Someday magic will vanish. We all know that.

Just not today.

  "Bade, wait up for me! Wait for me!" I take in deep breaths as I run after Bade. My best friend ever since childhood. "Hurry up then Cyrus! Grand Mama is only awake for so many hours in a day! She promised to teach us something new today!" "Fine! Fine!" With one more burst of speed I caught up to Bade. A thin sigh escaping my lips. We were only seven, isn't magic something the grown-ups had to do? "Aren't you excited Cyrus?..." "What’s there to be excited about? We could go out and play. Besides, Grand Mama's hut always smells weird. Like dried herbs and earth." "I'll have you know that smell is revolutionary. It calls upon the spirits." It was obvious he had been spending a little bit extra time with Grand Mama than I was aware of. "Fine then, let's go and get this over with!"

  He nodded at me quietly as he finally set off once more. Stumbling down the lush green hill towards Grand Mama's hut. Which remained the same after centuries of staying in the village. Without bothering to knock Bade barged into the humble abode. A bright smile on his face as he ran up to a surprisingly young and vibrant woman, latching onto her waist with no hesitation in his best imitation of a hug. While I simply followed behind him quietly. "Grand Mama! We're back and ready to learn!" She smiled down at him. If she went by another name at one point, then no one in this village knew it. She went simply by Grand Mama. One of the greatest masters of magic in this village. Which had been the spawn of some of the greatest magicians ever. 

  "Ah, blessed child. How have you been?" He smiled at the name. You could tell the name excited him. In this village he was looked down upon by everyone for being without parents. Grand Mama and a few others were the only ones to treat him with kindness. "I have been well Grand Mama! I brought Cyrus with me today! He wants to learn magic today with us too!" She glanced over at me, her smile flickering down slightly before she fixed it up again. It had always been so painfully obvious to me that she never really favored me.  I had never really done anything to her, but she disliked me all the same. "That is great blessed child. Let us get started. The sun will set in six hours and we need all the time we can get to work on this one." He nodded. Running back to me and grabbing my wrist. Dragging me to the place in front of her bed, while she sat on the cot.
  "I have kept this from you for long enough. Mainly because I truly wanted this to be a surprise." Training her eyes on Bade, we both watched with capped anticipation as she closed her hands together, slowly opening them to release a gentle light that slowly waved around the room. Dancing and spreading out into strands.  Pulling the light from the rest of the room until it was dark save for the soft glow of the magic. As I glanced over at Bade I saw that his eyes were wide as he watched the show with bated breath. The light making his white hair and pale skin seem almost ethereal. Yet almost as soon as it began, the light zoomed back into her hands, and the room filled with life again. Making me blink rapidly to get used to the change in lighting. "Wow..." "Today you'll be learning light magic. Are you ready?" "Yes, Grand Mama!"

  •

  "Come on Bade, we've barely spent any time together these last few months! You've only been spending time with Grand Mama!" Throughout the years Bade had slowly grown more distant. Spending more and more time with grand Mama and less and less time with me. Until it became scarce that we ever saw each other. "I-I'm so sorry. Without even truly realizing it so much time has passed by." The albino looked away from me. His shocking white eyes focused on the ground. We had both grown so much over the years, and our sixteenth birthdays were fast approaching. "It's fine Bade. How about you spend the night at my house? My parents have been worried about you." "Okay. That sounds really nice. I'll go grab some spare clothe-" I gripped his wrist tightly before he could walk off. Giving him a look that told him to stay put. "You can just borrow some of mine. It is getting late. We don't want to be here when it gets dark." "Okay. Let's go then.." I nodded lightly. A thin smile spreading on my face. Walking in the direction of my house as it slowly got dark.

