[WIZARD24: Prologue]

"Can I go over to one of my friends' houses today?"

"Sweetie, I know you like playing with your friends, but can't you just stay here today?"

"Mom, I stayed home the last three days…"

"Oh, alright, I suppose. I'll drive you over in a few minutes."

"No, I think I can walk there, it's only a couple of blocks away."

I ran back up to my room and took off my pajamas. I took a shower, got ready, and changed into black boxer briefs, a Mario Kart T-shirt, and a pair of jeans. I went back downstairs and speedily ate the pancakes my mom had made for me, told my brother Chase that I would be back later to teach him how to play the guitar, and walked out the door to walk to my friend Bryan's house. When I got there, I rang the doorbell. I could hear Bryan running to get to the door first, but his older brother Bobby opened the door. "Ha, beat you!" he yelled to Bryan as he invited me in. "I think one of your little friends is here," he said.

Bryan and I went up to his room and started talking about our favorite computer game, which was called Wizard's Quest. I was a level 24 wizard on mine, and so my username on the game was "Wizard24". Bryan had just started playing and he was a level 2 apprentice. We decided to play together, but we had to go into different rooms to play. I logged on with my username and password, and Bryan went into the game room to log on to the computer in there. As soon as he logged on, I saw his name "Apprentice2" on my screen. We started playing together, as I cast spells and taught him the ways of the wizard. Bryan leveled up and was able to hurt some small creatures, which helped me advance through the level. I could hear Bryan cheering me on from the other room, and then everything started to spin. I think I screamed out something. All I know is the next time I woke up, everything had changed...