This article is one of seven in Phase I of a sort of novel, the “Pentagon of Pandemonium”, which outlines the history behind an entire universe of lore that I’ve been creating since seventh grade. (Back in 2022, way before this blog started!) I’ve only posted one article about the complex world of Magicae since I founded Inside A Wandering Mind, when I was a freshman in high school. At the time, I was given an assignment to write a short story in High School English, and I chose to write about something that was part of the lore. Since then, it’s just been something I’ve spent my free time doing— finally, after years of working, my friend Tristan and I have decided to work together to create a novel on the newest additions to our world lore that we’ve been obsessing over for years. We hope you enjoy!
CONTENT WARNING – Some of the scenes in this novel may feature violence, profanity, or references to other mature topics that may cause discomfort for certain readers.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the authors’ imagination or used in a fictitious manner to serve the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chapter 1 (1971) – The Fallen Guardians
“Listen carefully, my dears,” Mother Kani said gently, in the tone mothers use when they are about to give a long, important lecture to their kids. “The story I’m going to tell you is a fire that generations— our ancestors—have been tending to carefully; and the responsibility of caring for it will be brought down to you someday.”
The two children leaned forward expectantly, apparently understanding little more than the fact that they were a part of something much bigger than themselves. The older of the boys sat on the edge of the room’s mat, shifting subtly and fidgeting with his hands. His black hair was matted and messy, and sometimes caught in his eyes when he tried to gaze up at his mother. His name was Nakreb. Sitting by his side was his younger brother, Natrist, who was starting to look more interested in the flickering candle on the windowsill than the story that Mother Kani was about to tell. He scratched his tussled black hair with an annoyed expression, clearly bored that he had to sit in one spot doing nothing. Neither boy particularly liked restraint; they much preferred playing, or rather, teaching themselves how to harness the strange, unnatural abilities that they discovered they’d had since they were born.
Mother Kani nudged Natrist gently, momentarily regaining his attention for long enough to begin to speak. “I’ll start by asking the two of you an easy question: do you know what we are?”
“Natrist and Nakreb, who do you think we are?” Natrist said snidely, his voice laced with slight annoyance. He snapped his fingers, and a sharp cracking noise echoed down the hallway. A little cloud of purple dust emerged from his fingers and evaporated into thin air. “Can we go back to doing our own thing? Does this story matter?”
“But do you know what our family is?” Mother Kani asked patiently, clearly used to dealing with Natrist’s attitude.
“Our family is part of the Wizard Race, isn’t it?” Nakreb chimed in, his calm voice quelling Natrist’s mood for a moment.
“Yes,” Mother Kani nodded, looking relieved that their conversation had finally gotten somewhere. “And tell me, dears, what do you know about the Wizard Race?”
“It’s an old, very very very old race right? Something older than you?” Nakreb looked up expectantly, eagerly awaiting to see if his answer was correct.
“Uh,” Natrist hesitated. “It’s the reason we’re able to do all these cool things?” To make his point, he pointed at a little frog hopping around on the floor. No one in the family was particularly alarmed about the animals taking over their house; it had been like this for years. It was more of a blessing for the two boys, since it gave targets to practice their magic on. Suddenly, a violet ray resembling a lightning bolt shot out from Natrist’s index fingertip and engulfed the frog; there was a bright flash, and when it faded, all that remained was a mess of slimy tissue that had once been a frog. Kani waved her hand dismissively, and the remains vaporized and disappeared.
“Well, you two are close… But the Wizard Race is more complex than just our abilities and age,” Kani corrected, ensuring her tone was still soft and soothing. “Oh… we used to be quite the spectacle. Back in the day at least.”
“A spectacle?” Natrist asked curiously. He was only eight— he didn’t know the word. “What’s that?”
Kani brushed it off with a wave. “It’s not important, my dear son. All that you really need to know is that we were quite the greatest, most revered race to have walked the surface of Magicae. We were the race that all the others never dared mess with, and for very good reason.”
“B-because we could do that?” Nakreb pointed at where the frog’s remains originally used to be. “Because of our abilities? It made us special?”
“It does make us special,” Natrist insisted. “Nobody in class ever gives me a hard time, and it’s because they’re scared of what we can do to them. It makes us special, right?” He turned to his mother, the way a child turns to a parent when they feel like they need validation, when they need security. Mother Kani smiled warmly at her sons.
“Partially. Our ancestors made many contributions to societies here, giving them their technology, magic, and scientific knowledge… The list goes on and on… yet their nature is to take credit for what we were doing. ” Kani twisted her face into a grimace before returning to her warm self. “We were practically treated as gods before.”
Natrist raised his eyebrows. “Before?” Was his mother implying that their abilities were no longer seen as special?
Nakreb’s expression contorted with confusion. “B-but… if we were so powerful, why aren’t we much of anything now? Where are our other Wizard Race friends? Why do we just stay in our home unless we have to?”
“Things simply changed… As humanity and the other races advanced technologically, they saw no need for us anymore; some even feared our very existence, which is why there are barely any of us today. Most don’t even recognize our powers. Thousands of years ago, they formed a coalition and wiped out almost our entire race.”
