The next few days went by relatively smoothly. Marvin got in touch with Marly, and they spoke semi-frequently through texts or calls. He even stayed on friendly terms with Adam. By the time Friday rolled around, he’d already convinced his grandmother that he had joined a new school club which is why he'd arrive home late, but as the final bell rang, he found himself hesitating.

Hesitating due to the not-so-simple fact that he was going to be learning to use magic. Even after seeing, and nearly getting killed by, a hybrid of a werewolf and a vampire, and socialising out with lizard, wolf, and half-vampire people, this was the part that really got to him.

Magic was about to become his norm, and he wasn't sure he knew how to deal with that. And if he was freaking out now, how was he going to act when he was actually in the situations he was so stressed about. Maybe he wasn't up to this.

It was at this stage that Marly of all people found himself in.

“Hello Marvin!” she said, louder than necessary, breaking Marvin out of his thoughts with a startled yelp.

“What!? What are you doing here at this hour?” questioned Marvin

“Just catching up with some homework in the library and I didn’t realise how much time had passed. Wait, what are you doing? You’re going to be late!” responds Marly, and the urgency in her voice made him chuckle a little, not expecting that sort of thing from her.

“I-It’s ok. I’m just thinking about how this might be a bit much. And I might not be cut out for it.” explained Marvin, in the hopes that through the explanation he could trick himself into letting go of his anxiety.

“What-Why are you here then you idiot?” shouted Marly, surprising the dark haired boy.“You know, I was starting to think you were smarter than you look. You used magic! Just like that! And I know something like that isn’t an everyday occurance. You have got this!”

If he was being honest he wasn’t expecting this aggressive support from his blonde haired classmate. And she wasn’t wrong. Her words didn’t exactly help with his anxiety, but they did get him motivated enough to get himself outside the principal’s office.

According to Marly and Adam who’d both tried to explain the situation to him, separately of course, a select number of schools-theirs included-across the world were secret recruitment centers for the International Defense Association, so some of the school’s higher ups, namely the principal, were in the know about everything supernatural going on in the establishment.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered.

The room inside wasn’t too big, or too elaborately decorated. There was a painting in the back of the room, detailing a floating city among the clouds, with two floor lamps on either side of it, and an elevator door on the left wall and...Chiron standing in front of it?

“You-You’re the principal? Sir?” wondered Marvin, watching in confusion as the centaur stood before him looking for all intents and purposes like a regular human.

“No need to be so formal, Marvin. I’m here to assist you. Shall we get started?” replied the centaur with a calm tone of voice.

“Of course.” stiffly responded Marvin. He actually had a lot of questions, but he figured he wouldn’t get anywhere by just standing around for however long it took for Chiron to explain every single thing he wanted explained.

Once inside, Chiron pressed a code in the floor panel, and they started descending. An awkward, tense silence filled the room. Unlike last time Marvin met him, he appeared to be preoccupied by something.

After a while they reach the bottom. The room awaiting them on the other side is quite large and messy, appearing like a mix of a library and a workshop, with a large open space in the middle.

A seven pointed star, a heptagram, carved into the floor of the open space inside a double circle. On the circle’s outer borders there are four weird symbols, each facing a different direction, with four in the middle in a square shape.

The large window that has a view of a city as if it is on the highest floor of a skyscraper, even though they are underground, is the first thing that Marvin has seen that hits him as downright magical, including all the supernatural creatures. And it both excites and terrifies him.

Standing over a table near said window were two people. A brown haired woman he recognized as Kara Snow, and a man that appears to be the same age as her, although he is much taller than anyone else in the room, with a prosthetic left arm, and surprisingly silver haired for his age. He also seemed weirdly familiar to him. As if they had met before, a long time ago.

“You’ve already met your Kara Snow. This is your principal, Eobard Kon.”

“Nice to meet you.” smiled the man, leaning in a handshake which Marvin nervously reciprocated.

“I-I’m sorry sir, but have we met before?”

“Once.” he smiled wistfully. “The supernatural has played a larger role in your life than you realise.”

