Continuing from...
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Day 1 — Masquerade Ball
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“You… Think so?” Atlas asked hesitantly, his smile faltering. He shot another glance to where Esther faded into the crowd, hoping he’d see her reappear. But as seconds passed, and he became more aware of the other woman’s eyes on him. He turned back to face her, forcing his lips into a wider smile. “Come on, now, you should give yourself more credit. Your magic was a magnificent sight to behold,” he continued, his smile softening. “As I said, she sprung up to her feet seconds after falling unconscious. It’s almost like her fainting was a trick of my mind, maybe it never happened,” he spoke with a confident grin, aiming to convince her, though he struggled to even believe his own words.
At that moment, he had to push aside his worries for Esther — if that even was her — and keep his mind occupied by the kind woman standing in front of him. He noticed her smile receiving his compliment, a welcome sight. “No need to thank me, I’m only being honest,” he replied, his genuine smile slowly returning. “I’m intrigued now, what kind of magic can you do?” Changing the topic would do him good.
After he expressed his worries for his friend, he was hit with an unexpected question. His eyes widened for a moment. The situation wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to him, the majority of his friends were women and people often assumed there must be something going on between them. He concealed his initial surprise with a soft chuckle, looking into the girl’s eyes. “You’re perceptive!” he remarked playfully, letting the silence hang in the air as he thought of how to approach the question.
A voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to put on a dramatic show, detailing some made-up events leading up to this moment. Another part of him wanted to take it seriously, and politely deny her assumption. But as always, the more interesting idea won. Esther would never find out, he thought, this girl didn’t even know his identity.
Atlas’ lips curved into a mischievous grin, as he stepped back to make space between the two. “Boyfriend and girlfriend?” he raised a brow, chuckling to himself. “Oh no, my dear, we were much more than that,” he placed his hand on his chest, shaking his head as if a tragedy had struck. He sighed, “Where do I even begin?”
Swinging his arms to the sides, he summoned an air of white smoke, swirling around their bodies and giving the small corner of the ballroom a dreamlike appearance. With each sway of his hands, magical dust followed along, twinkling in gold and silver as he built an image in front of him. “Take a look,” he gestured to the vision with his palm, circling around it until he reached the woman’s side. Before their eyes stood a fairytale-like image of a boy and girl, gazing into each other’s eyes. In the enclosed space, the musical performance came to a halt, its melody replaced by a somber, slow violin.
“The two of us, we used to be inseparable. Lovers bound by our souls, destined to be together in this life and all that come after. A beautiful bond, and one I’d taken for granted…” he trailed off, as the smoke swirled around the image and engulfed it. The boy meant to represent Atlas was replaced by another, his face twisted with sinister intentions. “See, my dear, I thought our love would last forever. But how wrong was I, to think that anything in this world is permanent. I watched her get taken away before my very eyes, our unbreakable bond tearing, and taking my heart along with it,” he clenched his chest dramatically, frowning as his head turned to the ground.
The image became distorted with the smoke, and Atlas let the silence linger for a moment. “Before I knew it, she was gone.” A single tear fell down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away, swinging his palms to redirect the smoke and create another image. This one presented the girl, “Esther”, kneeling down with her eyes full of tears. “But she never meant to break my heart. She never intended for our connection to fall apart. That man, as she told me… She had no choice but to become his lover,” he continued, his voice trembling with emotion as if he wasn’t making everything up on the spot. As the illusion twisted to show the final scene, Atlas took a deep breath. “Because… She was pregnant with his child!”
The music he’d conjured came to a halt, and with a sharp swing of his arm he blew away the smoke and cleared out their surroundings.
Atlas collapsed back into the wall, panting heavily as the effects of his magic wore off. He tightened his lips, attempting to mask his amusement at his own theatrics. He tilted his head up, looking into the woman’s eyes. “And since then, I never saw her again… Until tonight.” he concluded with a dramatic pause.