She Dropped the Knife

John's Domain

"Well," said John, his words echoing in the now empty meeting room - John and Anna being the last people there, "better get you, as my new apprentice, and me back to my home in England to eat some dinner and get some sleep - you have a long day tomorrow!" John snapped his fingers, said a few words and called up a great wind that spun Anna and John around and around and around in a thunderous hurricane of wind. And then, all of a sudden, the two of them fell onto the wooden floor of John's house in rural England. "Always best to arrive in style," he said cheerfully, a bright smile on his face.

"Well, here is my house!" Said John, "now let's have some dinner," and then, "I'm hungry!" and with a movement of his hand, he said "Bring Food!", and food came. Magic flowed through him. He started to do a little jig, a smile carved on his face.

Magic surged through his veins, energy poured through his body. He was happier than he had ever been since his vigorous youth. He had found once again his magical faculty! He said excitedly, but powerfully: "Turn The Lights Off!" And the lights turned off. Then he said: "Turn The Lights On!" And the lights turned on. A swirl of shining bright magic danced inside him, his eyes shone white, greedy. Power-drunk. "Off, On, Off, On," he said, slowly rising louder and louder and louder as the lights turned off and on around him until he reached a screaming point:

"Let Me Shine! Let Me Shine For All The Wide World!" and he opened his arms wide and his eyes blazed with a red fire. "Let Me Shine!" He cried again, and Anna was backing away from John, frightened. Then he screamed one final word: "Shine!" And from his extended arms a powerful light filled the whole room, all stemming from John. But the light was not bright like the sun, but rather dark like the night.

John pointed at Anna, "Give Me The Girl, Magic," he said with a black tone, "Give Her Soul To Me!" Anna had already started to crawl, but now she stood and started to run away from this horrible magnificence of a John, evil and powerful. But she was not quick enough, she tripped and fell and a dark light shot from John's hand and burned into Anna's skin, her bright soul sucked up into John's darkness.

"Help! Help!" Anna cried, "It hurts! It hurts!" She didn't know who would help her, but she said it anyway. It was the girl's fearful voice that brought John out of his black mood. The dark light suddenly stopped and John fell to the floor, exhausted. Then, realizing what he was about to do to poor Anna, he started to cry and to weep, and he wailed to the world:

"Oh what am I to do? What am I to do? I am too old, too old, to weak... but I am ready... but oh! I am tired, weak and tired, tired and weak," he sobbed for a while longer, his head in his hands. But after a few moments he lifted his head to the world, his face streamed with tears and he said resolutely and confidently: "Ready." And with that he stood.

He beckoned Anna over. At first Anna wouldn't come over, still being deadly afraid of John. But after many calming and convincing words on John's part, Anna surrendered and walked over to John. Then he said, with a weak smile: "it's time to eat, I'm hungry." So they ate in silence, and afterwards John used no magic at all to clear away the food, but instead washed and cleaned the plates and forks and knives and the rest by hand. Everything was in place though, Anna thought, she would go to the Mortland tomorrow, and she would kill Svan the Lord of Death and get everything done with. But she felt like something was missing. Something that she was not told, something that was not mentioned in the meeting of the wizards, only alluded to. Something bad, something really bad, something to do with death and dying. But through all her thought, she could not figure out whatever bad was going to happen, so she slept when sleep came and thought no more.

In the morning Anna was prepared to be sent on her way to the Mortland, to Svan's tower, and to Svan himself. John gave Anna a knife, just before she was about to go: "this is the knife you will use to kill Svan," John said, and Anna took it, her small hands gripping it tightly. She felt that this was a way to make up for what happened yesterday, a parting gift, a protection from the evil that John had almost done to her. "Now," said John, interrupting her thoughts, "it is time for you to go." His face was stern as stone, for he knew the sacrifice that had to be made - a sacrifice of life. And as John cast the teleportation spell, his body crumbled to black dust upon the floor. And before Anna could realize what was happening, much less explain, she was in the Mortland - Svan's kingdom.