One

Okay, maybe I should explain a few things. My name is David Summers, and I don’t work for the police. To put it bluntly, I’m a Warlock. I am not an orphan, I was not abused by an evil mentor intent on shaping me in his image (you’d be surprised how often I hear that one), I don’t have a tragic past, and I didn’t have a hairy giant come up to me and say ‘Yer a wizard David.’

 

Actually that last one arguably did happen, but not like that. My point is I do not have some dark and mysterious past, in fact it isn’t even that interesting. But for the sake of explaining things I should probably give you a run down.

 

It all started when I was 21. Fresh out of university I decided to apply for a job with Her Majesty’s Security Service �" or as it is more commonly known, MI5. Yes, that MI5.

 

In my defence I never actually expected to get an interview. I was bored and needed a job, so I went on the website and discovered you could apply online. It was pretty much a joke so I was extremely surprised two weeks later when I received a letter telling me I had an interview.

 

So I put on my best suit (yes I owned more than one) and went into Thames House with my head full of dreams.

 

Naturally I failed miserably.

 

I was 21 and this was MI5, of course I didn’t get the job! What did you think I was writing this in a dinner jacket over a shaken martini?

 

However, the important thing �" as I discovered quite a bit later �" was that I was vetted and ticked enough boxes somewhere to get my name noted down as a potential future recruit for government work.

 

Fast forward a few years and I was working as a totally respectable and influential freelance journalist writing articles for a small magazine specialising in weird paraphernalia named the Delphian Times. About half of us working for it treated it as a sci-fi blog, the other half were conspiracy nuts or new age hippies. I was the former. Occasionally though something interesting would happen, and while none of us (the sane half anyway) were what you’d call true believers, there was often just enough to make you think. Well, if you were bored anyway.

 

I’d spent some time embellishing various mundane stories into supernatural mysteries (I’m all for journalistic integrity but explaining it was a housecat not a chupacabra wasn’t going to get me paid) when I finally got hold of one of the interesting stories myself. Once I got wind of the possibility I started chasing down leads. Through a combination of shear bloody mindedness and the extreme power of boredom I learnt that there was a rather well off gentleman who had been putting together a private zoo. A very private zoo that apparently had some rather unique creatures.

 

And I kind of decided to sneak in for a look.

 

On the same night one of these creatures was being delivered.

 

Naturally I also picked the same night the place got raided by a mystical SWAT team.

 

This is the sort altercation that generates large amounts of confusion. The creature got loose and we ended up having an encounter of sorts and…

 

Look it was a yeti, alright? I rounded a corner and ran head first into a yeti. Turns out they’re actually relatively friendly but they don’t really appreciate being packed in a box, shipped to another country, woken up by loud noises and bright lights, then having some berk reporter run into them. Fortunately that’s when the corrider got filled with stun blasts.

 

Less fortunately I was still standing there with a surprised look on my face (I’d expected a partially shaved gorilla not an actual yeti).

 

I Awoke. Capital A.

 

I mean I didn’t actually wake up for sixteen hours �" getting whacked by half a dozen stunners will do that �" but when I did things were different.

 

Every human being �" possibly every living being �" has a magical potential. Life is intricately connected to magic; it’s simply a fact of the universe, so everybody has the potential to use magic. Often that potential isn’t going to be very high at the best of times, but it grows with use. More importantly it fades if it isn’t used. We are born ready and able to harness the eldritch forces of the universe, but �" except in really rare cases �" we don’t know how. We don’t even know we can do it so the ability fades with disuse. People are usually fully dormant by the age of four.

 

But it’s possible for that ability to be Awakened. It most often happens through extreme circumstances, if your body senses danger it can automatically reactivate the ability. This isn’t really noticeable, but if you’ve ever been bungee jumping and found things seemed different, as though the world is sharper and you can move faster it isn’t just adrenaline, you’re tapping into your magical senses. In that sort of scenario it usually only lasts a few minutes and isn’t a true Awakening.

 

That usually happens as a result of exposure to active magic. It’s a little like walking around with your eyes closed: Everything is black until someone shines a light in your face. You still can’t see but it filters through your eyelids and you’re aware of it.

 

When I woke up, colours seemed brighter, things were crisper, and I felt more alive. Well I would feel more alive when the pounding headache from the stunners wore off. This isn’t to say I suddenly had super senses, to be honest I barely noticed it and got used to it pretty quickly. In fact I would have written it off completely as my imagination if I hadn’t had all this explained to me by Harrington.

 

He also explained to me that he and the goon squad (who were apparently very sorry about their poor aim) were part of an organisation called the Extraordinary Defence Executive. That the paranormal was real. That Merton had been breaking laws the public knew nothing about (as well as several normal ones) and that their job was to enforce those laws, as well as police the supernatural forces present in the world. He explained that when I’d been interviewed at MI5 I’d been filed as a potential asset, that I’d impressed him (by breaking into a rich bloke’s home?) and that he was willing to offer me a job if I reported for orientation Monday morning.

 

He also offered to teach me magic.

 

Really…what would you say?