Author's note:Sorry for the delay in posting. I had some family issues that I had to take care of that took me away from my writing. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer you

***

"What have you done?" Elizabeth asked me.

There was a mixture of anger and fear in her voice that I could not quite place. I had seen that same expression on her face before, but I could not remember where. " I am making this place a better place," I said. "For James to learn. I am still going to teach him, just like I promised. I looked away from her and down at my hands. They were trembling slightly, and I clenched them into fists to try and stop the shaking. I can't let him grow up in this world the way it is."

I grabbed my family and led them back to my dorm room. With everyone outside trying to figure out what is going to happen now. I address all of them, "I have hidden from my responsibility for too long. I am sorry that I have surprised you all with my actions. Last night I had a dream in which I was back in Eden. I am stuck here on this plane until humans can be trusted to protect the Tree of Knowledge. I can't behave like a teenager in school. I just have no real experience on which to base my actions. I tried to keep my magic more subtle but even the simplest of actions made me noticeable to the others.

"I also couldn't let James get hurt, and I may have gone a little overboard with my payback, on those legacies. I just can't hide from my responsibility anymore. I am sorry for outing myself like this. I just needed wizards to know that they can't continue to act the way they have been. There was no accountability for those in charge." I explain to them then take a solemn pause.

I hear Kyle's voice in my head, "I have been thinking you said it should have been impossible for James to inherit your powers. What if he didn't inherit your powers at all? What if it was just a natural evolution of magic in humans and there are others like you both? This would explain why the council was so adamant about not being able to use magic like this and why they have been trying to keep a lid on things. They obviously wouldn't want to have anyone that could challenge their power. We need to find out more about this. We need to talk to the former council and check out their records." He has an interesting point those families have been in charge for so long of course they would do anything to remain in control.

I address my family again, "Kyle has brought up an interesting point to me, what if James wasn't different because of me but that he was related to me just being coincidence? There may be others like him that have been suppressed by the council that no one knows about."

James and David look at each other and David says "Who is Kyle?"

"Oh right, he was the vessel that was carrying my soul, and when Elizabeth freed me, his soul was transferred to me. So, he is another consciousness that lives in my head." They look surprised by my nonchalant attitude about this.

Elizabeth gets us back on track, "Okay, so you think that maybe James is not the only one that has powers as you do? How do we get these records to verify that?"

"I guess that I will have to go ask the council what they may know about this and where their records may be," I muse. "I need to talk to Minerva about this she has some of my old papers, so she might be able to help us out."

We headed back outside to the courtyard only to be bombarded with questions from angry and scared parents. With my magically enhanced voice, I call out to everyone, "parents, students, and staff members I have no plans to shut down this school or change the way things are being taught here. I am leaving that solely in Minerva's hands and I trust her to make sure your children are getting the best education possible. The only thing that will change is that I will be asking Minerva to let me teach a class to help those that are different from the average wizard. As for governing the wizards of the world, I plan to interview candidates for the new council that I am forming to act as a check and balance of not only me but also the council itself. No longer will we be governed by corrupt rulers that prevent any change from happening. That is all I am going to say currently, for I must consult with a few people before I can make any changes to our world."

With that said I worked my way through the crowd to the front of Lyonesse hall, seeing Minerva on the steps trying to keep everything calm. Behind her are the legacies and the former council members. Great, I think they are all in the same place. I walk up to Minerva; she gives me an angry look. "We all need to talk," pointing to her and the council and legacies. "Can we please go into the testing room?" I ask gently and respectfully. We all filed into the building and went up to the testing room. I sit on the middle chair and I ask Minerva to sit next to me. I look down at the former council members, "I was not planning to do this until I saw the demon follow you all into the room. So how long have you been working with that demon?" I ask.

Mr. head of the council just glared at me silently and didn't answer. Finally, one of the others spoke up, "I am Michael Sutton, I would like to say that I had no idea that Augustus Kairington was working with a demon." I had the others agree with his statement.

"Augustus Kairington, do you have anything to say for yourself?" He remained silent. I sighed, "Moving on, you know who I am and that I am powerful. I should be singular in my power but I have found myself meeting another that moves magic through their bodies. What I want to know is are there any others that you have suppressed from the rest of the community?"

