[Baltimore, Maryland, December 2022]
Amanda Kent was, above all, a woman defined by her determination.
As a young, up-and-coming investigative journalist, that same determination was exactly what she needed to get to where she is now. And the drive to uncover the truth was a weapon that she used to get herself on the front page of every major news website at least once in the last five years.
But even that wasn't enough to satisfy her need to see the world for what it really was.
Amanda had spent much of her young life swimming through the muck that the country's elite desperately tried to bury. Infiltrating clandestine gatherings, listening in on hidden conversations, and stalking people who had more money than her entire bloodline was worth. And although she had been exposed to far more than any normal reporter should have, she knew that it was only a matter of time before she finally got the scoop that she had been chasing after for the better part of a decade.
And it looked like tonight was finally her night.
It all started back when she first witnessed it with her own eyes. Back when she was nothing more than a simple fourteen-year-old still living on her grandparents' farm in Kansas.
It was the first time she realized that there was more to this world than meets the eye….
One day, while skipping class to go see a movie, she just so happened to spot a boy, one around her age, lifting a stack of heavy rocks into the back of his father's work truck. Except, what really got her attention was how the boy was doing it.
He didn't so much as lay a hand on the rocks as he casually chucked them into the back of the vehicle. Instead, he was moving them through the air as if some invisible force were under his command. Completely unaware that she had seen him do it.
That was when it all started. The obsession. The obsession that sparked an interest in her, which led her down the path that she was on now.
He was the first one she saw. One of the mysteries of the world that was just waiting to be exposed.
The anomalies, whispered about online, dismissed by officials, but backed up by blurry photos and cryptic forum posts hinting at humans with impossible abilities. Humans who could command fire with a whim, fly like a bird, or breathe underwater just as well as any fish in the sea.
Stories about them went as far back as the 1950s, but no one had ever been able to confirm their existence. Every sighting seemed to wind up as a dead-end, either dismissed by conspiracy theorists or vanishing before ever getting any serious traction. Just a long list of ghost stories and seemingly psychotic ramblings that never amounted to anything of note.
That was all going to change, however. And Amanda Kent was going to be the one to finally do it. She was going to be the one to finally break open the seal on the world that was hidden beneath the surface.
The woman had gotten a lead from one of her contacts that there had been a strange sighting at one of the local factories. Early reports of some high schooler who somehow managed to cause a small earthquake in the area while messing around with some of his friends. And a massive crack in the ground that, by all rights, shouldn't have been there.
Police had been the first to arrive at the scene to investigate. But they were soon stopped when a group of men and women in sharp-looking suits, claiming to be government agents, told them they would be taking over from there.
This wasn't the first time that something like that had happened. In fact, it seemed to be a rather regular occurrence.
By now, Amanda was well aware that the government was in on the secret. She had done enough research to see that the holes in the Department of Defense's budget weren't just a simple mistake. Like, seriously, how could that many billions of dollars simply vanish without a trace? And why was there an entire division of the Department of Homeland Security that was hidden from the public with no definitive personnel records or accounting paperwork?
This went deep. Deeper than she really wanted to think about. But either way, she wasn't going to be stopped. Amanda was already in too deep. She wanted to know the truth. She needed to know that it was all real, and not just some fantasy that she had been chasing ever since she was a kid.
"I wonder if I'll be able to sneak over there without anyone noticing." The dark-haired woman said to herself after walking out of the shower in her hotel room. "There shouldn't be that many people over there. And my contact said that the construction crew was coming tomorrow to patch up the cracks."
"I wouldn't worry yourself over it too much." A female voice responded to the woman's comments. "I doubt the construction guys will get it taken care of for at least a few days."
Amanda's heart nearly leapt out of her chest upon hearing that. And the woman quickly turned around in the direction of where her bed and nightstand were situated on the other end of the room.
There, standing by the window, were two people.
The first was a woman, one with shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and an athletic physique. The other was a man, a tall one with caramel-brown skin, a muscular build, a short afro, and several scars protruding out the side of his mouth in what looked to be the shape of a smile.
The two of them were dressed in finely pressed suits. The woman's was a deep shade of burgundy, complemented by a black shirt and shoes. While the man's a simple black one, paired with a plain white shirt and purple tie.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Amanda shouted at the intruders. "And what are you doing here?!"
"Amanda Kent." The blonde woman said in a calm tone. "My name is Caroline Del Bello, and this is my partner, Chase Blackwell. We're members of the Department of Homeland Security, and we're here to speak with you about the…investigation that you've been doing over the last few years."
'Homeland Security?' The journalist wondered while still holding her towel over her body. "What do you want?"
The woman, now identified as Caroline, took a moment to sit down on the bed before responding. "We're here to tell you to knock it off and put an end to all the digging that you've been doing. You've been poking your nose into things that you shouldn't, and our boss thinks that you're dangerously close to blowing the lid on our operation."
"What operation?" Amanda questioned, only a moment before the realization hit her. "Wait…you mean about the anomalies?"
"Anomalies? Is that what you call us? Well, that just seems kind of rude."
"Us?"
"Woops!" Caroline playfully placed her hand over her lips. "Looks like I might've spoken a bit too much!"
"Hmm." Chase grunted while folding his arms over his chest. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at his partner, but it wasn't like this wasn't expected of her.
The journalist quickly put together that these people were connected to her investigation. Not only were they associated with the anomalies, but they were also members of the DHS. The exact governmental department that she had been snooping into. And the fact that they were now here, right in front of her, meant that her suspicions were right on the money.
