Prologue

  “You won’t win!”

  A blue energy beam shot out from the ancient Genesi’s staff. It crashed into an overwhelmingly tall looming dark figure wrapped in a cloak about 30 feet before him.

  “This planet will not succumb to your darkness Kakos!”

  The dark figure’s cloak was pulled back to reveal a glowing white orb hanging on a belt. The creature’s inhuman hand clipped it off the belt and held it out in front of him. Razor-sharp teeth glinted briefly from under the dark hood that covered his face.

  “This,” growled a deep, gravelly voice laced with malicious intent. He raised a hand, orb in his grasp, “is all I need.”

  Confidence flooded through Kakos.

  “This power is mine!” He raised the orb to the sky.

  “ I will rule every planet and every galaxy in this universe!”

  With those words, a white light burst from the orb and shot up to the sky.

  “I am Kakos Daimon, conqueror of worlds and ruler of galaxies!”

  He lowered the orb and held his hand out in front of him, the light inside pulsing and glowing violently. Its power was seemingly barely contained in its spherical prison. The material struggled to keep the light bound to its confines, straining under its sheer power. Daimon could feel the heat from the orb pulsing, the power struggling to break free. His eyes met those of the ancient wizard before him.

  “There is nothing you can do to stop me, wizard.”

  His manic grin gleamed from underneath the cloak’s hood, bloodlust filling his eyes. Light poured out as cracks began to form on the ball. Blinding light snaked around Daimon’s arms and inside his cloak, illuminating the menacing figure hidden underneath. With coal-black scales, crimson-red eyes, razor-sharp teeth and claws, the extraterrestrial gained power beyond anything imaginable. The wizard, draped in a sky-blue robe with a phoenix emblem on the back, had thought of one way to stop him. The power of the Galaxy Pearl was too much, even for the wizard, to handle, and for evil to wield that power, meant death and destruction. Fire would rain on every planet, moons would be cracked in half, asteroids would explode like fireworks, lighting up the sky with deadly shrapnel. Stars would implode, black holes would collide, and the universe would cease to exist. The one way, the only way, to stop the universe from mass destruction, was to delay Daimon. The power of pearl was strong, but, with time, a new Genesi, a stronger wizard, could be born, to defeat Daimon. So, for the good of the world, and the universe, he invoked the phoenix curse. He closed his eyes and, word by word, recited the powerful ancient spell.

  “ With my last breath, with all my might, invoked is the Phoenix Curse this night.” Blue energy swirled around him as he recited the forbidden text. “Let souls be torn and evil be crushed, to only be released at alignment’s dusk.” The swirl of energy took the form of a phoenix, its blue flames scorching the landscape of the already barren planet located on the recess of a far solar system. The bird enveloped the wizard, extracting the life force from his very body to enact the curse. “Feather of fire and eye of brimstone” The azure avian swirled itself around Daimon, trapping him in a sphere of scorching flames, each one painfully torching each scale on Kakos’s body.

  “What are you doing?” He growled. Daimon’s confusion added to his anger as he was lifted into the air.

  “Let him perspire on the devil’s throne.”

  “What manner of magic is this?”

  The mage opened his eyes, only for there to be two pools of blue magic replacing them.

  “Inescapable.” The wizard’s voice echoed throughout the planet as he chanted. He angled his head up toward the black night sky, which was slowly being taken over by a scorching hot purple star. “Let soul be burnt and evil fry. Bring him down, Genesi Angelici!.” The phoenix’s flames began to tear away at the physical forms of the two beings, leaving nothing but their souls.

  “NO! “ Kakos’s scales vaporized, his cloak was reduced to ash, and the eyes that we filled with an unmatchable rage and desire for destruction were nothing more than a memory. The same could be said of the mage who ceased his plans. His elegant robes disappeared in a puff of smoke and blue flames, and his body was eaten piece by piece, ending with his bushy white beard, then finally consuming his calculating blue eyes. The remnants of both beings were only their souls, one a calm ocean blue pulsing slowly, the other a raging blood red violently shaking as if someone was trying to escape. After what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, the blue orb spoke. “Here you will rot Kakos until my champion comes to end this fight.”

