Author's note: hey guys here's chapter 1. Let me know what you think so I can stay motivated I don't own anything in this book except for my original characters.

Chapter 1

Powers Manifest

A small private jet landed in Boston, Massachusetts and Hunter Pinebone climbed out of it with the baby carrier in his hands. He glanced down at the sleeping baby and gave a sadistic grin. He couldn't wait to train this boy, to fight, to kill; to kill a certain wizard that needed to be put in her place.

Hunter hopped into a small car that took him to an orphanage where a friend of his was waiting. The car pulled onto the gravel driveway and on the porch of the enormous four story orphanage was a woman with dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Her hazel eyes lit up when she saw Hunter climb out of the car.

She ran to him and he set the carrier on the ground as she jumped at him. He wrapped her in a hug and kissed her deeply and passionately.

"God, I missed you," she said quietly.

"And I you, my dear," he replied with a loving smile.

The woman glanced down at the carrier and saw a cute little baby boy with a tuft of black hair and beautiful deep blue eyes. The baby stared back at her with a curious expression. Then he smiled a toothless grin. She couldn't help but laugh, it was so cute.

"So this is Jessamine Longbranch's son huh, Hunter?" she asked.

"Yes, Stephanie, this is him. I need you to take care of him for me. If we can keep the Roses away from him for longing enough…" he trailed off, and then shook his head.

"He is the key to our success; if we lose him to the Roses then we lose all hope of accomplishing our goal."

"Don't worry, I'll keep him safe."

The two wizard's shared one last kiss and Hunter went to climb back into the car then stopped remembering something.

"Oh, by the way, his name is Jay."

14 YEARS LATER

A tall fourteen year old boy with spiky black hair and deep blue eyes was sitting alone in his room at a Boston orphanage wanting to go outside but couldn't because of the blizzard. The owner of the orphanage never let the kids out in bad weather. He sighed; he knew he wasn't like the others. He could stand the cold weather, but for some reason Miss Stephanie, the owner of the orphanage, didn't want the other kids to know he was different than them. Someone opened the door to his room but he didn't look to see who, he didn't care.

"Hello, Jay," A deep voice said to the boy.

Jay turned to look at the man that had walked into his room. The man was tall, about 6' 6", with brown hair and blue eyes with a scar running from the left side of his forehead to the corner of his jaw.

"Where did you get that scar?" Jay asked the man, not caring for a name or explanation of why he was there.

"I'm in the Air Force. I got it in a training accident, but that's not important. I came here to give you something-"

"Can I at least get a name?" Jay said cutting him off, now he cared who he was.

"I'm General Aaron Ross," Aaron was a little annoyed by the way the kid was treating him.

He could defiantly tell who the kid's mother was with no doubt about it.

But does that mean that I'm his father? No his mother left me, she obviously didn't want a kid with me so I know for sure he's not my son, General Ross thought.

Aaron had a long duffel bag over his shoulder, he set it down on the wood floor and pulled a long sword scabbard out. Jay looked at it with amazement; the sword handle was black leather with a white rose pommel and silver piece separating the blade from the handle. When Aaron pulled the sword out its sheath Jay noticed that the blade was very long and close to the handle there were two curvatures. The Air Force General handed the sword, handle first, to the young boy who was staring in awe.

When Jay gripped the handle he felt power surge into him and heard a voice whisper in his ear: CHARGER. The blade shined with a brilliant light that blinded Aaron as he watched the boy for a reaction.

"Did it speak to you?" Aaron asked.

"Charger" Jay answered with a hushed voice.

"Good. It's linked with you now and no one else can wield it." General Ross laid the sword's sheath on Jay's bed and turned to leave.

"Wait! Why did you give me this?" Jay asked suddenly curious to why this man even knew about him.

"I was told a warrior lived here in this orphanage and I took advantage of it. Once the Roses find out about you you'll need all the protection you can get. That sword will do you good."

"Miss Stephanie said that the Roses would never find me here."

"Ah, so you do know about the Roses." I'm going to test him and see if he knows who his mother is, Aaron thought. "Then tell me, who is the leader of the Red Rose?"

"Geoffrey Wylie." Jay answered.

"The White Rose?"

"Jessamine Longbranch."