Circumstances aside, this might have been exactly the break that she was looking for. Sure, she was being confronted by a pair of government thugs with nothing but a towel on and no way to immediately defend herself. But that was a small price to pay for getting the scoop of the century. And with any luck, she might be able to finally get the answers that she had been desperately looking for all this time.
"Wait…you're one of them, aren't you?" The dark-haired woman then asked.
"Sure am!" Caroline replied with another smile. "But for the record, we prefer to go by the name sorcerers."
"Sorcerers?"
"Y'know, kinda like what you hear about in all of those cheesy fantasy movies. People who can use magic and can see magical creatures."
Amanda felt her heart rate spike upon hearing this, but there was so much more that she wanted to know. "And your friend here?"
"Mhmm." Chase replied with a casual nod.
"Sorry, but he's not much of a talker." Caroline waved her hand in the man's direction. "His father's mongrel ex-girlfriend kidnapped him and cut his tongue out when he was seven. He can't speak, but he can still communicate and understand us just fine."
"I see…." Amanda did not like how casual this woman was being right now. It made the tension in the air thicker for some unknown reason. But either way, she needed to know more. She was now getting exactly what she wanted directly from the horse's mouth. "You mentioned a Boss earlier. Who is that? Is it Secretary Tillman?"
"Oh, no!" The blonde waved off. "That asshole has no jurisdiction over us. Our boss is Eugene MacNamara. I'm sure you've at least heard the name before, right?"
"MacNamara?" That was a name that Amanda certainly wasn't expecting to hear.
Everyone and their grandmother knew who the MacNamaras were. They were the richest family in the country.
A few years ago, the journalist had tried to land an interview with Elaine for her editor. But the popstar/actress refused to do one for anyone who wasn't directly working for her grandfather's news network. That assistant of hers even told Amanda to fuck off when she tried to corner them at a restaurant in New York after she spent the whole day tracking them down.
The fact that they were also involved with this only further cemented the idea in Amanda's head that this went deeper than she originally thought.
Just then, a question popped into the woman's head. Why in the hell was the blonde woman even telling her this? This information sounded like it was supposed to be kept a secret. The kind of secret that very few people were supposed to know about.
A cold sweat suddenly formed on her brow as she thought about what this could mean.
"W-what do you people want with me?"
"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough!" Caroline said in the same cheery tone as before.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Chase?"
What happened next truly stunned Amanda to no end. The dark-haired woman watched the man open his scarred mouth, revealing that he genuinely didn't have a tongue in there, before a fog of purple smoke came rushing out of it.
"What the fuck?!" The journalist shouted in response. "What the hell are you?!"
Amanda didn't have enough time to fully rationalize what was happening before the purple fog filled up every crevice of the hotel room from end to end. And almost immediately, she began to feel lightheaded after accidentally breathing in the strange mist.
Not even a few seconds passed before her vision became blurry and her body started to feel heavy. And before she knew it, the journalist found herself on the ground, coughing while trying to keep herself from passing out.
"Don't worry." The voice of Caroline said from right above the woman. "This is one of Chase's non-lethal poisons. It's basically the same as nitrous oxide, but with a little more kick! Aside from a mild headache, you'll be perfectly fine when you wake up."
Amanda looked up at the now blurry image of the two sorcerers in front of her. But before she could get a word out, the effects of the gas had fully overtaken her body. Just like that, the woman was out cold. Completely unable to save herself from being taken by the intruders.
"Alright, let's go!" The 'light magic' user looked to her partner. "We need to make it to the meeting spot within the hour."
"Hmmm." The 'poison magic' user nodded before picking the journalist up and throwing her over his shoulder.
-(o)-
[Unknown Location, Later That Night]
When Amanda Kent finally came to, the first thing she noticed was a pounding headache, followed by the fact that her mouth was dry as a desert.
'What happened?' The dark-haired journalist asked herself as she tried to take in her surroundings.
There were three things that immediately caught her attention.
The first thing she noticed was that it was dark. Like, really dark. There was absolutely no light whatsoever aside from a small, rectangular sliver directly across from her. The second, was that she couldn't move her arms or legs. Which appeared to be bound behind her back and shackled together. And finally, there was the odd aroma of lavender and pinewood that lingered in the air around her.
'Where am I?' She asked herself, trying to recall everything that had happened prior to her falling unconscious.
It only took a few seconds before the events of what she assumed to be the previous day came flooding back into her memories.
Just before she could finally get her bearings straight, Amanda heard what sounded like the rattle of a lock catch her attention. Then, the creak of metal doors opening, along with a sudden beam of light, nearly blinded her where she sat.
"Well, well, well...our dear reporter has finally decided to wake up, huh?" A deep male voice said in an amused tone. One that she couldn't immediately identify.
After allowing her eyes to adjust to the light, Amanda was finally able to get a good look at who was talking. And to be honest, she was genuinely shocked at what she was looking at. After all, this wasn't exactly the kind of person that you just run into while out on a Sunday stroll.
"Hello, Ms. Kent." The man knelt down in front of her. "I apologize for the less-than-stellar accommodations. We had to throw this place together on short notice. But you know how these things go, right?"
"Y-you…you're…" The woman tried to speak, but her mouth was too dry to get the words out.
"The two of us have a lot to discuss, little lady. But I'm sure that we'll be able to come to an understanding. Isn't that right?"
[END OF SEASON ONE]