The 13th Mage

by Inelia Benz

  “No.”

  “No? Why on earth not? Are you worried it might not be yours after all?”

  “I am a gentleman Harry. I would not insult my mistress by subjecting our child to a DNA test.”

  Harry smiled, gentlemanly behavior was a thing of the past, and it was strange to see it in a young man nowadays.

  “I want my child to have the best education money can buy, everything it could possibly need in the future, and I want the mother to be happy. I have my reasons to leave and don’t know if I will ever return, I want your word that my wishes will be carried out.”

  “There is no question about it Owen my boy; I will do everything in my power to make sure your child is taken care of with the best our society can provide.”

  The papers were ready twenty minutes later; Owen read them thoroughly and signed on the dotted line.

  An hour later he was on a plane to Ireland. Aeoife had some explaining to do and she had refused a projected meeting. Witches were all the same, face to face conversation, she had said, and nothing can replace it.

  Aeoife was an early starter, she liked the energy of the rising sun to get most of her chores done, leaving the rest of the day free to be a pensioner. This morning she got up particularly early to prepare for Owen’s arrival. She hadn’t seen him for a very long time. She wondered how he had matured, he had been a very tall, lanky and rather headstrong fellow as a youth, unusual for his family. She loved Owen dearly. He had been her first adopted child. She hadn’t been prepared at the time, taking a budding mage into her house wasn’t something she had planned on doing. But it was impossible for a witch to turn away a child outcast by his people because his or her extraordinary abilities.

  As soon as she opened the door to let him in she knew he had no idea what was going on. He looked pale and drawn, his eyes tired and confused as they had been that first time he had walked through her door.

  “Okay, tell me what is going on, why did you send me that girl and who the hell is Sean,” he began in a stern voice but she took him in her arms and held him, stroking his head like the young child he used to be.

  “My dear boy,” she said holding his face by the chin and looking into his eyes, “a cup of tea, I think will do the trick,” she added taking his hand.

  He breathed in and allowed her to lead him to the kitchen. Yes, too old for milk and biscuits this time. Too old for this sort of nonsense, he thought, but there were some things Aeoife always did and this was one of them.

  He sat down at the large kitchen table and she placed the hot golden liquid in front of him, “drink up,” she said and started sipping her own tea. “You have made yourself look very young, is it for any particular reason?”

  “You told me to be young for the test the Keeper would do, I thought there would be some sort of physical trial involved.”

  “I meant around fifty or forty at most. But you don’t look a day over twenty.”

  “Twenty. Yes, well, I lost track of time, I was busy.”

  “Doing your mind exercises I suppose. Those meditative states where you Elders do your thing.”

  Owen took a sip of his tea; it had milk and honey in it. He hadn’t had tea with milk and honey for at least a hundred years.

  Time walked by, leaving them be for a while. Owen finished his tea and looked at the old, dear woman who was the only mother he ever knew. He was angry and he was sure she had something to do with it.

  “Aeoife.”

  “Yes?”

  “Tell me about Jennifer, tell me about Sean.”

  “Ah yes, Sean. I wondered when you’d find out about him. I wanted to tell you, you know, but it is forbidden.”

  He felt a shell starting to surround them, an empty space that could not be crossed. He stood up, but she signaled him to be quiet and sit down.

  The Other, he thought and she nodded. The shell clicked into place and Aeoife sighed deeply.

  “It’s the protection against the Other,” he said looking at the blackness around him, “I didn’t know witches could do it, how did you manage it? Just sitting there? It was you, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, Owen, it was me.”

  A microscopic layer of empty space, where no matter existed, surrounded them, thus no communication was possible. They were now completely invisible in all dimensions and to all beings.

  “Have you ever wondered, Owen, how we came to be different to other humans?”

  “Well, it’s a leap of evolution, the genetic mix is…”

  “No,” she said stopping him in mid-sentence, “it’s not that at all. We are not a leap of evolution. We are hybrids.”

  “A mix of races?”

