Chapter 1: Normal Unlucky Days

Hello and welcome; I have a story to tell that will boggle the mind and challenge many ideas you think to be mere fantasy and even myth. However, let me assure you, the story I'm going to tell really happened and it's no joke! This chronicle starts in a medium size town that didn't have much that would attract note and in this 'average town' there is a boy, unlike the town was a little different from the people around him. The tale begins on a sunny day with the boy walking down a street on his way home from another day at school. I'm well aware such an introduction, sounds very generic, dull and uninteresting, yet that's how the chronicle starts. … Now, back to our boy of interest; he went unnoticed by those around him, people went by him to wherever their destinations were paying no heed to him. In fact, no one seemed to see the boy at all, almost as if he was an invisible ghost or specter to all around him.

… What did you say? If the boy was invisible and unseen by all those around him; how might I know about this boy? … My apologies, it would seem I was getting ahead of myself; well the reason I know about him, is because the boy is me. Well I wouldn't say I'm a boy exactly, when it comes to physical appearance or age; more a young man to be precise. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself in this story in which I play a major and even a central part in.

Nevertheless, please forgive me; let me back up and start over a little. You see, I realize that I have forgotten my manners while I was beginning to tell my tale. My name is Saber Boolock; a senior in high school when this tale starts. It was during that year, when my life took one of the most unexpected turns that I could have ever imagined. This story started so normal for me and yet developed into…. Well, I personally have a hard time understanding how the series of events played out as they did to end up for me since then. Yet I'm again getting ahead in my tale, I will try to do that as little as possible going forward.

Now, back to my appearance, I'm not the tallest in my age group; that being eighteen and more towards a half than not years old at the time. My height is around five foot nine, so as I stated, not the tallest nor the shortest either, but around average size. Possessing medium length blond hair that had the appearance of being messy and unkempt, pretty much went in whatever direction it felt like. I hadn't a problem with how my hair was… it works with my looks. My hair framed my aqua blue colored eyes. The color of my eyes had always been something that I had wondered about; I mean, I have yet to see anyone with the same shade of blue as I have. Although, if I'm honest, I didn't give a rat's a** what others think about my personal appearance or grooming habits. It is simply due to the fact that I really didn't see the point in going through all the work of 'styling your hair' when it will just end up being a mess the next day. Complete waste of time if you ask me! Minus the hair, people might call me handsome if they were going just on looks alone. In spite of my good looks I had usually though, due to the fight I had gotten pulled into at school I now had a couple of cuts on my face. Yet most people who would give me the time of day, which is few; think I'm… a sloppy person because of the state of my hair and other parts of my physical appearance. They can think that all they want; their loss for being wrong!

So, back to where I left off in my narration, setting the scene and mood. I had been keeping my head down so that I didn't draw attention to myself. A skill I have developed in the years of growing up. The reason I was wishing not to draw attention to myself, would be that it had been one of those bad days at school once again! Then again… that's what most school days were like, so normal day at that prison. Nevertheless, today had been worse than usual and that spelled out trouble for me. I wasn't looking so nice; on the other hand, I was far better off, than the other guy who fought me.

My pace slowed slightly as I put my right hand in my pocket and felt the paper that the principle had given that I had to show my uncle. My 'Uncle John' or as I like to think of him, Uncle Douchebag for good reason; who I have been living with for as long as I remember; was my legal guardian. A fact I curse and that is the cause of many problems in my life and the misery that's involved. The 'note' I have been given and would be required to hand to my uncle for him to sign, was pretty much the standard form of misconduct. The form described an 'incident that occurred today; and it stated that on the grounds that I was involved in the disruption in the school; I needed intervention of some sort. That's what the paper said, which wasn't completely false, but not entirely true either, yet my opinion didn't get any attention for the situation. This unfortunately, wasn't an uncommon occurrence for me to get involved in a scuffle; though it can't say that it is a daily one either. I admit, I had gotten use to bringing the complaint forms home fairly regularly. If that was all there was to this, then life would be fine. No, what I wanted to avoid was the lecture and the beating that would follow, which would come from my uncle.

