Whispers from my Muse - "The ArchMage and the Unicorn"

Note: This is NOT the story Penny refers to in The Stories of the Family Nas-Kan series.  Instead, it takes the title and a few hints from that unpublished story and shows something that might have been had Kalindra and I ended up on The Road Not Taken …


    Have you ever had a flash of anger that made you so mad, that just for an instant, you wanted to kill someone?  Were you truthful when you answered that question?  Think about it a little more and then think about what might happen if the impossible were actually possible, if raw anger or other intense emotions could actually alter the fabric of the universe and bend it to your will.  Imagine what it would be like if a Mage got that angry …

    The first time I’d gotten that angry I’d blown a hole through book with a wave of my hand, the day I’d found out I was a Mage and I’d kept the book as a reminder.  The second time I’d done it had been two days ago and the only evidence left behind was an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean, some unexplained squiggles on seismographs, and the fact that the planet only had two living Mages now.

    When Kimi, the lady who’d taught me Magic, had retired, there had been two other Mages on the planet.  She’d selected me to succeed her, and Jon, her other apprentice, had made his displeasure quite clear.  In the years since then he’d repeated the claim that I wasn’t fit for the job after every mistake I’d made, especially after the fact that Magic existed and I was a Mage had become public knowledge.  The fact that I hadn’t lost my magic when that happened, as had every other Mage that had been accidentally revealed over the centuries just fueled his anger with me.

    Two days ago he’d decided I needed to be replaced, by him, by force if necessary.

    I’d been alone in my office when he’d teleported in and ordered me to hand over the Book of Mages that was both the symbol and confirmation of my title.  My laugh had barely broken the silence following his demand when he’d launched his first attack.  That had been the start of a running battle between us that had ran almost twelve hours and it had only ended when I’d trapped him in a hideout he’d created on the ocean floor.  He was good, I’ll give him that.  Hiding behind a protective barrier he’d created that I couldn’t force my way through, he’d made his fatal mistake.  He’d started taunting me with what he intended to do to my friends and family when I finished wearing myself out trying to get to him.  I’d once focused the power of a star into a weapon to save a world, this time I only punched a hole in the Earth’s crust and Jon was standing in the middle of the bullseye.

    Two days ago, two long, agonizing, guilt ridden days ago.  I’d returned to my office, locked everybody including Penny out and spent those days sitting at my desk staring out the window as I replayed the memories over and over again in my head.