Small Beginnings

"Hey, want to help me clean out the attic?" asked an old man to his grandson.

"No, not really." stated the boy. He was easily 5'4 African-American boy. His black hair lank across his face. He held a book in his hands. Beside him were a pair of glasses. He looked about 12 years old.

"Well, too bad. You're gonnna help me." said the old man, reaching down and grabbing the young boys arm.

The boy sighed before walking along so he wasn't dragged by his grandfather. He grabbed his glasses and put them on. While he was walking he quickly bookmarked his page before setting it down on a small table in the hallway. His grandfather reached up and pulled on the rope that was hanging down at the end of the hallway. From it a ladder fell, and his grandfather pushed him up it, quickly following his grandson.

"So, what are we doing?"

"I said we're cleaning out the attic, Ernesto."

"Well I know that, but are we looking for anything specific?"

"No, not really, just need to get out some of the old things cluttering around and taking up space."

Ernesto frowned, before walking towards a box and looking through it. "So what are we going to do with all of it?"

"Oh, maybe a garage sale, might donate some of the clothes to Goodwill. You know, the usual stuff."

"Ah." was all Ernesto said.

They spent about an hour or so up there, before Ernesto found something. "Hey, what's this book?"

He lifted from the box he was looking in, a book, about as thick as a small, large paged novel. On it, written in english, was the words, "Big Book of Magicks."

His grandfather looked over at it. His eyes suddenly glazed over for a moment, before they returned to normal. "Aww, I don't know, but why don't you keep it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, think of it as an early birthday present."

"Thanks!"

They continued before finally they were finished. They dragged some boxes out to the garage, and placed some boxes in the back of a large old ford pickup.

Ernesto walked back to his room, book in hand. As he lay on the bed he opened the book and started to flip through it. He noticed something strange about the book. Only the first page had words on it. Frowning he turned back to the first page.

1. How would you use magical powers?

Below that had two check boxes

For myself

For others

Ernesto frowned again, tilting his head in puzzlement. "Is this like a choose your own adventure book?" He asked himself.

He grabbed a pencil, thought about it for a moment before checking the box in front of, For Others. The words disappeared and four words appeared.

Oh, is that so?

Ernesto frowned. "What kind of book is this?"

2. You face a problem that seems impossible to overcome, what do you do?

Try everything you can to get past it.

Admit defeat

Ignore it until it becomes important/unavoidable

The book continued like this for a while, each time Ernesto answered honestly. Finally, all the questions stopped. Ernesto stared at it for a moment, then words started to appear.

Noble aren't you? You answered every question honestly. Your probably always honest with people, even if it hurts them. Well, anyways, I have decided to accept you into the magical world. A place of danger and fantasy, with creatures that only creep at the edge of your nightmares. I hope you made the right decision. I am what is known as a catalyst, and you, my young child, have much to learn. Use the power that will be given to you wisely, now, this may hurt a bit.

Before Ernesto could say anything, a blinding pain shot through his skull, he collapsed into the bed, before passing out.

~Meanwhile~

"Ah, so I finally take it you passed on the book?" asked a flickering image.

"Yes, I have, to my grandson." he sounded hesitant about it.

"Ah, George, you know how many magic users are left in this world. Too many people involved in the Black Arts to be reliable. With you teaching him, I'm sure he will stay on the path to the Light."

"Or he will fall into the cracks of Grey." stated George, "He will become a force to be reckoned with, when he grows older, but for now, he is unconscious. Remember our first time awakening our magic?"

The figure in front grimaced, "I swear that was the worst hangover I ever had."

George chuckled slightly, "It was painful, but at least it went away fast. I better get going, the wife's going to have my ass soon."

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow."

"Shut it, Tucker."

Tucker smirked before the image faded.

Five Years Later

Ernesto sighed as he flipped through the book, waiting for his friends to arrive. He had something... special planned in the attic. He even had his younger brother on watch so his mom and dad wouldn't go up there. He heard a knock on the door and raced for it. He opened the door the see a petite Asian girl standing there, black hair curled like a crown across her head. She wore a bright red shirt with the words, "Mechanic's Daughter" printed across the chest. She wore a pair of jeans with it, which was stained in grime and oil.

"Hey Daisy, how's it going?"

"Good, and you?"

"Fine, fine. Come in."

Daisy smiled and she walked in, a travel bag in hand. Just a few seconds after Ernesto closed the door, another knock came. This time there were two people. A fiery haired boy, and a Hispanic girl.

