A/N Hi there! So, I recently found this in my old documents and decided to rewrite what I have and continue it. Here's the Prologue and then Chapter One. Note that weird things really won't start happening until Chapter Four-ish, up until then it's all just the normal new player stuff.
Wizard101 is not mine!
Prologue
"She will soon be here." The spirit spoke from a bowed down position, its haunting voice somewhat muffled by the fact that it was facing the thick carpet.
"Good…" This was a man, short and hunched over. His long grey beard trailed to the ground, and he held up a lantern in one wizened hand. His face was rather grotesque, one eye bulging and the other small, enough deep wrinkles that as he smiled, it was more creepy than happy.
"You are dismissed," he said. The spirit flew up and through the roof of the room. Now alone in the Death School, the man closed his eyes and teleported, surrounded by skulls.
He appeared in a room quite unlike the one he was in before. Everything was still black, but it shone with a kind of dark light. In the middle of the room sat a woman, pale-skinned and black-haired, obviously evil, but beautiful.
"She will soon be here," the old man croaked, echoing the words of the spirit before him. The beautiful woman smiled a smile that made her more beautiful, yet even more evil.
"I cannot wait to see her… my daughter… and I cannot wait to be free." Her voice was soft and accented, though from where it was not possible to tell, it seemed a bit of everything. As she shifted her weight, a thin chain wrapped around her ankle came into view. It was connected to the wall behind her, and as she tugged on it, sparks of magic flew everywhere.
"Carry on as normal, and do not let her know about me." Her voice became sharp and commanding when she gave orders. "Oh, and make sure Malistaire does not cause too much trouble- we would not want him interfering with our plans, would we, my dear?" Her voice softened with affection, or so it appeared.
"No… no, I'll go do that…" Staring, the old man teleported away again.
As soon as he was gone, the woman's face twisted in disgust. "Filthy creature," she spat. "I cannot believe he takes the lies I feed him. But soon, soon, I shall have my revenge…" She laughed evilly.
"Come, daughter, come…" she crooned. "Come, my daughter… come, Sarai Deathtamer."
Chapter One
An old man and an owl stood in a room. The walls were made of stone, and were lined with bookshelves filled with books of various sizes and colors. The old man's beard was white, and big enough that you couldn't see his mouth. He wore a monocle in his right eye, and his other bright blue eye stared intently. He was dressed in an odd way, wearing a long purple robe with red trimming and gold moons and stars all over it. He carried a staff made of wood, with gold on top.
The owl had glasses, placed on its beak in a very humanlike way. It wore a purple hat and sash, and its yellow eyes' piercing gaze rested on a crystal ball, placed between the two. Mist swirled inside, right underneath its glassy surface. After staring for several minutes, the old man spoke up.
"A-ha! The spell is working! Look, Gamma! Finally we have found one!"
"Whoooo?" The owl, Gamma, could talk! Its voice was soft and hooting, but the sound was obviously a question and not just a call.
"A young wizard! A student with amazing potential… enough, perhaps, to save Wizard City!"
"Oh really? Where?"
"A very, very distant realm… my goodness!" The old man peered more carefully into the ball, leaning in slightly. "On a world that does not even believe in magic! I wonder what manner of wizard they might become. Perhaps we should consult the Book of Secrets…"
At this, he turned around. Behind him was an old book on a pedestal, with a candle on either side. The writing on the book was unintelligible, lit with a soft golden glow. The old man went to turn a page, and on it, instead of words, was a picture. The girl in it was fast asleep on a bed, her long black hair splayed on the pillow and the blankets tangled around her body. The picture moved as she slowly rolled over, and a white skull appeared…
Sarai sat bolt upright in her bed, her eyes flying open. Her heart was racing from her dream. As she realized where she was, she took several deep breaths and her heart rate slowed. 'Just a dream, just a dream,' she told herself. They were getting clearer. Every time, they were more realistic. And this one was creepy, too, the whole part about her seeing herself in that book. "Overactive imagination" was all that the therapists could diagnose when her aunt took her in, after they'd begun to get really bad. This one wasn't nearly as scary as the ones with the weirdo trying to take over the world… the imaginary world, she reminded herself.
A glance at the digital clock next to her bed told her that it was 7:15, time to get ready for school. As she pulled on a simple shirt and jeans, she couldn't help thinking about her dream again.
Sarai was bored, as usual. Science has been boring. English had been boring. History had been boring. Now, math was boring. Why couldn't they teach something interesting at school for once? She zoned out on the lecture about exponents and the Pythagorean Theorem, and stared at the clock. Nine minutes until the end of the day… Nine torturous minutes…
"And so, class, you see that a2 plus b2 must equal c2, and that is why the Pythagorean Theorem shows us how to calculate the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle." Just as the teacher was about to say the homework, the bell rang, and he was drowned out by the chatter of students talking about what they were going to do that weekend. Sarai picked up her heavy math book and walked, not slowly or quickly, to her locker. She had nobody to talk to, nothing that she was going to do this weekend.
So she opened her locker, collected everything she would need for homework, and began the short walk home. When she got to the fairly small house, she pulled a key from under the doormat, unlocked the door, and dumped her backpack down onto the kitchen table, relieved to get its weight off of her shoulders.
"Aunt Emma, I'm going for a walk!" Sarai called up the staircase.
"Okay, just be back before dinner please!"
As soon as she stepped out of the door, Sarai headed straight for her favorite relaxing place- the graveyard. She knew this was weird, but when she was there, she felt like she was the most… in her element. And the spirits talked to her sometimes there. She didn't know whose voices they were, but they spoke to her softly, told her stories of the past. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that this wasn't a normal thing to happen, and she had stopped talking about them for fear of her aunt bringing her to a psychiatrist the next time she mentioned hearing voices in her head.
