Prologue and Chapter 1A Chapter by ChikHaley64Prologue The
Year 1797 The sun was almost set now. The trees began to blend in
with the night and the wildlife began to disappear into their homes. They knew
what was coming. Two worlds which had been so close, yet separated for all of
these years, were about to collide and set into motion the longest and most
adverse journey the Protectors will have seen in a thousand years. “My dearest Gloria, something is changing here in
Aurelia. I can feel it. The sun doesn’t set the way it used to. The night comes
too fast, as if the sun is trying to escape the creatures of the darkness.” The elderly man looked at his wife for
consultation. With her long hair braided down to her waist and her dark grey
eyes, she looked ready to stand by him through whatever trials they were about
to face. The old man knew this was not going to be enough to stand against
whatever evil was brewing in the darkness outside of his kingdom, Aurelia. “Roland, you know what you must do. There is no other
choice.” Roland felt his wife’s hand land softly on his shoulder. He bowed his
head and tried to beg forgiveness for what he was about to do. He ran his hands
through his thick brown hair, trying to brace himself for the tragic story that
was about to unfold at the mercy of his hands. “Come,
my dear. If we have decided on this, we shall make quickly with our decision.”
He slowly stood to his feet and made his way to the door. He stopped as his
wife tugged at his hand. She was so small and petite compared to him. Her hands
fit like a child’s inside his palm. He loved her so. “Please,
if you do not want to do this, we won’t. We will find another way.” Her eyes
began to fill with tears. Gloria had never liked the idea of the Protectors.
She fell in love with each one of them as if they were her own children. In a
way, they were. “We
have no other choice. I shall see to it that the plan is set in motion tonight.
We never know just how much time we have before evil decides to strike.” Roland
kissed his wife’s hand and walked out of their bedroom and down the stairs into
the spell room. As he cascaded down the stairs, the smell of lingering magic
and spell books filled his nose. As he opened the door into the dark spacious
room, he realized he had not stepped foot in this room since the earliest of
time itself. Visions of training and teaching of the first Protectors came
flooding back into his mind and he felt a wave of sadness wash over him. He was
now going to try to replace some of the most amazing kids to ever walk this
earth, with another group of kids who will come to share the same purpose. He
did not know how their story would end; he only knew that their story now
needed to begin. Roland
walked to the metal bookshelf, which held in it the most powerful book any
human being could ever lay eyes on, and unlocked it for the first time in a
thousand years. The years of dust floated off the pages as he searched for the
one thing he believed could save Aurelia. The pages creaked and cracked but
never tore. The books was as old as time and never once had it ripped. A great
sorcerer created the book for times of trouble and hardship. The spells in the
book only worked if the world was truly in danger. As
Roland sat the book on the podium in the middle of the room, he began to feel
pressure rising in his chest. He was skeptical of what he was doing. Many
people had lost their lives the last time this book was opened. Any lives lost
after he cast this spell, were now on his shoulders. What else could he do?
There was no other way. The Gods trusted Roland to keep Aurelia safe with the
magic they bestowed within him. He
snapped his fingers and the candles placed in a circle around the room were
lit. Roland took a deep breath and began to read the words from the page and
tears slipped from his eyes.
Chapter One Have
you ever had one of those dreams where you know it is a dream but you just
can’t seem to contain your movements or feelings? It is almost like there is someone
controlling your mind and body. I dreamt I was running down a strange road in
the rain. I didn’t know why and I couldn’t explain the fear I felt in my heart.
My blood was pumping hard and my breath was ragged. I could feel someone
chasing me, but I didn’t know who. I could feel that my life was being
threatened, but I didn’t know how. I tried to wake myself up, but failed. My
head was pounding and I could feel pain in my legs from running a long
distance. I finally came to a stop by a river. I heard footsteps behind me
through the fog and jumped into the water to avoid the danger I could not see. The
water was cold as ice. I knew I couldn’t hold my breath for long. I just needed
to hold my breath long enough to let my attacker run past me. Ten seconds
later, I saw a figure through the water, running alongside the river. A boy
about my age, with dark brown hair and a fit figure, was searching frantically
for someone. Something told me, I was the one he was looking for. My lungs
burned like a fire in my chest. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and my
body would not allow me to stay under water anymore. I popped out of the river
gasping for air. The boy looked at me with horror in his eyes. “Carter.”
