Chapter 88 - A story about a wizard

**Callums pov**

I look at Zandra as she studies the glass box. Her hands tremble slightly as she touches it. I brought her, Cathy, Reece, Maya and Joe to my room to show it to them.
“I can’t believe you found it..after all these years, I was convinced it was gone for good..and it’s been here all along” Her eyes hold both admiration and fear.
“Is it yours? What is it?” I feel more curious and even more impatient.
“It is not mine.. It belongs to no one who walks this earth.”
“Zandra..please no more riddles!”
“Bring me a bottle of wine, It’ time for another story”

*“A long,* *long time ago,* *long before either a vampire or a werewolf had set foot on our earth there was a great wizard.* *He practiced white magic and only called upon the elements when he really needed to.* *He was loved by all who met him and he shared his magic and healing arts with those in need.* *On one of his travels he met an exotic beauty.* *She was like nothing he had ever seen.* *Her skin was dark as night,* *her eyes blue as a sunny day.* *Her hair was straight and sleek and shimmered like oil in different colors when the sun’s rays hit it.* *He fell deeply in love with her and worshiped the ground she walked on. He took her home and they swore their love to each other in front of the great Heaven.* *They lived happily for many years, their love never faded.*
*One day the happy couple noticed that they were expecting a child.* *Their happiness was if possible even greater as they tried for so long but almost accepted that it would be just the two of them.* *It was a difficult pregnancy.* *Despite the wizard’s magic and healing arts,* *the woman became weaker and sicker as time went on.* *At the seventh full moon,* *she went into premature labor.* *The birth lasted for one night and one day.* *When the second night came, so did the child.* *It was malformed and died soon after.* *So did the woman.* *The child’s deformity had torn her apart from the inside and she bled out in front of her husband.* *The heartbroken sorcerer sat with her body in his arms and wept and begged the great heavens to bring her back to him,* t*hat they could ask anything of him as long as he brought her back.* *As her body began to stiffen and her aroma of fresh rain was replaced by that of rancid cream,* *he understood that he had received his answer,* *that heaven had turned its back on him.*
A knock on the door interrupt Zandras story. Jesse steps in and his eyes immediately finds Cathy’s. He can se the unshed tears in them and he takes two steps against her but stops as she turn her head away, dismissing him. I stand up and give him my seat and and at the same time take the opportunity to get a couple of cold beers from the fridge. I give him and Reece each before pulling out a kitchen chair and sitting down.
“Please, go on” I say to Zandra. She take a deep sip of her wine and continues.
*In his rage the,* *the wizard performed the strongest spell he had ever cast.* *He reached down to the hottest part of hell to summon the fire,* *he tore wind from the strongest tornado,* *he drew water from the scariest of sea creatures,* *and from the earth he gathered the most treacherous mud.* *He sacrificed his own soul to bind them together and reclaim his wife.”*
“Did he get her back?” Maya asked engrossed in the story
“The answer to that my child is both yes and no.” Zandra answered before she turned to the rest of us.
*“When the morning came a scream could be heard through the village.* *The wizard’s wife had woken up and was writhing in pain.* *Desperately he tried to ease her agony but nothing he gave her helped.* *The wizard was a wise man and he knew that his soul alone would not be able to bind this strong spell,* *magic as dark as this requires blood sacrifice.* *In a desperate attempt to calm his wife while he thought of a solution,* *he invited one of her female friends over to keep her company.* *It seemed to have worked,* *she stopped screaming and in the calm he buried himself in his books in search of a solution.* *After a couple of hours he went to see if the women wanted anything to eat or drink.* *His steps and his heart were light from the silence from hearing the woman’s screams for so long.* *But it didn’t last.* *When he opens the door to her chamber,* *he sees the results of his dark magic.* *His wife had almost devoured the other woman.* *Her entrails were torn out of the large hole in her torso.* *Her eyes were gouged out of her face,* *large chunks of flesh were missing from the various parts of her body and most of her blood decorated the walls of the room.* *He looked to his wife.* *Her normally blue eyes now glowed red at him.* *Her long hair lay in tangles on the floor and foul-smelling mud ran out of the wounds on her head where they had sat.* *She smiled at him with blood covered teeth and he could still see her beauty.* *As time passed,* *the woman’s hunger increased and her physical form changed with each life she took.* *The people in the village did not suspect the wizard they loved but became well aware of the monster that slaughtered its way through the village at night.* *One night the village’s strongest men gathered to face the monster they knew would come in search of food.* *They were armed with the most dangerous things they could find,* *knives,* *pitchforks,* t*he occasional sword and lighted torches.* *As expected, the monster came.* *The first man swung his sword and cut a deep gash in the monster’s chest.* *His victory rush was short-lived when they all see the mud ooze out and heal the wound.* *In one swift movement,* *she tore the spine through the man’s skin and he fell dead to the ground.* *One by one the men attacked and one by one they followed each other to their deaths.* *The monster reveled in the carnage and even though she was full,* *her blood fever had become too high,* *her body was changing more and more,* *and when she started breaking down the doors of the houses in the village no one could suspect that she was ever human.*
*When morning came,* *the wizard waited for his wife to come home,* *but she never came.* *He slowly walked through the village to try to find her but all he found were mutilated,* *torn and half-eaten bodies.* *Months passed and the wizard continued to wait patiently each morning.* *Through carrier pigeons he was informed of the horror terrorizing the land,* *other villages asked for his help and magic to kill the beast.* *Again he buried himself in his books to find the answer to how he could destroy the evil he had created in his desperation.* *But he found nothing.* *Again he tried to turn to the great Heaven.* *He wept and begged for their forgiveness and help.* *The Gods themselves had not escaped seeing what was happening on earth.* *One by one they could not defeat the strong magic that created the beast.* *So together they forged a weapon.* *Each of them left a part of themselves embedded in the craft.* *Together they then went to Earth to deliver the weapon to the wizard.* *The triple mother and the Father of men explained to him that the weapon is forged to eradicate the type of evil that is a threat to the children of heaven.* *For the weapon to work,* *a prayer must be read by a person with magic and the name of the evil to be destroyed embedded in the verse.* *The wizard cast a spell to call his soul home.* *Two full moons later an unrecognizable monster roared outside his house.* *Weapon in hand,* *he stepped out and met her.* *Her face contorted into what looked like a smile and a guttural sound rose from her throat as she took a step towards him and wrapped her arms around him.* *He whispered the prayer of the Gods and embedded her name,* *he then looked deep into her red eyes searching for just a tiny glimmer of blue.* *While kissing her where her beautiful mouth had once been,* *he drove the weapon,* *a dagger deep into her chest.* *When the power of the gods in the dagger went to work,* *the monster weathered away,* *leaving the woman’s lifeless body on the ground.* *After wrapping his wife according to village traditions,* *the wizard forged a glass box.* *He put the dagger in it and sealed it with strong magic,* *afraid that someone would find it and abuse the power of the Gods.* *He then buried the box with his wife.* *Behind a waterfall by a lake in the village that was believed to be enchanted…*