  "MOM, DAD, I'M HOME! I BROUGHT BADE WITH ME!" When those words left my mouth, I dropped my bag by the door of our small home. It was large enough for my Mother, Father, and Myself. Plenty for our normal circumstances. "Really?! We're in the kitchen, we've been waiting for you!" I gestured for Bade to follow me as I walked down the hall to the kitchen. Entering to see my parents. Who had set the table in my absence. "Bade it has been quite a while." "Ah, it is nice to see you again, Mr. Victor, Mrs. Victor." They sent him nods, offering him a seat at the table next to me. With a quick prayer to the deity of life we began our meal.
  "Bade, I've heard that you have been spending quite a lot of time with Grand Mama lately. What is that about?" Bade flinched lightly at my father's accusatory tone. My dad had never been a fan of Grand Mama's. With Bade spending so much time with her he had begun to get frustrated. Something he had been very verbal about as of late. "Ah, it is nothing much. I simply enjoy her company." My father stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly. Moving onto a friendlier topic and continuing with it until dinner was finished. I gestured for Bade to follow me to my room, which he did. I flicked the switch, watching the enchanted lighting suck up the energy from the room before sending it out as vibrant rays of light. 

  I walked over to my cot. It was actually very nice. Despite the small size of our home, what we kept inside was of the highest quality. My dad was a high-class warlock. Bade sat on the floor. Something I was sure was still considered luxury to him. For a while we sat silent before I sighed. Sliding down to rest on the floor beside the albino.  "Sorry for how my Father behaved. It was uncalled for." "No, it is fine." "It really isn't." He flopped back against the stone flooring. Ignoring the crack that was heard as he unintentionally brought his head down just a bit too hard. "I am really sorry I haven't been spending much time with you lately." "It's fine Bade. You're here now, that is all the matters. Right?" "Right."

•

  I woke up to the cries of a single magpie and the shuffling of feet. I sat up from my cot, glancing at the ground beside me to find the space empty. I sat up, my feet meeting the cold stone as I glanced around my room, which was dark from the late hour. That is when I saw him. Bade was standing in front of the window. His gaze set out the window, where there on the sill, a single magpie was perched. It cried nonstop, seemingly staring back in at the room.  I stood up quietly. Walking towards him, only stopping when we were side by side.  "Something is coming." "Wha?" "Shhhhh...Listen." I stood still. Tuning out the cry of the magpie and listening to what was in the background.

  At first all I heard was the chirps of crows, the rustling of leaves, and cries of water birds.  Just as I was beginning to feel that it was nothing. That Bade had simply gone bonkers, I heard it. A light muttering that was muffled by a sound barrier. A rather common form of magic that was easy to bypass once you knew it was there.  I leaned forward, struggling to catch word of what they were saying. "We were just hired to....Kill...Albino." "...Well...They look....Kill them all."...Worth it?...." "Yeah!" "Well then....do it." I leaned back. Someone was in front of the house. All the sentences I heard were in fragments, but what I did hear did not sound good. 

  Somehow it took me a few minutes to realize who they had come here to kill. Yet when I did, I felt a huge pressure building up on my chest. I had just gotten him back, I couldn't lose him again. "Hide." "What?" "They're here for you. You need to hide." "You're wrong. They are here for all of us." "Wha?..." "Didn't you hear them?! They are here for everyo-" "I hear someone, they must be in here!" Before he could even finish his sentence, the door was shattered as if it was glass.  Yet I had gotten the point. Although it was much too late to do anything about it now. "It's the albino kid the client wanted killed!" "Really? Lucky we ran into him first." Before us stood two women, both despairingly beautiful. "Oh, they are both just kids." "Oh well. Who cares?" "I guess you're right. Let's get to work." Without any further delay they both began rushing us with magic. Spells that neither of us were able to dodge. I was sent crashing to the wall while Bade simply crumpled to the ground. Unmoving. I stumbled forward, my ears ringing. Suddenly regretting bailing out on magic lessons so long ago.

  "Why did you only use somnum on the albino? It would be easier to kill them if we did it to both!" "Think about it." "Huh?" "Albinos only appear once in a gold moon. We would make a lot more money from selling him." The other lady, a brunette snapped her fingers in realization. Laughing lightly. "Oh, of course!"

"Well...What about the other kid?" "He's useless. We can kill him, the adults too." They carried on with their conversation as if I wasn't there at all. Which rattled me to my very core. It was as if I was already dead. While they talked I took the time to use the little bit of magic I knew, putting my hands behind my back. I had learned this long ago, and it didn't really work well at night. I was lucky that it was a fool moon, or I wouldn't have been able to use it at all. Behind my hands I gathered light. The brunette and blond turned towards me now. Paying no mind to the fact that my hands rested behind my back.

