'...And on the eight o clock news, we have Sally Heighton live on the premises of what can only be called an otherworldly miracle. The city of Newton watched in amazement earlier this afternoon as the WestGo skyscraper was destroyed by fire, but nothing could have prepared us for what came next...'
'So you died in the fire?'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9qf04xFAd
'That's right. And then I came back.'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Sce32ZQuU
'What was it like?'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fXWvXFDws
'Death? The eternal Void?'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNeXKm6Bpr
'The other side.'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEndbkRcsny
'...It was beautiful.'
It was strange, then, that it was only when the world became aware of magic that it finally disappeared.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaXt63idw7
The chain of High Priestesses was broken - the Void no longer had a single master to answer to, and Floor Twelve Minus became powerless.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotREaAgprJ
Stanley Gorge, a bumbling policeman, only comprehended the mad woman's report at the station after the event. He had learnt enough to find the hideout of Floor Twelve Minus, and ordered a DNA swab of the premises.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpHWtroiLj
The manhunt lasted nine months, and eventually every single member of the elusive organization was found and brought to justice, a life sentence in prison.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsXi5RNvk1
Apart from one.
'Come on, daddy, one more trick!'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHbar9fdat
'Alright, alright, Christine.' Hughes laughed gently. 'Take a look in these cups. See that they're all empty...'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffRKIu5gpD
Madeleine watched on happily, and took a sip of her tea. She was almost twenty years younger than Percy, but age didn't stop her from falling in love with such a beautiful heart. He never talked about his past, but she knew that she loved him, and their daughter, precious Christine.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZIhTbnlbV
'What's in this cup?'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERSsrhexNJ
Christine giggled. 'It's empty!'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0G3R107R3
Hughes chortled as he lifted up the cup to reveal a little model snowman. He hugged the laughing girl. 'Come on now, time for bed.'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUtLCjVx6x
The sun was setting on the long summer day, and he smiled as he set the child down in her bed.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuBbmeiMYd
He had changed his name, of course, after that day. Percy Lowe. Something had touched that man very deep inside his cold heart - an act of love.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECCqfOct2F
He had always believed that magic was destructive. The Bind ensured it. People died for their petty tricks.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yFNfmFzGo
But that woman - she had died to save others with magic.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsKrenbYrC
She had sacrificed herself.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KmU3GpS0F
Holding that dress in his hands, Hughes had cried for a reason, that then, he did not understand.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpwGLasFGc
'Come now, Percy. Let's enjoy the last of the light.'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFODibaXzi
'Comin', Maddy.'634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgfCAHDaAV
He took a seat next to his wife on the steps of the front porch, and watched the dying day on the fields of their farm.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKGDlKWQHf
'Every day, it gets me. Just how beautiful it is.' Maddy wraps her arm around Hughes' shoulders and holds him close.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaC7e0npagc
'It's quite the sight, isn't it.' He sighed gently, holding her even tighter next to his body.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMTnfu37Q2
He never tried magic again, after. He didn't even know that his powers had vanished completely.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BaTS48zvT
Because he learned, because he knew, from that day till the day he would return to the Void - this day, smelling jasmine tea near husky grasses and swinging to the sparrows cooing in the distance -634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQePz9hlmd
Love was the most powerful magic of them all.
