Chapter 1
People. Men and women, all with swords, surrounding me with their lips curled up in a snarl. They were yelling and screaming words that I couldn’t make out. I noticed something in the palm of my hand that I didn’t notice before. A green stone, it was no bigger than my outstretched hand. The stone was incredibly beautiful with fragile features. Before I could study the stone more, the mob was upon me. I threw my hands over my head and screamed.

“Ah!” Darren gasped. He sat up and looked around the room with his eyelids half open.

“What now?” groaned Lander from the corner of the room. Lander rolled on his side creates a loud groan coming from the bed. The sound made Darren’s heart jump. The orphanage owner always ran into the room whenever the bed creaked to make sure no orphan was leaving their beds. Darren heard feet shuffling across the floor from outside of the room getting closer and closer every heartbeat.
“Oh, God save us all. It’s her!” Darren heard an orphan cry from across the room.

“Nice going, now I’m never going to get some sleep,” spat Lander
The door opened and slammed against the wall leaving a small dent in the door along with all the others. The light from Anita's candle flooded the room which made Darren squint in the light.

“You all hush down before I make you all sleep outside with the dogs!” threatened the orphanage owner, Anita. Her speech was a bit slurred. Anita was bluffing since she had alcohol on her breath.
The orphan boys shrank back. “I’m sorry, Ma’am,” said Darren hoping that his apology would make Anita go back to her bottle. “I didn’t mean any harm. I was just excited over my nightmare and…”

“Oh hush up; I don’t have time for all your nonsense. I don’t want to hear another peep out of you children before the sun rises over those buildings.” Anita pointed at Darren’s bed especially, “Now get back to bed.” Anita looked wildly around the room to make sure every orphan was in their beds. With another glance at Darren, she left slamming the door behind her created another crack in the door. Darren remembered counting the cracks in the door while lying sick in bed.
Darren breathed a sigh of relief. Right before he was going to lie back in bed, Lander carried on the argument.

“Now look all the trouble you caused,” raged Lander.

“I had another nightmare!”

“Oh! The wittle baby needs to be comforted so he can go back to sweep and not be scared. Lander teased in baby talk.

“That’s enough!” said the oldest boy in the orphanage. “Lander, act your age. I don't want Anita to come back and I don't think you guys do either.

“You know what Lester? I'm sick of you always acting as if you're the oldest! I don't know why I always have to listen to you." snorted Lander.

“Um, he is the oldest,” pointed Wesley, one of the youngest. He seemed to be happy with his knowledge of Lester’s age because he turned to Lester smiling.

“Thank you Wesley,” said Lester smiling and nodding his head at the little boy.

One of the orphans groaned in annoyance of the bickering and turned over on his bed. The loud groan of the rickety bed made everyone cover their ears and brace for Anita’s fit. Everything was quiet. Coming from outside of their bedroom they heard a loud snore.

Ha! Anita must have fallen asleep, thought Darren.

Every orphan tip toed into their beds before Anita woke up. Darren cringed as the orphan’s beds made squeaking noises as the boys climbed into them. The mattresses had broken springs which created loud, groaning sounds and the bed frames were made of metal which had loose bolts and parts which created a squeaking noise.

The age of these beds can be traced back to the middle ages, chuckled Darren.

Darren listened to the noises of the scurrying rats and the consistent squeaking of the broken window shutter which Anita said she will get fixed. The repair man that she hires always comes on time but never has the time to fix anything because Anita is always flirting which annoys the man. Anita doesn’t seem to understand that he’s uninterested. The last time she asked him to fix the hole in the floor, he didn’t show up. Darren chuckled silently remembering the tizzy Anita threw.
The creaking of the orphan’s bed stopped and Darren’s thoughts were turned to his dream.

What does it mean, Darren thought, “I wish someone could tell me.

Darren tried to fight the need to sleep but sleep overtook his body. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
-*-*-*-

“Wake up! Wake up all of you!” yelled Anita while clapping her hands together trying to wake the orphans up.

“Why now?” Wesley whined while climbing out of bed.

“Because,” Anita replied happily while folding her hands in front of her, “We are going to have a visitor.”

The orphans started to murmur to each other in excitement but only Lander spoke up.

“Psh! Who would want to visit this dump?” Lander snorted, “Like does anyone ever remember the last time we had a visitor?

The orphans didn't pay attention to Lander's remark but Anita was furious.

