The Third Child Chapter One   Chapter Two   Chapter Three  

The boy sat on the floor in the hallway as the two men before him glowed unnaturally and charged at each other. He saw his physics teacher glowing bright red-orange, holding a sword that he had drew from the shaft of his cane. What in the world was happening here?

Da Vinci’s face was suddenly engulfed in fear as he came to an abrupt stop.

"Burr, wait! This cannot happen here. Let the boy go, and I will not pursue you."

Burr smirked at the old man, "Listen you old fool, I came for him, and I’m not leaving until he is in my captivity. Besides, he cannot even comprehend what is happening before him. He’s sitting there paraly-"

Burr looked to where Gideon was moments ago, but he was nowhere to be found. Faint footsteps could be heard from down the hallway, as Gideon ran for his life. Around the corner, Gideon continued to run. It seemed like it took forever to get out of the school.

Why are they after me?

Did I do something wrong?

Why was that man calling my physics teacher Leonardo da Vinci?!
...
Back at the stairwell, both men had lowered their auras, and Burr had once again pulled out his cellphone. He held down the "2" key and a number was automatically dialed. He looked up when it was answered.

"Master, the boy has temporarily escaped my grasp due to an unexpected interference. It appears that da Vinci still lives and has been teaching the boy physics for the past year...I see, Dee has failed once again in capturing the twins...I will not disappoint you like Dee has master."

He slipped the cellphone back into his pants pocket and began to walk away from da Vinci.

"Luckily for you, my master deems it unnecessary to dispose of you. Have a nice day, Renaissance Man."

The old man was infuriated. Not only had Gideon ran away, to a potential horrible fate, but he had just been insulted by the coward of all cowards. And what was this, John Dee has been working to capture a pair of twins? He would need to contact his good friend Nicholas Flamel in the coming days. But first, he would need to get Gideon Devereaux to safety.

...
Gideon had just burst out of the school’s main entrance when he was intercepted by a black town car. Out of the driver door came a chauffeur holding a silver dagger. The man twirled the knife in his hands and poised for an attack. Before he struck, a loud boom sounded throughout the area. Gideon looked up and saw something he thought impossible. A storm had formed out of nothing, and thunder boomed, and lightning stuck around them. A bright flash blinded Gideon and he fell to the ground. A scorch mark had formed in the middle of the road in front of him, and there stood a tall, muscular man, dressed in casual garb of today, and held a sword of what looked to be pure light. Out of his back sprang two beams of golden light, almost like wings. His voice sounded like the thunder around them.

"This boy shall not fall into your possession. Leave, creature."

The chauffeur stood steady, and charged the sword bearer.

"Fool!"

The man lifted his hand, and what first appeared to be a normal car driver was revealed to be a creature that one could only find in their nightmares. A second after that, the being was incinerated in a pure white flame.

Gideon’s face was white with fear, and as if nothing had happened, the sword in the man’s right hand vanished, and the "wings" of light on his back were gone in an instant. He bent down on his knees and turned to Gideon.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I think so. Thanks..."

"You shall not come to harm while I am present. Do not fear."
...
Leonardo da Vinci was following the lanky Aaron Burr down the halls of the school, and as Burr sprinted out of school’s main entrance, da Vinci stopped, and grinned. He saw a man standing over Gideon, holding out his hand. Gideon took it and got to his feet.

Aaron Burr had seen the tall man help Gideon to his feet, and approached the pair in the street.

"If you know what is good for you, you will leave this boy to me."

The tall man was confused, "A threat, from the coward of all cowards? How amusing! You will stop your quest to capture this child. He is under my protection now."

"As if you can do anything to protect him from me, mortal!"

"Mortal?! Hardly!"

The man was engulfed in a bright light, and his sword and wings of light had reappeared.

Burr’s face went white with fear.

"Y-you should NOT be here. Your place is in your shadowrealm, not on Earth!"

"I shall go where I please humani. Like I said, this boy is now under my divine protection. You shall not harm him."

The being of light pointed his sword at Burr, and he immediately backed off, knowing the capabilities of such a weapon.

"So be it..."

Burr got into the driver seat of the town car and sped off down the road, and off of the school’s campus. Meanwhile, Gideon stood beside the man as he glowed with a bright white light. He backed off quickly in fear.

"W-what are you?! You set something on fire without touching it, and made that man run away by just pointing that thing at him. What is going on here?!"

"Do not fear, my child. I am Michael, and I am here to protect you with the wrath of the heavens."

Once again, the man was returned to normal, and smiled at Gideon with pure white teeth.

Da Vinci emerged from the main entrance of the school and approached the pair. He walked with the cane assisting him, as if he had not been able to run full speed at Burr just minutes earlier.

"Michael. It is good to see you again. I am glad that I was able to contact you in time. I have reason to believe this boy to be the third child of legend."

"Leonardo. I was unsure at first when you spoke to me moments ago, but seeing him in person confirms my thoughts. He must be protected, and if need be, awakened and trained."

"I fear that we will see our nightmares come true if he is awakened, but it seems as if he will need to protect himself when we are not there to do so."

"Then it is decided. He shall be awakened."

Gideon stood beside the two men as they discussed his future. He would not back off without his opinion.

"What are you even talking about?! How can you decide something for me without even telling me what is going on here??!! WHAT ARE YOU?!"

Both men were not surprised. In fact, they expected this. Leonardo da Vinci approached first.

"Gideon Devereaux, you knew me as Mr. Leonard Vincent, your silly and kind physics teacher, but today’s events have forced me to reveal myself. I am Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci. I was born on the fifteenth of April, in the year 1452. Through an Elder, a powerful being that walked the Earth before us humans, I was granted immortality, so that I may grace the Earth with my ‘genius’."

The man called Michael stepped forward after.

"And I, Gideon, am Michael. And I am what they call the Next Generation. Through the ages I have appeared to you, the humani, and have been called an archangel of the "Lord". My aura is unique, in that it appears as a pair of wings on my back. If you will, just call me Michael."

"So...let me get this straight. I’m supposed to believe that you are a fifteenth century inventor that is now immortal, and the archangel, Michael is here to protect me from some evil people who want to use me for something bad? How am I so important to them?"

Michael looked at Gideon with no emotion, he expected him to know of his destiny.
"An ancient prophecy, older than time itself predicts the coming of a pair of twins, one with an aura of pure gold, and the other with an aura of pure silver. They are the two that are one, and the one that is all. It is said that these twins will either bring about the Earth’s destruction, or save it. Deep within the same prophecy, there is evidence of a third child, born of the same generation, this child has an aura more powerful than any other being in history, alive or dead, the sole black aura. You are that child Gideon. You will change the world."

Everything was coming at him so quickly.

His life just went from that of a normal college-bound high schooler’s to a child of legend. All within the first half of his day, and it wasn’t just any day, it was his birthday.