1 Daniel Bruce

It was night, the dull light from the crescent moon, aided with the faint light stars poorly illuminated the dark streets.

Being the most popular boy in the one of the prominent Elite high school was a rather demanding unpaid job.

Daniel sat on the rooftop of his building, his eighteenth birthday party had just been concluded and he was now rummaging through his endless pile of gifts. His best friend, Richard Hardwood laid unconscious at the far end of the other side while guests and well wishers left the premises until it was only the two of them left.

He seemed rather uninterested in the other presents that stocked up in front on him. He was focused only on finding one, his father's present. His hand struck a rather hard surface and he drew the object from the bottom of his gift mountain.

It was it, from his father. He tore out the wrapping sheet around it and seemed rather disappointed in the outcome.

He immediately recognized the book with only a glance, the book which got more love and attention than a son. Anger welled up inside him as he stared at the old looking book. It looked old but still intact, the eye of Providence was brilliantly displayed on it's cover page and three palm looking figure cuddled around it.

Ever since he was a child, he had never wanted anything to do with sorcery but his father was strictly against it. The issue had gotten so grave he had to move out when he was seventeen.

His mother on the other hand was a coward and he hated her for that, she always stood aside, speechless and watched as he had these heated arguments with his father but she would never intervene.

His elder brother was well accustomed with their life of sorcery and was a talented one at that but their father never paid attention to him, if Daniel wasn't going to join in their occultic acts, then the family would never be at peace.

His family came from a lineage of very powerful blood sorcerers and were the leader of the clan. The blood sorcerers were considered the least ranking clan amongst the three sorcerer clans, but his father had rather changed that mindset.

The blood sorcerers are able to draw power from the blood of living creatures and themselves, and this was a hindrance to their clans power. Compared to the other clans, their power source was a joke. The Nature sorcerers, another formidable clan, was able to draw power from forces of nature making their power source almost infinite. But the strongest of the three clans were the Infernal Judgement. The most powerful of them all. Their power source is believed to come from hell. An infinite source of power that would never run dry.

He tossed the book aside and laid supine. A sigh of disappointed broke past his lips and everywhere was silent as he stared into the star dotted sky.

"Hey...."

The voice had stopped his involuntary star gazing and brought him back to his environment. Richard was up and standing over him but he hadn't noticed.

"Hey" He responded, sitting upright. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, I'm just too exhausted to go home right now, mind if I crash here?" Richard asked trying to wipe sleep off his eyes.

"Not at all, but don't you have that ritual stuff with your family?"

"I'll pass, if I continue that ritual I think I will die of anemia rather than Cancer." Richard replied as he settled near Daniel.

His friend Richard was from a family of sorcerers too. An Infernal judgement family at that. Their friendship was a secret to their families as the two clans didn't seem too fond of each other.

His friend had suffered from lung carcinoma and had been on chemo all year. He had been luckily prescribed into remission but he still had his challenges.

"Stop thinking about it" Richard said. He could clearly read worry and disappointment in his friends eyes and he could tell the cause.

"I don't know, I don't think I can. I miss my parents but I can't go home. I mean he even sent me a spell book for my birthday" Daniel said. He just couldn't find what was so interesting in this life of sorcery, all they ever did was kill each other and curse one another, and he didn't want to be caught in the middle of all the violence. He reached for the book and placed it on the table in front of them.

"You know what, fuck it!" He yelled and banged his palm at the book. He retracted his hands almost immediately, he'd injured himself with that single action, and his blood had suddenly been sucked into the spell book's old cover. He suckled on his bleeding palm while Richard quickly left to fetch a first aid kit.

"What was that?" Richard asked immediately he got back. They were no sharp edges on the book neither was any sharp objects close by. It seemed the book acted on its own accord but they weren't surprised though. They were well acquainted with the things of the supernatural and everything seemed believable to them now.

"I don't know honestly" Daniel replied as he cleaned the surface of his injury, it might be a small prick, but nothing was to be taken for granted in the world he lived in. It could be a curse for all he knew. After all his father was the most hated amongst all the three clans.

