Chapter 6: The Story of Wakefield The Orange
Half way point for Moggy's story!
Moggy was sat in the lecture theatre of the wizarding academy where he’d spent many a year learning his craft. He blinked a few times and looked around, seeing his peers as they were, some busy taking notes, others barely keeping their eyes open. With a loud clear of her throat, the ever stern Professor Moorthorpe gained the attention of the class before continuing on with her lecture.
“As I was saying”… Millenia ago the universe was plagued by a trickster race of demons, whose sole purpose in life was to cause misery and heartache to all living things. They endeavoured to inflict suffering and felt it fit they rule over others. They were beyond traditional interventions, you couldn’t declare war on them, you couldn’t fight them, you couldn’t reason or bargain with them. The spread of their disease was set to cast an everlasting shadow across the universe, until one brave cat thought up a way to stop them. See, it was after a fateful incident, where a demon slammed his face into his favourite lasagna one too many times, that Wakefield the Orange thought “No More!’.
Wakefield was a powerful wizard and used his powers to travel the universe in search for the perfect world to counter the demons. He knew it must be a place that operated on the opposite spectrum of cosmic energies than the demon's solar system, The Darkened Realms. Which were a plagued part of the universe. An undead growth from an eldritch horror infected the very hearts of all the planets there, connecting them through enormous flesh like structures that also encased their star, casting a shadow across the Darkened Realms. The Darkened Realms were like an almighty husk, rather than a collection of planets. The creatures that lived on those planets evolved underground and became accustomed to the dark. Their flesh is marable, with the ability to melt away and reform at will. Their form was up to them, but more often than not they appeared as horned beasts. They are near immortal and have extremely powerful dark magic that works through a more corrupting and brutal method than we wizards.
After many years Wakefield found the perfect world. Full of life, yet no civilization. There he began his life's work. A tower of immense importance that would channel the planet's energies in a specific format to cast spells so powerful and vast that they’d permeate the entire universe. There he created a hereditary curse, bound to the very DNA of all creatures born from the Darkened Realms. Ensuring their influence over the universe and reign of terror would come to an end and never be a problem again. He crafted each brick of the tower with his own paws and imbued them with his own life force. After decades of work the tower was complete and Wakefield the Orange could finally rest as his body became ash and floated into the sky of the lonely planet.
The curse was complex beyond any other magic cast by a mortal soul. Scholars have studied Wakefield’s spells for centuries and still are yet to figure out more than a tenth of what they do.
The interconnectedness with the universe, the quantum harmony was so elegant it was as Wakefield the Orange had some holy ordainment.
The wizard scholars have settled on at least the following aspects of the curse:
Demons are constrained to the Darkened Realms, unable to freely travel the universe
Demons are bound by deals and cannot refuse an offer by another soul
Music has influence over the demons, yet they also have an influence over music
Demons so-called immortality is stunted
Permission must be sought for a demon to pass a threshold
The universe outside the Darkened Realms is protected from the spread of it’s cosmic disease
Limits on demon reproductive ability, rendering many demons sterile
Strong belief counters a demons capacity to do evil
“Do remember these, they’ll be on next week's test.”
The curse worked to protect the universe from the mischievous acts of the demons. Holding them back and preventing their progress, trapping them in their world never to venture out into the universe. The demons did resent this though and endeavoured to wreak their revenge on the universe. They were patient and plotted for centuries to circumvent the work of Wakefield the Orange, first they needed to take on the tower. As of late they’d found a way of manifesting on the planet, but not for long nor with any influence over their surroundings.
“Nothing concerning for now, but this is why we send someone each year to keep guard and watch over the tower. Some of you might find yourself doing this after your time here. As long as you actually pay attention in class.” The professor stared directly at Moggy with an intensity that unsettled him. “I am quite surprised they sent you” the rest of the class all turned, glaring at Moggy with the same intensity, burning into his retinas. “You’ve failed already. After all his hard work too, if only you tried harder. You were always easily distracted by the cute boys”. Moggy felt awful as the whole room erupted into spiteful laughter. There was one student who was not laughing, he gave Moggy a watery smile before looking back down at his notes. Moggy could feel tears well in his eyes as old wounds resurfaced. He put his head down on the desk and wished he wasn’t there. The laughter and mockery grew in pitch until the lecture theatre suddenly dropped silent. Moggy slowly lifted his head to see the room empty all but a figure a few chairs away from him. A big bellied ginger cat with black stripes, a black tip on his tail and yellow muzzle sat there grinning at Moggy. It was Wakefield The Orange.
“See, it's the one thing I could never crack. DREAMS! The demon's ability to dreamwalk is like no other. I might have stunted their plans in the waking realm, but they’ve plagued people's sleep to no end. So I guess we’re both failures! Ha!” He stood up and placed a paw on Moggy’s shoulder. “You’ve got plenty of time to prove yourself though”. He walked away and vanished before Moggy woke up abruptly to see the demon sitting on his chest, his face inches from Moggy’s own.