Chapter 1:

The bright shinning sun rose over a small town called Rmica, sweeping away the darkness of the night. The town became clear. People stepped out of their square sized houses to the hot clear weather outside and went about their normal lives, young kids played, adults gossiped with each other about the big news of the day. It was the beginning of the summer and it seemed everybody was enjoying it pretty much.

A teenage boy named Mark was laying flat down on the grass by very large and clean lake (which was near-by the town). Mark was a skinny, long blond, untidy hair boy. His eyes were the same dark green color as the grass he laid on. His jeans were slightly torn and dirty along with his baggy shirt. It seemed like he was sleeping there without a care in the world, relaxing under the hot bright sun above him. In fact this was his usual spot to meet his friends, Rube, Kella, and Chole.

His three friends were supposed to meet there, but he was the first today. Relaxing because he was quite early, he waited for his friends and let his thoughts roll. There weren't a lot of people that came to the lake today. There were only a couple of people that he knew, one of them was Eric Lock. Eric was a round chubby guy. He was slightly older and he hardly ever talk to him. Mark guessed he came by to go fishing like mostly everyone else does with their free time, but he was just walking around.

Mark sighed deeply and turned his head across the lake, staring blankly towards the tall grass on the other side of the lake.

"You're here quite early, aren't you?"

Mark jumped at the sound of the voice; he sat up quickly and turned towards the voice to see a young boy, about the same age as him. His name was Rube, one of Mark's best friends. He had long black hair in a ponytail, light brown eyes, and slightly pale face. The young boy sat down next to him, smiling.

"Hey," Mark greeted. He looked around him hoping to see the rest of his friends, Kella and Chole, but they were no-where to be found. "Where're Kella and Chole?"

Rube chuckled a bit. "We weren't suppose to met til' a half an hour more. They probably are visiting Old Lad Penny."

"Old Lad Penny!" Mark shouted. Rube nodded, still chuckling. The very thought of her made Mark's stomach boil inside of him. Old Lad Penny lived just across Rube's house. She was a very old lady with gray pale eyes. She was a cat lover, she always worshiped her cats and treated every else like dirt. She had so many cats that Mark couldn't believe. One time, Mark and Rube accidentally stepped on her cat's tail and she hated them ever since, at least that's what Mark thought. She tried to get them into trouble all the time ever since. No one would believe them, they all thought she was a sweet old lady. Not so long ago, Rube and Mark played a prank on her by catching two of her cats and telling her that they drowned in the lake. Of course they didn't really drown the cats, they left them at Rube's house. She went so far as to dive in after them. When she found out that it was all a prank, they got in serious trouble.

"Are you sure?" Mark asked.

Rube hesitated to nod. "Yeah, I saw them going to her house."

"They still feel sorry for her about that prank?"

Rube put on a disgusting look on his face. "Yeah, I guess so. I think they're doing chores for her, feedin' her cats, helping her cook, just spending time with her."

"Oh man," Mark said, putting his right hand to his forehead. "I can't believe it! Didn't they say they were going to stop going to her see two weeks ago?"

"They probably like hanging out with her." Rube said in a lazy voice, punching the air.

He wondered how Old Lad Penny was being nice to them when she knows that they're all friends. What was more amazing was that Kella and Chole were feeling sorry for her after seeing how cruel she was treating them after accidentally stepping on her cat's tail. Mark couldn't believe they were still feeling sorry for her too.

"I'll bet if they step on one of her cats, she'd treat them like dirt," said Mark.

"Or worse, she'll treat them like us."

Both of them laughed.

"Oi!" Rube said suddenly.

Before Mark could say anything in response, he pointed for Mark to look. Mark turned and his stomach felt like it flipped upside down, staring at beauty. It was Emily, a very pretty girl with short sun bright blond hair and light blue eyes.

Before Mark even knew what he was doing, he stood straight up (his heart pounding) and shouted, "EMILY! ("Here we go again," Rube said carelessly) "

Emily flinched slightly and turned around, looking completely surprised.

"GO OUT WITH ME!" Mark shouted.

Emily surprised face turned irritated. Without further ado she power-walked away until they could no longer see her in sight.

Mark had been trying to get Emily to go out with him for months and every time he asked her, she always rejected him. Rube once said that if he wanted to go out with her he should ask for Chole and Kella help (since they ARE girls), and all they said was to be yourself, and he kept getting rejected.

"Oh man, she didn't even said hi," Mark, said disappointed. "You must'a scared her away, Rube."

Rube, not paying Mark's comment any mind, laid his back on the ground. He grabbed hold some grass in his right palm and threw it to his side.

"Mm… tough luck," Rube said. "So, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Mark said, thinking hard. "She's playing hard to get. She won't be able—"

"Not that!" said Rube, suddenly. "I meant," Rube sat up slowly and looked at him seriously, "this strange 'disease' that been happening lately."

