AN: I know I should have some huge massive explanation as to why I haven't updated in so long. I lost the rough draft for Chapter Six during the 4th of July, and after that I suddenly lost inspiration. However, you can thank The Monkey Girl, another author on fanfiction, for updating her W101 story because it made me want to write the Dawn of Heroes again xD Well, you've waited long enough to read this, so I'm going to let you read now…

CHAPTER SIX

Dark Magic

-0-0-0-

Out of instinct, I quickly grabbed my wand.

The figure quickly stepped back, obviously frightened.

"Seth," a familiar voice said. "It's just me."

I heard the man mutter a spell under his breath, and the room filled with light. Richard SteelWielder—my father—stepped out of the shadows and greeted me.

"Sorry for frightening you," he apologized. "I was just trying to do something."

Instantly I wondered what thing he was 'trying to do' in my bedroom. I didn't speak up about it, though. I just simply asked what he was trying to do.

"I was trying to cast a spell on you. Age fourteen is when wizards actually enroll in Ravenwood for the first time. Your younger sister, Heather has been attending DragonBlood Academy."

I recognized DragonBlood as Anthony's last name. He explained a second later.

"Anthony's great-grandfather, Valdus DragonBlood, founded it. It's a school for young wizards. It teaches them simple magic such as turning a brick into a bunny rabbit. Ravenwood is actually when you learn interesting battle and combat spells revolving around the elements."

"So what spell were you casting?" I asked.

"It's called the Knowledge Spell. It gives the target it was casted on knowledge of all the spells that are intended to be learned before Ravenwood. It was created for wizards in situations similar to you."

In situations similar to me, he said. As if wizards torn from their parents, growing up on Earth for the first fourteen years of their live in horrible orphanages, then being thrown into another dimension, forced to learn magical spells, was something that happened every day.

"So…basically, when you cast this spell on me…well, I'm guessing Luke starts Ravenwood this year?"

"Yes. He already attended DragonBlood Academy. You came here just about on time to start Ravenwood.

"So…when you cast this spell on me, I'll know all of the normal spells? Like Luke?"

"Correct."

"Then…cast away, I guess."

Richard gave me a sly smile. He requested that I closed my eyes. I obeyed. He whispered, "Sciendemagus."

Instantly, I felt a rush in my head. It was as if little memories had ignited—little memories that I didn't remember. Except instead of memories, they were spells. Leporablater, Hominspiruglacie, Quisappar, Vidennatali, and so on.

Then, the rush suddenly stopped.

"Perfect," Richard said. "Would you like to test it?"

"Umm…sure?"

He smiled. He asked me to lift my wand. I did.

"We'll start with something small. Like a fireball spell."

That, was small?

"I myself was a Balance wizard when I was in Ravenwood," he said. "So was Angela. Heather, as you know, is also a Balance wizard. As you know, Luke is all three of the Spiritual Schools. It makes sense, I guess, that you're all of the Elemental Schools. You guys are twins. Twins generally have the same school of magic, or the complete opposite. Or they inherit their school from a parent or distant relative. But anyways, let's start practice."

XxXxX

"And you're positive this is safe?" I asked.

"One hundred percent," he responded. "Just chant the word, Infernetti."

I raised my wand and shouted the chant. Nothing happened.

"You kind-of have to flick your wand while saying it. And you have to say it with feeling."

I chanted the word again, while flicking my wand. I didn't know exactly how to say it with 'feeling', so I sort-of just said it with more expression. Suddenly, the tip of my wand crackled with fire, flames dancing off the very tip.

Richard grinned. "Excellent."

"How do I make it stop?"

Suddenly his face fell. "Well…spells stop after they are used properly. The Infernetti spell sends a fireball off the tip of the wand."

"So I have no way of getting rid of it unless I flick it somewhere?"

"Basically."

Considering the house was basically an island floating in the middle of a sky, I stood on the edge of the grass and flicked the fire off my wand. The fireball grew larger and unattached itself from the tip of my wand and sped away into the starry night.

When I turned around, Richard was standing behind me.

"I think that's enough practice for tonight," Richard said. "Tomorrow's you and Luke's first day of Ravenwood. It's Heather's last year at DragonBlood Academy before she starts attending Ravenwood."

We went back inside, and I went back into my bedroom. After getting underneath my covers, Richard peaked in from the doorway.

"Good night, Seth."

"Good night, Richa—I mean, Dad."

He smiled, and closed the door. He said something on the other side of the wall, and the light disappeared from my room.

XxXxX

The next morning, I walked downstairs into the kitchen. Angela was making French toast and bacon. Heather was already sitting at the table, and I could hear Luke's footsteps coming from the second floor of the house.

I sat down at the table quietly. Angela planted a plate instantly in front of me at the table. I took a bite, and instantly fell in love with her cooking, just as I had with the pasta she made. The food she served was a huge step up from the food I ate in the orphanage.

