Chapter One: White Moves First

Quintus Senss is an 18 year old boy who has just begun his new college, but this is no ordinary college, no, magic rules here and now the gods have begun, their great game of chess.

At first Quinn didn't think much of the recurring dream, even if it had been the same every night for the past month, until now that is. Now it seemed different, more... solid, as if all the other times were simply rehearsals of a play and tonight was the grand first showing! images and symbols flashed around him, like when a monster in a horror movie glitches and flickers around, some he managed to process though, he noted some ancient Okturian symbols, he would have to look them up when he awoke from the nightmare around him, he also saw scenes, strange and surreal scenes that conformed to no comprehensible plot. First Quinn saw glimpses of caves and tunnels lit with strange glowing orbs that he could only presume were magical in nature, then a huge sphere of golden yellow hung before him, and finally two figures, one of pure and brilliant white, and the other of unbridled darkness, the white one had his head down as he held up an old looking wooden sword in offering, while the dark one frivolously showered Quinn in jewels, gems and golden coins, they stood beside one another before the scene crumbled away before him, the next image he saw was of a face. Or rather, the top left quarter of one, a single lock of wavy brown hair hung over a fearful and teary blue eye, it was a girl's eye, all these scenes and the void around him were basked in a shimmering golden aura. 

Quintus Senss woke up with his hands curled like a dead spider's legs, fire balls flickered and licked within them as he sat up, for a second he thought he was still in the dream, but he soon realized that the golden light streaming into his room came from the window and the morning sun, he looked across the room to his clock, a stone dish with an ethereal face, ghostlike hands and numbers told him it was just after 8am. Quinn sighed and the flames in his hands sputtered and died, for a mage like him, readying spells in your sleep was common, especially if you were having a nightmare, but he couldn't afford to dwell on it, today was his first day of College. To be specific, the Dorothy lake city college of magic and further arcane education for young magic users, Quinn was probably one of the only students who actually lived in the city, had done for 11 years and had finished what we would consider secondary school about one and a half months ago with the highest score for all subjects in the city's history. Quinn dressed quickly into his normal comfort clothes, an unnecessarily soft and comfy silver long sleeve shirt and his comfiest pair of black jeans with matching black and white trainers, he slipped his gear into a rucksack and quickly rushed out the door after shoveling a can of bakes beans down his throat for breakfast. Quinn rounded the corner with is bag in his teeth, struggling with one of the many pieces of magical accessories that boosted his power, just as his best friend leapt out and shrieked like a banshee, Quinn flailed as he staggered backwards, haphazardly throwing up clouds of dusty snow in a pathetic attempt to defend himself against whatever beast had attacked him from the gloom. Alice Tuck laughed uncontrollably as Quinn regained his balance, a thin dusting of snow rested over him like flour as he felt his blood boil "you idiot!" Quinn growled, Alice let out a final giggle as he picked up his bag and shoved past her "sorry Q, I couldn't help myself" she grinned, Quinn threw back a cloud of snow which flew right into her face, she sputtered and coughed as it caught in her throat "oh, sorry Alice, I couldn't help myself" Quinn repeated mockingly. Alice sighed "hey! I said I'm sorry..." her mood quickly lightened again, "so Q, you headed to college?" she asked, Quinn nodded "you off to work?", despite them both only being 18, Alice elected to pursue her dream of being a master mercenary stroke assassin rather than continue to study magic, claiming she already had all the magic she needed with her playing cards, oh, and did I mention she's a Texan?. "Eeyup, I reckon I'll have my first contract waiting for me already, I finally got my license last night" She flashed the badge on her brown lather jacket proudly as she tipped her hat to a passing gentleman who had done the same, Quinn smiled "good for you, just make sure it's not someone we know" he chuckled, Alice nodded as he walked off, realizing a few seconds later he was no longer there when she opened her eyes. "You may be able to turn a pack of flimsy playing cards into whatever Alice, but do you even know what you're doing? have you ever actually killed anyone before?" Quinn asked, Alice slowed her pace "you know I have" she mumbled, tilting her hat over her face, Quinn winced "sorry, Ali but you know what I mean, the roll in fate you've chosen isn't at all an easy one" he said, Alice sighed "yeah, yeah I know" she looked up "hey, we're here" she said, Quinn stopped and looked up just in time to avoid slamming face first into the gate, he stepped back and looked on to the college, it was huge, standing proudly on top of the cliff overlooking the city's main districts on the lake below, Dorothy lake city was built on, as you can guess, Dorothy lake, a fairly large lake in a secluded valley up in the northern part of the Scottish highlands, a spell made sure that only magicians could see or touch the city, and the forest surrounding the lake was packed with dangers unseen. 