Again, I wait for a response, only to be met with silence. Kyle speaks to me "You might want to offer some incentive for someone to speak up, like a chance to get their magic back or being able to continue to live their lives as a normal person with no interference." I sigh and nod, he is right I need to offer something to them.

"Ok, I guess I need to give you all some incentives to talk. The first of you that answer my questions will get their magic back after I am sure that you will not be a threat to the community." I pause to give them a chance to think but the others beside Augustus try to speak over each other. "I will speak to each of you individually and if you answer truthfully and are willing to show me the council records then we will talk about getting your magic back."

"Augustus, your silence has doomed you. Since you won't answer my questions, I will have to assume to worst of you, when I put this mark on you it will most likely cause your family to be shunned by the community. Now you have already made a deal with a fallen so I know where your soul is going but I would like to know why?"

It wasn't Augustus who spoke up but Luther, "our family has been under the thumb of that demon for four generations. He promised we would stay in power of the council for sacrificed souls."

"And who was your family sacrificing to the demon?" I asked Luther, seeing the disgust on his face that came from the deal his ancestor made.

"Those wizards that you were talking about, they were the sacrifice that they made to the demon. It's rumored that the demon was looking for a specific soul but he never found it." Luther explained as he looked at Augustus with a look of hate in his eyes.

"How do you know this?" I asked Luther looking calm but about to boil over in anger.

"The contract is in the library of our family home. I have seen it." Luther said.

"Thank you, Luther, I appreciate your candor so your family's stain will not go on with you, "I told him with a smile.

"A specific soul from wizards that could use magic like me. Hmm, seems like Lucifer was trying to find a way to pull my soul off this plane, which would contradict the Goddess' will. Interesting it seems at least one member of your family has a conscious, Augustus." I said as I looked at the man.

He finally said something but nothing important, "I will see you fall. At that time, you will beg me for mercy only to find none."

Elizabeth and I both laugh at that statement. Elizabeth lets out a laugh, "None will cause Lilith to beg for mercy let alone a simple human like you. She has fought archangels and she is still here. Do not think you can get enough power to challenge her," I smiled at her words.

"Luther one other question. Did you know that James was like those other wizards that were sacrificed?" I asked.

His head hung low in shame, "Yes I did, I was tasked with getting him to use magic in a way that would show that he was not a normal wizard so that my grandfather could sacrifice him but when you came, I saw an opportunity to get out of sacrificing him." I see the rage building up in Elizabeth's eyes and I quickly intervene, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Luther, for being so candid with us. I appreciate that you did not want him to be sacrificed." I thanked him and led Elizabeth over to Augustus. I reached over and cupped her face in my hands, "my darling Elizabeth, since he was trying to sacrifice your son, I think you should be the one to punish him how you see fit." Looking over her shoulder I say, "David can you please take James out of the room as he should not see what is about to happen." David nodded and quickly ushered James out of the room.

I moved away from Augustus and Elizabeth. She loses her composure and screams at Augustus; her glamour fails as she swings her hand at him. Her long black claws rip through his neck and he falls to the floor headless. Elizabeth looks at me crying and I wrap her in a hug. "How could they want to hurt my little boy? He has not hurt anyone." I walk Elizabeth over to the chairs and sit with her. I grab her bloody hand not carrying about the blood.

"You may all think me a hypocrite right now condemning Augustus for working with a fallen, and here I am helping a demon. First, she is my daughter, and second, she is not fallen. She never served the Lord of Hell and has been nothing but a good mother and wife. She has always lived here on this plane, that is why she is different from that lowly crossroads demon." I look at my daughter with pride as I say this.

Elizabeth regains her composure and restores her glamour. "I am sorry for losing control mother."

"It's ok, my darling, you have nothing to apologize for," I reassure her.

Everyone was staring at us with a mix of confusion and horror. "What? Are you questioning a mother's love for her child?" I ask.

Luther was terrified that what happened to his grandfather would happen to him. He fell to his knees at Elizabeth's feet, "please forgive me for what I did to your son. I will never let anything like that happen ever again, please give me a chance to make it right." Elizabeth looked at Luther with anger and hatred but not as much intensity as she looked at Augustus.