“B-but why?” Nakreb and Natrist were not looking away now; the one thing that never failed to get their attention was anything that related to their strange magical powers, and whatever their mother was trying to explain to them definitely seemed to have something to do with that. “Why would they do that? ”
Kani paused to think before responding. “Think of it like this,” she said gently, but with a subtle hint of seriousness. “If a grotesque creature–”
“What’s a grotesque?” Natrist asked, who hadn’t heard that word before.
“Imagine the most horrible thing appears in your room,” Kani repeated, “A monster- hairy, disgusting, and growling- and it looks powerful, positioned like it’s going to attack. What would you do?”
The two boys looked at each other. “I’d kill it,” Nakreb said first. “I would never want it to hurt me.”
Kani nodded. “That’s why the world doesn’t want us. They fear our power; they don’t want to face us, so for them it’s much easier to kill us off and get rid of the problem.”
Before the two could ask any more questions, Kani continued: “There’s another ability our race possesses that we haven’t been able to use for generations, and that’s what I want to tell you about now. This is the true reason we are so isolated nowadays.”
“A new ability?!” Both Natrist and Nakreb looked at their mother in awe, eyes gleaming with anticipation. “Will we be able to meet our Wizard Race friends with it?”
“It’s already too late to meet our people; most have either passed away or are in hiding, and those that are left may be too weak to even use it,” Kani began, looking at her two children to see their eyes filled with disappointment. “Still, our race possesses an innate ability that you two might be able to use. It’s the ability to summon and create Guardians.”
Nakreb scrunched up his face to try and think of what a “guardian” might look like, before asking, “What’s a Guardian? Is it some form of friend? Protects us?”
Natrist also looked confused. “Guardian? Is it something that helps us kill?”
Kani shook her head. “No, no. Guardians are not friends, or something that can help you kill. At least not individually. They are a legendary spirit race that can do both. They have protected us, killed for us, cleaned for us, and quite literally done almost everything for us. There’s no other race that can control them; they’d just go crazy otherwise. You are the only ones in the universe who can control the spirits of the Guardians.”
“W-well… How do we do that?” Natrist asked. “Where can we get these Guardian thingies? I want to try them.”
Kani let out an exasperated sigh. “The thing is, your father and I have tried to revive them through scientific research, magic, technology- anything in our arsenal. But we’ve failed. It’s been tough without any of our original records, and most of our tests just end in a pile of wet sludge.”
“B-but… how? Y-you’re our mother, and father is the most powerful in this universe!” Nakreb said enthusiastically, as if it were true. Natrist was a bit quieter, but he was leaning forward eagerly too. “Can’t we do anything? We’re part of the Wizard Race! You said there’s so much we can do. Why can’t we—”
Kani simply looked down at her knees. “Even your mother and father have limits. And again, Guardians haven’t been sighted anywhere across the world of Magicae in hundreds of years. We don’t even know if there are any still out in the wild. Your mother and father have dedicated their lives to this project, but we’ve been unable to make it.”
Nakreb and Natrist both sank in frustration. They’d spent their whole lives playing around with their powers without limit; they’d stretched themselves out comfortably and felt no resistance, like flying freely through the clouds. Now they’d hit a wall; it was restraint that they’d never felt before. Neither of them knew how to approach the feeling, but it gave an unfamiliar discomfort. “What can we even do about it then? I mean… I know we’re powerful, but we’re just kids.”
Kani looked wistfully outside the window for a moment before speaking. “You two are young, and may be more attuned to your abilities. I know I only got my abilities at 17 years of age, and you nearly halved that. Your grandparents only got their abilities at around 20. There’s a lot of potential in both of you to make an exceptional mark on the history of the Wizard’s Race, and honestly… my time may be coming to an end shortly. This is why it will be both of your jobs to someday restore the Wizard Race to its natural prestige and reverence.”
“But why?” Natrist asked, uncertain.
“Because,” Mother Kani explained patiently. “If you don’t preserve the history and culture of the Wizard Race, our abilities will be forgotten. Our identity, what we’re known for… It’s dying out fast to the growth of the new, invasive races living out there in our world of Magicae.”
“Do you mean,” Natrist said fearfully, “That if we don’t continue to spread and restore our race, people will stop respecting us?”
Mother Kani said nothing, but she nodded affirmatively. That was enough for Natrist; the one bit of pleasure he got at a school where no one wanted to be his friend was his exceptional ability to summon animals out of the ground at will; to give others little electric shocks, to lift himself and float in the air with wind…He wanted it to stay that way forever; he wanted not only his abilities, but his family’s, to be known for what they could do. They were a special group, and they deserved that recognition.
His brother, Nakreb, clearly had the same feeling.
“I want to help you and Dad with this, but I don’t know where to start,” Nakreb admitted, his voice shaky with uncertainty. “Do we have to start right away?”
Kani embraced both Nakreb and Natrist gently. “Don’t worry about it for now. It’s a huge undertaking; I just wanted you two to be introduced to the idea. Keep it in the back of your mind the next time you use your abilities.”
Both Nakreb and Natrist eagerly nodded.
“I’m glad to see that the two of you are taking this seriously.” Kani smiled proudly, which made both Nakreb and Natrist’s eyes gleam in excitement; they’d never received as much as a smile from anyone else in their lives, and here was their mother, the one person in their life who they felt like they could be safe around. The one in their life who made them feel heard and appreciated.
Kani stood up and turned towards the kitchen, evidently considering what they’d have for dinner that night.
She opened her mouth. “Let’s go