  There was no easy way to tell someone where he or she came from, especially when that place was now considered the enemy. Aeoife didn’t know how Owen would take it. He had always been a rather presumptuous boy.

  Originally the gap between the Old Ones world, as mages called it, was quite large and both worlds were completely ignorant of the other’s existence. Then an Old One opened a door in the time and space dimension, making travel between planets easy and quick.

  Mythology about them had changed dramatically over millennia, at first they were called Gods, and then, as humans watched them fight and kill each other for power, they were called Devils. Angels, Elves, Fairies, Giants, now the most popular explanation was Aliens.

  But there was nothing Alien about the Other. They had occupied Earth for as long as Mages could recall.

  The Old Ones were technologically superior, but the price they paid on the way was devastating, they destroyed their world and their genetic pool.

  Having restored their planet they now took genetic material from humans to be able to restore their race. There were those who believed humans were the first hybrids, the first step to make a semi compatible genetic pattern. That the other had infused simple life forms with their more complex genetic material, making humans. The second step being those creatures known as mages.

  “We are the lucky ones, the deal is an ancient one, if twins are born then one of them is allowed to stay on Earth and be fostered by one of us, to be taught the ancient ways and bring Light to the world. If only one baby is born then they take it. You are the lucky twin Owen.”

  “No, I don’t believe it. It can’t be true. I would have… the Elders would know about this.”

  “Some Elders do know about this, but they make sure none of the others find out. It serves them well not to have everyone poking into the Other’s ways and the use of their technology.”

  He took the information in and for a while simply savored it.

  “Sean,” he finally said.

  “Yes, he was not so lucky. He is kept in the Other’s world, I am not so sure what they do to them, my guess is that they keep them as a sort of energy source or for genetic harvesting, but I can’t really say. Those who have escaped don’t normally last long on Earth. Others disappear so as not to be found by them. We try to find our twin; everyone who has ever found out the truth will try and find their twin... I have a twin; her name is not to be mentioned. She no longer dwells with the Other.”

  “How did she escape?”

  “I am not at liberty to say how they are able to leave the Other’s realm. That is something you have to find out for yourself.”

  Owen’s lips tightened. Forbidden knowledge, it was so typical of mages to keep secrets from each other, “find out for yourself,” seemed to be their favorite sentence. He had used it more than once himself.

  The Other, he thought, the Old Ones held more than one key to his dilemma, but Owen had looked into their world himself, it seemed basic, backward. The thought of anything worthwhile coming out of there seemed ridiculous.

  “Do you know what the Staff is Owen?”

  “The Holder Of Power and Knowledge.”

  “Yes, but do you know what it really is?”

  He was silent. He had never thought beyond holding the Staff. To become the most powerful being on
earth, the most knowledgeable.

  “Is that the test?” he asked, “to find out what the Staff really is?”

  “No, the test was much simpler than that and you have already passed it,” she said patting his hand, “the Staff is a device stolen from the Other. A group of mages combining their power could activate it. But it can only be used by thirteen people at any one time, and the power generated by thirteen mages is not enough to activate it, yet. But if at least one of them was more Old One than human, they would then have full use of its power. We believe the Shadow are working on putting together a group who can do this, thirteen mages with enough power to activate the Staff to its full potential. They call themselves The Thirteen, not very original, but an effective name.”

  Owen was looking at the hand Aeoife had patted, then held it up before she started talking again, “hold on just one moment Aeoife. Sorry to interrupt your discourse but did you just say I have passed the test?”

  Aeoife smiled, “yes, of course you have, I always knew you would.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before? When did I pass it? Can I ask what the test was?”

  “Of course you may ask. I was wondering when you would ask.”

  Owen looked at her in disbelief.

  “Very well, seeing as you won’t ask me directly I shouldn’t really tell you but as I know you well enough to understand your unspoken questions I will take that murderous look on your face to be the question. The test was one of developing a certain capacity which is the key to defeat The Thirteen. You have a special link to the Thirteenth mage. We could say you are members of the same family. You have developed this capacity and we hope you will be at the right time and space to use it. When the time comes of course. And the space.”

