Chapter Twenty-Three

A/N: Last author's note for now, just wanted to disclaim that some of the dates mentioned in this chapter onward are the fruit of my imagination, and some are actual historical facts. I believe you'll be able to differentiate between the two.

2012

I waited all night without sleeping for Apollo, Fred and Strider to come back from the meeting. They came back only when the clock his four A.M.

They entered the room, trying to be quiet, but I was already sitting straight in my bed with the lights on and my arms and legs crossed. When they saw me awake and scowling, the three froze.

“I need answers,” I said without a pause, “and it can’t wait.”

Fred’s shock was the first to wear off. “Answers for what?” he asked, being practical.

“England and MAgnus,” I turned to look at Apollo expectantly. “You told me it wasn’t the time, but it’s been a couple of months ever since. I want to know who they are, what they are, how do you know them, and why are they a parameter in all of this.”

Apollo yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Can’t it wait for tomorrow?” he asked.

“No,” I said bluntly.

He sighed and went to sit on his bed. Fred and Strider took a seat on their own beds, and once they were settled, I looked at them expectantly. “First of all,” Apollo drawled in a bored, tired voice, “you need to understand where it began.”

Excitement and anticipation settled in, and I fidgeted with utmost curiosity.

“I don’t know if you’ve been told or not, but before humanity even began, the world was ruled by Spirits,” Apollo started, scrunching his nose. “Those Spirits were in charge of balance and harmony in the world and its nature - those Spirits were like my Pyro and your Tempest, only much more ancient and much less powerful. They had no reason to be powerful. Once humanity started with the first humans and werewolves, Spirits started to fade away, leaving the balancing mission to the new races that were born, to humans and wolves.” He smiled a little bitterly. “And so there was some sort of balance in the world - until wars began between the two races or among the races themselves, but so far so good - until it was the year zero, the beginning of Counting according to Jesus’s birth - or so everyone thinks.

“The Counting began when a man called John England was born, and within him the first Spirit after the demise of the ancient Spirits. This first Spirit was the Spirit of Time.”

Apollo paused, watching me to ensure I was following. Thousands of questions went through my head, but I forced myself to be quiet and listen, because I knew all of the questions would be answered eventually, and Apollo did not disappoint.

“John Englan, who was also called the Time Traveler at his time, was the best friend of the first Alpha of the Millennium, Christopher,” he continued. “The two worked together to protect the balance - a cause that the Alpha of the Millennium was created for, and so did John’s birth. Because at the year zero, when Jesus was born, John was born with him - and the meaning of this is that because of Jesus’s birth, the balance in the world was tilted a little, and so John was born with his Spirit.

“At the year 269, a raging fire burst up all around the world because of a war that went on at that time. That fire led to my birth, and Pyro’s within me - so I could help maintaining the balance through the power of fire - Pyrokinesis - that I’ve been given.” Apollo’s face were empty of all emotion when he said that. “I got to know John England and Christopher, the first Alpha. We were good friends and went on adventures together for hundreds of years - until the new Alpha of the second Millennium was born; Kasimir.”

Something passed in Apollo’s eyes, something I couldn’t quite read. “Kasimir became the new Alpha officially by the thousandth year for the Counting by Christopher, and Chris retired, which led him to stop his travels with John and me. Instead, he found himself a mortal female werewolf whom he lived with a few decades, until she died, and from then, he kept on marrying different women once the previous ones died, building families, and he still does so now. Our good times came to an end when I decided I didn’t want to settle down, but continue to study the wonders of the world and search for other Spirits with John - we didn’t know then about the theory that after every drastic even that broke the balance in the world a new Spirit was born, and so we simply believed that there were more Spirits out there, no questions asked.

“But on the year 1492, more or less when the Dark Ages came to an end, John was murdered.”

My eyes widened. “But we’re immortal, aren’t we?” I asked.

Fred was the one who replied. “It doesn’t make us immune to beheading or impaling,” he said quietly. “John England was murdered with a knife through his heart - even an immortal couldn’t heal from that.”

“When John died, I was sure his Spirit died with him as well,” Apollo said, his face contorting. “But it appeared this wasn’t the case. John, unlike myself, had descendants. The Spirit simply inhabited another one of his descendants that was born - and that descendant’s name was Maxwell England, who was born eight years after his death, on the year 1500.”

“So this is Maxwell from the story?” I asked, stunned.

