A Wizards Beginning: Part One

The Book

      "The Hope has diminished," came a voice from the outer edge of space, attempting to communicate with other life in some other distance far away. It was many years until the voice received an answer, which was the custom for a Planet so far away from the Core. The caller patiently waited to hear the reaction from the Light.

     And, after three years of waiting, her call had received an answer. "The Light has been dimmed. Come quickly."

     These words made the body fit to the voice appear in the void of space. And she flew off, across the stars and past galaxies. Past Control Centers and uninhabited planets. She saw other people in her exact same position. Gravity pushed against her, attempting to bring her down as she raced past planets but she fought - and she won. There was only one destination that was goal for the Planet Lead.

     There. It was in front of her, a mixture of blue and green. She slowed down and stared at the spherical planet. Small specks of light dotted around land masses and the water run amiss with ocean currents and hurricanes starting to form in the center of the Sea. Something wasn't right. The headquarters should be able to be seen from this distance. A large blob of purple mixed among the water and land. But the purple was gone and replaced with its natural blue. And Neopia was just another planet destroyed by the Dark Power.

     The Planet Leader turned around slowly. It had gotten to the headquarters and burned it until there was not even a speck of the large glass building left. She quietly mumbled to herself in a strange dialect as she walked among the stars and planets. From there, people understood her and the other Planet Leaders saw what was troubling her and came out and asked for clarification. And the Planet Leader gave it to them, the strange dialect still coming strong through her mouth.

     Hope had been destroyed by Dark. Light had been destroyed by Dark. And soon, everything else would. Dark would take over, as was his plan for many years. Dark would succeed in his plan. Unless there was someone to stop him. Unless...someone was sent for their Initial Journey to fight the Dark and win. Win? No...there was no winning against the Dark, only partial wins. The Dark couldn't diminish.

     "I think you'd better move!" a Draik exclaimed, prancing from side to side in a hurry. He was wearing an angry face, but you could clearly see a smile was breaking through and spreading up to his cheeks. Laughter burst out of from inside his yellow-scaled body, bellowing and echoing in the empty park.

     A pink Zafara was in front of him, also running around in circles, trying to catch the Draik. "You wish I'd move! I wouldn't let you out of here if your owner was calling you!" she exclaimed giddily and continued dancing on the dark and wet green grass.

     Then, a voice called from far away. The Zafara stopped and looked behind her to the busy street. "I think I have to go," she said, now watching the Draik start to move past her and then stop and cock his head towards hers.

     "No big deal," the Draik said, sounding disappointed. "Tomorrow?"

     The Zafara smiled and nodded. "Yeah, definitely. Bye!" she waved as she ran off into the street and soon disappeared in a crowd of pets slowly making their way down the sidewalk.

     Then, the Draik started to move along slowly in the park. His head was up, examining the cloud as he walked. They shifted around and started to deepen in color, eventually getting ready to shroud Neopia in darkness for another night. "Ow!" came the loud exclamation has he jumped and grabbed his foot, rubbing it while trying to get the pain to disappear. He looked down to see what he had stubbed Hidden away between large tufts of grass a tattered old book lay. The Draik looked to both sides and slowly pick it up with his claws. It was much heavier than it looked.

     What was on the front cover shocked the Draik even more. Wizard Manual. The title stared back, contrasting on the maroon cover in gold text. No authors name, no picture or publisher. Just the two words glaring at him, almost as if alive.

     Curiosity took a hold of him and flipped the book open to page one which was blank. Quickly, he flipped through a few more pages with his right claw while balancing the book with his left. Then, a large table of contents appeared. In fine print, he could see many words that he couldn't even begin to pronounce. He stared at it for a moment and then flipped another page where a heading entitled History was clearly and distinctly marked and below it was a spanning of text.

     Before beginning to read the strange book, he sat down on the grass where he was standing and cleared a few tufts of grass that were mounting onto his legs. The Draik then placed the book in his lap and his eyes began to scroll across the page as he started to take part in his favorite activity - reading.

      Magic has been present before Neopia was materialized by vapor and gas. Spread throughout space, many waited for a right place to call their home. Harriawaqu spotted Neopia slowly forming about five hundred thousand years before being in liveable state. He past on but people checked up on the status of this planet every five hundred years, checking its' production state and if any toxic gases were present. After the years and years of checking, Tosu, a Planet Leader, finally announced their was a liveable planet to run their headquarters from. And the Wizards gathered there. But, not just there. Since Neopia had been formed, many other planets have materialized and Wizards have gone over there.

     The Wizards were greeted with small visitors when they arrived and named them. Over the years of evolution, the minuscule creatures began to grow to the size you see today. After thousands of years of this "evolution phase" others started to show up on the planet. Alien creatures. But the Wizards had had enough. They made themselves invisible to the public eye and let the aliens run the creatures, now much larger in size.

     War came upon the Wizards. They were split into two groups, which still exist today. The Light side consisted of Hope and Trust and all that was good. The Dark was made up of demons and devils, all who were much more powerful than the light. And they clashed and battle sprung upon everything and everyone. Wars were started in Neopia -- Wizards against Demons. Wars were fought in the sky - Planet Leaders against Dark Lords. And major battles were fought within the Powers. Hope against Death. And Death won.

     Wizardry fell apart. Everything was diminished. Their headquarters were burned. Their stations were vaporized. And Dark had won, leaving the Light to wander in the galaxy, waiting for the right person and the right moment. The right person that would push the Dark aside and let in the Light. The right moment for a newly discovered Wizard who would be sent to an unspoken place for their Initial Journey.

     The Draik looked up as he heard a voice yell from the distance. His name rung out throughout the park. Through the trees and across the lake; bouncing on the field and finally found its' owner in a small spot near a large tree where that Draik had found the book.

     "RAMEK!"

     ***

     Ramek stared at the book, now lying on his bed. The book was shut tightly and the Draik refused to open it. He wasn't sure whether this was real or just an elaborate prank someone had tried to pull on him. But...it seemed so real. The book looked so old and the text were all different words, not the same ones that repeated themselves over and over again. Maybe...if it was real...

     The Draik pushed the thought out of his head. It couldn't be real. There was no such thing as magic. He had been told so on many occasions and stood by his beliefs. It was probably a fictional book someone had written for entertainment... But his mind wandered back to the thought: Why would someone write it for fun? It wouldn't be an exciting book. It would just drone on about some nonexistent art.

     Ramek fingered the book, feeling the leather cover. He slowly pulled it closer to him. If it was fake, it wouldn't hurt to read it. It may contain a good story. His claws grabbed it and he opened it, slowly flipping through the pages and glancing at diagrams and tables and large blocks of text that filled up whole pages. There was no way it was fake. It just...had a feel to it.

     And he flipped to the second page, on which he started again from where he left off. Maybe it will reveal some of the answers he had been pondering while sitting on his bed, wondering if the book was fact or fiction...

To be continued...