"I feel that you would not be so ready to change your ways with James if I were a normal wizard, but I will give you a chance to make amends to my son." Elizabeth nodded and said to Luther. She turns to me, "mother I must go back home and spend some time with my son and husband." I nod to her as she leaves.

"Minerva, I am sorry that you had to witness this. I want to talk to you about starting a class for those wizards that bring magic into themselves as a way to use it. I would like to teach it for now but once we get some students trained then maybe one can take over those duties. "I look at Minerva with a serious look on my face. "I really would like you to take control of this school and make sure we get the most out of your students. You have my full support to make any changes you need to make. I would also like to know if there is any way that I can communicate with the wizard community as a whole?" Minerva looked at me with a serious look that matched my own.

"I think that I have some ideas that might work. I would like to have some of the other teachers learn about your magic so that we can build a better bridge between us. As for communication with the whole community, you would have to go to one of the old council members' houses and use their communication stones, as they are the only ones set up to be able to communicate with the entire community. If I may recommend Lilith, you will need some help to run the community as well as to teach the classes you wish to teach. If you need anything I will be more than happy to help in any way that I can." With that, she got up and left the room.

Next, I will deal with the remainder of the legacies. I had the four remaining legacy students to talk to. I wave for them to come and stand in front of me. "Now what are we going to do about your actions towards your fellow students? Do you have anything you wish to say for yourselves?" I asked.

Sara what the first to step up and speak, "I realize that this is not a good excuse for my actions but I fell into these habits because I was afraid of what my parents would do if I didn't maintain the status quo. Once I started down that path, I started to see myself as better than the others and that I was supposed to do things to make myself look superior to the rest." She said with a look of shame, her red hair hanging disheveled over her face. She was still so very sexy looking.

"And do your others feel the same way?" I asked the rest of the students. All but Simon nodded their heads in affirmation. "Simon, do you have something to say on your behalf?"

"Not really, I could care less about the legacies or anyone else. I'm only in this for me to get ahead. I don't care about anything else." He shrugged and moved to sit in the chair I was once sitting in. He showed no lack of concern for anything.

"Well, Simon I appreciate your honesty as I think some of your comrades if not all true, I think you may want to consider how you act towards others in the future. You may need them in the future. That is just my opinion on the matter but you have to do what you think is best for you." I looked around at all the legacies. "I would remember what you saw here when you put gaining power over others. I won't punish you for your past actions but I will not tolerate any further abuse of the students in this school." I look at them at wave to them to leave. They all got up and left me with a dead body and the rest of the council members.

"I think we can dispense with the individual member interviews and you can all talk to me as a group. So, what do you have to say about your assistance in the sacrifice of all those innocent people in the name of remaining in power?"

Michael nods and starts to speak but I cut him off. "Does he speak for all of you?" They nod to me in unison. "Very well then, go ahead Michael."

"We agree that the sacrifice of those innocent people was not what we intended to happen when we prosecuted those individuals. They were just to be bound and then released back to their homes. We would not be part of that type of atrocity. While we did bind those individuals to maintain our power, it was not our intention to harm them further." Michael explains their actions.

" I am aware that this was not the first generation to be prosecuted. I would like to know how far back this practice of binding started?" I ask to get an idea of the scope of the persecutions that occurred.

"Our records show that this practice started about 300 years ago. It was said it was done to maintain the balance of power within the wizard community." Michael explains.

"This stops now, I will not allow it to continue. Wizards have been entrusted with a fraction of knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge. This must not be how it is to be used. This knowledge was meant to make humans better and allow them to regain their right to the lost knowledge of the Goddess, but it appears that humans selfishly took it and used it to their advantage. We must correct this." I explain angrily. "Your magic will remain bound until such a time that you have proven your worth to the community. I want access to all council records."

I send them away; I try to come to terms with how many wizards must have been sacrificed for no other reason than to uphold the current power structure. 'This is what humans have done throughout our history,' Kyle says to me. 'Modern world is built on the backs of those deemed below the rest.'

'I would have thought that at some point in time, that men would have gained the knowledge to be better to each other. I guess the Goddess was right to expel humans from Eden and access the Tree of Knowledge. Man is not ready to hold that kind of knowledge,' I think back to him.

***

I exit into the courtyard and take a deep breath. The courtyard is quiet with only a few people milling about, a look of uncertainty on their faces. I need to clean up from the day's events, so I head toward Morgana Hall.

