CHAPTER 1

Run…

That was the only thing on his mind as he struggled to make his legs move as fast as they could, as he ran through the hallways of his home. He had heard a very distinct and loud crashing sound from his room, his instincts took over, and the only thing it was telling him was to run, run to the source of the sound which happened to be his parents’ room

Maneuvering through the house which was anything but small, he ran while taking multiple turns and calling out to his parents in this maze of a house that had started to seem bigger.

A few times, his legs failed him making him stumble and fall multiple times. He was doing what an average 9-year-old would never be able to. Only even his unusual athleticism had its limits. He could only run so fast. Every second more he spent running, he felt that he had to run faster. It was at a time like this that he cursed living in such a big mansion. All that was on his mind was getting to his parents’ room but his little legs and limited speed posed quite the obstacle to achieving that goal. Fatigue was kicking in hard, and even though he had been running for a short period, the mental fatigue was already too much for a child his age. He had only heard a very loud noise, but his mind insisted that there was something wrong, something very wrong; after all his parents would have heard his crying and his calls for them, they would have come to tell him that it was all fine and that nothing would happen, if only he knew that reality was going to teach him a cold lesson; one that he would never come to forget.

He finally reached his destination and stood in front of the door.

“Mom, Dad”, he called out, but no response came. He reached for the handle of the door, hands shaking; He had been completely overwhelmed by fear. There was no way his parents heard that loud sound without waking up.

There was a ghastly silence as if time itself was waiting for him to open the door, he realized that at some point, he could no longer feel his muscles aching, nor could he hear his breathing; He had been holding his breath for a few seconds without even noticing.

“Maybe I was dreaming, there was probably no sound,

Yeah, it was all in my head

“Might as well just sleep with mom and Dad since I’m in front of their room”,

After convincing himself and steeling his will, he slowly turned the doorknob, as he opened the door, he realized that he could hear something; it was his heartbeat. he was so scared and his heart was palpitating. Taking a deep breath, he made one final push to the door and opened it. He turned and looked at the adjacent wall where his parents’ bed was, but the sight he saw, made him unable to take a step from where he stood. The sheets were completely red. His parents never had any red sheets, his eyes slowly moved to the floor where he noticed the reason the sheets were red; there was blood on the floor around the bed.

“Nice try dad and mom, it was a nice prank I won’t lie, where did you get all that red paint? Or is it ketchup? For a moment there, I thought you guys were dead”, he said as he walked towards the bed, but still, no reply came

“You can stop pretending to sleep now, you’re making me scared,” he said again; but still, no reply came. At this point, he was in tears. He was finally close enough to see his parents’ bodies on their bed, limp and cold.

At this point, his body could no longer take all the fatigue and stress, this mental blow was just the finishing move the universe used, to completely rob him of his consciousness, as well as his life till this point…

“Nick! Nick!”, a familiar voice woke him up from the very unsettling dream he just had, Rather than just a dream, it was a nightmare. He looked up and saw a face he recognized; chestnut hair tied in a neat ponytail reaching her lower back, with hazel brown eyes to match, it was his longtime friend, Liz, whom he had known since his childhood.

“Nick, you’re crying

Like, you’re actually in tears

I need a picture of this”, She said as she brought out her phone and took a picture of him and showed him; His face was completely covered in tears. Luckily, he was on the school roof, where people rarely came.

“I was coming to tell you that lunch break is almost over, then I found you like this… could it be, you had that dream again?”, She asked visibly worried

“don’t worry”, he answered, “I’ll be just fine”.

They walked in silence down the hallways for their classes.

Nicholas Anderson, a high schooler in his final year, was very athletic for his age, had excellent grades, and though he wasn’t the most popular guy in the school, neither was he the most social, but he had a life that any passerby would envy. Applying for College was the least of his problems, he was surely going to get admitted no matter the school he attended, and he had the money to fund it. His father had left quite the inheritance for him, being the only child; it was currently being managed by his uncle, who would finally pass it down to him when he became 18. He had an extreme beauty as his best friend that knew everything about him and would cause gazes of envy to be thrown around in his direction now and then.