"Best of luck to you Alice, and be careful" he said snapping on the last charm around his wrist, Alice hugged Quinn before nodding "you too, and... you had another nightmare last night, didn't you? was it worse?" she asked, Quinn raised an eyebrow "how did you know?" he asked as she turned and left "you're eyes Q, they've seen something freaky, freakier than... you know... I notice these things Y'all" she called back. Quinn tried not to dwell on the nightmare as he and every other new student shuffled into the grand hall, at the front the headmaster, Professor Sophie Greenwitch, the youngest and oldest head in the college's history stood behind a long granite table with the rest of the staff, odd thing was, Quinn could swear she was staring right at him. "All you new faces" Sophie sighed merrily "It's a heartwarming sight seeing so many eager young minds, I hope you all enjoy your time here learning about advanced magic of all kind, as you all know already, the four houses consist of the four different magic users, staff bearing wizards, wand wielding witches, scepter spinning warlocks and tome hauling Sorcerers, you'll be put into those houses accordingly and will live in your appointed dorms, if you aren't already living in the city, but I know very few of you are, only one or two if I'm not mistaken" she said. Everyone took turns on glancing back at Quinn, which made him agitated, he felt like a freak "now I know you're all very interested in young mister Senss back there, and no, he won't be sharing a dorm with any of you, in fact I don't believe he'll be put into a normal house, for him and the rare few like him we tend to take extra care with regards to out teaching methods" Sophie said, Quinn rubbed his brow as now everyone turned to gawk at him. After the ordeal of the Headmaster's speech Quinn trudged on to his very first lesson in college 'spell casting', he looked up from his induction day time table and smirked, it was his personal favorite subject and considering how good at it he was rivaled only by sorcerers who specialized in the field, wizards specialized in magical lore and creatures, witches in potion making and magical constructs and finally warlocks who specialized in rituals; wards and summoning incantations and so on and so forth. Quinn stepped into the big open room where other students in his class were gathered, the walls were lined with protective runes and all sorts of apparatus and random things were stacked against them, in the center of the room stood a tall man wearing a tweed outfit under a long brown trench coat. As soon as he entered the room Quinn was the center of attention and the man in the middle of the room perked up "Ah! our resident hiccup" he chuckled, Quinn tried not to be angry, he could sense the man was only joking but it still made him feel alienated, "Quintus, is it? well come in, come in! we were just discussing safety procedures before we get started" he smiled, Quinn nodded and slid his bag across the room to rest where the other's had stacked their own against the only part of the left wall that wasn't covered in junk "my name is Professor Markus by the way" he announced "I was waiting till we were all present so you can all stop wandering who this dashing young man is" he forced a laugh, in truth, Markus looked about 40, with greying red hair and a cop-stache hanging over his mouth, he was Scottish. most. definitely. Scottish. 

