Chapter One

Nico ran into the village, carrying a pouch of some sort in his hand. A small dog, a corgi, got up from lying in front of a house and barked excitedly, running circles around the fourteen-year-old. "Hey Rusty!" Nico called to his dog, leaning down and patting his head. He reached into his pouch and took a small slab of cow meat and handed it the corgi, who took it happily in his mouth and chewed on it, still following his owner.

Nico came up to a house and opened the door. "Mom, I'm home!" he called.

"Hi, Nico, have you brought my bread from Garra Village?" she asked as Nico walked into the kitchen.

"Yep," replied the boy, pulling out a nice, fresh loaf of bread.

His mother turned and smiled at her son, then took the loaf. "Thank you dear," she said, turning back to her cooking.

"No problem Mom," said Nico, rummaging through the pouch until he wrapped his hands around something flat and round. Smiling, he pulled out a cookie and leaned against the wooden table, eating it.

Rusty yipped happily through his half eaten beef chunk as he walked into the kitchen and sat at the boy's feet. Nico rubbed his dog's back with his dirty bare foot. His mother turned around and sighed. "Ugh… Nico, how many times do I have to tell you not to walk around my kitchen with your dirty feet when you get home? If you're not gonna start wearing shoes out, then I'm gonna make you go wash your feet every time you get in."

Nico rolled his eyes and took another bite of his cookie. "Whatever…"

"And look! Now you're getting your dog's fur all dirty! I just gave him a bath this afternoon!"

Nico looked down at his dog, who was staring up at him with happy brown eyes. He wore a new bandana around his neck, a sign that his mother was right. "Your point is?" Nico asked.

"I don't want you dirtying up my house. Now go wash your feet, and maybe even take a bath while you're at it. Dinner will be ready soon."

Nico sighed and popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth. Then he got up from sitting on the table, walked out of the kitchen, and ran upstairs, his dog following him.

After he bathed, Nico changed into a new set of clothes and went downstairs. Rusty, who had gotten bored of waiting for Nico to finish taking his bath, sat at the base of the steps, chewing on the bone of the beef slab Nico had gifted him.

Rusty looked up when he heard the first step creak to see his boy coming the down the steps. The corgi got up and shook his rear end (since he lacked a tail) happily, his tongue lolling. Nico smiled and patted the dog when he got to the bottom of the steps.

The two walked into the kitchen, and Nico saw his dad had returned from work. He was sitting at the table talking to his wife as she finished up dinner. "Hey Dad," Nico said, his father looking at him, surprised.

"Nico, my boy! How was your day!" he replied to his son, a smile on face.

"Good. I got you something from Garra when I went to the bakery for Mom," Nico told him, sitting down across from him at the table.

He reached over and grabbed his pouch, which sat to the left of him. Rummaging through it, he pulled out a small pastry and handed it to his father.

His eyes lit up at the sight of the raspberry tart. "Hey, thanks Nico!" he said, about to take a bite of it when Nico's mother turned and scolded him. "Peter! It's time for dinner and you're about to eat that! Nuh-uh, I don't think so."

She snatched the tart from her husband, glared at him for a few seconds, then placed the tart on the counter. Nico laughed quietly, but his mother heard and whipped around, glaring at him as well.

Rusty situated himself under Nico's chair and began chewing on his beef bone, once again. Nico reached down and stroked his dog, but his mother scolded him. "Didn't I just have a talk with you about you dirty feet?" she queried.

Nico shrugged. "Uhh, yea, your point is?"

"And weren't you rubbing your dirty feet on that dog's back?" she retorted.

"Uhh, yea? So?"

"And now you're about to eat, and you're petting your dog, when you just go his nice clean fur all dirty?"

She set down a big plate of turkey, and Nico reached for a piece, but his mother smacked his hand with a wooden spoon. "Ow!" he shouted. "What was that for?"

His mother didn't reply at first, but she pointed toward the kitchen sink. Nico stared at her with a confused look. "Wash!" she scolded.

Nico rolled his eyes and sighed. "God, Mom, you're annoying," he growled as he got up from his chair.

His mother just stood by the table and crossed her arms. "Uh-huh, whatever. I may be annoying, but I'm still your mother."

His father chuckled quietly. "And mothers are annoying," he said under his breath, trying hard to keep from laughing out loud. His wife glared at him, and shut his mouth and stuffed his face with turkey. "Use a fork dear," she suggested, picking a fork up from the table and showing it to him as if he'd never seen one before.

Nico dried his hands on a dishtowel and returned to his seat. "Happy now?" he asked, holding his hands out to her.

"Mm hmm, thank you dear," she sat, taking her seat and putting a piece of turkey on her plate.

"Ya wanna smell 'em?" he asked, his voice hiding sarcasm.

His mother glared at him out of the corner of her eyes. "No, honey. Just eat." She pointed at the turkey on the huge plate.

