2021 Book Outline

== Sexist, immature, overdone outline that MAY have some ideas worth utilizing ==
=== Chapter 1 ===
1. Introduce Dane at 14, waking up at 6AM to run/train before school. Emphasize the fact that he doesn’t have high acolyte training classes because he cannot manifest Agiofos; even though he performed the awakening at 7 successfully.
2. Dane dreams of someday joining the Knight Corp to go on Epidromi’s and bringing down the White Lotus. He also wishes he can use his gift because he wants to be a mard-o-mard fighter.
3. Dane gets made fun of because his uncle refuses to buy him clothes and he can’t afford much because he pays for his own phone.
4. Even though Dane doesn't have his gift activated he has memorized and practiced all hand positions for every school of magick.
5. Introduce his drunk uncle Steve asleep on the couch. Give the background story on Mary and Lily and how Dane now has to live with his uncle. Steve blames Dane for Lily’s death and Mary being in jail. Steve likes to beat on Dane because of it and often makes him go to bed hungry.
6. Introduce Xavier and Casey picking him up for school. Casey is a Nul (witch actually) and she has an unspoken crush on Dane. Xavier is Dane’s best friend and an extremely powerful necromancer which is a very rare gift (eventually the most powerful necromancer to live).
7. When Dane is at school going through his locker Ely pushes Dane just enough his head smacks directly into the locker door. Pissed, Dane spins around and shoves Ely and in a dramatic fashion Ely throws all of his books in the air and falls backwards. Dane is called into the principal's office where principal Cannan voices his disdain for Dane.
8. Xavier nearly has an altercation with Jim but because the Aether speaks to Xavier he was able to completely avoid it. Casey is called a witch at some point.
9. After school Xavier leaves Dane so he can train at the after school Acolyte training program. Dane and two other students work for Alex Radke. Alex is a wealthy man that owns a large heritage and heirloom farm that specializes in unique poultry about a half mile outside of town.
10. After work John invites Dane along to gravel travel knowing that Jim and Ely are both waiting for him. Dane tells him that Xavier and Casey are waiting for him at
11. John intends on bringing Dane into a drug ring with him, Jim and Ely. John gets Dane drinking a bit because he halfway feels bad for what is about to happen.
12. Eventually John pulls over to an open area by an abandoned bridge. It's a gravel parking lot full of potholes and has a concrete dock all surrounded by forest. Dane sees Jim and Ely waiting for him as they are propped against the fender of his car.
13. Dane is confused trying to figure out what John is getting at. John says he just wants to talk to Dane about some stuff. During the discussion Dane becomes extremely heated after John suggests dealing prescription opioids (the same that killed his sister).
14. In retaliation after Dane declines to join, John forms a flame Glyph in his hands and throws a fire bolt at Dane burning his right arm and right abdomen. Falling to his knees, screaming in pain, Dane is then kicked upside the head by Jim. Immediately pain pierces his skull and he can feel the blood pooling in his mouth and running down his head.
=== Chapter 2 ===
1. Dane hears a voice speaking to him. This voice tells him to embrace the pain, to feel the suffering. This is the magick of the Usumgallu the voice tells him. The Usumgallu tattoo on his back begins to burn. And Dane is then kicked in the gut by Jim. Dane pukes up blood and his vision goes blurry.
2. The voice yells at him to get up, telling Dane to quit being weak and to awaken his gift. In that moment Dane feels a spark, he has finally connected to Eden. It’s like time slowed down and he could feel all the magick in Eden flowing through him, energizing him. Dane looks up and his eyes flash with a fierce fire. In a roar of anger he unleashes his Eden Imperium (a magickal pressure that is emitted from anyone gifted) and causes an Imperium meter about a half mile away to go off, alerting the authorities.
3. When Dane unleashed his EI it caused John, Jim and Ely to fall to their knees and gasp for air.
4. The fire quickly faded from Danes eyes and he fell to his knees on the uneven ground. The three bullies slowly regained their grasp after that light-headed event. There was about a 15 second pause before John rose to his feet and the moment he did a Tamoran Gate began to open at the end of the concrete dock where it met the water.
5. This catches Jim and Ely’s attention immediately and John runs to his truck while Jim and Ely both scramble to the car and take off.
6. Dane begins to get up to leave too but his tattoo begins to burn, the pain becomes searing and unbearable bringing him to his knees once again.
7. The voice returns to his head, this time telling him to focus on conjuring Agiofos as he did when he was seven. The portal began to swirl indicating that the Tamoran is about to step through at any moment.
8. Dane took a deep breath and listened to the voice in his head. He laid his hands out flat and the magickal Usumgallu glyph glowed in each hand. The green-white energy javelin suddenly whooshes out from between his hands.
9. Dane looks down to see his spear pulsating with magickal energy as he clutches it to face off with the Tamoran.
10. Perfectly on cue, Dane looks up at a massive 15 foot tall Xendekkavis that stomps through the portal shaking the ground. This creature is a massive troll of flesh that has been sewn together with little spike protruding from its back. It wears an iron collar and has two different spiked maces for hands.
11. Dane can barely think because of all the adrenaline and fear but he feels strong. The Xen swings at him and misses. Without knowing Dane performs a flash step called lampsi and stabs the beast in the leg. The Xen then hits Dane with the broadside of his mace and sends him flying into a tree shattering the tree.
12. The voice tells Dane to get up and to throw his divine spear as the Xen roars in the background. Agiofos in hand, the fire reignites in Danes eyes. He throws his spear with perfect accuracy. The throw shattered Danes arm because of the raw force of Agiofos and the impact resulted in a massive explosion.
13. The explosion was a fantastic show of green and white energy that swirled in an immensely powerful tornado. It killed the Xen on impact and destroyed the dock leaving a massive crater at the bank that began to fill with water.