Apollo nodded. “I never befriended Maxwell because he, unlike John, wasn’t the friendly type. He was busy travelling time for fun and for feeling the power he had, and nothing mattered to him in the world. That all changed when he met Magnus Odin, who was born on the year 1879 - when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and with it all the concept of electricity came to the light. That obviously disrupted the balance, and so Magnus and his Spirit were born. Maxwell loved the fact Magnus could control lightning and electricity - which is one of the most powerful forces there are - and the two hit it off. They travelled through time and the world, and I continued living in the present and searched for more Spirits. But their adventures came to an end when Maxwell was murdered by a street gang in the UK at 1990. Magnus didn’t know then that Maxwell’s Spirit, the Spirit of Time, was capable of moving on to another descendant of the England family, and I had to explain to him we would have to wait for a few years until the Spirit came back. And it did when Ryan England was born in 1910, and two are still alive until this very day, thank God.”

Apollo looked at me, irritated. “Do you get it all now?”

I bit my lip, questions upon questions filling my brain. “I got it,” I said, “but… there are a few holes in the story…”

“Like what?” Strider was the one who asked, curiosity over his face.

“If every time the balance was disrupted, then why no Spirit was born in 1782 when there was the most terrible war in history?” I asked. “Or in 992 when the greatest tsunami in history flooded two continents?”

“Don’t think we didn’t wonder about it,” Fred responded, “we speculated about Spirits who might’ve been born in those years, but we didn’t find any, so we let it go.”

“So there might be Spirits who roam this world and you have no idea about?” I arched an eyebrow.

“We don’t know everything, even me, who lives more than a thousand years,” Apollo stated in annoyance.

“Wait a moment,” Strider frowned, “what happened nineteen years ago when Angela was born with the Spirit of Chaos?”

Silence settled in the room after this question. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it, but now that Strider rose this point to the surface, I couldn’t help but wonder. What happened in 1992 when I was born? I didn’t remember reading about any historical events that happened back then…

“Maybe there are more theories regarding why Spirits are born when they do,” Fred said in his quiet, serious voice, “but overthinking it won’t make us get any answers. I suggest we all go to sleep now - unless you have any more questions, Angela?” he turned to look at me, his red eyes locking mine.

I flushed and shook my head no, even though inside me I was full of disquiet. Yes, I understood now why Maxwell England and Magnus Odin are real - damn, I really wanted to meet Magnus! - but… something in this story felt off, and refused to click. It was also a little scary if I looked too deep into it…

But for now, I decided to leave it be, at least for now, and try to sleep.

*

“You’re not controlling her!”

Sweat dripped down my face, my breaths were short and heavy, and I felt like I was unable to move. “I. Can’t. Do. This. Anymore,” I said between breaths.

Apollo cursed. “So release the powers back! You’re tiring yourself in vain!”

I did just that and let the powers all around my body to return back to my chest, and from there back to Tempest, who woke up at once and growled angrily inside me. I fell on my hands and knees, gasping. “It’s not working!” I yelled, frustrated. “Why isn’t it working?!”

“Because you have no control!” Apollo snapped, and I felt like we went back in time a few days ago, to the day when we fought, and the day we acted as though it didn’t happen. “You’re trying too much and it makes you lose control! You need to stop trying and start letting your powers be natural!”

“Is that why your mentor told you to do when you learned how to control your powers?!” I snarled.

“I told you I learned by myself!” he snarled back.

“What is your problem?!” I burst out, my face turning red with rage. “Why do you have to fight me? Why do you have to be such an asshole toward me? What have I done to you that you hate me so much? You don’t know me - and the first moment you laid your eyes on me, you decided you loathe me! WHY?!””

Apollo looked at me mockingly, condescendingly. “Don’t stick your nose in places where it doesn’t belong, girl,” he said threateningly, “and don’t try and make me talk - it won’t work.”

“I think I have the right to know what is it about me you hate so much!” I fumed, feeling as though smoke came out of my ears.

Suddenly he was right in front of me, his eyes the bright blue of his Spirit, flames wrapped around his hands. “You haven’t earned the right to know anything,” he said harshly, and it made me flinch, which was the complete opposite of what I wanted to do. He was so close, I felt his warm breath on my face. “You have no idea what it’s like being me. You have no idea what it’s like living so many years like me. You know nothing. You’re a little fucking child who needs to know her place.”

I saw something in his eyes that made my heart skip a beat and my fury disappear. It was the same something I’d seen in his eyes a few times, but never managed to decipher, but now… Now I understood. “That’s the reason for your horrible attitude,” I said, my voice a mere whisper, “you’re lonely, Apollo.”

He froze, unable to hide the shock that spread through his face, and I knew I said something I really shouldn’t have.