John Uzoma was not like the others.
Behind his charming grin and easy laughter, behind the way he slipped through conversations like smoke, was a secret that could shatter everything if anyone at FUTO ever found out.
He was a Warlock and bears the name "Maleficent" in the Warlock world
In the Warlock world, every warlock was tied by a demon pact — a deal sealed in fire between their ancestors and one of the rulers of the underworld. It was a system of power and obedience: the stronger the demon, the stronger the bloodline.
But some boundaries were never meant to be crossed.
One of those was love.
A demon and a human could never be together. It was forbidden by the Code of Shadows — a curse that kept both worlds apart.
Yet, somehow, one had broken it.
Lucifer, the first flame, the fallen king, had taken a human woman Amara Uzoma and from that forbidden bond came a child.
A half-demon. Half-human.
A warlock who should never have been born
John Uzoma.
The warlocks despised him because they were scared of him and probably the damage he could cause in the future. John was so powerful that at the age of 5 he could do so much magic and summon some demons that even a warlock of 200 yrs find it difficult to do. John knew he wasn't wanted by the warlocks.
John was wanted by his dad in the underworld who already had a throne preserved for his son to be follow him and be the king of the underworld. John didn't want that for now because he wanted to enjoy the human world for now. Maybe later in the future he would consider it.
He also couldn't stay much longer in the warlock zone because they're becoming so jealous of him and could combine and attack him soon
So John was 521 yrs.
He left the Warlock Zone before they could decide what to do with him.
He erased every trace of magic that could tie him to that world and built a new life among mortals.
He chose FUTO — the Federal University of Technology Owerri — as his hiding place. The campus was full of life, distractions, and noise. It was the perfect place for a cursed soul to disappear.
He picked Geology as his department.
It sounded smart and confusing enough that no one would bother asking questions.
And it worked.
To the world, John was the charming playboy from Emerald Lodge, the guy who always smiled, flirted, and somehow never got caught in his own lies.
No one suspected that his blood could bend shadows or whisper to flames.
At the lodge, he shared the lodge with two students, Samuel Achodor and Patrick Emmanuel.
Samuel was loud, playful, sarcastic and full of mischief.
Emmanuel was quieter, observant, and strangely deep. Sometimes, when Emmanuel stared at him, John felt uneasy — like the boy could see through the veil he'd worked so hard to hide behind.
Still, John liked them.
They were human and real.
No pacts, no blood debts, no demons whispering from the dark.
For the first time, he felt normal.
But warlocks had a gift and a curse.
Apart from their Green coloured eyes which John had hidden, their power flowed through scent.
They could use it to enchant, seduce, or deceive. The stronger the bloodline, the stronger the aura.
John hated using it. It reminded him of what he was.
But every now and then, he let a small trace of that charm slip out especially when someone caught his attention.
That's how Lilian came into his life.
Lilian was nothing like the girls who usually surrounded him.
She was calm, confident, and natural with no pretence, no makeup, no drama.
A Biotechnology student with a quiet mind and a voice that always sounded sure of itself.
He met her one rainy afternoon near the SLT block. She stood under a tree, reading her notes while everyone else ran for cover.
Something about her peace drew him in.
He approached with his usual grin.
"Mind if I stand here?"
She looked up briefly. "It's not my tree."
He chuckled. "You know me?"
Her eyes flickered. "Everyone knows you. The Geology boy who changes girlfriends like lecture notes."
He laughed. "Rumors travel fast in this school."
"I don't listen to rumors," she said, closing her book. "I watch."
That was the first time anyone had said that to him.
And that was how it began.
Over the next few weeks, they met often for study breaks, short walks, and laughter under hostel lights.
Lilian didn't chase him, and she didn't fall for his usual tricks. She was real, grounded. And for someone who had spent his life hiding from what he was, her presence made him feel so human.
He didn't use magic on her.
He didn't have to.
By the second week, the gossip spread.
"John and Lilian?" "Are they dating?" "That girl must have used jazz too!"
Emmanuel heard it first in the Biochemistry lab when a friend showed him a photo of them eating Mishi together.
He brushed it off with a hiss, pretending not to care.
That night, back at the lodge, Samuel burst into the room.
"Osundu! Your babe don follow lover-boy go Mishi joint o!"
Emmanuel barely reacted. "She can do what she wants."
Samuel frowned. "Chai ,Poor Osundu."
Then he sighed. "But if she's happy, just leave am. Love no be competition."
Emmanuel smiled weakly, but his eyes said otherwise.
John noticed the tension.
He felt Emmanuel's silence, Samuel's teasing, and the way Lilian sometimes avoided talking about her family or go too far about it
But he ignored it all.
He was tired of running and always thinking about his warlock life. For once, he wanted something that was his own without magic or any tricks.
At night, when everyone else slept, he walked alone to the dark field behind the Engineering Faculty.
There, he would whisper in a forgotten tongue, small charms to hide his energy from those hunting him.
Because they were still out there.
The Warlock Council.
They wanted him back not because they cared, but because he was proof that the forbidden line between demon and human had been crossed through love not the unusual ways
He was the child of the greatest sin.
And to them, his existence was a curse that must be monitored.
Far away, deep within the Warlock Zone, flames rose in a dark circle of robed figures.
"The Half-Blood still lives among mortals," one hissed.
"He hides under the name John Uzoma," another spat.
"The child of Lucifer's shame will bring ruin to our kind if not dealt with."
Then a hooded elder raised his staff.
"Send the Seeker," he commanded. "The abomination must return—or burn."
The fire flared red, twisting into a shape that looked like wings.
Back at Emerald Lodge, John sat by his window, staring into the night.
Lilian had just texted:
"Don't stay up too late. You have class tomorrow."
He smiled.
He didn't know how long this peace would last, or when the shadows would find him again.
But for now, he was human enough to care.
Somewhere far below the earth, a deep, dark voice whispered his name — low and amused:
""Non potes te in aeternum celare, mi fili. Etiam stellae ab igne inferni ardent."."
John shut his eyes, letting the night swallow the whisper.
He didn't want to be Lucifer's mistake.
He wanted to be John Uzoma
, a boy who laughed, who loved, who lived among humans, and when it's time who would descend to the underworld and regain his full power.