'...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?'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMxRxlreZp
'That's right. And then I came back.'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAycg6TaxY
'What was it like?'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoWCiM3uNG
'Death? The eternal Void?'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCl7qSSuxu
'The other side.'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZe8rjULXI
'...It was beautiful.'
It was strange, then, that it was only when the world became aware of magic that it finally disappeared.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqSjLC2nYn
The chain of High Priestesses was broken - the Void no longer had a single master to answer to, and Floor Twelve Minus became powerless.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwLCUcX7zm
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.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObGcd1BeA5
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.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKP3lDkNbYo
Apart from one.
'Come on, daddy, one more trick!'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTyJ7DAOhl
'Alright, alright, Christine.' Hughes laughed gently. 'Take a look in these cups. See that they're all empty...'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOFXuv96kp
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.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiblHEtNItM
'What's in this cup?'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg24kfBQMFh
Christine giggled. 'It's empty!'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwY3jujjDw2
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.'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwO5B9b79R
The sun was setting on the long summer day, and he smiled as he set the child down in her bed.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡudbtiuNRIU
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.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9am6Fg6FC2
He had always believed that magic was destructive. The Bind ensured it. People died for their petty tricks.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MHP4id9Wh
But that woman - she had died to save others with magic.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZ7Jtw5DDm
She had sacrificed herself.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cPIsboLvR
Holding that dress in his hands, Hughes had cried for a reason, that then, he did not understand.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2AxKcFbkC
'Come now, Percy. Let's enjoy the last of the light.'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOi9UDKmel
'Comin', Maddy.'631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoD9cpwWLW
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.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcAAb9YSJLv
'Every day, it gets me. Just how beautiful it is.' Maddy wraps her arm around Hughes' shoulders and holds him close.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFazYKUkRF
'It's quite the sight, isn't it.' He sighed gently, holding her even tighter next to his body.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpn92VrDGml
He never tried magic again, after. He didn't even know that his powers had vanished completely.631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvHghoGv2m
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 -631Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jcGiQGEtx
Love was the most powerful magic of them all.
