The Magician's Code

"You think that this is the only universe out there? There are things far beyond our comprehension in the Multiverse."

- Lars Drake telling Stan about the Multiverse

The Magician's Code is the first story in The Multiverse of The Ine and the first story in Phase One. It follows Stan Po and his journey to become a sorcerer. The story mostly takes place on Earth 1060, with a few scenes on Earth 305.

Synopsis
''When struggling artist Stan Po moves to the city, he soon discovers a group of sorcerers, called The Sorcerers Uninhibited, who show him his limitless potential. But when a mysterious enemy from another dimension threatens to invade and destroy Stan's new life, he must fight to protect that which he now holds dear.''

Earth 305
It opens on a shot of a dark room with no windows. On the far end is a small desk with pages of indiscernible writing and drawings. Then, a door swings open and allows light to flood in just before it shuts once more. A man wearing a hooded cloak has stepped inside and picks up the pages. He tells himself that he "will not fail again. I am strong enough, now. Soon, we will have a new home. First, the other one must be removed from the equation." He looks at the pages once more before leaving. A page flies out from his hands and lands on the floor. Only two words can be made out on the paper: "Earth 1060".

Earth 1060
Stan Po wakes up in his bed with a start, his head shining with sweat. He quickly looks around the room, revealing a small bedroom with a tiny window. On a small desk at the other end is a large folder filled with drawings, a laptop, and a drawing tablet. After a moment, Stan gets up and opens the blinds on his window, revealing the wall opposite an alleyway.

Cut to a quick montage of several interviews, with Stan showing off his variety of drawings in his folder. He reveals that he "get[s] most of my inspiration from my dreams. They're often...like real-life, but they're always so different. It's like I'm...tapping into something I can't quite understand, so I try to draw it instead." One of his interviewers seems unimpressed, and the next shot shows Stan on a park bench outside. He sits there for a while, flicking through his drawings, before throwing them into his bag and getting up.

As he walks down a busy street, something a loud noise can be heard from a passing alleyway. Stan turns, seeing a bright blue light coming from a corner. Curious, he investigates, eventually coming upon a giant, dog-like animal with large teeth. Stan lurches back as he sees the monster, but trips over and falls back. It lunges at him, but is stopped when an invisible hand knocks it into the wall at the side. The beast whimpers, but goes for Stan again. This time, a person can be seen at the end of the alley. He holds out his hand and a shard of ice flies out, piercing the monster through the chest and killing it.

Stan gets up, speechless for a few moments, but then manages to release a "what?" before being interrupted by the other person. He is dressed in odd-looking, blue robes with straps of leather wrapped around places. He tells Stan that he's "safe now. You should go home, sleep it off." He turns to leave, but Stan grabs his arm and demands to know what the animal was and who he is. The man stops in his tracks, frowning at where he touched him and turning back. He tells him that "that thing was a Chupacabra. My name is Marcus. Maybe you should come with me, Stan Po."

Stan frowns, but feels compelled to follow. Marcus leads him up a set of ladders and onto the roof of one of the buildings. He then throws out his hand and a hole opens in the space in front of him, on the other side, a room can be seen. Marcus begins walking towards it, but Stan stops him, demanding to know "what the hell is going on? How do you know my name? Answer me!" He then tells Stan that he's "not the person who you should talk to. I'm psychic, Po. When you touched me, I felt your power. Most people...it's tiny, undetectable. But with you...you almost made me fall over. Now, you can either come with me, or stay here, go home, and live out the rest of your life not knowing if I was telling the truth." Almost immediately after, Marcus turns and walks through the portal. Stan lingers for a moment, looking back to the street he came from, before whispering "screw it" to himself and running through the portal.

Earth 305
Cut to a small warehouse on Earth 305, in the center of the room is a large machine with a platform. It whirs away loudly as the same man from earlier approaches, followed by another cloaked man. The first man presses a button on the machine and the ground begins to shake violently, the air above the platform suddenly squeezes and contorts until it forms a dark sphere. The two look at each other before plunging into the sphere, which disappears after they leave.

Earth 1060
Stan lands in a large hall, gasping for air and falling to the floor. His ears ring

Arc 2
To be added...

Arc 3
To be added...

Major

 * Stan Po
 * Marcus Wright
 * Thalia Miller
 * Stan Po (Earth 305)

Minor

 * Lars Drake

Organisations

 * The Sorcerers Uninhibited

Trivia

 * This is the first story in Phase One and the first story set in the Multiverse of The Ine