Excerpt from Lessons

“The mages did this! She’s over there, do you see her?” People begin flowing into the streets in high numbers.

          The mage in white looks around horrified at all the accusations. Her hands tremble and try to wring the blood from themselves. Mothers are holding their children close and the officials are looking to her with dead, disappointed eyes. She’s been protecting Yorklyn for a year and a half, they can’t believe she did this.

          “No, it wasn’t me…” Her soft voice doesn’t carry far. The stares make her skin crawl and she feels her magik slipping from her grasp. “I didn’t do this!” Her desperate plea to be heard falls on deaf ears.

When the peace treaty fell in the late 2000’s, instances of chaos began cropping up all over the world. At one point, the mages had been assigned as guardians over the human race, but with time the humans began to resent and envy the mages. These emotions fueled the outbreak of chaos and by the early 3000’s a new type of government was founded. It was called the Containment Sect. During this reign, major cities were walled and barred while the mages were thrown into the wilds. Innocent people were tested, and left to die, for simply being of magikal blood. Not all mages knew how to use their magik and, due to this, many died.

          Men to her left pull crowbars from behind their backs and move towards her all the while shouting in anger. The cops raise guns and demand for her to stand down and return to human form so she can be brought to justice. Since Yorklyn has yet to be walled, many mages like her reside here. This is the one place they were supposed to be safe, but it seems everyone’s lives are about to change.

          “Please, you have to listen to me.”

          As the dark years continued, the mages began rebelling against the government. They refused to live in squalor as the humans reaped the benefits of their magik. Each mage was tagged with a mark, something to show what magik they hold, and how their aura rests. Every mage has a different aura length; they show in different ways allowing them to be identified by other mages. The humans brought in prisoners of magik ability and forced them to ID every new mage they came across. When the mark was tattooed into the mage’s skin, they were kicked outside the walls once more and forced to live out their lives as a marked person.

          “Kill her!”

          “Stop her, don’t let her run away!”

          The condemning screams ring in her ears as she runs through the crowded streets. Avoiding the corpses, avoiding the humans, and avoiding her thoughts proved to be difficult as she cut through alleys and down isolated roadways.

          A small, white ball blinks in and out of existence as she tries to gather her emotions enough to free herself from this part of the city. She needs to get away so she can hide herself or she will be killed. The humans have made that much perfectly clear.

          The resistance of the mages began. They sought out leadership, a way to free themselves of their curse. Embracing the magik, and the tattoos, they began fighting back and came up with the perfect plan to end human civilization. It would only take the mind of a warrior and the heart of a murder. While many were for this cause of freedom, many others opposed it strongly.

          Some of the more determined citizens give chase, yelling her location and trying to bring her down. The young woman’s raven hair flies behind her as the white hood falls from her face revealing a slender face and almond shaped eyes. A soft, cream colored mask covers her cheekbones and nose like a traditional superhero mask. Her foot catches a curb and she tumbles forward, arms outstretched to catch her before she can face plant.

          When the resistance attacked their first walled city in 3210, mages from all around the world flocked to protect the citizens. The first civil war among mages had begun and it was more destructive than anything anyone could have imagined. Cities were wiped off the map, states turned to rubble, and parts of North America lost forever to the hungry waves beneath it.

          Her first attacker is a man with a long, red goatee. He carries some sort of plywood and the woman raises her hands to protect herself. She refuses to use her magik on the citizens she’s spent her days protecting. As the board comes down, she closes her eyes and bites her tongue.

I'm using two colors today so you guys know this is the end of the excerpt. I got lazy and instead of writing anything useful, I'm hashing out a few paragraphs of my prologue. I've been working pretty heavily on this piece of work lately, almost done with a basic first draft. This prologue has been rewritten too many times to count, so hopefully I get it in good standing eventually. Enjoy!