"Now, can anyone-" he sighed "anyone, besides Mr. Coravelta" he shot a quick glance at the boy who had already put his hand up, he gingerly put it down as everyone giggled and murmured "tell me what a ward is and what exactly it does?" Markus asked, when no one answered Quinn put his hand up. "Quintus" Markus gestured, Quinn put his hand down and stepped back a pace before holding up his hand, a ball of shimmering, blue, liquid energy formed just above his palm and a wall of the very same energy blossomed in front of him in a shield-like shape "this is a ward, in magical terms it's a shield to protect us from incoming spells and if it's powerful enough, incoming physical attacks too" he explained, as he dispersed the spell the class began to clap, especially Markus "well done! I didn't expect a freshman to already know a ward". Quinn stuck his hands in his pockets and allowed the professor to further explain wards, their mechanics and famous applications throughout history, then he explained what the lesson was going to be about "we'll start out with something basic, I'll teach you all a ward and you'll pair up, your partner will cast a simple offensive spell at you, and you block it with the ward, now, shall we get started?" Markus clapped his hands together and rubbed them. Quinn was paired with Daniel Coravelta, he was a small, scrawny boy who's shirt and tie was immaculate and properly worn, while everyone else wore simple stuff like a T-shirt and jeans or joggers, he stuck out like a sore thumb, he had combed back black hair and soft hazel eyes, "the A's silent by the way, Professor Markus said it wrong" he said, Quinn raised an eyebrow "oh really?" he said as a fireball flickered in his curled right hand. "A-are you sure it's safe to do this?" Daniel asked, Quinn rolled his eyes "the Professor wouldn't have us doing this if he didn't think it was safe, now come on, put your ward up" he said impatiently, he had very little patience for others besides the few friends he had, Daniel nodded twitchingly and took out his wand, he was a witch, like the other 1/4 of the class. Daniel raised his wand to Quinn and a pale mock up of Quinn's ward sprouted from the tip, just covering about half his body, Quinn frowned and raised his hand, he blew hard to snuff most of the flame out and flicked the remaining fire at the ward. Daniel flinched as the fire-marble punched straight through the ward like it was paper and hit his cheek, Quinn sighed as Daniel dropped his wand and hissed in pain as he clutched his barely burnt cheek, "come here" Quinn said, Daniel stepped forward and Quinn moved his hands away, his hand glowed a soft emerald as he pressed two fingers over the burn, the mark dissolved into the skin and Daniel sighed as the pain vanished . "Ok Daniel" he said as he summoned his own ward "look at my ward, see how full and thick it is, it's like that because I'm pouring all my mana into it, until it get's hit by a spell, that mana will just come right back to me once I disperse it, it's the same with your wand, you need to put as much energy into the ward as you can muster" he explained, Daniel nodded "right" he said, Quinn patted his shoulder "you may be the know it all in this class, but for now you lack the knowledge of how to correctly apply what you know of magic, over time, it'll come to you naturally, you just need to cast spells more often, that's how we get stronger". Daniel nodded and raised his wand again, a little more confidence filled his poise this time as he cast the ward, it was slow a first as Daniel clenched his eyes and teeth with concentration, but much to Quinn's amazement the ward sprang forth from the tip of the wand and surrounded the entire facing side of his body, it was a thick, flowing wall of sun yellow this time.  

Quinn looked around from their corner of the room to check if anyone was paying attention "that's good Daniel, now keep it up" he smiled as he held one palm over the other and twisted, with a deafening crack a huge bolt of lightning shot from the space between his hands and into the shield, as everyone turned to look the shield merely grew In size and the color intensified. "What in the devil are you playing at?!" Professor Markus growled "that type of combat magic is strictly confined to contained practices!" he said storming over, Quinn said nothing, but gestured to Daniel, who was still concentrating on the ward, "Merlin's beard!" Markus exclaimed, all around him the class was gathered to look in awe at Daniel's ward, Daniel peaked one eye open and the spell dispersed "what?" he asked, Professor Markus clapped a hand on his shoulder "my boy, you're a Giurmand witch" he said proudly, "sir, what's a Gi...ur...mund witch?" the student struggled to pronounce the word but got it in the end. Daniel's eyes widened in excitement "Giurmand witches are a family of witches who could absorb the mana of any spell through their own defensive magic, making them even stronger, it was said just one witch could face an entire volley of warlocks' fireballs and defeat them with it using just a ward" he explained. Quinn felt pretty good about himself, it wasn't often that he got the chance to help someone realize their potential, but it felt good when he did, after the spell casting lesson the staff had finished preparing the dorms and house common rooms and the new student's were given a tour of the college, it was huge, the biggest school of magic in the world, fitting for the only purely magically