I heard my brother’s voice. For a moment I was dazed. I was dry and in my bed
instead of wet and hiding in a river. I sat up fast and my little brother
flinched. He probably thought I was going to hit him for waking me up, when
really I was thankful to be pulled out of that dream. “What
is it Eli?” I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus in on his face. It was a
beautiful morning and the sun was shining bright. It was going to be a good
first day of my junior year of high school. Last year was horrible and I
couldn’t wait to make this year better. I was a new person. I had made a lot of
changes in my appearance over the summer. My hair was dyed a dark chocolate
brown, my braces were off, I had gotten contacts so I wouldn’t have to wear my
confound glasses, and I just felt happier. I felt prettier. “Are
you going to get ready for school?” I looked at the clock. It was only 6:15. I
guess Eli was really excited to start his first year of high school. “Yea,
I’m getting up. Is mom cooking breakfast?” I asked as I crawled slowly out of
bed. The only bad thing about school had to be waking up early. I guess
homework could be a downer sometimes too. Unlike every other teenager in the
world, I generally liked school. I liked to learn and discover new things. As
I stood, I felt the soreness in my legs that I had felt in my dream. I was
suddenly drained of any energy I had and collapsed back onto my bed. Eli stared
at me with worry and curiosity in his eyes. “Are
you having the dreams again?” he closed the door behind him and sat in the
chair across the room. “I
didn’t have any all summer. This was probably just an ordinary nightmare. There
is nothing to be worried about. I promise. Just don’t mention it to mom. She
will just worry.” I gave him a faint smile and waved him on to go get ready for
school. This was not the first time a dream had left
me completely drained like this. I slowly walked down the hallway to the
bathroom, which Eli and I shared, and looked at my reflection. Dark circles had
begun to grow under my eyes. The dreams woke me early in the morning and they
made it hard for me to go back to sleep. I felt bad about lying to my brother
but, the truth was the dreams had never stopped. They
were actually getting worse. They were becoming clearer and more real. In most
of them, I was somewhere in the past. Honestly, they felt more like memories. * * *
I walked downstairs to find the kitchen smelling of
something similar to burnt toast. My mom is no master chef. She will admit it
freely to anyone, but she tries her best to be our “gingerbread” mom. “I was trying to make French toast. It didn’t turn out
quite right. I got a little distracted.” I smiled at her and walked over to the
cabinet to grab a bag of trail mix to eat on the way to school. “It’s okay mom. We can get our own breakfast today.” I
went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of apple juice. “It is your first day of junior year and Elijah’s first
day of high school. I wanted your days to go perfectly!” I hugged her and started
gathering the dirty dishes. “So far the day is going perfectly, mom. We will see you
later okay?” I grabbed my purse from the counter and walked to the bottom of
the staircase. “Eli! Come on! I really don’t want to be late on the first day.”
“Have a good day Valerie. I love you!” My mom was the
only person who ever called my brother and me by our full first names. I went by
my middle name, Carter, and Elijah went by Eli. We waved goodbye and walked
outside to the mustang. As we got in I did the routine mirror check. Meaning I checked
to make sure my chocolate brown hair was holding its wave and my blue eyes
still had eyeliner perfectly layered around them to make them pop. Last year I
didn’t care what people thought of me or how I dressed. If I had it my way I
would go to school in sweatpants with a high bun on top of my head. Although this year would be different, last year was
terrible. I was bullied because I had braces and I didn’t wear designer
clothes. After I got my braces off over the summer I decided to change my appearance
so when I went back to school I could be a different person. I wanted to have a
lot of friends and I wanted to stand out this year. I didn’t want to be just
another student that passed through the hallways. “Carter, stop checking your hair. Let’s go.” Eli was
never excited about going to school, but more excited really about getting it
over with. “You ready to get this year started?” I smiled and
started backing out of the driveway. “Are you? How do you know your dreams aren’t coming back?
