Inside the Lions Inn

The young Water Mage looks on as the young boy walks out. She shivers a little after looking into his eyes, as if she had seen the devil himself. She is suddenly curious as to what the boy had been through at such a young age to give himself such an oppressive atmosphere. Even if she had wanted to call out to him to tell him to stay, it was as if the words in her throat were stuck.

Suddenly the pail that had been used to mop up the blood from the floor falls over, the blood again spilling out. The black blood she recognizes was from the young boy slowly crawls towards the direction he left from as if it had a life of it's own. After three seconds the blood seems to no longer move, but instead gurgles as if it was being boiled.

The young girls mouth is completely agape as the gurgling blood changes from black to dark red and mixes with the rest of the blood currently sprawling out.

She quickly rushes out of the room to tell her Father of the events that unfolded.

Willem staggered through the bustling city streets, hand grasping onto the nearby buildings to keep himself propped up.

Inside him it felt as if his blood was on fire, a deep raging inferno that was only made stronger by the water recovery magic that had been performed earlier.

The more he thought about the stabbing, and the theft of his pendant, the angrier he became. As if being renewed over and over by a baptism of rage, Willem continually found the strength to step through the inner city.

He himself did not understand anything about magic and only thought that this was a side effect of the treatment.

Slowly making his way along the side streets, he eventually ended up at the house of one of his friends. The house belonged to the Wyvern family, and their son was the boy named Craig that he was with the night before. He knocked upon the door with as much force as he could muster. After a short while, a middle aged woman opened the door and greeted the boy. Upon seeing his pained expression, she immediately helped him inside. This middle aged woman was the Matriarch of the Wyvern family.

She recognized Willem as one of her son's friends since they had played together alot as children, being nearly the same age. He told her the events of the night before, including the fact that he had just finished recovering and had not heard anything about the others.

Fearing the worst, he rushed over here to see if Craig had returned after the events that unfolded. She solemnly said that he had not returned and went to go speak with her husband. After a short while, the husband entered the room where Willem was resting and asked the child to retell him everything, including all the minute details.

Willem was given some food by the Matriarch as the husband left the house hurriedly. As one of the representatives of the Wyvern family, he had a small amount of pull and was going to launch a formal investigation into the whereabouts of the children.

"Get some rest, you have been through alot."

Matriarch Wyvern placed thick blankets around the boy, patting his head and letting him drift off into peaceful slumber. As he began to sleep, she bit her thumb until it bled. Her worry about her son was completely justified, he was the only male child of the younger generation and was considered to be the successor of the family. If anything happened to him, she would lose her current position within the family.

The Golden Dragon Family

Six children were tied together in what could only be described as a damp and disgusting cold storage cellar. As they began to awaken, they remembered the events of last night.

After jumping out the window, they all saw Willem about to jump away but instead get caught by the thugs. As they ran away to get guards, they heard Willem's ear piercing scream. Not knowing what happened to him, they ran as fast as possible to the nearby guards. Once they had found a group of five guards they quickly told them about the situation at the Lions Family Inn.

To their dismay, the guards had a malicious grin on their faces as they knocked out the children. Arin, whom had been the one to lead the children in search of guardsman began sobbing uncontrollably.

"It's all my fault. I lead us right to those evil guards and I don't even know if Willem is alive."

The sobbing of the youth had triggered within the children the undeniable truth, they had been taken prisoner and were not sure what would happen to them. They all began to cry as they sat in the damp and dark cellar. After what seemed like hours passed, they were all hollowed out. Only sniffling was left as they began to ask what will happen to them next. No one had an answer, and the growing fear in their hearts gave rise to a completely despondent helplessness.

A few more hours passed and suddenly they saw a crack of light above them. The blinding light quickly took the shape of a square door as it illuminated the surroundings. They were indeed in a cellar, chains adorning the walls and small tools could be seen lying across a small wooden bench.

Fresh blood dripped from the tools, and they all understood immediately that the tools had been used for torture. A gruff looking man with a multitude of scars across his face and arms was carrying two young children, one on each shoulder. He placed them down and tied them to the group of six, causing confusion to spread into the minds of the kids. As he began to leave, the kids cried out to be untied and taken home. Knowing full well that it was a pipe dream, they yelled and screamed for reprieve.