  Owen sat back. Aeoife was sounding more like an elder than a witch, people having special links and time and space as different entities, there was something very off about that, it made him nervous.

  “This special capacity, what exactly is it?”

  “Oh that, well, it’s the ability to feel unconditional love,” she said beaming with pride and holding his hands in hers.

  He could feel her motherly pride overpowering him.

  “Oh, I see,” he said, rather disappointedly. Unconditional love, the witches thought unconditional love could defeat the Shadow. He had to laugh. To think that for a moment he had thought Aeoife was turning Elder.

  “If the Staff is so important, how come you let the Elders have it, why don’t you take it yourself? Why don’t the Old Ones take it back?” He said, getting back to more important matters.

  “The Old Ones are not particularly interested in what happens to humanity as a whole, as long as they can keep taking what they need the rest is irrelevant. As to the Council of Elders it has existed for longer than I care to remember, it’s joined by exactly the type of mage who would want to use the Staff for his or her own selfish reasons. So it was covered in a Mantle of Truth. Whoever touches it, holds it, is given the knowledge of how to hold it forever, it gives them power and superiority over their fellow mages. So far no Elder has decided to share that power with others.”

  Owen sat back as he digested the new information, it was quite ingenious.

  “What exactly can the Staff do?”

  “It allows free travel in time and space. Some say it can separate the Known Worlds. But what is of importance here is that it can also be used to dissolve the very essence of what keeps us on Earth, our bodies in all planes of existence, whether we are mortal or immortal.”

  “The Staff is a weapon of destruction?”

  “That very much depends on your point of view. The Shadow workers believe it is the only way to liberate our spirits from Earth which they believe is now a prison. The Other, they believe, have placed a kind of barrier around the world so as to keep harvesting from us, not allowing us to advance and evolve at a normal rate but keeping us at the very basic level of evolution. But by not having any bodies, the Shadow believe our essence will be free to roam the universe in search of other worlds in which to evolve free from the Other.”

  “But that would mean the end of humanity, the end of the Earth as we know it. Yet if what the Shadow think is true then what they are trying to do is commendable. Mind you, I have never known the Shadow to work for anything but their own survival, which makes me think that if the earth was a prison as they claim, then all they want is the key to the gate. ”

  Aeoife nodded.

  He knew she wanted him to take a stand, and the wrong stand would mean something nasty to his immediate future, but he would give anything to be one of the Thirteen mages in charge of such technology.

  “Why are you telling me all this?”

  “You are Jennifer’s and her child’s mage foster father.”

  “Yes.”

  “Your job is to protect them.”

  Owen sat up. Jennifer was pregnant with a mage child, “are the Old Ones going to take the baby?”

  “I wish it was as simple as that, her baby was not engineered by the Other. There is a group of Shadow mages who have been speeding up their own evolution because they want to become powerful enough to use all the power the Staff has to offer. The fastest way to evolve is to be reborn. We believe Jennifer’s baby is one of these mages.”

  “The Thirteenth.”

  “The Thirteenth, yes.”

  “So the Keeper? Is…”

  “We think the Keeper wants us to stop the Thirteen mages from getting together. She gave us the exact time of rebirth, we took it from there. There is a chance that when a mage is reborn he or she might change sides, which is one of the shortcomings of rebirth. One can never be sure what one will turn out to be like in the next life. With the right influence the new mage might become one of us, something the Thirteen hadn’t counted on.”

  This brought the word kidnapping to whole new dimensions, thought Owen.

  “Jennifer’s child is special in another way too. She is in fact more Old One than human. Jennifer carries dormant hybrid genes. It happens sometimes that a hybrid does not become a mage, they live normal human lives, their children will be part hybrid but any powers will be dormant, unless activated. The Old Ones are very careful not to make any hybrid more than fifty percent mage, when an accident like this happens they usually destroy the child. Too powerful for their liking and too human to be integrated fully into their society. That is why this particular mage manipulated this conception. A mage that powerful cannot be stopped by any of us.”

