Chapter 1: The Magician
Prologue
The Mage walked down the dark alley. It was pitch black except for the neon glow of a building far in the distance. He was confused.
'Why am I here' he thought.
He asked himself this question even though he knew the answer. Even if his mind was unaware, his heart knew why he was at this wretched place. It was to prove that he was right.
There had always been stories. Never was there any proof. Long ago there was a struggle between light and darkness. Light had won in the end, but the bulk of the dark army, his theory stated, had consisted of beings born from hearts turned to the darkness. He believed that when someone's heart turned to the dark then it would separate from their body and soul to become a creature of it's own….a creature of the dark. These days, everyone's heart was filled with light, making it impossible to prove this theory. Nevertheless, he believed in his hypothesis. Now, with the discovery of this new world, he hoped to prove all of those against his theory wrong.
My liege?, he heard a voice in his head whisper.
"Who's there?!" he said loudly, conjuring a fireball in his hand.
Then, a creature (humanoid in shape, but not in form) half-walked, half-danced up to him. It was silver, with a black insignia on its chest. It had a zipper where its mouth would be. It slinked toward him slowly.
"Stop!" he yelled as fear made him release the fireball to send it hurtling toward the creature.
The creature raised its legs up and wriggled through the air like a snake, easily avoiding the fireball. Upon landing it's mouth slowly unzipped to show black fangs underneath.
You are not my liege, it did not open its mouth, but the Mage heard the voice inside his head. What is your business in this place?
He hastily backed away from the creature before turning and sprinting in the other direction. Only when he met the neon glow of the building he had seen overhead did he slow down. He looked up at the building. The skyscraper was black and rose high into the air. It had neon green, purple, and yellow billboards on it (though he couldn't see the point of them, since they were blank). He moved closer, mesmerized by the building, when he stumbled on a small, rusted plaque. He leaned down to inspect it. He carefully examined the rusted plaque until he made out the words:
Memory's Skyscraper
"Memory's Skyscraper" he said quietly to himself. That was the name of the building, but what meaning could the name hold. What had made this skyscraper so important that they'd give it a plaque?
His thoughts were interrupted when the slim figure came wriggling through the air at him. He froze for a second then jumped to the side. The silver creature from before landed where the magician had been standing. The mage created another fireball in his hand.
"Be gone!" he screamed as he thrust his arm out, shooting the fireball in the creature's direction. Again, the creature easily wriggled its way through the air around the fireball and landed directly in front of the magician.
You, the voice in his head said threateningly, if you have no business here, then leave immediately.
The mage, seeing another road beyond the skyscraper, ran past the building and onto the road. He kept running until he saw the edge of a cliff in front of him. He stopped quickly. He was on the edge of a cliff, but it wasn't the great chasm that he was awed by. It was the building beyond the chasm. Levitating above the crater was a castle. A castle of unbelievable size. Then, he noticed a blue glow. He looked to his right and saw a blue keyhole-shaped portal on the edge of the crater. Not wanting to meet the creature behind him again he stepped into the portal.