Chapter 1: New Beginnings

It was their only hope.

"Are you sure about this?" Asked a tall figure, glancing to another creature perched on a wooden pole. "What if they don't comply?"

"You know that this is our only option. He is starting to cause havoc and most of our students are too afraid to do anything. We're already swamped here with the mess he's caused! We need someone who will stand up to this threat, before it gets out of hands!"

"I see what you mean," the tall figure said, turning to a glowing orb resting on a stand. He waved his hands over it expectantly, "Magic ball, show me the one that will restore peace here, and across the Spiral!"

The orb, once glowing too bright to see inside, dimmed down as the two beings starred into it. The first creature backed up in surprise, "A human!"

"Yes," The tall one hummed, "and from a world that does not believe in magic. This will be…interesting."

"Well? What are you waiting for? Cast the spell, and let's save the Spiral!" The creature said in a huff.

"Not so fast. If we pull her too early, there might be dire consequences." The tall creature took a staff that lay resting near his body.

The figure brought the staff up and into the air, waving its other hand as the orb in the middle glowed brightly to the action. "Find the one we see before us, and bring her to me!"

The figure then touched the end of the staff to the orb gently, "But not so harshly, might I add."

The ball radiated like it never did before, almost blinding the two beings. Echoes bounced off the walls, "Ooke… Brooke…. Broooke!"

"Brooke! Brooke are you even listening to me?" A motherly figure stood over another individual, who lay comfortably in a lounging chair. A big book was separating the two, as the one in the chair flipped to another page. With a loud sigh, they brought the book beneath their face.

"Yeah, mom?"

The mother straightened her posture, crossing her arms. "Don't give me that attitude. You dad is waiting for you."

The girl, named Brooke, looked to her mom in a scornful glare, her brown eyes radiating anger. "I'm not going."

"Yes, you are." The mother responded, plucking the book out of Brooke's hands. Brooke sat up, looking over from the chair was sitting in, as her mom put the book back on the shelf it came from.

"You're going to make your father very sad if you don't."

"So? It's not like you care anymore."

The mom looked to her child, who was now looking away, tears in her eyes. She sighed, going over to Brooke. "Brooke, you know your father and I still love you and your brothers very much-"

"But you don't love each other anymore." She pushed her mother's incoming arm away, getting up.

"That doesn't help. None of this does." She opened her arms to the vastness that was room. "I don't want to leave here. I don't want you two getting separated."

"It's just for the weekend honey." Her mom said, going over to Brooke, trying to comfort her. "I don't want this either, but if it makes your father happy-"

"Just-stop." Brooke said, not letting her mom give her a hug. "Let me get my things in peace." The mother looked away with saddened eyes, as if wondering if things would ever go back to normal.

"Alright then." Her mother looked to her daughter one last time, before leaving the bedroom, and pulling the door close.

Brooke sat on her chair, miffed that her mood was ruined, when something caught her attention. There was something sitting on her bed, and she knew it wasn't there before. It looked like an old rolled up piece of paper, bounded together by blue string and sealed with red wax.

'What an odd thing', Brooke thought to herself, getting up from her spot. She walked over to it, wondering if her mother left it in her room. It looked pretty important.

Upon closer inspection, the red wax had the picture of an old tree imprinted onto it, with a big M in front of it. The paper also looked charred at the ends, feeling rigid and stale.

Half of her felt the need to ask her mom if it was hers. After all, it looked pretty important. However, the other half was very curious, and decided that a small peak wouldn't hurt.

Brooke broke the seal, the string falling to the bed, as she started to unravel it. The paper crinkled and cracked under Brooke's fingers, making her wonder all the more just where this came from.

Finally some words appeared, in the most smooth cursive she had ever seen.

You've been accepted to Wizard City.

"Wizard City?" Brooke asked aloud, questioning just who this was for. She had thoughts of continuing.

She didn't get that far though.

The paper suddenly glowed brighter than Brooke imagined, as she tossed the paper aside, falling down in pain. The paper fell on her bed, unraveling itself fully, as the words almost seemed to float off of the page.

Brooke rubbed her eyes, wide eyed in absolute fear, as she backed away from her bed. "What is happening?!"

Brooke then saw her brunette hair flicker in front of her face, as a vortex started to grow from the center of the paper. The winds picked up in her room, items flying off of shelves and her desk only to circle in the chaos.

Brooke rolled to her stomach and gripped the carpet floor for life, as she felt her legs come off the ground. Soon it was too strong, as she saw in agony her fingers starting to slip.

"MOOOOOOOM!" Was the last thing Brooke felt herself screaming before it was drowned out by winds.

Her hands let go, as she was violently taken into the vortex. Instead of swirling around with her stuff though, her body was being sucked into the middle. Brooke's vision starting to go from all of the turning; her ceiling starting to get very far away.

She thought she heard her door open and a voice. But she'd never know before everything went black…