Destiny - Book One in The Bomcard Trilogy
Chapter 1 - The Hero

The soft sounds of waves crashing against the shore drew the youngman out of his sleep. The sound of birds chirping filled the sky above as heopened his eyes to the bright light of the sun. Slowly rising, he thought hewas still travelling between the two worlds and it was not until his eyes hadadjusted to the light that he finally realised that he had appeared on a verybeautiful, small beach.

Turning around, henoticed that behind him stretched an endless group of gigantic green trees, higherthan any he had ever seen back home. Before the trees, which he could onlyassume was the beginning of a very large forest, giant stone rock cliffs surroundedthe open area, leaving the forest or the water the only exit. Along the stonewall he noticed a strange hole, leading to who knows where he thought tohimself, but was too distracted to look a second time. The water behind himlooked crystal clear blue, the most beautiful water he had ever seen. Therewere strange, odd birds flying above, screeching a cry that reminded him ofnails on a chalkboard. He thought they looked like a cross between a seagull, acrow and a pelican. They had the pelican's head, but the dark feathers and feetof a crow with the body and wing shape of a seagull. He couldn't help but laughat the weird sight.

As the young man staredout at the ocean, he noticed something else that held his gaze. He saw it foronly a fraction of a second but he could have sworn he had just seen a white,diamond castle in the water. Yet, just as soon as he blinked, it was gone. Thatis odd, he thought to himself.

Ignoring the potentialimaginary castle, he continued to look all around his new surroundings andbreathed in the fresh sea air. He had never been to a beach in his whole life –how could he when he lived in such a big city like New York. He had been taughthow to swim but never had the chance to swim in a pool this big, with noboundaries or limitations that he knew of.

The young man felt aheavy weight around his neck and he looked down and frowned at the goldenamulet sitting against his chest. He had forgotten about it until now anddecided that it might be time to forget about for a brief moment. He placed theamulet under his shirt as he went closer to the water, walking in up to hiswaist. It felt cold, but it was refreshing and surprisingly filled him with asense of calm and peace. He had never felt like this in water before – like allhis problems had floated away with the soft waves. He did not care that he wasstill dressed and was now soaked, chest down. The weather here was beautiful,warm with a light sea breeze that brought the smells of the ocean to him.

Feeling the heat fromthe sun above, he decided to splash some water on his face, but as he did so,he noticed a reflection that could not possibly be there. He could quiteclearly see a girl, her long brown hair flowing elegantly behind her in thewater. Her green eyes, shining as bright as the emerald on his amulet,glistened in the water and Lucas noticed that she had a strange necklace on,one that had a large shell in the middle with two smaller shells on eitherside. Each shell was a different colour, the same kind of colour that Lucas'samulet shone: silver, red and green.

She was staring up athim, moving exactly the same way he moved. He looked behind him, expecting tosee her standing behind him but noticed no one there. When he looked back, shehad a seductive smile on her face. Curiosity getting him, he waved his lefthand and just as he thought she would, she mirrored him exactly. He stuck outhis tongue and once again, she did the same. As he stared at her, a strangesense of familiarity kicked in, although he couldn't quite place a finger on whyshe looked so oddly familiar. As he moved his hand to touch her, she joltedaway and disappeared into the waves.

The young man couldn'tbelieve what he just saw. As soon as he became lost in his thoughts, the birdshe had seen before and had forgotten about decided to remind him of theirexistence. Before he even realised what was happening, the strange birds beganto dive and attack him. He had forgotten all about them, but as their clawsreached for him, he realised they had remembered him. As their sharp clawsripped at his skin and clothes, he swung at them with his fists, trying hisbest to fight them off. He realised he was being forced back onto the land whenall of a sudden, the strange birds mysteriously gave up and flew away. As quickas they vanished, he turned back towards the sea to see why they suddenlydecided to leave him alone, only to notice then that the sun was setting. Asdark started to take over, he heard a noise that made his skin crawl.

