Chained:The Conspiracy
The extinction of the dinosaurs.
The fall of Greece.
The rise of Rome.
The British Empire.
The beginning of America.
World War II.
John F. Kennedy’s Assasination.
The Cold War.
9/11.
These events were all linked-all part of the same conspiracy, the same war, that has been raging forever. Combining powers. Falling nations. And it’s about to be unleashed into the modern world.
Chapter 1
It all started on a bright, sunny day in June. The last day of school, actually. I was ready-ready to get out of my middle school, ready to have an amazing summer. It was that day that I first saw them.
Last period of the day. Last period of the school year. And of course, I had to be stuck in math class. This teacher-her name was Mrs. Squealer- just would not give up. She was about 90 years old, and as friendly as Voldemort. She had us working on math from the first day of school, all the way until a week ago, when the school had started removing furniture from the classrooms. Today, on the last day of school, she was giving “suggestions” on how to keep our math skills fresh over the summer. As she finally ended her lecture on how to calculate the surface area of just about every shape known to man, I turned to my friend Chris.
“Remind me how we managed to get stuck with math for the last class of the year?” I grumbled.
“Dunno. Only 3 minutes left, I think.” Came his reply.
“Can’t wait for next week. Maine’s going to be wicked fun.” I said.
“Yeah. Haven’t been there in so long…”
At that word, the bell rang to signal the end of the day. Whooping as I jumped up from my chair, I tried to get out of the classroom and to my locker as fast as possible. Nearly impossible. A mass of kids ranging 11 to 14 years old all trying to get to their lockers, grab their stuff, and get the heck out of the school as fast as humanly possible? Good luck. Nearly shoving people over as I walked down the hallway, kids were yelling, high fiving each other, and the occasional random “Move!” accompanied by a startled looking 8th grader trying to find the source of the noise behind them, only to see an extremely small and aggravated 6th grader trying to get to their locker.
Eventually, I managed to get my locker, grab my Red Sox hat, and walk away. After some more shoving and forcing my way to the door, I finally made it outside, with Chris. As we walked down the school steps and through the throng of baseball hats, shorts, and flip-flop wearing teenagers eager to begin their summer, Chris stopped.
“Hey, you see those guys, Tommy?” He asked me. I turned around and looked where he was looking. There were two men sitting in a black Corvette in the parking lot wearing black suits, kind of like the Secret Service wears. They had black sunglasses covering their eyes, and they were talking to each other. That wasn’t the weird part. The weird part was, they were staring directly at us.
“Weird…why are they looking at us?” I asked.
“I dunno…maybe they’re-” He started to say, but I cut him off.
“I seriously doubt they are gay, Chris.”
“Just saying.. It’s possible!”
As I looked back at the two men again, I noticed a new person with them. A kid, by the looks of it, my age, around 14. He looked very fit, like he spent most of his day outside, exercising. I would have thought he was a kid from my grade, but I had never seen him before. Nobody else seemed to be talking to him, so he could not have been someone in my grade. He looked like he was having an argument with the two men.
“Sketchy, huh?” Said Chris.
“Yeah…” I murmured. “Let’s go try to hear what they’re saying.”
“Why?” asked Chris.
“I’m not sure…just trust me. I feel like we should know.” I said.
We walked to the left, towards the parking lot. We went behind a red SUV two spaces away from the Corvette. Fortunately, the two men and the boy were talking pretty loudly, so it wasn’t that hard to hear.
“We can’t risk it right now.” One of the men was saying.
“But it’ll be more dangerous after today! They’re going to Maine next week. You know how many of them there are in Maine.” The boy replied, frustrated. I noticed that he had a New York accent. What was a kid from New York doing in suburban Massachusetts?
“We know,” The second man said. “But there’s too many witnesses right now. We’d have to wipe all of their minds. And if there is even one of them here, watching those two…we’d need a lot more than two agents and a teenage magician.”