14. Dane collapses completely unable to move from the burns and broken bones. He sees a light on his face that gradually gets brighter. Dane then sees a figure coming down from the light, the silhouette of a goddess. He wonders if he is dying.
15. Dane suddenly feels warm, comforted, like a warm gentle hand is waving over him. He eventually passes out hearing sirens in the background and the name Ambrose echoing in his head.
=== Chapter 3 ===
1. Dane wakes up in the hospital the next morning with no one in the room and his body completely healed. He texts Xavier telling him what happened and asks if he can get his homework. He then begins to panic because he doesn’t have insurance and Steve will kill him for all the medical bills.
2. Eventually a woman comes into the room and greets him. Glad that he is awake she says her name is Eve. Dane inquires about his injuries being healed and she confides in him that she is a Master restoration wizard and was there at the attack last night. Skeptical Dane knows that no one could heal injuries that severe overnight.
3. The doctors inquire about the unique Eden Glyph that is tattooed on his back. His newly activated Usgumgallu glyph swirls in a red and black pattern, unlike other glyph tattoos that have no animation whatsoever.
4. Eve offers to take Dane home but he declines. Eve then tells Dane that she paid all his medical bills and covered for him when the police and templar syndicate showed up. Dane is taken back but doesn’t feel he can accept it. Eve assures him that he can pay her back.
5. When Dane finally gets home he is grilled by his drunk uncle. Steve screams about the medical bills and before Dane can explain he begins to blame him for Lily's death again. Eventually Steve back hands Dane during an escalating situation.
6. Pissed, Dane tries to summon agiofos to fight back but cannot. Dane then storms off going down to the creek that runs through town.
7. The voice speaks to Dane again but this time he introduces himself as Ambrose, telling Dane he is the only one that can teach him how to use his gift. He also tells Dane that no one can know about him.
8. Ambrose tells him he has finally awoken the dormant powers within him, namely his clairvoyance, charisma, silkspeech and regeneration. He is also now a target as well because of his magickal physiology. Atidis and the other gods are also aware the Usumgallu is awake hence why the Xen attacked Dane.
9. Ambrose teaches Dane how to unleash his Eden Imperium by feeling magick flow through him and how to summon Agiofos on command.
10. Ambrose asks if he has heard of the legend of the Usumgallu to which Dane jokingly points out an urban legend to bring about the end of the world. Ambrose confirms that this is true and tells Dane he is the newest Leader of the Four Horsemen.
=== Chapter 4 ===
1. Dane is having a dream about Eve, he sees her in a field with flowers. There is an ancient feel to it but suddenly everything turns extremely dark. Dane sees himself, but it's also not himself. (He is in his Apocalyptic form) which looks like a fiery hell demon with long black wings and four horns coming out of his head. Buildings destroyed and a city up in flames, Dane is slaughtering Nul as they try and run in vain. It almost seems like he's enjoying this. A little girl trips and falls only to turn around and see his massive demon form staring at her. He could see both his face and the fear in the little girl's eyes. As soon as Dane delivers the killing blow he wakes up sweating, with ragged breathing.
2. Later that morning Xavier and Casey pick up Dane to take him to school and he shows them his newly activated Glyph tattoo. Something about Dane catches Casey's attention immediately as well.
3. Dane arrives at school and begins to notice that people are looking at him more than usual. It can't be because of the Tamoran attack because those aren't exactly rare. Just two weeks ago a Nul girl was attacked by two imps. His charisma is attracting attention now.
4. Emma Hornick comes up to Danes locker before first period and starts hitting on him. Jim sees this and gets pissed, talking about Danes mom always makes him want to fight.
5. Jim instigates a fight and Dane is pulled into the principal's office. Principal threatens to kick him out of the school and gives him an after school detention.
6. Xavier, Dane and Casey have a group chat conversation about Jim and how much he sucks but not before the principal comes over the intercom and calls Dane to his office… Again...There is a little bit a snicker in the class because of Dane’s reputation.
7. The principal throws down a photo of the crater Dane created by the dock inquiring about it. Dane admits to the incident attesting that he has unlocked his powers. Ms. Bitters refutes his claim insinuating he isn’t strong enough to create something like that even if he did unlock his gift.
8. Eve then walks into the office and backs up his claim. Both teachers immediately respect her decision which confuses Dane about her position.
9. Ms. Bitters agrees to induct him to the after school program and will change some of his classes next week.
=== Chapter 5 ===
1. After school Dane meets up with Xavier and the other high acolytes in the Imperium Control Room. This is a room designed to test acolytes abilities while keeping the destruction and harm to a minimum. Some kids are talking about a paper they have to write for an acolyte class about banshees.
2. Ms. Bitters asks Dane to unleash he’s EI so she can get a feel for his power. She has Xavier demonstrate. Xavier being an extremely powerful necromancer has an incredible grasp on Eden’s magick. He closes his eyes for a second or two to focus and then unleashes his Eden Imperium. The air becomes thick and heavy, the breath gets sucked out of your lungs and it feels as though gravity itself has increased.
3. Dane remembers back to what Ambrose had taught him the night before. He did as Xavier had done and closed his eyes to focus his magick. His tattoo began to glow a perfect green pattern through his shirt which caught the attention of several high acolytes. Only when he opened his eyes to unleash his Eden Imperium several people fell to their knees. Even Ms. Bitters couldn’t believe his magick was this dense, after 3-4 seconds Dane let go and everyone began gasping for air.
4. Deeply afraid, Ms. Bitters showed no emotion but knew she had to keep a very, very close eye on Dane from now on. She also knew he was going to need a lot of one-on-one training to properly control his power. She now completely believed he created that crater in the field.
