The Laws of Magic were written thus.
Those touched by the spark may speak the spells, shaping wind, fire, water, earth, and spirit; to heal, to grow, to bring pain, or summon death.
Those who hold the fire, may wield wands and be Alchemists, wresting dominion over nature and bending its laws to their command.
Those whom the fire has consumed may be Warlocks who stand with the staff, stepping through gateways to seek the treasure troves of the world that once was.
But none can touch time, space or death.
For all worlds are bound by a fragile veil.
And as once before, so shall it be again; the breaking of the worlds will begin with the first tear.
.....
Chapter - 0 "The Disappearance"
We are the Alchemists.
We keep the Balance. We ensure that all who live in the Otherworld keep the First Laws.
And that the Others never know.
We never start wars. But we fight them when those who rule us bring the war upon us.
But let me speak the truth few dare utter, we say we serve the people.
In truth, we serve ourselves and the Balance serves as the veil we hide behind.
We hold dominion over forces no mortal should wield.
Borrowing control, stolen from the deeper currents of the void.
We pretend the people revere us for our sacrifice.
In truth, they fear us; for we hold the futures of their bloodlines in our black ledgers.
We hunger for dominion.
For every broken law, births two secret paths that we control.
We are sworn to be the eternal Pillars of Present and Future.
Yet we have no vision but our own survival.
We respond not to what is right, but to the whispers of those above us, the ministers, the thrones who themselves trade in shadows.
We speak of peace.
Yet we relish the chaos that simmers — the violations, the forbidden pacts, the smuggling of souls — exists because we allow it.
For without the storm, who would need the warlocks?
And if justice were true, the world would have cleansed itself of us long ago.
But we are too powerful to let ourselves be.
We are the Alchemists.
Your friend.
Adi
"These were his last words to me.", Shah said whispering to Laila and handed her the letter.
Her dainty pale fingers, were cold when he grasped them and a mere touch stirred in Shah a familiar ache, that he had always felt when he looked at her. It was nigh impossible, but Shereen still looked as beautiful as she had when he had first seen her when they were seven. Her beautiful pale face shone in the moonlight pouring in through the windows.
It broke his heart seeing her lying in her bed paralyzed by her grief and to his bitter disappointment, he reconciled with the fact she had only ever truly loved Adi. No other loss could have broken her so. No other loss could have taken the life away from her deep blue eyes so.
"Why did he say those things? Where did he go?" she asked in a quiet voice.
"I don't know. I wish I did. Shereen, I wish I did."
She was no longer at him her dazed eyes watched the moon and the mountains which lay in the distance.
"I don't want you to lose hope. Adi is the best of us, and wherever he is, he'll be back." Shah said it with all the conviction he could muster.
"I remember Adi's predecessor. I forget his name."
"Valki Ferno."
"Yes, he was a lonely old man you know. I don't why but I pitied him. So much so that before Adi took over his office, I asked him to come over for dinner even though he hated Adi."
"That was nice of you. I remember he was a widower."
"Yes, and he told me how he came to be. He was coming back from a raid in these very mountains." She said pointing at the distant peaks. "Only when he was home. He found the rebels had taken away his wife. That was the price he paid in the last great war."
"For all the old blood." Shah swore under his breath. The last great war was four decades ago and it was one of the bloodiest in the history of the Otherworld.
"The old man told me the worst part was not knowing what eventually happened to her you know as they never found her. He said he had too woken up too many nights with nightmares dreaming of what could have been done to her." she said, still watching the moon in a trance. "And now I know all his nightmares. I live them every waking moment."
"Listen to me, Sheeru, the age of the great war has passed. Okay we live in a time of relative peace and Adi will be back. It's too early speculate what happened to his convoy." But even as Shah spoke, he knew it was a lie. At least here, in Kamirz, the war was alive and well, as it had been for the last century.
Sheeren said nothing. Her gaze remained fixed beyond the windows, waiting for Adi to return through one of them. Shah did not leave her side until she had fallen asleep, still clutching the letter in her hand.
Before he left, he whispered a curious spell — Pratjaya Inkhurum — something his mother had taught him long ago, something never written in the sanctioned spell books but was remembered well by the people of the forest, which he was a descendent of.
The spell took its time to work. Spells which were fueled by the force of emotions always did take time to work and their results were never certain not in the way the Ministry believed anyway.
He saw the white moon-like markings appear on Sheereen's naked arms first, then her face. The markings were white moon-like sigils, shaped like the branches of the Ancestor Trees — symbols once carried by the priest-queens.
Very few knew now what all of them meant. But Shah still remembered some.
When her whole body was covered in the markings, Shereen looked like a forest queen herself, Shah remembered seeing once when he was a child.
He waited a long while for the final mark, the one that would tell tell him.
But the mark never appeared and so he left kissing Sheeren with a kiss on her forehead for her knew, she was now a widow.