The Day Everything Changed
Chapter 1
'It's that dream again.'
A young boy appears sleeping in a bed of darkness, with a strange flash of silver light a strange staff of some sort appears in his hands. Suddenly the boy finds himself in a park with a large penguin slide noticeable in the background. A blast of lightning is shot at him from somewhere and he takes out a card and uses the tip of the staff to strike the card. With a strange silver light emitting from the card as the staff remains touching it, tiny wings appear on his ankles and he leaps a far distance away. Then, once another blast of lightning is sent at him another card flashes with silver light and a dark hooded figure is seen hovering above the boy, with its long black robes veiling the boy. The lightning stops attacking him and the figure flies out in front of the boy, strangely enough the image of the figure remains there. The boy looks at it in relief, until a large force picks him up.
Waking with a start, Casey softly landed back on his pillow, groaned as this was the third day he had dreamt an odd dream, causing him to wake up at an unusual times during the night.
Living in Reedington wasn't all that exciting. It was a quiet city, although a city, it wasn't very city like. There weren't massive factories creating cloud upon cloud of toxic waste, instead there were power plants and a dam that people worked at. Reedington had a large lake inside of its boundaries, called Yule Lake where the dam was located. It also had another lake in it, although it was relatively small. The smaller lake was called Purein Lake and it was usually used for the festivals held in Reedington.
'Hi, I'm Casey Ameara. I'm thirteen years old, I'm basically about to enter high school with only one year left of elementary school. I live in the city of Reedington, it isn't that much of a city, it's a lot more of a town, but it is fairly large. I'm a basic teenager and I live with my mom, dad and older sister Crystal. I went along with the day like I did every other day, but what I didn't know was that today was going to change my life forever. Today was the day that I was going to discover the Clow Book, a book that was going to change the rest of my life forever.'
Casey was using commentary to explain the day as it was shown him performing his usual routines.
Shortly spiked brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, around five foot six, Casey was a basic teenager.
"Hurry up Casey, or you're going to be late," a blonde haired fifteen year old girl sneered.
'Crystal, my sister was about to enter her tenth year of education. She's fifteen and more bright than a lot of girls at her academic level. She always tries really hard to seem smarter than me, but I will admit I'm not exactly the smartest kid in class.'
"I'm going to meet Derek," Casey said finally out of bed and strapping on his roller blades.
"Alright, but be back in time for dinner!" his mom screamed after him.
Casey rapidly scratched his roller blades into the pavement, propelling himself forward. Finally turning into Penguin Park, he saw Derek and Ivy waiting for him by the Penguin Slide.
"So, how was your sleep in?" asked Derek.
"I woke up at four in the morning by one of my dreams again," Casey sneered.
"How many times is that?" asked Ivy.
"About three, I have no idea why I keep waking up so early."
"There must be something odd behind them. Why else would you have had three dreams that wake you up so early?" Ivy stated.
"Yeah, enough about Casey's dreams, let's get going," Derek snared.
The group of three made their way to the Northern Lights restaurant that was located just outside of the waterfall/dam in Reedington. Each getting different meals while watching the water fall rapidly into Yule Lake.
"I never get tired of looking at it," said Ivy gazing at the waterfall.
"Yeah, it's really beautiful," Derek said sarcastically.
"Alright, well I have to go and get my dad something from the Library," Casey said watching his cell phone, as he read the recently received message from his father.
"Okay, we'll see you later then," Ivy said, watching Casey leave the table.
Casey strapped on his roller blades and propelled his way towards the Library.
'Ivy and Derek are my best friends; they've been friends with me since first grade. I guess you could say all we have is each other, because we've gone through a lot of drama throughout the years. Although after today, things were going to change and change drastically.'
Casey got onto the computer, now being at the Library and searched for the book his dad had asked him to pick up for him. He quickly found the section and discovered the book between two large history books. He grabbed the book and the Librarian swiped through his Library card, allowing Casey to roller blade his way home.
"I got the book dad!" Casey said entering the house.
"Thanks Casey, your mother and I really needed this," his dad said taking the book from Casey.
"Diner's almost ready Casey," his mother hinted.
"Okay mom."
'My parents, on weekends, worked at home, most of the time to ensure that Crystal and I didn't get mad at them when we had plans. Both of my parents are history professors who teach at the local university. They majored in ancient history and hieroglyphics, which is probably how they met with each other. They both have studies in the basement, filling the entire basement with their home-made library. They also had computer desks on the main floor, to use the internet for anything they couldn't find in books. Neither me or Crystal are really interested in what they do though, although one book is going to catch my attention in the near future, more on that later.'