“Enough talking. We need to get started.” said Kara Snow before Marvin could respond to the man’s ominous comment.

“S-so, what’s going to happen now, Miss Snow?” asks Marvin, as she comes closer to him, whilst Chiron and Eobard Kon distance themselves.

“First of all, you’re going to start calling me Kara. Second, as I’m sure Chiron explained to you using some fancy analogy, magic is the art of manipulating the broken pieces of the universe to your liking. Now I’ll be the first to admit magic seems like the be all and end all for power. Bending the universe to your will. What a rush right?” There was pride in Kara’s voice, a happiness when discussing her expertise.

“So you like magic then?” teased Eobard Kon, smirking at her when she looked at him with a glare that would kill if it could.

“As I was saying. In spite of that, magic isn’t lawless or limitless. There are a variety of things we can’t do even with it. For now I only have one piece of advice. We deal with the broken parts of the universe. Don’t let them break you.” she said as a glowing heptagram appeared over her right hand.

“Do you have an item that would be able to be used as a conduit?” asked Kara, getting in Marvin’s personal space.

“Conduit?”

“Υou need an item through which you channel magic. So your body doesn’t take the whole strain of magic on itself like last time. Or you could very well tear yourself apart.”

“What!?” yelled Marvin. “Tear myself apart?” He didn’t particularly enjoy yelling, but he thinks it’s pretty justified. This isn’t what he signed up for. He wanted a way to protect himself and his family, learn about this new world and its contents, and not have everything he does make him closer to death.

Kara’s eyes widened, possibly realizing that telling a sixteen year old might die because of what they were about to do wasn’t a smart thing. “That won’t happen here. You’re not in any danger. Pick an item and you’ll be fine.” she explained apologetically. Last time he found himself close to death he was in a full survival mode. But now-now he had the time to think this through. And he didn’t exactly want to walk straight into his death.

“You don’t have a reason to trust us.” Strangely enough it was Eobard Kon that answered. “We can only offer our word. It's your choice whether or not you believe us.”

Right. His choice. His choices led him here. Deciding whether or not he should trust the school principal, a woman that he had met a grand total of two times and a damn centaur. The thing that scared him most was that he thought he did. He truly thought Kara was telling him the truth. Looking out the seemingly impossible window, he made a, potentially awful, decision.

“How about my leg? It’s a prosthetic. I have to take it off in my sleep though.”

“It’ll do.” smiled Kara. “I hear you’re a bit of an archer?”

“I try.” sheepishly smiled Marvin

“Focus on your leg and archery then. The things that make you, well, you. Your leg will be reinforced during the awakening, so it’s a bit better. Now, are you ready?”

At Marvin’s nod Kara placed her heptagram hand on Marvin’s head, whispering “Awaken.”

Suddenly a burning, aching feeling dominates his body. Like when he used the ring a few days ago, an absurd combination of intense feelings overwhelms him in a span of a second. It felt like he was on fire. He could feel everything around him. It was devastating.

But just when it became too much, it was all gone as well as his vision faded to darkness.

Eleven year old Marvin Perlie can barely see or feel anything. He always considered himself a smart enough person. But he couldn’t tell you what happened here. All he knew was that one moment he was with his grandpa, waiting for his parents who had some work to do, and the next…

Next, he only felt pain. He could barely recognize the face of a silver haired man holding him, asking about Marvin’s name and parents. He heard the man telling him to stay awake. Asking him questions that Marvin tried to answer, but he soon felt himself coughing through his response. It just hurt too much. He just didn’t want to hurt anymore.

“Who are you?” whispered an unknown voice in his head.

Ten year old Marvin Perlie woke up in a hospital room. He was cold. He wanted to throw up. There was nothing but machines in his vision and a loud beeping noise filled his head.

He knew that he'd been in there for months. His birthday came and went and his parents were nowhere in sight. No one was there. For the first time since he was two years old and dropped to his grandparents for the night, the first time he wasn’t with either his mother or father, he was filled with a pure desire to see his parents that only a terrified child could have.

But they’re not there.

