It had been a long day of marching, cold and filled with an eerie silence. A group of about 20 hooded figures marched toward the distant horizon, never faltering. Min would have never gone on such a march knowingly, but who knew joining the Verigon army would involve so much marching! Min wasn’t quite sure how she thought they would arrive at a battle, but even they, the largest army of wizards on the planet, didn’t have the power to teleport without a Tagreal. The secrets on how to make and use them have been lost ever since the breaking, causing Tagreals to be next-to-impossible to acquire. As she looked to her left, she saw Rand, and in the background all she saw was vast wasteland, and if she looked hard enough, a few charred bricks. She wasn’t too surprised that the charred items were becoming fewer now, as this was getting closer to the site of the old Anhir temple, the site of the breaking of the world. Most folk with half a brain avoided this area. As she heard the loud horn, she was relieved that the scouting party had returned. Within a few minutes, their commander, Harold Signori, would know if they were as close as they thought. The army would normally have just used the one power to check, but they dare not use the Power here. There was too much of a chance of the powerful Sagreal that caused the breaking might become active again. The Sagreal had been pelted by the strongest of weapons, just strengthening after each blow. The 50 mages at the Anhir temple were doing research on the Sagreal to see if it could teleport, but the power of the 50 mages combined activated the vile object. This activation caused a massive explosion only comparable to that of 50,000 mages concentrating on holding the One Power, and forming an earthquake in their minds at the same instant. Then again, Min thought, that might not even be as powerful. The thoughts flew from her mind as the tall temple became visible in the distance.

“Wow, that’s even bigger than the books imply!” Rand whispered to Min.

“Yup, a real marvel,” Min replied, now peering into the massive crater as it entered their field of vision.

“I think we’ll be there in a day or two,” Harold said as he rode up next to Rand.

“At least there’ll be an inn to sleep in,” Min commented as she read a sign pointing west, “Temple city is just ahead.”

“It’ll be fun to sleep so close to an object that obliterated half the continent,” Rand sarcastically said.

Temple city was abandoned by all those left in the city since the breaking, which wasn’t many. Min didn’t blame them, she thought that she wouldn’t like living next to a crater in a wasteland. They had no reason to stay. The buildings that were standing were in terrible condition, and even the mayor left as soon as he could.

“Quit your whining, at least we don’t have to sleep in the wasteland again,” Min retorted.

After Rand grunted, he muttered, “We’ll be lucky if they even left the mattresses!”

They had to search through 3 inns before they found some mattresses. Although the people left in a rush, it wasn’t life threatening, so most took all possessions before vacating the town.

. . .

Min found herself in the vast wasteland. This was the fourth time she has had this dream. Suddenly, the terrain blurred and she was out of sight of the town. She heard foot noises in the distance. She saw a group of 5, presumably thieves, running towards the town. They were closer this time. She didn’t understand how she knew there were thieves, or how she knew they weren’t running away. She just knew. There were 3 men and 2 women. The men each carried a short sword, and the women a dagger. She heard a quiet but growing voice saying Run, run while you can!

. . .

Min woke with a start, and 10 people were gathered around her. (Site of evil, sleepless night…)

“What?” Min asked as she sat up, feeling dizzy. She felt droplets of sweat rolling down her cheeks.

“You don’t remember? You were shouting something about thieves and running while we can. You don’t have a fever, and you appear to be okay,” Harold said in confusion.

“I had…a…dream, it seemed…so real, but yet…” Min replied as she tried to sort out her odd dream. She hadn’t told them before because it seemed irrelevant.

“Wait…it can’t be…A dreamer?…We haven’t had one of those since…” Harold broke off, as he got even more confused.

“Don’t be silly…I might not have my element yet, but that doesn’t mean…” Min nervously retorted.

Every mage is assigned an element when (s)he has been taught fully. Min hadn’t received her element because she hadn’t yet proved exceptional in any of the elements, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, and Spirit. True, she hadn’t been tested in water and spirit yet, and she’d been afraid she would be put in the ‘life’ group, people without an element. Spirit gives the ability to heal and control some animals. Some in the spirit group used to be able to dream the future, but the talent faded soon after the breaking. The ‘Dreamers’, as they were called, weren’t exceptional in anything spirit except for healing.

