Dust

Chapter 1 Michael

"There weren't always dragons in the Valley." The small, wet, crumpled piece of paper said. "I wish they were just dragons''. Tan said to himself. Things were good for the world during the advent of magic; but went to hell in a handbasket once the Killing Fields were established.

Tan peered through the darkness of the damp dilapidated building. From what he could tell, there were about five floors collapsed upon one another, leaving only enough room to walk bent over or crawl. The smell of dirt mixed with water from the previous day's rain left a sting in his nostrils. Drips echoing flatly could be heard in the distance throughout the remains. Papers, cinder blocks, rebar, desks, and furniture were scattered all about. Each drip reminded him he was not safe. He walked slowly, sifting through the rubble. Taking precaution to not fall or make noise on account of him only having one arm. He had lost his right arm up to his clavicle during his escape with Dawn from the Killing Fields. He was on a recon mission to search for spell castings, sigils, incantations, occult writings, anything to do with manifestations or the like.

He had to do his searches during the day, carrying a flashlight would only slow him down. He relied heavily on his vision and the magic sigil he wore on his forearm to see in the shadows. Tan found himself thinking of the "Good ol’ days” and recalled a memory of when Michael the Archeologist, now Michael The Archangel, made his discovery.

Michael was the first to find the mystical creature from the stories. A dragon fossil completely intact. He discovered that the bone dust of the dragon imbued him with power. During his coring for a sample of the dragon's DNA, bone dust had smattered his skin and he immediately began to gain new knowledge. In his retelling of this discovery to the news, he said: “There was a song of voices that poured into my mind, then a brightness started to emit from my skin. I felt alive, part of a great well of unknown truth, as if the universe itself was speaking to me. So much wisdom and knowledge just poured into me. I believe this will be the beginning of a new and incredible time for humanity.” This power he would later coin as ‘magic’. He also created the first magical order, "The Dragons''. His followers were tattooed with his mark. It was a mixture of bone dust, ink, and his blood, that bonded his followers to him and gave them the power of the dragon. If only it had ended there. When the discovery first hit the media there was optimism for what this could mean for mankind. It caused an explosion in archaeological exploration. The race for finding other mythical creature’s fossils was the new modern day gold rush.

Michael rebranded himself to Michael “The Archangel” when his wings appeared. This caused a backlash with most, if not all, religious institutions and world governments. They could not have a guy out there with wings professing truth and knowledge that they could not control. After the attacks on his character began, along with the smear campaigns from social media and legacy media, Michael soon went into hiding. All while reports of fossils like Pegasus, giants, ogres, elves and centaurs were coming in from all around the world. Just like the Dragons, magical orders with their own branding tattoos and followings started to appear. It seemed everyone of all walks of life were leaping at the chance to have magical powers and leaving their modern technological lives behind no matter the cost. Even if it meant their souls.

SLAM! A piece of concrete came crashing down from overhead, close enough to Tan to shake the ground around him. Tan gasped tripping over a piece of debris, breaking him out of his memory. Barely catching himself from completely falling with his arm, Tan blurted “Damn! I gotta get my shit together.” Daylight was fading and he needed desperately to find what he came here for.