Chapter 1

Capacitated witch Leila Hagridar, born to Harry and Dianar Hagridar on December 10, 1981, stumbled amidst the greeneries of the East, Waegor…down through the winter possessed jungle of the Wolverine willows to the Makomi hills. Gripped with fear, terror and trepidation and with a tear stained face, she scudded the best her darkcraft could afford to what she dreamed could be a safe zone, where her life could stay untouched a minute longer than her greatest adversary coveted.

Throughout the run, she had tried using her magic, which was still workable, to simplify the woe of her walk…but…it wasn’t easy. Greater wizarding forces, she felt, was suppressing her down and twisting her faith. She had but one consolation; what lay inside of her. Pregnant with a child. A child she hated and loved at the same time – a paradoxical treadmill of Kartemis’ deception.

Leila was almost there…almost close to her home in the Hills…with her wand affixed in her right hand…eyes cast into the future of her unborn son – Merlyn Hagridar, whom Goddess Vol Hox had named to be a god and in the wizarding rank of Chrod…a rank rarely inhabited by any wizard. Leila Hagridar was the mother of a god! Personally in the rank of Socrez-cult and whose wand was named Clawrackle after the curse pronounced by her greatest rival.

She had been in the educational institution of Lorgerus, a renowned wizarding school in the city of Gringdorne. She was widely known by major wizards and in secret magic circles and addressed mostly as the Chrodal Birther for been the prophesied woman to be delivered of a god in the wizarding rank of Chrod, without having the natural touch of a man. But here she was now…stuck in the lurch…wedged in the darkness of dawn…helpless…chased out from comfort just when her greatest achievement was about to materialize – all that didn’t matter to the darkness!

In the dim light of the early dawn; deadened, bamboozled, her mind failing  to accept what Paige had said, Leila stumbled  in the sand on the abandoned walkway, sinking to her knees with a sound that was a half sigh, half sob.

“Your life is mine, I can take it when I want it.”

Paige had uttered a million times already the previous night, bending to pull out her last breath with the tip of her finger. Paige Granger was a deathly witch, ambitious and in some estimations, evil. The mother of Caulin Granger…Friend of the Imp…and Lordess of the Hurricane Grove.

Leila managed to gain her feet. Trekking from the Far East down to Zaccrota had undoubtedly been arduous to say the least. Having come that far to the front walkway of her apartment and seeing how darkness had gripped the whole house made her sneeze.

She placed a hand on her bulging belly and stared at the unborn child with eyes stripped of all romantic delusion that had consumed her that past year. 

“This child is Kartemis’, certainly,”

Leila mused. It was hard for her. The prophecy stated her birth of the Chrodal god would be a virgin birth, but she had slept with Kartemis countless times and she wondered how her pregnancy came about – from Kartemis, or from the powers beyond the prophecy.

As interesting as that seemed, it was real. Kartemis being originally the name of a goddess, this man had come into her life claiming to bear the same name…Beyond Leila’s eye lashes stood the strong massive gate she had left about a year ago. The glass window partially mirrored the bunch of trees that guarded the house. On the massive black gate lay a stretch of golden lions blindingly white in the early morning dawn.

As she neared the gate, the metal chains used to finally lock the gate reminded her of Kartemis. He had used those chains to fix the gate before they both left for the East. Now the merciless rain and oxygen had abrogated the good health of the chains, making it very unhealthy to use.

She took it off and dumped it on the hard ground. It cluttered for a few seconds and then ceased. There was silence, just silence except for the tiny hisses that emanated from the thick, untrimmed flowers hedging the sides of the walkway.

All Leila could hear were certain queer sounds, more of hisses. Fear began to dominate the throne of her mind. She swiftly walked into the large compound and slammed the gate behind her.

“Leila…”

A voice said softly. Suddenly, the clouds thickened, blanketing the half-moon which dimmed her tender hopes of some atoms of safety. The ground on which her feet were seemingly permanently glued to turned gray and old.

Leila gave a short bitter cry. What had she gotten herself into…Well, she apparently had no choice. She cast around frantically, feeling dejected and indecisive. Trouble, decay, misery, death, all seemed to feel at extreme ease around her. She must have felt some of its heaviness piercing her heart, blood oozing, death.

Above her the clouds roiled, thick and black, and lightening arced through the sky to strike in the low Makomi hills.

“Leila…”

She heard for the third time. Providence seemed quite ungracious to her. All she could do was to breathe hard.

She scooted to the front door but dared not enter. Hearing her name severally by an unknown voice was enough to cause the speed down of millions of chills through her spine. What if a monstrous beast pounced on her…Her child, pretty kid, it would also be in trouble though full of innocence? Kartemis’, perhaps.

“Your life is in my hands…”

She recalled, heaving a cold sigh.

“Who are you?” Leila yelled impatiently.  She was terrified. Nothing.

“Leave me alone, touch me and you doom your entire world. Just throw me off for your sluttish desires and see what you can make of it!”

She said, outspokenly.

Everything went silent. No more hisses. She could only make out her breathing. For a moment she perceived her breath was too loud to lead her enemy to the spot she occupied. Eventually, she succeeded in silencing her breath.

She listened for the voice. But nothing could be made out.

Stricken with such terror, Leila could find no words to speak. Her child kicked in her womb, causing her to feel more hatred for Kartemis’, apparently because he had opted to shirk his responsibilities.

“Why not? I shall go in now,”

Leila said to herself with an untold courage.

            But then she focused on something odd and turned her head slightly. It was an owl, and it unusually had three eyes and somehow it also looked like a crow. It landed on her wall with a terrible screech. Weirdly, it gazed at her. She knew of such birds…they had weird names.

            A hand hit her cheek, not hard, but enough to snap off the flow of her words. She spun around and there was no one except her personified fright.

“For goodness’ sake…” she muttered.

            Her attention drifted back to the owl. It still gazed at her; quite fortunately, on the spur of the moment it flew down to the platinum dunes, its eyes cast anxiously at the goddamn skies above it.

            Leila had her eyes shut the very second in the darkness, and even goddess Vol Hox would have attested to the fact that she wanted to close her mind too. But that was impossible, her mind was open…shadowy images flooding into it…dread seeping through its crevices…Paige Granger’s fingers, stooping  to pull out her last breath!