Casey's house was in the middle of the suburbs, sort of. His house was located near the Purein Lake, the small lake that Reedington provided. His room was painted a navy blue, it had a desk in it, which was neatly organized with his computer in the right corner, as his desk was in the right corner of his room; he had a small television connected with cable TV and other bedroom necessities.
After watching some of a movie that was on cable, Casey heard his sister calling for him.
"Casey! Dinner!" Crystal screamed up the stairs.
Casey turned the TV off and went downstairs for dinner. His mom had made spaghetti, one of Casey's favourites. He quickly ate the meal and just as he put his plate into the dish washer, his dad asked him for a favour.
"Casey, could you please go downstairs and fetch me that book that you brought back from the Library? It'll be on the back shelf."
"Sure," Casey said tiredly, since he was the first one finished, he was asked to do it.
He slowly walked down the stairs, seeing the massive stacked shelves of books from his parents. He walked through the maze of bookcases, and finally reached the large desking spaces of his parents. He stood straight up, scanning the books on the shelf above his father's desk; until he saw the book he had recently retrieved.
Casey grabbed the book, but as he did so, one of the books that sat beside it fell over as he pulled it out from the shelf. A silver glow was emitting form the book, but as soon as Casey turned around the light flew back into the book. Casey read the frame of the book and for some strange reason it just read 'THE CLOW.' Casey grabbed 'The Clow Book' and went back upstairs.
"Thanks Casey," Tom said grabbing the book, but quickly moving towards his office on the second floor.
"Dad?" Casey asked hesitantly.
"What is it?" he asked hastfully.
"I found this book downstairs, it was beside the book I just brought up…" he started.
"And?" his dad asked flipping through papers.
"Well, it looks really odd, and there's a lock on it, do you mind if I open it? Do you know where the key is?"
Casey's dad spun around and snatched the book. He examined it, then quickly replied.
"I can't think of any key that would fit this lock."
"But, you must, why else would it be in the basement?"
"Because, it's an ancient artifact of some kind and me and your mother can't seem to discover where the key to it could possibly be, now please I'm busy."
Casey grabbed the book off his father's desk after he slammed it roughly into the wooden desk. Casey took it to his room, to examine it a little more.
It was an indigo book, with indigo and silver on its body. It had a panther type creature on the cover and below the creature was a sun that had chains coming out the sides. On the back was a strange circle of some kind, something magical and a crescent moon beneath the seal. The book was almost in the form of a diary, with a clasp lock that wrapped from the back of the book to the front, where it was locked. Casey fiddled with the lock, hoping that it would snap open, but it gave no sign of budging. He tossed it onto his desk and began instant messaging his friends on his computer.
After his mom had come in to yell at Casey for being up past one in the morning, he went to bed. Casey woke up and went downstairs for breakfast, expecting to see his parents making pancakes or another breakfast meal, and then quickly rushing for work. He reached the kitchen, still in his pajamas, but his dad had already gone for the dam to research an artifact someone had scooped from Yule Lake.
"Where's dad?" he asked.
"He's off to study an artifact that was found out at the dam this morning," his mom said pouring Casey a glass of orange juice.
Crystal came down; dressed in fancy clothing for the get-together her and her friends had planned.
"Don't you look fancy?" Lily said looking at her daughter as she spun around to show all angles of her dress.
"I know, isn't this dress great?" she said excitedly.
"Yeah…" Casey said sarcastically.
Crystal gave him a smack on the back of his head.
"Shut up!"
"Go bore someone else with your dress."
"This dress cost three hundred dollars! It cost more than your life!"
"I'm sure my life is worth less than three hundred dollars," Casey said rolling his eyes.
"It is! All you ever do is watch TV and type on the computer!"
There was constant fighting between Casey and Crystal, and once the phone rang, their mom gave up on watching them and answered it.
"Hello?"
Casey and Crystal paid no attention to the fact their mother was on the phone, and continued to bicker.
Their mom, still on the phone, had a worried look on her face and gave small exhale.
"I-I have to go, where did I put my keys?" she said running frantically to his desk.
"Mom what's wrong?" Crystal said, abandoning the fight.
"I have to go!" their mom screamed running out the door.
"Wait, mom!" Casey said as his mom left the house and into her car, leaving the two teenagers concerned and oblivious to what was going on.
"D-dad's dead?" Crystal asked, tears running down her face.
Their mom gave a deep inhale.
"Yes Crystal, he's gone. Apparently, he had a heart condition that no one knew about. He had a heart attack and fell into the lake."
