Chapter 1:
The Revelation at Gettysburg
My name is Derek, and this is my story of a race from another world and how they tried to take over ours. This is my tale of how I and my allies, the other Avatars, fought to protect our home. How we thwarted the plans of the dark being Yawngmoth.
I and four other kids opened booster packs of the newest Magic: The Gathering set, Onslaught, on the same day. Each of us got one of the five cards called the pit fighter legends. These cards were previewed on the Magic: The Gathering website, so we knew that in terms of the game they possessed immense power.
I found in a booster pack, "Silvos, Rogue Elemental". I, myself, am a relatively scrawny person. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. When the events in this story began, I was fourteen years old. I loved to play Magic, and had been for about two years before this began. I was from an interesting family. My mom was quite the hypochondriac, which made her into quite an annoying person due to the fact that she was always asking questions or panicking about something. My father was a war buff, so while most children were read "Franklin" or "The Hungry Caterpillar" I was read excerpts from "Patton" before bed. This led to a very painful childhood for me. I was ahead of my class in reading and writing, so I was put into "excelled" groups. I was picked on often for being a "nerd". When I went into junior high, I shed that "nerdy-ness" and became one of the regular kids. I made sure never to make fun of the so-called "weird" kids, because I had no room to. I remembered that I was once one of them. I was active in the band and choir. I loved to sing. I also loved to play the saxophone. I was in a few honors bands and even an honors choir or two. I enjoyed my life how it was. I was never a big fan of change, but then again, who is?
Ron found "Jareth, Leonine Titan". Ron is also fairly scrawny. He is tall, and has dirty blonde hair. He was part of my Boy Scout Troop so I had been friends with him for a while before this began. He, and I can safely say this, is one of my best friends. Ron had a rough childhood. His parents divorced when he was very young. His mother then remarried twice and had three children. This left Ron with three half-siblings and four step-siblings. He didn't mind this that much, but as a child he was very hostile. He was aggressive and mean to his siblings. His mother and step-father believed that he needed anger management classes. It was his true father that suggested that Ron felt that these other children didn't deserve to be called his family because they were from a different father. Ron got over his anger soon after. He surprised me when he told me this, because I had never known Ron to be hostile towards anyone ever. He told me that it was only an immature, childhood hatred for his "other" family.
Kenny obtained a card called "Arcanis, the Omnipotent". Kenny was never a close friend of mine, but he was still a friend. He is two years younger than I am, but is about as smart. He is quite spoiled, because of his two wealthy parents. I knew him through my neighbor. He was her cousin, to put it simply. He and I had been interested in Magic for the two years that I played. He started playing just before the Onslaught set began. He was never a close friend of mine, but he was always there. He always tried to get me to date his friends and silly things like that. It was never a big deal because I knew he wasn't serious, he couldn't be…
Rich got a "Rorix Bladewing" card. Rich is three years older than me. I know him through my Scout Troop, just like Ron. Rich is rather mysterious. He prefers to not stay around us younger people, because he is afraid of embarrassing himself. Rich taught me how to play Magic, because he was bored one day while we were camping. I was very thankful to have learned from such a good teacher. Rich had been my friend since I joined the troop four years earlier. He had asked me to start playing Magic for the duration of the first two years of my scouting career. I finally cracked two years before the events of this story began. He taught me well and always passed on good advice and strategies. He was a great friend and a great mentor.
Joe obtained "Visara, the Dreadful". Joe is one of my best friends. He is my age, and he and I had been playing Magic: The Gathering for about two years before this particular series of events. Joe had been my best friend for nine years, and I was glad when I learned that he too was interested in learning to play Magic. I had met Joe in Kindergarten at my elementary school. Like I mentioned before, I was picked on as a child. I was trying to prove to some of the other kids that I wasn't weird or different by making jokes. Some of the kids laughed, but there was this one… He laughed hysterically. He laughed so hard, he made milk come out his nose. I walked over to him to see if he was alright. He looked up at me, smiling as milk ran down his face. He chuckled and said:
"I like you…You're funny…"
That did it… I was one of the nerds… There was no escaping my fate… He followed me around after that and soon I realized that he and I were actually very similar. It may have taken five years, but I caught on… Remember, the teachers said I was gifted, but what do they know? I knew better…
Before the trip to Gettysburg, we all just considered it to be a coincidence. Since it was simply a coincidence, I traded my "Silvos, Rogue Elemental" card to Rich, for his "Rorix Bladewing". We never expected this event to have the positive repercussions that it did later on.
I awoke abruptly at the sound of whistling. Groggily, I crawled out of the back of my van. Picking up a piece of wood that had been laying in the fire ring, I ventured on to find the source. About ten feet away from me sat my friend, Mike Williams, on a camp chair outside of his tent.
"What are you doing up this early in the morning?" I asked.
"I can't sleep; I keep thinking about this funny looking stick that I found yesterday in the park." Mike answered.
"What about it?" I asked, in confusion.
Who cares about a stick? I knew this kid was a little messed up in the head… I thought.
"Well, the reason that it bothers me is, umm, because of you..."Mike answered.
"Okay, now you lost me, Williams." I said.
Mike got up out of his chair and looked into my eyes. He took a deep breath.
"Okay Derek, it's because I picked it up, and I felt this weird energy flowing through me, then I heard your name over and over again, like an echo." He said.
"NO! You've got to be kidding me!" I said, pushing his shoulders, causing him to fall back into his chair. "That was The Heart of the Forest! That feeling, that energy flowing through you, it was Mana!" I screamed.
