Merlin's Apprentice

Prolouge

The snow was falling down, surrounding the town of Ithaca in a thin blanket of white. To many, the town of Ithaca was normal. A plain place where people were not very different from the rest of society. In fact, most of the town's residents were rather plain and boring. They lived their lives just going through the motions, working, sleeping, and eating. There were children who played sports, and children who made art. All of them were average, with an average imagination, and with an average sense of childish adventure.

Those that had lived in the town for a long time, knew that nothing never interesting ever happened. Nothing terrifying, except for branches brushing on windows or the wind making eery sounds. Every thing was normal, and the townspeople enjoyed living a regular life. Ithaca was plain, and almost all of its tenets were plain as well.

Especially the Peveril family; they were the epitome of boring and regular. The Peverils were a family of four, with two parents and two children. Their house was quaint, and filled with family pictures. At first glance, they looked like the perfect family, with two parents, one seven year old child, and one teenager, whose eyes hid behind thin-framed glasses. If someone chose to look at the pictures closer, they would see how the parents are closer to one child than the other. There were many more pictures that hung on the walls, but this was one of the few pictures that had both children in it. This family was the epitome of normal, well, except for Elaine.

Elaine was the short teenager in the picture. She was the only one in her family and her whole town, that didn't really fit into their category of "normal". She was different from all of the rest; she was anything but plain, and found her home inside of fictional worlds from the past and the present. Places where the impossible were made possible, and where the underdog always came out victorious. She knew that this was not the way the real world worked, but she enjoyed it too much to stop. The lure of fiction was always better than the awakening of reality.

Many people in Ithaca were asleep. The few that were awake were playing purposeless games on their phones or texting their friends, but Elaine was doing something different then the rest. She was reading a book, huddled under a small book light, trying to get the light to illuminate both sides of her book. Elaine wasn't really succeeding, as only one page was covered by the dim light. Most kids her age would not even touch a book, much less read one when they could watch a movie or television. Because of this, she was a very lonely girl.

The people at school did not want to talk to her because how "weird" she was, because of  how much she read instead of instagramming or snapchating. Her only friends were trapped in the pages of the books that she read. They were her only break from all of the teasing and bullying from her peers. They thought that she was different; Elaine thought that was a good thing, even if that wasn't their intent.

She was used to being the outcast of her grade; no one really spoke to her, except for the bullies, and the discussion between them was never really pleasant. Elaine was used to this though, and she accepted it. Lost in a torrent of emotions, she peered down at her book about Arthurian legends and myths.

It was bounded in leather and felt very soft in her hands as she looked at the picture of Arthur sitting in his throne with his sword in hand. The story of Prince Arthur was always one of her favorites. It was a tale of love and despair, but also magic and strength. She imagined this world more than all others. The medieval aspects made the story even more interesting to her; she loved ancient and medieval history.

She wished that the characters in her books were real, that she would have friends in real life. Sadly, she knew that this would never happen, it was physically implausible. Elaine stared at the book resting in her hands, then back at the wall in front of her, and she whispered, "I wish that you guys were real." A tear was slowly dripping down her face and landed on the cover of her book.

She put the book on her bedside table, and laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling as silent tears sled down her face, pooling into the sheets. The thoughts of princes and magic faded from her mind  and her eyes shut. The last thing that she had seen before falling asleep was a soft golden glow in the corner of her eye.

————

Not very far away, something weird was in the air, something magical. Behind a straight line of trees, there was a barren forest. Ravens came out of the trees and swarmed the area within the circle, creating a cyclone. Leaves were flying everywhere and dirt was lifted into the air.

The birds flew at a brisk pace, going faster and faster until a stone floor was revealed. Ancient markings were carved into the marble pedestal, and they started to pulse with a blinding white light. The moonlight combined with this strange light, and suddenly, the constellation Pleiades appeared. A beam shot out from the two and shone into the middle of the stone circle.

The stone circle sank down into the ground with a creak. In its place, a stone pedestal was now rising up from the ground, and an ancient looking book, on top. A golden aura encompassed the leather book, and a single raven landed on it, waiting for its mistress to come.

Its cover was a dull gold with golden embellishments adorning each corner spiraling toward the center. The book was closed with metal and dark leather latches, making the book look even more archaic and out of place in this boring town. The weirdest part was the metal circle in the middle of the cover, for it was engraved with a symbol of an old sword and a sorcerer's staff.

The raven whispered softly into the night,"Come Mistress, join us"

————

Elaine awoke with a shiver. She turned to her bedside table and drank a glass of water. There was a voice in the back of mind telling her to go to the forest. She brushed it off and looked out her bedroom window, it was still dark out. Her head turned to look at the clock, which sported the ungodly hour of three. She was about to go back to sleep when a golden trail appeared and exited through her door. Slipping on her jeans and brown combat boots, she stumbled out of room.

The golden trail danced around her house and stopped in front of the family portrait hanging on the wall. Within a moment, it sped up and shot outside of the house. Elaine grabbed her leather jacket and ran after it. She was wondering what was going on and why she felt compelled to follow this bright light.

Running through the forest, she paused for a second and looked up. Her mind was racing. What happened to the forest? Instead of dense trees, there was a circular clearing. As if there had never been a forest. The leaves were all arranged around the circle. Elaine was curious about what happened and stepped into the clearing.

She asked in a wavering voice, "Hello? Is there anyone here?" The teenager stepped forward and headed towards the pedestal in the center of the circle. There was something on it, but she couldn't see what it was. It was too dark.

The golden light from before floated into view. Elaine could see that there was a book on top of it. She reached out and her hands closed around the book. It was so beautiful. She undid the worn leather latches and opened the book. Nothing happened.

She looked at the first page of the tattered book, but she was unable to read it. It was in a weird archaic language that Elaine did not know. She tried once more to decipher it, and the weird script remained the same. The golden light started to get brighter and brighter. She closed her eyes as the light soon became blinding.

As she closed her eyes, she felt something land on her shoulder saying, "Hello Mistress, I have been waiting for you."

Elaine felt her body spinning, the wind catching in her hair. The light overcame all of her senses, and the world started to fade away. The last thing she felt was the scratchiness of leaves on her back and her head hitting the ground.