The boy scowled, knowing that he was defeated. “Fine. But I don’t like it. Things better go smoothly in Maine. We can’t risk losing these two if they are who Doc says they are. Let’s get out of here then, in case we’re spotted.”
I heard the Corvette’s engine start, and a few minutes later, the car pulled away, in to the street.
I looked at Chris. “You don’t think that…”
“That they were talking about us?” He finished for me. “Yeah, I think they might have been. They mentioned Maine. Next week. That’s when we are there. They were staring at us. I got a weird feeling about them.”
“Me too,” I agreed. “But some of that didn’t make any sense…did one of those guys say ‘magician’? And if they were talking about us, who is this Doc person?”
Chris shrugged. “I dunno. But I think Maine might have answers.”
I smirked. “Another reason to be excited for it.”
Chapter 2
One week later, Chris and I drove up to Maine. We went to a resort by a lake where you can just hang out, basically. Ping pong. Tennis. Basketball. Ice cream. Crazy guys with swords and pistols. Whatever you wanted to do, right? In the case about the crazy guys with swords, we didn’t necessarily want that, but it happened.
It was 11:00 at night. After 11, the people who work at the resort kick you off the beach and you pretty much have to go back to your cabin/mini house. We were walking down the dark streets shrouded by large, leafy trees.
“Well, that was fun,” said Chris sarcastically. We had spent the majority of the night walking around looking for something to do…with no success.
“Maybe we’ll find something better to do tomorrow… there’s gotta be some people around here, right?” I said hopefully. We had been looking just for people to hang out with, but for some reason, not that many people had been out tonight
A chill ran down my spine. I stopped. Chris gave me a questioning look. “What?” He asked.
“Stop where you are.” A man’s voice, very deep, said. Chris and I both whirled around. Five tall men covered in black clothing were standing about fifteen feet away from us. They were all pointing pistols at us.
“Come with us, and nobody gets hurt,” One of the men said. Chris and I exchanged glances, like those ones you do with your friends when you know you both are thinking what the hell is going on?
I’d never thought about being kidnapped before. I figured it would never happen to me. Now, with the prospect of being abducted right there before me, my face paled. I was really scared.
“What do you want with us?” I asked, trying to buy some time. Maybe somebody would come outside and see us.
“It is not us that want you,” one of the men said. “It is our master.”
Even in our completely scared state, I still managed to answer stupidly. “Uh, and that would be..?”
The man who appeared to be the leader of the five raised his eyebrows.
“Really? You do not realize who you are dealing with?” He asked. When he saw the obvious blank look on our faces, he smiled. “Good. They have not fooled you. Not yet. Perhaps that will help you join our cause more easily.”
I started to say something, but Chris cut in. “Whoa, buddy. Your cause? What the hell are you talking about?”
“No questions,” The man barked. “Just come, quickly.” He turned to his fellow pistol-wielding crazies. “Falcon head formation. Don’t be seen.”
Two of the men ran up to Chris and I and grabbed our arms, pulling us up the street with them. Panic stricken, we had no choice but to go with them. They’d shoot us if we tried to run away. Then, something really crazy happened.
A flash of red light-the man holding me fell to the ground, clutching his arm. Breaking free, I did the only thing I could do. I charged at the man holding Chris and punched him, not aiming anywhere in particular. My fist hit him on the arm, on the bicep. It shouldn’t have hurt that much, especially since it was coming from a grown man. But something happened- a green light flashed right when I hit him, blinding me for a moment. The next thing I knew, Chris was free and the man who had been holding him was sprawled on the ground, ten feet away. His pistol was on the ground. I grabbed it, just incase I needed to defend myself again.
“What the heck just happ-” I started to ask Chris, but then someone else ran up to us. Not one of the men that had just tried to kidnap us. A kid. Even in pitch black of night, I could tell that it was the same kid we had seen outside of our school.
