Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Note: Pay close attention to the following sequences. I'll try and send it in italics, but I can't guarantee anything.
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Colors: A prelude to Death-Black
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It was April 13th, of the year 1987. A prostitute had forgotten to take, "the pill," nine months before hand, and was too in debt to pay for an abortion. She had already made plans, however, to give this newborn baby up for adoption. 43 painful hours she was in labor. To her, being raped years ago never hurt as much physically as what she was going through. But, when it was all over. When she held that tiny creature in her arms, something inside of her weakened. She held the baby close, and as it stopped crying, and tears began to run down her face, she cooed softly. "My son…my son." She held the baby closer, being sure not to crush its tiny body, even though she could have. "How could I ever think of letting go of you?" She pulled the baby away from her chest, and it looked her right in her eyes, "My son…I think…that I shall call you…Drake."
Drake…what an awful name for a human. I don't know why she called me that, but for the rest of my life, all I knew was that I hated that name…and yet, I loved it.
The old man was strong. I could sense it. Not in body mind you, but in mind and spirit. If he wanted to, I'm sure he could have crushed us all in a single blow. Sarah, the girl I was holding, passed out after drinking that stuff, so I set her down and concentrated on the old man. He said his name was Urza. Heh, somehow, that name sounded so familiar. I made sure to keep my distance from him, just in case he tried anything.
"You are all probably wondering who I am, and what I'm doing here?" He looked around at all of us, "Well, besides for knowing my name, who I am, nor what I am, is none of your business. However…." He tapped his staff on the ground, and we were in a forest. It was the strangest sensation that rushed over us. There we were, standing in the middle of the school's parking lot, then we were smack in the middle of a thick forest. No, make that a jungle. Everyone was thoroughly surprised, whipping there heads around to look at where we were. The old man continued to talk even while we were in astonishment.
"As a rule, I do not mess with the business, and the dealings of Earth. However…" His eyes did another complete scan of the group, "Things have gone awry."
Tayliana, the first one besides me to stop gaping in astonishment, shot a direct eyeline to him, "Awry? What do you mean?"
The old man glared at her, then looked down and continued talking, "You see, the power of magic has only been limited to the world of…."
"Hold hold hold…hold on," Jack interrupted, "Magic? What do you mean magic?"
"I see this is going to take a lot of time to be able to make you
understand. Very well, you are young and
inexperienced, so I shall tell you.
Magic is a powerful force of energy, where no being can experience all
of its limitless power it holds. As
such, it is divided into five sources, each one having unique characteristics,
and personalities of its own." He looked
at Jack, "Red, the magic of the heart." At Tayliana, "Blue, the magic of the
mind." At Jesse, "Green, magic of the body." He looked down at Sarah, sleeping
peacefully, "White, the magic of life." And his eyes did a piercing glare in my
direction, as he slowly walked over to me, "And black, the magic of death."
I lived with my mother for six years. During those six years, even SHE could tell I was different from the other children. I don't know, if it was the fact that my hair was pure pitch black that it made it look like gel, or it was my glossy black eyes that did it, but I was different, and everyone who met me knew that. But she loved me just the same, even if she couldn't afford the luxuries that other families could, she would always try to make up for it. She still, however, sold her body for money, and that disgusted me to where I would throw up when she left. Then one night, she never came home. I waited for three days, sitting on the couch by the front door of our run down trailer, but she never came back.
"You mean…? HE has these weird powers too?!" Jesse yelled out. I smirked.
"Since I was born."
"Black…death. I always DID think you were a little creepy." Tayliana said. I just ignored her.
The old man continued to talk, "May I continue?" We all shot him another look, "As I was saying, the five of you, have been bestowed with an awesome power. A power that can become so great that entire nations have crumbled before the fury of one man. However, to your world, that power has been forbidden from the beginning."
No one said a word, until Jack spoke up, "Forbidden?"
"Yes, forbidden. Although quite possible for someone to even acquire a fraction of these powers, what you call witches, the power of magic was only limited in great amounts to my world, the world you are in right now. Dominaria."
"Dominaria?" Tayliana asked, "You mean we're not on Earth?"