Nico shrugged and stabbed a piece with his fork and plopped it on his plate. Then he reached for a slice of bread and buttered it with a chunk of butter.

His mother stared at the bread he was buttering. "Do you need that much butter?" she asked.

Nico looked at her and nodded. "Yup, sure do."

His father said nothing, but Nico could tell he was using all his strength to keep from laughing.

After dinner, Nico decided to take Rusty out to play fetch. He found a nice stick and waved it in front of Rusty, who barked like crazy and bounced around happily. "Want the stick Rusty? Want the stick?" Nico teased.

Rusty barked in reply and Nico chucked it down the stone road. Rusty yipped happily and chased it. Nico watched him, a smile on his face. Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice made him jump.

"Hey Nico," it said.

He whipped around to face a girl, his age, with long blond hair and stormy gray eyes, wearing owl earrings. "A-Anna?" he gawped.

She smiled. "Well duh!" she laughed. "Who else would it be?"

Anna lived in the village, not far from Nico's house. They've known each other since they twelve, and have been good friends. But Nico felt like he liked her more than a friend. He would always wonder if she felt the same. She was so beautiful, Nico's heart pounded when he saw her.

Rusty's bark split through Nico's thoughts. He whipped around just in time to see Rusty drop the stick at his feet. Smiling at the dog, he leaned down and picked it up, waving it in his hands. Rusty barked, wanting Nico to throw the stick again, but his owner only turned back to Anna. "Uh… uhh… so uhh, what's up?" Nico asked her.

Anna smiled. "Not much. I just heard Rusty and I figured you were out playing fetch with him, so I decided to say 'hi'."

"O-oh," Nico replied, swallowing hard.

Behind him, Rusty started yapping like mad, but Nico hardly noticed. "So how are you doing this evening?" he asked.

Anna smiled, and started to say "good", but she stopped and laughed, and pointed behind him to Rusty. "I think he wants you to throw it," she laughed.

"Huh?" Nico looked at the stick in his hand, and then realized Rusty was barking because he wanted it. "Oh," he laughed and turned to his dog. He chucked the stick as hard as he could and Rusty immediately bounded after it.

Nico turned back to Anna. "So, anything new?" he asked.

Anna shrugged. "Eh, not really," she replied. Suddenly, a voice called out her name from behind her. "Oh, I got to go," Anna told Nico. "Coming dad!" she called behind her. "See you later Nico."

Nico watched her run off, and something thudded into him from behind. "Gah!" he exclaimed, but he turned to see Rusty sitting at his feet, holding the stick in his mouth.

Nico smiled, patted his dog's head, and threw the stick again.

That night, Nico had the strangest dream he'd ever had.

It was dark out, and rain was falling from the sky. He could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. He was witnessing something strange. Before him, stood a huge black dragon with a long pick scar across his eye. The dragon was standing on a huge rock formation, talking to a huge cluster of dragons below.

Nico couldn't make out what he was saying. All he heard were muffled growls and triumphant roars.

Suddenly, the black dragon looked out in his direction. Nico gasped and turned to run, but he couldn't move his legs. The dragon roared something and two huge dragons emerged from the crowd, soaring towards him. They grabbed him and picked him up.

Nico tried to cry for help, but even if his voice was working, no one heard him.

The dragons carried him far away, and suddenly, he found himself free falling into a huge black pit. "AHHHHHHHH!" he screamed.

Just when he thought he was dead, he found himself in a grassy meadow set in front of a stormy blue sky. There was a huge silver dragon lying before him, staring at him with intriguing scarlet eyes.

The scene changed once more and he found himself flying high in the sky, on the dragon's back. He looked down to the see the grassy meadow, and saw a human like figure lying in the grass. The dragon soared down and they landed across from the figure. Nico hopped off its back and ran over to the human, but he realized who it was even before he reached her.

"No!" he screamed in pure horror, staring at the huge, bloody claw mark across her chest.

Nico woke with a jolt, and thought he was about to scream out loud, but realized it was only a dream. He sighed and leaned back on his elbows. He looked over to see Rusty on his bed, staring at him with big, curious brown eyes. Nico forced a halfhearted smile and petted his dog's head. "What a weird… and scary dream," he breathed.

Although, for some reason, the dream felt real. Too real.

He thought about it, and every time he did, he shivered. He stroked Rusty's head one more time, then laid back down, and at least tried to go to sleep.

Yeah, it's very long XD hope you like it though. I'd love to read what you think about it. I know, you're probably like "What the hell does this have to do with that prophecy and what not in the prologue?" Well, trust me my friend, you WILL find out, that's all I'm saying muahahahahaha.

Quiz time YAYYY x3 sorry I'm really hyper. Anyway, where do you think I got Anna from? Read her description closely and think about her name. If you guess it right, I'll give you a cookie. Tell me who you think it is in the review. (Or you don't even have to include it with a review, I just wanna see who you think it is.)