populated city in the United Kingdom, there were four huge towers arranged in a square on the four corners of the complex each as thick as a large modern house and at least 12 stories high, these were the house towers, for the wizards, witches, warlocks and sorcerers where the dorms were, along with a few rooms dedicated to relaxation and studying. Then there was the fifth tower which was twice as big and sat in the middle of the other four towers, they were all connected by bridges and it even had one or two smaller towers branching off of it, this was the main building where the staff members were housed on the top levels, and everything bellow that was used for lectures, study sessions, exams and there were even a few rooms with specialized equipment. The complex below was huge and mazelike, no one would ever be able to find their way if not for the waypoint glyphs and the way finder spell everyone had been given, down here was where all the real learning went on, there were six huge halls for rituals and spell practicing, two only slightly smaller rooms for magical constructs and runic practices, seven potion making labs, two magical engineering workshops, three fine arcane arts studios, thirteen lecture halls, four café's and a restaurant, a total of five equipment and storage rooms and finally an all purpose hang out room which could be reserved by a class or particular group of students, and That was just the complex itself, the field, lake and forest around the fort was all specially equipped for different things, but it wasn't going to be explained to new students for another week yet. 

By the time the tour was over it was the end of the day and everyone was gathered in the main hall, Professor Greenwitch explained the class they had been in the morning was "just a taster of things to come, I'm sure once you settle in you'll find yourself constantly running from class to class, as such you are allowed to fly, teleport or turn intangible in order to reach you're class, so long as you're careful, don't disturb other classes and make sure you look where you're going" Greenwitch said. "And finally, there is the matter of practices within the college, while I encourage learning and practice of all kinds of magic, I do not condone and will not tolerate any rituals, spells or constructs that would knowingly bring harm your fellow magician, bullying of any kind is even more severe and uncoordinated usage of combat magic is strictly prohibited, which means no casting fireballs or any other offensive spells, for that, please use the assigned areas or specialized targets". With that out of the way Sophie's expression returned to normal "now, in five minutes the bell will ring signifying the end of the learning day, you'll be escorted to your dorms where your things are already waiting for you, or you'll go back to your homes in the city, again, I bid you all a warm welcome to Dorothy lake college! may your time here be every bit as fun and exciting as you can possibly imagine" and thus concluded the speech. As people began to shuffle out of the hall Greenwitch appeared next to Quinn in a puff of purple smoke, student's glanced back briefly as Quinn was lead away from the door towards the rest of the staff "Quintus Senss, I must say you're quite a remarkable shudder of Aura" Greenwitch said as she rested an arm over his shoulder, Sophie Greenwitch was just a couple inches smaller than Quinn with long iridescent purple hair and amethyst purple eyes, her skin was slightly tanned and a few freckles dotted her cheeks. "Forgive me Professor, but I really don't find that sort of statement any more than irritating" Quinn said, Greenwitch sighed "sorry, you must get it allot" she asked as they approached the stone table, the other staff members were sat around it, there were 26 members of the college in charge of teaching this year's new students, Quinn was sat at in a chair just in front of the table where all the other's could see and speak to him. The first to speak was a portly man with a walrus mustache and dark grey hair "Mr. Senss, as you know your kind is so extremely rare it's often the case that we're forced to turn them down, allowing you admission to the college was a huge risk on Professor Greenwitch's part considering the dominion's laws" he said, Quinn's insides churned, and despite the fact that he knew other's could see it, he let his aura turn blood red with anger, "n-now given the facts Quinn, I think It would be wise to pay the emperor a visit, just to be.. eh, on the safe side". The man gulped hard, Greenwitch noticed no one else wanted to say anything while Quinn was so badly enraged, "Quintus, I know you're stance against the dominion is far stronger than anyone in the city, I can respect that, but they are the ones who keep our existence hidden from the human world, without them we wouldn't be able to walk among them safely, and half the magical creatures on the planet would have gone extinct from hunting, at this point their existence and presence over us is essential" she said. Quinn stood up "I'm not going to the dominion, and if you're too cowardly to face them too then we have nothing left to discuss" he turned to leave but Greenwitch stood up "yes we do Mr. Senss, take a seat" she said sternly, Quinn curled his hands into fists and let his energy flow into them, such a crude usage of magic simply wastes energy, it's a good relaxation method if you know what you're doing, Quinn turned back and sat again. 

