

  Stellar turned and stopped and returned the blow of energy emanating from Owen throwing him back.

  “Not Owen,” stated Rossini, as Owen flew past him and into the rocks.

  Come.

  The order came from Stellar and it was aimed at Owen. He picked himself up and walked to Stellar, who grabbed him by the collar and pulled him forward with her.

  Stellar looked at Aeoife, Aeoife nodded and let it pass.The voice came, it was sweet, it was innocent and it sang:

  “And the night engulfed the earth

  Like a mantle of blackened lace.

  No hope,

  No joy,

  Only fear and dismay…”

  They all looked up, it was Jennifer above the rocks, she was wearing earbuds and danced to the invisible music, she sang, eyes closed:

  “Only fear and dismay,

  A thousand nights and no day,

  Only fear and dismay,

  Yeah, yeah, only fear and dismay…”

  She danced and as she danced darkness descended upon them.

  “Take my hand,

  I’ll show you the way

  Out of the darkness

  Follow my steps

  Yeah, follow my steps… ”

  She opened her eyes and jumped down, landing beside Rossini, she reached over and took his staff.