The next morning dawned just like it usually did in the small town of Ravenville, sunny and bright. A patch of sunlight found its way through the window of Michael’s room, illuminating his face. He turned over lazily with a pained grunt so that the light warmed his back and brought his birthmark into stark relief against his skin. It looked remarkably like a raven, albeit highly indistinct and blurry.

Michael was distinctly average for teen in almost every sense of the word. He had black eyes and hair along with ordinary facial features. His face wouldn’t stand out within a crowd due to how ordinary it was. It was surprising to say the least as his family was anything but ordinary. In fact Michael’s sister would often tease him for his looks, though it was all in good fun. Still no one would ever doubt that Michael was anything but a Craven. He was too much alike in personality, had so much in common with the rest of his family. The only exception was his body. Years of Parkour and other martial arts such as Kendo and Karate had given him a remarkably fit body. Still his lean martial artist’s physique was usually hidden by his choice of baggy clothes, adding to his ordinariness.

At that time, Michael was dreaming about the usual things which teenaged boys his age usually did. Just as his dream self was about take a large bite out of a human sized cake, the dream abruptly changed. Michael suddenly found himself standing on a desolate landscape .It was dark around him to the point that he could barely see a thing around him. However as a full moon peeked out of the clouds the landscape lit up enough for him to see more clearly. Bones, he was standing in a sea of bones. As he took a step forward in shock, the bones beneath him crunched at his steps freezing him in shock temporarily. He got over his shock enough to walk forward with careful steps in the macabre sea of white. There seemed to be no end to the hellish landscape but somehow, his instincts seemed to know where to go. His steps led him to an area covered by fog, but he didn’t stop. Michael’s journey came to an abrupt stop as he saw a large ornate throne made up of bones sitting amidst the sea of terrifying white.

His dream came to an abrupt stop as he woke up suddenly with a gasp and a pained groan. His whole body hurt and along with the god awful headache that had sprung up from out of nowhere………….made for a really bad morning in his opinion. As the events of last night returned unbidden to his memories, he couldn’t help but question the veracity of his own memories. All in all it was a weird night and morning if he counted his dream. But still his memories of last night was true. There was no other explanation for the countless bruises he felt forming on his body. It still didn’t explain his headache or what he was doing in bed. His last memory of the fight was falling unconscious due to sheer exhaustion which had come out of nowhere and the beginning of this morning’s headache. But lying around on the bed was certainly not going to help him find answers to his unanswered questions. Just as he was about to get up he heard his mother’s voice calling him downstairs.

With another pained groan he rolled himself off the bed and put on an old t-shirt to hide his bruises. His crumpled jeans from last night taken off and exchanged for a pair of loose shorts which fell below his knees. He made his way downstairs to the drawing room and then the kitchen. Michael couldn’t help but chuckle as he saw his parents bustling about in a hurry and generally getting in each other’s way as they tried to complete their own tasks.

“………….and remember to call Betty and tell her to come over every once in a while!” said Carla finally taking a breath.

“He is an adult now remember, Michael can take care of himself. But I will call Betty, if it makes you feel better” replied Robert. Carla was about to say something more when she turned around at the sound of her son’s chuckle. The worried look on her face turned to relief as she hurried to embrace her son.

“I’m so glad you’re finally up. I was worried your awakening would take longer but it seems like everything was as it should be.”

“Mom, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking but …….”

Michael was interrupted mid-speech by his mother as she placed her hand over his mouth to stop him speaking “Mikey honey listen to me ok.”

At his nod she continued “What happened last night shouldn’t have happened. But it did and there is nothing about it that can be changed. Now on the plus side you’ll have a powerful servant at your side at all times.” She noticed the question in his eyes and nodded at the half-formed question.

“Yes I know what happened last night in the forest. Someone will be along shortly to answer your questions. I left you a letter along with your birthday gift, which will answer at least some of your questions. It’s in the master bedroom on my dressing table. Now darling I have to leave or your father and I will miss our flight.” With that she turned around and bustled out of the kitchen. Leaving behind an open mouthed Michael with even more questions.

Robert stepped forward and placed a hand on son’s shoulder. He spoke quietly but the pride in his voice was unmistakable “I’m proud of you and especially after what happened yesterday…….” His voice trailed off for a bit as a faraway look entered his eyes “Remember believe in yourself and in us no matter what.”

Robert clapped his son’s shoulder once and then walked out with a firm nod, leaving Michael more confused than ever.

………………….

Robert and Carla Craven, 44 and 48 respectively were the parents of Michael and Julia Craven. Michael had turned 18 about a week ago while his sister Julia was 24.Their entire family were quite the health freaks or at least Robert was. He was an ex-marine and had been firm in his decision to teach self-defence to his son and daughter. The decision was a good one. It was that martial arts training which had saved his sons life last night.

Stolen novel; please report.

Robert turned to look at his wife on the shotgun seat of his car as they drove out of the driveway. Their smiling countenances changed abruptly to grim looks as they exchanged glances.

“About what happened…..” Carla cut off her husband rather abruptly.

“Don’t worry dear, I sent a message to them last night. They promised us reparations, and besides a Djinn servant will keep our son safe until we can get back from this trip.”

Robert grunted his assent as they left for the airport. His wife was right. And besides nothing was likely to happen, they would be back in about a month or so anyway. After which they could answer any questions their son had left.

…………………….

