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Chapter 1

Gray skies, the vile smell of waste, and the clop of work horses. All those were my home town. I sat on the cold stone of the ground in a crevice between two of the close buildings. My mind was elsewhere as I was approached by the sound of boots against the ground.

“Well, if it isn’t the zero.” The boy who had spoken was taller and looked like he ate enough for himself and the other boy next to him. He had greasy blonde hair and a face that was almost as fat as his gut. His neck was next to non-existent and his eyes of blue were cruel just like the sneer on his face.

“A zero?” The other boy was at least a foot shorter than the fat one. He had little muscle and his clothes were baggy on him. His stature was that of a submissive child who was used to being punished for small slips of the tongue that spilled questions. The black hair on his head was a mess and his eyes shown with curiosity and sympathy for the poor boy on the ground.

I stared blankly at the two of them slowly slipping my hand into the inside pocket of my loose fitting jacket. “A zero is someone,” the fat boy stated pointing at me, “that can perform no magic.” He kept sneering at me. “A zero is someone not even worthy of licking the mud from my boots.”

“There are people not able to use magic?” The smaller boy crouched down to eye level with me. “Why are you in the cold?”

I opened my mouth to start speaking but the fatter boy spoke first. “I believe it’s because his parents don’t want to deal with the ridicule of raising a zero.”

It took only half a second to whip out the knife from my jacket and hold it against the little bit of neck the boy had. “Don’t need magic to take on a kid who needs to go to fat camp.” His sneer grew and twisted his face.

Heat radiated across my chest and I was thrown back ten feet with a gaping hole in my shirt and jacket still burning around the edges. My chest was bright red with three or five welts now. “You dare assault one so superior to you!” A small sphere of flames sat in his palm. He drew back his arm ready to throw the flames at me as I lay half sitting on the ground. Before he could though a bell rang out from the top of the town hall steeple. The flames dissipated and he dropped his arm. The fat boy looked at me in disgust. “You’re lucky I have more important things to attend to. Come along Edward.” The skinny boy scampered off after his fat companion while he looked back at me wiping the dust off what remained of my clothes.

“Damn users.” I kicked an empty trash can beside me denting it. The heat from the magic faded and the cold chill of winter hit me. “Well life any other ways you want to fuck me today?” I called out to the sky.

A pillar of violet light shot into the sky in the distance. The light fountained into a dome and came cascading back down releasing rings in a pulsating matter. As the first ring passed me I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I fell to one knee gripping my chest as the second wave passed my head felt about to split open. The third wave that passed forced me out of consciousness.

I jump awake to the sound of sirens blaring and smoke rising to the sky. The ground was rumbling and small bits of debris was falling from the side of buildings. The sky cleared of smoke for a moment and I saw something strange in the sky.

Behind a thin veil of dark skies and stars was a city with its roofs facing me. “What in the world?” I stood up and brushed the dust from my clothes. Outside of the alley I saw buildings burning and gurneys being occupied.

I walked amongst the bodies and the people rushing. Most trying to heal the wounded but failing for whatever reason. Their magic was only faint glimmer of what it had been only hours before. The skinny boy from earlier was kneeling beside a gurney. Its occupant was the fat boy from earlier. His skull was smashed in with all his teeth missing. The bloody stain on the sheet where his hand should have been told me that it was more than likely missing.

I left the chaos and returned to my alleyway. I sat and smirked as I watched them all. “Finally they get what they deserve.” I laid back and watched the mysterious sky above me with a city behind it. “Still don’t know,” I mumbled.

Sorry for such a sucky first chapter but I'm trying to set some stuff up. Hope you enjoyed the first part of this collabrative project.