Long before Adriana Rauscher the Infallibly Good Witch took Torrac Daisuke under her wing, she had another student. Another man to whom she could have turned to carry on the magical legacy. A man who, like Torrac, was a prodigy of his craft, studying it day and night in order to reach mastery when he was only a teen. It is this man to whom Adriana turns for guidance as one of the legacy's children has become corrupt.
"Celestine, my old student. So good to see you!" Adriana greeted when she saw her former pupil standing before her. But as she gazed at him, she noticed something had changed about him. "Your aura... it's as strong as ever, and yet it feels... darker."
"An... unfortunate side effect of my current life-state, I'm afraid." Celestine responded, playing it off. "I was careless, and was turned into a vampire."
"You know the formula for the potion to cure this, do you not? If not, I could give some to you..." the old witch offered.
"No!" Celestine cut her off. "No, it's... I actually don't mind being like this. Even if it has caused my magic to grey."
Something in her old apprentice's tone of voice set off warning bells in Adriana's head, but she chose to ignore them. I'm just getting paranoid in my old age, especially with what's happened with Torrac and his legacy.
"So, I heard that you found another apprentice." Celestine began, disarmingly pleasant in tone. "You said the purpose of this meeting had something to do with him."
"Yes, indeed. Torrac Daisuke. Honestly, Celestine, he reminded me much of you. Highly intelligent, ambitious, and willing to learn and dedicate himself to the study of magick. And a bit, well... indiscreet when it came to his love life." Adriana replied. "But he has a good heart. That is why I chose him to head this effort to continue the magical bloodline."
"I see." Celestine replied, a bit more terse than before. "And why was I not considered for this honor?"
"Well, to be fair, my apprentice," Adriana began, "You didn't seem like the sort who would enjoy putting down roots and having and raising children. "You preferred your freedom and your studies. He preferred a life of family and friends. It seemed like the better choice."
"But I was a master of my craft long before he even became your apprentice!" the man interjected. "There is so much more I could teach magical children. Or children in general. I have mastered every skill, learned all that there is to know! A wave of my wand, and I could have a wife without effort! Why could I not be the chosen founder?"
"You speak of using our spells for self-benefit, Celestine. That is a line you daren't cross. It is the first step towards the dark arts." Adriana warned. "Using your good will to your own advantage is selfish. Selfishness breeds greed. Greed breeds a lust for power. And once power becomes your only goal, you truly have fallen."
Gripped by a sudden suspicion and fear, Adriana asked, "Why have you truly agreed to come here tonight, Celestine?"
The silver-haired man took a moment to think over his answer before responding, "Honestly, to get answers from you. You said when I mastered our craft, that I would want for nothing. That given infinite time to study, I would always be in wonder of the world. But that is not true. When one has already mastered everything, there is nothing left. It's. So. Boring. Why read a book I've studied thousands of times? Why do something, anything that won't give me a challenge? Why should I bother getting to know people when I can make them my friends with a wave of my hand? It's all pointless."
Thoughts raced through Adriana's head as she tried to figure out how he had achieved such a prodigious feat while still so young. And then, an answer came upon her. "Celestine? Celestine, how often did you use your throne?!"
"The throne." Celestine snorted derisively. "A means to an end. A matter of convenience. Why should I have bothered to eat, to sleep, when there was so much more to study and learn? It's pathetic, really, how much time mortals spend fulfilling their bodily needs when they could be accomplishing so much more. All people have the same potential as I. Most simply choose a life of constantly caving to their bodily desires, instead of focusing themselves and becoming something truly remarkable."
"And thus you've forgotten what it's like to be human." Adriana remarked, turning her back. Her placid smile never left her face as she admonished, "Oh, Celestine, you believe yourself a master, and yet there is so much you have yet to learn about life..."
"Hmph. We'll just see about that. " Celestine replied, summoning magical energies from the air around him.
Adriana shrieked in fright and in pain as flames leapt up around her feet. "Celestine?! No... you... you've fallen. Just like Naoto-! How could you-?"
Within moments, all that was left of the once-powerful high witch was a pile of pathetic ashes.
So, she thinks she can simply ignore my power and awe-inspiring skills? We shall see how her precious chosen legacy stands up to the TRUE apprentice of Adriana!