Chapter 1: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Xavier's journey begins when he is thrown into the biggest secret his small town has ever had.

Reyk walked through The Black Forest of Marok, his sword sheathed at his side. As the sun set more and more, Reyk developed a tighter and tighter grip on the handle of his blade. He knew that The Forest was no place for an outlaw half-orc such as himself, but he had to press on. Something rustled from behind a tree. Reyk unsheathed his blade and held it at arm’s length, taking a defensive stance. “Who goes there?”, he called into the darkness. Suddenly, a chilling cry came from the depths of the forest. “XAVIER,” the banshee-like voice called. “Did you do all your homework?”, the voice cried, louder this time. Reyk shook but stood his ground. He would not let the Ghouls of Marok take him. The light switch flicked on and Reyk’s world of fantasy and legends untold turned into two kids sitting at a table in Xavier Thompson’s basement, surrounded by paper, dice, and boards. Xavier sighed and said, “Yes, I did, mom. Mr. Griffith only gave us one sheet of algebra homework.” Xavier’s mom, Jennifer, rolled her eyes and said “Okay, Xavier, but if I find out otherwise, no Dungeons and Dragons for a week.” Xavier nodded in understanding and Mrs. Thompson turned the lights back off, letting the candles the kids had set illuminate the room. Xavier’s friend snickered. “Okay, Trinity, I get it.” Xavier chuckled, followed by a gentle look into Trinity’s eyes. Xavier and Trinity were sort of an unlikely duo. Xavier was a shy nerd, whom many called emo, what with his long black hair, thick, black-framed glasses, and overall alternative style, who had lived in his hometown of Green City, Missouri his whole life. A nobody from a nowhere town in America. Trinity, on the other hand, was a pretty, funny, and brilliant girl from southern England. She and her family had only moved to America two years ago but she attracted lots of attention from the beginning. She was a foreign girl in a town where the most exciting thing that happened was old Mrs. Rutherford giving away free popcorn at her shop. Xavier often wondered why Trinity’s family had decided to move here. He thought either their family wanted a fresh start in America and wanted to start small or Trinity’s father was a criminal who needed to get the hell off the map, which Green City definitely is. In any case, the two had formed a friendship that Xavier would kill for. He had a feeling she would do the same, although he thought she was much too innocent to ever think of murdering anybody. Xavier felt himself staring too long and looked away from Trinity’s eyes. “So,” he said with a clap of his hands, “shall we continue?” He smiled a smile that others would have considered awkward, but one that Trinity knew was genuine. She smiled back and said “As much as I would love to, it’s getting late and we’ve played for five hours,” with a British accent that melted most boys’ hearts. “Perhaps tomorrow?” she asked and Xavier was quick to nod in confirmation. Trinity stood up, brushed her hair with her hand, and said “I’ll see you later, Reyk.” She winked at Xavier and climbed up the stairs out of the basement. Xavier chuckled. She was one of the best Dungeon Masters he had ever met and there was a surprisingly decent amount of Dungeon Masters in Green City. Xavier thought that this is mainly because there’s nothing better to do in this town than play Dungeons and Dragons. He brushed pizza roll crumbs off his Green Day shirt and black jeans. Xavier was perhaps cursed with the fact that he could eat hundreds of pizza rolls and remain very skinny. He stood up, blew out the candles, and retreated upstairs. He walked past his mom cooking dinner in the kitchen, gave her a quick smile, and soon went upstairs again to his room. The alarm clock on his nightstand read 10:01 PM. He adjusted his glasses and laid in his bed. Posters of pretty much everything covered the walls. Bands, video games, anime, Dungeons and Dragons, comic book characters, and so on and so forth. Xavier was very happy with his room and felt like it could be in a museum someday. A museum of awesomeness perhaps. Xavier yawned and rolled over in bed, pulling himself under the covers. He knew dinner would be ready soon but he thought maybe a little power nap wouldn’t hurt. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about how his life in a town with just over six hundred people could somehow make him feel crowded. Pressured. Suffocated, even. Sure, he had a few friends, but being able to count your friends on one hand is never a good feeling. Being a sophomore in high school, the only son to a single mother, and the front man of his own band, he was always swamped with work. He took off his glasses, set them on his nightstand, and finally fell into the sweet, caring, arms of sleep and had no dreams. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, Xavier woke from his slumber and rolled over to look at the time. It was 3:01 AM, Saturday, February 1. It was exactly five hours later, which he thought was a weird coincidence, but what bothered him more was the fact that he missed dinner. “S**t!” he exclaimed. He sat up, put on his glasses, and got out of bed. Before rushing out, he remembered the time and didn’t want to bother his mom any more than he probably had by missing dinner. He silently opened the door to his room, peeking out into the hallway. His mother’s room was on the other end, with no lights coming from it. He figured she was asleep. She was 38 but stayed up quite late like she was still young. He stepped fully out into the hallway, looked down, and saw a plate of pasta that his mom had left for him on the floor just to the right of the door. He smiled. He loved his mother’s pasta. The pale light of the full moon illuminated a decent section of the hallway. A breeze blew onto his face. Winter in Missouri wasn’t the harshest but it could occasionally dip into the negative degrees. This breeze seemed particularly cold though. A chill went up Xavier’s spine, causing him to shiver. He noticed it was coming from the window at the end of the hallway, which was ajar. He walked over to close it, but for some reason his steps seemed slow. His feet felt like they were suddenly fifty pounds heavier. The closer he got to the window, the colder it got. Xavier thought this was colder than anything he had ever felt in his life. If he had to guess, he’d say the temperature dropped ten degrees with each step he took. His feet also just kept getting heavier and heavier. Xavier was freaked out a bit but was determined to get that window shut so he wouldn’t freeze. A flash of red light suddenly illuminated the hallway. Even though it lasted only half a second, it was enough for Xavier to notice. “What the f**k...” Xavier muttered under his breath. When he got to the window, another red flash blinded him, the flash lasting longer this time. It was coming from outside. When he finally got a clear view, he looked down and saw three figures under a tree. Two of them looked to be holding the third. Xavier got another chill up his spine when, as he was observing the three figures, he heard faint whispering in his ears. “Nos venturus est mater. Vas electionis est. Et beneficium Tuum iam inceperat. Nos non dimittet vos down.” The figure being held by the other two squirmed a bit, allowing their face to be shown in the moonlight. It was Xavier’s mom. The look of absolute horror on her face was an image that Xavier would never forget. A look of terror and anger crept onto Xavier’s face. Before Xavier could jump out the window to save his mother, an explosion sent Xavier flying back to the other end of the hallway. When he opened his eyes, the entire hallway was now a neon red and there was a loud ringing in his ears. Phrases in a language Xavier couldn’t understand and disturbing, nightmarish images coated the hallway in a ghastly black. Xavier raced to the hole where the window used to be, and saw that not only was the tree, the two figures, and his mom gone, there was a huge crater in their place. From the center of the crater came eight terrifying legs that appeared to be made out of shadows. Something wicked was making its way to Green City, Missouri. But all Xavier could muster up the courage to whisper was “Mom…”

 

            End Chapter 1