"What's her profession besides training warriors for the White Rose?"

"She's a heart surgeon. Her office is in London and she lives in a palace by the Thames."

"Does she have any kids?" Aaron asked the boy.

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"No reason just seeing how much you know. What about the Game what do you know about that?"

"It's the tournament that the Roses put two warriors against each other and the fight's not over 'til one of the warriors kills the other."

"You know that you're a warrior right?"

"Yeah. But the Roses have never come after me. Well this one guy comes like every year to check on me but he told me he's not with either of the Roses."

"What does he look like?" Aaron asked with a grim tone.

"He has sandy blonde hair and ice blue eyes and his name is Hunter. He's really nice."

"Hunter is the wizard that Jessamine Longbranch trusts the most out of any of the wizards in the White Rose. Be wary of him. Oh, and you look a lot like your mother."

"You know my mother? Who is she?" Jay asked eagerly.

"I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you that. I will tell you she's a White Rose wizard," Aaron then turned to leave not waiting for the kid to ask any more questions.

Before Jay could even say thank you, General Aaron Ross left. Then about five minutes later Hunter Pinebone walked in without even knocking.

"Hello, Jay. How are you doing?" Hunter asked Jay.

"Good. How are things going in London, Hunter?" Jay had hid Charger under his bed in case Miss Stephanie came in.

"Great. So have you felt your powers manifesting yet?"

"No not yet."

"Pity," Hunter was getting impatient.

He wanted the boy's powers to manifest so he could train him to kill Longbranch and he could take control of the White Rose.

Jay and Hunter talked for about thirty minutes then Hunter left. Jay got in his pajamas and lied down to go to sleep with his hands behind his head. I'm glad I finally have a sword so that I can start training, but it's probably a good thing I didn't tell Hunter that that Aaron guy gave me a sword, Jay thought as he fell asleep.

A few months later Jay noticed that he was getting taller and his muscles were getting bigger. At night he would sneak out and train in the woods next to the orphanage. But he would soon find out if his training was paying off.

One night he was just finishing up with his training when four wizards walked out of the trees wearing red cloaks.

"We finally found you. You're one hard kid to track," the tallest of the group said to Jay. The wizard that spoke to him had a tattoo of a red rose on the side of his neck and a clean shave. He was obviously the leader of the group.

"Look at this, he's been training too. Maybe we won't have to waste time training him ourselves and just challenge the White Rose right off the bat," A short man said to the man who had first talked.

"We'll just have to see. Wylie will want to make sure he's good enough to even play in the Game. Let's just get this over with. Come on kid just come quietly and we won't hurt you."

"I'm not coming with you I don't want to fight in the Game!" Jay yelled at the Red Rose wizards, raising his sword ready to attack.

"We'll just have to do this the hard way then."

Two of the wizards shot blue green flames at him so he rolled to the left just barely dodging the deadly flames. A young girl wizard about his age shot flames at him as well but she just didn't seem like she even wanted to be shooting any kind of spell at him. Just then the leader of the group sent a huge wall of flame barreling towards Jay so the fourteen year old warrior raised his sword instinctively and Charger split the wall in half. The wizards just stared for a moment then out of anger at being bested by a fourteen year old the leader of the Red Rose group shot an immobilization charm at Jay and it hit him directly in the chest and he fell to the forest floor with a hair raising thud and dropped his sword.

Then there was a yell and flames shot out of the trees and slammed into one of the Red Rose wizards. Hunter stepped out of the bushes with an angry scowl on his handsome face.

"Back off," Hunter said with a deadly tone.

"Hunter Pinebone. So Jessamine knows about the boy already huh?" the dude with the red rose tattoo asked.

"Yep she sent me here to collect him."

All Jay could do was lay there watching not able to do anything else. Hunter raised his hand and muttered something under his breath and something flashed from his hand and another Red Rose wizard hit the ground screaming in pain.

"You guys better leave or I'll put more wizards graffes in all of you.." Hunter said with the same deadly tone.

"I'll get you for this, Hunter." The leader of the group said with a just as deadly tone. He and the girl left without one more look at their fallen comrades.

Hunter laid his hand on Jay's chest and muttered something and Jay could move again.

"Thanks, Hunter. When did you get back to the States?" Jay said picking up his sword.