Out of the trees, fourlarge, black creatures flew high into the sky. Upon first glance, the young manthought they were human women flying at him. As they flew closer, he instantlyrecognised them from stories back home. They were called harpies and they neverhad good things told about them. However, as they flew closer, he noticed thesecreatures were a little different than the harpies he had read about.

These harpies had theentire full body of an adult woman, except instead of human hands, their armsmerged into massive black wings. Their legs ended in sharp, razor claws and nothuman feet that he had expected from first sight of their bodies. Their longhair flew down around their naked bodies, covering anything revealing andstrangely staying in place as they flew fast threw the sky. As soon as thegroup of harpies noticed him, a flash of their sharp claws told the young manhe was in trouble. He remembered the hole in the wall he had noticed earlier anddarted out from the ocean.

The harpies were fasterthan he was and blocked the entrance. The young man realised in horror he wasnow trapped. He turned to run back to the water, unsure of what else to do andthat was when he noticed the reflection girl was there, standing and holding aspear. The dark brown shirt she wore was covered with light brown string thatseemed to be stitched into the material. Her dark brown pants matched her top,with two small knives sticking out of side pockets by her legs. Her necklaceshone in the sunset, the red, green and white shining in the semi-darkness. Herspearhead shone as bright as her necklace and she had a smile on her face whilestaring in his direction. On her back, there was a small holder where henoticed she had arrows stored, though oddly, he couldn't see a bow.

‘Well you seem to be inquite a predicament,' she smirked at him.

Great, the young manthought to himself. He turned back to the screeching of the harpies, beforeturning back towards the strange girl. He was trapped: no matter what he did,he was in trouble. No matter who he turned towards, each of these new threats stareddeath towards him. Turning back to the harpies, he could not help but think tohimself how he hadn’t asked for any of this and how his life had changed sodrastically, and dangerously, in the past 24 hours…

* * *

Theyoung man was running very fast. His blood continued to ooze from the cut onhis forehead, blending in with his messy blond hair, dirt and soot covering hisface. The enormous red and black dragons flew over Times Square, their deadlybattle raging on - a battle to the death. The two massive shapes collided witheach other, claws and teeth cutting into each of the other’s flesh. He lookedup and noticed the two humans on top of the dragons. Their swords continued toclash in mid-air whenever the two beasts were close enough to one another.

Hecould not do anything to help. He began to yell at them to stop, but then, outof the corner of his eye, he noticed something bright heading towards him. Hedived to his left in the nick of time, seeing a massive fireball fly past hishead. It hit windows in the stores behind him, making them shatter and sendingglass flying everywhere. People were screaming; people were dying. He looked upas the ground began to shake violently and noticed the giant man battling thebigger giant. Their two weapons, two massive swords each as big as a bus,clashed together, making a massive noise that hurt people's ears.

Horribleblack monsters with long, hairy arms and sharp claws slashed their way throughcrowds and started to make their way towards him. Their faces reminded himinstantly of horses, their heads sprung out in a long muzzle covered in blackskin and hair. They screeched in victory, opening their long faces to revealand endless supply of razor sharp teeth. The creatures dragged their long armsacross the ground, unfazed by the cuts and scars.

Thecentaurs ambushed them first. Arrows flew towards the beasts, hitting them inthe deadliest of places. Bright lights flew at the black creatures, workingwith the centaurs in destroying them. The fairies slashed at their opponents,taking many down; however, many of their own fell.

Themerpeople, now in their human forms, cut their way through the crowds of redrobed guards. Screeching harpies flew at the guards, helping defend themerpeople from danger. The elves fought against the dwarfs and goblins as moredemonic beasts continued to pour out of the large, dark purple portal that hungopen in the middle of Times Square.

Theyoung man turned and noticed an older blonde-haired woman staring at him withthe same kind blue eyes he had. For a brief moment, he thought she had longpointy ears, but he could not be sure. She was yelling something to him, but hecould not hear her. Creatures blocked his view and when they finally moved, shewas gone.