Luke came downstairs and ate breakfast with Heather and I. Richard didn't seem to be present at the house at all, so I assumed that maybe he had a job or went shopping or something.

After breakfast, she told Luke and Heather to put their plates in the sink. However, she pampered me for some reason, and took my plate away from me once I was finished.

After several minutes, Angela told us that it was seven thirty. Homeroom started officially at seven forty-five, so she ushered us to get going. I didn't know where exactly to go, so I simply followed Luke and Heather.

After saying goodbye to our mother, the three of us walked outside. Luke and Heather began walking towards the Spiral Door (which my parents had explained to me the night before). Heather slid a key into the keyhole, and I almost followed her, but Luke grabbed my shoulder.

"The key that she has leads to DragonBlood Academy. She's going to a different destination. I have the key to Ravenwood."

I didn't exactly know how to reply to that, so I just nodded.

After Heather said goodbye to us, she turned the doorknob and opened the door. A vortex was on the other side of it. She calmly walked through it and disappeared in a flash of light. The door closed by itself.

Luke stepped forward and put a different looking key into the lock. "Dad gave me this key this morning. It's my first year at Ravenwood, too."

He turned the doorknob and opened the door. A different colored vortex was swirling through the doorway. I was somewhat frightened for some reason, and Luke seemed to understand. He walked through, and he turned into a bright flash of light. The door began to quickly close, but I caught it with my foot. Quickly, I stepped into the vortex.

All I could see around me was a blur of many different colors. I didn't see Luke or anybody, so I was completely alone, wrapped up in a rainbow.

And then, suddenly, I felt like I was falling. The colorful background disappeared, and then I was in complete darkness. I landed smoothly on a black floor. Luke was standing in front of a door, which stood in the middle of the black void. I walked towards him. He opened the door to reveal the smell of forest pine. We walked through the doorway, and we were in the middle of a large tree. The Spiral Door was on top of a platform. People came in and out of the tree through another door in the distance. I began walking down the platform when somebody knocked me down by running into me.

"Watch where you're going!" the boy shouted. He stared me down with his intense, grass green guys. His black bangs hung in his face. His pale skin was a large contrast to my tanned skin. He continued glaring at me, then continued walking in the direction he was going.

Luke helped me up. "Don't mind Alex. He's just mean."

"And rude," I added.

"Nobody really knows his story," Luke sighed as we continued walking. "Nobody knows why he's so mean to everybody. But his grades are horrible. He listens to depressing music. He lives in the same neighborhood as Jake. We think he's just suffering from depression or something and copes with it by raging at everyone else; by making everyone feel scared."

We walked out the front door of the tree.

"The school called our house to tell us that because of the way homerooms are organized, we'll be in Moolinda Wu's homeroom. That homeroom has all the people with last names R to Z."

"Alright," I said. We began walking towards the Life School, backpacks slung over our shoulders.

We walked in and instantly took a seat next to Monica, Kelsey and Natalie.

"Hey guys," Luke greeted.

"Hey," they all replied with a smile.

People continued piling into homeroom. Eventually, Moolinda began speaking.

She said in a Chinese accent, "Good morning, everyone! Because this is our first day, when I call attendance, please tell me if you have a preferred nickname you would like to be addressed by."

She began calling attendance, starting with the Rs.

"Madeline RavenWhisper?" Moolinda called.

"Here," a girl with dark hair and dark eyes replied. She wore dark robes and makeup. "You can call me Maddie."

Moolinda scribbled something down on the attendance sheet, then walked over to where Maddie was sitting and handed her a schedule. Then, she continued to call attendance.

"Monica RosePetal?" she shouted.

Monica called to Moolinda's attention. Moolinda handed her a schedule and continued calling people: Eric ShadowFlame, Kimberly SoulBreath, twins Chase and Grace SpellBreaker. Next, she called out Natalie. She gave Natalie a schedule, which I gazed at as she read it.

The schedule had Natalie's name in the top left corner, and it listed her homeroom teacher, list of classes, and so on. I stopped looking at the schedule when I realized I should pay attention to who was being called for attendance.

"Lucas SteelWielder?"

"Here," my brother said. "You can call me Luke."

Moolinda wrote something down on the attendance sheet.

"Seth SteelWielder?"

"Here," I said, raising my head. She glanced at me for a second and nodded, then handed me my schedule.

"Kelsey StormCloud?"

Kelsey did the same as everyone else did, and was handed a schedule. Slowly, I began to stop paying attention to the names being called for attendance and began reading my schedule. Ravenwood seemed to run on a three day schedule, with different classes in a different order on each day. I assumed today was Day One, as it was the first day of school. According to the schedule, I had Ice Class first, then Fire Class, and then Storm. I talked with Monica, Kelsey, Natalie and Luke until the bell rang, signaling the start for first period. I walked over to the Ice school immediately, remembering the warning Professor Greyrose had given me.