  Owen felt guilty, he had thought of the rebirth trick himself, to take the Staff.

  “What happens to Jennifer?”

  “Jennifer is now a sort of mage. She not only carries the hybrid genes of her own but has also absorbed some of her child’s, which she’ll keep for around twenty years. It is very likely that either the Shadow or the Old Ones will want to kill her. If not both.”

  “How come they haven’t done so already?”

  Aeoife smiled, “we sent her to you. You of the Council of Elders are so paranoid of each other that you have invented the most sophisticated methods of keeping each other’s positions secret to us as well as the Other.”

  “So I simply have to hide Jennifer and the baby from the Old Ones and the Shadow.”

  “Yes, but ultimately you have to protect the baby against itself. Teach it compassion, wisdom, give it faith, and pull it away from the Shadow.”

  “What makes you think I will do any of those things? What makes you think I won’t join the Thirteen? I am an Elder after all, and the Staff is my ultimate goal.”

  “You passed the test,” she said and reached over to his chest, “you still feel, like a human feels. You have turned your love into unconditional love, remember?”

  Owen shifted uncomfortably, his condition was not something he wanted others to know, besides, he was still sure someone was manipulating him.

  He looked at Aeoife piercingly, “am I under someone’s influence, is someone doing this to m
e?”

  “No.” She said. “You are not under a spell of any kind, not any spell weaved by any human or mage but yourself.”

  No, he thought, there was no way he would do this to himself. It was too painful.

  “You have lived for hundreds of years denying your most important nature Owen. It is common with you mages who call yourselves Elders of the Council, to deny your most basic building block. You deny any connection with ordinary mortals.”

  “I know more about mortals than most Elders.” He said, defending himself.

  “You are very knowledgeable, I grant you that. But there is one thing about mortals you don’t know.”

  “What is that?”

  “That a human can access more power than we could possibly imagine. This, after all, is more their world than it is ours.”

  Owen looked at her in silence.

  “Another cup of tea is in order,” she said and got up to pour more tea in the now empty cups.

  Owen watched as Aeoife filled the cups and felt rage rising up and filling his entire being. He was a simple pawn in someone else’s game; there was no question about that. He did not like that one little bit.

  “Your biggest strength lies in the same place as theirs, you are after all as much human as you are Other,” she continued.

  He stared at her.

  He waited for the next sentence.

  He knew he wouldn’t get one.

  “What do you want me to do now?”

  “I don’t know Owen. What I told you is as much as I know. I trust you will know what to do or the Keeper wouldn’t have chosen you,” she said, “going home might be a good idea.” She finally added.

  “I can’t go back to them. Jennifer is, well, I can’t be near her.”

  It was not up to Aeoife to interfere. The choices had been made. Overprotecting him had been a major influence in his inability to mature. Now he had a second chance, and she had to leave him to work things out for himself.

  On his way back to the airport Owen thought of the new information he had received. He should go back to London immediately, but there was something still nagging him. It was not in his nature to bond to other beings, he had always been a cold and calculating individual, which he always thought was one of his biggest strengths. In all the years he had roamed the earth only one woman had captivated his heart and he had put it down to carelessness at the time. It was true that this youthful body was overpowering in its insistence of propagating, as it had been in his original youth, but having such strong feelings for a woman was not normal. To think he had spent hours trying to work out what the test was and all along he had passed it. Feeling unconditional love for another person, what kind of test was that? A witch’s test, he thought. Trust them to think of something like that. They probably knew he was weak in that area, it was not the first time he had bonded, expect perhaps this time it was much worse than the first time. This time he hadn’t even thought of his own happiness in the matter, he could have had Jennifer’s love at any time and he hadn’t taken it, now it was too late, now his magic wouldn’t work on her.