The Last Mage

⥳Prologue⥴

The ship raced and twirled, rose and fell through the churning, swirling waters of an unknown ocean. Even the captain, who had claimed to know every inch of every sea and ocean, had no idea where they were. "It could be... no, I don't remember this place..." he muttered to himself, puzzling over their location on the map- and wondering if their location even was on the map. At the other end of the ship, a 13-year-old boy named Alex stood with his 15-year-old sisters, Ariana and Alaria. Suddenly, a shout rang out from the crow's nest. "Rocks ahead! Rocks ahead!" the siblings ran to the prow of the ship, but couldn't get a good view. "Go somewhere safe," Alaria told Ariana and Alex. "I'll be with you in a moment." She turned and raced back to the rigging, grabbing hold of the ropes and scrambling up towards a wooden platform high above the deck. When she reached the crow's nest, the man stationed there held out a shaking hand to help her onto the platform. "We're doomed," he whispered. "We're doomed." When Alaria leaned over the railing to look for herself, she froze. She felt like her heart had stopped beating. She almost forgot to breathe for a moment. For straight in front of the ship, looming out of the water like a giant's spear, was an enormous rock.

And the ship was about to crash into it.

⥳⧫⥴

Alaria stared at the rock, frozen in fear. This was surely the end of the ship and everyone on it. Then she came to her senses. Alaria climbed down the rigging, hand after hand , as quickly as she could. When she when her feet were firmly on the deck again, she dashed back to her brother and sister. "I told you to find a safe-" She began, but then a colossal wave swept the ship up and shoved it towards the rock. The crew began to panic. Sailors and passengers alike scurried across the deck, shouting random orders at no one in particular. Alex clung to the railing, desperately trying to imagine some way he and his sisters could escape. But his mind was blank. Alex had always known he was going to die someday, but this was not the day and not the way he wanted it to happen. However, he didn't have a lot of time to think about this, because just then the ship slammed into the rock. Alex could barely hear his scream over the roar of the waves and the whistling of the wind around him as the force of the impact sent him flying backwards across the deck. The last thing Alex remembered was smashing into the railing. Then everything went black.