Chapter 1
Yen Sid's Departure
Silence has broken out over the Magic Kingdom. Which was unusual as the Kingdom itself was usually full of guests and was frequently busy. However, a silence has been breaking over the Kingdom for many years, for the growing knowledge of something sinister going on within the world has become the hot topic of many Kingdom's around the world. The voices and knowledge of all these whispers wouldn't usually bother Master Yen Sid, the ruler of Magic Kingdom, but he himself knew that the whispers weren't entirely false, which worried him quite a bit.
Yen Sid was the leader of a large band of Magical Wand users; each member had a specific power to use to their advantage in given situations. Yen Sid however, was the most powerful out of all of these members. His power relied on his magical Sorcerer hat instead of a magical wand; with the hat he could conjure many things from mystical clouds and even had the ability to bring to life inanimate objects. Despite relying on the hat most of the time, Yen Sid did have powers without it. You see he spent many years practising his magical abilities and had learned to use his magic without the hat. Yen Sid was a stern-looking elderly gentleman, who was always dressed in long, blue, flowing robes and sported a large, magical, blue pointed hat on top of his head. He has a long grey beard which reached down underneath his chest. His eyes are small and his pupils were incredibly noticeable due to them being extremely tiny.
Yen Sid resided inside the large, towering castle located in the centre of the Magic Kingdom. You see, being the leader of the Magical band meant that Yen Sid was in charge of making sure that all magic was controlled and that the people of the world benefited properly from its uses. There hadn't been many incidents on anyone trying to abuse the power of the magic within the Magic Kingdom Castle for many, many years. Yen Sid was rarely seen by the visitors of the Kingdom, he mainly kept himself to himself so that curiosity wouldn't get the better of people who came looking to see the "Wizard in the Magic Kingdom Caste". Due to this stand-offish approach, many people who encounter Yen Sid have complained about his intimidating appearance. However, underneath the fierce look of this magical Wizard lies a heart of gold. He has always been respected by most of the other magical wielders and has been found to be very forgiving of many mistakes made by members of the magical band.
The Castle itself was quite large; it was made of white and grey stone with royal blue roofs on their turrets; the tops of several towers and two of the tallest spires are made with real gold and gold leaf. It is so tall that it can be seen from miles away, the inner structure is constructed of six-hundred tons of steel braced frame construction, and a ten-inch-thick reinforced concrete wall encircles the structure to the full height of the outermost stone walls. The Castle is also surrounded by a moat, which contains running water around it, which allows people's access by use of a drawbridge. The majestic view of the castle usually shone bright next to the night sky, however, there was a silence within the castle and the Magic Kingdom on this evening which gave off an eerie "lost" feeling instead.
Within the Castle, on the tallest tier, a small light was flickering. It was the only room that appeared to be light up in the castle. Inside that room was Yen Sid, who was sat at his desk inside his office. The office itself was royally decorated, with the one stained glass window, which had pictures of roses on it, opened slightly to let in a slight breeze. The room itself was decorated with gold trimmings and gold wallpaper; the carpet in the centre of the room was a royal blue colour with kingly patterns on it. There were many shelves and tables around the office which all seemed to be messy and unorganised for a man of Yen Sid's power. The desk where Yen Sid sat was coated with papers and the old magician was sat down, peacefully examining his desk. He had a worried expression painted across his face, as though he were in a deep thought regarding the state of the world. Around the room were all kinds of pictures; pictures of different bearded wizard's from around the world as well as elderly women holding wands too. One of the pictures sat on Yen Sid's desk was that of himself and a small mouse-like creature. The creature had large ears and a pointed nose; it was draped in red robes and was sat perfectly in Yen Sid's arms. The picture of Yen Sid was a rare one, as it was the only picture of him that made him look truly happy.
Yen Sid broke from his silent thoughts and began searching for his desk; he grabbed a piece of parchment and reached for the quill located on his desk. Yen Sid dabbed the ink gently and began writing on the piece of parchment.
"Dear Merlin,
It's my deepest regret to inform you that what we have grown to suspect over the past several months is about to come true. The forces of evil continue to try and penetrate the Magic Kingdom Castle with the intention of taking over it and using it's magic for darkness. This growing concern has lead me to seek the highest help I could possibly ask for. With this in mind, I will be leaving the Magic Kingdom for a while and this castle will go unprotected. I request that yourself and the other magic wand users come to the castle to protect it yourselves in my absence. The power that the forces of evil seek has been stored safely inside my magical hat. I shall leave it in the dungeon of the castle and hopefully you'll find it and protect it to the best of your abilities.
