AN: Hello, and welcome to my first story for Wizard101, The Dawn of Heroes. In this story, you will meet the main character, Seth, and the friends he makes across the Spiral in his quest to defeat the two dark wizards who separated him from his family at birth—Malistaire and Morganthe. But as Seth slowly unfolds the fact that Wizard City exists, he soon realizes his life will never be the same again. Please enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

NIGHTMARES

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The shadowy figure stepped out of the darkness and approached me as I heavily breathed. I couldn't make out their face, but I knew that somehow, someway, this person in particular had something to do with my life here in North Carolina.

Finally, I could see them. He had pale skin and pitch black hair that fell down his shoulders in different pieces, some of which were braided. He wore a black and gold silk robe. He held a large staff—a black rod, with a blood-red crystal ball at the top, and on top of crystal ball was a golden dragon, whose tail wrapped around the rod of the staff.

"Are you sure, Morganthe?" asked the man. Another figure stepped out of the darkness. This one was a woman with midnight colored hair that reached down to her shoulder blades elegantly. Some of this black hair also covered her right eye in an emo-hair style. Her skin was as colorless white as the man's. She was quite beautiful, but the unappealing thing about her was what she was wearing. She had a black gown that seemed to be skinny, so it told me her body was either choking or she was anorexic. Something strange was coming out of the back of it—there were four giant spider legs, and filling in the space in between each of them was something that looked suspiciously like a spider web, so it made her look like a female Dracula with a strange spider-web type thing nearly encasing her head like a hut. She had black lip stick and purple eye shadow. Dark sleeves connected to her dress and covered her arms, yet formed a triangle separating her middle finger from her ring finger on each hand. She had red nail polish—which didn't surprise me, as she seemed to have black, purple and red everything—and wore a large, silver tiara. As I looked closer, two large spiders milled around at her feet.

"Yes, Malistaire," she said. "He will be the one to bring your downfall."

"Then I must prevent it!" Malistaire shouted, obviously exasperated. "I will banish him from Wizard City the instant he is born and send him to the world of mortals!"

"Fate is impossible to change," warned Morganthe. "If you simply send him to the world of mortals, Ambrose will find him. Knowing him, he'll bring the child back here and enroll him in Ravenwood. That's when he'll destroy you, and probably I as well. We have no choice but to kill him."

"You said Fate was impossible to change. If you saw what's supposed to happen, then—never mind. I'm not going to think about that. But what if I raised him as my slave? He'll grow up to respect me!"

"He'll rise up against you. We have to kill him."

"Ambrose and I were in an encounter yesterday, and Cyrus handed me a potion. He said it would heal me. It has drained me of magic. Oh, what an idiot I was."

Morganthe looked like she was about to add something, but Malistaire interrupted her. "Either way, I will not fully regain my magic until the darkest day in fifteen years: the Winter Solstice. Ironically, it's the same day that the Spiral will line up with not only the nine other planets, but the sun and the moon."

"How cliché," Morganthe muttered quietly.

"Anyway," Malistaire continued, clearly starting to get annoyed. "I do not have my magic. I will not be able to kill the child, because, as you know, Ambrose puts a protection spell on all wizard children that prevents them from being murdered by hand, and without my magic, I cannot send him to the world of mortals."

"I will do it," said Morganthe. Malistaire and Morganthe grinned evilly in unison. They shook hands. He pounded his tall staff on the ground, and as the sparks flew from the butt of the rod, the darkness began to swallow everything, and the two adults faded into nothing.

XxXxX

I woke up both shivering and sweating. I was surprised that I could be so hot yet so cold at the same time.

This wasn't my first weird dream.

As I was slightly trembling, I lifted the blankets that covered me and carefully opened the door to the room I was in, which would be the room I share with every other orphan in this stupid place.

Yep. I'm an orphan. Have been ever since I was born.

Okay, okay, so if you knew me, I wasn't the most popular kid around. My life was torture until I had learned the truth behind my vivid nightmares. I had one friend in the orphanage: Tristan. Both of us were forced to endure the torture of Sophia, one of the most popular girls in our orphanage.