"We have arranged for the top eastern branch on tower Droll to be re-furbished into your own workspace, a free handed mage is entitled to special privileges to aid in the development of their skills, given your past credit in several schools we feel that you should be free to pick and choose what subjects you learn and what times your classes should be and should you require additional resources we have granted you permission to source them from wherever you wish within the boundaries of the college and the city" Greenwitch said, Quinn relaxed further and his mood lightened, much to the staff's relief. Quinn hadn't always been so feared, as a child he was very outgoing and kind, he wouldn't hurt a fly... until 11 years ago. One of the other professors spoke next, this time a young woman with long braided blonde hair and slit yellow eyes, she was a Fellion, a cat person, she had a long tail and large cat like ears in place of normal ones, each Fellion had his or her own unique trait and hers happened to be that she was a wizard, normally Fellions can't use magic, "we are of course, all the staff at you're disposal should you need any additional... assistance" Greenwitch smiled "this is Doctor Goldev, she's going to be you're personal tutor, she'll only be teaching classes on a Wednesday since she's the newest member of our staff". Quinn nodded to the Doctor and she smiled, Quinn would have said it was a cute smile, but he didn't find anything cute these days, "a pleasure Doctor" he said, Goldev giggled "please, call me Debby" she said, Greenwitch cleared her throat before they could engage in further conversation "yes, she'll be working with you every day should you need her, but there is one last... minor thing" she said, the staff became uneasy as she took out her scepter and slowly spun it three times by the bottom of the grip. In the air above them a pool of water formed, slowly swirling as images began to appear on it like a screen, images that depicted descimated landscapes and gnarled bodies of dead magicians, all turned down with their faces in a pool of blood. Quinn sat forward as he noticed one of the images showing the mouth of a cave littered with dead bodies, a cave he had seen in his Nightmares, "what is this?" he asked, Greenwitch waved her hand, the water evaporated and the steam dispersed "the dominion sent these images to us two days ago, with a report informing us of a cult of necromancers rising to the east of Newcastle, the other magician towns and cities fear for themselves and any the human population within them are being questioned". Greenwitch sighed "I'm telling you this because the Dominion want's us to send a handful of our best student's to the capital to compliment the emperor's personal brigade, to fight the necromancers and help pacify the human's in questioning" she said, Quinn instantly felt his hatred bubbling again, "they requested me? didn't they? that's why you suggested I visit the capital" he said, the portly professor nodded guiltily "you would so easily trick me?" he asked, Greenwitch stood up "they suggested we inform you of how dire the situation is, and that not only would you be greatly rewarded for you're service but you would also..." she dug into her pockets and pulled out a piece of paper "I quote 'earn the personal respect and appreciation of he Emperor himself and the gratitude of the dominion council'". Quinn tried to calm himself "for the sake of maintaining your respect for me headmaster, I'll refrain from using the choice words I pre chose for the Dominion many years ago, instead I'll simply say this, tell them they can take my magic, my friends" he slammed his fist into the stone table and it cracked in two "they can slaughter my family, defile my loved ones and brand me a freak!!!!" he roared, red light spilled out from under his shirt and Greenwitch caught a glimpse of burning red runes on his neck "but they'll have to kill me and reanimate my rotting corpse before I serve the 'emperor'!!!!" he growled. Quinn stood up straight and the red light faded away but his anger remained, and so did the crack in the table "if you have any more missives from the dominion keep them to yourself" he spat, despite his respect for the college staff as individuals of great magical importance and power, he despised them for their weak willed complacency of the dominion. 