“Close your trap before I close it for you,” Anita growled returning to her original self. “I don’t want another word out of you worthless children unless our guest speaks to you. Understand?

“Yes,” the orphans chimed. Anita nodded her head with approval and rushed out of the room. Darren smiled at the thought of Anita already freshening herself up just in case the man was around her age. While the orphans made their beds, Darren sat on his bed looking thoughtful.
“Hopefully someone is adopted; I don’t think any of these orphans have any hope left, including me.”

“Come on Darren, keep dreaming that you’ll be adopted, I’m sure it will come true today,” Lander teased.

“Shut up freak!”

“Oh! I’m so offended. Why don’t you stop name calling and fight you chicken?”

“Come on! Does everything have to be resolved with a fight?!” Lester exclaimed.

Lander ignored Lester’s remark and continued to taunt, “Chicken! Chicken!”

“Fine! Just shut your fat mouth! I’ll fight, ok?

Lander crossed his arms and looked amused. “Let the best man win.”

Lester looked concerned, “Come on Lander, leave him alone. He didn’t do anything to you.

“Shut up Lester,” Lander growled

“Darren, I hope you know what you’re getting into,” Lester groaned.

“I do…” Darren mumbled.

Lander smiled mockingly knowing that Darren’s thoughts and emotions were spinning.


“Why are you doing this Darren? You’re going to get yourself killed!” Darren thought.

Darren and Lander faced each other in the middle of the room. They both crouched down low to prepare for any kind of action. When Darren looked to the side of him he saw Lester shaking his head. He looked beyond Lester and saw eight orphans jumping and cheering both sides of fight. When he looked back at his opponent, he was already circling him. Right when Lander was about leap at him he heard a loud thud on the wooden floor. Lander and Darren froze, not wanting to look in the direction of the noise praying to God in hope that it wasn’t Anita. He heard Lander curse under his breath but not a noise came from anybody. Finally, Darren turned toward the source of the noise and gasped. A stranger who seemed to have come from another world and time was standing in the doorway. The man’s head was bent low while his white beard almost touched his knees and his body was enclosed with a worn, black cloak. The stranger had a brown pack full of traveling supplies that were clinging to the bag like a mother and a child and he was carrying a staff which seemed to be very old. Darren’s eyes widened when he saw his belt that carried a black, leather pouch which was bulging with coins. Darren glanced at Lander and detected that he saw the same thing. The stranger walked toward the group of boys and stopped a few feet away from him and Lander. “Well, I guess I interrupted something important to you boys, yes?”

“Um, no sir.” Darren replied quickly hoping that Lander won’t press the man to let them resume the fight.

“Good, good,” the old man chuckled, “So, where’s your mistress?”

“Uh, mistress?” Lander questioned. The stranger’s language was as strange and old as his clothing and items he carried. “Didn’t she let you in?”

“Oh no. I knocked a few times and when the door wasn’t opened I just let myself in.” replied the man cheerily.

“You let yourself in?!” Lander exclaimed, “I could get you arrested for trespassing.”

“Ah, I see. Excuse my mistake if you please.” The stranger replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Lander didn’t seem to notice.

“If you do it again, I won’t let you slide.” Lander replied crossing his arms.

“I understand.”

Anita rushed in the room huffing and puffing. She saw the stranger and became pale. “Ca… Can I help you?” she stuttered.

“Yes, now which one can I take?”

“Anyone sir,” Anita replied with her head bent low.

“Good, good.” the man replied nodding his head and leaning on his well worn staff. Seemingly he wasn’t going to make the adoption process easy.

“Anyone come to your liking?” Anita pushed, tapping her foot.

“Oh yes.”

“And…?” Anita questioned.

“And what?” the man replied knowing his stupidity was irritating Anita

“Which one do you want?” demanded Anita irritably.

The stranger looked at Anita and replied, “Patience.”

This is the 1950’s, people don’t have patience!” Anita exclaimed. The stranger looked at Anita with no expression on his face. He said nothing and returned to looking at the orphans.

“Fine,” Anita exasperated. “I’ll get the paperwork collected.”

Chapter 2

The man chuckled softly as Anita walked away flustered and irritable. The man’s attention was then turned back to the boys.

The younger orphans stared at the strange man with interested it seemed to make the stranger amused.
“Well now, I would like to learn about you kids. Starting with…” The stranger scanned the orphans carefully. “The tall one.”
Lester stepped out from the group, “Yes sir?”