"I am a Planeswalker, as such, I am able to go between my world, and any other worlds as I see fit. However, I do not go to destroy worlds, but to merely teach them. Although there are many worlds out there, they are not all bound by the same law that has been put upon your world, and why that is, is unknown to me. Planeswalkers are even forbidden from entering your world. Despite this fact, I came to your world upon hearing that the power of magic has been unleashed onto your world, and in a great amount for so few of you to experience so much of it." Another group stare, "I am here, to teach you of your newfound abilities, so that when you return, you do not abuse them for your own purposes, for I fear that this is only to beginning of your problems."
Jack raised his hand, "Question. What if we think your story is a crock of shit?"
The old man glared at him, placed the end of his staff on the ground, and aimed the front of it at Jack, "Don't push your luck with me boy." All of a sudden, Jack's feet lifted off the ground, and he was hovering in mid-air, as the old man walked straight towards him, "For here, I am the teacher, and you are the mere student. And frankly, I don't give a damn what your study habits, or attitude was like back on Earth, because in my class…." Jack's feet were pulled out from under him, so he came face-to-face with the old man, "…a detention could mean your sanity, and a failing grade could mean your life." With that, Jack was launched backwards by an awesome force, and he collided head-on with a tree. He hit it so hard, that he literally shattered the entire trunk, and the tree fell forward, missing Urza by inches. I was ready to fight, as Tayliana and Jesse rushed over to Jack's aid.
"You see boy?! What you just witnessed, is a beginners lesson I give to all of my students! If you can't master your powers, and be able to resist a simple telekinesis spell, you have no chance of surviving even the first quiz!"
It was about a week after my mother disappeared. I had hoped in the back of my mind that she would come back, but I knew she wasn't. Then one day, I had a visitor. He never gave me his name, but I knew that he was someone important, somebody important, and dangerous. He said that if I wanted to see my mother, I would have to come with him. Hope clouded my judgment, although even if I did refuse, he would have taken me by force. For four years I waited for my mother. I earned my keep by being a little servant to the fat bastard for those years. Never getting an ounce of respect, not even from the other servants. Sure, there was the exception of the elderly cook, whom had been working for him since the dawn of man. I waited and waited for my mother, still struggling onto that last remaining hope. But that hope was fading, and there was only one thing, for the last few months of my stay there, that kept me from running away. I wanted to kill that man.
As Jesse and Tayliana hoisted Jack up to his feet, the old man glanced in my direction, then proceeded to walk over to me. Then stopped, his face about a foot away from mine. I knew I could take him, at least, that's what I wanted to believe.
"Come on." He said all too coolly, "I would like to see how you fair."
I couldn't believe what he said, and that angered me. I focused my mind and concentrated on using my power to increase my strength, and I swung at him. It missed, no, he dodged it. I continued to swing wildly, for any chance that one of the punches might hit him. Nothing wanted to land though, until finally I lost my balance and fell over. As I struggled to get up, I felt a powerful force wrap around my body, and began to squeeze. It was like an invisible hand was crushing me to death, I couldn't even scream. It finally lifted me up in the air, and threw me on the ground just like it did with Jack. Luckily, I didn't hit a tree on my way down. I painfully moved my head to look at him, who was looking down at me.
"Hmm…you DO have great potential. You all do." He walked in between the middle of us, "Unfortunately, inexperience, lack of judgment, and uncontrollable emotions prevent you from going any further." I slowly got up, my eyes fixated on where he was, as was Tayliana's and Jesse's. The old man ignored us, and motioned his head to Sarah, "Come, your friend awakes."
Sure enough, as soon as he said that, Sarah's eyes opened, as she looked up into the sky. Jesse immediately let go of Jack, who, with Tayliana, almost fell to the ground. He was quickly by her side, as he helped her sit up and she looked around dazily.
"Wha-? Who? Huh?" She said wearily. The old man walked off into the woods, calling out.
"Get some rest tonight! Because tomorrow…class starts!"
