Michael Dark

Chapter 1

The air was cold and the mist was thick, the grey sky matching with the grey clouds. The trees were shaking vigorously with nothing to cover them to keep them warm. Winter was here, as was the cold it had brought with it. There was no snow but there was rain. It poured down Emily's back as she sat, hood down, on the rocks by the bush where she had met him two years before.

She had witnessed him fighting another man she now knew as Johnathan Was. A wanted criminal on this little island of Allainia. She remembered his sour blonde moustache and his shiny bald head as he ran away, his clothes on fire and blood on his face. That was the moment when her perfect little life went away and when her perfect little family drifted apart. Well, they didn't know their daughter was training to fight and learn magic. They only knew the clone most of the time. But she didn't care. She was eighteen after all.

"I knew you would be here."

She turned to see Michael walking up to her to join her on the rocks.

"Yeah well you guessed right."

"Apparently so."

They had known each other for two years now and they were closer than anyone they knew. It was almost like they had known each other their whole lives. They had solved the murder of Christie Nanopa and Dr Peoneylans disappearance a year ago in March together. It turns out that Johnathan Was had been behind it all. Then she thought of something she had never really thought about before. She tried to ignore it and push it away but it kept on coming back like a dog playing fetch.

"What do you think it would have been like if we hadn't met two years ago?" She blurted.

"I would imagine myself skipping happily without you there to annoy me." He replied.

"Oi, give me an answer or else."

"Or else what?"

"Or else...uh...I'll set you on fire while you're driving and kill us both."

"I know you won't actually do that but I'm going to give you an answer anyway because if I don't, then you might actually do for real and that would really annoy me, we will all die and-"

"Dude. I don't want a speech about it, I just want a-nevermind..."

"Fine."

"Thanks."

"I would imagine you being at home with your parents not knowing what was out there. Being all sad and lonely without me to be the best person you've ever met."

They both grinned at each other with a twinkle in their eyes.

"I guess. And I don't think we would have caught Johnathan Was either. Jeez that took at least the whole time we knew each other."

"Yeah that did take quite a while..."

They stayed there for a few minutes, watching some of the last leaves fall from the tips of branches.

"We should probably go soon. We have a meeting with the council in ten minutes."

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"We have the car, we should be fine and besides, being fashionably late is my thing."

"Is that why you're always late when you come and meet me somewhere?"

"Precisely."

"You're such a goon."

She grinned and gave him a nudge on the shoulder, "Come on, I don't like being late and neither should you. It's a bad habit."

He gave her a sly grin and nudged her back.

"Ok then..." , he shot up and started to run, "Race you!"

She ran after him shouting, "You idiot! You're such a child!"

"I'm almost two hundred years old, you're eighteen, let me be childish!"

The magic that sorcerer's possess helps to keep them from ageing as fast as the others without magic. Michael had told her that when she had asked how old he actually was.

She flicked her wrist and he gasped and was yanked behind her. Now she was in the lead and she was not going to lose. Not when she was so close.

When she passed the trees and heard the crumple of concrete under her, she slowed down and stopped right before she hit the car. Michael soon followed after with a look of playful annoyance on his shaven face.

"You cheated. That's so not fair."

"Nothings fair in life so get over it."

He mumbled something and got in the car and so did she.
The Council had been set up in an old, abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by trees, bushes, plenty of undergrowth and overgrown grass. The warehouse was constructed with wood that began to rot and grow mould.
Once they had parked and got out of the car, they were almost five minutes late. Emily was not having it and was planning a way to get back at him. Maybe she could set fire to him as he was driving...

"No. I would rather be late to a meeting with the Council than die because of his passion for being 'Fashionably' late." she thought as they were walking down the path and into the warehouse.

The first time she had come here was the day she had met Michael. He had told her to wait in the car but she had refused and followed him anyway. No matter what he told her to do, she would do the exact opposite. Unless she was in a life or death situation of course. She didn't want to die because of her stubbornness. He had taught her some magic and she was amazed with what she was capable of doing. She had never thought that her life would have ended up like this and she was grateful that she has one like it. When he was teaching Emily magic, he had taught her how to conjure fire and move the air. There was more to it than that, their was the ability to control the water but this was more difficult, so she was still learning. He had taught her how to play with fire in the first week of knowing each other.
He had once said, "When you clap your hands, try to feel the pulse and the energy run through your skin, try to keep this energy and bring it out of your palms."
And she failed on the first go, but she didn't give up. So after many tries, she had managed to create a flame. A singular flame that had managed to light up her eyes in delight, in excitement, and then...in fear. She was fantasised by what the world was capable of. And what the world would do with that power. She knew that if the world realised it's full potential, the world would burn. And almost nothing would be left...

As they entered the old warehouse, Michael tapped a hidden symbol on the wooden frame which made the symbol glow. After a few seconds, a small crack appeared in the dirt and grew until there was an opening large enough for three people to go through at a time. After looking around to make sure nobody was looking, which they doubted anyone was, they entered the opening and went down a flight of stairs.

Once they had gotten to the bottom, they were ten minutes late. Emily was not happy.

"Thanks Michael. We're late. I hope your happy." She growled. She really didn't like to be late.

"As a matter of fact I am happy, thank you for asking." He smiled, and continued walking towards a front desk. Behind this desk was a bored looking man, who looked like he regretted everything, sitting in a wooden chair that looked like it direly required a cushion.

"Hello there! We have a meeting with a Spantintine Qualli," Michael said. "If you would be so kind as to let her know we have arrived then that would really be appreciated."

The man gave him an annoying smirk,"She's waiting in her office. She's been waiting for a while."

Then he went back to being bored, his smirk disappearing into the air. Emily turned to him.

"We're late Michael and now she's almost definitely going to be in a bad mood."

Despite the probably highly accurate prediction, he just shrugged and walked through a corridor that lead to a double door at the end of the corridor and knocked.

"Come in." Said the voice.

They entered to a large room with a large wooden cabinet behind a desk covered in papers and files in the middle, and a lamp hidden away in each corner to give the room a calm atmosphere. Behind the desk was Spantintine Qualli, a usually calm and collected woman with high intelligence and a sharp choice of clothes, who looked like she had urgent news.