Read The Reluctant Mage: Book One in the Zandar Series for Free Online

have never seen it before. The chain is obviously gold. The symbol is the most interesting part. See the two eagles? Those were a symbol of the old mages. I have found some etchings on walls here with the same mark. The Emperor actually added the mark onto his coat of arms. Not really sure why.”
     
    Uncle Kris handed the necklace back to Marko. “It is yours, since you found it. I am not sure how valuable it is, but it is certainly old. I will help you clear the rest of this area out. Let’s see if we can find anything else.”
     
    The rest of the day filled Marko with anticipation. Unfortunately, the only things they uncovered were more rocks. It seemed like this part of the hallway had caved in many years ago. The rocks were irregular, and there were no support beams for the ceiling.
     
    That evening Marko was so tired, he went to bed after barely touching his dinner. He didn’t even have the energy to take off his clothes or the new found necklace he had been wearing all afternoon.
     
    All he could remember was that he had the most vivid dream of this life. He was standing in the middle of a huge city with rolling hills and buildings made of white stone. He began walking along on of the streets but had to constantly swerve to miss other people walking to and fro. Almost every building had a sign hanging over the door. There was a symbol that was easy to make out. He saw a golden pair of scissors. He assumed that it was a tailor’s shop. What he could not make out was the writing above the picture. It was some sort of cursive script with several dots over what he thought were some sort of letters. It was if he could almost make out the words, like they were on the tip of his tongue.
     
    As he was staring into the window of the shop, he heard a massive explosion. The ground rumbled and he almost lost his footing. Suddenly everything was quiet. Marko looked around and saw faces staring at a large keep at least a half mile away. Half the keep had been blown away and there were flames dancing over the broken walls. Just as he tried to figure out what must have happened, another explosion could be seen to the left of the keep. A large mushroom cloud of fire and smoke billowed over the roofs of buildings.
     
    Instead of quiet, Marko started to hear screaming up the road. The people around him started to look around frantically, not sure what to do. The sky suddenly got bright and Marko looked up. A fireball at least the size of a small house arched lazily in the sky towards Marko. The last thing he remembered, were the screams of people around him and the feeling of him being thrown through the tailor’s window.

Chapter VII: A Change of Fortune
     
    The next several months were uneventful. Marko was able to clear out another two rooms from the basement level. He was disappointed that he did not find anything of value, but his uncle told him that he had to be more patient in this kind of work.
     
    The dreams continued. Sometimes he was walking along a beach, other times he was walking through the same city. He never experienced that first, awful dream but he could still recall it vividly. During the last few dreams, people would talk to him. It was hard to understand them. It was as if he had cotton balls in his ears. He usually was standing or sitting next to two adults. They would look down on him kindly and occasionally patted his head. They did not look like his parents, though. They were taller but much thinner than his parents.
     
    One morning he came down for breakfast and saw his mother weeping quietly at the table. When she heard Marko enter the room she turned to him and said, “Marko, please sit down. Your uncle and I have something important to tell you.”
     
    Just then, his uncle came in from the kitchen and sat down next to his sister. “Marko, it is time for my report to the Council. I will be leaving tomorrow for Zandar City. I talked to your mother about this. You will be coming with