Agirl ran over to him and fell onto the ground, practically on top of him. Shegrabbed his arm and tried to raise him. She was screaming something to him, buthe couldn't hear her. All he could pay attention to was the creatures that werefalling before him. Giants fought with other giants, fairies and centaurs fellat the hands of the black monsters, the merpeople tried to defeat the palacesguards and two dragons and their masters clashed over the city of New York,drifting closer to the Empire State Building. He had never seen anything soterrifying.

Withoutwarning, a massive blast filled the streets. He turned in horror to witness thered dragon slamming through the center of the Empire State Building. Thebuilding, already on flames from both dragons’ attacks, began to weaken andcrumble. Windows shattered to the ground below as people ran screaming. In onlya few seconds, the metal finally gave up and the building came crumbling down.

Withinseconds, the Empire State Building was gone. Moving down to the ground below,the black dragon rested on top of the famous building's remains, roaring andbreathing fire into the sky. Beneath its feet, the red dragon lay motionless asa massive cloud of white smoke and debris filled the air, drifting closertowards the young man. People continued to run out of buildings screaming andcrying, covered in the soot from the fallen building.

Thegirl continued to try pulling him up, oblivious to the events around her. Asanother fireball came flying at the two of them, she turned and noticed a waterhydrant fallen over, spraying water high into the air. As the water flew up,she used her powers to send the water in the direction of the fireball,extinguishing it. She turned back around and slapped the young man, who lookedup at her face in surprise. Her kind green eyes were now sharp and serious, herbrown hair also covered in blood and dirt. She grabbed his arm again and thistime he stood up. He looked away from the carnage and finally noticed thestrange man who was throwing the fire at him.

Theman was wearing a long silk red robe, the hood covering his face. The long redrobe reminded him of the guards, except the boy could tell this was the man theguards obeyed. The man grabbed the openings of his robe and slowly pulled itoff and as the boy stared at the man, the white smoke from the fallen buildingmoved and covered the man's face, preventing him from seeing what he lookedlike. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the woman with blonde hair runningtowards him out of the smoke, with fear in her eyes, screaming silently. By thetime he turned back, the fire was upon him …

* * *

Lucas jolted awake witha start. Sitting up, he placed his head in his hands, as pain began to fill hishead. Sweat continued to pour down his forehead and onto his hands as he triedto calm his breathing down. This was the fourth night of the same violentrecurring dream and every morning he woke up the same – sweaty, struggling for breathand confused.

Slowly turning to hisclock, he noticed he had slept in once more and slowly turned around in bed.Placing his feet on the cold floor, he made his way to his feet and scooped upsome clothes to put on. Making his way to the bathroom, he continued to be lostin his thoughts, not hearing his name being called behind him.

The small room had onlyone tiny basin, mirror and small shower and toilet. He walked in and locked thedoor behind him. He knew he wouldn’t be disturbed or anything – he just feltsafer and at peace, as if he was locking himself away from the world and itsproblems it threw at him. He turned on the shower and the steam rose from thehot water pouring out. Staring into the mirror as it fogged up, he hardlyrecognised himself. He jumped into the shower, hoping the water would helpclear his mind.

After a few minutes,Lucas jumped out and dried his wet hair. He walked over to the mirror, wipingit down and checking himself out. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His sandyblond hair was all over the place, as per usual, his blue eyes worn out andtired; however, something else caught his eye. His eyes, normally a deep blueseemed to be lighter, reminding him of the same clear blue water from hisdreams. Shaking his head in disbelief, he slowly made his way downstairs.

The sound of platesbeing moved around in the kitchen drew his attention and he made his way in asthe smell of bacon and eggs filled his nose. As he entered, a tall woman turnedand smiled in greeting, placing a plate by an empty chair. Lucas smiled ingreeting and took a seat, grabbing the cutlery next to the plate and began toslowly eat. His continued to be lost in his thoughts as the woman sat down nextto him.

‘You okay Lucas?’ sheasked, taking a bite of her own breakfast.

Lucas finally snappedout of his thoughts and looked up at the woman. Linda Swanson stared at himwith the same concerned eyes she always seemed to wear around him. He wasn’tsure what to say to her, not when he didn’t know how to explain his dreams tohimself. He had a small feeling that she would think he was going crazy, so hethought it was best to keep it to himself at least for now.

