Chapter I
In a dark chamber where no living thing would ever go of its accord, there stood two beings. As they stood there, one of them became frightened by an unworldly noise. The other who was standing, didn't move. It walked towards the end of the cavern where a huge throne made of stone sat. It had ornate paintings on it that depicted some of the most horrible scenes.
"This is it," it said.
"Yes sir," the other creature said as it walked cautiously towards the figure. Suddenly there was a shriek from the tunnel that they had come from and the figure stood erect.
"Sir, we have found him!" the creature said.
"Send in the Giabul," the figure said. He had walked up the stairs leading to the throne and was caressing its arm. The creature bent like it had been hit in the stomach. It reared back and made an awful noise. The figure sat in the throne and grinned.
"Luke, get downstairs now or you'll be late for school." This is the usual way that Luke, an orphaned boy at the age of two, got up in the morning. He had been in the orphanage for almost twelve years now, and it was almost his seventeenth birthday.
He got out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. Cereal was sitting on the counter so he took some and put it in a bowl. His friend June came downstairs when he was pouring the milk.
"There you are. I've been looking for you all morning," she said as she started to get some cereal of her own.
"I was just sleeping," Luke said groggily as he ate some cereal.
"That's all you ever do. You need to get out more, catch some rays or something," she said as she looked out the kitchen window.
Luke made sure there is no one around by checking the hallways leading to the kitchen. "I would, but I don't want to have any more of the 'encounters'."
"Oh you mean when the 'aliens' stare at you and then just disappear?" For the past year, Luke had been daunted by sightings of weird creatures that look like goblins. They stare at him and then just disappear. It had become more frequent lately so Luke hadn't gone outside for some time, in fear of something happening to him.
"Yeah that's what I'm talking about," he said as he looked outside worryingly.
"Well maybe you are just imagining them," June suggests as she sits down next to him.
"Yeah maybe…I can't wait for Wednesday though, I am turning seventeen!" Luke said as he finished his bowl of cereal.
"Yeah I know isn't it great? You will be a full year older in a single day and yet, you won't feel much different," June said, looking around like it didn't matter.
"I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about the party I was going to have. Many of my friends will be over and I will have the whole rec room to myself. Councilor Hane said I could," Luke said as he started to go through what he would do on Wednesday in his head.
"Yeah that will be fun. I just hope none of your friends decide to be jerks or anything," June said as she thought about some of Luke's friends and stuff they had done in the past.
"Same here. Jeremy may bring some of his homemade cookies and have everyone try them, but I hope nothing else bad happens," Luke said as he thought about some of the cookies that Jeremy has had people try, and chuckles.
"Yeah well, it's time to get ready for school," June said as she picked up her backpack that she had gotten ready the night before.
"O.K. I will see you in school," Luke said as he walked upstairs to get ready and get his backpack.
At school, Luke was making pictures on his calculator in math class, like he always did when he already knew what was being taught, when he saw the shadow of a goblin through the window. He got up out of his chair and started to walk to the door when Mrs. Deluve turned around.
What are you doing Mr. Minix?" she asked.
"I need to go to the bathroom" Luke said as he stood up straight.
"You can go when your work is done." She said as she turned back to her blackboard and started talking about the inverse relationship of the X and Y.
Luke franticly tried to get his work done but he didn't pay attention to what he was doing and had to go back every now and then because he made a mistake. Some time later the bell rang. He hurried out of the room and almost ran into a figure.
It was smiling. It looked like an Uruk-hai from Lord of the Rings but the skin was a lighter shade, its teeth were all pointed, and it was real.
"We know who you are chosen one. You will join us or you will die" It said. It began to laugh and then it vanished.
He looked around. Nobody seemed to notice the thing that had just disappeared. He walked to his locker and put his math stuff in it. He started walking to lunch when he met June in the hallway.
"Hey Luke, what's up?" she asked smiling at him.
"Well, other than being scared to death, nothing" Luke said as he looked back down the hall to see if anyone was following him.
"What do you mean?" June asked as she looked down the hall also.
"Well, during last period, I saw a goblin outside of the window. Then when the period was over, I almost ran into this, thing" Luke said as they got to the lunch line.
"What happened?" June asked. Luke didn't usually get scared that easily and she was worried.
"It said that it knew who I was or something like that. How would it know who I am when I have never before seen such a creature?" Luke asked no one in particular.
"What happened to it?" June asked as they left the lunch line with their food.
"I don't know. It just disappeared" Luke said as he sat down at a table.