Nexon was the most powerful wizard of his age and he was in love. Nexon lived in a tower of crystal and rainbow-hued stone perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. He had created the tower with powerful magic and it was both his home and an amplifier of his prodigious power. People from across the land were drawn to the lure of the great wizard. Proximity to such a powerful man guaranteed safety and prosperity. Over the years a small town had grown up near the tower. Nexon tolerated the mere mortals who clustered in the shadow of his greatness but had no desire to interact with them; until he saw Lisette.
Lisette was the daughter of the innkeeper. She was the most beautiful woman Nexon had ever seen. Her hair was the color of the night sky and her eyes were like the rarest jade. Her skin was smooth and he longed to touch it to learn if its texture was as soft as he imagined. Lisette was the focus of every male in the small town. Suitors flocked to the inn to court her but she turned away each and every one with a polite smile.
One day Nexon descended from his tower on a shimmering cloud. He floated into the town causing a great commotion as he drifted through the streets. The townspeople had never seen the wizard up close and citizens dropped whatever they were doing to stare at this rare and wonderful sight. Nexon’s cloud dissipated upon reaching the inn and the wizard crossed the threshold as a mortal man would. Silence fell upon the boisterous crowd as Nexon entered the room. Mouths gaped and eyes bulged at the sight of the most powerful man in the world entering their small inn.
“I would speak with the maiden, Lisette,” Nexon said in a soft voice.
The innkeeper fled through a door and soon returned herding his daughter ahead of him. Lisette’s hair was disheveled but still seemed as beautiful as the careful coiffure of a princess. Her cheeks were smudged with dirt from her chores but even the dirt seemed to enhance her beauty. Nexon approached the girl and extended his hand.
“Fair Lisette, I wish to court you. Surely you are the most beautiful woman in the world and if you would accept me I would give you anything you desired.
Lisette looked to her father and the patrons, flustered.
“Great wizard,” she said with a voice as melodious as a songbird. “I am truly honored but I have sworn to be courted by none except he whom I recognize as my soul mate.”
Nexon was taken aback; no mortal had ever refused him before. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Nexon and Lisette disappeared from the inn and reappeared on a black sand beach.
“I can give you such wonders,” he said. “I shall take you to places such as you have never seen.”
Another snap of his fingers and they stood in a lush rain forest. Animals hooted and birds sang all around them. Another snap and the couple stood before a sleeping dragon whose golden scales shimmered with each breath. Yet another snap and they stood atop a mountain from which it seemed Lisette could see the whole world. A final snap of his fingers brought them to the top of Nexon’s shimmering tower.
“I offer you the world and more,” he said. “Name your heart’s desire and I shall grant it. None could love you more than I. Name your deepest desire that I may give it to you and make you mine.”
Lisette looked around her in wonder. Such power and beauty had been shown to her that she knew she must consider the wizard’s proposal.
“Give me the moon,” she said, not knowing why she said it.
Nexon’s eyes glowed and he began to mutter strange words which Lisette could not recall even as he said them. The world grew dark as Nexon shouted a final syllable.
“Behold,” he said and gestured toward the sky.
Lisette looked up and the moon sat in the sky above them. As she gaped, it seemed to draw closer. She could see craters and mountains more clearly by the second. The light of the moon shined down upon the couple illuminating subtle highlights in Lisette’s hair like stars in the dark night sky. As the moon drew close to the tower, Lisette felt a strange lightness. A faint rumble reached her through her feet, the moon seemed mere yards away. She stretched her arms up to embrace the moon and felt her fingers touch the rocky surface.
“Yes,” she whispered.
The tremors beneath her feet exploded into a full earthquake. A roar drew her eyes to the ocean beyond the cliff. Lisette saw the water draw back from the land and espied a massive wave, taller than the cliffs rushing toward them.
“It cost me the world but I have your love,” Nexon said and wrapped his arms around Lisette.
The land around them shuddered and cracked as the moon’s gravity warped the very fabric of the world. The enormous tsunami wiped the tower and town from the crumbling cliffs as if they never existed. Moon and Earth were married in a collision which destroyed all; a perfect symbol for the unimaginable power of a wizard’s love.
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