The man smirked as he looked at the children, his eyes focused on Eleanor. "Do you want to go home little girl?" His half question sent a chill down the spines of the children. He laughed almost maniacally as he closed the door behind him.

Eleanor could not even mutter out a whimper, her fear of the man was that great. She quietly sat back and focused inward, hoping that somehow Willem was alive and would come save her.

The Wyvern Home

Once Willem closed his eyes, it was as if he was plunged into a warm pool of darkness.

He quickly fell asleep and from within his mind, he saw a seemingly endless field of darkness. Sprouts of white flowers showed just how far reaching the scene before him really was. As he bent over to pick a flower, his arm was suddenly engulfed in flames. Though he was initially surprised, he somehow knew that he would feel no pain from the burning. The flame extended from his arm to his torso, down his legs and eventually fully engulfed him. It had a very calming sensation, as he viewed his arm he could see cracks forming along his previous injury. Where his arms had been broken the fire turned from red to pale blue, then black.

Willem breathed deeply as he sat among the white flowers. As he did, the earth below him began to churn and burn brightly. Cracks formed in the ground and blood spurted out from the earth. At this moment he thought that even if he died, it would not be a terrible way to go. At least he was able to see this beautiful view before he was gone. As he closed his eyes he felt his heartbeat slow, eventually almost stopping completely. At the last moment his eyes opened and revealed a deep black flame. How could he die here? He still has to take revenge on those bastards that took his Father's pendant. Only when he has the pendant again can he truly be at peace.

As his breathing calmed, so did the blood pouring from the earth. The blood circled him as it began to form patterns and runes unknown to him. He had never seen such complex and beautiful symbols in his life, nor could he understand how personal they felt to him.

The blood finished circling around him and began to faintly glow.

The blood glowed brightly, turning from bright red to pale blue and finally black with a white outline.

Smoke covered Willems arms as the black flames extinguished themselves. As he glanced at the runes, they converged on his body and seared themselves into his skin. The array became permanently imprinted onto his body. As he ran his fingers along the patterns, he saw a vision of a man that was not his Father but still felt personal.

Willem was prodded awake by Matriarch Wyvern.

"Willem, dear, you have been sleeping for five hours. You had a low pulse so I woke you up to make sure you were okay."

She took a step back as she looked into his eyes. For a brief moment it was as if a black flame danced around his iris.

Willem opened his eyes half way, and then fully. His body felt extremely hot, as if it any moment he would burst into flames.

He tore off the cloth that he had been covered with, quickly bowed to the Matriarch and left the house without saying a word. He walked down the street and as he looked at his arms he saw that the scars where his arms had been broken were gone. What was more concerning is that he felt an intense strength in his marrow attempting to burst forth. There was no marks on his body, in fact it was as if he had been completely reborn. No scratches or scars could be seen at all.

As he recalled the dream he had, he checked his body for the mysterious array that had converged upon him. Though there was no physical sign that he had changed, he could feel the array just beneath his skin.

"Excuse me son, is something the matter?"

An older gentleman clad in robes approached Willem, presumably haphazardly. The robes that the man had were green in color and inlaid with gold, making it abundantly clear he was an Earth Mage. From his deep gaze and prideful stance one could immediately tell he was someone important and not to be disturbed. Lines covered his face, though he looked to be of old age there was no hint to it other than his complexion.

"You could sense my magic? That is why you came here."

Willem looked him up and down before saying what he had. He knew that the old man calling out to him was no coincidence, not after the bizarre dream he had just been through.

The creases in the old man showed even deeper as he furrowed his brows. After a time he finally released his gaze and cracked a smile.

"Such perception, really is quite astounding. Boy, you are correct. I could sense within you deep power, and when I found out you were not within the Academy I could only assume you had just awakened. If you come with me, I can train you in the ways of being a strong Mage."

With a flowing motion, the old man pulled out a papyrus filled with twisting glyphs.

"This is a summons from the Academy with the signature of all current Grand Mages. We request you to come learn and hone your skills in the Academy at your earliest convenience."

The papyrus gently floated into the hands of Willem as he stared at the old man. As the old man slowly turned to walk away, Willem called out to him.