This story is copyrighted by the author. Any reproduction through any form without the consent of the author is illegal. This work is entirely fiction and is created by the authors mind. Any relation to any living or dead persons is purely coincidental.
Note to the readers: In this chapter, I will be changing PoV to Derrick for a while. I will probably do this once in a while, but I shall inform you all with this note when I am gonna do it in a chapter. Also, sorry about the long update. Had some issues to deal with. Thanks for all the emails ya'll sent! I appreciated them all! Enjoy ya'll!

As soon as the room was engulfed in darkness, the black and white figure reached their respective globes. As soon as this happened, a faint blue light could be seen surrounding the circle of magic encasing us. Derrick screamed something to me but the voice suddenly boomed out again.
"Oh! So I misjudged the power of this spell! Bwuahaha! But as soon as you two wretches return, you shall be DEAD!"
Dammit, how did this thing find us? And what did he mean this spell was supposed to 'save' us? Wasn't this a time travel spell? Questions flooded my mind as the faint blue light surrounded flared to a deep aqua. The purple lines on the floor turned white and the enveloped the whole circle in a pure white light. And then I blacked out. Again.
~~~~~
As I regained my consciousness, I found myself laying down in some tall grass. I groaned as I stood up with the help of my staff. I was really dumbfounded that I was able to hold on to this stick. The grass was only about as tall as my shoulders, so I looked for Derrick, and lo and behold, he was already rushing towards me.
"Damn, I didn't expect him to go after you so soon. We're lucky that spell was reinforced by all the mages of the order." He had a worried look on his face as he approached me. I instantly felt safe in his presence.
"Huh? What do you mean order? Are there more people who can do magic?"
"Oh yeah, you're new here. Anyway before I get into that we need to get into somewhere we cannot be seen."
"Why?"
"Look at what you're wearing."
I looked at what I was wearing. I gasped as I noticed that I was shrouded in a Dark Robe. What was this? Why was I clothed in the color of my fears?
"I know this is all weird for you, but I'll explain as soon as we get into somewhere safe."
I nodded as I ran after him yet again. This kid can walk very fast. After about what seemed an hour, we reached a forest. We went deep into the forest before we stopped.
"Ok, we'll make this our spot until we are done here. Go get some fire wood for our fire and I'll work on our food."
I nodded as I left the small clearing in search for firewood. As I was picking up fallen branches, my mind wandered. Weren't we supposed to come back as ghosts? And why was that mad thing after me? Why was I cloaked in black? My thoughts wandered for a while until they were disturbed when my toe hit something hard. I looked down and saw a crystal half buried in the dirt. The only weird thing about this crystal was that it was the size of a baby's fist and it was black. I was intrigued by this crystal, so I picked it up. Derrick never said anything about picking things up, as we were here to learn right? Soon as I had the crystal in my hand, I felt something flow through me. Electricity flowed through me and I suddenly felt like I could take on the world. I quickly pocketed the crystal and made mental note to ask Derrick about it. I gathered a few more pieces of wood and headed back to the spot.
"What took you so long? Geez, the food is gonna get cold thanks to you!" He smiled and shot me a sly grin as he took the wood out of my hands.
"So, do you want to light the fire or should I?"
"Maybe you should, I don't feel like passing out again." I grimaced as I remembered as how many times I had blacked out in the past few days. Derrick shrugged, and then his staff appeared out of no where yet again and tapped the pile of wood. Blue fire erupted from the wood and warmth spread through our bodies.
"Feels good huh? Mage fire is better than… What's that in your pocket?" I noticed that his eyes had fallen to the spot where the black crystal was making a bulging appearance. I decided to be smart ass and replied with a lewd comment.
"Would you believe that I'm just happy to see you?" I flashed him a seductive grin, but when I looked at him, he just shook his head and made a movement with his hands. I felt the crystal disappear and reappear in his hands. His eyes suddenly turned serious and said to me in a sharp voice, "Where did you get this?! Do you have any idea what this is?!"
"N-n-no.. I just picked it up when I was gathering wood. Why? Isn't it just some crystal?"
"No! This is… well, tell me, did you feel a strange sensation when you touched this? Like electricity flowing through you?
"Yeah I did." Great, I probably screwed us over.
"This… is an onyx stone. *sigh* Ok, I think its time to start explaining things." With another movement of his hand, the stone reappeared back into my pocket. Damn, I really need to ask him how do that.
"Ok, lets start with the basics. There are four alignments within the order.
