Michael Scott - The Necromancer

“Come in,” Prometheus said without turning around. He pointed to a matching lounger with the remote control. “Sit for a minute, let us talk.”

Josh climbed onto the lounger and hit the button that brought the footstool up. “My dad has one just like this,” he explained. “He has the model with the massage and heat functions.”

“I had that one, but every time I used the massage, I thought there was an earthquake, so I sent it back.”

They sat in silence while Prometheus continued to surf the channels. The Elder only slowed at news and black-and-white movies. “Hundreds of channels and never anything worth watching,” he muttered.

Josh took the opportunity to look at the Elder: the only light in the study came from the flickering TV, which made it seem as if his face was constantly in motion. Now that he was close, Josh could see that Prometheus’s cheeks and chin were crisscrossed with tiny scars that were partially hidden by his beard. There were more scars on his forehead.

“They’re little keepsakes of my time in prison,” the Elder said, his deep rumbling voice making Josh jump.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.” Josh had no idea how the Elder had known he was looking at him.

Prometheus rubbed the back of his hand against his forehead. “I rarely think of them now. I could heal myself and make them disappear, but I like to keep them as reminders.”

“Of what?” Josh wondered.

“That some things are worth fighting for… and that everything has a cost.”

“Why were you in prison?” Josh asked. “If you don’t mind me asking,” he added quickly.

The huge man waved his hand dismissively. “An old, old story, too long and too complicated to tell you now.” He paused and added, “You should ask your sister about it sometime. She will know.”

“Because the Witch knew?”

“How long has she known my sister?” the Elder asked. He turned his huge green eyes on the boy.

“Would you believe, we met her once, very briefly, last Friday…” Josh’s voice trailed away. It was hard to even try to think back to earlier that week, when all of this had begun. It seemed like a lifetime ago. “She taught Sophie the Magic of Air, and passed on all her knowledge at the same time. I don’t know how. I wasn’t in the room when it happened.”

“And you’ve no idea why my sister did that?”

“None. You’d have to ask Sophie,” he said, “though I doubt she knows.”

“You don’t look much like any of the other Golds I’ve seen,” the Elder said finally, breaking the long silence that followed Josh’s statement.

“Have you seen many other Golds?”

“Too many.”

“And what does a Gold look like?” Josh asked.

“Frightened.”

“Oh, I’m not frightened anymore,” Josh said simply. “I’ve gone beyond frightened, past terrified. Now I’m into petrified.”

Prometheus stared intently at Josh. “What frightens you?”

Josh picked up the remote control and started flipping through the channels. “Everything. This place. You. The Flamels. Dee. Machiavelli. The Shadowrealms, the leygates. The magic.” His voice rose with each sentence. “The thought that everything we were taught-every single thing we’ve ever learned, at home and in school, from books, from TV-is wrong. And Sophie,” he finished in a hoarse whisper, finally admitting his deepest fear. “I don’t think I know her anymore. And it’s all your sister’s fault.” He glared at the Elder, his anger making him reckless. “She changed her when she gave her those memories.”

Surprisingly, Prometheus nodded in agreement. “Sisters are a trial,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter if they’re Elder or humani. Sometimes I think they exist solely to upset and annoy their brothers. I was once as close to mine as you are to yours.” He paused and added, “I’ve not spoken to her in millennia.”

“What happened?”

Prometheus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I thought I knew. Now I am beginning to think that I might have been wrong. For ages I thought she had betrayed me to Chronos. Now… now I am not so sure. I made the mistake of not speaking directly to her.” His green eyes glowed in the dark. “Whatever happens between you and your sister, make sure you talk to her before making any decisions. Don’t allow anyone to tell you what she said, or what she did-make sure she tells you herself.”

“Is that, like, a warning?”

Prometheus grunted a laugh. “No, I just don’t want you making the same mistake I did.”

They sat in silence while Josh continued to flip through the channels. “You get a lot of foreign stations,” he said, eventually stopping at a soccer game. The commentary was in a language he couldn’t identify, Korean maybe. They watched that together until one team scored a goal and then Josh said casually, “You’ve trained some of the other Golds in the Magic of Fire.”

“Some,” Prometheus admitted.

Still concentrating fiercely on the television, Josh continued, “And do you know what happened to them? Where they are now?”

“I believe most are dead, Josh,” Prometheus said very softly.

“Most of them?”

“All the ones I trained. I cannot speak for the others.”

Stopping at the Weather Channel, Josh swiveled in the chair to face the Elder. “That doesn’t sound like good news for me, then, does it?”

“Probably not,” Prometheus agreed.

“I know the process is dangerous…”

Prometheus shook his big head. “No, the Awakening is the most dangerous process of all.” Tilting his head back, he breathed deeply. “And I can tell by the stink that clings to you that you were Awakened by Mars Ultor himself.”

Josh nodded, surprised by the vehemence in the Elder’s voice. “In the Catacombs of Paris.”

“Ah, so that’s where she hid him,” Prometheus said enigmatically. “When all this is over I must go and pay my respects.”

“You don’t like him?” Josh asked, curious.

“He was my friend, my closest friend, closer than a brother. He married my sister and I was thrilled…” The Elder’s voice faded away.

“Something happened?”

“The swords happened. Mars found Excalibur in an abandoned temple on a deserted island. And it led him to Clarent. Zephaniah claimed it was the swords that corrupted him, but I was never sure about that. All I know is that he betrayed the people he had sworn to protect. I hunted him across the world and through the Shadowrealms, and just when I was closing in on him, he disappeared. Later, centuries later, I discovered that my sister had secreted him away to keep him safe from my vengeance, but I never knew where.” He bared his teeth in a grimace that might have passed for a smile. “Until now. Thank you.”

“Leave him alone,” Josh said fiercely. “He’s in terrible pain, trapped in a shell of molten lava. He’s been that way for thousands of years.”

“Good,” Prometheus said cruelly. “It is a small price to pay for what he did to my people.”

“Your people?”

“My people. The humani. I created them, Josh. It was my aura that brought them to life. Every humani on this planet-including you-has a spark of my aura within them. Do you know why Mars Ultor enslaved the humans and sacrificed them on the ancient pyramids?”

Josh shook his head, but he suddenly remembered the flickering images he’d caught while he’d been carrying Clarent. They started to make sense now.

“For that spark of life. Mars Ultor was harvesting my aura.”

“Why?”

Prometheus shook his head. “That is also another tale for another day. You are here to learn the Magic of Fire,” he said suddenly, changing the subject.

“Yes. If you will teach me.”