“Are you two alright?” He asked. It was only then that I noticed what was going on behind me. The other 3 kidnappers left were fighting with another teenager, 14 or 15, and the two men that we had seen in the Corvette the week before. The teenager was tall, about 5’9, and he was carrying a sword. Like one that you would see in a museum with an Ancient Greek exhibit. He was fighting the man who had seemed to be the leader, who was also wielding a sword. The two men carried pistols and were exchanging shots with the other two men. A bullet came screaming at one of the men, and then something amazing happen. He threw out his hand, and a wall of yellow energy expanded in front of him. The bullet hit the yellow wall and shattered.
I looked at Chris, and I saw that his jaw had dropped too. “Wh-what-what’s going on?” Chris asked the kid with the New York accent. He shifted uncomfortably.
“No time to explain,” he said. “Duck!” We dropped on to the ground just in time so the red arc sailed over our heads harmlessly. It had came from the man holding the sword-he had thrown it, almost, using his hand. ”It’ll be easier once we’re out of here-assuming we do get out of here.” He turned around and pulled a 3 foot long sword out of his pocket. He sliced it through the air like he was trying to hit someone with it, but instead he yelled “DETURBO!”
A blue light shot through the air and hit the man in the leg. He fell over. The kid turned and yelled to the other teenager and the two men that were with them.
“Let’s get out of here!”
The two men nodded and fired shots at the other two men. They snapped their fingers and disappeared into black smoke before the bullets could hit them. The two men and the teenager ran over to us. “Is everyone okay?” One of the men asked. We all nodded.
Chris started to ask, “Could somebody please tell us-” but the new teenager cut him off. He was wearing a dark blue hoodie and jeans. I noticed the other kid was wearing the same thing.
“Let’s get out of here first,” He breathed. “They could come back, with reinforcements. Once we get out of here, you can ask us anything. We’ll explain.”
Well, good. Because I had a load of questions.
Chapter 3
The two kids and the men ran down the street, Chris and I right behind them. We took a sharp turn into some trees and caught our breath for a minute. Then one of the men in the suits turned around and started murmuring something. I couldn’t make it out at first, but eventually I could hear him murmuring “Car videri, car videri, car videri, car videri….”
The kid with the New York accent turned towards us. “Trying to summon our car. He’s a teleporter, you see. His specialty. I’m Kyle, by the way.”
“I’m Chris.” Chris replied.
I nodded, and simply said “Tommy.” My mind was too confused to comprehend this simple exchange.
“So.. I’m confused. What the hell is going on here? We were just nearly kidnapped by those crazy guys, now you rescue us? Where are you taking us? Who are you people? What are you people?” I said, demanding an answer.
Kyle shook his head. “I’m no good at explaining this. Daniel, you do it.”
The other teenager-whose name was apparently Daniel- stepped forward. “We are magicians.”
Chris grinned, like they were playing an amusing joke on us. “Like Houdini? Rabbit out of a hat? That crap?”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Everyone always thinks that,” He informed us. “But no. We are not those fake magicians. We are real. Like, legit. You know Harry Potter? That lady loosely based him off of us.”
I cleared my throat. “And us, being… magicians? We’re magicians too?”
Daniel nodded. “Exactly.”
Amazed, I looked at my hands. “So…what I did back there, when I hit those guys.. that was magic?“
“Well, technically it was electricity. It was magic though. Electricity is your specialty.” Explained Daniel.
“Specialty? I thought magic was just, well..magic.” Chris said.
“No,” Kyle explained. “Every magician has their own specialty of magic. Fire. Water. The air. Earth. Technology. There’s a lot of different ones. You can be proficient in all levels of magic, but everyone has one thing that they are extremely skilled and powerful at, even before you discover your powers.”
I felt my eyes get wider, like they would in a cartoon when some character is amazed. I could’ve sworn they were doing that right now. “I.. I can use electricity?”
