Chapter 1: Awaken

It was a beautiful Monday morning that started out like any other when eighteen year old Dan Baker pulled his shirt on. As he grabbed his bag and opened his bedroom door to head downstairs for school, he had no idea how this day would change his life forever.

"I made you some toast for breakfast". His mother said as she saw him coming down the stairs. "It's over here on the table".

Dan saw she was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper like she does every morning.

Dan's mother was 38 years old. She looked like any average mom her age. Since having Dan when she was 20, she has raised him on her own. His father left before she even gave birth, and in a way, Dan was thankful for it. He didn't want to be raised by a man who would do that to the women he supposedly loved, and his mother seemed to feel the same way as she never talks about the man. Even when Dan asks about him, she always finds a way to change the subject.

"Sweet! " Dan said excitedly as he walked over to the table and snatched the toast from a plate on the table. One thing that his mother was amazing at was cooking. She has never made a bad meal, and toast was no exception.

After engulfing the toast, Dan gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and headed toward the door.

"Sorry to eat and run mum, but if I don't get going right now, I'm going to be late" He said with his defining smile. The smile that says "don't worry, everything is alright".

That smile always terrified his mother. She waved as he closed the door behind him.

"Here we go again…" He said with contempt. Dan always took the same path to school every day. He found it to be the fastest route and never bothered to change it. The only thing that he didn't like about his shortcut was that it lead him right through the Forest.

Now, while it is called the Forest, it is actually just a large patch of trees spanning an area of maybe 100 meters around. The Forest was surrounded by a bunch of houses and backyards on three sides and the local high school on the other. In fact, standing at the end of Dan's backyard, you were actually able to see the school yard on the other side. As little kids they would go exploring through the trees often playing a game or two of hide and seek along the way. There aren't really any animals in the Forest apart from birds, a few rabid squirrels that made their burrows in the many trees all over, and the occasional wild mouse. However, to this day, Dan swears there is something else in the Forest. He has even seen it once.

When he was younger, he and the other children were playing hide and seek in the trees before dinner; Dan wandered a little too far off and found himself in a part of the Forest he didn't recognize, and that's where he had seen it. A glowing light. The way it pulsated made the light seem almost alive; like a heartbeat. Being 6 at the time, no one ever believed Dan when he told them about the light monster, saying it was probably just the sunlight reflecting. Eventually, Dan stopped trying to convince people altogether, but even now, when he walks through these trees, it gives him the creeps. As he snapped back from this memory, he realised that he had already made it to the other side of the trees and was now facing his school. That's when it happened.

"Dan! Come here!" came a deep voice behind him. Dan immediately turned around only to find no one there. He did however notice that the Forest was now darker, and he could no longer see his house on the other side.

Okay so he was hearing disembodied voices now. How could it get any weirder?

"What is going on?" He asked himself as he felt a sudden urge to re-enter the Forest. It was like something was putting pressure on his entire body until he walked back into the trees. Dan's began to walk into the newly formed darkness. It was just like when he was a little kid he thought, except this time, the pressure to keep walking was much stronger. He continued to walk hoping that he would get over this feeling when he noticed something.

"What the hell's going on?" Dan asked himself again as he took in his surroundings. Through his life, Dan had explored the entire Forest and yet, he found himself in an area he had never been before. The school behind him was now gone too. He was trapped, taken in by the darkness. There was nothing left but to continue walking.

Although he was walking into darkness, Dan realized that he was standing in light. No matter how deep he went, he could always see. All of this was definitely high on the weirdness scale.

As he continued to walk, he found himself in a large clearing; a clearing that he had never seen before. It was the size of a small house and across from where he stood was a small cave. The opening was barely big enough for one person. Now, this mysterious new cave showing up in the woods would have been the weirdest thing yet if not for the glowing white light resonating from within it.

Dan did not know why, but he had to enter that cave. He carefully stalked his way towards the cave opening, continuously looking in the corners of his eyes for any sign of trouble. Upon taking one step into the bright cave, the pressure drawing Dan was gone. It was like this was the place the pressure wanted him. He felt like this was where he was supposed to be right now.

The cave had a simple design from what Dan could see. One single tunnel all the way through. The farther Dan went into the cave, the better he felt. At the end of the tunnel, Dan entered a larger domed room which was what he assumed could only be the end of the cave. What he saw amazed him. The walls and floor were made of some kind of shining crystal. Then he realised. The rock looks exactly like his mom's fancy necklace. It was a diamond necklace. Dan was standing in a gigantic room of diamond. It was probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In the center of the room stood some sort of pedestal also made of diamond. It almost looked like a diamond hand had grown out of the ground. Sitting in the center of this weird pedestal was what appeared to be a shining oval rock. As Dan neared the stone, it began to glow allowing him to have a better look at it. It was no rock. What sat on the diamond pedestal in front of Dan was in fact a gigantic egg-shaped diamond. The closer he got to the egg, the brighter it glowed until the light coming from the football sized object was so bright that Dan could barely see it; like trying to look directly at the sun.

Dan wondered what the egg felt like. As he reached out to touch it, his wrist began to vibrate and buzz, making him jump. It was his watch telling him that he was 5 minutes from being late to school. In a rush, Dan quickly grabbed the egg and placed it into his bag before sprinting out of the amazing cave.

The moment he was out of the cave, Dan found himself facing his school, and when he looked behind him for the cave, all Dan saw was his house on the other side of the Forest, right where it should be.

Giving up on being surprised at this point, Dan turned and ran towards the school, not wanting to be late for his first class.