Suddenly, the group heard shouts coming from the crumpled city walls.

“The thieves! They’re HERE!!!!” some of the mages previously entranced in the conversation screamed as they ran out to prepare a counter-strike. (…Old things returning, new things to come…)

. . .

“Wow, just like I imagined it,” Min stared at the band of five thieves entrapped by the air around them. Two women, three men. Each woman carried a dagger, each man a short sword.

“Clearly they didn’t know we were mages, or they never would have thought about their foolish raid,” One of the ten mages holding them with air commented.

“Indeed,” Rand agreed.

“We had better get inside,” Harold said, “A storm’s a brewin’!” Harold belonged to the water element and could detect clouds forming in the air hours before it happened, sometimes even days, “Send them to the temple,” Harold commanded.

“Okay,” Min started up the stairs into the old inn, others following.

. . .

It poured all night, all the next day, and into the morning of the day after. The large, beady rain plopping down in-between the stone in the main street, creating ponds of muddy water that were difficult to travel through. As soon as it stopped however, Harold led the de-moralized group, using the power to suck the moisture out of the mud in front of their path. By the next day, they reached a prosperous farming town with lush vegetation. Min kept getting an odd feeling, but she attributed it to the odd amount of plants.

How could there be an oasis in the middle of this waste? Min thought, but when she asked, the citizens only laughed and said, “What wasteland?”

Min was getting really tired of their seemingly-fake innocence, and finally asked Harold.

“I think there is a mage nearby, this place couldn’t have come about by nature,” Harold whispered as he started down the hall of their inn, The Drunken Piper.

“Do you feel it too?” Rand asked.

Other mages can sense mass amounts of Power being used around them. They don’t really see it unless the person is in view; they just feel it being used.

“Yeah,” Harold whispered.

. . .

Rand and Harold got put in one room, with Min in another. The other mages were staying in other miscellaneous inns throughout the town.

“I think we ought to go on a search to find this mage,” Rand suggested.

“I don’t know, maybe he or she doesn’t want to be found, and worse, the mage may be dangerous,” Harold reasoned.

“Well, do you think the mage would have only done only this if he or she knew that they had the ability to harness the power?”

“I’ll go searching, you tell Min to hang out in the common room and see what gossip she finds about families with exceptionally good crops,”

“Okay….but be careful Harold!” Rand warned.

. . .

Harold ran through the town to the library. After about 3 minutes of heart-pounding running, he reached the small building with a sign hanging down in front. He walked in, and began searching the town’s records. On book 3, it described the breaking. Perfect! He paged a few pages ahead and found what he was looking for. He wrote down some notes, and walked out. After he turned onto Main Street, he noticed someone following him. He turned down an ally and tried to evade the dark-cloaked figure, but it kept following. He quickly thought out what to do, then he spun around and….there was nothing there. He could’ve sworn there was a dark-hooded figure behind him.

“I must be getting old…” Harold muttered as he turned around and headed back to the inn. (…Enemy eyes are everywhere…)

. . .

When a panting and sweaty Harold got into his room, Rand and Min were waiting for him.

“You’ll never guess what I…” Harold and Min exclaimed at the same time. Their cheeks flushed red as they went into a polite ‘you-go-first’ battle for about a minute.

“Okay, I’ll go first,” Min sighed, “We found out that the mayor is a farmer! He was the same person that established the town too! He also had an extremely good crop year after year!”

“Great! I found a book in the library about the establishment, and it says that not long after the mayor got here, the land started to change,” Harold reported.

“Time to pay a visit to the mayor!” Rand exclaimed.

. . .

As they walked down Main Street, they were surprised to learn that a little building with a large yard was the mayor’s house. When they knocked a few times, a figure appeared in the doorway. They were even more surprised to see it was the mayor himself!

“Hello, what can I do for you?” The mayor asked mechanically, eyes widening when he saw that they were not farmers, “Please excuse me, we don’t get many visitors you know.”

“No problem, do you have any children perhaps?” Rand asked.