Crystal cried harder, now facing the truth to what her mother had said earlier.
Casey, sitting on the couch, curled himself into a ball and began to morn the death of Tom Ameara.
The whole family spent the next three weeks in full morning, but they soon realized that they would never get to see the face of Tom Ameara, except for their memories, or memories captured on film. Sometimes Casey felt a strange presence when he was in his room, but he was probably hallucinating. It wasn't until the fourth week after Tom Ameara's death, that they grouped themselves together.
One Year Later
'Hi, it's still Casey Ameara. It's been a year since my father's death and I've pretty much accepted it. That day that I had mentioned before, the day that would change my life forever… that was only partly the truth. That day did change my life, because, well, my father died. The earlier day was only the first step to changing my life, because I had found the Clow Book, but today was the day that I was going to finally open the book.'
Casey was lying on his bed, when he felt a strange presence. Casey felt the feeling randomly, he could never interpret what it was, he just randomly felt it. He got up, and felt the presence coming from 'The Clow.' He got up and slowly walked towards the book, extremely tense with suspense overwhelming his body.
The feeling was getting stronger; Casey hesitated to pick it up, but once he did, the feeling cleared. Surprised by this, Casey dropped the book back onto the desk, and stepped back. Then, once he re-grouped, he picked it back up. The panther on the front cover, its jaw was opening and it began silently growling. Casey gasped and dropped the book again.
"Is everything okay in there?" Crystal asked, hearing Casey's gasp.
"Y-yeah, everything's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Casey never attempted to open the book, until after dinner, when Crystal was going to see a movie and his mom going to do more research and visit Tom's grave, which she did on a constant basis, although Casey and Crystal didn't like being reminded of their fathers passing.
"I'll be back at nine okay? I have my cell phone, so you can call me if you need me, well, text me," Crystal said putting on her coat.
"Okay," Casey said.
"Don't do anything stupid," Crystal said leaving.
Casey's mom was waiting in the car, as she had to drive Crystal to the theatre. Casey ran upstairs, hoping that this time he could examine the book without any interruptions.
Casey gazed at the book, the panther wasn't moving at all, not an inch. He flipped the book to see if the back cover was doing anything abnormal. Nothing.
"Come on, you moved before," Casey pleaded for the book to do something interesting, but still nothing. "Ugh, I have to find that key!" Casey reminded himself, hoping that once he unlocked the book he would be able to learn more about it.
He began to walk to his door, but soon felt another pulse of energy from the book. He picked it up, going to take it around with him so he could find the key more easily, but as soon as Casey took a step towards the door, the lock popped open.
"Wow," he said in amazement.
He slowly opened the book's front cover, to see a card, with an image of a maze upon it, below was a ribbon-like box which read 'The Maze.' He picked it up and examined it.
"Hm, a card?" he asked himself.
He picked up the large pile of cards the first one was in and flipped through them. A series of maybe sixty cards all matching the book and all having images in the large spaces on the cards and certain names in the boxes.
"What's this?" he said looking at the back of the cover.
A paragraph was on the back of the front cover, in handwriting. Casey read it aloud.
"Clouds birth the Storm, Thunder crashing through the night
Created by the Dark, may Shadow awaken
Blinded by Light, the Sword slash through oceans of Water
Freeze the Bubbles and Jump the Maze
Fly through night as Mist rolls in
Fire roaring upon the Earth as Rain pours down
Fight the Shield, Create new Dream
Dash Through Loop and Change the Illusion
Erase the Glow to Return the Time
Wood grow upon Wave, Wind burst through Snow
Arrow Shot, Big and Little
Lock the Sleep, Mirror the Sweet
With Twin Power, Move thy strength
Float through Flower and Libra
A Silent Song to preserve my Voice
Moon and Sun, Stars of wonder
Guide me now through thy slumber.
Awaken my powers so they may extend
Release the cards and become my friend."
Casey felt a slight jolt in him, and at the same time, so did Crystal, although she didn't notice because it was a freaky part of the movie. Casey picked up the deck of cards, and flipped through them again, this time actually taking a good look at each passing card. It wasn't until he reached one that he found familiar, that he stopped flipping through them.
"It's that creature…from my dream," Casey suddenly has a flashback of the dream he had a while ago... A dream where the image on that card had saved him from certain death.
The image was a cloaked figure, it was all black, so it was obviously a dark type creature of some sort.
"Hm, who ever created these cards obviously had to have given them names, I bet their names are in that box," Casey said pointing to the ribbon-like box beneath the picture. "I guess this one's name is Shadow."