5. She begins the basic training warm-ups with the rest of the students and has the Mard-o-Mard coach Kane Oberfoell guide so she can work with Dane. She finds that not only is Dane a polemistes but he can perform destruction magick as well. No one is ever born with both the ability to manifest a weapon and cast magick, this is another unique trait of the Usumgallu.
6. Casey is all over Dane during practice and is beginning to think it is his new powers. He tries talking to Ambrose to no avail.
7. At the end of practice Ms. Bitters wanted to test Danes limits a bit and asked him to conjure Agiofos. Using her Teza powers she created a barrier with some crafting metal. It was a dome that was open on the side facing them and it helped funnel his power while also keeping it contained. Ms. Bitters, Coach Oberfoell, Xavier and Casey all waited to see this unfold.
8. Ms. Bitters tells Dane to conjure Agiofos, he takes a deep breath and throws it at the dome. The energy javelin falls apart and disintegrates before it even hits the dome. Everyone is slightly shocked at the result, so Ms. Bitters has him try again. This time he is out of breath and again the spear breaks apart before reaching the target. This time without hesitation he conjures it again. Sweat rolling down his face, Dane is determined to make this work. As he brings his arm back to throw the spear blood begins to run down his nose. He then brings his arm forward to throw and he falls flat on his face.
9. Dane wakes up and Coach Oberfoell gives him a stern talking about how not to overdo magick because of Nakapsi.
10. After practice some of the other students are still mulling around and Justin Walsh (a friend of Xaviers) invites Xavier, Casey and Dane to go to a haunted house and see if they can find a Phantom with a couple of Justin’s Nul friends. They also talk about a recent Leviathan attack in the Pacific that sank a Naval Aircraft Carrier.
11. The house is abandoned and falling apart. Two phantoms (Elliot and Margo) haunt the house reliving the day they (as wizards) attempted a spell beyond their control can caused a massive explosion. All they were doing was trying to help a friend.
12. Dane, Xavier, Casey, Justin, Amy and Sarah are all gathered in front of the creepy house. There are warning signs out front saying that there are phantoms haunting the house. Xavier tells Justin how stupid this is but Justin says he is being scared. They all enter the house together but quickly get separated.
13. Dane and Casey are together and she is holding tightly onto him. Eventually the lights flicker on and they suddenly see Margo through one of the bookshelves in the library. She is talking to herself at first then the lights flicker again and Elliot walks in through the opposite side of the room. They're discussing how the spell they want to perform is too powerful and Elliot reassures her if they do it together they'll be fine. The lights flicker again and they're gone.
14. A few moments later they hear a scream, worried it is Sarah or Amy; Dane and Casey run into the next room to see Margo standing over Elliot. Elliot has had his skin blown back from the explosion of the failed spell and looks like a mutilated walking corpse. Margo had her jaw blown off which isn’t visible until she turns around to face Dane and Casey.
15. In that moment Justin comes walking quickly by the doorway and stops abruptly when he sees Dane and Casey. The lights flicker again as Justin begins talking to them when suddenly Margo appears behind Justin and slits his throat. Casey gasps and backs quickly into Dane and Justin’s dead body falls to the floor. Dane spins around to face Elliot who is no longer behind him. When Dane turns back around, Elliot has Casey and all three disappear with the flicker of the lights.
=== Chapter 6 ===
1. Panicked, Dane is running through the halls of the massive house desperate to find Casey or anyone. Dane turns a corner and nearly runs head on into Xavier. Thanks to the Aether’s whispers, Xavier stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding a collision with Dane. Sarah is following behind Xavier along with an elemental fire golem that Xavier summoned from Eden. Dane quickly tells him how Justin was killed and that Casey has been kidnapped. They agree to keep looking for them but they can no longer leave the house. All the doors and windows have become magickally sealed.
2. A few steps down the hall they hear Amy scream. Xavier takes off and opens a door to the right where the scream came from. There is nothing in the room except a dusty dresser with a mirror.
3. Mesmerized Dane begins approaching the mirror, he can see a scene playing out. He sees himself talking to Margo in the library and Casey is behind her magickally suspended in the air with a noose around her neck. Panicked, Dane begins to run out of the room but the moment he turns back and looks in the mirror, the scene changes. It’s Amy. Dead, hanging by her neck.
4. Dane tells Xavier what he saw. Xavier jokenly refutes his claim of being an oracle. Angry, Dane begins to take off for the library when Ambrose speaks to him.
5. Ambrose tells him he needs to make a decision because people will die. The phantoms want Dane’s blood because as the Usumgallu they would be able to unbind themselves from the place that they were formed. Ambrose tells him that he cannot set those Phantoms free or they could potentially kill hundreds.
6. Frantic, Dane takes off for the library again as Xavier tries to figure out what just happened. When Dane opens the door he sees Margo and Casey just as he did in the mirror. Dane asks what they want and she obviously points out the magickal properties of his anatomy because he is the Harbinger and how his blood will free them. Margo makes a deal, if he offers them his blood they will set his friends free. Xavier tries to get Danes attention.
7. Dane asks what happens if he refuses to give up his blood and immediately you hear a loud SNAP. Ambrose snides that what Dane has just said was the wrong thing to say. Dane looks up at Casey who hasn’t moved. Dane then looks to his left, he never even noticed. Elliot had Amy in the opposite corner the entire time and she was now dead, just like in the mirror.
8. Dane realizes the mistake he made by asking. Sinking to his knees he gives in, not wanting Casey to die. Ambrose yells at him not to do it.
9. There is a sudden beam of light coming from the door and Ambroses voice fades away. The brightness grows in intensity almost as if the sun entered the room. A golden Eden glyph forms on the front of Margo and Elliot. In the middle of the glyph the goddess mark of the triskelion appears and both phantoms explode in a golden ray of light.