The boy was white, with red hair and freckles, he wore a green camo shirt and pants, he was also carrying a travel bag. Beside him, the Hispanic girl wore a black pair of sweatpants, along with a white shirt, loose on her.

"Roman, Bianca. Nice to see you again."

"Yep, you too, Ernesto." said Roman, his tone deep and rumbling.

"Yep." Bianca said in a happy, chirpy voice. She carried her bag inside.

"Alright guys, now all we have to do is wait for the folks to leave, then we can get on with what I wanted to show you." He walked them to the living room where Daisy was already making herself comfortable. A few minutes later, his father and mother walked down the stairs. "Are you sure you're going to be alright without us here?" asked Ernesto's mom.

"Mom, I'll be fine, alright. You just go have fun on your business trip." stated Ernesto, a small smile on his face.

"Are you sure?" asked his father.

"Dad, I'm 17, I think I know how to take care of myself."

"Well, if you insist." They started towards the door, as they reached the door Ernesto's dad patted down his pockets, "Now where did I place my...?"

"Keys?" answered Ernesto, tossing them to his father.

His father chuckled before his mother spoke up again, "Are you sure you're going to be all right?"

"Yes mother, I think I'm going to be alright." His mother nodded, and walked out the door. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to forget how to use a microwave, oven, or stove now. I took all those cooking classes. I learned all those recipies and even written them down."

"Alright, alright. We'll we're going see you guys in a week or so." answered his father back, before going walking out the door, and closing it behind him.

A few seconds later, they heard the SUV start up, and pull out onto the street. There was the sound of feet running downstairs, before Ernesto's brother, Jacob, was in the living room. "Did they leave?"

Jacob was about 11, he was small, only about 4'8. His black hair long and hanging in his eyes. "Yep," Ernesto stated, before reaching into his pocket, pulled out a 50 dollar bill, and gave it to Jacob. "I heard that lie you told when mom and dad were wondering what you were doing. Good job. Now remember, if we aren't back in two days, call Grandpa. Tell him I botched up something spooky, he'll know what it means."

Jacob gave a very unmanly squeal as he raced out the door.

"Do you think he heard you?" asked Roman drily.

"I'm not sure, I'll put a sticky note on the attic door and on the phone along with Grandpa's number. Anyways Daisy, did you get the stuff I asked for?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure what you're going to do with a few dozen pounds of lead, even with your weird magic thing."

"Great, come on, to the attic!"

Ernesto raced up the stairs, stopping at his room to grab a few things, and stopped at the kitchen to grab a few more things. Then he went up to the attic to meet his friends.

The attic was a strange place, especially so after Ernesto moved in put a few things up there. A large area was cleared out and chalk lines were running across it, making a circle with strange symbols in them. His "Big Book of Magicks" on a small podium. Another circle, this one only two feet wide was carved onto a wooden table in the corner of the room. Candles were the one of the few source of lights, but it was the major one.

"Okay, even I think that this room is creepy." stated Roman, ignoring the chills that ran down his spine as he looked around the room.

"I do too. It's so, strange, unnatural." replied Daisy.

"Bah, only magic users can understand this, ain't that right Bianca." answered Ernesto.

"Eh, I don't really understand it," She started, "I only studied healing magics."

"Alright then, only magic users who know what their doing can understand this." amended Ernesto, "Now then, Daisy, if you would place the lead on the wooden table over there."

She placed the pounds of lead on the table, as Ernesto walked towards it he said, "Now a small crash course of transmutation. For humanity to gain something, something of equal value must be lost."

"You mean like Full Metal Alchemist, transmutation?" question Roman.

Ernesto turned to glare at him, "Sure, take the wind out of my sails. Fine then, watch as I turn this lead into gold."

Ernesto placed his hand above the circle as he moved the lead onto it. There was a long flash of blue light, and they covered their eyes to stop themselves from being blinded. After a few seconds, instead of lead on the table, there was a large amount of gold on the table.

"Tell me, why didn't you do that to get rich?" asked Roman, genuinely curious.

"Because for one, the price of gold would go down when I attempted to sell this, two, people would wonder where I found it, and three, for every pound of lead used, I only get half the amount back in gold. So, if use only a pound of lead, I only get half a pound of gold."

"Now that that's over, why do we need that much gold and what is this circle for?" asked Bianca.