Kyle nodded. “Wanna try? Calm yourself so all you can think of is electricity. Like, lightning. Light. Whatever. Just get your mind cleared until you are flowing with the electricity.”
One with the electricity? A litltle corny, but I tried it. I calmed my mind, phased out all my thoughts of “OMG WTF I AM A FREAKING MAGICIAN111″ and pictured a lightning storm. A huge one. I reached my hand out, and let the electricity coarse through me. Instantly, a 3 foot long sword-made out of lightning!- appeared in my hand. I nearly passed out in shock. As soon as it came, the lightning sword dissappeared again.
“Impressive,” Said Daniel and Kyle at the same time.
I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. This whole time, I guess I had been taking this magic stuff pretty well, but now that I had just knowingly done it, well…there was nothing else like it.
“Oh. My. Freaking. God.” I said. “This.. it’s all real.” I was freaking out. I may not have looked like it, but inside my mind, I was going crazy with joy at this astonishing news.
Daniel and Kyle grinned. “Ah, the realization,” Kyle said with a smirk.
“Don’t worry, man, everyone goes through this stage. It gets easier to comprehend once you get to the base.” Daniel assured me.
Chris, who had been standing there remarking at my powers the whole time, cleared his throat now. “So,” he said. “What’s my specialty?”
Kyle shrugged. “We don’t know yet. Few people realize their specialty before starting their training. Tommy here just knows it because he used it in combat, so that’s how we figured it out.” Chris nodded to this, like he was relieved.
The two men-who I had nearly forgotten about in all of this excitement, since they were being so quiet- turned around. “It’s here.” The taller one said. At first, I didn’t see anything, but after a few seconds, dots of pitch black began to appear in the air. It was almost like dotting a picture into color on a piece of paper- the car began to form, dot by dot. After about a minute, I recognized the pitch black Corvette that they had been in at our school again. The two men hopped in the front seats. I noticed that Corvette’s normally did not have any room for passengers in the back, but unlike the week before that, it had 2 extra rows of seating for us.
“It’s interchangable,” One of the men explained as we hopped in. “In times of war, it can have a turret on the back. Anything you want, really.” I turned towards Kyle and whispered, “Who are these guys, exactly?”
“They’re CIA agents. But they are magicians. Loads of magicians work for the government. It’s true in any country. They’re technically still with the Alliance, but they work with the modern government to protect the country from the Dark forces.” Kyle explained.
“Dark forces?” Chris asked. “And why a Corvette, anyway?”
Daniel grimaced. “So many questions. It’s been a while since we had new magicians. Doc will explain the Dark forces, but with the Corvette, it’s just the chosen vehicle of the US branch of the Alliance. For now. It can get changed if we feel that a different vehicle is a better option. We just like Corvettes.”
“Doc is the head Magician of the US branch of the Alliance,” One of the men explained. For security reasons, the agents seemed to go by numbers, using Agent 1 and Agent 2. The taller guy was Agent 1, and the other dude, Agent 2.
“You see, almost every country has their own branch of magicians,” Agent 2 said. “They all have a Head Magician. The Head Magicians make up the International Council of Magicians, which meets every 5 months to discuss magic-related matters. War has been declared and settled there more than a few times. The USSR was decided to be destroyed at one of the 1990 meetings. Ever since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, many countries in the Middle East have avoided these meetings, leading us to believe they are behind all the terrorists. These,” He said grimly. “Are the Dark Forces. It was like this with Germany and Japan in the 1930′s and 1940′s. Currently, we are in a warning of war. Open war has not broken out just yet, but if one of these countries gets entirely taken over by Dark forces, we could have a serious problem.”
“But enough about that,” Agent 1 said. “We better get moving.” He pressed a button on the dashboard of the Corvette and time seemed to bend. We suddenly found ourselves in a totally different setting, parked in an empty lot.
“We’re in Ohio,” Kyle explained. “Welcome to Head Base of the US branch of the Alliance.”