Quinn stormed home and slammed the door behind him as he barged his way in, it pissed him off more than anything to see great men and women like Greenwitch and the college staff bowing to the decrepit and cruel overlords that demand so much sacrifice, the humans may have been savages in their past but at least now they have civility, a decent government and free health care. The human world may be ripe with crime and filled with corruption, but at least there is even the illusion of freedom, with the Tridock Dominion being the primary ruling body in the magical community, no one is safe from random bouts of indiscriminate violence, justified by the same old speech from the emperor about the cost of living untouched by the human threat, "bullshit, I bet the World Joy machine would still work if the dominion was dissolved" Quinn murmured as he took a brief yet painful glance at the single portrait on the wall, the portrait of his family. Sat in his armchair in the living room Quinn stewed in his hatred, it was quarter past 9 in the evening as he glared at his feet, suddenly there was a knock at the door which Quinn swore was a hammer trying to break it down, he sighed and got up, dragging his feet as he shuffled to the front door and opened it, Quinn immediately spotted the insignia and slammed the door closed again "Sir, it's impolite to ignore your guests" said a detestable voice "must have teleported here when Greenwitch gave them my answer" he hissed under his breath. Mustering all the tolerance he could he slowly opened the door again, a blazing fireball hidden by his back, standing there was a man dressed in all white and gold robes, a hood drawn over his snow white skin and darkness shrouding his menacing green eyes "young master Senss, a pleasure to meet you at last" he said, Quinn said nothing for fear that all he would find coming out were insults, so he simply nodded "may I come in?" the man asked, "no, whatever business we have can be discussed here, by ancient rights this threshold will not be crossed" a line of blue flashed at their feet, marking sacred boundaries, if the man crossed that line, he would loose all his magic, permanently. "Very well" the man growled and switched the tome under his arm around, trying to be polite he said "I have a message from the emperor of the Tridock dominion, he has asked me to tell you that as of now, you are property of the dominion and shall henceforth serve it and the emperor, whether or not you want to" he grinned viciously, now people were stopping in the streets, staring and waiting for something to happen. "I'd rather die than be your b***h" Quinn snarled, with one swift motion he thrust the fireball into his mouth, the man snapped out his arm, the tome hovering just above him and punched him in the throat, forcing the fire back out along with a glob of blood, the man waited untill his head was just over the property oundry and grabbed a hand full of Quinn's hair, dragging him out onto the street "you pathetic wretch, by law all free-handed mage are property of the dominion" he growled as he clicked his fingers and the tome above him flew open, a ball of yellow energy formed in the man's hand, Quinn flicked his wrist and his hand crackled with electricity, before the dominion agent could use his spell he placed his palm on the man's chest and he screamed. Quinn staggered to his feet gasping for air as he waved a hand over his chest, the agent stumbled around for a moment still dazed by the shock and a crowd had gathered now and people were still making their minds up about who to cheer for, Quinn wasted no time after he was finished with healing his throat and placed his palms together, spreading his arms wide an arc of fire flourished before him and he sent it crashing into the agent, but he had a ward up and the spell simply disappeared, Quinn readied his own ward but was too slow to protect himself from the bolt of lightning that singed his forehead, the world went black and he felt his head smack off the cobblestone road before he lost consciousness all together. 

