A Magical Word Revealed: The World Unravelled

Day One, Chapter One, The Beginning

Woodrow, Northern Territory, Australia

Thursday, 1/2/2024

14:45

Hidden in a dense woodland rests the small rural town of Woodrow. Located in an isolated section of Australia's Northern territory, Woodrow was a quiet town. By far the most interesting piece of its history is the source of its name. Captain Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean, the man best known for writing and recording the events of the first world war. When the town had been founded in the year nineteen seventy eight, it was announced on the tenth anniversary of Charles Bean's death that the newly established town would be named after him. After some deliberation, they decided on naming the town Woodrow.

However, there was another little detail about the town that wasn't well known. As of the year nineteen eighty nine, Woodrow and its surrounding forests had become infamous amongst investigators into paranormal activity. The reason was simple. It received more sightings of suspected paranormal and supernatural activity each year than perhaps any other place on Earth. In terms of the sheer amount of sightings, it had ranked in the top five every year for the past thirty five years. But even still, no one expected this small, unremarkable town to become the epicentre of a series of events that would shake the entire planet.

龍 將 飛 翔

Nathan Pendragon was walking home alone. As a sixteen year old, grade ten student of the local highschool, he walked home from the bus stop almost every day. But today, something was different. For one, Nathan was alone. His younger brother, Jaiden, had gone home early with a stomach ache. Nathan didn't own a phone, and so usually relied on Jaiden to send and receive messages while out and about. Without him, Nathan was unable to communicate with anyone. And that's what made the second unusual circumstance all the worse. He was being followed. Two schoolmates who had never gone this way before were now trailing close behind him. Eighteen year old Alexandria Morticaya and fourteen year old Emilio Ansen. Nathan; tall, calm and mysterious with bright blue eyes that stared out from under his long brown hair; glanced back subtly.

'Still there,' he whispered to himself.

This situation wasn't very scary from an outside perspective, but in the moment with his abnormally high anxiety and the threatening demeanour of their pursuers, it was a terrifying experience. Nathan had been noticing for a while that some of his peers had been acting strangely around him. In every school, there are groups and cliques amongst the students. And in every school, especially those of a large size, there are always the "Outsider Groups" as Nathan called them. Small groups made exclusively of odd quiet kids who socialise with no one other than fellow members of their Outsider Group. Normally gangs of weird kids would get bullied by the mean kids, as is standard, however everyone, even the toughest bullies, seems to leave the Outsider Groups alone. Outsider groups were always easy to spot. Three or four people sitting in a semi-secluded space, talking in low voices and huddled together as if the rest of the world were unimportant. This description is likely familiar to any student of any school. However, the Outsider Groups of Nathan's school were acting strangely. They would stop their muttering and glare at him as he walked past. For people who would ignore anyone who tried to talk to them, showing outright suspicion and hostility towards someone was a new phenomenon for Nathan. For the past few days, whispers had gone around the school that Nathan was involved in something shady, although no one seemed to know what. Jaiden had been receiving unwanted attention because of this too. He had complained to Nathan on multiple occasions about Emilio constantly staring at him in class. As a member of an Outsider Group, Emilio showing interest in another person was bizarre. And then there was Alexandria. She was known to everyone within school. With bright yellow and orange hair, a defiant attitude and master of every sport known to man, she was something of a highschool superstar whom everyone feared. Get in her way and she would loudly berate you until you cried. It was also well known that she was involved in some sort of criminal gang, the most common guess being a biker gang. And now these two, polar opposites who would otherwise have nothing to do with each other, were now stalking the recently notorious Nathan Pendragon. Nathan, like the paranoid teen he was, had studied and even gained some skill in the Israeli fighting style, Krav Maga. In a street fight, basic knowledge of Krav Maga would give you the upper hand against someone with little fighting skill, but it was unlikely to be useful against the martial arts master, Alexandria. If they ended up in a fight the result was likely to be in the opponent's favour. In the same sense, it was pointless to try and run. Nathan was not exceptionally athletic. He finally reached the gravel driveway that led to their house. He turned, walked through the open gate and began to quicken his pace. He was close, so so close! Nathan heard the sounds of their pursuers breaking into a run. Their feet crunched loudly on the gravel, coming closer and closer. Mum's car wasn't parked in the usual spot beside the house. She must have gone back to work after picking up Jaiden. Nathan managed to reach the old fashioned grey stone house and ran bolted for the door. Fifteen metres. Ten metres. Five metres. Nathan grabbed the door handle.