Reality Part 2 (rewrite)

"A magical world exists around us,"  Rayden said. "we exist in every part of the world, every city, town, village has at least one family of our kind. But we need to also make sure no one hurts anyone with superpowers. So we have a Secret Society. It's like a government. It also has an elder council. The best wizard or witch of every country is part of the elder council. There are 195 people right now, excluding the head of the Secret Society, which is the most powerful wizard of the world, who as it happens, is me. Your father, Daniel Hart, was the Council Head before he passed away."

"But as you know, good also comes with bad. The bad of ones of our kind are known as Hollows. The worst Hollow to ever live is Andromeda. She wanted what every Hollow wants, their rule over ours. But Andromeda was more ambitious than any other Hollow, and powerful enough to wipe out nations by single spells. She knew as long as Daniel led the Council, it would be very hard for her to take over. So she turned his own people against him by setting up fake evidence that he was committed to the dark forces, and somehow escaped the taboo it had. Basically, dark magic has an enchantment wherein if anyone uses it, they turn into a Hollow, a very ugly creature with no soul. Every wizard was now intended to kill him. He had to go into hiding with all those who supported him, which was not a large number.”

This was a lot of information, and I tried to process it, still weighing the possibilities of it being a joke.

"He couldn't harm them, or he would actually turn into a hollow. He was caught and everyone who supported him was sent to the North Dungeons."

"What's that?" I was expecting the stranger to be frustrated with me cutting in every few minutes, but his voice was unchanged when he answered.

"A magical prison. There are four parts to the prison, North, South, East and West which together make the Spider's prison. And soon, the Secret Society realized their mistake when Andromeda arrived with all her forces at the headquarters’ door. We wouldn't be here if your mother hadn't cast that protective enchantment. She saw that we had no chance to defeat her, and she wanted you to grow up in a world not controlled by Hollows. But to do so she had to cast a large amount of magic, much more than possible for any witch or wizard, as magic feeds on the essence of one’s life, and if you cast a lot at a time, this essence dies out. But knowing the risks, she still did it, and by the time the protective enchantment had died out, more than half of her army was wiped and we had lost only a few people thanks to the protective enchantment."

“Andromeda then challenged Daniel to a duel. Andromeda was badly injured by the end and so was your father. Andromeda fled with her remaining army. Your father too, had cast more magic then his body could tolerate. In the end, both of your parents couldn't make, thus you had to be raised by others, and the same had to be done for Scylla."

"Who is Scylla?" I asked. My parents looked at each other with uncertainty. A feeling of Deja Vu swept over me.

"Your twin sister."

"What?" Now I was definitely going to lose it. "Is there anything else you would like to shock me with?"

A magic world? You've got to be kidding me.

"Yes, there is actually a lot you need to know, so let's continue our story." The stranger said with no emotions, as if he were a robot, “the Society searched every corner on Earth in within a week, but couldn't find Andromeda. To calm people and to make them trust the society, they had to make a statement that Andromeda was gone for good, when we still weren’t sure of that."

"Everyone celebrated but the Elder Council and those who had supported your father knew it was only a matter of time before Andromeda returned. She was injured far worse than your parents but dark magic would have helped her survive."

"We knew that Andromeda would seek revenge so we hid their children away from the world. It is up to those who know about her survival to stop her. And you have to make a choice, whether you want to continue your normal life or join us in stopping Andromeda. But once you step in, there is no stepping out. And you will often have to make certain choices that are very difficult."

“This is… a lot to process, do I have time to think?”

“Sure, but you should know that even Hannah is a witch by birth, so she will be coming along with you if you make the same choice,” he had maintained such a formal voice throughout, “now I have to leave, thanks for your time.”

And with that, he disappeared in a puff of golden smoke. An awkward silence filled the living room as we all tried to find the words we would next speak, but as nothing came to me, I left for my room without a backwards glance. At this point, I didn’t know what I felt, sad? Angry? All I knew was that whatever my choice, my life was going to change.

I thought about it for the rest of the day, which was about four hours, and after dinner, when I went to bed, I couldn’t fall asleep at all. As I tossed and turned, I reviewed all the possibilities of what could happen, but not one seemed real enough. What was I supposed to expect? I finally drifted off to sleep around 1am, and had a dreamless night, thankfully.

When I went down to have breakfast the next day, the same awkward silence from before greeted me, but today, I was determined not to be bothered. I didn’t know if it was right or wrong to feel angry, but I had decided I felt it after all. I didn’t talk at all during breakfast, and when my mother tried talking to me, I just nodded.

She didn’t seem surprised by my behaviour, no one did, and this bothered me a lot. As I left for school, again on foot as I had no time to get my tire fixed yesterday, I met Hannah.

“Hey Cass, are you fine, with you know, everything going on,” Hannah said as we walked together in the cool breeze.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean I’m not even talking to my parents, or aunt and uncle, whatever. They just had to hide all this from me?”

“What do you want to do then? I mean the whole choice thing.”

“I don’t know, I just keep thinking about you… and Michael. We just started dating, if I decide to leave, I’ll have to dump him. I can’t do that,” I didn’t know if it was stupid to admit this, but I had been thinking about it a lot, and what was I supposed to do? I had to tell someone.

“Come on Cass, I mean Michael will be fine and you can always meet new guys, but your parents, your [i]actual[/i] parents died for something, aren’t you going to make sure their sacrifice is not wasted?”

“I know Hannah, but that’s easier said than done. Why on Earth should I give up my life when it just became good?”

“I don’t know, but I think you should say yes,” she said and shrugged.

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’m planning to say yes,” she said simply, as if it was the decision of her breakfast cereal.

“Oh, you sure?”

“Yeah Cass, you remember those mysterious objects, that dream, and that weird creature in your bedroom? You have to avenge them,” she stopped talking as we reached the school building, and then dropped our voices so no one would hear us.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ll think about that,” I said and started digging in my locker for my books, completely distracted by the thought of dumping Michael. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about it a lot, because I found a note in my locker. It said-

“Cass, it’s Michael, and I know we just started dating a day ago, but I just found out I have to leave town and I’m very, very sorry, but I can’t date you anymore. I hope you are not mad at me, and hopefully, we can be friends. I’d text all this, but my phone is not even working. Sorry again.”

And. That. Was. It. That moment was when I decided I would do what Hannah said, Michael hadn’t even considered saying all this in person! I felt like an idiot to consider him and our relationship while thinking about my life’s biggest decision. I had never felt worse, so I tore the fucking note and ran to the washroom, where I locked myself in a stall and just cried. I had had it! First my parents, then this magical world, now Michael, too.