Run To Earth (Power of Four) by Mazhar S

Author:Mazhar, S [Mazhar, S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

19

The Mage Who Fell

Aaron stormed out of the cottage, the book Rose had been reading clutched in his hand. He found Ella seated at the table, chatting with Ryan and Zhi-Jiya. Aaron raced to Ella’s side and slammed the book onto the table.

“Hadrian Aedus?” Aaron spat. “He’s a mage?”

Ella stilled. “What?” she asked, as if she didn’t understand the question.

“Hadrian,” Aaron repeated. “The enemy you lot are fighting, whose name is on the zones that have demons. He’s one of us?” he asked. “Hadrian’s an Elemental?”

Ella didn’t say anything, but her face rapidly paled.

“This fight,” Aaron went on, “between Neriah and Hadrian, over the zones. It’s a civil war?” He shook his head, green eyes bright with anger as well as disgust. “You lot are ripping apart your world and wreaking havoc on the human realm for what? A fight to put up Gates or a competition to see which mage is better?”

“It’s not like that,” Ella said. “It’s not a civil war, Aaron. Hadrian isn’t a mage, not any more.”

“What is he then?” Aaron demanded.

Ella paused. The two mages next to her shifted in their seats, looking away from one another. Ella seemed to gather herself and lifted her gaze to meet Aaron’s. “He’s a vamage.”

“A what?” Aaron asked.

Ella grimaced. “A vamage. A disgusting hybrid,” she said, “between a mage…” She faltered before pushing on. “…and a vampire.”

Aaron stilled, his narrowed eyes widened a little.

Zhi-Jiya silently got up, followed by Ryan. They left the table. Wordlessly Aaron sat down in the chair next to Ella. For long moments Ella didn’t speak. She seemed to be collecting herself.

“Hadrian Aedus,” she said quietly, “is known as the Mage Who Fell.” She paused before looking up, soft grey eyes squinting in the sunlight. “The mages are supposed to be an example of unity. So what do you do when one of your own turns on you?”

“What happened?” Aaron asked. “How did Hadrian go from being a mage to a...a vamage?”

Ella laughed a bitter, cold laugh. “If we could have the answer to that, we’d halve our problems.” She shook her head. “No one knows what happened. No one saw it coming. Hadrian was perfectly content one day, and the next he became worse than the things we hunt.” Ella turned to look at Aaron, her face taut with emotion, her eyes glistening. “Stories about Hadrian say he was brilliant – smart, powerful, driven. He was passionate about mages, about Elementals. Then one day he walked away. When he came back, he was no longer a mage.”

Aaron felt a prickle of fear race down his spine. “How did it happen?” he asked. “Was he attacked by a vampire?”

Ella scoffed. “Some say it was accidental, but they ignore the fact that a mage can’t be accidentally turned into a demon. They have to willingly give up their purity. Mages weren’t created to be demonic, Aaron. They don’t turn like a human would. The mage has to consent. They have to want to become something other than a mage, otherwise they would simply die.

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