But that day, when she got to the graveyard, something was different. She didn't feel the peace she usually did, instead tension hung in the air. As she took her first step onto the soil of the paths between the graves, she was assaulted by whispers in her mind. 'Watch out…' 'They're coming to get you…' 'Run…' 'You can't escape…' 'The wizards…' 'They're coming…'
"What? What's going on?" Sarai felt like she should whisper. Her hesitant voice cut through the silence of the graveyard.
"Who's coming to get me? What do I need to run from?"
'The wizards…' 'They want to take you…'
Sarai was getting a little panicky now. Wizards? They were acting as if her dreams were real! But they weren't, of course, they were just dreams.
She took another step into the graveyard. Nothing happened, except the whispers got louder and more insistent. Another step… and another… still nothing. And then, she took a fifth step.
As soon as her foot touched the ground in front of her, white, semi-transparent skulls began to float around her. They looked like they were two-dimensional drawings. As they appeared and disappeared, the familiar graveyard scene around her began to fade. Replacing it, and getting stronger and stronger, was a tower in front of her. The old man and owl from her dream were there, and she stood on a stone sidewalk with strange circular designs on it. Even her clothes were changing- instead of a black t-shirt and dark jeans, she was wearing a dress-like black thing, a robe, and a hat, which was threatening to fall off her head, perched at an awkward angle as it was. As the graveyard faded to nothing, so did the floating skulls, and the old man spoke.
"Well, hello! If it isn't our newest student!" He tossed his staff in the air and caught it again. Magic sparked between his hands.
"My name is Merle Ambrose. I am the headmaster of the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts." At this, Sarai decided she was dreaming. She must have fallen asleep at some point, and she was dreaming that all of this was happening. So she decided to just go with the flow, and wait until she woke up. There was always the pinch method if things got too creepy.
"We're expecting great things from you. But first things first-" The owl cut in. Since this was a dream, Sarai decided that it was probably the same one from her other dream, so it was called Gamma.
"Hellooo, my name is Gamma the Owl, and I am pleased to meet youuu." Sarai was right; this was the same owl as the one in her dream!
"I'm Sarai, uh, Mason." She had never felt right using her aunt's last name, but she didn't know her real one, since her parents died when she was just a baby.
"Just Sarai is fine," said Merle Ambrose. Gamma then continued with his introductory speech.
"Wizards test their skills by summoning fantastic creatures and dueling! To become a Master Wizard, you must learn every spell in your class. Wizards love to duel! The more spells you learn, the better a duelist you will become." As Sarai tried to absorb all of this information, suddenly, the ground started shaking. She felt like she was moving up and down for a moment, and stumbled slightly- and then it stopped. 'Strange dream,' she thought. Not that they weren't all strange.
Without any sign, grey clouds flew in to cover the sky and rain started pouring down on Sarai, Gamma, and Merle Ambrose. A shattering sound came from above, and Sarai looked up only to see the glass in the window at the top of the tower come falling down on them, and a tall shadow passed by it.
"Whoooo?" asked Gamma. Sarai wanted to ask the same question. There was something strangely familiar about the shape of that shadow…
"How odd! Come along, young wizard. Let's investigate the matter! Meet me in the tower!" Headmaster Ambrose turned away from her and walked toward the tall tower. Sarai was a little bit upset. How could he just leave her here, soaking wet in the rain?
"Youuu'd best follow the headmaster. Youuu're safe with him!" said Gamma. That was all that it took. Sarai's black robes had begun to sag and stick to her body, and they were made of a heavy cloth, unlike her usual clothes. As much as she didn't want to go in, she ran toward the tower to, hopefully, dry off.
Inside, the first thing that caught her attention was a tall man. He wore a black, bejeweled robe, and his black hair was long and braided. He held a staff topped with a small dragon statue. Sarai gasped. This was the man from her dreams, the one who was trying to take over. She was now firmly decided that she was dreaming. The odd thing was, normally, when she dreamed, she was just looking at whatever it was that was happening. Never had she actually existed.
"Who's there…? Malistaire!" called out Headmaster Ambrose. His voice turned menacing when he got to the 'Malistaire' part.
"Ambrose," Malistaire replied. His lip curled in a sneer. Obviously, he didn't think much of the headmaster.
"You are no longer welcome here. Why have you returned?" Headmaster Ambrose seemed somehow… calmly furious.
"I'm here to resolve our unfinished business! Is this your latest student? My henchmen will see to your little friend!" Little friend? Sarai was a little bit terrified…
"Hurry along, young wizard. Take this deck of spell cards and deal with those creatures, while I tend to Malistaire himself." Sarai's mind drew a blank. Deal with those creatures? What? Ambrose thrust a deck of cards into her hands. They were a bit larger than playing cards, and had an intricate golden design on the back. She turned the top one over, it had the words "Fire Cat" in gold over a picture of a flaming lion-ish creature.
"Uh… Headmaster… What… exactly… am I supposed to do with these?" she asked, softly and hesitantly, but still urgently. Before he could answer, Malistaire spoke.
"Don't be so sure of yourself, old man!"
"Run up and confront them! Be brave! I will guide you!" And he pushed Sarai slightly, out close to the 'henchmen'. She saw that they were reptilian, with red scales and forked toungues, and they had dragonlike heads and large wings. They stood on two feet, and each wore a green robe trimmed with gold. Sarai was nearly trembling with fear, and she glanced back at Ambrose, who merely gave her an encouraging nod. The ground beneath her glowed, and a circle appeared below her feet.
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