A perfect life at a glance, but hidden in this perfect life was deep trauma; the trauma of his parent’s death. It was a sight he could not get himself to forget even after seven years. When the police came and did their investigation, there were traces of breaking and entry but no traces of a person, the assailant was never found.

They finally reached the class and prepared for the next set of classes, which continued normally till the end of school for the day after which, Nick set off with one destination in mind- his old place. It didn’t take a lot of time to get to his destination. He stood in front of this place he once called home and closed his eyes as memories of his childhood came flooding into his mind. He walked to the door and opened it with a spare set of the house keys he had been with for a long time.

Entering the house, a nostalgic scent drifted into his nostrils. The house was dusty but otherwise, it was in perfect shape. He made his way to his parent’s room, with really no aim in mind. While trying to distract himself from the negative memory he had of the room, he looked around the room for anything interesting; and soon enough, he saw something that caught his eye. It was a small tabletop sculpture of a blue-furred husky in a sitting position. He loved playing with it as a child. Picking it up to have a closer look, he uncovered what seemed to be a folded note that was underneath. He took the piece of paper and unfolded it; It was a note, but what was strange was that it was addressed to him. The note read:

‘Hey, Nick I wonder how much time passed before you found this note, I’m guessing a couple of years… I hope you’ve been able to survive and live as possible, even with me and your mom dead. I’m sorry I couldn’t live longer, watch you grow by your side, and do all the things dads do with their sons. That’s not all I have to say, but if you want to get the remaining part of this message as well as a little surprise, then ‘bring me my coffee’.’ -Dad’

By the time Nick was done reading the note, his mind was in complete disarray. He had just found a message for him left by his dad, his late dad. Another problem was that his dad in the letter was aware that he was dead, or at least that he would be dead by the time he found the note. The final and biggest issue was the fact that the message was incomplete and the cryptic statement at the ending of the note that was meant to be a clue just confused him more.

“Think Nicholas, Think!” He said to himself as he tried to decipher the meaning of that statement.

“It would probably be something that I should understand… Maybe related to my childhood…

But what could it be– Ahhh!”, He finally had an idea; When he was a child, his dad almost only asked for coffee when he was in the study reading a book on his favorite wooden armchair. Whatever he was looking for should be in the study. But questions remained: How did his dad get whatever he was talking about to the study? What if he was referencing something else?

But no other ideas came up, so he decided to take the chance and go to the study, betting on the possibility that his conjecture was correct. He made it to the study and entered inside. It was filled with books, though not as much as the library, it still contained a good number of different books. He walked over to his dad’s armchair and sat on it after dusting it. He arrived at the study, but what next? While thinking about this, he tried thinking of things he used to do as a kid in the study.

Putting his hands on the table, while on his father’s lap, jumping down, and playing around the study, he especially loved the fireplace. “Fireplace…

!!!

Could it be?”. He exclaimed in his head as he walked up to the fireplace, on the brick wall above the fireplace read ‘For Nick’ with an arrow pointing down at the fireplace. His Dad got it engraved on the wall after seeing how much he used to play here. But now, so many years in the future, those words seemed to have a different meaning

Just that, this was carved into the wall a long time before his dad died. There was seemingly no way it was connected, but it was the best shot he had. Utilizing the best of his mental capabilities, he thought of what could be the answer to this puzzle. looking again at the arrow a thought passed his mind.

‘What if it’s something in the fireplace?’, Using these thoughts as a guide, he crouched down and investigated the fireplace. It was mostly ash; all the coal had been burnt up. Pushing away the ash around the shallow parts of the floor of the fireplace, he found the jackpot - or at least another hint- on the floor there were words engraved. he read it aloud

“One who guards the gates of the beyond

Open in this wall, a door for this one to seek wisdom”

On reading it, the letters started releasing a light. At first, it was so faint that he could barely notice, but it continued growing brighter and stronger. He took a couple of steps back from the fireplace as the light continued glowing until it engulfed the whole fireplace in a blinding light - his eyes shut instinctively.