10. When the light fades it reveals the ex machina herself, Eve.
=== Chapter 7 ===
1. After getting chewed out by Eve and a nice long chat with the Templar Syndicate. Dane is finally told that Eve is a goddess and that she is long-term acquaintances with Alex Radke. She wants Dane to run specific errands for Mr. Radke as he will no longer be a simple farm hand.
2. Xavier offers to take Dane home after Casey and Sarah got picked up. On the way to Danes house he asks Xavier about the Aether. Xavier asks if he has been hearing it but Dane doesn't confide in him about Ambrose.
3. Once Xavier pulls into Danes driveway, Dane is hit with a sudden headache as he starts getting out. He hears a ringing that gets louder and louder. Then out of the blue, it stops.
4. Confused, Dane stumbles into his house to find his uncle passed out in the recliner with an opened 30 pack of busch and a bunch of crushed cans. The entire house smells like beer and cigarettes and the TV is blasting an old western movie.
5. That night Dane has a nightmare again. This time he sees Margos bloody face staring at him with the most evil intent. She takes a step to the side and Amy is behind her. Neck in the noose and her head tilted to the side Amy asks why. Why he let this happen. She begins floating towards him, slowly and then flying towards him with a blood curdling scream. When she makes impact he wakes up sweating and panting. He quickly hits the home button on his phone. 4AM. He lays back down but is unable to sleep the rest of the night.
6. There is a scene change, we are no longer in Danes room but it appears we’re in a creepy attic. There is an altar in the middle of the room lit by candles; there is a basilisk atop the altar. Someone in a robe is down on their knees with their palms facing up. Their hands lay on a red cloth holding a rod of crafting metal. The person is performing the Holy Orders and receives the infamous crimson scar across the palm of their right hand. They are contacting the illegal guild of the Crimson Basilisk with the intent of assassinating someone.
7. That Friday at school several kids make passing remarks about how Dane was responsible for Justin and Amy’s deaths. A short assembly was held in memoriam of them.
8. After the assembly Dane is talking to Xavier and Casey when Emma comes up and starts talking to Dane about how horrible the incident was. She is being touchy feely as usual and once again Jim gets pissed off. He gets in Dane’s face and starts calling him trash and talking about his mom and sister.
9. Emma eventually yells at Jim to back off right before Dane is about to punch him. Everyone shuts up immediately and stares at her in disbelief. Unable to process much, Dane, still in shock, is escorted by Emma to his next class. Emma dismisses Jim’s behavior and says that they should hang out sometime then swiftly exits.
10. That afternoon after school Xavier drops Dane off at Mr. Radke’s house. John and Hunter were already in one of Mr. Radke’s massive gardens. John stares at Dane the entire time Dane is walking into the house.
11. Mr. Radke lives in an extremely large and expensive house. He introduces Dane to his maid Amber. Dane is rather amazed the organic hand farmer could make such a luxurious living. Ambrose pops into Dane’s head saying he needs to talk to him but is interrupted by Mr. Radke
12. Mr. Radke escorts him to a room at the end of one of the halls, this is Dane’s new office. He also gives Dane a company credit card for any purchases Dane may need to make on Mr. Radke’s behalf. He tells him he is going to pay him 3k a month but he will be deducting half each month for his medical bills. Dane is aghast by the offer. Finally he gives Dane a “company car” that he will get to keep for personal use (2018 Tesla model 3). Mr. Radke explains he will often have Dane driving back and forth from Des Moines on the weekends because of some services that specific individuals provide for Mr. Radke.
13. Ambrose pops into Dane’s head again and tells him to be wary of Alex. He isn’t who he seems to be (Referring to Alex being a shepherd). Even though Alex isn't any threat. Ambrose begins again about the Tamoran, however; Alex interrupts Ambrose’s monologue in Dane’s head and tells him he needs him to go to Des Moines that weekend and stop at a store called Ancient Ways. Mr. Radke gives him a list of things to pick up there.
14. When Dane was pulling out of the driveway, Ambrose began talking to Dane again. He wants Dane to go outside of town. Dane drives out to the highway and passes cornfield after cornfield, eventually he pulls up to an open area at the beginning of a forest. The sun is going to set within the hour but Ambrose says he wants him to train out there. Ambrose says there are no imperium meters for several miles so he doesn’t have to hold back.
15. Then Ambrose tells him he has the next 40 minutes to train before another Tamoran agent from Atidis comes through a gate in that exact location to kill him.
=== Chapter 8 ===
1. Horrified, Dane quickly fires off a series of questions to get a grasp on his situation. Dane is also panicked because he hasn’t been able to manifest Agiofos at practice. Ambrose tells him to calm down and begins walking in through his manifestation abilities for Agiofos. Dane, unable to focus begins to panic.
2. Dane begins to get into his own head and has a meltdown. He tells Ambrose about how he doesn’t want to be the Usumgallu. Even though he always wanted his powers growing up, Dane doesn't want this responsibility. Ambrose tells him that is why he is here to train him, so Dane doesn’t cause the Apocalypse. Ambrose wants to fix the wrongdoings of the past.
3. Finally Dane pulls himself together and Ambrose has him focus on his breath. He tells Dane that balance and suffering are the keys to strength.
4. Having Dane meditate, he is eventually able to manifest Agiofos. Ambrose then tells Dane how to throw the spear without causing an explosion and how to keep it from shattering his arm. Dane also asks Ambrose about his ability to cast magick.
5. After about 20 minutes the portal begins to open. The black swirling portal was small, about the size of a basketball but slowly began growing. Determined, Dane focused on his next task which was using lampsi. Lampsi is a technique that allows for a quick inconceivable movement over a short distance. Ambrose was amazed at his determination and his ability to learn the technique so quickly.
