Chapter 1: A Killer Headache with a side of Magic

  Alex Hewlitt had woken up with, what was without a doubt, the worst headache in his entire life. It was now the 3rd day in a row, the headache getting worse and worse with each passing day. He had barely managed to sleep at all last night, and now this morning, his head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. His room was dark, the shades being drawn over the window to keep out the morning light, preventing the sun from spilling through the blinds. Each time Alex had attempted to look at the light coming through, his eyes suddenly felt like they were being jabbed with sharp, pointy needles, causing him to roll back over, groaning with the effort.

  It was the first Saturday of his summer break. With his first year of college done, Alex had been looking forward to enjoying the sunny weather, warm air, and blue skies. He had returned home after his parents, Alistair and Shannon, had picked him up from his school in Boston. They lived in a small town in Northern Maine, the two hour drive being a frequent journey Alex had made to and from school. His parents had been discussing summer plans and possible travel plans between their own work schedules. Alex had made it clear that for the first week of break, he wanted to simply sit at home, enjoy a slow pace, and just relax. His parents mentioned that they might have to work on some of his first days back, but they told him to enjoy his first few weeks home. They had picked him up on Monday and both were now on work trips for their respective jobs. His dad, a family doctor, frequently did lectures and conferences at hospitals across the state. His mother was a consulting member of an organization that worked with law enforcement agencies across the United States and Internationally. Each of them traveled frequently with trips consisting of a few days before they would return home again.

  Currently however, Alex would have liked to have one of his parents around to help him. It would be another two days until they got back home, so Alex would have to try and take care of himself. He continued to lay on his bed, the blankets tossed back, giving him a slight respite from the heat of the day. His headache seemed to make the heat worse, causing him to sweat and feel sticky. Alex would have laid there all day if he could have, but the family cat had taken up her usual position outside of his bedroom door and was clawing at it while fitfully meowing.

  “Go away Bells!” he pitifully tried to yell at the door, but the attempt of speaking louder than a whisper had caused his head to throb so badly that he had to shut his eyes again and wait for the throbbing to stop.

  The cat continued pawing at the door, meowing in the stubborn way that told Alex it was time to feed her, otherwise she was liable to continue meowing without pause. With some effort Alex sat up, swinging his feet over the side of his bed and taking a moment to wait for the wave of nausea to pass.

  “Man this headache sucks.” He said it out loud to no one in particular, again causing a slight wave of nausea to wash over him. Alex had experienced migraines before, but this was on a whole new level. His whole body felt weak and drained, as if it was being held together with tape, but only barely. He sat upright on the edge of the bed for another moment, the cat’s continual cries of hunger puncturing his ears like sharp needles.

  Alex looked over at his alarm clock, it was just barely 9:30 am. No wonder Bells was so hungry, normally she would have gotten her first meal around 8 am. Alex had been dutifully setting his alarm for a few minutes before, slowly and languidly coming downstairs into the living room to feed her before painfully walking back upstairs to try and sleep again. The headache today had laid him out completely though, resulting in him simply shutting his alarm clock off.

  With another minute or so of gathering the energy to stand up, Alex slowly stood up, making his way across his room, pausing for a moment to slip on some loose fitting basketball shorts over his boxers, before then also slipping on the t-shirt from the night before. Bells had begun meowing louder and louder as she heard him stand up and come closer to the door.

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  “Yeah, yeah, give me a second you gremlin,” Alex said with a low tone of admonishment as he opened the door. Bells’s meowing was grinding against his ears painfully and she immediately darted down the stairs. Alex followed behind her slowly, carefully making his way down the stairs which led onto the landing which joined the living room and kitchen in a large, open space. The light flooding into the house from the large windows in the kitchen caused Alex to shut one eye and use his right hand to cover the other in an attempt to stop the painful throbbing which had just been made worse.

  Alex painfully arrived at the kitchen pantry, gingerly opened a can of wet cat food, and then set the contents in a small clay bowl that Bells used to eat from. The small collar around her neck, a simple leather one purchased by his dad many years ago, also had a small, silver bell on it. When they had gotten her as a kitten, Alex and his parents agreed to call her Bells, since she looked as cute as the little bell around her neck, and because they lacked any other names that they could all agree on.

  As Bells ate her food happily, Alex had gone to the kitchen sink to grab a cup he had used the night before for some water and after filling it, he took several small sips. The cold water felt pleasant, helping to alleviate some of the oppressive heat his body was engulfed in. On the small, granite-topped island by the sink, Alex reached over to the small scented candle he had left there the night before. He thought lighting it might help make the air in the room a little more fresh, given the candle’s apple scent, maybe it would perk him up slightly.

  Alex reached into a drawer built into the island, looking for a lighter. He found one after a quick search, picked it up, and tried to light the candle. With his headache still fogging his mind, making anything he did painful, he fumbled with the lighter for a moment. He couldn’t get his fingers to stay firm on the lighter, each attempt to light it resulting in a pitiful spark. Alex began to get more and more frustrated with his own feebleness. On his fourth attempt, when the spark didn’t catch, Alex let out an angry, “C’mon man!”

  At the moment he spoke the words, the lighter shot out a geyser of flame over a foot tall, an intense pillar that flashed out as briefly as it had exploded into being. The sudden wave of heat and light had caused Alex to drop the lighter with a loud yelp. The moment the lighter hit the floor, Alex doubled over with pain, his headache seeming to engulf him with a kind of pain he had never experienced before. His head seemed to be made of glass and it was being shattered by a baseball bat. His body flooded with adrenaline as he fell back onto the floor, landing painfully with a loud thump. Alex’s vision began to swim with colors before turning into a blurry fog that turned black as he passed out.

  He didn’t know long it had been before he had woken up, his whole body felt like a limp ragdoll. His head was aching and his eyes were having trouble making out the kitchen ceiling. It seemed that he was staring upwards at the ceiling, but there was something in his way, a rectangular object giving off a faint, painful glow. With his eyes watering from the pain that lingered, Alex couldn’t make out anything at first. He closed his eyes and spent several minutes breathing slowly, letting out long, tired breaths. He used one hand to gently wipe the tears out of his eyes, while using the other to shield himself from the bright light spilling into the room. Gradually, with the throbbing in his head briefly settling down, he tried to open his eyes fully for the first time since waking up on the floor.

  About two feet in front of Alex, floating in the air with an unsettling stillness, there was a rectangular screen with a large message in faint glowing letters.

  || You are currently experiencing MANA SICKNESS. This is a result of attempting to expend mana beyond your current capacity. MANA SICKNESS drain effect will continue until your levels of mana return to normal or you ingest a mana potion. ||

  Alex sat upright, the screen moving with him, as if on an invisible plane in front of him. The moment he sat upright, his headache overwhelmed him again, and he blacked out.