The Mantle Passes (Archmage Book One)

1. The Knotted Staff

S1E1 The Knotted Staff

COLD OPEN

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

It was an unusually dark night. The lack of much activity by anyone in the historic district seemed to compound the inherent darkness. The few who were out, perhaps due to the darkness, never noticed a small group of black-clad figures leaping from rooftop to rooftop before coming to a stop atop an art gallery.

The men immediately got to work, forcing the top of the building's ventilation system open. Once in, they made sense of the building's main security systems. With the precision of a SWAT unit they scoped the area and held their positions. (no one was standing in anyone else's spot)

The one nearest to the door opened it and a tall figure briskly walked in. He eventually turned around, revealing himself to be a man wearing a suit.

"Any trouble?" He asked.

"No Mr. Stanley," one of the men stepped forward. "Everything went as you planned."

"As I had foreseen." The man named Stanley shuddered in some kind of ecstasy. His little moment was suddenly cut short when he turned to the one who had come forward. "Is it secure?"

"Partially, sir." The man seemed partially worried. They all looked to a glass case enclosing a rather evil looking tiki shaped urn.

"It's connected to a separate security network entirely, sir" The man crouched down over the case to get a closer look at the defences. Wires seemed to have been woven into the glass itself and he could, through some strange means, see that there were security beams surrounding the urn at different wavelengths.

"With this much security," he stood back up. "Someone must think it's highly valuable... or powerful"

"Sir...?" The men watched in confusion as Mr. Stanley removed his jacket.

"It seems the proprietors of this fine establishment know more of this urn than I foresaw." He began rolling his sleeves up. "We most likely have young Dr. Byron to thank for that."

"We'll begin monitoring his comings and goings." Stanley nodded to the guard as he began hovering his hands about an inch from the glass. "Sir, how do you plan to retrieve the urn?"

"It's all a matter of perception." He raised his arm and quickly thrusted it down across the front of the glass, his hands emitting a flash of light as they passed the locking mechanism. And before his arm had finished swinging, the latch unlocked and the glass case sprung open.

"...How..." All of the guards were dumbfounded while Stanley claimed his prize.

"I told you," he turned around to face them. "It's all a matter of perception."

ARCHMAGE
Created by Seth Campbell

THE KNOTTED STAFF
Written by Seth Campbell

PART ONE

The next day at Flagler College, in one of the classrooms; a professor was giving a lecture on philosophy.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings about self-sufficiency and modernism set him as the central voice of Transcendentalism." Unlike in a High School, here nearly all of the students were paying close attention. "But by the 1840s, the torch had been passed to Henry David Thoreau. In Walden, he wrote 'Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed?' Does anybody think they have an answer?"

A nineteen year old student with dark brown hair instantly shot his hand upwards.

"Amos?" The professor pointed at him.