"But I still don't get why it said your name." Mike said, in a confused tone.
"I read all about this in a book called The Story of Magic. It talks about how Magic came into being on our plane." I said in an excited tone, as I jumped into my van, waking up Danny Nalavis who was sleeping on the middle seat.
"Plane? Magic? What are you talking about?" Williams asked.
"Plane, another word for planet, dimension, you know, the place where we live. Magic? Well that's self-explanatory…" I explained.
"Oh, I knew that..." He said.
"Yea, sure..." I said.
"Derek? What now?" Danny groaned.
"Williams here may have found just what we were looking for! One of the Mana artifacts! And he said it knows my name!" I said, crawling into the back seat where my duffle bag was sitting. I quickly opened it and pulled out the book, then excitedly turned to the page that talked about the origins of Mana. I had found the book in my school library. I was looking for a good MTG book. There was only one hit from the search engine: a book about magic tricks... I went back to the right section to find out if there were any that were so new they hadn't been registered yet. I found the proper section, but the magic trick book wasn't even there. Just spider webs… I hated spiders… I put my hand on the book shelf and my hand fell through. The book shelf was a compartment. There was a book inside. I lifted it out. The book's title was in gold lettering: The Origins of Magic. I stuffed the book into my backpack. I figured our school librarian, Mr. Ramsey, probably knew nothing of the secret compartment. I'd found the book the day before we left for Gettysburg and had been reading it ever since. I looked at Mike, and read:
"And so Mana was brought to our world or plane as the scriptures read, in the form of five Legendary Artifacts, each infused with one of the five colors of Mana: white, blue, black, red, and green. They were known as the Mana Artifacts. Only one person could control a weapon, and the weapon chose them at birth. For most of the chosen one's childhood, their body would secretly prepare for the day that they unearthed their Mana weapon. Then during their adolescence, they will be somehow exposed to Mana and Magic. This will then start a chain of events, which include: finding their weapon, meeting the spirit of the previous owner of the weapon, and being able to cast spells. This will only happen if there is a chance of a Phyrexian invasion, lead by Yawgmoth.
"Sounds like were in for a big one! As soon as those artifacts are found, this Y-word character is going to like kill us." I said.
"It's Yawgmoth, you idiot." Danny said.
"Right, so what's your problem, Dan-O?" I asked.
"If you're going to wake me up, then don't be dumb…"He answered.
"Guys! Back on topic! Who wrote that book?" Mike said.
"Uh…"I said, looking through the first few pages. "It looks to be a…uh…"
"Ahrg!" Danny growled. "Give that here!"
He took the book from me.
"Nicholas Ramsey. You happy now?" He said to me as he handed the book back. "See? It wasn't that hard…"
"Thanks Dan-O, I don't know what I'd do with out you…." I mumbled.
"Huh?" He said.
"Nothing…" I replied.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"NOTHING!" I exclaimed.
"No, seriously. What did you say?"
"Guys? Guys!" Mike said. "Ramsey? Like the school librarian?"
"Yep, spelled the same way…" Danny said.
"Oh, so now Dan-O is the Spelling Bee champ? Cool…" I replied.
"Shut up…" Danny said.
"It's too early in the morning for me to even want to go at it…" I replied. "Consider yourself lucky…"
"Dude… You are such a jerk…" He said.
"Guys! This is getting really old…" Mike said. "Where did you get that book? And what are we going to do about that stick?"
"I found it at the school library; I was looking for a good MTG book…That's kind of weird… I wonder if he and the author are the same person. Anyways… What was I saying? Oh yes, the stick… The fate of the stick? We're going back to find it, Of course." I said.
"Yes, of course…" Danny grumbled.
"What if we can't find it again?" Derek asked.
"No worries…" I said, patting Derek on the back as I climbed out of the vehicle. "We'll find it."
"MIKE! Don't listen to him! We'll never find it!" Danny called sarcastically from the van. "We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you! DOOMED!"
"Will you shut up back there!" My Dad called back from the front seat of the car. "God…"
"What a weird kid…" Mike said.
"Yea, I know… I'm glad I'm not related to him. That would be Hell…" I replied.
After searching for an hour, the "stick" was rediscovered. I saw a very interesting vision that the sword projected into my mind. It told of its original owner, an Elemental, who had died fighting these invaders of their plane called Phrexians. Little did I know, this same thing was happening to four other boys, at the same exact moment.
"What happened Derek!" Mike asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" I replied as I began to walk back to camp.
"So really Derek, what did you say earlier?" Danny called.
I turned around and gave him an angry look, without slowing my pace.
"So let me get this straight, there were these five dudes, in a whole different world that sent there weapons here, because they died? Then they expect us, total strangers, to fight a war that they couldn't finish? This is, if I do say so myself, this is certifiably insane!" I said.
"Yea, but I doubt that this Yawgmoth guy is going to come after us." Ron said from the backseat of the van. "We're just a bunch of average kids, right?"
"Hmm… If you can call yourself average, Ron…" I said grinning.
Mike gave me a high five and we both laughed.
"Very funny…" He replied.
"I thought so…" I chuckled.
As this was happening, Our Scout Troop was going to visit the Gettysburg Memorial Cemetery.
As we walked through, someone muttered the words to a song we all knew. They sang:
"I hear people saying, we don't need this war."
Then I replied: "But I say there are some things worth fighting' for."
Then a group of us chimed in:
"What about our freedoms, and this piece of ground? We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down."
So there we were, with our newfound powers, singing as we walked through the cemetery. This was a fitting beginning for the legacy of the new Avatars of Magic…Right?