The orphanage was a lot like a school—it had the popular kids, the jocks, the preps, the nerds, et cetera, and Sophia was considered the "lead-snob" along with her wannabes Vanessa and Carly. I was their primary target because of the weird things I "accidentally" do with my abnormal powers. So, whenever something strange happened, glances were exchanged between Sophia and her wannabes because they always instantly accused me. One of the most satisfactory moments of my life (I'm talking about before I figured out about what I really was) was when I had made their food explode in their face. It was that one time when people were laughing at Sophia, Carly and Vanessa, not me.

But they've had plenty of chances to get their revenge at me. When I was seven, Sophia had stolen the amulet I wear—the last piece of my parents that I have—and an entire shack of plates and mugs fell apart. Another time, when I was nine, Jack, another kid at the orphanage was trying to pretend he had abilities like me. Normally I'm not the center of attention (and I'm just fine with that), but someone pretending to be me—especially one of my enemies—just made me steamed. Somehow in the hallway near where Jack and I were arguing a trashcan had spontaneously combusted.

I had slowly acquired control over my strange powers, but I definitely wasn't a master yet. I wished I was able to make Sophia's food explode in her face again, or to have Jack standing in a trash can on fire when I needed or wanted him to.

But still, I let yet another thing slip as I found out about my true self.

XxXxX

As usual, the day begin with the usual joking and jeering and calls of "Oh no! It's here! Don't go near them!"

For some reason, they seemed to think I had some weird disease from China. Yeah right, I thought. They stay away from me when some of them supposedly want the disease from China.

I decided to go get some breakfast, and that's when my life turned upside down. No, it wasn't breakfast that made me realize my true identity, but as I walked by the entrance of the orphanage, I saw my friend, Tristan, standing there with an adult woman. He had a suitcase next to him. I tried not jumping to conclusions, but as the orphanage owner was speaking to the woman, I walked over to Tristan.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why do you have your suitcase? Who's that woman?"

Tristan sighed. His black shaggy hair hung somewhat in front of his green eyes. As usual, I had to slightly look up to him, as he had always been taller than me and I felt he always would be. His skin was more pale than usual.

"Seth…" he trailed off. "Seth, I don't know how to say this…"

I mentally built a dam to prevent my tears from streaming down my face. Tristan was my only friend here. Who else would help me stand up to Jack and Sophia? Who would laugh with me when something weird happened to one of our enemies?

"Seth," Tristan continued. "I'm being adopted."

And that's when a tear streamed down my face. I hugged him.

Despite the fact that I was feeling incredibly sad, I tried to be friendly and outgoing. "So…what's your new name?"

"Holcomb," he said. "Tristan Holcomb is my name now."

Geneviève French stopped talking to the woman Tristan was standing near. Geneviève was this tall blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who seemed to have a date every week. All of us orphanage kids secretly figured she was a prostitute. Yes, home-schooled orphan kids knew about perverted things like that. And yes, she was the owner of the orphanage.

"It was nice to meet you, Kate. I hope you enjoy having Tristan in your house as much as I did having him here!"

I gave Geneviève a strange look. She didn't care about any of the kids in our orphanage.

"I will. Come along, Tristan," said Kate. She took Tristan's hand, but he slipped out of it quickly. He gave her a sly smile, as if to say: You've won me. I don't need you holding my hand.

Each step as Tristan walked to the front door caused me pain. I didn't love him. Well, I did, but in a brotherly way. I wasn't homosexual (though there is nothing wrong with homosexuals). Finally, Kate opened the door and offered Tristan to walk out before her with a kind hand gesture. He glanced at me one last time, and I never saw him again.

Kate followed Tristan out the front door. I discovered Geneviève was standing next to me. "Rotten orphan," she muttered silently, while still looking at the now closed front door, clearly referring to Tristan. I gave her a look of disgust, and luckily she didn't notice, because otherwise, I would be placed on cleaning duty for probably the rest of the month.

