Chapter One

Ranger Cottage, Redmont, Araluen.

Will sighed as he turned his spoon around in his soup. Today it had happened again. People of Redmont were disappearing with no trace. It wasn't right. There was no way to track down where they were going or who was doing it. The Force had already sent out a group of Rangers out to see what was going on. So far there had been no answers. But they needed answers. The Corps needed answers now.

He pushed his dinner to the side and pulled out the most recent reports from his fellow Rangers. The letters had the oakleaf emblem on the side of them and he opened this slowly with a sigh. It seemed there was no hope in anyone he talked to these days. Even the people of Redmont castle were avoiding having conversations with him out of fear. They knew that talking to a Ranger about that sort of thing was very dangerous in the present time. The only friends he had at this moment was his former mentor Halt, Lady Pauline, Horace, and Alyss. He sighed as he thought of Horace. He only came around when he had a reason to. Horace had been avoiding riding much in the open to come his way to come to a castle. So Will's life had become very lonely in the past few months since the Darkness had come.

Will looked at the letter again. The letter was a notice from Crowley that informed everyone that the date of the Ranger Gathering was approaching. He sighed to himself once more and shook his head. He didn't know how many Rangers would dare to try and show at the Gathering. It was dangerous times in Araluen. Crowley stated that in his letter. Then something changed. The writing changed. Dark, it said. It was written in an old man's handwriting. It looked like whoever had wrote it was having trouble writing. It was like the quill he was using was shaking. He blinked his eyes. It changed again. Cold, it came again. Will looked around the room quickly. Nobody was there. He shook his head as the next word came. Sacrifice, the new word said.

"God," Will whispered quietly.

His heart rate was beginning to move faster as the forth word appeared. Taken, was the forth word. Will shook his head and put the paper under a pile of other reports from the Corps. He must have imagined that. Those sort of things did not happen. The Supernatural horror was an object of stories around the fire for some people to tell. After all, he didn't believe in Sorcery of anything of that sort. But now he was wondering if he should.

There was more movement. He gasped lightly as he saw the paper was on top of the stack again. God, no. But this time it wasn't something odd. It was back to normal.

Rangers,

This letter is to inform all of you of the upcoming Annual Ranger Gathering. The Gathering will be held at its usual spot. It is understandable if you are not able to attend. Please send a letter to myself if you are not able to attend this Gathering. In the present state of the country many will not be coming to our Gathering this year. But having our Ranger Gathering has been tradition of the Rangers since the beginning of our Corps. I hope most of you will be able to make it once again.

Crowley

Commandant of Ranger Corps

Stationed at Castle Araluen.

Will shook his head. He must be going crazy. Then suddenly he felt cold. No, he felt beyond cold. He was freezing. The feeling was the same as he felt when he was a slave in Skandia working in the frigid weather there. But this time it was worse. It was way worse. He took a deep breath and dropped the letter. It fell from his hands quickly, like it was being pulled away. He hated this. He didn't understand any of it. But he had to. It was his job here as a Ranger to stop anything gone wrong inside the country. And something here was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The young Ranger closed his eyes then opened them slowly. His heart rate was still racing and it moved faster when he saw the sight before him. It was black. The entire wall was black. He shook his head and looked down at the table that held his reports and his dinner. The soup was frozen inside its bowl. Will shook his head and looked back up at the wall.

It was like there was a hole inside of it. But that could not be possible. Things like this never happen in reality. But it was happening. It was his reality. Right now this was happening.

Taking a deep breath, the Ranger slowly moved towards the hole.