Mark hesitated. What did he think about those strange accidents? For the past four months there have been seven people who suddenly went into coma without any unswerving reason and some people who went into coma died. But that's not all, a man named Kift was found in his houses dead by his neighbor a few weeks ago, who said he was looking just fine the other day. Rumors said they had a new rare disease, which is probably the best solution, but no one really knew what was happening to those people. He didn't pay it that much thought nor did the rest of the people in the town, it was only seven people…

Mark shrugged. "I dunn'o."

Rube turned his head away from him, staring across the lake. "Personally," he said slowly, "I think it's something else. I don't think it's just a disease."

Mark raised his eyebrows, and gave him a How-Do-You-Know-That look.

"I just have a gut feeling about it." Rube added, looking at his reaction. "You don't think so?" Before Mark could answer Rube continued on speaking. " No one is taking this seriously. Nobody has not made an attempt to make sure everyone is safe, they haven't even found out what's happening to these people or what was the cause. I mean don't you think we're not taking it as serious as we should be?"

"It's only seven people, right? Not including that guy just died in his house. Rumors say that they had some type of rare new disease—"

"And you believe that?"

Mark shook his head at once. "I'm only saying that's what the rumors said. It's probably true, it's probably not, but no one really knows for sure, right?"

Rube didn't say anything, he just stared at the ground thinking.

"What do you think then?" Mark asked.

"…I don't know."

Mark forced a smile and a laugh. "Look at you. You're getting gray hair! You'll be turning old before you know it. You're thinking about this way too much."

Rube smiled slightly. 'When did he dread on this so much?' Mark thought. He never knew that Rube thought about this so much, and why he's telling him this now? Rube and Mark talked about it once or twice before, they just joked around about it. But Rube never really talked about it seriously. There could've been plenty of times to talk before, why this sudden interest? Mark then decided the best thing to do was to cheer Rube up and just change the subject.

For the next fifteen minutes, they talked about new pranks to pull on Old Lad Penny, each one was more dreading than the last, they also thought about making some pranks on Kella and Chole for even hanging out with Old Lad Penny.

Kella and Chole came five minutes after Rube and Mark's discussion of them.

"Hello," they both greeted and sat down between Mark and Rube.

"Where were you guys?" said Mark, not wasting anytime, staring at both of them.

They both exchanged looks, and then glared at Mark.

"What did Rube tell you?" Kella said, sounding, in Mark's impression, pity.

"Oh," Rube said before Mark can say anything. "Oh nothing!" He shot a look to Mark, clearing telling him not to say anything and let him do the talking.

Chole looked from Mark to Rube repetitively, looking very suspicions. "Did you..?" She stuck her gaze on Rube, studying him.

"What?" Rube said, looking very edgy.

Chole turned to Mark looking annoyed. "What did he say to you?"

Rube gave him another look to be quite, but Mark ignored it. "You guys never told me you were starting to go over to Penny's house again!" Mark shouted.

Chole gave Rube a furious look. "I knew you was going to tell him! I can't believe you!"

They spent the all day arguing whatether going to Old Lad Penny's house was wrong or not. Chole and Kella said that she was a sweet old lady who was just lonely and she needed friends and there was nothing wrong with going over there to keep her company. Mark disagreed on many levels; he felt they were serving his mortal foe. Rube hardly backed Mark up on this subject, he was frequently saying, "Yeah," and "That's right," but it was better than nothing.

Mark still couldn't believe that they felt sorry for Penny; she was an old grumpy, revolting, complaining, irritable, prickly, cat lover lady. How could anyone like her? She just wasn't likeable. And here was Chole and Kella defending her, saying she was a sweet old lady.

When sunset arrived they grew tried of arguing with each other. They called a truce between them and Old Lad Penny. Even though Mark and Rube had their own views about Penny and resent Kella and Chole for being her friend, they couldn't stop them. Kella and Chole still stood by their own opinions about Penny, and stubbornly refuse to stop going over to her house to keep her company.

At first Mark thought he was giving up too easily, then he thought he could still set up pranks to pull on the three of them as well as Penny, but he couldn't find it in himself to do that. It would probably ruin their friendship as well as getting them in trouble again.

Rube also still looked furious about the idea of them still going to the enemy house. Mark and Rube exchanged looks and they understand each other perfectly. There was no way they could talk Kella and Chole out of it. They fell to the dark side…

"This reminds of The Four Shards by Jerry Cole," Chole said, giggling. "Have you ever read it?"

"The four what?" Mark asked.

"The Four Shards," Rube said.

Chole nodded. "It's about those four kids, who were best friends. They find this big jewel and divided into four shards for each of them to remind of their friendship of each other. Then one day, they got into this huge fight, and then they went their separate ways, but all them still kept their shards."

"…Why did they kept their shards if they're not friends anymore?" Mark asked. "It's a dumb thing if you ask me."

"You need to read the book." Rube said devotedly. "It's good, huh Chole?"

Chole beamed. "Well, at least Rube has taste of the good work."