Quinn awoke slowly to the sound of roaring fire and the clapping of thunder, the agent was fending off a horde of stone golems that acted as the city's police force as he sat up and looked around, his house was burning, already the top floor had colapsed and the crowd which had gathered for the fight struggled to keep the flames from spreading, Quinn cleared his mind with a spell he had learnt from his old illusion magic teacher. Quinn pulled off his shirt and tossed it onto the street, his entire upper body was covered in runes and patterns, all interlocking, crossing and connecting in complex ways forming a system of glyphs, in a shard of glass at his feet he could see himself, his short dark brown hair once slicked back was now a scruffy mess, his face was covered in dirt and his forehead was dripping red and his ruby red eyes bloodshot, he healed the wound and turned to the dominion agent who had just finished blasting the last stone golem to pieces and was turning to him next. "You! You stupid brat!" the man stormed towards him but Quinn's palms were already above one and other, a ball of spasming energy crackled and boomed as he struggled to contain it, the agent stopped in his tracks and held up his hands, no normal ward could defend against that, especially not the ward of some random sorcerer, the man didn't even have his tome anymore. "Now, Quinn buddy, can I call you Quinn?" he gingerly smiled, Quinn winced as an arc of energy shot out from between his hands and sliced a lamp post in half "n-now, the emperor is willing to overlook this, and..." he had to pause to think "and! and eh, if you come back to the capital with me, you could be rich, all the money and power you want, all yours!" he forced a laugh and gestured with open arms. "Come on kido! heh, haha..." his smile wavered as Quinn clenched his teeth trying to maintain the spell "how about, instead you do something for me" he growled, the agent threw his hands up, there was still a glimmer of hope for him "of course my boy! this humble Elf would be happy to lend a favor, just..." he gestured to the spell, Quinn grinned "how about you go say hi to my family for me? eh?" he stepped back as the spell intensified before shooting out from his palms and with an almighty boom the world went white. When Quinn could see again he looked around, the agent was gone, but so was his house, and in it's place was a smoking pile of ash and rubble "damnit" he sighed, "damnit indeed, how about you say hi yourself!" snarled a voice behind him, Quinn didn't have time to think before a red hot pain blossomed on his neck and he left hot liquid ooz down his chest, he gargled and coughed as he fell to his knees choking on his own blood "you missed" chuckled the agent, there were one or two screams from the crowd which had gathered for the fight, Quinn spotted what he had hit, a large smoldering  hole in the side of a building down the street. As his vision began to fade, the world around him pulsed faintly with a golden aura, with every drop of his blood that dripped to the ground the aura intensified until it filled his vision, suddenly he could see himself clutching his own throat, covered in the blood that poured from the wound, the agent standing over him with an ethereal dagger in one hand and his tome open in the other, then he turned and saw a shimmering ball of golden light, multiple actually... no, everywhere! spread out across the entire landscape, the largest one was in the college courtyard above the statue of Merlin. Quinn saw everything in the city as he flew above it, his vision basked in gold as he followed a trail of particularly bright orbs, for miles and miles he flew before he reached the mouth of the cave he had seen earlier, down into it he sped, still following the balls of light, it seemed to go on forever as he sped through the huge cave system at the speed of light until he stopped in front of a massive sphere of gold easily as big as a mountain, glyphs and runes seemed to dance around it and from where Quinn was he could see a tunnel of white stone leading into the sphere. He felt like he shouldn't be here, this was wrong, so very wrong but he was forced to watch as he was pulled into the tunnel, inside the sphere was a garden of roses and nightshades surrounded by an endless field of green, sat at a table in the middle of the garden at a table was a man dressed in an all white tux with slicked golden hair, on the other side of the table another man, dressed in all black emo clothes, with tanned skin and long, messy black hair. Quinn took a single step forward to peer at the game of chess on the table, It was the man in white's turn, whom was using the white pieces, the man in black was mockingly waving the white queen in his face, the man in white smiled and took a short glance at Quinn before moving his king for the first time, the man in black glared at Quinn and got up. The man in white also go up as the man in black made to attack Quinn with an ebony colored dagger but the man in white took Quinn by the shoulder and moved him out of the way, the man in white growled and threw the dagger aside, he returned to his seat and grinned as he too moved his king, it looked as though, despite loosing a fair number of valuable pieces each, the match had just begun In earnest, the man in white gave Quinn a smile as he was pulled away from the garden and out of the sphere, his vision turned heavenwards and a tunnel of shimmering golden energy loomed over him, he couldn't move or speak as Quinn was thrown into the maelstrom, spinning he could barely keep up with what was going on, images of times long passed and times to come shot passed him before he could process them, suddenly everything went black and Quinn fell into a deep sleep.

Author's Note

This is the first chapter in the book, please let me know if it's too long or short to be a chapter, or if I've missed any obvious spelling or grammar mistakes.