‘I’m fine,’ Lucas smiledweakly, taking another bite of food. ‘I just didn’t sleep to well last night.’

‘You look like youhaven’t slept in days, let alone last night,’ Linda frowned, staring hard intohis eyes.

Linda always seemed tonotice when he was lying to her, ever since he was young. Linda Swanson wasLucas’ adoptive mother, taking him in when he was only seven years old as afoster child. Linda was thirty one when she took in the young Lucas, bothseeking a new family and life. At that time, Linda had just moved to New Yorkwith her boyfriend. They had planned on raising Lucas together, but as fate hadit, he vanished so fast Lucas didn’t even remember him. Since then, it had beenthe pair of them, and it had been fine for great for them. Only last year didhis adoption become official, and the pair had never been happier that Lucas finallyhad a permanent home.

Lucas had been tocountless foster homes before landing on Linda’s doorstep, constantly beingthrown out for strange reasons he could never explain. It suited him fine, asall of them were never the perfect fit for him. Some families were horrible andsome were really sweet and nice – it just didn’t seem to work out. With Linda,they seemed to click instantly and when he moved in, it was the first time inhis life where he felt safe and at home.

Linda continued to stareat him as he ate in silence, waiting for him to talk first. The pair sat insilence for a few moments before Lucas mumbled, ‘It’s nothing. I just had a baddream.’

‘Again?’ she asked inconcern, placing her utensils down.

‘Fourth time in a rowthis week,’ Lucas nodded softly, continuing to play with his food and not lookat her. ‘It was nothing – just freaked me out a bit cause it felt so real. I’llbe fine. Just need to shake it off.’

‘It’s just a dreamLucas,’ Linda smiled warmly. Lucas looked at her and noticed her warm eyes onlyshowed him warmth and kindness. She tucked away a strain of her curly brownhair, before she continued to eat.

‘Just felt real.’

‘What was it about?’ sheasked in curiosity, turning her gaze back to him.

‘Don’t remember it,’ he lied,and though he could see she didn’t believe him, she seemed to let it slide.

Frowning slowly, andknowing he will tell her when he was ready, she replied, ‘Ok. Once you’refinished, you need to go to school.’

‘I might swing by thebookstore on the way home, if that’s ok?’

‘I have an appointmentat the bank then so just let yourself in,’ Linda smiled warmly.

Nodding slowly, hefinished his meal and slowly rose, taking the plate to the sink. Linda mumbled forhim to leave it and he slowly turned and grabbed his school bag from next tothe table where he had left it the night before. After a quick goodbye, Lucasturned and walked out the front door.

The sounds of Manhattanfilled his ears as he moved his way down the streets. Countless cars and busesfilled the streets as he walked his way to school. The streets were packed,people seemingly always in a rush around him. The soft sound of his voice beingcalled drew his attention and he turned as he noticed a fellow classmatewalking up to him.

Tom was one of the nicestkids Lucas had ever met and it was why he was Lucas’ best friend. The pair hadmet in second grade and Lucas always felt that Tom should have been one of thecool kids. He got along with everyone, was invited to all the cool parties andgatherings, played on the basketball team and yet, he chose to hang with Lucas.Lucas himself was bit of a social outcast. When people found out he was in afoster home, fake stories of why he had been to so many had spread and soon hebecame known as the pyromaniac who torched his last home. While this wasn’ttrue, the kids at school didn’t care enough to hear the truth and so Lucas wasavoided out of fear and lies. Tom never wavered and continued to be Lucas’ bestfriend, although Lucas knew he did get a lot of hostility from his teammatesfor it.

‘You okay?’ Tom asked ashe walked up, staring hard into Lucas’ eyes.

‘Yeah why?’ Lucas askedin curiosity.

‘Nothing,’ Tom repliedin mumble, coming to a stop next to Lucas as they arrived at their bus stop. ‘Youjust look like crap.’