Casey examined the card more effectively; he saw that on the back of each card was the same strange seal that was on the back of the book.
'A seal is something that could summon forth creatures of great magic, or to capture a creature or creatures. Yeah, I kinda play a lot of video games,' Casey's commenter laughed. 'But this is serious, I mean, I must be dealing with magic here. This would of course explain all of the things that have happened, with my dreams and the book.'
"Shadow," Casey read, as the card rest in his left hand and the book clenched using his lower right arm.
The Shadow card began glowing with a silver light as large shadow beams of black poured out of the card. As this was all happening, the seal that was on the back of the book had formed under Casey's feet in the same silver light. The shadow beams knocked the book out of Casey's hand, landing face up on the floor. The beams of shadow then caught underneath the cards, sending them in every direction. The cards were scattered everywhere, not in the house, but in the city, flying right through the ceiling and the walls. Each card had a shadowy concoction underneath it, propelling it onward.
Within seconds all of the cards were gone, leaving only Shadow and the book. The beams of shadow flew back into the card, as the seal from the back of the book disappeared from under Casey's feet and the light faded.
Casey, now that the light was gone, lowered his arms which were guarding his face from the light. But once the light ceased to shine Casey immediately fell onto the floor with a loud thud. Casey picked up the book, which had skid across the ground only a short distance. The book had not one card left in it, except the one that Casey was holding. The Shadow.
Casey got up and closed the book, placing it on his desk, face up. As Casey turned away to sit on his bed unaware of what had just happened, the same silver light appeared again, and the panther on the cover faded. A small plush toy sized creature came out of the book; it was about one and half feet tall, with a small tail with a swirl like creation on it and tiny wings on its back, in a dragonfly formation.
Casey began to breathe heavily, giving a tiny shriek, afraid to even move because of what was happening. A tiny pink beam of light shot out from the back of the book also, but Casey was too preoccupied gazing at the small creature magically emerging forth from the books front cover.
Once completely out, the creature opened its eyes.
"It's about time, I hate being trapped in that thing." it said calmly.
"W-who, what are you?" Casey asked hesitatively, yet terrified at the same time.
"Spinel Sun, guardian beast of the seal of course. I was created by Clow Reed himself to guard the Clow Cards, well actually to guard him, but the Clow Cards are his creations."
"Who's Clow Reed?"
"You honestly have no clue who Clow Reed is?" Spinel asked with a small amount of disgust in his voice.
"No…," Casey said nervously.
"Ugh, I see we're going to have a lot of work to do. Clow Reed was one of the most powerful magicians of all time; he's the one who created the Clow Cards."
"So it was him who wrote this?" Casey asked holding up the written paragraph in The Book.
"Yup, that's his writing all right. Now where did you put the cards?"
"You mean these ones?" Casey said holding out The Shadow card.
"Aw, Shadow, yes these cards, where are they?" Spinel asked excitedly.
Casey pointed out the window with as much nerve as humanly possible; he knew that he was in major trouble. Spinel followed his finger nervously then went ballistic.
"You mean to tell me they're out there?"
"All I did was read the paragraph," Casey said defensively.
"What happened to my cards?" he screamed furiously.
"I didn't do it," Casey said rapidly.
"Of course you didn't, it'd take a really powerful magician to do this. Oh no, this can't be happening. Someone re-sealed the cards into the book."
"What's wrong, Shadow worked perfectly fine when it went insane and flew the cards across the city."
"These cards are dangerous, who knows what they'll do now that they're true forms have been released!"
"What do you want me to do?" Casey asked nervously.
"First things first, we'll have to recapture all the cards with the Sealing Wand. If they use all of their magical energy to try and destroy, the world might be at stake. You're going to have to help me!"
"What? Me, no way! The world is better off with someone else saving it. I can't save the world, I'm fourteen!"
"Well you were the one who released all the cards from the book."
"Yeah, but had you been actually guarding the cards like you were supposed to, this wouldn't have happened."
"What's your name kid?"
"Casey."
"Alright Casey, well you're going to have to get out there and capture all those cards with the Sealing Wand."
"What does that mean?"
"The Sealing Wand," Spinel said flying over towards the book.
He hit the lock with his paw and a small white ball of light popped out of the lock. It grew about the size of a light bulb and flew towards Casey.
"You need to take this wand from me," Spinel said.
"Um, that's just a ball of light…" after Casey spoke.
"Key to the seal, this boy will carry out the sacred promise. His name is Casey. I command you to bestow him with your magical powers. Release the power!"
