The Golden Codex: 1

At his fathers urging a teenage boy finds himself working in an antique store while learning arcane skills and knowledge from the owner. While exploring the basement he unintentionally converts a black coal from the dawn of creation into a mutating manuscript engraved on gold. When a much-feared magus finds out the boys mentor destroys the manuscript and casts it into gold ingots to prevent the magus from accessing the knowledge it contains. But the boy receives a psychic image of the text and becomes a carrier of the golden codex.The magus keen to have the knowledge for himself enslaves the boy in another realm where he discovers that resistance even valiantly fought beside a company of champions is no match for the powerful master. To escape the realm he must enter a deadly contest that promises freedom for the winner and death for the vanquished.