I entered my room to find Justice laying on her bed, earbuds in, and her laptop on her lap. She looks up as I enter, she sees the gore on my hands and looks a little startled. "Is everything okay?" She looks almost afraid to ask.

"It will be, I hope. Right now, I just want to clean up and get some dinner. This day has taken a greater toll on me than I could have imagined." I say not looking into her eyes as I grab my toiletries and towel and head to take a shower. After I showered the dirt and grime of the day off me, I headed back to the room to get dressed and ready for dinner. Justice is waiting for me in the room, she looks nervous as I walk in. I'm guessing that she's worried about what I did that covered my hands in blood. I looked at her and gave her a small smile, "I didn't hurt anyone, that was from the punishment that was doled out by someone else. I'll explain later."

I finished getting dressed and we headed out to the Mell Mag for dinner. As we entered the room was filled with students sitting solemnly around the tables. Not much chatter was going on, but I did get stares from them as I passed. I kept my head up and walked confidently through the room. Grabbing my food I headed for my usual table, not surprisingly James was not there. I guess that Elizabeth decided to take him home for the night so they could talk. Tara and Brian are sitting together and smiling as Justice and I sit down.

Tara was the first to speak, "was that what you planned to happen today?" I shook my head.

"No, that wasn't my plan but even the best-laid plans will fall to the waist side when you engage the enemy," I say but realize that wasn't me but Kyle that said that. 'Kyle, how did you do that, use me to speak?'

'I don't know it was just what I was thinking that is what I would tell my soldiers in this situation,' he says to me. Pushing that to the side for now, as I had more important concerns at the moment.

"When I found out more about what was going on I had to improvise to maintain control of the situation. I couldn't let the council stay in power with what came to light so I decided to take care of them." I explained to them while not going into too much detail that I didn't want to burden them with.

As we were eating our food, Sara walked up to us, her red hair lacking luster, her makeup streaked from crying, and just looking miserable. She asked if she could join us. I gave her a confused look but she just shrugged and said, "I have no one else to sit with, most everyone here hates me and I can't be around the others right now." I nodded and gestured to the seat next to me. The rest of the group gave me a look to ask if I was crazy about letting her join us. Sara addresses those at the table, "I'm sorry if I did anything to you three while I was here." Her face hangs low like she is just totally defeated by her shame. I just wanted to hug her and show her some sexual pleasure she has never experienced before.

I didn't want to make things more difficult for her than they already were. "So, what are you going to do now?" I asked her, trying to make small talk. Sara just shrugged and said, "I don't know, I guess I'll just try to lay low and not cause any more trouble." I nodded and gave her a small smile.

Justice was looking at me with a raised eyebrow as if she could sense my inner thoughts. I gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged my shoulders. I guess that I'm not as good at hiding my emotions as I thought. I turned my attention back to Sara who was still looking down at her food, poking at it with her fork.

To lighten up the mood and since I haven't gotten to know any of these people at all. I was so worried about James and myself that I didn't put any effort into getting to know them. "I'm curious, you all know some about my abilities, what are all your specialties?" I asked the group.

Tara was the first to respond, "I specialize in water magic, though I still struggle with the basics sometimes." She says looking nervous at me. I nod to her. "I mainly can use my magic to move faster through the water."

"That's interesting I will have to get you to show me that sometime. I have never needed to do something like that but it sounds interesting." I replied to her. "I've spent most of my life living in caves so I haven't done very much swimming," I say to everyone.

"Caves, with all your power and you lived in caves. Why did you never build a castle or something?" Sara asks me.

"You have to remember that I was living in a time before large houses and my mate and I were able to use our magic to keep us comfortable. We had a garden and a hot spring that we used to keep us warm. My mate and children were more comfortable being in a place where they didn't have to keep up the glamour at all times. They just had to do it when we would go to the city for supplies." I spoke.

Brian responded next, "I am aligned to earth magic, though mostly I can just move earth around." He spoke.

" I wonder if I can teach you how to grow plants. I love to make gardens. I try to get them as close to Eden as I can but as time has gone by since I was there, I have slowly forgotten what it looked like." I say to Brian.

"Wait, you are not in any of the stories about Eden. How come no one knows about you being there?" Justice asked me.

