Alex Verus

Alex Verus is a freelance Diviner Mage and the protagonist of the Alex Verus books 

Alex Versus is a probability mage, a diviner who owns a magic shop Arcane Emporium in London. In the world of magic, diviners aren't the flashy, fire-throwing mages who can fly through the air with little effort. What a diviner can do is much more subtle. Here, he explains,

"What a diviner sees is probability. In one future you go left; in another you go right; in a third you stop and ask for directions. A hundred branches, each branching again and again to create thousands....To me, futures appear as lines of light in the darkness. The stronger and more likely the future, the brighter the glow. The next thing you learn is how to sort futures, search for groupings of events in which things happen a certain way. And once you've done that, all you have to do is look back along the strands and find out which actions lead to them." (Fated, pp. 39-40)

Diviners can't predict every action or event because some things are truly random, like the roll of dice. The easiest predictions are made in situations in which choices are the fewest, while those involving free will are among the most difficult. Although Alex doesn't possess any warrior mage powers, he can create spells and use objects imbued with certain powers—enough to protect and defend himself, so far at least. Alex's most prized possession is his sentient mist cloak, which is woven from moonbeams and spiderwebs. This cloak can sense its surroundings and change itself to match, thus making Alex invisible both to human eyes and to detection spells.

Since taking up the Dreamstone, Alex has acquired a few new abilities including: traveling between and shape his surroundings in Elsewhere, dreams, and dreamshards at will; as well as increased mental defenses and the ability to communicate mind to mind.

Appearance

Alex is described as having "an angular figure, spiky and slightly too-long hair, mostly combed back over a pair of dark watchful eyes". He usually dresses casually: shirt, jeans, and a pair of black trainers.

Before Fated

During the course of Fated we learn that Alex was at one point one of four people apprenticed to the Dark Mage Richard. He is currently only one of two survivors of that group. He escaped after failing to save a young girl and being tormented by Tobruk, another apprentice. Desperate, he tried to seek help from the Light Mages of the Council, the Council members turned their backs on him, forcing him to survive on his own. Through unknown means, he managed to find another teacher and became an Independent Mage. He also opened his Magic Shop.

Relationships

Luna: She works for Alex helping gather magical items for him and by the second book has become his apprentice.

Richard: Former master of Alex, who has little love lost for him.

Deleo: The only other survivor of the group of Apprentices that Alex belonged to. She and her ally Cinder owe Alex a favour after he spares their lives at the end of the first book.

Cinder: Cinder has nothing but dislike for Alex from the first time they meet but he, like Deleo, owes Alex a favour for sparing his life at the end of the first book.

Khazard: Khazard dislikes Alex more for the fact he made him look like a fool when he was sent to capture the diviner. He was killed by Alex in the first book

Starbreeze: Alex has a good friendship with this Air Elemental along with a great respect for her power, even though he gets fustrated by her childish mindset.