The First Ones

Marcus Fable

Chapter 1:

Atlantis Found
It is a well-known dictum that at the heart of every myth and legend is a grain of truth. Fact obscured
by the unceasing passage of time, distortion by the imperfect memory of man and finally the legacy
is lost. There are few tales so enduring as those of the city lost beneath the sea, like the phantom
pain of a phantom limb Atlantis plagues the human psyche; a story of a wondrous civilization swept
away by relentless ebb and flow of the oceans tides.

There has always been one unifying force throughout the history of mankind; the emergence of a
common enemy. Heaven help that enemy.

Marcus speciality during the purge had been flawless and undetectable assassinations. High-value
targets dropping dead without the slightest hint of foul play. Brain aneurysms, car accidents and the
occasional drowning in your own pool all staples of his vast arsenal of tricks but sometimes hed
throw in some truly bizarre trip to deaths always open door. An avid hunter mauled by a wild animal
or a man allergic to bees would stumble across an irritable hive during his morning run through the
park without his epinephrine pen.
Perhaps it wasnt noble use of his magic but back then it had been war and war demands warriors to
fight it.

Words of power are not spoken, creation speak is thought. Each remarkable glyph the stuff of the
primordial forces that shaped the universe; the very essence of a thing boiled down to purest
thought. The sword paled when Marcus stopped channelling power into the enchanted weapon, the
bright blue light dimming and shrinking until all that remained was an exotic looking knife.
Human power has failed before and it will fail again. The remnant had left behind much of its dark
and twisted memories; along with fearsome scars etched into Marcus Fables soul. Its sincere venom
filled threats echoing in his skull as its ancient, invasive and bloodthirsty consciousness faded into
nothing, dying.

Marcus imagined his quest for knowledge


The norms will never accept us, was the heartfelt declaration, we are the bastard children of the
cataclysm. Magic flows through our veins, we are and always will be guilty by association.
People fear what they dont understand, which is exactly why we need to educate them, to
enlighten them to make them understand, came the equally passionate counter,
We are users of the thing that broke the world, another shot back. This society will not forgive us
what we are,
People are evolved enough to recognize
People are dumb panicky animals, a fiery young woman cut him off mid-platitude.
The same tired arguments. Marcus had heard it all before, round and round again the same
pointless discussions going nowhere fast. The faces might change but the debate remained the
same, the players too nave to realize that while they were talking about organizing the world
around them was changing.

Still money is money and he was being paid a great deal of it to shield the abandoned community
centre from prying eyes.


It amazed him just how oblivious people could be, the false sense of security most people accepted
without question.