"Yes, well when Adam got Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge they were banished from Eden and they had most of their memories removed. After I was banished, I was allowed to keep my memories but I didn't interact with the humans back then, because they were just so animalistic. "I explain.

Justice looked at me and started, "I am aligned with water magic, I have some control over water and I can create small amounts of water if I need it." I am impressed by her abilities.

"That is very useful to have when you are out in the wilderness," I replied to her.

Sara looks up from her plate and says, "Fire, I am aligned to fire magic, I can create a column of fire, but I can't control it if it spreads to the surrounding environment."

"Fire to match your fiery red hair," I say biting my lip. "The control will come with practice." I held out my hand and created a small flame in the center of my palm. With a bit of magic, I make the flame grow a little then change shape to look like a dancing woman with long hair. I let the flame dance for a little before I closed my hand and extinguished the flame.

The others look at me with a mix of amusement and surprise, I even get some looks of surprise from the tables surrounding us. "Yes, it's all about being able to put your intent into the magic. It is easier when the magic is inside your body to put your intent into it, but it still takes a lot of practice to control it. Now the first step to learning to control intent is to be able to focus and compress the magic into your focus this way you are not trying to hold your intent while the magic goes through your focus." I explain to them and have more people listening to my explanation. More of the students in the room start asking me questions and I try to explain them to them as best as I can.

I ask everyone to follow me after dinner as we go to a field near the school, "I will demonstrate putting intent into magic. I look at the field and feel the magic around me. Since I am going to be casting a large spell, I go back to my dance to pull more magic through me. Closing my eyes, I focus on the magical energies surrounding me and I start to move them through my body as I move in my dance. The magic swirls in me condensing into a small ball of pure magical energy. I focus on the ball and push my intent into the magic. In my mind, I make a garden paradise with a hot spring at the center. The garden stretched from around the hot spring to fill the entire field.

When I feel the magic has finished its work, I open my eyes to see even more eyes on me than there were before. The look of astonishment on their faces when they see my creation makes me happy. Being around magical beings most of my life I never really got that sense of awe before. I noticed Minerva and Mr. Kairington looking with amazement at my work. I even saw Mr. Baker tried not to be noticed but still looking on in amazement.

"To do this I just had a clear intent on what I wanted the magic to do and then I focused the magical energies into a ball and pushed the magic out slowly while mixing unfocused magic with it to create a larger effect. When you compress magic in this way you must be careful when releasing it. Do not let it all come out at once. If I were to have released all the magic I compressed at once nothing would be standing for several miles around me. I have only used magic like that once before and it ended very badly for an island I was forced to fight on."

Minerva walks up next to me and says, "You did all this in thirty minutes, that's just amazing. That dance of yours is really beautiful as well. I heard about it from Mr. Baker but to see it in person is just amazing. How long will this last here?"

"For as long as I keep putting my magic into it, otherwise it will all die," I explain to her. "I once had a garden similar to this where I lived with my family for several thousand years. I was told it all died when I was imprisoned."

I leaned down and picked out a red Amarillis flower and walked over to Sara and threaded the stem through her hair. She gave me a warm smile and blushed. I knew it, she was into me. I thought I saw that in her, during the goo incident.

I walked around looking at others' reactions to the garden. Most of the faces showed amazement and awe, I continued till I was standing next to Justice. "How do you feel about being my friend, now?" I asked.

Justice looked at me still in shock, "I know you said you were powerful, but this is beyond anything I could have imagined. I don't think there was ever a wizard that was this powerful."

"I imagine not," I replied back

"Was that Sara you were blatantly flirting with, I thought you had a mate that you were madly in love with?" She asked me.

"My mate is the queen succubus, we have always shared other lovers," I look at her as if that was obvious.

"Oh, so you're going to use Sara for sex then?" She said looking a little upset.

"I'm not going to use her for sex, I plan to have lots of sex with her, but I am immortal and I will always look like I am so a long relationship is pointless to consider," I say to her still confused by her question.

"You may find that she may not be as willing as you think, she may want a relationship with you," she says to me in a tone that suggests that she is skeptical of me getting what I want. She walks away from me, leaving me wondering what she was trying to say. Of all the women I have been with none wanted anything more than a good time then to get back to their husbands.