“Getting a little personal aren’t you? No matter, I don’t see the harm in showing you Marie,” The mayor said, leading through 2 rooms before reaching Marie’s bedroom.

The group’s eyes widened slightly when they saw the 10-year-old in her bed with what seemed like a bad fever. They noticed a faint blue glow around her that they hadn’t around the mayor.

Rand quickly led the mayor away.

“Hey, what was that for! She’s usually not this sick, she just got it a day or two ago,” The angry mayor said.

“Relax, we know what is wrong with her,” Min calmly said, “She can use the One Power, but she can’t control it. It’s an unconscious thing unless you know how to control it, and it could kill her unless we train her.”

This time, the mayor’s eyes widened with shock, “I suppose I expected it, after all, when this bully was attacking her, a wind with the power of a hurricane flung the bully back into the wall, but didn’t harm her.”

She WHAT? There hasn’t been a mage of that power, alone and untrained, for hundreds of years! Harold thought as he asked, “Please let us train her, It’s her only chance.”

“Okay,” The mayor said, tears filling his eyes, “You just take good care of her, you hear?”

“Don’t worry, we will, we will,” Min comfortingly said.(…Apprentice to find, responsibility to gain…)

. . .

They left the town as quickly as they came, headed for Tam’s peak. The reason they went so soon is that Min had a dream of The Gunpowder Army racing towards there. She is after all, a dreamer. After about 2 days of desolate terrain, deserted cities, and skeletons, they finally reached it. They set up camp and waited for the enemy. On the 3rd day since arrival, the enemy appeared. After they set up a camp, Harold went to negotiate the time of the battle with the enemy’s commander, Elizabeth. Honor ruled these battles. No sneak attacks, only battles that the commanders both agree on would occur. The time was chosen, it would be the next day at dawn. The armies both went to sleep.

. . .

Harold sounded his horn, signaling he was ready. Elizabeth sounded hers. The battle began. 10 Mages in the front made a shield of air blocking the little musket balls pelting them. 15 Mages in back summoned lightning and fireballs to continually pelt the enemy. Min, the mayor’s daughter, and 4 others started healing wounded. At first, it looked like the massive numbers of the GA would defeat the Verigon army, but with that shield up, the Gunpowder army didn’t stand a chance. They were getting struck by lighting in the back and fireballs hurled at them from the front. Finally, the battle seemed over. The enemy was defeated! They won the last battle! Then, suddenly, giant cylinders popped up throughout the area. They were cannons! Cannonballs broke through the delicate air shield, pelting mages.

“Scatter! Use lighting!” Harold commanded, being dwarfed by the sound of screaming mages.

Bodies fell like leaves to the wind and faster than the healers could move. Shouts of “Help me!” and “We can’t lose!” erupted from all throughout the front lines. The mayor’s daughter was struck by a cannon ball after her single-handedly crafted shield of air fell. The ground started to shake as she limply fell to the ground. Trees and grass erupted from the ground, creating a lush scene hiding them from the cannons. The cannons still fired randomly. Min hurried over the mayor’s daughter. Min tried to heal, but the mayor’s daughter didn’t have the inner strength left for the healing. She was mouthing something. (…Old land refreshes with loved one’s blood…)

“…Tell…my father…that I…love him…” She painfully said as her eyes went blank.

“Nooooo!!!!!!” Min screamed as the ground erupted in a fierce earthquake brought on by her tear-saddened fury. She looked around and saw that she was the only mage left. As one last-ditch effort, she absorbed all the power her body could handle and still more! A massive ball of energy formed around her limp, floating body as she prepared to strike. She screamed even louder as the sweet, juicy Power flowed through her, controlling her, amplifying every sense to an unbelievable degree as she absorbed yet more! She hurled all the Power she had and more into one giant ball of energy. She flung it to the cannons. (…And thus, the world was broken once more)

BONUS: if you read the italics in order you get a prophecy that looks somewhat like this:

Site of evil, sleepless night
Old things returning, new things to come
Enemy eyes are everywhere
Apprentice to find, responsibility to gain
Old land refreshes with loved one’s blood
And thus, the world was broken once more