In this particular instance, the misconduct form iterated about the fight I had gotten into earlier that day with one of the school jocks. The jock honestly, was idiot and displayed it openly; has had a run in with me previously to today, but that one had been out of the sight of adults at the school. The jock was a bully and for whatever it is about me, bullies love to attempt to bring me down and use me to satisfy their need to dominate… none have succeeded since my much younger years and I don't intend to let them do so ever again! Yet, back to the fight I had been in, it hadn't been my fault the fight started in the first place… rarely is, not that the fact helps in my defense. The jock was looking for easy entertainment and so, picked me for the target and had thrown the insults first. Normally, I wouldn't give an idiot like that the time of day or really my attention at all, as it's rarely worth it; however, with my stance on bullying and those who practice it, I had a hard time ignoring the implication that the guy's insults put forth. Beside the point the stupid jock had asked for it, and so, I certainly delivered!

Continuing to think the tangent to myself as I often do to calm down and review my standing. I bear no responsibility that he forgot I know martial arts and am very skilled with them. I didn't dislocate his shoulder on purpose; his movements just conveniently worked out to that end. Although, I know those to be the facts of the fight that had happened; it didn't matter for how things ended. The jock, that I had been teaching a valuable life lesson to; took the cowardly path out and had got his parents involved… they just happened to be lawyers. … A stroke of bad luck, but then, I get that often enough… more often than not. So, I was immediately labeled 'the party completely at fault' without further question and he was cleared as totally innocent. Arrogant smug punk flaunted it when no one was looking too! I couldn't even say anything in my defense! Still, the event was more than enough of a reason for my uncle to push my life down into the dumps even more. I stopped and sighed.

"Is there any way this day can get any worse?"

It was no more than two seconds later that a car sped by going through a puddle that was in the gutter and water splashed up all over me and now was drenched in filthy water. My face twisted into a glower and I slouched lower as I began to walk again. My luck is as prompt as usual I see… how unpleasant.

"I need to just stop asking such a question. Does the world have some sort of grudge against me or do God and Satan just have the need to use me as entertainment that I just happen to be the star of?"

All too quickly, I stood in front of the door to my uncle's house. The place I had called 'home', however, in all honesty was more a prison that I'm force to endure torture in my view. I was weighing my options in how to proceed in my situation. Would it be better to open the door to face my uncle? Or better to climb the tree on the side yard and go through the window to my room and face my punishment later? It was a tactic I used to delay confrontation with my uncle before now. It was unfortunate and hard to believe, yet my uncle had always been a douche that he was. In my early memories he was a fairly decent guy, unlike how he is now. The event of his wife leaving… well, let's just say things went downhill in the house and I was dragged down with it all. Since I then I ended out having had to deal with my uncle for so long it got to the point that early on that it felt better to be out of the house then inside.

Uncle Douchebag had a job at an office; don't ask me what kind of office, because I really can't say, I haven't the faintest idea. It was clearly a stressful one due to how he was always complaining about deadlines combined with his foul mood. That foul mood usually translated into him using me for stress relieve, in the form of physical beatings. And then, there were the nights that my uncle went out drinking with 'his friends' and came home in a worse state than when he was just stressed from work. Its times like this I wish I could go to the dojo everyday instead of two times a week… no I would love to live at the dojo, it is so much better than this place! Well might as well just get this over and done with I guess.

Opening the front door and stepped in, preparing myself for what was going to come. I had taken no more than four steps when I heard footsteps and saw an all too familiar shadow on the floor. With my instincts developed during my martial arts training along with my danger sense, I ducked as I felt a fist swing past where my head had been; however, shortly after ducking, I received a knee to my face. The blow forced me to sink to the floor holding my face in pain by reflex. Seconds went by as I tried to clear my head which had become muddled due to the impact I had received. It was when I felt a hand get a hold of the collar of my shirt and jerk me upward so that I could feel my feet leave the floor. This forced me to look at the face of none other than Uncle Douchebag. With the way that he held me, my hands that had been covering my face, were forced downward revealing my face which had become bloody. As my nose was possibly broken now, more likely had just gotten hit hard and started bleeding, the blood was flowing steadily down my face. The one who put me in this state, had their face screwed up in an expression of anger and was very red as well. I saw the blood vessel on his forehead popping. This is a very bad sign that his day at the office had been worse than usual. That meant it was going to be even worse for me today. Yea for me and getting time with Uncle Douchebag!