Staring at Tom, Lucassmiled as he finally noticed what was different about his friend. ‘Your hair isall spikey.’

Tom rubbed his handthrough his dark hair, spike up with product that continued to hold his hair inplace. Smiling, he turned to Lucas and nodded, ‘Lucy and I have a date afterschool. Wasn’t sure if I would have enough time to get home after school.’

‘What if you need more?’

‘Brought it,’ he beamed,smacking his bag in glee. ‘Always be prepared Lucas.’

Lucy was Tom’sgirlfriend and another strange edition to their group. While Tom was the loudlyoutspoken, gigantically tall basketball star and Lucas the lean and shy socialoutcast, Lucy filled the void of petite, softly spoken local nerd. Lucy was thequiet shy type, one you would replace more in a library working on homework thenmixing it with the cheerleaders. She didn’t believe in blitz and glamour,usually wearing the minimum amount of makeup needed. She was very paranoidabout her looks, always worried she looked unattractive and was always askingLucas why Tom would pick her.

As the bus pulled up,the pair of boys hopped on and noticed that Lucy was sitting in her usual seat,her nose stuck in the middle of GreatExpectations, her new obsession. She didn’t even notice as Tom took a seatnext to her, with Lucas taking his seat behind them. It always amused Lucas howdifferent his little group seemed: the outcast, the nerd, the jock. It seemedto work for him and at this moment, he seemed at peace and forgot all about hisrough night.

‘Morning Lucy,’ Tomsmiled in greeting, too impatient to wait for her to notice the boys hadarrived.

‘Hey guys,’ Lucywhispered delicately, turning to face him. Pushing her glasses up, she staredat Tom with a slight blush as he pushed away a strain of her honey blonde hair.

‘Still reading?’

‘Nearly finished,’ shesighed, turning back to her book. ‘I will need to replace another soon.’

‘If you want, why don’tyou come to see Mr. Dawn with me after work?’ Lucas asked in excitement. ‘I’msure he will have something for you there.’

Mr. Dawn owned one ofthe bookstores in the large city near the school, selling new and second handbooks. Everything from school books to classics, Dawn’s Books had them all andat a reasonable price. Mr. Dawn was one of the nicest men Lucas had met, andwith the amount of time Lucas spent there, he had also become one of Lucas’favourite people.

Lucy was not the onlyone who loved books. Lucas loved reading new stories, taking him away tofantastic worlds and characters. He loved his classics above all else, and hisroom was filled with books he had brought from Mr. Dawn. A good fantasy alsoexcited him, but not as much as it did Lucy. She seemed to revel in thestories, as if she knew them before she even read them. Sometimes she wouldeven correct the author, telling Lucas that’s not how a giant would act or howa centaur would look. It confused Lucas but he assumed it was due to the amountshe read. It was only recently he was able to get her to start readingclassics, which she had loved as much as her fantasy stories.

‘Yeah, I might do that,’Lucy beamed, turning to face him. ‘I hope he has that new copy of Paradise Lost in. I requested it buthaven’t heard from him yet.’

‘Hopefully,’ Lucasnodded with a smile. ‘If not, you can borrow mine when I finish.’

‘After, don’t forget ourdate,’ Tom reminded her, which made Lucas remember that Tom had alreadymentioned it.

‘The show doesn’t startto seven, so I have time,’ Lucy smiled weakly at him, closing the book.

Tom had a strangeobsession with musical theatre. Lucas nor Lucy could ever understand it. Eversince they were young, music was a big passion of Tom’s. He loved to sing andplay the guitar, however he was horrible at both. Lucas had tried to tell himonce, but Tom ignored him, saying Lucas was just tone deaf. Once Tom discoveredBroadway and Off Broadway, it was basically over.

‘Ok that’s cool. Justremember traffic yeah?’

Staring hard at him, Lucy,eager to change the subject off the date, asked, ‘Did you finish your homeworkfor Barrett’s class?’

‘No,’ Tom replied,opening his bag to pull out his book. ‘I didn’t get this bit. I was going tocall and ask you, but I was fell asleep early.’