The second I walked into the Ice School, I felt my body temperature decrease dramatically. I began to get Goosebumps, but I avoided them and took a seat.

Eventually, the bell rang again, signaling for class to start. Some people were still filing into the room and getting into their seats. Several moments later, Lydia Greyrose began to speak.

"Good morning, class! My name is Professor Greyrose! First I am going to take attendance, and then our lessons shall begin!"

She began calling attendance, and I realized that Rose was actually in my class, which I suppose made sense considering she was a student of Ice Magic. After she finished the attendance list, she told us to select one of our binders to be used for Ice Class.

I bought binders based on colors for the school—I had a blue binder for Ice, a red binder for Fire and a purple binder for Storm. Generally, out of the three classes during the day, people had two of the three classes dedicated to their primary school of magic and one of the three classes dedicated to their secondary school. However, considering I was enrolled in Fire, Ice and Storm, I wasn't given the option of having a secondary school.

Professor Greyrose, in her fairy-like ways, fluttered around the classroom, placing papers in front of us. They were labeled: ICE and had the symbol of the Ice school, a snowflake, below it. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the papers were engraved onto our binders, becoming a binder cover.

She then asked us to fill our binder with filler paper, which we did. Throughout the entire class, all we did was set up our binder, learn each other's names a little better, and got shown around the room. Towards the end of class, she told us all to stand up, and began giving assigned seats. I was on the right side of the room in the second row of desks. Also, Rose was placed in front of me, so I at least could have a friend to talk to and get along with in Ice.

Then, the bell rang. I didn't know where the bells were coming from—probably nowhere and just sound produced by magic—but you could hear them very clearly. Some people stood up to leave, but others didn't. According to my schedule, I had Fire Class next. I walked over to the Fire School, and felt the differences in temperature change. I went from chattering my teeth because of the cold to sweating because of the heat.

Due to the differences in some people's schedules, some of the people that had been in Fire Class while I was in Ice were leaving the room, but some stayed there. Luckily, I wasn't the only person who suddenly just had Fire Class, so I wasn't just walking in there by myself and making a fool of myself. I noticed that Monica was sitting in the class, too.

For Fire Class, we pretty much did the same thing as we did in Ice—we had introductions, began to set up our binder, learned about what we would be doing over the course of the year, and so on. However, the people who had Fire Class already just got to kind-of chill while us new kids were taught about everything they just learned about.

Professor Falmea didn't assign seats, which made me kind-of happy because I was seated next to Monica, and a girl named Violet who seemed pretty nice. However, Falmea warned that if it got to out of hand, seats would be assigned.

Towards the end of the period, a cauldron full of a reddish orange liquid began bubbling. Falmea walked towards it calmly and wove her hands above it. The image of Merle Ambrose, our headmaster, rose from the cauldron.

"Is Monica RosePetal in your class at the moment?"

"Yes," said Professor Falmea.

"Could you please send her to my office?"

Falmea nodded, and Ambrose's image disappeared. Monica packed her things together, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and exited the Fire School. I found it kind of weird, but I decided I'd ask her about it later.

Soon, the bell rang for the last period of the day. I had Storm Class. I exited the Fire School and began walking towards the School of Storm. I noticed Kelsey walking towards the Storm School, which made me happy, because it meant I had at least one friend in each of my classes.

Storm class dragged on just as Fire and Ice did, and we went through the same procedure. Professor Baelstrom separated the people who had already been in Storm Class from the people who were coming here for the first time. It was only me and about five other students who were here for the first time. Kelsey was on the other side of the room, but considering she was walking towards the school when I was, it was apparent that she had Storm Class first period, then her secondary school, and finally Storm again.

We did the same things as we did in other classes—set up our binder, learned about Storm Class, and so on. Baelstrom also introduced us to the School Tree, Torrence. Eventually, the bell rang, and the school day was over.

I walked inside of Bartleby and stood around for a while for Luke, since he had the key. I didn't know why my parents hadn't given me a key yet, but I really hoped Luke hadn't just forgotten about me and already left for home.

After several minutes, as students were finally starting to clear out, I checked the time. I had been here for several hours, and it was almost 12:30. I knew that schools on Earth generally lasted until two or three in the afternoon, but I understood why we got out so early considering we only had three classes that were an hour-and-a-half long each.

Suddenly, Luke came running up to me.

"Seth! We have to get to Firecat Alley! It's important!"

Luke clearly looked very distraught and upset. He was sweating very badly and he had a terrified look in his eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, shocked.

"Monica's house is on fire!"

AN: CLIFFHANGER! I'm kind of suckish like that after being gone for so long, but I really want reviews XD I've decided not to ask three questions, but just one: How do you think Monica' s house caught on fire? What do you think happened?