"So, finally decided to come back home did you boy?! You're such an ungrateful brat!"

My uncle growled that at me. I decided to try the diplomatic approach. It rarely worked, but I could do little else at the moment.

"Hello, Uncle John you seem to be in a… different mood than usual."

I felt a fist connect with the side of my face and grazed the bridge of my nose as my uncle decked me. This caused my nose to start bleeding more freely than it had been, so that sizable glops of blood were falling to the floor now. Thankfully the punch hadn't broken my nose, but it had gotten close no doubt.

"Keep that mouth of yours shut brat, I do not want to hear it right now."

That was said with a snap from Uncle Douchebag, before he released me and I dropped to the floor with a thump. The second I hit the floor, I covered my nose to stem the bleeding.

"Just get up to your room and stay out of my sight if you don't want to get beaten right here and now."

An option to get out of a beating? … that doesn't happen often. I picked myself up off the floor; I used the hand that wasn't currently trying to stem the flow of blood from my nose; to feel the bridge of my nose to check how bad the damage was. It was to my relief that I felt nothing that would say there was something broken, still hurt bad… burned more than anything. The worst part of this event was that I knew I would be cleaning up the blood that was mine later. It turned out like this, most nights; I get injured and clean up the mess if there was one and there normally was. I didn't want to incense the man who is supposed to be looking after me, so I kept my mouth shut. I left the room and went up the stairs and entered my room and shut the door and locked it. As I headed towards my bed I stripped off my jacket and grabbed the medical kit I kept in my room to help clean myself up after getting a lecture from the douche. It took me a little bit of time to get my nose to stop bleeding. I had to bandage my nose, though it wasn't broken; it was still would heal faster if I dressed it. After I was done, I got to thinking. My Uncle only decking me once; this is rare, yet I'm not that I am going to complain. I fell on his bed with a sigh.

"Man, my life just sucks lately! Why am I doomed to such a lot in life?"

-Later that night-

Once I knew my uncle was passed out from the alcohol consumption he partook of; I decided that I would go out tonight. On my way out, I grabbed my pack that contained my wood practice sword that was called a Bokuto Kendo. There was also had a real katana in the pack that Master Kai had given me, weeks ago as a sign of trust that I was responsible enough to wield one. Boy what a day that had been! It had been a really good day and those were rare in my life. Anyway, I grabbed an extra set of clothes some food along with a few other supplies before I went to the window. Stealthily, I quietly opened the window and crept out and got onto the tree and shimmied down to the ground and snuck out of the yard. I had learned stealth over the years; I didn't get caught often if at all anymore going out on these nighttime jaunts.

It was on nights like this when the sky was clear; I got out of that house in the hopes of finding some modicum of peace. Taking walks was the usual start of these nights. I couldn't say why I did; still it always lifted my mood when I did. I found myself after a period of time, walking into the park in the area my uncle lived in. Finally, some time to myself! I walked over to one of the swings and sat down leaned back and looked up at the night sky with its sea of stars.

"There has got to be more to my life than this and the crap I have been dealing with. I wish I just knew what it was, I feel there is something missing for me, but I can't figure out what it is."

Suddenly I felt an electric like tingle shoot up my spine and I froze where I was. This type of tingle wasn't rare, though it didn't happen very frequently to me and certainly not with this magnitude! When the tingle did happen, things never went well. As point of fact whenever this happened, whatever was going on went as horribly bad as it could go. Hence, the very reason I call such tingles, 'my danger sense'!

"No way… not today… not even my luck can be that bad. Even I as unlucky as I am, can't be that unlucky."

I slowly turned around to see a strange… thing, expanding. It had the appearance of a black shadow with shining crimson orbs. My instincts were telling me to run and make as much distance as I could from this thing as fast as possible! But something about the sight rooted me to the ground and I couldn't understand why. I'm no coward, I fear little and when there is something I'm scared of, there is good reason to be! Watching this thing take shape, I felt fear deep within me and didn't understand why! The black shadows around the crimson eyes were darker than the darkness around it. As the shape became more defined, I could see something with four legs, shorter than my own. The 'thing' moved closer and the shape kept getting more distinct. The clearer the figure got the faster my heart beat went. It started to look like something from a fantasy novel as it kept getting bigger and getting closer every second. Icy cold fear gripped me; the likes of which I haven't ever felt that I can remember. Something in me was screaming that this thing, whatever it was; would do what was necessary to kill me!