As Lucy and Tomdiscussed school work, the bus came to a soft stop. The sound of shuffling feetdrew his attention and he turned to look as Drake Cane slowly made his way tothe seat opposite Lucas. Drake nodded at Lucas but remained quiet as he usuallydid. Drake was the resident weirdo at school. Everyone knew he came from a richfamily but he refused to join any cliques and kept to himself. He had neversaid a word to anyone in the school until one day when he spoke to Lucas.

Lucas himself was notsure what happened that day. All he could remember was that he was in gymclimbing a rope. The next thing he remembered was Drake leaning over him, astrange look in his eyes. Lucas could have sworn Drake’s eyes had filledentirely with black but as quick as he noticed it, it had faded and Drake hadasked Lucas if he was ok. Everyone was more shocked at his sudden words thenLucas’ fall but since then, Drake would constantly talk to Lucas. Never fullconversations but more hello and goodbye types, as if he was checking in onLucas.

Drake sat quietly in hisseat, placing his headphones on and ignoring the world around him. Turning backto his friends, Lucas’ thoughts went once more to his dreams until Tom’s voicesnapped him back into reality.

‘You ok?’ Tom asked,staring hard at him, Lucy’s own eyes peering at him in curiosity.

‘Weird dream last nightagain,’ Lucas frowned. He had already filled them in after the first dream, andthey knew how confused and unsettling it was for him. ‘I woke up again sweatyand struggling to breathe.’

‘It was a dream Lucas,’Tom replied, smiling reassuringly at him. ‘Don’t fret too much about it.’

‘I know, just feltreal,’ Lucas mumbled, turning to face out the window.

‘Sorry man.’

Lucas turned back toTom, and smiled weakly, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Always am.’

Lost once more in histhoughts, Lucas didn’t even notice the bus pull up to his school. As soon asthe trio hopped off the bus, the group moved towards their lockers, their usualroutine. Kids walked past, smiling and greeting Tom, who slowly drifted offwith his teammates for a quick training session. Within moments, Lucy vanishedherself, being dragged away by her fellow classmates to finish their work on anassignment. Lucas didn’t even notice, as he walked the corridor and enteredclass.

Sitting down at the table,he stared out the window, ignoring the teacher before him. As his mind began towonder, a cold sensation began to overwhelm him. Shivering, he turned backtowards the classroom to notice everyone had mysteriously vanished.

‘You know, sometimesdreams are more than that,’ a voice called out, causing Lucas to jump in shock.Turning slowly, he stared at Drake sitting quietly at the back of the class inhis usual chair. Lucas could only stare at him in confusion, unsure what washappening.

‘What?’

‘Dreams Lucas,’ Drakereplied, never turning his gaze away from Lucas’ own. ‘They can be quitepowerful actually. Some are just silly images that are made up in the minds ofhumans. Memories, fantasies, gibberish. And yet sometimes, in some rare cases,dreams can be something more.’

‘Like what?’ Lucaswhispered, eager to know more and seemingly oblivious to Drake’s confusingtone.

‘Like a warning.’

‘A warning of what?’

‘You tell me. It wasyour dream.’

‘LUCAS!’

Lucas jolted in hisseat, realizing he had fallen asleep in class. Turning around, he noticed hisclassmates snickering at him as his teacher stared down at him from in front ofhim. Slowly turning around, he noticed that Drake was missing from class beforeslowly turning back towards the teacher.

‘Sorry sir,’ Lucasmumbled, opening his book and turning his attention back to the class.

As his teacher ignoredhis apology and continued on with his lesson, Lucas’ mind began to drift oncemore, although he was careful to not let it drift that far that he would fallasleep again. Drake wasn’t in class, which was odd as he had seen Drake on thebus. And strangely, it was Drake who was in his daydream, warning him that hisdream wasn’t real. Shaking his head, Lucas smiled at himself, telling himselfhe was starting to go crazy. Throwing away all thought of his two mysteriousdreams, he turned his attention back to class, unaware of the man outside thewindow staring at him in silence.