Everyone in the Order wears different colored Robes that represent their alignment. There are Dark Robes, Crimson Robes, Light Robes, and of course the Clear Robes. The Light and Dark Robes are natural enemies and the Crimson Robes are considered 'neutral mercenaries'. Although both sides have their own uh.. set of Crimson Robes. I think that Crimsons are just siding with the most powerful side." I restrained at snickering at this, as he was wearing red robes.
"Now the clear robes are the true neutral powers of the Order. They are called the Clear robes because they have the ability to change their alignment. Now, another reason they are called that is because before they change their alignment, they spend a few hours when their robes are well, clear, basically no real color to it. Also, there is only two of the Clear alignment at anytime. Ok, now to the magic powers. Basically, all of the Order can cast about any spell, but only to a certain degree. For example, Darks cannot sustain a elemental enchantment spell for very long and Lights will have most of their powers drained if they try to summon anything. Crimsons have control over both powers, but only to a certain degree. If they cast Light-based spells one day, they can only cast those types of spells for about 12 hours and vice versa. Now, Clears can do about anything, but the only drawback to their power is that if they stay within the Light or Dark alignment longer than they are supposed to, that Robe becomes their permanent alignment. Also, when the Clears are not affiliated with the Light or Dark, they don Crimson Robes. Oh, and also, since you are only a novice, you will not be able to cast more than probably a few spells per day. Your mind is not yet experienced enough to handle the stress that casting can do to you. Older mages can usually throw magic around for a while before they feel the strain. You saw what happened to you when you cast that silly spell on me. I was surprised it didn't kill you outright." Wow, this was a lot to take in! But somehow, I understood. Now that I knew about the Clears, I wondered if he was one. I had one question, but before I could ask it, Derrick answered it.
"The stone you found is a stone that does not exist normally in our time. It is forged into our staffs and it increases our power immensely. Now that you have it, you will probably have even more people after you. Only one other person has ever had their staff imbued with onyx."
"Damn it to hell! Now I'm probably gonna die before I learn anything. This sucks."
"Hehehe. I don't think you will. Because you are looking at the other person with a onyx staff." Wow, well, that probably explains why we're still alive.
"See! You're safe with me. Well, as long as you don't try to kill me. Seeing as you are wearing Dark robes. That really makes me curious. I had though you to be the second Clear Robe, seeing as I'm the first one." What? HE was a clear robe? Then a really interesting question flashed though my mind. How was he still alive? So I asked him.
"Well, I really was dead, but it I was resurrected by the last Clear Robe. When I was revived, he transferred all his powers and knowledge to me, but when he did that, he died. I felt dirty for a while, because my life had cost another. But later on I learned that he was dying anyway. He had been poisoned by he same thing that's after you. So, he sought the most reliable host, and it happened to be me!"
"But why did you think that I was supposed to be the second Clear Robe?"
"Hmm, that's because I revived you. I brought you back before you were completely lost to the Shadow."
"What's the Shadow?"
"Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention that. The Shadow is kinda like a permanent purgatory. All who die go there after a few hours. You were lucky I had found you right away, since a resurrection spell takes about 2 hours to cast. Well, maybe you are a Clear robe, seeing as you can cast double elemental spells. That was interesting. Can you tell me how you did it?" Wow! He was asking me how I cast that spell? I don't even know what happened! I was just mocking him and then it happened. So I decided to just tell him exactly that.
"Well, you know that I was a bit mad and finally started refusing what happened. So when you told me about magic I just decided to go along with it for the hell of it just to mock you. I imagined that your robes were on fire and your legs in ice and the next thing I knew, weird words were coming out of my mouth and my hands were making those symbols in the air. After that I saw that the spell had worked, I felt something drain everything I had. Then as you know, I fainted."
"Interesting. Have you ever read that book you had when you were in that island?"
"Yeah, I went through it many times over the four years, but I never could understand the words. It was all gibberish to me, but on every page there were always some form of picture."
"Hmm, well, now that you are a mage, maybe when we get back, you can have a look at it." What was so secretive about this book? Why was it protected from me?
"Well, to answer that, that book has a picture at the last page of it. Do you remember it?"
"Remember it!? It HAPPENED to me! Why?" Wait did he just read my mind?
"Yes I did, but I'll tell you why and how I can later. To explain that book, that picture depicted the battle of who would own that book. The writing below says 'The one to survive of the wrath of the other shall be bestowed the power written within these pages. Darkness shall consume the one to receive these powers, but he shall destroy the one who had destroyed him.' That book has written inside it the Lost Arts. The Lost Arts are the spells and forms of casting and summoning that was lost in this time period."
"So, basically, that book belongs to me? Then why did you have to scare me away from it?"
