Prologue:

As the mysterious man walked out of the bar the finely dressed salesman standing in the doorway asked, "Are you sure they'll be safe?"

"Yes", the mysterious man said, but although on the outside he seemed sure and confident inside he had no idea whether he could keep them safe or not. His dark cloak dragging on the ground he stepped outside and was greeted by the cool air. Closing the door behind him he started off towards the institute wondering what would become of this mess.

Chapter 1:

"Come down for lunch!" John's mother called.

"One minute!" John replied. John quickly setup another can and tried once again to hurl a fireball at it. As the hot fire formed in his hand he threw it, but it died out and fizzled before it even struck the can. With a heavy sigh John pulled on his long black jacket and ran his fingers threw his dark hair while shuffling downstairs.

Although John had a born talent for magic, over the fourteen years since his birth he still lacked the education to use it properly. Aside from the few books and scrolls at his library it wasn't near enough. So each day he would run up to the attic and practice by himself, teaching himself how the magic how magic flowed and how it could be bent to ones will.

After finishing his meal John started back towards the steps leading towards the attic when a knock emanated from the door. Changing his angle of stride he opened the door and greeted his friend, "good afternoon Tim", John said

"Is it past twelve already?" Tim replied.

"Not by much actually," John laughed. Tim was the type of person that would stay up late and then sleep in late into the day, so seeing him this early was defiantly a surprise for John. Noticing that Tim was looking a bit thinner than usual John asked, "Have you been eating less than usual?"

Staring down Tim noticed what he meant and said, "I guess I've kind of forgotten to these past few days", Laughing John invited him into eat lunch before they left. Though the Kingdom of Fall had been suffering a famine for longer than johns grandparents could remember the last few years had been kinder and yielded more food so John knew it wouldn't be any trouble feeding Tim. After sitting at the table and letting Tim eat for a bit while they conversed casually Tim's eyes suddenly lit up as he exclaimed "Oh yeah I almost forgot!" he exclaimed, "happy birthday!"

Wide eyed and shocked John replied "I thought I told everyone not to get me anything!"

"Will you just open the damn thing already," Tim laughed. Opening the box John curiously picked up the contents. Inside there was a pair of dark grey gloves with the institutes mark of authentication on them, John stared aghast at the swirling marking.

"How did you get these?" John asked

"My uncle works at the institute," Tim explained, "so I asked for a pair for you, now go on and try them on."

John dawned on the gloves and immediately felt a change in his magical abilities, the gloves he was wearing were specifically meant to help wizards and witches who had the inconvenience of not having good resource on learning magic. Raising his hand towards the salt shaker on the table, it leapt with amazing speed towards his hand.

"That's amazing!" Tim said

"Last week I could only get it to fall over." John replied with a smile on his face. "Now I wonder…" he said mischievously. Stepping outside he setup a can on a fence post, concentrating hard bright hot fire leapt into his hands, this time as he formed the ball it grew almost to the size of an apple. Hurling it towards the rusty can it rocketed with amazing speed and struck it. The can flew off the post far into the fields of grass surrounding Johns home. "Well that's certainly interesting." John laughed.

"Yeah just be careful not to point you're hands at me." Tim replied "I don't exactly feel like being fried today." Laughing they walked into town to do their afternoon chores.