Chapter 10

Tom could only stare, his mouth hanging open. “Your daughter? 500 years?”

“Yes,” Azel said. “You haven’t realized just how long we live, have you, Tom?”

“Well, I knew from Frilly that many lived a long time, but you ... and she ... how...?” Tom started.

Laughing, Azel replied, “I’ll try to explain. You see, mages, barring injuries or total depletion of their energy, can live 3-5 thousand years. At present, I am only 3000. I am the youngest on the council. My mate and I were young; we were only 1200 at the time we were allowed to have her.”

“That’s considered young? Damn. Wait, you were allowed? What the hell does that mean?” asked a confused Tom.

“The birth of a mage has to be approved by the council of all magical beings. Most mages live in the human world, live a life with a regular person—hell, they even have children. These children are called malfs or, worse, halflings. Not a very good label. Most often, they don’t develop magic even though one parent was a mage. As little as 1% develop, like the 14-year-old you found the other day,” Azel stopped for a moment.

“So are they treated badly?” asked Tom.

“No, not badly, but their powers aren’t as strong and develop at a much slower rate. Therefore, they don’t often make friends and see many pass them. I remember a reverse case 75 years ago. Very unusual. Two mages were granted permission and had a child. When tested, she showed no sign of powers. They had such high hopes for her, but after a year, there was no sign at all. They placed her with relatives to raise her, watching her for years. About 50 years ago, Malamon began actively killing magical beings again. Unfortunately, they were the only ones who knew where she was, so all contact was lost when they died. We were concerned, as she was only the second born in 5000 years, so as you can see, it is extremely rare,” Azel said, lost within his thoughts.

“So, these reverse cases, they never develop powers? Did they know their parents?” asked Tom. Shaking his head no, Azel continued, “No, in the two cases I know of, they never did. Though they did live much longer than regular humans, it’s only to 100 to 120. Like the humans mages live with, their memories are erased and a new life is inserted. So you see, she never knew what she was. Yes, I know you think it’s cruel, but believe me, it’s a lot kinder than letting them know. It’s bad enough when we watch them die. As far as I know, she was the first that contact with was lost.”

“Ok, ok, so tell me about Myria,” asked Tom. “Why did she pull away when I tried to heal her?”

“Well,” started Azel, “if she is a captive of Malamon, then the pain you felt could be helping her. She might feel that no one can heal her. There are a number of things that could influence her decision,” sighing, Azel looked down. “She was always independent, taking on the world. The council advised her not to take action against Malamon. We thought at the time she had listened to us. Later, we found that right before she disappeared, there had been many disturbances nearby a known locale of Malamon. This was the basis of our decision that she had been killed.”

Sighing, Tom stood. “I’ll let you know if I find out anything more.” With that, Tom lifted Frilly and was gone. Now that Frilly was healed, he was more at ease. Laying her in her small bed, Tom went to sit on his couch again. Watching her sleep, Tom thought of Myria again. He knew she was in trouble. She had to be if Malamon had held her captive for 500 years. Tom thought of Azel’s words—that she was the strongest mage to ever sit on the mage council, let alone lead it. That might be why she went after Malamon. Even in his weakened state, though, Tom felt that Myria wouldn’t have been much of a match.