Michael stood still in the kitchen more confused than ever. Instead of answers all he had was questions. Just what did his mother mean when she mentioned that he had awakened? His father too seemed to know more than they were talking about. And more importantly his parents knew that he had been attacked last night, but he had also read the underlying meaning in their words. “You don’t have to worry about it any longer. Everything has been taken care of.” That however left more questions as to the distinctly non-human nature of his attacker and what his parents knew on that particular topic. It was then he remembered the letter his mother had mentioned and the birthday gift. He frowned thinking about the gift. His birthday was last week, and he had already received gifts from his family and friends. Grumbling to himself about everything that was happening, he was about to make his way back upstairs when a voice came out of nowhere making him jump out of his skin in shock and dismay.

“Very careless young one. Has I been an assassin, you would have been dead….. several times over.”

The words came from the mouth of a woman who had literally appeared out of nowhere. She had an ageless quality about her, especially if someone looked her in the eyes. It made it nearly impossible to discern her true age from appearance alone. She had pure white hair along with golden slit pupils. Her features were distinctly Middle Eastern. She was dressed in a slinky evening dress which left her left shoulder bare. Her assets made it hard for Michael to focus elsewhere. The dress itself was purple and reached down to the floor, while emphasizing all her curves in the right places. She was all woman. But she also held herself like a proud warrior- relaxed but ready to fight at any time.

Michael gulped several times to try and wet his mouth. On one hand there was a clearly drop dead gorgeous woman in front him. While his hormones clearly wanted him to try and seduce her, the more primitive portion of his brain was gibbering in terror and wanted him to either run away screaming like a little girl, or hide in a deep dark hole somewhere. The woman standing in front of him laughed and this time the primitive part of his brain nearly won. It was his willpower and to some extent his pride which prevented Michael from running. Her voice was both enthralling and terrible at the same time.

“With you like this, there is no fun playing around. So listen carefully and listen well.” She waited till Michael had nodded his assent. Michael noticed that the menacing atmosphere she was exuding was gone like it was never there to begin with. Something long and thin appeared in her hand. Michaels barely stopped himself from flinching as she threw it at him casually. He caught it out of reflex and identified it as a katana. The tsuba was shaped like a raven’s beak. The saego wrapped on the saya a few inches above the guard was blood red in colour. The menuki was shaped like miniature skull shaped lanterns on the tsuka. The seppa was a thin golden ring. The fuchi was decorated with green flame like patterns and highly detailed. The kashira was made of a black material and had a flowing red ribbon hanging from it. The saya itself was made of some unknown wood and was decorated with etchings of bones and skulls along its entire length. The blade itself was completely black and made of some unknown metal. It seemed to be exuding cold air along its length which for some reason made him really comfortable. More importantly he felt a sense of familiarity with the blade, which confused him greatly. He had certainly never seen the sword before in his entire life or even held it, but his instincts were telling him otherwise.

A slight cough from the dangerous woman interrupted his admiration of the new weapon at hand. “Play with your toy some other time, I’m merely returning it to its rightful owner. Your enemies will be here soon enough. So fight or run the choice is yours.” With those final words she left just as abruptly as she had appeared. Michael sheathed the blade and sighed in relief. It was only then he became aware of the cold sweat which had appeared on his brows. This time it was an old man who appeared out of thin air, on the same spot the lady had just vacated. He was even shorter than the girl from last night. His appearance resembled one of those old Chinese wise men commonly depicted in movies. Tiny, bald with a heavily wrinkled face, wispy white moustache and beard. The man was dressed in an oversized karate GI and a bowler hat. He spoke in heavily accented English.

“Greetings! Young Lord. My master The Caliph of the North apologies on behalf of the entire Djinn race for the misconduct of his daughter Eriyenes. As a token of his sincerity he has sent this gift. If you would kindly accept it, we would be extremely grateful of young lord’s benevolence and kindness.”

Michael took a deep breath and tried to keep himself from cursing aloud. Just what was it with strangers popping in and out of his home like some fantasy thriller? The gift which was being offered was a spherical black jewel of some kind.

“So, what exactly am I supposed to do with this? Use it as a paperweight?”

The strange old man seemed highly offended at the suggestion. In fact he looked like he would have a heart attack as his face turned red and swelled comically. But then he controlled himself and seemed to struggle to keep his demeanour even as he spoke. “Young lord is supposed to pour a few drops of his blood on it. It will activate the enchantment on the stone.”

Michael couldn’t help but stare at the old man strangely for a while. But then he shrugged his shoulders in resignation and reached for a kitchen knife from the counter. Ordinarily he would have suggested a psychiatrist for anyone who made such a suggestion. But with all the weirdness that was his life lately, he decided to go with the proffered suggestion. As soon as the drops of blood fell on the stone, it lit up like a Christmas ornament and floated up in mid-air in front him. Michael gaped at the phenomenon quiet openly as the stone floated in the air without any support. The object suddenly turned translucent, shot towards his heart and seemingly entered his body. He doubled over at the momentary pain, but straightened up as the pain left as suddenly as it had come. As Michael turned to glare at the strange Chinese dwarf, it was to only to look at empty space.

He was about to curse violently at the empty air, where the old man had stood moments before. However something made him stop. There was a flicker of motion just outside the French kitchen windows, as the glass shattered by itself without any external interference. A circular glass sphere came rolling in and came to rest just in front of him.

The sphere shattered into pieces and all hell broke loose.

………………………………