The tiny white ball burst out a blast of light, forcing Casey to cover his face. The seal also appeared under Casey's feet again, and with the blasts of energy Casey finally managed to see what was going on.
Casey reached for the wand, but as he did, a beam of green energy shot between him and the wand, getting stronger the closer he reached for the wand. Casey tried desperately to reach for it, but the energy was pulling him back. Finally, he leapt forward and snatched the wand, doing a somersault into the side of his bed.
"Ow," Casey groaned.
"I Spinel Sun name Casey, Cardcaptor," Spinel said in triumph as he clapped shortly afterwards. "Very good, a lot more than I expected from a trainee."
"Trainee? What do you mean?" Casey said leaping up from his catastrophic fall.
"Look, you've read the paragraph; you know what these cards are and what they can do. They're magic, very powerful magic at that. Clearly you have some powerful magic, after all, whoever did this to the cards was, and dare I say it, more powerful than Clow Reed. You must have tremendous magic if you were able to break through that seal."
"Well…What kind of magic is this?"
"Powerful magic, not just anyone can become a Cardcaptor; it takes a lot more than sealing cards and using others for their abilities. If you don't treat these cards right, they'll turn on you. I'll have to teach you the basics, but even after that, you'll just have to learn as you go."
"Learn as I go? This is magic, I can't learn things if my life is in danger!"
"Relax, you're with me. I know everything about the Clow Cards; after all I am the guardian of the seal!"
"Some job you did, all the cards are gone."
"You were the one who opened the book, broke the seal and unleashed Shadow!"
"Ugh, fine, since we're here alone right now. First off tell me about these cards."
"Alright, well each Clow Card has its own magical powers and character. They were meant to be free, but the cards grew so powerful and willful that they couldn't be controlled. So Clow Reed created the book for them to be captured in and cast a powerful seal on the book so anyone without magical powers couldn't open it," Spinel explained.
"They sound dangerous."
"They are, but you have me to help you. It'll be very challenging, more so than any other expedition you could imagine, but you have to do it. Who knows what they could do with the powers they possess."
"Teach me the basics, if I'm going to do this, I may as well learn the basics right now!"
"I like the attitude. Okay, let's get started!"
After learning all the incantations, and learning to weld the wand properly, Casey was set to capture his first card, although he had little concept of the cards.
"Ugh, I'm starving got anything to eat?" Spinel said flying out Casey's room.
"Spinel!" Casey screamed, stumbling after the guardian beast.
When Casey reached the Kitchen he saw Spinel taking out a tub of ice cream. Casey quickly grabbed the tub and snatched two bowls from the cupboard.
"You need to tell me when you're leaving my room," Casey said scooping the ice cream into the bowls.
"Why, what's the big deal?" Spinel asked watching anxiously for the ice cream.
"Because, my family doesn't really understand the whole magic concept. Besides, I don't want my family to know about this, we're going through enough problems as it is."
"What do you mean?"
"Um…our dad just died. A year ago, and I don't think that hearing that I'm going on a dangerous journey to capture magical cards, will really help my family settle down."
"I-I'm sorry. I'll ask from now on, and no one will need to know."
"Thanks, now let's go back upstairs," Casey said putting away the ice cream and grabbing the bowls.
Casey and Spinel made their way up the stairs, it was then that Crystal came home.
"Casey, I'm home!" she screamed up the stairs.
"Spinel, stay here!" Casey whispered into his room, Spinel gave him a thumb up.
"Why are you always upstairs?" Crystal asked Casey.
"No reason, I guess I just like it up there," he replied.
"Well, I'm going to bed. You should too, it's late," Crystal said walking up the stairs.
Casey sighed and followed his sister up the stairs. He entered his room and closed the door quickly.
"Is everything okay?" Spinel asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I'll be right back okay?"
"Alright."
Casey went into the basement, and went into the storage portion of it, only being a small room under the staircase. He grabbed Crystal's old doll house and quickly snatched the bed.
"Here," Casey said entering his room.
"What is that?" Spinel asked.
"Look, I know it isn't that great, but at least it's a bed," Casey said putting the bed inside his top drawer in his desk.
"No, it's actually really comfortable," Spinel said crawling under the small blankets of the bed.
"I'm glad you like it," Casey replied.
Spinel fell asleep instantly, and Casey let out a huge sigh. He was still tired from practicing the welding of the wand and just grabbing the wand was exhausting. He crawled into his bed, and fell asleep.
'So that was it, I had just been named Cardcaptor. I had no knowledge of it whatsoever, but that was the day that changed my life, but one thing was certain, I was going to have to capture all of those cards.'