“What’s your name?”

“Lester, sir.”

“Ok, good, good.” The stranger replied softly nodding his head.

The stranger kept calling on each orphan getting only their names. The stranger seemed to have missed Darren or skipped him. Hoping that he would still have a chance, Anita rushed in.

“Ok, I have the paperwork.” Anita said, “Have you chosen anyone yet?”

Say no, say no, say no. Darren though pleadingly.

“Yes, I actually have.”

Darren’s heart dropped in his chest.

“Well…who?” Anita snapped.

“Darren,” the man replied happily.

-*-*-*-

Darren’s heart jumped and his breathing became shallow. His thought whirled around inside his head. He had to put his hand to his head to steady himself from falling to his side.

Anita’s mouth dropped open slightly as she stared from Darren to the stranger. She closed her mouth and cleared her throat.

“Well, I will need you to sign your information here.”

“Sure.” The stranger replied.

The stranger filled out the information quickly. As he handed the paper to Anita he said, “Make sure you pack him a hearty lunch, he’s going to need it. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Anita looked at him strangely but nodded her head in approval as she scanned the information document.

“Uh sir? You didn’t put your name here in the document and I need that for the records,” said Anita chasing the man down the hall.

“Trust me, you don’t need it.” the stranger said faintly.

Darren and the orphans started to laugh mimicking Anita’s facial expressions. Darren turned around and saw Lander stalking up to him with his face twisted into a smirk. “Well, it looks like our favorite orphan friend has finally found a home.” Lander said sarcastically.

Darren squinted at Lander with disgust, “Why can’t you ever be happy for me? Like, can’t you be nice? I’m pretty sure that’s the reason your parents left you.”

Lander’s mouth dropped open and the room became quite. Lander looked around the room bewildered but he remained quiet.

“You lied about your mom and dad being dead. They never died, they left you.

“I never cared, so why would I care now?” said Lander while his eyes darted from confused orphan to orphan.

“Why’d you lie?”

“How did you find out?” Lander replied with no emotion in his voice.

“I asked you first.”

“You don’t have the right to know.” Lander replied coldly.
“Lander…my own birth parents didn’t want me. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. They should be ashamed,” Darren replied sympathetically.

“How did you find out?”

“A couple of days ago I was helping one of the younger orphans find his ball. I check in Anita’s room and found papers under her bed. There was a file…about you.

“What did you learn?” Lander responded. His face was pale and his eyes seemed to go into his sockets.

“Your parents left you when you were about eight, you were sick until you were eleven, and you have a tendency to wet your bed.” Darren replied smiling.

The orphans laughed but Lander was not amused.

“I’m glad you’re leaving. Everybody can finally get the peace I want.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’m the one disrupting the peace,” responded Darren while leaving the room.

- *-*-*-


“Well? I’m waiting.”

“For what?” Darren questioned.

“For all the times I cared for you and loved you; aren’t you going to say, thank you?” Anita replied crisply staring at Darren with loopy eyes. It seemed like she already had her drink that she normally saves for the night during her television show.
“Uh…thank you?” Darren replied unsure of what he was really thanking her for.

“Your very welcome.” said Anita pinching his cheek and smiling showing a row of yellow, rotted teeth.

Darren pushed her hand away, grimacing, trying to hold down his breakfast. Anita wiped her hand on her dress frowning. “Well, the man is waiting for you. You better be off.”

Darren headed for the door and stopped. He turned to Anita and smiled before saying, “Make sure you don’t drink too much okay?” He knew he could say whatever he wanted now that he had an owner

Anita was taken aback. She lifted up her hand to slap him but decided to put it down. She glowered at him and stormed away.

Darren laughed while he walked outside. He saw the stranger and noticed he was waiting by the side of the house. He took one more glance at the orphanage building and headed for his new owner.

Chapter 3
“You have everything?” the man asked.

“Well, yeah. I have my clothes and a couple of books I collected over the years.”

“Where’s your lunch? Your water? Where are you supplies?”

“Um, I need supplies? Like, I don’t think we are walking 1,000 miles.” Darren replied jokingly.

“You just might.” The man said mysteriously starting to stride down the alley.

“Well what does that mean?!” Darren replied following his owner.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“What I think I need to find out is your name. Like, I don’t think it’s right. Too many secrets. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

The man stopped abruptly in the alley, if Darren was close enough he could have easily slammed right into his back. “I do?”

“Yes.” Darren replied confidently looking at the man.

