A Night of Misfortune

Prologue

"A NIGHT OF MISFORTUNE"

By: I Write Big

PROLOGUE

The flickering candle casted a warm glow over the table. Master Fu considered lighting another but had decided long ago to err on the side of caution when around his treasure. He ran his old fingers over the aged leather, the intricate design on the cover felt both familiar and foreign. Another ancient mystery waiting to be solved.

"After all these years," he said, "we can now unlock your secrets." He turned to Wayzz only to find the little turtle Kwami asleep in his vintage record player.

"Well... I can," he chuckled.

As Fu opened the Miraculous Book, a shiver rang through his body. A shiver of hope that the book's contents would aid the Miraculous Wielders in their fight.

The first look filled him with worry. A page was missing. Only the shredded roots remained. Master Fu wondered how long ago this knowledge was taken and silently prayed for its safe return. He turned to the next page.

He hummed to himself and stroked his small pointed beard. The artwork's beauty had not been lost, but the details had turned gray. Next to the drawing of the original Wielder of the Cat Miraculous was a long dead language. The words remained but the text was faded and obscured, no doubt due to age. He could not blame the young Ladybug Wielder for its condition. She only had the book for a day.

Perhaps he had taken too long in his search.

He sighed and reached for his magnifying glass, knowing the deciphering process could take months. He placed his hand on the page only to feel the paper slip out of its binding. Quickly as he could, he pulled his hand away. Fearful thoughts that he had already destroyed this well of wisdom raced through his mind. He controlled the beating in his chest as something caught his eye.

A part of the once clouded page was suddenly clear. Even more vexing, a matching shape of the missing cloudiness was now hanging off the edge of the book.

With a trembling hand he gently pinched the hanging cloud and lifted it up. It did not resist being pulled out as if it was never bound to begin with. Master Fu rubbed his fingers across the crinkling material and peered deeply through it. He could make out hand drawn outlines of what could be a person. The figure was familiar, crouched low... and ready to pounce. His eyes widened as he looked back at the now perfectly legible book and saw it was the same pose as the Cat Miraculous Wielder.

"Is this... tracing paper?"

Marinette flattened another fresh sheet of tracing paper over her Ladybug cocktail dress design and started again. The hem just wasn't quite right, she knew it.

"Maybe a little extra cloth to give a flutter with every step," she muttered to herself. A little song danced its way onto to the tip of her tongue and she couldn't help but sing along. Her tired eyes briefly drifted to her copies of the Miraculous Wielders.

"So elegant," she thought peacefully.

She wished the strange man would've let her hold onto that book a bit longer. Tikki called him Master Fu, but Marinette wondered how exactly anyone can hold the title of Master of anything while wearing a Hawaiin shirt, let a alone be called the Great Guardian. Still, he seemed like a kind old man.

She heard a distant noise, but she pushed it to the back of her mind and returned to her work. The sound came back, but Marinette didn't pay it any heed. Even if it did sound like someone was shouting her name, they could wait.

"Hey!" Tikki screamed, suddenly appearing in front of her.

Marinette let out a yell and jumped back in her chair. In her fright, she jumped back a little too far. She soon found gravity pulling her and her chair to the floor and nearly into her pink frilly bed with a thump. Marinette groaned not from pain but from embarrassment as she heard Tikki giggling at her fall.