Ch 1: Morning, the Phases of a Wizard

(Ian's P.O.V)

Beep, beep, beep. I woke up to the sound of my alarm on a Saturday morning feeling a little annoyed, but who isn't when you would rather sleep for a few more minutes after a long night. Sighing, I shut off my alarm and got dressed into Dad's sweatshirt before heading downstairs. I only made it down a few steps before tripping over Blazey, my pet dragon, and sliding down the rest of the stairs.

"Ow, Blazey," I said, looking at the dragon from the top of the stairs. Blazey just looked at me and ran down, jumping on to me and knocking me over as I stood up. He then started giving me kisses as my mom entered with a spray bottle.

"Blazey, down. Go back to your layer," she said, as the dragon got off me and went to another room. "Ian, are you alright?"

"Yeah. Just a little banged up from tripping over Blazey on the stairs, that's all," I replied, standing up.

"That's good. That dragon is always getting under people's feet," Mom said. "Come on. Breakfast is ready in the kitchen." I smiled and followed Mom into the kitchen to find three bowls of cereal with toast and jelly. "Wow. Thanks Mom," I said.

"You're welcome. Barley should be down in a few minutes. You know how he is with wanting to organize his game before coming down," she said, and I smiled.

"Yeah. I don't understand why he still has it. We went on a quest last month to find a Phoenix Gem, so he doesn't have to keep imagining what one would be like," I explained.

"That's right, but the quest was only the beginning," Barley exclaimed as he entered the kitchen.

"Are you serious," I asked as Mom gave him a "really" look.

"Yep," said Barley, sitting down. "All young wizards start with a quest where they learn magic and spells, which we did last month. That was phase one."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "So now there are phases?" I asked, and Barley nodded. "Yes," he said.

"Okay, what are they?"

"I'm glad you asked, Ian. The first phase you already know about, because we just lived through it. The second phase is when you learn new and more complex spells, such as time travel or traveling to different worlds and dimensions. The third phase is when you help civilians of another world save the day, and the fourth phase is space travel and helping people of other planets save their worlds," Barley explained. "At least that's what Dad wrote down in his journal."

I stood there in surprise. "Wait. Dad kept a journal," I asked.

"He did. Every night after dinner, your dad would go upstairs to his room and write about his day. But I didn't know he wrote about wizards and spells," Mom explained.

"Well, he did. I was reading about it, and Dad even wrote some of his own spells, just like the one that brought him back to life for a day," Barley explained.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. From what Barley was saying, Dad was teaching himself magic while training to be a wizard. "That's incredible," I said.

Barley smiled. "Yeah, it is, and get this. From what I was reading, it sounds like Dad was on or just finished phase three of becoming a wizard before he got sick," he exclaimed. "How cool is that?"

"Pretty cool, but it also sounds a bit crazy. I mean other dimensions. That's not even possible," I said. Mom sighed. "Your brother's right, Barley. There's no evidence to prove their existence," she added, but Barley refused to give up.

"No. It's true," Barley said, shaking his head. He then pulled out Dad's journal and turned to the page talking about his wizard experiences and adventures. "Take a look."

Mom and I looked at the page where Dad wrote about being a wizard. He wrote about the basics of being a wizard, the staff, new spells, the phases of becoming a wizard, and a hand drawn picture of what looked like another dimension. "Wow," I breathed. I was slightly amazed with what I was looking at, and Mom took the journal moments later and looked through it, shaking her head.

"Wilden, what is this," she said, walking away from the table. I then looked back towards Barley, who was smiling.

"I know. Pretty cool, isn't it? Dad not only wrote down spells but the name of the dimension he traveled to and what he saw and did there," he said.

I was becoming more impressed, but slightly though, so I asked Barley what the name of the dimension was. "San Fransokyo," he replied. "Dad also wrote about helping this guy named Boss Awesome save the city."

Now I was confused. "Who's that?"

"I'm guessing he's some boss man, but looking at the other half of the name, I'm starting to guess he's some superhero," Barley explained. I was even more confused. "A superhero?"

"Yeah. Wizards sometimes help them out. I mentioned this earlier," he explained. "Oh yeah. Right," I said before realizing something.

"Barley. Is it possible for me to reach the second phase and learn the new spells? From what Dad wrote, it sounds like I finished the first phase, so I'm ready to go onto the next one, right," I asked, and Barley's smile grew wider.

"That's right. I was planning on convincing you to go to the fields to practice these spells anyway, but now I don't have to," he exclaimed. "What time do you want to leave?"

I thought about it for a bit. "Is now okay," I asked.

Barley nodded. "Of course, it is! Come my dear brother, and let's learn these spells," he said, before grabbing my arm. I had to tell him to be careful of Dad's sweater. "Sorry," he said, letting go of my arm. I said it was fine as I followed Barley towards the door. But we only made it out halfway before Mom came up to us asking where we were going.

"We're heading to the field so Ian can learn some of Dad's spells, if that's alright," said Barley.

Mom looked like she was thinking about it for a moment before nodding. "Okay but take your dad's journal with you. I was reading through it, and he wrote down some tips to show you how to do the spells correctly," Mom explained, while handing us Dad's journal. "And please be careful. I don't want a repeat of what happened last month with the dragon and the gem." Barley and I nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry, Mom. We'll be careful, and we'll call you if we get into any trouble," I explained.

Mom smiled. "Okay. Now go and have an adventure," she said. Barley and I smiled back and hugged her before heading out the door towards Guinevere the Second. Once we were in, Barley started it up, and we were on our way to the fields.