6. Sweating and out of breath, Dane takes a running start at the portal. Which is now about the size of a person. A few feet before the portal he teleports and reappears about 15 feet closer to the forest on the opposite side of the portal. Ambrose congratulates him on how quickly he is learning.
7. Dane asks how much time is left before the portal opens. Ambrose says he has about 3 minutes and should use that time to rest. Realizing how close his new car is to the portal, Dane decides to back it up the driveway.
8. He parks the car and begins walking back towards the portal. The sun is about to set and the sky is lit up with a beautiful orange to pink glow. About halfway to the portal it begins swirling violently as it did when the Xen attacked Dane. Ambrose tells Dane to prepare himself, with a deep calm breath the Usumgallu glyph appears in both Dane’s hands. In a bright flash of light the light-green energy spear appears in his hands.
9. The fire ignites in Dane’s eyes and right on cue two massive 7 foot, green Orcs walk through the portal. Spear in hand, Dane begins closing the distance between them. He can feel the rage the Orcs radiate. The Orcs are wearing spiked armor. One Orc carries a massive two-handed battle axe and the other has a war axe and a spiked shield.
10. Now running at each other, about 20 feet before contact. Dane flashes and reappears in the air next to the front Orc. He kicks the Orc across the head which sends his helmet flying off to the left and the Orc’s whole body bolts backwards into the trunk of a tree that comes crashing down.
11. The second Orc lifts up his battleaxe and quickly swings down executioner style. Nearly splitting Dane in half he quickly jumped backwards to avoid the blow. The force of the strike left a small crater in the hard ground. Dane saw an opportunity to attack but was parried by the broad side of the axe.
12. In the background Dane could see the other Orc getting back up. The Orc Dane is engaged with insults him. Dane is in shock that the Tamoran could even speak let alone insult him. This makes Dane angier. The Tamoran advantage of this moment and see an opportunity to strike.
13. As if time stopped, Dane hears a raspy whisper that sounds like it is echoing. Unable to make it out, he listens. Dodge! Then with a precognitive-like reaction, Dane flashes behind the Orc and throws his spear. Agiofos passes through the Orc’s back and chest leaving a perfect hole. Dane smiled and manifested another spear.
14. The second Orc charges at Dane while his back is turned, waraxe ready to strike. Dane jumps backwards while twirling in the air and strikes the Orc with Agiofos directly across the shield. The hit caused the Orc to drop to his knee. Dane repeatedly bashes the shield, each strike more furious than the last. The shield had been destroyed along with the Orcs arm.
15. Invigorated, Dane could feel the energy of Eden flowing through him. The Orc could see the fire in Dane’s eyes. So much bottled rage and hatred. One swing and just like that Dane took off the Orc’s head. Dane felt Ambrose’s presence leave him.
16. Green energy flowed from Dane like fire and he let out a roar that sounded like a massive beast being caged. The trees bent downward and branches snap off. The surrounding vegetation is being blown back from the shear force of Dane’s EI. The fire in Dane’s eyes grow and a pair of long twisted horns begin erupting from atop his head.
17. Not but a second after his roar we can hear a faint female voice call out. “Dane?...” Tense, Dane spins around to see Casey standing at the entry to the open area before the forest.
=== Chapter 9 ===
1. Without any time for thought, the Usumgallu glyph appears in Dane’s right hand and he takes a step forward. Agiofos flashes to life in his hand (he previously needed two hands) and once he completes his step, Dane lampsi’s and appears directly in front of Casey. Malicious green magick is still flowing from Dane.
2. Casey doesn’t flinch from his sudden appearance, but she immediately faces the rage coursing through him. She looks up at his horns which have fully emerged now and down to his eyes that have a living fire within them. Casey smiles at him.
3. Furious, Dane draws back his spear to pierce her heart but before he can, she grabs his hand. She quickly pulls him in close and wraps her arms around him. She reaches up on her toes and kisses him.
4. Dane’s rage begins to subside, he can feel himself crashing back down to Earth. The fire is his eyes extinguishes. Dane’s horns magickally flash out of existence along with Agiofos. He begins to fall but Casey catches him. Dane groggily asks what happened and how she got out there.
5. Then his memory returns and he realizes how gruesomely he killed that Orc. Dane quickly begins to feel sick and he runs over to a bush nearby and pukes. Casey smirks and rolls her eyes. The sun has set and it is almost dark.
6. Dane questions Casey asking what she is doing out there when she returns the question. Casey explains how she felt like he was in trouble and went looking for him. (She used some witchy trick to track him) She said she could feel his magick from the road.
7. Casey then spills her very obvious feelings for Dane. Realizing they need to go home Dane agrees to a date suggested by Casey. She also asks when he got a Tesla, in which, Dane tells her about his new job.
8. Dane and Casey part ways and Dane begins his drive back home, dreaming about Casey. When he pulls up to his house the TV is visible through the window and he sees a shadow move across the room. Dane knows his uncle is awake and most likely drunk.
9. He doesn’t want his uncle to see his car because he knows he will trash it. So Dane pulls down the street a few houses and parks it there.
10. When Dane walks in, immediately Steve starts cussing about where Dane’s been. Steve is absolutely plastered at this point and is angry at nothing but his own failures. Steve attempts to throw a half empty can at Dane who simply steps to the side and lets it hit the wall.
11. Dane, emotionless and numb to the monotonous behavior walked to his room. His uncle was yelling at him the whole way. Halfway down the hall a crushed disk of a beer can hits him square in the back of the head.
12. Pissed as hell, the fire ignites in Dane’s eyes. He lampsi’s with his back turned to Steve and in the same instant reappears directly in front of his face. Startled, his uncle falls backwards. The Usumgallu Glyph slowly forms in his right hand which frantically catches Steve’s attention. Then with an electrical ‘whoosh’ Agiofos springs to life causing Steve to flinch again.