His eyelids finally opened sometime after the light had died down. But instead of a fireplace, what he saw was a door. Taking a gulp, he reached for the doorknob; but on turning it, his vision suddenly warped and he was in a different place. It was like an office. There was a fridge, a table, and a chair that was facing the opposite wall. and from where the chair was, an unfamiliar voice spoke to him words that would change his life forever, and in quite the cheerful manner.

“Do you believe in magic?”

Nick was shocked beyond belief. He could not even begin to process what had just happened to him, not to talk of answering the mysterious person that just asked him if he believed in magic.

“Cat got your tongue?”, The voice asked, still not changing her playful tone. The chair turned to show the owner of the voice. it was a girl, with blue eyes, and long smooth black hair that reached her hips, she wore a blue Japanese traditional yukata that was so out of place in the setting. She gave the impression of someone his age, and had a sharp look on her face, though quite relaxed and calming at the same time. She appeared to have no tension as he looked at Nick, with a look that seemed like she was looking through him, all the way to his very soul.

“Oh, maybe it’s because I forgot to introduce myself”, She said with a sigh as she stood up and hovered around the table and to where Nick was.

“I’m Eden, and as for what I am and my connection to your father, I’ll tell you that when you answer my question”, She said with a smile.

“I don’t believe in magic”, he started

“But considering how I got here and the fact that you’re floating, I’m no longer sure what to believe”

“Good answer”. Said, Eden

“So why not let me show you; the world of magic, the path your father treaded”, He continued as he stretched his hand towards Nick; gesturing that he takes it. Perceiving that there was no other option, and curious about what he was going to be shown, Nick took the hand that was stretched towards him. The world around him suddenly warped, and then he was in a void, with small numerous lights that appeared to be stars in the distance.

“Where are we?”, He asked while gazing into the breathtaking sight of what seemed like endless space.

“This is a little world created completely with my magic, nothing here is real. And this is how I’ll explain the concept of the mystic arts”, Eden replied

“The mystic arts or magic is in a broad sense, anyway a person affects the physical world in a way that does not follow normal physical laws. How the person does this may differ, but it is usually done either with special energy like magic power, also known as mana, as well as the person’s Innate aura or an external force like a spirit or deity. There are numerous forms of the mystic arts, each having its own set of rules. A lot of the time, these forms of art, may overlap in some areas causing similarities, and a particular art may be used in different ways to achieve similar effects”, Eden explained

“For example…”, She continued as a very large presence entered the space and became visible as a small transparent woman floating behind him “This lady behind me is a spirit. There are a lot of arts involving spirits like her, including regular spirit arts and shamanism, other people draw power from deities instead of spirits, that is called mysticism. That was what your family practiced back in the day, as for mana and aura, you’ll experience them first-hand as time goes by.”, she continued then paused and took a deep breath

“The final part of the message from your father is: ‘as you can see, I was a practitioner of the mystic arts, and though I don’t want to force you, I want you to experience this world I lived in; so, will you learn magic?’”

At this point, they were both returned to the office where Eden looked straight at him, and with a smile that drew his breath out of his nostrils, asked him again

“Will you learn magic? It’ll be a rough road, but very fun. You’ll get to see places you could only possibly see in your imagination and gain power far beyond your current comprehension. Will you follow in the footsteps of your father?”

“Is there any guy that would reject learning magic?” Nick asked

“When you put it that way…”, Eden said, laughing. Then she threw a doorknob towards Nick who caught it.

“What’s this?”, Nick asked.

“It’s your way here, just put it on a wall, door, or anything in-between, and press the button on the side to create a gate – or rather doorway to this place. It’s a lot easier than having to come to this place than going through the study in your old house. And don’t worry, time here doesn’t flow the same way as time outside, so you don’t need to worry about going home late; Most of the time – bye”, She said as she waved goodbye to the boy whose life was going to take a very massive change

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