Prologue

I t had been many years since the old wizard had heard the call. He paused to catch his breath before stepping through the door. The Magic Shop tended to show up when or where needed, and despite the internal call, Elias had struggled to find the location, proof his powers had begun to wane.

His replacement should've materialized decades before, and the world was lucky something catastrophic hadn't happened with the Legacy Wizard's powers diminishing. He knew that would change soon enough. It always did.

The warmth hit him as he walked into the shop. Smiling, he took in his familiar surroundings, where few things had changed since last he stepped in here, twenty, maybe thirty years earlier. His thick, bushy eyebrow rose when he saw the coffee station tucked into a corner, and he glanced around to see if maybe the old man had finally taken an apprentice.

Unlikely, the wizard thought, I'd be more likely to sprout a new head.

"Elias, so good to see you," The Owner said .

The wizard peered through his bushy eyebrows and smiled at his old friend. "I'm not sure I had a choice," he said, but his tone betrayed him, and the bite of his words fell flat. He truly was pleased to see the ageless man.

"Shall we get started then?" The Owner asked.

Elias nodded and, using his cane, followed him through the store to a corner where he did his readings.

It had been well over a hundred years when Elias had first come into this very store, sat in this same chair, and had his cards read. He'd been a young man, too young to drive had he been one of today's youngsters.

"Youngest Wizard in over a thousand years," The Owner had said, and Elias chuckled at the memory. To this day, he still didn't know The Owner's name. As far as he knew, no one did.

The Owner shuffled the cards, stopped, looked up at Elias, then shuffled again. "I wondered if the cards would ever call you, Elias, and even now, they hesitate to speak to your future."

Elias laughed quietly to himself before responding. "The cards or the dealer?"

He smiled and laid a card face down, speaking as only one card was laid. "The past, the present, the future."

It was unusual for him to pull only a single card, but one didn't question a master. Certainly not this master.

He laid the rest of the cards beside him and flipped the one he'd pulled from the deck.

Death stared back at Elias, then he laughed out loud before that turned into a coughing fit. When he recovered, he put his hand on the table next to the card. "Did I need to drag myself out into the winter weather for you to show me this?" Elias asked and chuckled again. "I'm older than any man alive. I only live because my successor has yet to come forward. Of course, death awaits me."

The Owner didn't respond. Instead, he moved Death to the left. Elias shouldn't have been surprised to see another card below it. The old magician had always loved a dramatic moment, and Elias was long past being surprised at his showmanship.

When he flipped the card over, the Fool stared up at them, and Elias smiled. "So, he finally comes?" he asked, and the man across from him nodded.

When Elias looked back at the Fool card, it had magically changed, and in its place was the Wheel of Fortune. "The wheel is turning for you, Elias. Death will not wait much longer. Are you ready to pass the mantle?"

The magician held his hand out, and Elias took it. "It's a relief, and it should've been passed long before now."

Elias lifted his cane and tapped the top. A small chamber opened, and a beautiful white gold ring stared up at him, the bright red ruby shining from its hiding place. "No other may hold the ring except the reader of the cards. And only then to transfer the power."

"It is time," the magician said.

Elias removed the ring from the cane. It had been decades since he'd been able to wear it, his fingers too gnarled from years of performing his duties. Years of wars with the dark forces who would even now gladly destroy the universe and everything in it.

Elias didn't blink, didn't hesitate. He'd been waiting for this moment when the transfer would occur. He took the ring in his hand and gave it to the magician.

"My will is made up. The one who follows me won't have to fight to survive as I did. He will inherit all that I've owned. My attorneys will see to it. He must simply show them the ring. They will do the rest."

The magician smiled. "Come, my old friend, a car waits for you outside."

Elias paused at the door, drawing his old friend and ally into a final embrace. The ring had been handed over as it had for Legacy Wizards throughout the millennia. His life, if he was lucky, would end before the following day. This would be the last time he would be here in The Magic Shop with his beloved friend.

"Safe travels, brother," The Owner whispered.

Elias nodded and left. He felt the wave of air flow as the shop disappeared behind him—another dramatic flair, of course. Elias stepped forward and crawled into the car, its back door open.

"May the successor have an easier time than I," he said, and the door closed beside him. The turning of the Wheel of Fortune was meant to create strife. Through adversity came growth, but the new Legacy Wizard did not need to suffer as he had.

The car moved forward, and Elias leaned his head back against the luxurious leather seat. He had done all he could for his successor, whoever it would be. He just hoped it was enough because the Death card hardly played fair.

Sure, it probably meant he was dying, but it most assuredly had another meaning as well. The world would need the new wizard sooner rather than later. Things were changing. Energy had begun to flow in a different direction.

May the gods help the new wizard because whoever they were, they would need it.