"Just a few minutes ago actually. Where did you get that sword, Jay?"

"This guy gave it to me like two days after you left last time so I started training with it."

"Well that's good news. I'll take you to London in a few months okay? Then I can give you proper training."

"Did Dr. Longbranch really send you?"

"No she doesn't know about you yet. But that's okay because I can train you better than she ever could." Hunter said with a smirk.

"But you told those Red Rose wizards that she did send you. Why did you lie?" Jay said sliding Charger back in its scabbard.

"I had to have an excuse to be here. What would they think if I just said I was here to see you? It is better that I lied to them anyway. I hate The Red Rose."

"Oh. Well that's a good reason. I guess?"

"I have to go back to London right away. Go back to your room and stay there for the night. No more training in the woods, if The Red Rose comes back I won't be able to help you next time. Bye, Jay."

Jay went back to his room and climbed into bed instantly falling asleep.

Four months later Jay was walking in the streets of Boston looking for something to do. When he walked past a tattoo parlor he got an idea. He ran back to the orphanage and took a picture of Charger then ran back to the tattoo parlor and went inside. There was no one in the shop besides one guy reading a magazine at the front desk. The guy looked up when Jay walked in.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"See this sword?" Jay asked holding up the picture.

The man nodded.

"Can you give me a tattoo of it on my back with a white rose at the top and a vine wrapping around the sword and my arms?" Jay said.

"Yeah I can do that. How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"How old are you really?" The guy asked raising an eyebrow.

"Almost fifteen."

"That's okay as long as you can pay for it I'll give you a tattoo."

"Really! Thanks!"

An hour later Jay paid for the tattoo and left the parlor; he was headed for the orphanage when someone grabbed him by the arm.

"Don't do anything just keep walking. We're going back to the orphanage and getting your sword."

Jay looked over at the man who had grabbed him. The man was just a bit taller than Jay with messy gray hair, a short gray beard and a white cloak.

White Rose! Jay thought.

"I'm not coming with you." Jay said as he kneed the man in between the legs.

The old White Rose wizard dropped to his knees groaning. Jay took off towards the orphanage glad to have long legs now. Something slammed into his arm and the force of it spun him so that he smacked right into a metal pole. He hit the ground back first, the breath knocked out of him. A woman stood over him and said something he didn't catch. Then she lifted Jay up by the front of his shirt. Jay hated being mean to girls but his survival came first. So after he was on his feet he grabbed the woman's shirt collar and flipped her over him and onto the cement. Not looking to see if she was alright, he took off running even faster than ever before. Luckily he reached the orphanage without being attacked again. Jay ran up the stairs skipping three at a time and flung the door open to his room, reached under his bed, and grabbed Charger.

A young male wizard was in his doorway and Jay took one look at the wizard then jumped out the window. Something hit him in the center of the back of his neck and he felt instant stinging pain. Jay tried to turn in the air but didn't turn fast enough so he hit the ground hard, left arm first. He looked up at the gray clouds, rain falling on his face; his room was on the fourth floor so the wizard was surprised that he had survived the fall. Jay looked at his body and saw glass poking out of him every where. His left arm was at an abnormal angle. It's definitely broken, Jay thought.

The young warrior stood and raced into the woods. He felt himself getting weaker and weaker. Jay stumbled and fell down a steep hill that had dead trees all around. He felt his ribs crack and heard tree branches snapping off as he fell. He laid at the bottom of the hill wishing for death. Then the gray haired wizard, the woman, and the wizard who had been in his doorway all stood over him.

"Didn't think he would be this strong. Jessamine said this would be easy, well she can just go fuck herself! This was no where near easy," The woman said with disgust.

"Doesn't she already do that, though?" the old man asked, trying to hold back a smile.

"What did you end up hitting him with, Syrus?" the woman asked the younger wizard, shooting a glare at the old wizard.

"Wizards graffe. It hit him in the neck so we better put some charms on it until Dr. Longbranch can deal with it. This one is so rebellious she just might not want to keep him." Syrus said, ignoring his two partners.

"Right." the woman and the old man said at the same time.

Jay tried to see what they were doing but he couldn't keep control of his eye lids and his head hit the forest floor as he slipped into unconsciousness.