~Prologue~

Pain

Suffering

Death

Darkenesse

This was all Darjjan Majjar felt as he fought against the endless lines of witches, he did not know how they had breached the village walls, one moment he had been peacefully helping the other villagers harvest the little crops they could grow in the desert, the next they had breached the outer walls and ran into the main village, riding their giant desert lynxes. There had been no word from the outside defense, no screams, nothing. And then-

"Oof!"

This was all he could manage to say as a witch knocked him to the ground and put a foot over his mouth.

The witch drew a sword.

Oh no. He thought

He hoped that his wife and son were okay, they had sailed across the desert on his new invention: The Desert Sailor, which was a boat with wheels that used the wind to roll across the ground. Although there had been no wind at the time, his wife had used that strange thing. . . what was it called? Ah yes, Magyk. She had Caused a wind to fill the Desert Sailor's sails, and they were off, He remembered his wife begging him to come with her on the Sailor, but he had been adamant, he needed to protect the village, and so he had. He remembered her cradling his newly born son, who was only seven days old, as they sailed off, faster than the fastest horse, taking with her the people of the village who could not protect themselves, leaving the warriors behind, warriors such as himself.

The witch raised the sword.

This is the end. He thought

The witch brought down the sword.

And everything went black.

~Chapter One~

"Was Father really brave Mama?" the fourteen-year-old Hotep Ra asked his Mother, Munji Majjar.

Munji smiled and turned to look at her son, "Yes Ra, he was so brave, so brave in fact, that when the witches invaded the village were you were born, he rushed up to the front lines to defend the village."

"Wow." Hotep Ra had heard his Father talked about in a good light, though he had never heard this before.

"Mama, how did Father die?"

Munji's smile faltered, and a whistling noise came from insider her hut.

"Oh! My tea!" she said as she hurried inside "Come Ra. Have some tea."

H

Munji sat by the unlit fireplace and said a quick Fyre spell.

"Mama, what was that?" Hotep Ra had never seen Magyk before, until that moment.

Munji smiled, she loved to teach young ones uneducated in Magyk, "That, my son, was Magyk."

"But what is Magyk Mama?" Hotep Ra asked

Munji thought hard for a minute, then sat down, amused, as someone who had used Magyk her whole life, she had always assumed that she knew what Magyk was, but then, actually confronted by the question, she could not summon an answer.

"I do not know." She admitted

"Hmmm. . ." Hotep Ra sat down too, thinking about the question.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door,

"Come in!" Munji shouted, and a man came in, hunched over and breathing hard.

"Najarr!" Munji said, "What are you doing here?"

"Munji," said Najarr, who was still breathing heavily, "Our scouts have reported strange figures outside the village."

"Do they know who the figures are?" asked Munji

"No, but," his voice trembled, "We think they might be witches. . ."

H

Munji marched along the lines of houses,

"Prepare the warriors!" she shouted, "Make sure the walls are in peak condition, I want this village ready for the attack!"

"Mama what is it?" Hotep Ra asked her

"Witches," she said in disgust, "They haven't attacked in a long time, they love to raid our villages when they run out of supplies, the last time they attacked. . ." she got a faraway look in her eyes, "Never mind." She said and shook her head as if to clear away the thoughts that were running through her head. "Also-"

"Aieeeeeeeeeeee!"

Hotep Ra looked around, "Mama, what was that?"

Munji looked aghast, "They have breached the outer walls, there is not much time!" she said as the gate in front of them TransFormed into water and soaked into the ground.

"They are here. . ." she said

And the witches poured through the gate. . .