Hi everybody, thanks for coming to read my story! I really appreciate it. Before we get into the story though I just want to make one thing abundantly clear. That the Fablehaven series belong to Brandon Mull it's author. That includes all of it's character and places. I don't mean to infringe upon his writing, only to offer my unique story to it's amazing universe.

It had been nearly 62 years since my great grandfather Patton Burgess passed away, leaving my grand aunt in charge of the Fablehaven Sanctuary. It had been 30 years since my grandfather died and 29 since my father was wrongfully exiled from the conservators alliance and his own sanctuary. Now on the night of my 16th birthday all of these past events were coming to a close, the fall long fall from glory to disgrace was finally coming to an end. Whether it would end had on the ground, or with a merciful parachute I wouldn't find out for another couple of minutes.

"I would like to introduce our new ally, one of many specialists I plan on bringing on to fill the void made by the Sphinx"

That was my cue, but instead of the murmurs of assent or excitement I had envisioned over and over in my head there was only silence, and the occasional murmur of dissent. Maybe they heard the rumors of who I was, or maybe they simply were put off by the Sphinx's name. After all it had only been a couple of weeks since his betrayal, the wound was bound to still be tender.

I stepped out on stage, acutely aware of everyone's gaze on me, or more accurately my mask. The Knights of the Dawn had gotten rid of the masks when Stan Sorenson, the current caretaker of Fablehaven had been appointed as the new captain of the Knights of the Dawn. Now standing in front of them, not only was I the only one with a mask, their gazes were easy to track without their masks.

"Hi my name is John Burgess" I started, acutely aware of disdain that appeared on many of their faces, "Your current captain Stan Sorenson saw fit to re appoint me into the Knights of the Dawn on account of my... special abilities. I look forward to proving myself to you all, and proving that I am worthy of your trust" I stepped away from microphone, the crowd was still silent, but the murmurs weren't of dissent instead they seemed to be of curiosity.

Finally one of them voiced their question, "Why are you wearing a mask? We got rid of those for a reason."

Not bothering to step up to the microphone again I showed them my reason. In one fluid motion I ripped off the mask and let them see a perfectly normal face. Most of them gasped, a couple screamed and one or two even fainted.

"I wear this mask as punishment for my fathers transgressions against the Knights of the Dawn" Though my face wasn't scared from wounds, it was scarred from resemblance. I looked just like my father with my high cheekbones, black hair, dark eyes. Many say they feel like I radiate darkness, another feature of my father. In truth the darkness they feel is simply a side effect from being a shadow brother.

"W-Why are you here?" Shouted an old man, a friend of my fathers? "Y-You're Not welcome" shouted another, a woman this time. Pretty soon shouts of "Fairy killer" "Dragon Slayer" and most heinous of all "Murderer" began circulating through the room.

"Enough!" I shouted, the force behind my voice was enough to shut everybody up instantly. "It is true, I am a fairy killer, a dragon slayer, even a murderer. But I am also something else. I am Justified. I was forced to kill most of them by my father. Those that I wasn't forced to kill I killed in retribution for their transgressions against me. The law of retribution still protects me. So quit your voices and trust in your captain. He was appointed by your judgement and he appointed me by his."

"Yes" said Stan "I appointed him because there are few who hate his father more than him, few who have some of the same abilities much less all of them. John is devoted to our cause, and has helped us in more ways than anybody here can imagine. The two fallen preserves in Colorado, they were both reclaimed by him. I'm appointing him as a lieutenant to a special force to help recover fallen preserves and garner allies so we can stop the Sphinx from opening Zzyzx"

Now the others in the room were quiet. Apparently none of them wanted to annoy Stan anymore than they already had.

"Now, I'll leave your lieutenants to give you your specific missions I must go an prepare John for his next mission."

"Well, that could have gone better" said Dale.

I now sat in the living room at Fablehaven surrounded by Stan, Ruth, Kendra, Seth, Dale, Warren, and all of the other Lieutenants.

"Probably" I admitted, "But that's not the point. Where am I going to next Stan?"

"Well, with Seth and Kendra's parents... Taken I don't want to risk having you assault any of the Sphinx's strongholds. I also don't thing reclaiming the secret brazil preserve would be a good idea at this point. John, tell me again about why we need to gain access to Vayadulead?"

"Well, apart from the fact that the Sphinx is in charge of the most dangerous preserve, home to hundreds of dying demons, dragons, and every species of known magical beast it also has a special legion of soldiers devoted ensuring the prisoners of Zzyzx stay prisoners. It has several weapons and magical charms that could also be used in the fight, and to top it all of there are several demons imprisoned there who would gladly side with the Sphinx."

"What weapons are you talking about?" asked Seth.

"Tons, five of the six great swords are housed there, there are legions of wraiths, shades and other such beings housed there that could be controlled by a strong enough shadow charmer or shadow brother. There several unicorn horns there along with other magical artifacts of the sort. The crying dragon lives there, along with the worlds largest bone yard which houses the remains of everything from unicorns and fairies to dragons and demons. There's too much stuff that could prove dangerous in the wrong hands to list." I explained.

"Where is it, maybe we could scare the Sphinx off if we had enough people?" asked Kendra.

"Vayadulead is like your knapsack Kendra. It's not on this plane of existence. Plus, Vayadulead isn't like other preserves or sanctuaries. Changing caretaker's isn't as simple as changing the name on the register. The magic treaty has to be completely recreated. Listen, Stan I've collected the keys to Vayadulead from the two fallen preserves, recovering the preserves in the process. You gave me the key from here, the only other places are the fallen preserve in Brazil and Silvermoor Dragon Sanctuary."

"Who's going to train Seth as a shadow charmer then?" asked Stan. Seth nodded along like he had just made the best point.

"Granulas though a demon is plenty able to train Seth, plus Kendra found out all of her abilities by herself or through the fairies. Is traditional that dragon tamers, shadow charmers, and fairy kind learn that way."

Stan sighed, sighed again, moved in his seat and then finally said, "Fine. I'll contact the conservators alliance to find a caretaker and staff for the Brazil Preserve. How many other people will you need to reclaim the preserve?"

"I won't need any people, but if you can give me access to your hall of dread and some time to prepare that will be plenty."

Again, a sigh, sigh, shuffle and then Stan spoke again. "All right, how long before you leave then?"

"A day, two max."

Thanks, for reading. This far. I'm going to try and get the next chapter out as soon as I can, but I can't promise anything. This is my first story, or maybe my second one... not sure what to consider it.

As for release dates. Not sure when I'll be able to release them, much less if I can make it anything regular so I'll just go with... I'll do it when I can.

Check out my profile below with the link. I might just have more stories!

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