Three Wishes: Cairo by Jeff Klinedinst Read Free Book Online Page A

respect that the very young Alam showed him. His decision was final. Caidon also foresaw a long history for the small kingdom where great things would happen for the good of mankind. It also pleased the old wizard to no end that when he made the announcement, he disappointed so many of the much larger, more entitled windbags, who ruled on powerful thrones. Alam was level-headed and serious. His concern for his people came first. That was certainly a rare and desired quality and Caidon felt a need to reward it.
    In his teenage years prior to his Awakening, Alchemy’s father met and fell deeply in love with Kinika, the daughter of a local craftsman and furniture maker. He agreed to help her father in his business and the two were exquisitely happy. Soon after a secret wedding, Kinika became pregnant with their first child. This was joyous news to the young couple, as both were eager to become parents. In need of nothing more than love and family, Andreus was surprised when he started noticing his newfound powers. His preoccupation with his young wife and his father’s busy schedule had delayed the normal cycle of transformation. Finally on his eighteenth birthday, the young man asked his own father about the strange changes that were beginning to blossom within him.
    When his father proudly revealed his wizard heritage and all that would now be expected of him, Andreus shocked the great wizard by announcing his new family. He poured even more fuel on the fire by choosing not to practice magic. He instead chose to be a husband and a father. It was a disheartening embarrassment to Caidon and an obvious disappointment to King Alam. The young king handled the unexpected news with great understanding and empathy. The embarrassment to Caidon, however, caused a rift with Andreus that was never repaired. Caidon’s anger was so strong that he removed the protection spell he had placed on Andreus and the guidance spell that had helped him achieve some measured success with his father in-law’s business.
    The impudent wizard had never even considered that his son would refuse him. He simply could not accept that his only son had chosen to be normal rather than exceptional. “You want to turn your back on me and make me a fool, then so be it. You will see how you succeed when you ignore your family and your heritage!”
    His power was so great and his arrogance so grandiose, that he was happy to see his own son suffer because he wasn’t willing to complete a destiny that he had never even had a chance to choose for himself.
    Andreus settled into his life as a normal man; a life replete with the struggles that any mortal would experience. But he never felt even a modicum of remorse for living the exact life that he himself had chosen. He viewed his life as a husband and father-to-be as more worthwhile than a hundred kings or a thousand kingdoms. Never once did he look back with regret. “When I look into my child's eyes, I will have all of the magic that I will ever need,” he said with complete certainty.
    There was no fanfare when Alchemy (a name designed in some small measure to tweak his father) was born. It was assumed that he would follow his father into a now struggling furniture business. No kingdoms were falling over themselves this time. Who would bother to offer apprenticeship for the heir of a wizard who had never even practiced magic?
    But not everyone dismissed the idea of a young wizard being born. Caidon secretly watched the young boy from afar as he stewed in his private shame. He vowed that he would not make the mistake of exposing his grandson to the world of magic too late, as he had with Andreus. Young men reach a certain point where they begin to think themselves wise; long before they really are. Even as his estranged son watched the toddler take his first steps, Caidon had begun yet again, to plot a future that should not have been his concern.
    The old wizard was bound and determined to honor his agreement