13. Dane threatens Steve telling him how sick he is of being blamed for Lily’s death and how horrible of a mother Mary was. Flashes of Casey begin to go through Dane’s head and he slowly recedes away from Steve. Towering over Steve, Dane grasps Agiofos so hard it shatters and disappears; he angrily sighs and goes to his room.
=== Chapter 10 ===
1. Dane has another nightmare that night. He sees a girl in the creepy attic again, the room is lit with candles. Someone is standing in front of her in a blood red and black body armor suit. The hood is dawned and all Dane can see are two red dots where eyes should be. Sarah presents a little treasure box to the figure and when she opens the box it reveals gold coins. As soon as the figure in armor takes the box, Dane begins to get pulled towards the figure. Eventually he makes impact on the hooded figure's face and everything goes black.
2. Dane now sees himself. He is just inside the forest with his back turned to Dane. Dane is standing where Casey was. Dane sees the green magickal energy beginning to flow from his distance figure when he lets out a terrible roar. The energy is now shooting out of him causing the trees to bend and snap and the bushes shake with hurricane like force. The figure turns around to face Dane, horns extended, he strikes Dane. The world flips and Dane is no longer in front of his demon self.
3. A scene begins to play out, Dane is in the open field before the forest. The sun hasn’t set yet and Dane is on his knees. There is a silhouette covering the sun, he can see the outline of a male body. Dane realizes he has his arm up, protecting himself as he is the Orc. Dane then sees himself in slow motion swinging Agiofos destroying his (or rather the orcs) arm. Pain erupts through Danes arm as he watches his own body murder him. With one quick swing; just like at the forest, Dane’s head comes off.
4. Dane shoots up out of bed screaming. He grabs his left arm which is still throbbing with pain. He turns on his lamp as blood begins to drip from his nose onto his blanket. Dane looks at his phone, 1:56 AM. Dane knows he won’t be able to sleep again. Looking for some comfort he tries contacting Ambrose. No luck, surprise. Dane senses something. He feels like he is being watched, this only adds to his inability to sleep.
5. Early that morning Dane gets ready to go to Des Moines to get everything for Mr. Radke. On interstate 80 Dane was about a quarter mile from an overpass when the crackly cigarette voice of the Aether whispered “Leeefffftttt”. Dane quickly took control of the Tesla and swerved into the left lane and right before it made impact.
6. Dane saw the small beam of superheated air that nearly collided with him. The beam resulted in an explosion of the asphalt in the lane next to him. He recognized this as the combustion spell. Whoever was after him was not only talented but really trying to kill him.
7. The explosion caused several Imperium Meters to go off. Blue rotating lights attached to telephone poles and light poles began going off. Warning of a current attack from a rogue gift user or Tamoran invader. Usually hydraulic security poles will direct traffic away from the threat.
8. Dane saw another beam coming at him, swerving again back into the right lane. This time the explosion caused a truck behind Dane to do a barrel roll. The figure Dane saw on the overpass was the same as his dream. It's an assassin for the Crimson Basilisk, can he catch a break?
9. Ambrose pops into his head. Sarcastically Dane quickly asks where he has been. Ambrose tells him to perform Sanctify. It's the barrier spell that can block incoming magickal attacks and some physical attacks if the caster is strong enough.
10. Dane puts the Tesla on autopilot again then puts his hands in restoration position. The yellow glyphs appear in his hands and he begins healing by accident. Ambrose tells him to visualize a barrier. Dane takes a deep breath, almost at the overpass; another beam is about to make direct contact when he rotates his wrists and a barrier shields the entire front of the car. The explosion rocked the car as Dane drove under the bridge.
11. The assassin made no other attempt after he came out the other side of the overpass. Ambrose tells him he wants to continue his training once he is back home.
12. Dane put the car in park at Ancient Ways just as he got a call from Eve. She said that the entire incident on interstate 80 was caught on camera. They couldn't identify the figure because he managed to stay out of camera shot but saw that the individual was targeting Dane’s car. She says she managed to keep the Templar Syndicate satisfied but the Knight Corp and FBI are about to launch an investigation because they believe the Crimson Basilisk is behind the attack. Dane confirms this and there is a change in Eves voice, she almost seems pleased that they are the ones behind the attack (she is pleased because she can confront the guild directly). Dane also tells her about the nightmare and how he saw the Holy Orders and gold exchange. Eve, suspicious of the nightmare, Eve tells Dane she will be stopping by his house later that day.
=== Chapter 11 ===
1. Dane enters Ancient Ways to find a tall, sexy blonde woman, dressed in a skin-tight leather suit behind a glass counter. She looks really familiar but Dane can’t remember where he's seen her before. Drooling, Dane looks around to see if he can find some of the items for Mr. Radke, staring at the blonde through his peripherals. She asks if she can help him and he rattles off the list of items. Her eyes go big at some of the specifics, she asks what he needs this for and Dane tells her that he runs errands for a farmer named Alex Radke.
2. She snorts at Alex being called a farmer because she knows he is a shepherd. However, the looks on her face softened immediately as she recognized the name. She re-introduces herself as Amanda Velez. Dane’s jaw drops as he realizes who she is. Amanda is one of the only Basquias in Iowa and she became social media “famous” because of her gift. Amanda tells him that she is also an Eden Hunter which suddenly changes Dane’s mind about her.
3. Regardless, after Dane is finished cleaning his drool; Amanda helps him find all the herbs, oils, and powders for Mr. Radke.
4. Dane was in the middle of putting the bags in the backseat when he phone started ringing again. Mr. Radke was calling, panicking. Alex asked if he was alright and about everything that happened. Mr. Radke was firing off questions too quickly for Dane to properly respond. Dane was touched by how much he cared. This made him realize how much he appreciates Eve as well.