  "How should we do it? Quickly?" 'I guess so. This village is small. If we take too long someone else might come."  "Very true." Before I could say a word, a large wave of heat hit me head on. Making my clothes catch fire and sending me crashing back, straight into Bade, who had slowly began to sit up, his eyes groggy. The women screeched. Most likely afraid they had damaged the money-maker as they sent a water spell to put out the flames that now encased he and I. "How did he wake up so quickly! That was a prime level daze spell! It would keep most people asleep for days!" "How should I know?! He looked pretty weak to me!" "Whatever, we'll find another way to detain him!" I shakily stood up, pulling Bade up with me. Checking him for any injuries. What am I saying? Of course he is injured. It is all my fault. "Are you okay, Bade?" "I'm fine, Cyrus." 
  "Enough small talk, let's get this over with!" The mages clasped hands with one another. A sharp glowing erupting from their hands that filled the room, practically blinding me before it compacted into a small sphere. They gazed at it silently for a moment, before it erupted and turned a bright red. Pulsing and humming. A rhythm that beat its way into my skull. Before it was suddenly heading my way. As it got closer and closer, I felt a presence in front of me. Looking down, I saw it was the one and only Bade. My eyes widened, seeing what he was about to do. I had already lost him. He would just have to lose me now. I roughly pushed him out of the way. Rushing forward so he couldn't jump in front of me again, I met my fate head on.

•

  "Wake up you fool!" I woke up to find my room in ruins and Grand Mama standing above me. An enraged expression I had never seen settled onto her features. "You killed him! You killed him!" I sat up, surprised to find that I wasn't dead. In fact, I felt renewed, refreshed. I felt as if I had never been attacked at all. "Who?...I didn't kill anyone!" "He gave it up for you! You drained him, you idiot!" "WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!" "YOU KILLED BADE!" I flinched lightly. How had I killed him? I had pushed him out of the way, if anything I had saved him. Grand Mama must have seen my confusion. Because she took in a deep shuddering breath. Directing her gaze to the remnants of my bed Where a body form rested among the mass of feathers and silks. I stumbled up. Rushing to the cot only to find Bade. Paler than I had ever seen him. He wasn't breathing, and everything about him was still. "How..." "He performed a life force transfer. He gave up the essence of his soul to give life." 

  "Are you happy now? I told you to leave him alone all those years ago. I told you that you would be his doom.  You could have saved him. But no. You had to be selfish. You always were." She pushed me back. Kneeling down to scoop his form up into her arms.  "I will take him away from here. To the place he was meant to be in the first place. You've really done it this time. The sun always has to outclass the moon, huh?" Before I could even say a thing she walked away, my parents rushing in after her and checking on me. Yet I was still focused on her last words. It was only years later I understood what she meant when I learned the meaning of our names. It all made sense when I found that out. I guess we were one day meant to destroy each other after all.

•

  I walked down the street with a silent but deadly glare set on my features. Here I was in this same village. Although I was now an old man. It had been years since that day, and over time I had grown cold and sour. After that the village never heard a word from Bade or Grand Mama again. I had outlived almost all of my generation. With my great grandchildren being in their middle teen years. I was looked up to by many. I lived well. I had never gone a day without in my life. Yet even through all of that my life felt hollow. Bland. Lifeless.
  I was on my daily walk. Something one of my granddaughters had suggested to keep up with my health.  As I emerged onto the top of the hill, I heard happy screams and laughs from the valley beneath me. I couldn't see much from this height, but I saw many children, and someone performing little bits of magic. The pretty kind that really caught the younger people's attention. Yet the person looked oddly familiar. Yet much too young to be any friend of mine.

  With my steps fueled by a type of curiosity I made my way down the hill. Only stopping when I was a few feet away. Even then I only did so out of pure shock. There stood someone who should have died many a year ago. Yet there he stood, looking as vibrant, young, and happy as he had last I saw him. Using magic I never thought I would see again. Which brought tears to my eyes. As I stood there I finally heard what story it was he was telling. "And thought the moon child was gone, he would one day return to this very village to see the sun child once more.  For they had many stories to share."