  The red orb continued to shake violently, and then it howled,

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  “Mark my words, mage! Your champion will stand no chance against me. In a thousand years time, my plan will come to fruition and your race of weak magicians pulling rabbits out of hats will be the first thing I destroy.”

  The blue orb made a sound that resembled a chuckle. “Oh, Daimon. It is that pride that will be your downfall.”

  Then the orbs were gone.

  *************************************************************************************************************

  “Hmm. Interesting,” cooed a short, plump man in a gray robe. He has large spectacles on his face and a thinning gray mustache. He waddled over to a large bookshelf, his gray robe dragging behind him. He pulled out a book on the bottom shelf and skimmed through it as if looking for something he didn’t know the location of. He looked up from the book, frustrated, and saw what looked like a smudge of paint on the wall behind the book. “Ugh,” groaned the wizard, scrunching his face up in disgust. He licked the tip of his thumbs and tried to wipe away the paint. Nothing happened. The man furrowed his brow, pressed his thumb firmly into the wall, and scrubbed. Not even a smudge. After a moment of complaining, the wizard became quiet. His eyes widened with realization. “I’ve been ignorant!” he exclaimed, facepalming before he quickly waddled back to his table, with office supplies strewn on the surface. What stuck out was the 8-inch wooden stick neatly sitting in the middle of the chaos. The two ends were different sizes, and it had a phoenix engraved into the center. The wood was smooth, and there was leather on the thicker end of the wand. It was worn, the smooth brown transforming into a rough and textured gray. The wizard's hands smoothed over the leather, him fondly remembering his golden years. He quickly shook it off, grabbed the wand, and waddled back over to the bookshelf. He angled the thin tip of the wand towards the shelf, and with bass in his voice, he shouted, “Erasure!” Gray sparks erupted from the wand and darted toward the shelf. As the sparks made contact, the shelf began to seemingly fade out of existence. As more sparks touched, the more the bookshelf disappeared. Finally, it was gone, and revealed behind it was a mural. With excitement bubbling in his eyes, he scoured the painting. He shook with anticipation until he couldn’t take it anymore. The wizard bounced up and down with happiness. “Joy! Rapture! Hurrah!” Suddenly, the door to the little office crashed open, and a tall, slender witch with black hair, brown eyes, and a purple robe almost touched the ground.

  “What’s all this commotion about? Some of us are trying to work.” As though he didn’t even hear her, He continued to bounce up and down. Her voice boomed, “MAGUS PHINEAS!” He stopped bouncing. “I will only ask one more time, what ARE you doing?” He rapidly pointed towards the wall.

  “Lady Kryos, we have one! We finally have one!” She paced towards him, a scowl forming on her face.

  “ What on earth are you….oh. Oh my.” She stopped speaking as she saw the mural.

  “He’s perfect.”

  Chapter One

  “Great pass, Anthony! Keep it up, and you’ll be captain for sure.”

  Shiny blonde hair flowing in the wind, white teeth gleaming in his smile, and blue eyes filled with joy, Anthony Best was living his best life. “Thanks, coach! Just trying my best.”

  The coach chuckled. “Trying? Heck, you’re the best football player I’ve seen play at this school in years.”

  Anthony beamed. He didn’t say it, but he knew he was the best. He was the fastest kid in his school, the most athletic, and the soon-to-be captain of the Hidden Woods football team, the best team in the entire state of Illinois for the past three years. Coincidentally, the year Anthony enrolled. He was a blessing, and everyone was sad to see him go. Classmates, teachers, even the janitors. After football practice, he would always go help them clean the bathrooms, a job not even the janitors wanted to do. But Anthony didn’t mind. He did his best, and it just so happened that his best was better than everyone else’s. Everyone was going to miss him, except Jason Avius, despite being his best friend of 4 years, the words “best friend" meaning the day Anthony arrived, he proclaimed the quietest kid in class to be his closest companion. This brought unwanted popularity to Jason. High fives at lunch, “Heys” from girls in the hallway, eyelashes fluttering and eyes straining to see a bit of attractiveness in him, scanning him from his pitch-black braids to his dirty black and white Jordans. He always just pulled the hood of his faded black hoodie over his head and walked away without a word. Now that Anthony and him were leaving high school, he could go back to listening to music at the back of the class, fading from the picture while everyone else stood out. He hated attention, but that never stopped Anthony from giving Jason secondhand popularity.

