Severance (Book 1: Rise Of Chaos)

Chapter 10

Waving towards Ridley and the other Proctors, Redwing felt the portal open and envelop him and Constance, as well as the dragon that they had finally managed to obtain. As he did, he felt pain clench his chest slightly, growling to himself as he held his sides. Not only had they managed to injure both his pride and his body, but they had ruined one of his favourite suits. They would pay for this.

Looking up at Constance who was staring down at him with her usual blank expression, Redwing straightened up as he found himself where he had meant to be. He was sitting in the basement of one of his many buildings found around the Manhattan area. Immediately as they materialized, several armed guards emerged from all sides and aimed their weapons at the dragon, who was breathing fire nervously and screeching at all of them.

Redwing stared at one of the spellcasters that had appeared, and motioned to him. "Neutralize it. Make sure it can't escape, then take it to it's containment unit." Nodding, the spellcaster made a seal appear, and then moved it towards the dragon. The dragon appeared to struggle and resist, growling, then it finally collapsed to the floor, it's eyes drooping and unmoving. The guards began to restrain it and then drag it away. 

Watching the whole time, Preston sighed as he felt his own body beginning to tire as well. Teleportation took a lot out of him. It came in handy since he had learned how to do it, but like it did for all Manipulators, teleporting used up the most energy, and because of this, he only used it as a last resort. He began to walk out of the basement up towards his office, Constance following closely behind him. 

Getting into the elevator, two bodyguards carrying guns swiftly joined them, travelling up towards the top floor, where Redwing's office was. Preston smiled slightly to himself as he thought of how far he'd come. He had been so blind to the ways of the world, but on the day that everything had changed for him, his eyes had been opened, and now he was one of the most powerful figures in the magical underworld.

It had all started back in the slums of New York about 30 years ago. He and his mother had been living in Hell's Kitchen, barely getting enough to survive. His mother was almost never home due to her working all day, so Preston had learned to live for himself. Then, a man had come to the door. He was badly hurt, with a strange symbol on his chest, one that Preston would later learn had marked him as a Proctor.

The man had mortal injuries all over his body, ones that would surely kill him in a matter of moments. Things like this weren't uncommon in Hell's Kitchen, but Preston had never seen anything like this before. As the man laid dying on his living room couch, Preston had tried to help, but the man had shook his head. "Keep...my secret...safe..." He had gasped one last time before taking his last breath, and then finally dying.

Preston hadn't known what to do. He had thought to call 911, but this man was an adult, who had told him to keep a secret, and he couldn't disobey what an adult had told him to do. Then, Preston had noticed something poking out of the man's jacket. Grabbing it and looking through it, he had seen that there was things written inside of it, a lot of it he didn't recognize. Then, his mother had come home, called the police, and the book was forgotten for a while. Preston didn't tell the police about it. After all, he had to keep the secret.

A while later, Preston had started reading the book, and some of it he began to understand. Over the course of weeks and months, he had slowly started to decipher what was in the book. He had seen the different things it could teach you how to do. Some of them were names for things, like monsters, but others were spells, like magic. Preston had started to test out these tricks, and he started to get good at them. Really good.