"Ah, ah, ah. Not yet, first, I give you the gifts." stated Ernesto, already expecting the cries of outrage as they came. He held up a hand to silence them, "For you Roman, I know you enjoy boxing, so I made a kind of, magical streetwise, form of it." From a sack on the floor, Ernesto pulled out a pair of leather gloves with runes drawn on them. "These runes are small healing charms, they keep your fingers from breaking if you hit something too hard, and keeps your knuckles from bruising. I also placed this rune on the palm of it, so your punches use more force that you actually use. So be careful if you decide to punch someone with these, they could break bones." He handed the gloves to Roman, who placed them in his pocket. "For you Daisy, I have decided to give you this." From the sack he pulled out a small stack of paper. "This is for your machines you make, it's a spell that will allow you to animate machines without the aid of gears, as well as some other things you might find useful if you decide to build more things, along with some runes that stop the rusting of machines." She reached out tentatively, like that paper was going to slip away from her if she attempted to grab it to fast. "Finally, Bianca," He reached into the sack and pulled out another small stack of papers, "I believe your magical levels is high enough that you can use these spells easily. They are healing spells ranging to anything from poison to magical exhaustion, along with a few techniques to dull pain, also a few spells that can harm a person, though it is usually concentrated for healers to use because of the precision of their magical talent." He handed the stack of paper to Bianca.

"Alright, now for the grand finale, well, that is until after I put up the sticky notes."

He quickly raced downstairs wrote down what he told Jacob before, and stuck it copies of it to the phones, the doors, and the bathroom wall. He walked back upstairs. "Alright then, everybody got their traveling bags ready?"

They all nodded and lifted up the bags they brought. "Alright, so, everybody, place some of the gold I transmutated into your packs." As they did so, Ernesto started to explain what the grand finale is. "What I found is a spell that will rip a hole through time and space, sending us to another world, another universe. However, this is a prototype spell, so it might not work. Worst case scenario, we don't move to an alternate reality. Best case scenario, we make it to another universe and back." As all that sunk in, Ernesto took the time to check the circle, making sure that there was no flaw in it at all. If there was a single flaw in it, they could end up in a place not so nice as what he wanted, AKA, where everything within a few thousand miles wanted to eat their faces.

Nothing was wrong with the circle. "Okay, so, who's ready to go dimension hopping!" Ernesto asked in a cheerful voice. The three in front of him blinked at him, then at each other, before stepping into the circle. "Alright! Let's do this thing!" From the side he grabbed his staff, this was his focus, this was what stopped him from botching up most spells. He also grabbed the "Big Book of Magicks" from the podium, and held it in the crook of his arm. He stepped into the circle then planted the staff in the middle of it, before starting a chant. Each of his friends reached out to hang onto him.

As the chant reached it's climax, there was the opening and slamming of the door, loud enough to startle Ernesto off the chant. "NO!" It was too late, the spell was botched, the backlash went straight towards him... He finished the chant. The backlash struck out, smashing into his left hand, a burning fiery sensation assaulted him. He let out a large wail of pain, before the portal in front of them opened up, and was pushed through along with his friends.

Downstairs, Jacob stood at the front door, his eyes widened in fear and terror. He quickly raced towards the phone, and called the number that was on the sticky note. It was answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Grandpait'smeJacobErmestomessedupsomethingspookyandtoldmetotalkto-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, what happened?"

"Ernesto is in trouble, he said to call you if something happened. He said it was something spooky."

Jacob's grandfather went quiet, before his voice came back, strained, "Are you sure that's what he said?"

"Yes."

There was a long silence, before his grandfather said, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

As they landed on the other side of the portal that was opened, Ernesto screamed in agony.

"What's wrong?!" Roman was the first to reach him, before he stumbled back and vomited.

Daisy was the next to reach him, she did the same as Roman.

Bianca was the last to reach him, she stopped her stomach from tossing up her lunch. On the grass, Ernesto lay, his left hand, burned beyond recognition. He screamed in agony, before it turned into pained whimpers. They heard a car squeal to a stop to their left. "Hey, do you need any..." the voice stopped. They turned to look at the speaker and saw a young man standing there in shock, before he flipped reached into his pocket, pulled out a phone, and dialed 911.

"Ernesto, calm down, focus on me okay, focus on me." Bianca leaned over him, she watched as he shook before his eyes focused on hers. She never saw Ernesto so scared in his life.

There was a cry of an ambulance far away. "Come on Ernesto, look at me!" Slowly, Ernesto's eyes closed, and he blacked out.