  “Bye, coach! See you tomorrow!” yelled Anthony as he walked down the street to his house. Graduation was coming soon, and he was elated. He was finally moving on in life. It was amazing. He had survived the 4 years of high school and was going to go to the best football college in the country. He was the best, and he knew it, but he couldn’t say that. He would never say this out loud, but Anthony was way too good for his school, and everyone knew it. That’s why everyone loved him. He stayed at the school despite his obvious raw talent, charisma, and intelligence. There were tons of other high schools in the area that offered much better education, sanitation, and opportunities than the one in the small rinky-dink town of Hidden Woods, Illinois. But here, he was the best, and that was better than anything else he could ask for. While basking in his greatness, Anthony spotted a shadow walking on the other side of the street, almost completely hidden amongst the shade of the red oaks thickly lying on the side of the road.

  “Hey, Jason!” called Anthony as he dashed across the road to join his “friend,” who was clearly trying to avoid him. “How ya doin’ buddy?” Weary brown eyes peered from under his hood, willing Anthony to go back to the other side of the road and leave him in peace. “Can you believe it, man? We finished high school. It’s over, and we did together,” cheered Anthony as he playfully went to punch Jason in the shoulder. Jason stopped dead in his tracks, but Anthony kept walking, eventually punching the air and losing his balance. Unable to regain it, he tumbled, his arms sprawling out and his face smacking into the grass next to the sidewalk.

  Jason looked down, and, with no expression on his face, whispered, “Guess you aren’t that athletic, huh?” He then looked back up and continued walking.

  “Hmph?!” Anthony cried, voice muffled by the ground. He shot up, steam bursting out of his ears. He couldn’t stand when people questioned his athletic ability. Had he not proved himself already? Had he not carried his school to victory time and time again? How many times had he broken a bone or sprained an ankle just for the team? This was something he couldn’t let slide, quickly picking himself up and jogging to catch up with Jason, who had already created quite a gap between them. Ugh. Doesn’t he know when to leave a guy alone? Jason thought as he heard the accelerated footfalls of Anthony closing the distance he had tried so hard to maintain. He began to walk faster, trying so hard to avoid any more interaction with the self-righteous egotistical jock he had had to put up with for years. When Anthony finally caught up, he grabbed Jason’s shoulder and forced him to turn around and stare into his deep brown eyes, filled with anger. “Hey! No one calls me unathletic, darkie!” The world seemed to slow down, while Jason’s thoughts raced. His face didn't portray it, but inside, he was boiling. He felt like a volcano, ready to blow at the slightest touch. He couldn’t believe the audacity that Anthony had to call him such a thing.

  “Well? Come on! Apologize! Now!”. Anthony’s grip on Jason’s shoulder was unwavering, refusing to loosen until the words ‘I’m sorry’ were uttered. Instead, Jason, with slow calm movements, raised his arms and removed his hood. From underneath, Anthony’s perspective of Jason changed immediately. His previously brown and tired eyes become cold and calculating, staring into the depths of his soul. Regardless of the change in his eyes, his face was still and emotionless. His face was stone, features chiseled and his mouth in a fine line. Despite the severe lack of emotion conveyed, Jason’s anger had risen to the point of no return. In the corner of his eye, Anthony could see a hand curl into a fist. He expected him to swing, and he ducked, hoping to avoid the blow, only to collide with Jason’s knee, raised in anticipation of Anthony’s dodge attempt. He fell limp, dazed from the unexpected impact. With shaky and uncoordinated movements, Anthony managed to lift his head off of the ground and look into the eyes of his assaulter. Jason gave him a look of grim satisfaction. “I knew you were too good to be true. Turns out the miracle boy of Hidden Woods High is a racist.” He put his hood back on and turned to leave Anthony to struggle on his own. But before he left, in a whisper, he said,

  “Good thing we were never friends.”