Guardian Love
Avalon’s Curse has created the world we know today—a world where every witch is a Guardian and has a Charge. The bond lasts a few centuries, and allows a witch to heal a Charge, and bring them back to life.
Forbidden Road, Chapter 10:
“Actually, that’s why I have magic. My powers exist so that I can meet the right person in life, fall for them, and protect them.”
“Fall for them.” He breathed hard, and then finally smiled.
Blue Diamond, Chapter 14:
“But mages aren’t immortal. Are they?”
“Weel, what is immortal? The Earth itself will die one day. Some ants only live three weeks. Tae them, ye were already immortal the day ye were born.”
“And mages?”
“Most o’ them live for four, maybe five hundred years. The Earth changes too much. The people change too much. One day, ye lose the connection tae things and the magic starts dying, wiltin’. You kin wait until the last day and then sit and watch the sun go doon and go doon wae it. It is the most bonnie moment of all.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“Aye, I’ve seen a mage and a Charge unite one last time, turning intae a pure beam o’ light, their eyes looking at the sun until they became the sun. Then, where they had sat, there was nothing left but a wee shadow that lingered a bit longer, and then that disappeared too. A bonnie red rosebush grew there the next summer.”
The Blue Diamond Rings
One hundred magical rings that enable the members of the Guild to share powers. Each ring is made of gold and has a Blue Diamond in it, ornamented with a seven-pointed star.
Dark Flame, Chapter 1:
In the magical world, there was one authority that everyone bowed before, an institution that dated back thousands of years, and were like royalty now: the Guild. The rules that they set were obeyed by every mage who knew what was good for them.
The Blue Diamond—an ornamented golden band with a large blue stone set in the middle. Every member of the Guild had one. Through them, they shared their powers. At any point, each could pull on the cumulative magic of the collective, which was normally around eighty mages. So any member of the Guild alone was a walking lethal weapon.
Blue Diamond, Chapter 3:
On his hand was a tiny golden ring. It had a rare stone, ornamented with a seven-pointed star—the Blue Diamond.
Dragons
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Powerful beasts created by Ivan of Camelot before Avalon’s Curse, about one meter in height, but magically change shape and size into gigantic beasts that breathe out fire, when in battle-form. A few dragon clans live in Loch Ness, led by the dragon protectress of the loch. Dragons are immortal and resurrect every ten years.
Blue Diamond, Chapter 14:
Three small red figures, about two feet high, emerged and walked toward us slowly and hesitantly. They looked like little chubby dinosaurs with elephant feet and long tails. On each side, they had a hand-sized wing, which was carefully tucked against their bodies. Their large yellow eyes shone with curiosity.
The first two seemed as if they’d wanted to speak with us. The third was smaller and walked behind them in an attempt to remain out of sight, trying to look away, but failing and observing us with evident curiosity.
Behind them, twelve others emerged. They were much larger, about three feet high. Some of them were blue; some were green. Their wings were bigger in comparison to their bodies and covered their bellies on each side. They looked like older dragons and had a yellowish glow around them.
Blue Diamond, Chapter 15:
A blast of magic, stronger than the trace of any mage, spread around her, and her blue glow disappeared. Her elephant feet grew nails and stretched out. Her figure straightened and she stood on her hind legs, getting taller by the moment. Her round eyes narrowed and grew, and spikes emerged on her back.
Lucy’s skin hardened and changed to a light brown. Her nose sharpened and her hand-sized wings opened to the size of her body, which was now tall and fierce, towering over the trees.
In front of us stood the Protectress of Loch Ness in her full-power form—a huge beast, terrible, fearsome, and glorious. The moon shone brightly over her head.
She tilted her head and breathed fire into the sky.
Shraga the Magic Mirror
image by Slava Gerj @ Shutterstock
A magical mirror who believes he is the true mirror from Snow White and likes to tell Funny Fairy Tales. Shraga appears in all six books of the series.
Dragon Fire, Chapter 6:
Shraga was a funny kind of creature. He was somehow convinced that he was the mirror from Snow White. He loved to tell us fairy tales, and got all of them wrong, but humorous.
Forbidden Road, Chapter 13:
“That’s why the queen was so angry. Because I kept telling her that she wasn’t any prettier than the ugly Snow White.”