Poor Tristan, I silently thought. He was such a shy teenager. I was the only person he opened up to. He would take so long adjusting to his new family. He was only a year younger me, just thirteen, and unfortunately, he couldn't have been adopted sooner. If he was adopted as a baby at least his adoptive parents might be able to get away with saying that they were his parents. That way he wouldn't live through the burden I had to go through. Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that.

I arrived back in the kitchen where I found Sophia, Carly and Vanessa sitting at their usual seats, trying to look pretty and barely eating anything.

I took a loaf of bread and a few strawberries and put those on my plate. I poured myself a glass of orange juice. I got out a bowl and poured some Frosted Flakes into it.

You'd think at such a horrible orphanage I'm describing that we'd have limited refrigerator access, horrible food, couldn't watch TV, et cetera. In fact, a lot of that was true. However, when Geneviève wasn't around, even at the breakfast table, things were a bit more cheerful. It made the food even taste slightly better. But then Geneviève walked in, taking away the untouched plates Sophia, Carly and Vanessa had in front of them. She let me finish my breakfast, which quite surprised me.

Geneviève was somewhat technologically advanced, and so our orphanage was set up with tons of alarm systems, intercom speakers, telephones in every room, and so on. Geneviève walked over to the kitchen sink, where the intercom was, and began speaking into it. Immediately, her voice was projected through speakers that blared all around the house.

"Every god damn orphan," she began, "better wake up right now because I have news to tell everyone!" She sounded very bitter (or even more bitter than she usually was) this morning. Instantly, other orphans poured out of bedrooms wearing their pajamas and some of them holding teddy bears.

When every orphan was in the kitchen, despite the fact that they seemed incredibly exhausted, everyone intently listened.

"First note of business," Geneviève said somewhat groggily, as if she was somewhat drunken or as tired as the rest of the orphans, "is that Tristan was adopted. His new last name is Holcomb."

Several people began to slowly clap, but instantly Geneviève glared at them, told them to shut up, and they followed her command.

"Second," spoke Geneviève, "is that I have a date tonight. He is picking me up for once, so I want this orphanage in immaculate shape, even if you have to work straight through to the point in which he gets here!"

Some people groaned, but finally said, "Yes, Ms. French."

Most of the orphans who hadn't eaten breakfast at that point never got breakfast. Geneviève wanted us to get to work instantly, and being much less powerful than she was, we were forced to grant her every wish.

Somehow, I managed to make it to six in the evening, when Geneviève's date arrived. As usual, I could hear her downstairs as she tried pulling the nice act to make him think she treated us with respect. Of course, it was generally the complete opposite.

I was upstairs still mopping the floors of the giant orphanage. Sometimes I wished it wasn't so big, but it was so full of other kids, so it was great never to be alone. Unfortunately, most of them made fun of me, and Tristan was gone and had a new family. For all I knew, he could be celebrating with them, having a grand dinner and already completely forgot about me. Or, he could be being abused, which made my mind feel even worse.

I was mopping the floor while Sophia had her wannabes Carly and Vanessa do all of her work, while Sophia simply sat against a book shelf looking as if she had completed her job, which she hadn't even started.

Felix, another one of the boy orphans, said "Sophia. You can do work too, you know."

Sophia sighed. "I could. But does it look like I'm going to be doing work anytime soon?"

"Maybe you should think about fixing up your stupid life," one of the girls, Molly told her. "You're going to grow old, weak, and alone. Or better yet, die in this orphanage. Never adopted. Vanessa and Carly will move on. I can't believe you think you can rule this place."

Sophia rolled her eyes, stood up, and loomed over the nine-year old Molly. Sophia was fifteen, and one of the oldest kids in the orphanage. So, naturally, Molly was slightly frightened of her. Sophia's shadow covered Molly completely.

"Don't you insult me," Sophia warned in an ominous voice. "Or you'll regret it."