5. There is a scene change, we see Eve standing in a beautiful room. The room appears to be part of a cave that has been renovated to living standards, high class living standards. The floors are covered in a clean marble and there is a small natural spring on the opposite side. Red banners with a serpent line the columns of the room. The ceiling of the cave varies in height, some places it is 4 feet high while others it is more than 20 feet. This is a lair of the Crimson Basilisk and three members can be seen wearing their body armor without their hoods dawned.
6. Eve begins talking to the woman in the middle. Eve addresses her as the leader and tells her that she needs her assassin to stop their mission. Eve tells them that the boy that has been targeted is the Usumgallu.
7. While visually disturbed the leader doesn't falter. She knows that Eve has history with Sai Sahan but the Crimson Basilisk must fulfill a contract or die trying. She tells Eve that she must kill the assassin herself if she wants this to end. After a minute Eve reluctantly agrees. The leader tells her that Sai Sahan won't be pleased losing an assassin. As she exits, Eve jokingly says she'll talk to him the next time she is in Israel.
8. Later that afternoon Eve met Dane at his house. Luckily his uncle wasn't there, most likely at the Prairie Meadow Casino in Des Moines; he goes there almost every Saturday. Using a rod of crafting metal, Eve began writing symbols in the air. Set in a specific order these runes would become the enchantment that Eve was placing on the house.
9. When Eve was finished she let out a sigh of effort. Dane could see the red magick runes scattered across every surface of the house until they faded away. Eve said she put three different protection enchantments on the house; this is extremely impressive because most enchanters can only put 1 enchantment on an item. She believes he is being haunted by a Banshee sent by one of his horsemen, Phaslena; she wants to invoke the Apocalypse like Atidis. Hence the reason he has been having nightmares and suddenly all makes sense to Dane.
10. Dane asks what they are going to do about the assassin as well and she says she believes the situation is already being taken care of. Dane wants her to explain but she doesn't elaborate. He begins questioning her hard, asking how she can do all the things she can. Eve says all he needs to know for now is that it is her job to make sure the Usumgallu is properly trained, but no one can know that. Immediately Dane thinks of Ambrose and how he said the exact same thing.
11. As Dane began to fall asleep he noticed the red symbols in his room began to glow, they get brighter and brighter until his dark room is lit up. Then the symbols fade away. That night, for the first time since receiving his powers. Dane slept without waking up to a nightmare. He would wake up to something much worse.
=== Chapter 12 ===
1. We see the Crimson Basilisk assassin crouching on top of a roof. He is looking down at Danes house from the opposite side of the street. The road ends at Dane’s house and to the left of the assassin is an open hay field.
2. From that field Eve calls out to the assassin. Visibly disturbed because he didn’t sense her, the assassin quickly stands and spins to face her. Eve says she can’t have him killing the kid because he’s the Usumgallu and that’s her job. As soon as she finishes her sentence he flashes directly in front of her. The assassin asks if she knows what that means and Eve says yes (they have to fight to the death).
3. Eve flashes about 15 feet directly backwards putting space between them. The assassin summons two curved blades using the icepick grip. Eve unfurls her goddess wings and summons two triskelion glyphs in each hand. From those glyphs two miniature suns formed in each hand. This really caught the assassins attention.
4. Even if the assassin dies unable to complete his mission he will make sure he puts up a fight. The charge at each other and the scene ends.
5. Dane wakes up to a pounding kind of knock at the door. Lethargically he looks at his phone 4:57 AM, who the fuck would be at the door right now and on the one night he finally got sleep.
6. He looks out the small window at the top of the door. Eve is hunched over holding her side. Dane quickly swings open the door, to reveal Eve with a massive gash in her right abdomen.
7. Frantic, Dane asks what happened. Eve tells Dane about the assassination attempt and how she interfered. Dane then asks why she can't just heal herself and its because she was poisoned with basilisk venom. The venom kills the target within minutes and severs the connection to Eden, causing the target to be unable to cast magick; it is the poison of choice for the Crimsons.
8. Eve tells Dane he must cast the detoxify spell. Dane understands just how difficult that spell is to cast and how he has only used restoration magick twice now. Eve confides her confidence in him because he is the Usumgallu. She has him assume restoration position and the yellow glyphs begin to glow in his hands.
9. Eve has Dane position his fingers in a way such that, casting the specific spell should be easier. Pain flows over Eve, the poison is spreading quickly. She needs him to visualize the spell too in order for it to work. He fails and casts invigorate, the spell before detoxify. Eve’s pain relieves for a moment and she can feel some magick again.
10. The spell caused Dane to begin panting because it drains him of his stamina. Dane adjusts his fingers slightly and casts again. Invigorate, Eve’s magick goes up slightly again. Dane feels his stamina draining from him like he is running uphill on a mountain.
11. Taking a few deep breaths, Dane shakes out his hands and tries again. Restoration position, glyphs appear, Eve has him adjust his fingers again as a wave of pain hits her. Dane tries one more time, he holds the spell for 4-5 seconds before he collapses to his knees, winded. He cast invigorate again.
12. Dane slowly begins to sob because he feels he has failed Eve after she has helped him multiple times. Without Dane noticing, Eve gathers all the magick he transferred to her with invigorate. She forms a purple illusion glyph in her hand and a swirling light blue ball of light takes shape in her hand. She casts the Rally spell and the ball a light harmlessly hits Dane while his head is down.
13. Dane slowly stops crying and begins to lift his head. When he looks up at Eve she sees a flash of fire in his eyes but then they turn to a plasma blue color. Confidently, Dane says he knows what to do.