††††††††

It was the last semester of his final year in highschool and they were already concluding their last exams. Greenland High school was a school of Elites, composed of only the best students from other schools and he was always on top of the class.

Daniel had easily made a name for himself and was topping the popularity charts. Everyone was friendly to him but one person, Anna Jones. She was closely behind him in terms of academics and it was clearly obvious to him that she was acquainted with the sorcery world too. She didn't hate him because of she was always behind him, he could feel there was something more to it.

"She's been staring at you ever since lunch" Richard said to Daniel. He also found her suspicious but nothing had ever ratted her out to confirm their hypothesis. She was too smart and covered her tracks and it fueled their suspicions even more. "She's probably just into you but doesn't want to admit it" Richard

"I could care less, she's odd" Daniel said before closing his locker. A piece of paper fell out just before the lock jammed.

'the gym after school' the paper read. The duo exchanged surprised glances before returning to class.

School finally ended and when everyone had left, Richard had performed a teleportation spell and transported them into the school gym. The lights were off making it hard to see well.

"You were supposed to come alone." A voice said from the dark corner of the gym. Slowly, a figure walked into the faint light that reached in from the window revealing a familiar face, Anna Jones.

"I know you have it, you might as well hand it over to me now" she said as she took steps closer to the two.

"Have what?" Daniel asked quizzically.

"The grimoire!" Anna almost shouted. "I felt it's presence in your party last night and even now. It's in your bag, isn't it?" She asked.

Things seemed to get stranger by the seconds, she was clearly delusional and he was already fed up with her weird behavior.

"You're clearly insane, come on Richard let's get out of here. What a waste of time" Daniel said to the astonished boy beside him.

They turned to leave but hit an invisible barrier. Their hypothesis was right after all, she was a sorcerer.

"I can be real scary Daniel Bruce" Anna informed while twitching her neck in an odd manner. "Give me the book and I will let you walk out alive." She threatened. This time, the wind began rustling and a ball of air formed in her open palms. She was without a doubt a nature sorcerer.

"Are you insane or something?" Daniel shouted. "Let us go now!"

"I see you've chosen the hard way" She concluded, "I will enjoy tearing you apart" she said before releasing the ball of air towards their direction. The two dived into opposite directions, saving themselves from the attack. She attacked yet again, throwing balls of air at the two and knocking them down without effort.

"That's enough!" Richard retorted. He pulled a penknife from his pocket and cut open his wrist before making a martial art stance. Blood trickled from his wrist and he recited an incantation while he kept dodging attacks from Anna.

"From the depths of hell I summon thee, heed my calling Astaroth!" He concluded. The wound on his wrist suddenly healed up, and the atmosphere became dense with overwhelming aura. The room became darker and a dark smoke filled the place before a loud roar cleared out the smoke screen.

A beast looking creature towered over Richard who wore a mocking smile on his face as he saw the fear in Anna's eyes. It's stood right above them, and it's horns almost touched the ceiling of the gym. It roared again before rushing at the awestruck Anna. She gracefully dodged a swipe from the creatures deadly claws, and the wave of its swipe tore holes into the walls of the gym even though it didn't touch it.

She murmured unheard words and in less than an instant, she vanished, fleeing from the battle.

Blood streamed down from Richard's nose as the creature let out a final roar before exploding into a cloud of smoke.

Daniel rushed over to his friend who was now on his knees and wiping his bloody nose.

"What was that?"He asked while helping his friend stand.

"Astaroth, he's my familiar. I don't have enough stamina, and my body's too weak to sustain him in this realm for long but I'm taking some training." Richard replied as he leaned on Daniel for support.

"I never knew you could do that"

"Forget it. Anna is a nature sorcerer and for some reason, she wants your father's book, why?"

"I don't know, I just think she's weird"

"I think I do" Another voice joined their dialogue.

They paused for a bit before turning to see who spoke to them.

'Graceful' was all they could think as their jaws almost dropped in awe at the sight of the being behind them.