"Oh, HELL NO!"

I shouted as I shot from the swing, but glanced back to gage the distance between me and the creature and stumbled falling to the ground at the thing I saw. What looked like dark wings or something similar came out of the creature's back. What had been a shadow to start with now looked like some sort of lizard creature with scales. The word 'dragon' came to mind… but that was crazy! This whole situation is crazy! By now, I had pretty much lost my wits and just lay there like an idiot. I stared at the thing as it had grown a tail behind it and horns coming out of its head. The creature faced me opened its mouth and let loose a sound that was something that I have never heard before! It wasn't a roar or a shriek I have ever heard! The sound hurt my ears… felt like my eardrums were going to burst! Yet the sound, more than anything, chilled me to the bone and beyond! No matter what it was it shook me to my very core. The black creature started to walk forward towards me.

"At last, the one who escaped has been found. Now, this time you will die!"

This line snapped me out of the trance I was in. It was definitely here to kill me, regardless of the reason why! I scrambled up and reached for the bag with my sword in one motion and was back on my feet. No way was I, just going to stand there and let this thing kill me! However, the creature opened its mouth and spouted black fire at me. I stared in horror as I saw the black fire coming at me and I froze. One thought came to my mind; I am so dead.

It was at time that a bright light began to shine behind me. As I turned I once again tripped over a rock which normally irritated me, but as I felt the black fire go over my head and not hit me... I didn't complain about the bad luck that normally did harm finally doing good for me. I got to my feet, what is happening? This just… can't be happening. This is insane!

Behind me the creature screeched in fury and then began to charge with its horns down to run me through. Okay two choices here; stand here and surely get killed, or run to the light and only have the possibility of dying. I will have to go with number two! I began to scramble towards the light, yet I didn't get far. The shadow caught up to me before I crawled five feet; I spun my body around and attempted to keep crawling backward. The sight of the thing out to kill me was nearly on top of me, yet before it ran me through; I fell forward in to the light and everything went white as I lost consciousness.

When I next opened my eyes, I did so slowly trying to recall what had just happened to me. I had been sitting down on the swing and my danger sense had gone off worse than it has ever that I can recall and then some wired shadow creature appeared and attacked me with the intent to kill me. Then just as I am about to get impaled, a light comes out of nowhere and I fall in to it as I run away from the thing. Now I don't know where the hell I am. This is just peachy!

As I came out of my thoughts, my eyes started to focus and all I could do was stare at the scenery around me. It was completely foreign to me… and so out of place for me! Above me were clear blue skies and it was defiantly daytime and not night anymore. Suddenly two thoughts hit me; first would be that if I should ever get back, then Uncle Douchebag was going to beat me to within an inch of my life for not only sneaking out, but also not being there to cook and clean as my uncle made me do. Second and much more importantly, I had no idea where I am… other than not where I was before! Raising myself to a sitting position, I glanced around with my eyes getting bigger as I took in more of my new surroundings. Behind me was a lush green forest made of some of the strangest looking trees I had ever seen. Looking to my right I saw a valley roll down to a large lake. To my left was a grass plane that went on to the mountains in the distance and in front of me was a gorge between to huge hills. As I took in my surroundings a particular phrase came to mind, which I couldn't help saying even if no one could hear me.

"Toto… I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…"

I stood and looked around to find more signs and clues to help me understand what had just occurred and where I precisely am. To my relief, I spotted my backpack that I had with me when I had snuck out. Then I had to wonder, if it was last night or longer ago that the unreal experience had happened. I didn't know what to make of all of this, but back to more pressing things; I strode over and hoisted the backpack to my back.

"Well, standing around here isn't doing me any good, so I guess I should start walking then."

I started off in the direction of the gorge, not knowing what was in store for me. I just hope that it is better than what I had left!

Chapter end!

A/n

That's the first chapter rewrite. Not going to be the last. Please take the time to write a review, I do appreciate them so much.