For the next several minutes they chatted about the book with each other. Chole said she hadn't read it in a while and her version was lost. She was hoping if Rube would let her borrow his. Rube really didn't like it when people borrowed his stuff, he was paranoid that people was going to lose his stuff, but this time, he hastate to say yes when she asked him. Also they kept trying to encourage Mark to read the book. Mark was revolted. They were fighting with each other like there was no tomorrow not even eight minutes ago, and here they are, talking about some book and agreeing with each other. How could they forget their argument so quickly? And both of them requested him to read a book?

"Oh my," Kella said. "I think we should go home now. It's getting late."

Chole turned to look at her. "Wow, we've been here all day," she said slightly shocked. "Time does fly sometimes does it?" She turned back towards Rube and Mark. "We'll see you tomorrow, okay? Oh," she turned to Rube.

Rube nodded. "Yeah, I know. You want to come with me to my house and get the book, right?" She nodded and beamed. "Yeah, sure."

Mark suddenly caught something in his the corner of his eye. It was a dark, tall figure, but he moved so fast into the trees Mark lost sight of it. Mark didn't know whether he should chase after it, tell his friends of the figure, or just run away. Then a little voice told him he should stay, he should just stay to find out what it was. He shouldn't tell he friends what he thought he saw, or what he was going to do. But what was he going to do? Still, that little voice stayed. It was the prefect time, his friends were leaving and he would be only him and whatever the figure was.

"Mark," Rube said. Mark shook his thoughts out of his head for a moment and looked at Rube who had an anxious look on his face. "Erm…you ok?" Rube said, with apprehensive voice that matches his anxious face.

Was he ok? Was he just seeing things? Was it just a figment of his imagination? Somehow he didn't think so. Was it real? Even so, why would it matter to him? Yet he knew what he should do, he should either tell his friends what saw or just forget about it.. But that little voice keep telling him to stay there, and go find out what was the figure was, alone…

After debating with himself, he made a decision. "I'm ok. You guys go on without me. I'm going to stay for a little while."

All three of them gave him a 'Why' look.

"I'm ok! Look, just go on without me, I'll catch up." He said as cheerful as he could, which he knew wasn't successful.

They exchanged looks with each other, and to Mark's impression, they seemed like they were debating if they want to leave him there alone. After a few seconds they looked like they made up their mind. They said their farewells to Mark, but still gave him a Why look. They walked away slowly, and Mark waited until they were completely away from sight to stare back at the trees where the figure went.

His heart pounding hard and fast, he continued to stare at the trees wondering what to do next. He could feel the cold air hitting his face; the wind was the only sound at that point. The leaves on the trees moved with the wind, increasing the tension. What was he going to do now, he thought to himself. Was he going to just sit there staring at the trees? Or was he going to do something? He folded his hand to a fist, shaking it uncontrollably.

He took a step followed, watching the trees for any type of movement.

Ok, he told himself. I'm going to do this. He opened his mouth to call it out, but there was no need to. The figure came out of the trees, staring coldly at him. Mark jumped and almost fell to the ground at the figure appearance. The figure was shaped like a tall man. He had on a large dark black cloak and wore a hood that covered his face, and yet he had dark frightening red eyes that reflect in the dark night.

The dark red eyes figure took one step towards him. It seemed like he was observing him. Mark's body stood frozen, his heart pounding furiously like it was going to burst out of his chest any second. He couldn't think, he couldn't talk; he was at his mercy of fright. He started into his dark freighting red eyes. It felt like he was burning his skull in two with just his eyes.

He stood motionless still, not making any attempt to move, his eyes staring coldly at Mark, making the tension increase by the second. Mark still couldn't find the urge to move, he felt like he was going to die just by the gaze of his dark cold crimson eyes. He took another slow step forward, not breaking his eyes off of him.

"Brave…. of you boy." The figure said his voice colder than anything Mark has ever heard before, he jumped at the sound. The man didn't seem to notice and continued, "Brave of you to let your friends leave like that."

Mark took one step back, but then realized he couldn't run away. He knew he couldn't out run him. He knew he was trapped.

"You…" The man said, still his eyes keeping his eyes straight on Mark. "You…. look just like him." He slowly reached in his cloak, and Mark knew at that moment he was going to die. He wouldn't see his friends again. After a split second he pulled out a long stick under his cloak. He pointed it towards him, and Mark felt his heart skip a beat. "You…. look just like him. Yet you don't know nothing. You don't know anything. You don't know the…truth."

Finally, Mark had the gained enough courage to speak. He opened his mouth, but the man beat him to it. "Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light came from the end of his long stick, and Mark felt everything going dark he fell back almost immediately. Something at the moment flashed…

You look just like him.

To a place beyond

A forgotten paradise

I. "Where is it…?"

A place so unnatural

Yet so simple

II. "Effortless…"

A memory that

Can't be forgiven

III. "And it can't be forgotten…"

The darkness will spread within you

IV. "The chosen one."

A former person

V. "Who is he you ask?"

The weapon he'd never had

VI. "He's in here."

The cursed army

VII. "A dream of wonder…"

Harry awoke with freight. "What was that?" He whispered to himself.