"We had to do that for two reasons. One, we could not have you start reading and understanding that thing just after you have been revived as a mage. Who knows that chaos you would have done had you started to cast without knowing it? The second reason is that there the heads of the Order had assumed that others would be trying to get to it. We were right. During your sleep, at least 15 power hungry magi had tried to get to it. They were stripped of their powers and cast out of the Order."
"Wow, you guys are harsh… *yawn* Well I'm pooped. Can we continue this tomorrow?" I really was tired. I wasn't bored or anything. It felt so good to talk to someone after so long being alone, even though it was basically a history lesson. Then I noticed something. Where were we gonna sleep?
"Ok, I believe that you are really sleepy." he flashed me a knowing smile. I knew that he was reading my thoughts again. "Just sleep on the floor. Your robes will keep you comfortable. I'll make you a air pillow. Hold on for a second." He concentrated for second and then I felt something fluffy in my lap. I saw nothing, but I presumes it was that air pillow he was talking about.
"Get comfy. Good night!" I smiled at him and went to lie down on to the floor. The air pillow seemed to follow me and it settled down right under my head as I lay down. I fell right to sleep.
~~~~~
*Derrick's Point Of View*

I was tired from all the talking. I felt bad for not telling Michael the real purpose of that time spell. The Order had instructed me to cast that time spell so that I could come back in time to train Michael. The Order had recognized him as the one in the Prophesy. The Prophesy had also stated that a being almost destroyed by a great evil was to come back to life and save the world from the chaos that was happening in the world. In the present time, magic was slowly fading away. More and more people were misusing magic and the Shadow, which was responsible for all magic, was withdrawing from all the misuse. It was also said that the being who holds the Book Of The Lost would create a world of peace where magic existed as a way of supporting life, not as a tool of power and destruction. I was supposed to be dead exhausted after casting that time spell, but I was not. I was only tired of talking. It was quite weird. I wondered if I had anything to do with my sleeping friend here. I still felt unsafe here, so I drew some trap and barrier spells around the clearing. These spells would protect and cloak us as we slept and if anyone found and attempted to attack us, the traps would stun the attacker for a moment and wake me up. I just hoped that these traps would not be activated. I placed three barrier spells and about a dozen traps spells. Damn, now those castings took a crapload out of me. I created my pillow and drifted to sleep.

I woke up with a jolt. The I felt the trap's energies being released around us. I quickly brought my staff out of invisibility and stood up. There were two demons attempting to claw their way through the barrier spells. I quickly reinforced them and them went to wake Michael.
"Michael! Wake UP! We're being attacked! Get up! Get up!"
He woke with a sudden panic. He patted the ground around him for his staff. I had noticed that he did not have it with him. I summoned the staff from wherever it was and threw it to him.
"Thanks! But what do I do now!? I don't know any magic!" He seemed frantic. I had forgotten that he was untrained. I winced as the first barrier fell. The demons were sucking the energy from the barriers, and thus draining my powers.
"Just try and do what you did to me! Try to do anything to them! They are demons, so try and hit them with anything but a dark-based spell! I'll take one and you take one!"
With that I left him to try and do it himself. He would have to learn on his own today. The demon I faced looked at me with a malicious glee. It stopped clawing at the barrier and stood up. This demon was NOT acting like a demon! Demons don't stand up! I was shocked as the demon's form flickered. Then suddenly, I was facing a Dark Robe. Shit. This was not good. His mouth started moving as he drew familiar symbols with his hands. He was casting a negation spell. This would destroy the barriers I had put up and put both me and Michael in supreme danger. I did not know whether the other 'demon' was a real demon or another Dark Robe. I did not have time to think, as the second barrier was shattered. I noticed that the Robe I was facing was not done casting, so I quickly cast the most powerful spell I could do at the moment. It had worked. The mage had suddenly slowed down. My Slow spell would only last for half a minute or so, so I went to reinforce the final barrier protecting us so the other would not get to us. After I did that, I faced the direction of Michael. His hands were glowing blue and he was shouting words for a spell that I did not know. Three seconds later, five small spears of ice surrounded his body, and then with a point of his fingers, all five spears went towards the other demon. Three penetrated it's cranium and the rest destroyed its throat. The thing attempted to scream as it died, but only a gurgling sound could be heard. Flames had suddenly surrounded the dying demon and it was reduced to ashes as it was engulfed by it. Derrick had cast a Unsummoning spell. This really revealed his power, as only the person that summoned a creature could send it away. My thoughts were interrupted as the final barrier disappeared.
My spells had worn off.