I remember it all as if it was yesterday. I was finishing sweeping the shag carpet of the hallway outside the main chamber, when I heard him and his goons discussing. "So who's the kid?" One of them said. "That brat? He was the kid of that one chick." He answered. "What chick? You hire so many of them that it's kind of hard to keep track of them." "She was the one who…had a change of heart." There was silence for awhile, until the entire room burst out in laughter. "OH! THAT girl!" "Heh, what'd you do with that little whore anyways?" "Well, let's just leave it that she no longer has any TIME to be with her son, or do anything else for that matter!" The entire room burst out with laughter again, but in my ears, it quickly faded away. I couldn't, no, didn't want to believe what I just heard. My mother was dead. My mother was killed. My mother was murdered! And me, the foolish youth that I was, employed under the services of the same man who had killed her, and had deceived me for four years into believing that my mother was still alive. I hated him. I wasn't angry, I wasn't sad nor was I in grief. All I knew, was that I hated this man with the purest of hatred, and he had to pay for what he has done to me. I remember slamming the door open, although no sound came, as I kept hearing that voice in my head, telling me to kill him. I saw him and his goons jump, and point their guns at me, their mouths were moving, but I heard nothing. When finally my ears started working, the last words I heard him say were, "…and now you will die just like your whore of a mother." The gun fired, and I remember the bullet slowly making its way to me. Then I blacked out.
Might had fallen upon our little area of woods that me and the others were trapped in. Few words had been said. Sarah asked what happened and what was going on, and we told her. Jack had tried to lighten the mood once, Tayliana told him to shut up, and that was it. Sarah had managed to build a small fire to keep us warm for the night. It didn't help much though, since the fire wasn't that big.
"Jack, could you make the fire a little bigger?" I heard Tayliana said, she was wrapped up in several layers of blankets that the old man discarded right before he left. Jack ooked over to her and nodded.
"I-I'll try." He must have still been sore from being flung against the tree. He held up his hand to the fire, and began to concentrate right in the middle of it. We sat there for what seemed like the longest time, until finally, the fire erupted, and spread further out to us, barely missing us. Everyone except me gasped in surprise, and relief as they huddled in closer to the fire, and began to talk.
"So what are we going to do about tomorrow?" Jesse asked.
"God, I don't even want to think about it!" Tayliana exclaimed. I never did liked conversations, and I wasn't all that cold to begin with, so I left and sat behind a nearby tree. I could still hear them talking, but barely.
"What's his problem?"
"He's probably one of those anti-people persons."
"So is anyone else wondering what the hell we're going to be doing tomorrow?"
"Nope. I wondering how the hell we're going to survive it. You saw what the 'beginners lesson' was?"
"He's probably just pulling our legs."
"Well he'd better let go of mine if he knows what's good for him."
"I think I'm going to go to sleep guys."
"Okay then."
"Goodnight."
They continued on talking, and I listened, hoping their boring conversation would help me fall asleep. I was just about to, when I noticed a figure standing over me. It was Sarah, I noticed she was still wearing her destroyed outfit, and over her shoulders was another blanket. She smiled at me.
"Um, hi." I just ignored her, I was tired, and wanted to fall asleep. "Um, I-I just want to say thank you…for saving me." I looked up at her, and noticed she was still smiling. 'One of those kind of persons,' I thought.
"It was nothing." I said, trying to get her away.
I heard her giggle, "Hey, if you ever want to come and talk with us, it is alright if you do so. We may be an odd bunch, and Jack and Tay may say some harsh things at times, but we're all really good people. If you'd like, you can be our friend too." I grunted. "Well, goodnight Drake. Sweet dreams." And she left.
When I awoke, it was a bloodbath. No one was alive, except me. I looked around, everyone looked as if they were mauled by a terrible creature. Ripped-off limbs strewn the floor, deep gashes were made in skin. I even noticed a bullet hole in one of their heads, probably trying to avoid the same torture as his fellows had. There was only one man who wasn't ripped limb from limb. It was the boss, the man I hated more than anything. Instead of being destroyed, like the others, he looked like a mummified corpse. The very life was sucked out of him, and his bones had become soft, and brittle. He crumbled after several minutes, and I couldn't help but cry. It was just a swelling of tears first, then an all-out bawling. I didn't know what happened. I didn't want to KNOW what happened. But whatever it was, I was most likely the cause of it. The servants heard my cries, and rushed up into the room. Most of them gasped, and fainted upon sight of it, some looked at me fearfully, while the others looked, actually relieved. The cook was the only one to approach me however, as she took me in her arms, and quickly carried me off, away from that cursed place. There, we traveled, from house to house, until finally we ended up in Franklin Memorial High School, and that's where I met Jesse and the others.
'Friends huh?' I thought to myself, 'Don't think I've ever had friends before.'
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End Chapter 5