Should that threat of evil become too great, I request kindly that you save the hat and take it to one person that will be able to handle it's power. It's been years since he left, but not a day goes by that I don't miss Mickey.
Farewell my friend,
I'm confident we shall meet again.
Yen Sid"
After completing the letter, Yen Sid rose to his feet and folded the parchment in half. He reached to one of his shelves and pulled out an old envelop and placed the parchment inside, before sealing it shut and leaving it on his desk. Yen Sid turned and left the room; walking down the long, golden light, stone corridors in the night light gave Yen Sid time to think. He began thinking about the possibility of anything bad happening to the Magic Kingdom and all of its guests. He had worked hard to ensure their safety, but they would have to understand that his absence wasn't his neglect, it was because he believed he had an idea which would keep out the forces of evil forever. He felt great sorrow at the thought of his old apprentice; Yen Sid had taught several the ways and means of magic, but none had actually managed to touch him like Mickey did. Yen Sid respected his decision to leave and wished him the best; although he still stated in his own mind that Mickey had the potential to be one of the greatest Sorcerer's of all time. Yen Sid opened a wooden door at the end of a corridor and began walking down a set of stone stairs. The stairs were circled as though wrapped around the wall of the very large tiers from the outside. Once Yen Sid approached the bottom, the stone floor seemed wet, as though a heavy downpour of rain had taken place just before. In the middle of the large basement-like room was a fireplace and a wooden table. Yen Sid raised his hand and pointed his finger at the fireplace, a large flash of blue light formed and began bulging from the fireplace like it was trying to escape. Yen Sid faced the table in front of the fire place and took his hat off his head to reveal his balding scalp. He placed the hat gently on the table and took one last look around the room; he then proceeded to walk through the blue flashing light in the fireplace and disappeared from the room entirely. The Castle was deadly silent now, there were no signs of life as though the final bit of energy has been sucked from it. It also seemed very unprotected too, which was something Yen Sid would definitely have wanted to avoid.
The next day arrived and it was early morning; the sun had begun to peak out over the large Castle. In the small street in front of the Castle was a street, the street, famously named "Main Street". There are many buildings which are occupied by shops of all different kinds. Though only 189 feet tall, the village benefits from a technique known as forced perspective. The second stories of all the buildings along main street are shorter than the first stories and the third stories are even shorter than the second. The resulting visual effect is that the buildings appear to be larger and taller than they really are. Main Street itself was also silent as the guests hadn't arrived and the shop-owners hadn't opened up yet. However, the sound of a horse's feet could be heard faintly under the morning sky in the middle of Main Street. Riding the horse was Merlin, a Wizard, similar to Yen Sid, who frequently visited the Magic Kingdom Castle and was a good friend of Yen Sid's. Merlin was also one of Yen Sid's followers in the band of Magic Wand owners. Similar in appearance to Yen Sid, Merlin sported blue flowing robes and sported a large blue hat. His beard was twice the size of Yen Sid's, however and flowed all the way down to below his waist. Merlin also wore rounded glasses and sported softer facial expression than Yen Sid. Merlin believed in the philosophy of "Brain over Brawn". To this end, Merlin values education as opposed to the war-training philosophies shared by much of the rest of society. Merlin, like Yen Sid, possessed a variety of powers, however they weren't reliant on a magical hat. Merlin is often hailed by villagers as being the most powerful Wizard in the world, however, he has always been quite happy being under Yen Sid's command and both respect each other greatly.
