Page 1 of Becoming D'Vaire
Chapter 1
2001 AD
Prism Wizard Vadimas Porfyra drove toward the orphanage as he worried over the call he’d received from the woman who ran the small place. Mary Simmons had a young boy in her care who’d arrived a few weeks ago. He was four years old and had already been through at least a dozen different foster homes and institutions in his short life. Ms. Simmons wasn’t willing to go into details about why she believed the child was shuffled around so much and insisted Vadimas would understand when he got there.
Since he’d grown up in an orphanage himself and was born with considerable power—making him an outcast in his youth—Vadimas was more than willing to come and investigate the mystery. He saw to it that he was personally involved in making sure each place for children without parents or whose folks could not care for them properly was given the best care. The last thing he wanted was for a child to suffer.
As I did, Vadimas thought with a grimace as he pulled into the tiny parking lot that sat alongside the pretty Victorian house Ms. Simmons governed. Life was not always easy for those Fate gifted with great magic, especially since his people were once ruled by Arch Wizard Egidius, who’d punished children that might someday grow up to challenge him. Vadimas’s potential was apparent from birth, and he’d been barred from using any spells in his school of magic.
Each wizard was born with an inherent affinity for a specific hue within the seven colors of the rainbow. Their eyes or hair reflected that color; Vadimas was born with irises of brilliant violet. By the time he was a teenager, they’d turned a muddy brown—a mix of all the tints found flowing out of a prism and one that he still saw in his reflection. It was ironic that the burden placed on him by Egidius led to his current status as Prism Wizard. When a bevy of wizards decided to follow the Council of Sorcery and Shifters to North America, they created a new group called the Spectra Wizardry. The rest of the large population of their kind stayed behind in Europe to create a new government which served the selfish needs of their Fate-chosen leader, Egidius. Vadimas had been eager to escape and once there, the sorcerers were told by the Council that they needed a leader.
Their solution was to create a position for a wizard who oversaw all of them, but he would be aided by a panel. There would be one wizard that reached the highest rank in their structure for each color of the rainbow. The problem was, there was only one High Arcanist and it was Vadimas.
He had not wanted to take on any kind of ruling position; Vadimas simply desired to accept the violet inside him and focus on his studies, but his people needed him. His lack of hue meant he wouldn’t favor anyone. They’d all watched the mages squabble pettily over the differences in their elements, and they didn’t want that for themselves.
Vadimas had agreed to forgo accepting his true nature until at least one High Arcanist graduated from the Academy of Wizards. Almost two hundred years later, Vadimas was still waiting. Pushing aside his thoughts on his own predicament as he hauled himself out of his vehicle, Vadimas ran a hand over his snow-white hair to make sure it wasn’t sticking up and walked toward the lovely house. He was not even halfway up the short staircase when the door swung open.
“Prism Wizard, thanks so much for coming,” the woman said as she reached out a hand.
Vadimas shook it eagerly as he looked down at her and offered a smile. Her hair was a vibrant red, and she barely reached his armpit. “You must be Ms. Simmons? I’m very eager to hear about the young boy you spoke of on the phone.”
“Prism Wizard, please call me Mary. Come on in. We have a small playground out back where he’s playing. I hope you’ll see why he simply can’t stay here.”
Vadimas’s brows drew together in confusion. “From what you said, he’s only just arrived. He’s been here a few weeks at best.”
“That’s true, Prism Wizard, but he’s upsetting the other children.”
“He has behavioral issues?”
Mary hadn’t let go of his hand, and she hauled him through the house. “I wouldn’t call it a behavioral issue, Prism Wizard. Come on, you’ll see for yourself.”
Rather than try to extricate himself, Vadimas willingly allowed her to drag him down the hallway. When they got to the rear door, Mary opened it and finally released him. Then she put her palm on his back and gave him a push.For a petite woman, she has a great deal of strength, Vadimas thought as he tried to keep his balance. Once he was out on the deck, she disappeared into the house. Deciding to ignore her strange actions, Vadimas searched for the small boy causing the uproar.
It didn’t take him long to spot the child. He was alone in the backyard, sitting on the edge of a sandbox. As Vadimas walked toward him, he must have sensed he was no longer alone, because he looked up and offered a friendly wave. When Vadimas noticed the deep, dark eyes tilted up in his direction, he understood exactly why people feared him. They were so black, it was nearly impossible to distinguish his pupil from his iris. Although that color was not on the rainbow, this child was already an exceedingly powerful sorcerer.
Vadimas smiled. The boy might be the world’s only dark wizard, but he was also exactly what the Prism Wizard needed. Someday he would be a part of the Spectra Wizardry leadership, and Vadimas was going to make sure no one denied him his destiny.
“Hello,” Vadimas said to him once he was about a foot away. He lowered himself to the ground, heedless of his expensive suit, so he was not towering over the small child.
“Hi.”
“I’m Vadimas, what’s your name?”
“They call me Scary.”
Vadimas wanted to sigh, but his smile didn’t falter. “Is there any other name they call you?”
His mouth twisted as he thought it over. “Maybe…sometimes they call me Freak.”
“What does Ms. Simmons call you?”
“Scary. That’s my name.”
Vadimas’s grin disappeared. Something had to be done for the child, but he was not sure exactly how to proceed. He would love to bring him into his own home and make him understand. He wasn’t the problem—it was everyone else, and someday the boy would be ruling with him. Vadimas was not going to have him grow up and embrace his destiny with people whispering behind his back that he was Vadimas’s puppet. It was necessary for him to learn to think independently. “I think we can do better than that for you.”
“Good. I don’t like it.”
“Let’s see. We need something that suits you. What about Delaney?” It was a name that meant “child of dark defiance,” and Vadimas could not think of anything more appropriate for him. He didn’t know where he’d learned the word; perhaps his brain had stored it for just this occasion.