The kids laughed.
Okawi
image by Terablete @ Shutterstock
A phoenix-type creature that can cure a mind, and erase memories—the only known way to enter a person’s thoughts.
Dark Flame, Chapter 13:
This encyclopedia text was written for the series by Dr. Kinga Kozminska:
Okawi: a triplet of small birds, brightly colored with a vibrant red, compact body, and yellow U-shaped wings and beady eyes. Okawi is quite short, not exceeding twenty centimeters in length. It flies no more than forty miles per day, with the slowest wing-beat rate known to man. In their flights, but only when there is no moon, their wings produce delicate, beautiful songs that are barely audible. Okawi’s distribution was originally restricted to Hawaii, but today it occurs in Japan, Ghana, Greece, England, and Norway.
Mythology
The Okawi is believed to provide the basis for the Greek legend of the phoenix: a mythological bird that is cyclically reborn and lives up to 9000 years. The genealogy of the Okawi still remains a mystery as it is unknown who created it and how. Most of the existing knowledge about Okawi is based on the observations and writings of the Greek mage Cyanea the Observer between 1721 and 1877. According to Cyanea, Okawi had an ability to root itself into a magical mind. It was observed to heal the mind as well as to block memories by planting a magical flame in the mind. According to the accounts, the healing was permanent, but the flame lasted only until the Okawi died and resurrected. Its effects on mages were observed to be diverse. At times, an event could cause a blocked memory to surface temporarily, leading both to the memory and the event becoming forgotten afterward.
When an Okawi died, it was observed to spontaneously burn and then resurrect from its own ashes. During the resurrection, the Okawi’s magic reset, erasing the block-spells. Afterward, the minds of those affected were observed to gradually regain their memories, which was the only way to do so. Cyanea did not identify the causation of what triggered memories to return. In Cyanea’s accounts, the Okawi resurrected twice from natural death.
Cyanea’s writings did not mention the Okawi’s effects on mortals, but two later authors, Ayaka Suzuki and Habib Abdul who both wrote in the early 20th century, claimed they were identical to those on mages.
Fairies
image by Soelle @ Artbreeder
Immortal and known for their enchanting beauty. They were less affected by Avalon’s Curse than mages and can still cast permanent magic. The union between fairies and humans creates witches.
Dragon Fire, Chapter 11:
I read up about fairies. The Curse had influenced them differently, which was why they still had permanent magic. They didn’t have Charges or anything like that. If they had children with a mortal, they were born mages—I already knew that. Many mages thought this was where we’d originated: our healing and the ability to bring a Charge back to life, were considered immortal powers.
Forbidden Road, Chapter 12:
Fairies. There was only a handful of them in the world, and most lived in Ireland.
The Grail
image by Esteban De Armas @ Shutterstock
A magical chalice created before the Curse, and once belonged to Merlin. Has Hebrew words written on it, which Guinevere translates.
Secrets of Camelot, Chapter 2:
“A drink from the grail will open your mind
And sharpen your knowledge of what hides inside
For there, you will find yourself at your best
Frozen in body, at your peak, ever-blessed.”
Secrets of Camelot, Chapter 8:
“Nobody could decipher the chalice for centuries. We don’t even know when or how it was made, and some artifacts from before the Curse can alter a person.”
Excalibur
image by Melkor3D @ Shutterstock
A sword immune to magic and linked to the bloodline of King Uther Pendragon and his son King Arthur.
Merlin’s Creed, Chapter 17:
“I give to you…Excalibur.”
Seth looked at the weapon. It was magnificent, with its ornamented handle and a blade that reflected the room like a perfect mirror. Its name, Excalibur, was engraved on it.
Uther took it and held it up. “You promised me a sword that is immune to magic.”
“Impossible,” Ban uttered.
“Is it now?” Merlin smiled. “How about we test that? Adelis?”
Kim raised her eyebrows. “I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.”
Everyone laughed.
She took a step forward. She waved her hand at it, but the sword didn’t move. Then, she shot a small ball of ice at it; it vanished a short distance from the sword’s edge.
“Thank you.” Merlin smiled. He cast rain above Uther.
The king raised the sword over his head. Everything around him remained dry.
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