“Where’s Kara?” called out the same voice as before

Next thing he knew he was at his parents’ graves. They were next to one another, he supposed that counted for something. His grandfather was dead, and grandmother in surgery. For his part, Marvin was covered in bandages and stitches, and was even confined to a wheelchair because he lost his leg.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. Apparently a small crowd of people had gathered to honor their lives back when their funeral took place. Some were friends, and some were family members that were there because they had to and no other reason. Most of them he never heard from, or saw. He may have been young but he was not stupid.

He found himself struggling to stay awake as he slipped once again out of consciousness, the darkness overtaking him once more.

That was all that twelve year old Marvin Perlie could see as he was slammed to the wet ground of the small hill just outside his school, his glasses flying off his eyes. His nose was bloodied from the impact, and he was barely able to get his bearings before the person responsible for it kicked his sides.

“I never thought you’d actually kick me while I was down Johnny.” coughed Marvin, looking up at his aggressor. Looking down at him was a group of students, all of them were snickering or straight up laughing at him.

Leading them was Johnny Lloyd, one of his classmates, the same height as Marvin himself, with a cruel expression on his face.

“You really don’t know when to stop, do you!?” declared Johnny, a heavy drawl in his voice. Hitting his own chest he smiled down at Marvin.

Before anything happened however, the dark haired boy found himself alone.

For a moment he could have sworn he faintly heard a voice saying ‘This isn’t right.’ but it was most likely his imagination.

There was nobody there.

Going up the small hill, where a lone large tree cast a shadow over it. Laying with his head and back against its trunk, the young boy let out a quiet sigh closing his eyes, allowing himself to relax after the experience he just had.

“Hey!” So, of course, a few minutes later he was interrupted by a loud, cheerful, feminine voice.

“Argh!” called out Marvin in surprise, bolting up to see a blonde, blue eyed girl staring back at him.

“I’m Marly!” smiled the girl-Marly-offering her hand to the dark haired boy

“Marvin Perlie. We go to the same school.” Marvin introduced himself curtly. He wasn’t really in the mood to socialize.

“Geez, way to be cool.” sarcastically responded Marly, rolling her eyes at the boy

“Not really interested in being cool.”

‘She’s not who she says she is.’ The faint voice came back once more. It sounded like-like himself? But older, deeper. Marvin’s eyes widened as he realised what’s going on.

“You’re not who you say you are.” he repeated what the voice said, surprising both the girl and himself.

“What?”

“I haven't met Marly Mallory yet. This-this isn’t how this day went. So, I’m assuming some magic nonsense is at play here.” said Marvin, unsure of how he knew that. Of what was even happening.

“Darn, I know I’m not exactly a master but I thought I could fool you for a bit…You’re not half bad you know? I’m Ava. Ava Mallory.” she said standing up, staring at the dark haired boy on the ground.

“Mallory? So is this a trap or test of some kind?” asked Marvin, not entirely convinced of the girl’s intentions, and at a loss for what he could even do in this situation.

“I don’t know if it is. But I’m desperate, so I can only hope you’re one of the good guys.” she replied looking away from him.

“I-I’d like to think I am.”

Ava sighed in response. “I have no choice other than to believe you. It’s my only hope. How about it?” asked Ava, this time she looked him straight in the eyes.

“Yeah, I can help you, I guess?” responded Marvin, before getting up in order to go back home, or wherever he’d have to go next. He didn’t exactly know the ins and outs of how this worked, but chances were some othermemory of his was next. But as he stood up and turned to look at the school, he noticed that the school-his school-that the hill was next to…

It was gone. There was nothing there. Absolute nothing.

Turning back around, the only things there were the hill and Ava.

“I’m glad.” Ava began speaking, her whole body starting to turn to dust

“Because you aren’t the only one who noticed me. Use this dream as a guide, and come to find me! Also please tell my sister, tell everyone, that what happened was not their fault. I don’t know you at all, but you’re my only hope. You must stop them! Please!”

Before he could respond Ava completely disappeared and everything gave way to darkness once more.