Beginnings

At first, it was just a fantasy. Then, it became a hope. Yet, it became very real.

Magic.

It shouldn't exist, right? It should just be in books and on T.V.. But, for Cato, who had stumbled across a book in his search for the unknown, it would be real.

***

Cato Aldrich was just a teenager. He had few friends. He paid some attention in class. He had good grades. His hobbies were reading, playing phone games and watching anime, so he lacked social skills.

For all of his life, things just made sense to him: maths was easy because it just 'works'; chemistry and physics were easy because they just 'are' and technology was very easy to just figue out. Languages, however, were messy because of all the stupid and inefficient rules that people have made that overcomplicate grammar and spelling.

At the age of 9, he was moved up by two year groups for maths lessons, which gave him an advanced perspective on maths. At the end of the year though, his school couldn't teach him further so just grouped him back with his own year.

At the age of 12, he started high school. Several people became friends with him but they drifted away over a few years. At least he had a few close friends from primary school.

At the age of 15, he chose to specialise in triple science, computer science and design technology. Things like maths and english were standard.

***

'Yes! I finally got a golemite eye to drop. With this I can finish crafting my helmet.' Cato thought after grinding an MMORPG for 3 hours.

He looked at the clock that showed 11:48pm, 'Time to watch a few episodes before sleeping. I need to be alert tomorrow because I have the mean teacher who gives out lots of detentions. I wish I could remember names.'

After watching an anime about a stupid person who went to a magical world with a magic school, he thought about the loopholes in the rules of that world. Cato drifted off to sleep thinking about all the ways in which he would have exploited magic if he were the main character.

***

After school the next day, he went to the library. As he approached the old, stone building, grey clouds gathered overhead, threatening to rain. On the red entrance door was a notice stating that due to a lack of funding, the library had to shut down in two weeks.

At the reception desk, an old librarian noticed him, "Hello Cato, how was your day?"

"Fine." he replied with a shrug, "Where should I return books after this place shuts?"

"Oh, you can just keep them. With all the libraries that have been shutting recently, there is a surplus of books and a shortage of space!" she said, appearing to be cheerful in an attempt to hide her melancholy thoughts about how her beloved library was shutting down.

Cato nodded and then walked deep into the depths of the library. He passed through the sections that he usually read in because he had either read most of it or it didn't interest him. As he approached the end of the corridor of books, he noticed a handle sticking out of the flat, painted wall.

Deciding to try to open it, Cato felt the smooth, cold metal handle in his hand and pressed down with all his strength to try to make it move. Suddenly, it snapped and a crack appeared in the wall. The crack got bigger and bigger and the paint around it crumbled until there was a hole big enough for a person to fit through.

Gently creeping inside, Cato felt like he was on an adventure like in a book or game. He entered a hall with a high arched ceiling and walls covered with towering bookshelves. The room was filled with a warm glow that seemed to have no origin. Dotted around the walls were labels, such as sci-fi, historical, magical, modern and comedy.

Amazed at the place he had found, Cato walked over to the magical section and picked out a book. The title was: "Magic + Advanced Knowledge = Unlimited Power". When he opened the book, he was faced with a magic circle.

"What?"