Merlin's horse arrived at the drawbridge of the Castle, which lowered to greet Merlin and made way for his entrance. Once inside, Merlin dismounted his horse, although rather clumsily and began searching round the large hall in search of his old friend. Taking a large cough to clear his throat "Yen Sid?" bellowed Merlin. When there was no response heard, Merlin took off to investigate. Following Merlin through the door was a brown, scruffy-looking owl, which sported yellow eyes and an orange beak. The owl perched itself on the head of Merlin's horse before it spoke – "Why is it so quiet?". Merlin stopped in his tracks and spun round towards the owl. "I suspect he's probably sleeping Archimedes…" responded Merlin. "No matter, I shall proceed to his office, that's where he usually is" finished Merlin. He took off again and despite contemplation, Archimedes decided to join Merlin in his search of Yen Sid. Walking through the long, golden corridors of the Castle gave Archimedes an observation – "This is much better than that old cottage you have us living us!" Merlin cleared his throat once again; "Ahem…well…it's best not to value material things!". Archimedes became interested in the furniture and the painted portraits on the wall. Merlin continued to climb stairs and walk numerous corridors before he arrived at Yen Sid's office. He proceeded to knock on the office door and shortly shouted "Yen Sid!". When there was no answer, Merlin opened the office door and entered the room. It was the same as it was after Yen Sid left, the candle light was very faint now, however. Merlin searched around before coming across the envelop, which had been placed on the desk. Merlin grabbed the note and opened it; as he read the parchment, Merlin sat down and concentrated heavily on the words that Yen Sid had written. A worried expression was written across Merlin's face and as he finished reading the parchment, he looked around the room and thought deeply about the situation at hand. Yen Sid never ran away from anything; he must have been incredibly scared to have retreated this way. Archimedes followed Merlin through the door shortly afterwards; "There are some curious ornaments in this castle…" said Archimedes before resting himself on Yen Sid's desk. "So where is he?" Asked Archimedes. "Gone!" stated Merlin; he rested the note in front of Archimedes, who began studying the letter himself. "He appears to be searching for something then, doesn't he?" observed Archimedes. Merlin nodded quietly, before getting to his feet and walking towards the door. "What does this mean then, Merlin?" asked Archimedes. "It means your wish to live here has come true; I will be right back" said Merlin before disappearing behind the door. Archimedes continued observing Yen Sid's letter. It was odd to Archimedes to see Yen Sid writing something like this to Merlin as he always believed that Yen Sid was the wisest of all the wizards around. Something must have spooked him for sure, especially to leave the Magic Kingdom castle. Merlin reappeared, in his hand was the magical hat that Yen Sid had left for him. Merlin sat in Yen Sid's seat and spoke – "It seems to me that the Kingdom is now in more danger than ever…I believe we should make contact with all of the other magic wand wielders as soon as we can". Archimedes stepped forward towards Merlin, eagerness for more information began showing through his eyes. "Archimedes, could you head to the others and tell them to come here immediately?" requested Merlin. Archimedes nodded slightly, although reluctantly. Merlin got to his feet and walked towards the stained-glass window and looked out around the Kingdom and down Main Street, which was now getting ready to open for business. "The people are depending on us, we must do our best to protect this Castle" said Merlin, the sound of sorrow in his voice. Archimedes hopped over to the window confidently – "I shall bring them here, Merlin" he said, before tapping his beak on the window; signalling for Merlin to open the window so her could fly. "Be careful my friend, the enemy's spies are everywhere" warned Merlin. Archimedes gave a reassuring nod; Merlin opened the window and he flew out and down main street.
Merlin sat himself back down again. He picked up the blue, Sorcerer's hat and began inspecting it. The power coming from the hand was incredibly strong, Merlin himself could feel the strength of the magic Yen Sid had channelled inside the hat – the magic wasn't just power, it was life and fuelled the Kingdom's happiness. Each time guests arrived to visit the shops and meet the people of the Magic Kingdom, the magic inside the hat began adding and it got more powerful as the days went by. What Merlin was sure of was that the darkness of the world would try and take this magic and turn it evil; after all, this had all happened before. Every day the Magic Wielders had been worried that evil would attempt to take over the Castle and steal the magic away; Yen Sid was always someone the evil people of the world would stay clear of, so now that he was gone, if word got out about his departure then the darkness would definitely strike. Then there was Mickey…someone that Yen Sid believed would have been able to channel all his power into; after all, two people with that amount of strength are surely better than just one. It wasn't just the power Mickey would possess, Yen Sid was always very impressed with Mickey's strength in other areas – his kindness and his love for animals and people were something that would appeal to the people who visited the Magic Kingdom, but also the people from all the other Kingdom's too. Mickey's decision to quit Yen Sid's teaching left him distraught, however and now that he had settled down in Toontown, all hope of him returning to Yen Sid's teachings and taking his rightful place as the Sorcerer's Apprentice have been lost.
As Merlin contemplated his thoughts, above the stained glass window and sat perfectly on the tier above Yen Sid's office was a black raven. The Raven featured large pink bags under its eyes. The Raven had a mischievous look about it; presented at the front of its face was a large yellow beak and propping its body up was yellow claws. The Raven seemed to be rested on the tier, as though it had been here for some time. As Merlin had fallen silent, it eventually rose its body and moved slowly and sneakily towards the edge of the tier and looked down at the stained glass window. The Raven smiled sadistically and eventually took off, flapping it's wings and heading off into the sky as though it had some important information to give to someone.