“Alright then,” the man replied while taking of his sack, “We’ll discuss it over dinner. It that okay with you?”

“Yes it is.”

“Good, good.” The man said nodding as he pulled out a pair of black, leather gloves. He slid on the gloves and continued to walk the same fast pace as before. Darren looked at the man strangely before he continued to chase after him. Darren thought about making a comment of how fast he went compared to other elderly people but he didn’t want to somehow insult the man.

“So, where do you live?”

“Somewhere far away.”

“Oh. Where’s your car.”

“Don’t have one.” The man replied shortly.

It was Darren’s turn to stop, “You don’t have a car?! How in the world are we going to get to your house?!”

“Walk.” The stranger replied seemingly not knowing that Darren stopped.

“Are you kidding me?!” Darren hollered toward the man.

“No, I am not kidding. Now come on, I don’t want to waste daylight.”

“Daylight?! I can’t believe I’m stuck with an insane old person!”

The man whirled around and said, “I’ll have you know that this old person has more sanity then anyone.” The man calmed down and continued to walk. Darren continued to follow with his hands shoved into his pockets. A few minutes later the man uttered, “Now that were far from the city we’ll start a fire and eat some dinner.”

Darren stopped short trying to calculate how long they were walking. The walk didn’t seem to have been more the 15 minutes. He looked under him and noticed for the first time that he was standing on soft, green grass. He spun around in a 360 and saw only thick, green forest. He tried to remember if there was a forest outside of the city. Darren knew he wasn’t in New York. He put his hand on a tree trunk to steady himself of the thought of leaving his home which he had been living in all his life. Some kind of electric shock ran through his body, stopping his heart for a second. Darren felt energized but a bit shaken. He looked at his owner with a bewildered look. The stranger looked amused. Darren looked back at the tree timidly. He knew that the tree was no ordinary tree. He looked up into the branches and saw a dove perched on the bough of the tree. The dove stared at him with keen eyes. Darren returned the gaze and stared at the dove with interest. Behind his back, the stranger lifted his hand, palm facing the bird. The bird looked behind Darren and soared off the branch and into the air. The dove flew until Darren couldn’t see it any longer. Darren turned around right as the man lowered his hand. Darren felt weak as if he was in a trance. Slowly, Darren lowered his body and sat on the grass cross legged. Just as the man sat on the grass across from Darren a piercing noise flooded the forest. Darren’s hands flew up to his ear to keep the sound from entering his ear drums. The stranger didn’t seem to notice the noise because he kept his head lowered. A whirling sound instantly took place of the shrieking noise. Darren looked up and saw a small stone falling from the sky, instinctively; Darren threw his hands over his head. The stone missed his head by an inch and landed in his lap. The wind from the stone lifted the bottom of his shirt and covered the stone’s features. Darren unfolded the cloth and grasped the stone. Darren slowly picked up the rock to inspect it thoroughly. The stone was a vibrate green with a tough looking shell but the stone held fragile features. Darren’s heart jumped. It’s the stone from my dream!
Chapter 4
Darren looked up from the stone slowly and looked at the man.

“Explain, now.” Darren said firmly, looking the stranger in the eye. Darren wouldn’t have spoken to anyone so harshly but with all the strange happenings, nothing is the same.

The man looked at Darren with eyes and said, “What you will learn may help your curiosity but will bring a great burden on you. Do you wish to learn this knowledge?”

“Yes. Also, I would like if you would stop talking like a prophet.”

The stranger ignored the request and started his story.