14. Dane puts his hands in restoration position and the yellow glyphs appear. He then puts his fingers in an unorthodox position. Confused Eve asks what he’s doing. Taking a deep breath Dane’s hands glow brighter and brighter. Finally sustaining the proper spell, the poison begins to magickally levitate from out of the wound and forms in a ball between Dane’s hands. Eve screams out in pain. The ball of poison is then disintegrated into white magick particles.
15. Dane confidently smirks and says “Look at that, a 15 year old casting a master level restoration spell.” The moment he finishes his sentence his eyes change back to normal and he hits the floor with a thud.
=== Chapter 13 ===
1. Dane wakes up in his bed, hearing his phone buzz from a text. Quickly realizing the events that occured that morning he does a quick scramble search for his phone buried somewhere in his sheets. When he finds it he sees a text from Eve thanking him, telling him she had to leave to attend to some business. Eve knew he’d be ok so she put him in bed. He must’ve slept for another five hours because it was a little past ten.
2. The text that woke him up however was from Casey, asking if they were still on for their date that afternoon. He had totally forgot during the chaos of it all, thank the gods he wasn’t late or anything.
3. Dane wants to spend the rest of the afternoon practicing until he has to pick up Casey for their date. Ambrose doesn’t pop into Dane’s head until he leaves the house. Ambrose asks Dane where he has been because he hasn’t been able to contact him. Dane tells him he was at home all night, he then tells Ambrose about the event with Eve. Ambrose is silent for a minute but finally he says it's time to get on with his training.
4. Dane was just happy to no longer have an assassin after him. Although, whoever performed the holy orders was still out there. Someone wanted Dane dead.
5. Dane and Ambrose spend all afternoon in the field working on Dane’s destruction magick. Dane seems to be particularly talented with all three subgroups of destruction magick and restoration magick. He struggles with alteration and illusion magick. Dane is also unable to form a conjuration glyph at all.
6. Ambrose was explaining Dane’s silkspeech when Dane looked down at his phone and realized it was almost 4 oclock. He still had to shower and pick up Casey. He ran back to the house and as soon as he went through the front door Ambrose faded from him. He didn't really pay attention as he got ready.
7. Dane picked up Casey from her house, she lived on the other side of town where Xavier and the other rich neighborhoods were. When he rang the door Casey’s father Phil answered. He was pleasant but stern towards Dane. Phil is a wealthy lawyer and they live in a rather luxurious and spacious house.
8. Casey looks spectacular like they always do in the books. They go to the bowling alley and are having a great time. Jim, Ely and John are all there, they are bowling to cover their drug dealing.
9. They begin harassing Dane and Casey and towards the end of their date when Dane was helping Casey bowl, Ely (under the influence of Sarah) puts a sleeping potion in Dane’s drink.
10. As soon as they begin leaving the bowling alley Dane starts feeling the effects of the potion. He begins stumbling as if he was drunk and eventually collapses by his car.
11. Casey, worried, glances around to make sure no one is watching and no cameras are around. When she is comfortable that no one is watching she summons her wand using black witch magick.
12. She begins speaking in an unknown language that almost sounds like a delicate song. Black smokey magick begins twisting around Dane, she knows that he has been poisoned with a powerful sleeping potion.
13. Dane begins seizing and blood starts running from his nose. The potion shouldn't be powerful enough to do this to him. She has a sudden realization and casts “Roht” this reveals three banshee circling around them in the parking lot. Caseys is extremely intelligent when it comes to Tamorans and witchcraft.
14. (Use this as an opportunity to display how powerful Casey is as a young witch). She casts two spells simultaneously. First is a variety of Sunfire which negates the banshee’s from possessing Dane’s dreams. The spell is the expel and can send Tamorans back to their realm. She successfully sends two banshees back.
15. There other lets out a terrible scream that shatters many car windows and sets off a couple car alarms. The scream also set off an imperium meter at the end of the block. Now Casey only has a minute or two before the Black Sun and Police arrive.
16. With the flick of her wand and the brief pronunciation of an unknown word and fire began shooting from the end of the wand. The Banshee formed a barrier to stop the fire that curved at it but the fire quickly overtook the barrier and burned the Tamoran to a crisp.
17. Sirens were now going off in the background and so Casey used telekinesis to levitate Dane to the passenger side of his car. Casey quickly adjusted everything and took off for Mr. Radke’s house to hopefully wake him up because she didn’t know how.
=== Chapter 14 ===
1. Dane slowly opened his eyes as he tried figuring out where he was or what had happened. The first thing he realized was everyone surrounding him. Casey, Mr. Radke, Eve, Xavier and Amber were all huddled around him, he was laying on one of Mr. Radke’s couches.
2. Casey and Mr. Radke immediately seemed the most pleased to see Dane open his eyes. Casey throws her arms around him as he asks what happened. Eve steps in and says that Casey saved him. She tells Dane that she is a witch. Dane doesn’t care as none of the rest of them do either even though they are illegal.
3. Just then Dane notices a man standing on the opposite side of the large living room. He gives off an intense don’t fuck with me aura. Dane couldn’t help but focus on him and he didn’t realize he was staring until Xavier snapped his fingers at him. Dane asked who he was.
4. The man came up to him with a smile that masked his hardcore vibe. He introduced himself as Rhyion, Theos Vasillas of honor. Immediately ignoring Dane while still shaking his hand, Rhyion spoke to Eve “This is really the Usumgallu huh?” Eve shrugs
5. Dane is aghast at who he is speaking to. Rhyion quickly shuts down both Alex and Eve. Saying he answered Alex’s prayer and that he has fulfilled Eve’s favor (Eve saved or did something for Rhyion at some point). Rhyion turns back around and faces Dane. He tells Dane he looks forward to seeing him in the future and winks. He then teleports out of the room with a god-like flare.