I really think we should tell mom. What if..” I slammed the breaks at the stop
sign and looked my brother straight in the eye. “Don’t bring it up Eli. It won’t happen again. I won’t
let it.” I turned right and drove toward the school. The rest of the ride was
quiet. I knew he was worried that I was going to have another “episode”. For Christmas we went to visit my grandma and one of my
dreams hit me and I started sleep walking. Only, I was doing more than walking.
Eli said it was almost as if I were awake but unaware of what I was doing. He
said he woke up and saw me sitting in the window seat across the room. Eli had
crossed over to me and asked if I were alright, I answered him in a ghost like
voice and said “It is coming. We are all in danger.” He went to touch my
shoulder and I turned quickly on him with a ball of fire in my hand. My mom
thought Eli and I were both delusional. Eli had just woken up and it was the
middle of the night. We could have easily been mistaken. Who would make a
mistake like that? Eli didn’t let what happened that night affect him. He
went to counseling with me and ever since he has been there for me every step
of the way. He believes there is something more going on; something
supernatural and out of this world. I always tell him he is crazy. We pulled into the school parking lot and I took a deep
breath. Eli was never nervous about these sort of things. He was very outgoing
and an all-around people person. I, on the other hand, sent people running. I
had to be different today. My goal was to find a best friend. I had a lot of
friends when I was little, but we all went separate ways. I needed someone I could
trust and confide in. “See you later Carter. Text me if you need me. Don’t let
anything get to you today.” Eli got out of the car and ran over to his friend
Chris. I said a silent prayer and got out of the car. I walked
to the front doors and as I was walking up the steps a girl walking behind me
dropped her bag and all of her stuff fell out. I hurried over to her and
started helping her gather her things. “Thank you so much. I am such a klutz.” We both stood up
and I was stunned at how pretty she was. Her appearance was capturing and
elegant. Her dark hair fell straight to her waist and her green eyes shined
with extreme brightness. She was a few
inches shorter than me and her smile was infectious. “No big deal.” I handed her notebook back to her and
smiled politely. “So are you new? I don’t think I have seen you around.” “Yeah, we just moved here a week ago. My mom got a new
job opportunity that she couldn’t turn down.” She smiled and looked down at her
shoes. “Do you need me to show you to the office so you can get
your schedule?” I gestured toward the front doors. “No I actually already got my schedule. I just need help
figuring out where each room is.” She smiled sweetly and tilted her head
slightly to the side. “I think I can help with that.” I smiled and gave a soft
laugh. Maybe finding a friend wouldn’t be so hard after all. “I’m sorry! My
name is Carter Sandusky. You?” “I’m Abigail. But I like to go by Abby.” She smiled and
we made our way to the front doors. We had our first period together, English
III. “So, where are you from?” She dressed very classy but
casual. She had a certain professionalism about her that no one in this town
had. “New York.” We came to a stop at her locker, which was
only three spaces down from mine, and she started to unload notebooks from her
bag. “Wow. I have never been to New York but I have always
wanted to go. All the pictures I have seen are absolutely beautiful.” I closed
my locker and lead the way to first period. “Beautiful you say? Even with all of the criminals
running around?” We laughed as we walked into first period and found our seats
at the back of the room. Mrs. Tuttle was our English teacher. She wore baggy
clothes and had the hugest birthmark running down her neck. The pattern looked
like an intricately drawn design along her skin, but that was just to me. It
was absolutely disgusting to anyone else. As she walked into the classroom and took her seat she
looked up directly at me. For a moment, I thought I saw a hint of red within
her eyes. Then, everything went black. I was hanging off
the side of a tall building with an immense amount of lights. I was confused
and jolted by my surroundings. There was blood running down my arm from a cut
on my hand. There was someone standing above me on top of the building, but I couldn’t
see their face. All I saw were a pair of bright red eyes staring down at me. “Take my hand.” His eyes were bright
with death, but full of guilt and despair. I reluctantly took his hand and he
pulled me onto the roof top. He had pushed me off the building. I didn’t remember
it, but somewhere told me I knew what had happened. We sat there in silence, aware of each other’s
heavy breathing. “Why did you do it? Why did you try
to kill me?” I tried to stand but there was a severe pain in my right ankle. “I have no choice. I have to eventually.
