Sparrow awoke violently from his dream, not in his castle, but in the sky high above the peaks of Mount Ruon. He had no idea how he got there, but he remembered his dream, and the mask. He knew that somehow, that dream was more reality than he could've imagined at the time.
He opened his mouth wide and screamed as he plummeted towards his doom.
It was that hour of the morning in Bowerstone.
It was that one hour between the moon setting and the sun rising, when the human heart slows to a crawl and the world seems at equilibrium. It was that one hour that Brian, son of Sparrow, slowly creaked his door open and tiptoed silently through the castle, holding his breath and stopping still in his tracks at any sound of movement, or the flicker of torchlight from one of the castle's many halls.
What he was doing was not bad – technically. The only protocol he was breaching was sneaking into the castle library without his father's permission. And that isn't such a crime, now is it?
Not for Brian, it wasn't. You see, Brian was the talk of much of Bowerstone. He was a popular, athletic fifteen-year-old kid, who demanded the attention of all women his age. Brian also seemed to show exceptional leadership and intelligence, as determined by his private tutors. But he was not always that way – for at one point, Brian had become a will user.
It all happened one day, when Brian was no more than eight years old. His father was out some kind of diplomatic mission, and Brian was left in the castle by himself, with only the butler Jeeves to accompany him. Brian was exploring the various halls and hiding from his tutors, when he came across a wall that looked out of place. He stared at the stone fixture that blocked his path, until suddenly, it began to slide out of his way. Curious as he was, Brian went into the tunnel that the stone wall had previously encased.
The tunnel was paved by very old stone, and lit by torchlight – blue torchlight. Brian did not then know it, but he had just seen his first display of will – the tunnel would only open to those who had the blood of a will user in them.
The tunnel did not go on for very long until it came to a perfectly domed room, with several shelves stuffed with alchemical objects and books, with one book in particular that caught his eye. It was a blue tome, with a gold binding and a star on the front. It was on a glass table, and it's title was clear and bold as Brian sat down on the finely carved chair next to it.
The title read: Basic Spells.
The first question he asked himself when he came to, was "Where am I?"
A splitting headache greeted Sparrow as images began to flood into his brain. Rubble surrounded him, and several heavy stones rested on his bruised and battered body.
He mustered up enough strength to get the stones off, and stood up with much difficulty and pain. He knew that several bones were broken, and he was in no condition to use will to heal himself. He would have to wait it out, as the blood of the heroes would slowly bring him the strength needed to escape his moonlit prison. Which, by the way, he judged to be a crevice a quarter-mile abyss, set between two of the Ruon range peaks.
Unfortunately for him, waiting it out would not be an option. The pale glow of the moon was nothing compared to the dark red glow of evil. Something was down there with him.