“I was very young when I fell in love. She was beautiful. She had raven black hair which was tightly coiled and always covered her ears. Her eyes were a deep green which seemed always in deep thought. We both fell in love at first sight.” The man sighed, “She was betrothed to a proud, man who was the son of my families’ adversary. Her parents didn’t commit her to the marriage but the parents of the son did. Ella said she doesn’t have any parents. She lived alone in a cottage. Her fiancé kept the cottage watched until a certain time when there was a guard change.
Ella and I would meet secretly together at night, I would make a sound of an owl and she would slip out of the house. It was a secret we kept with our lives until her betrothed, Karan, found us in the night.
We heard rustling in the bushes where we had our hiding place. His eyes fell upon Ella then he angrily turned toward me. He pulled out his blade with fire in his eyes. Before I could react, he rushed toward me and held his sword at my throat which made blood slide down my neck and onto his filthy blade. He drew back his blade ready to stab his sword into my throat until he heard a screeching noise that filled the air. The noise came closer and closer, the sound stopped. A huge stone fell out of the sky and hit him on the head. He yelled in pain and started to run the opposite direction toward Ella. He threw his sword straight at Ella’s stomach. The sword penetrated Ella’s flesh and flew Ella backward. I heard Ella’s gasp. She tried to cover the blood, but I noticed the blood seeping through her fingers and onto the floor. I rushed toward Ella and cradled her; ignoring the immense stone that was next to me. Ella’s breathing became shallow and that told me that she was not going to live much longer. She looked straight at me and said that she has been keeping a secret from me. She told me that she wasn’t human but an elf that was sent from her home to watch for wickedness in the land. Ella told me that Karan had blood of a demon, which you don’t inherit from parents but inherit from your soul. She said Karan will soon learn of his powers and will seek revenge on me. She continues and said that I have power that will keep me safe and the world from Karan’s wickedness. She said I will soon find out and that it was my destiny. Ella laid her head on my chest and took her last breath. I pushed her hair behind her ear and noticed the ears were sharply pointed at the top. The sight drew my breath away. I’ve heard of elves, but I’ve never seen one in person. I pushed her hair back and sobbed.” The man looked down from Darren’s eyes and choked back a sob. He wiped his sleeve against his eye preventing any tears from streaming down his face. He regained composure and continued his story keeping his head lowered.
“I laid Ella down on the grassy floor. The stone next to me was vibrant green and seemed to have jumped into my lap. I was afraid,” the stranger paused, waiting for Darren to interrupt but Darren didn’t. The man continued.
“I studied the stone and noticed it had egg like features,” the stranger saw the Darren was looking down at the stone.
“The stone weighed the same weight of a rock but since my friend’s father was associated with stones, I made up my mind to bring it to him.”
“I pondered Ella’s last words. I couldn’t make my mind understand that my destiny was to kill some wicked thing that haunted her and the elves. I started to walk home, picking up the stone as I head out of the forest. I brought it home, setting it on my father’s old worktable and became hitting it with things that he used to estimate the value. The stone was thick on the inside edges but was hollow deep in the inside. I try everything that my father had but nothing was working. I threw my father’s tools to the ground, making a clattering noise. That didn’t soothe my frustration or my pain; I grabbed a hold of the stone and threw it at the floor, everything seemed to go slow. Down, down, down went the stone. Before it reached the floor a loud, high pitched sound filled the room. The stone broke into a thousand pieces, a light brighter then the sun pierced the night. I shielded my eyes from the light, but the light penetrated my eyes. At last, the light and the noise stopped. I looked down and there it was a griffin. I heard of these beasts, flying over the land, killing anything in its sight. I couldn’t see anything evil or dangerous in the animal, so I raised it.”
The stranger became silent.

“That’s it?! That’s all you’re going to tell me? What about your destiny, your griffin, the evil demon?! And you didn’t even tell me your name!”

“That’s enough!” The man replied harshly. Darren became quiet, feeling embarrassed from his outburst.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two travelers. “My name is Kor.”

“Kor…? What kind of name is that?” Darren let the name roll off his tongue.

“I was named after a warrior that saved our land from tyrants. I think the warrior was a dwarf…I vaguely remember my parents saying something about a dwarf warrior…”

“I would like to explain to you that this is the 1950’s.”

“So?”

“In the 1950’s, there are no dwarfs, elves, griffins, and…and…evil demon people!”

“What is your point?” Kor replied calmly.

“Oh my gosh! I don’t think you’re understanding a word I’m saying!” Darren cried, “You are crazy!” Darren said, exaggerating the word “crazy.”

Kor chuckled softly. “What? What’s so funny?!” Darren asked in utter confusion.

“You…you are funny.” Kor replied between laughs.

“No, you are funny in the head, dwarf!” Darren replied angrily standing up, the stone dropping from his lap.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Kor stopped laughing, his happy face turned into fear.

“NO!!!” Kor yelled.

Right before the stone hit the grass, it exploded. Light streamed everywhere, blinding Darren who was the closest to it. Waves of heat hit both Darren and Kor, burning their skin. A sharp noise filled the air, forcing their hands to their ears. Darren crouched into a ball hugging his knees, face to the grass. Suddenly, it became quiet.

Chapter 5

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 01.08.2010

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Widmung:
To Kristen For always being my annoying sister. I love you.