In a week that had just barely started, yet had been filled with one shock after another, the story Merlin

told had been the greatest shock of all. Paul had always believed that magic was merely a discipline and

nothing more, in principle not unlike martial arts or yoga, a branch of metaphysical study that took years

to perfect, and one that not everyone was capable of learning, an exacting art that required a great deal

of devotion and involved a mastery of one's inner potential and an ability to tap the natural forces of the

world. However, to learn that thaumaturgy was the genetic legacy of another race, a species similar in

appearance to mankind, yet totally different, meant that he would have to rearrange his entire worldview.

In a week that had just barely started, yet had been filled with one shock after another, the story Merlin

told had been the greatest shock of all. Paul had always believed that magic was merely a discipline and

nothing more, in principle not unlike martial arts or yoga, a branch of metaphysical study that took years

to perfect, and one that not everyone was capable of learning, an exacting art that required a great deal

of devotion and involved a mastery of one's inner potential and an ability to tap the natural forces of the

world. However, to learn that thaumaturgy was the genetic legacy of another race, a species similar in

appearance to mankind, yet totally different, meant that he would have to rearrange his entire worldview.

"So then, the reason that I was able to become an adept is because one of my ancestors must have been

an Old One?" Paul asked.

"Perhaps more than one," Merlin replied. "Individuals such as yourself, possessed of paranormal abilities,

have always displayed a very high natural potential for thaumaturgy."

"But you yourself have no paranormal abilities," said Paul. "You're not a sensitive. And yet, your descent

from an Old One is the most direct. You are the son of Gorlois."

"But my mother was a human," Merlin replied. "And from what we've been able to discover, even the

Old Ones did not possess such abilities in equal share."

"Then that means . . . that I am not completely human?" Paul asked.

"Strictly speaking, no," said Merlin. "None of us are. It's impossible to say how many of the Old Ones

survived the war they waged against the Dark Ones. Unquestionably, they blended in with human society

in order to escape detection. It would have been a simple matter for them to disguise their appearance."

"They look different, then?" asked Paul. "I thought you said they looked the same as we do?"

"Essentially, they do," said Merlin, "only their skin color is markedly different. It's a coppery-gold hue,

quite unique and beautiful. And their hair is often red, a bright, burnished sort of red that is sometimes

seen in humans, but not often. Perhaps their appearance was the reason why so many primitive societies

carved their idols out of gold. But the skin tone, at least, appears to be a recessive trait. I did not inherit

my father's coloring. And I do not remember him as looking that way, so obviously he used magic to alter

his appearance. However, the thaumaturgic gene is obviously not recessive, but dominant. What else can

account for the latent ability being passed on to so many humans through so many generations?"

"It's incredible," said Paul. "You knew all this, and yet you've kept the knowledge hidden all these years.

Why ?"

"For a number of reasons," Merlin said. "For one thing, I did not believe that any of the Old Ones still

remained alive. Occasionally, throughout history, stories would arise of some extraordinary individual

possessed of gifts or abilities that others didn't seem to have, people such as Nostradamus, Cagliostro,

St. Germain, and a few others. Immortal Old Ones? Perhaps. Or perhaps they were merely half-breeds,

such as myself, who may not even have been aware of their true origins. But for centuries, there had been

no real wizards, sorcerers, or mages. It seemed that I had been the last. Perhaps, over the years,

especially in the early centuries of the persecution, all of the remaining Old Ones had been found and put