It is the only way to keep you safe.” He ran his hands through his thick dark
hair and stood. “How does trying to kill me keep me
safe? That makes zero sense. And why save me? Make up your mind. Either kill me
or let me go.” I finally managed to stand as he made his way over to me. “I couldn’t do it. It gets harder every
time.” He put his arms around my waist and held me close. I had no idea who he
was, or what he wanted from me, but he seemed to know me very well. “What are you talking about? I know
this is a dream, but it is a weird one at that.” He looked at me with
bewildered eyes. “You don’t know who I am?” He
touched my cheek with his hand and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “No. I am sorry.” I had tears in my
eyes, but I didn’t understand why. I felt very close to him, yet I never met
him. Sometimes the dreams would seem real, but not this real. “Times up.” Tears started to build
up in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed the top of my head sweetly. Then the
pain hit me. A stab to the stomach. He had killed me.
“Carter? Carter, are you okay?” I opened my eyes to find
Abby and Eli staring down at me. I was on the floor in the middle of the
classroom. The pain in my stomach was faintly present, but fading. I sat up and
looked around in amazement. Something was terribly wrong with me. “I’m fine. I think I need to go home.” Eli took my hand
and pulled me up from the floor. Abby and Eli followed me to the office to call
my mom. “Carter. What happened? You screamed.” Eli stopped me on
the way to the office. I stood there speechless. “I……screamed?” The pain of the stab wound had still been
there when I came to. Is it possible that I screamed in agony? “Yes. It was a painful scream.” Abby touched my shoulder
and I jumped. “I don’t know what is going on, but it has been going on
for a long time. This has happened before where I black out and collapse at
random times. This time was different though. I still felt the pain when I woke
up.” Eli started pacing back and forth. “There is no hiding this from mom now. We have to tell
her that you had another dream last night.” I had told them they stopped over
the summer, and that was a lie. “No Eli. We have to just tell her that I was dehydrated
or something. Mom has too much to worry about. I will just go home and rest and
everything will be fine tomorrow.” I started to walk towards my locker when I realized
I left my things in Mrs. Tuttle’s room. “I have to go back, I forgot my stuff.” When I turned
around it was just Eli standing there. “Where did Abby go?” Eli looked around
confused. “I don’t know. She said she would be right back.” After
getting my things from Mrs. Tuttle’s room, I found Abby waiting beside my car. “Where did you go?” I pulled out my keys to unlock the
mustang. “I called my mom and told her a friend of mine was having
a rough day so I was going to make sure she got home safe. Eli told me your mom
was working late today and he has to go to his friend’s house for band practice.
So I offered to make sure you got home okay.” The girl had known me for a
couple of hours and was already acting like a best friend. “That actually sounds awesome.” I unlocked the car and we
both got in. “Maybe you can explain to me what exactly happened in
there too?” She looked at me more seriously than she had all day. “Okay, but I’m warning you. It is a little crazy.” I
started the car and pulled out of the school parking lot. “Don’t worry. I’m good at dealing with crazy.” She smiled
sweetly and pulled out her phone. I know Eli didn't like the idea of telling
people about my dreams, but I felt like there was more meaning behind them. I
was ready to get to the bottom of all of this, and I was going to need help. © 2013 ChikHaley64Author's Note
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6 Reviews  Last Updated on August 22, 2013 Author
ChikHaley64Durant, OKAboutThe name is Haley! :) Currently in college! My goal is to make a difference in the world! I love to write, sing, read, play piano... live life really. Recently just got into making YouTube videos! Ple.. more..Writing
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