"How so?" I asked. I stood between Molly and Sophia. "She's a nine-year old girl, Sophia. Pick on someone your own size. Nobody here has done anything wrong to you, and you've completely brainwashed Carly and Vanessa. Remember when they hated you?"

Sophia's eyes grew wide. She turned to her two wannabes. "You used to hate me?"

Vanessa began to speak, but Carly shook her head while looking at her. They both got back to work. Sophia turned back to look at me.

"It doesn't matter. They like me now. And now, back to threatening Molly."

She began to walk over to the seven year old, but I grabbed her arm. "First off," I said, "you aren't harming anyone. Second, what are you going to harm her with? A nail filer?"

With her free hand, Sophia picked a broom off the wall. She slapped me, probably thinking it would get me to let go of her arm, but it didn't. I punched her.

However, she crossed the line when she yanked at the amulet—my amulet—that my parents had given me. It wasn't too fancy or too flashy. It had a normal, thin, white string, and a circle on the end, which had three smaller circles, each of them containing a little picture inside—one of a ball of fire, another of a snowflake, another of a storm cloud. The bigger circle that the three smaller circles were surrounding had a picture of a tree on it.

The amulet fell off my neck and onto the ground. It was still in one piece when it fell, and I was just about to pick it up when, with her high heels, she stepped on the amulet. The three circles containing the pictures of the ball of fire, the lightning cloud and the snowflake shattered. Somehow, bursts of light exploded the three small circles.

And that's when I was pissed.

I could feel my cheeks burning with rage. I started to raise my arms. Soon, my vision started to fill with the tint of the color white. I screamed, though it sounded different somehow; much more powerful, mature and chaotic. Brooms and mops flew around the room. A tile came loose from the ground. It flew up and hit Sophia on the forehead, knocking her to the ground, unconscious. The white tint in my eyes faded.

I didn't even bother looking back. I didn't bother picking up the amulet. Sophia had destroyed it, and her stupid foot had contaminated it. I went into the nearest bedroom and opened the window. While the door to the hallway was still opened, I could see the shocked faces of the other orphans—Felix, Molly, Julia, David, Bridget—looking at me in awe. I gave them one last glance, and then jumped out the window.

XxXxX

Yeah, it was three stories high, but honestly, the fall didn't really hurt me that much. The shrub I fell into broke my fall and gave me a couple of scratches, but otherwise, I was fine.

I wasn't really sure where to go. I just followed the sidewalk.

I couldn't believe what Sophia had done. That amulet was the last connection I had to my parents. And yes, I knew this all sounded a lot like Annie, but I knew that I wouldn't be meeting a Daddy Warbucks or a Grace Farrell anytime soon.

Eventually, I found myself at the beach. The autumn air nipped at my arms, and I could see that leaves seemed to be falling off of trees. The sky was gray and cloudy, and the wind gently washed through my brown only somewhat-long hair. It was kind of Zac Efron-ish, but my hair was faintly shorter.

A car zoomed past me, and that's when I realized something—for the first time ever, I was alone. No Tristan, no Sophia, no Jack, no noisy orphans, no Geneviève, et cetera. I was never alone at the orphanage. But now I was.

And another thing—this was practically my first time in the regular world. It felt nice. I felt all the stress slowly leaving my body. I didn't have to worry anymore. I had escaped. The only way I could possibly get caught was if Geneviève had somehow found me here.

But I decided not to think about it at that moment. I walked past the sea wall and onto the beach, and sat on the sandy shore, relaxing calmly, with nobody to tell me what to do.

I was about to close my eyes when I saw the screaming and drowning girl.

AN: Well, did you like it? Yeah, I know, it's somewhat of a boring beginning, especially because he isn't in Wizard City yet and it's barely made any references to his powers, but I promise, there is more to anticipate, and the anticipation won't be a waste of time, I assure you!

Questions:

Why do you think there's a screaming and drowning girl in the water? Why would the author include such a detail?

How do you think Seth is going to get to Wizard City?

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(Taylor [you know who you are], don't answer these questions!

~PJATOSROCKS09~