1 Chapter 1: Awakening of the Darkness

Beep beep beep

I smacked the alarm clock. "What time is it?" I said sluggishly. I looked at the alarm, it was 9:00!!"Crap! I'm late for school!" I yelled. I quickly got out of bed and got my clothes. I got to the shower and took a quick shower then, went to brush my teeth. I put on the school uniform and ran downstairs. I got some bread and put it in the toaster. I sat there watching the toaster intensely, impatiently waiting for the toast to finish. Finally, the toast was finished, I put some jelly on the toast, I put the toast in my mouth and got my bag. I got out of the door and made sure I locked it. I started running quickly to school while eating toast. Then, I took a sharp turn and was at the school entrance. The gatekeeper was there."You're late again, now run 10 laps with them!" He yelled pointing at some other students that were late. Apparently, Samuel was also there."Morning Sam," I said."Morning," Samuel did with a yawn."Enough chitchat and give me 10 laps!," the Gatekeeper yelled. Gabriel and I started running around the field with some other students.

Finally, I was done running. I tried to catch my breath."I'm so tired. Can I sleep now?," I said."You need to be more fit," Samuel said. We went up the stairs to our class. I opened the classroom door, the teacher looked at me. "You're late. Now, get in your seats!" she said with an annoyed face. I got to my seat, next to the window. The teacher went on with the lesson while I stared out the window.

"Carmen. Carmen. Carmen!," I heard."Wah?," I quickly said."Carmen, it's lunch aren't you gonna come to eat with us?" Elly asked."Oh, it's lunch already?," I said."Yes, you have slept during the entire class," Samuel said"The teacher tried to wake you up but, you looked like you were sleeping soundly. The teacher gave up trying to wake you up. Then, she slipped on a piece of paper. I didn't know if it was possible to slip on a piece of paper, but it somehow happened. And it was hilarious at first but—!" Samuel said."Let's go and eat first, Samuel can explain story on the way." Elly interrupted. We started walking down to the cafeteria, Samuel told me how the teacher got a serious back injury and had to leave. We got on line for lunch, I got ramen for lunch. We sat down with Summer, Kaley, and Sophie. We had lunch and got back to class. There was a substitute waiting for us."Your teacher is in the hospital now, so I will be in charge. Since there wasn't isn't much I can do. I'll let you guys go outside." He said.

The class went outside. Many decided to play basketball in the basketball court. But Kaley, Sophie, Samuel, Elly and I decided to sit in the shade."This is kinda boring, it's nice and all but I'm not into doing anything that physically," I said."I mean you are the lazy type," Kaley murmured."What? Sorry, I didn't hear you," I said."Oh, it-it's nothing," Kaley hesitated."So, what is the reason for you being tired? I never saw you this tired." Sophie asked."I dunno, I just have a lot of nightmares and can't sleep for the past few days. At first, the nightmares weren't that bad. But, as time went on the nightmares felt real and I couldn't sleep." I explained."What was the nightmare?" Elly asked."I-I don't remember, that's the weird part. I don't remember the nightmare but, I was sure I had a nightmare." I said."Well, that's weird," Kaley said."I hope you get a good night sleep tonight," Samuel said.

After school, I walked the way home while talking to Samuel since we live kinda close to each other."So, what are you gonna do when you get home? If you're free then let's play video games!" Samuel said."Nah, I'm going to just eat, shower, sleep," I said."You are really tired huh?" Samuel said."Yeah....," I said. After a while, I got to my house."Bye, see you tomorrow," I said."Bye," Samuel said back. I took my keys out and opened the door. I closed the door after I got in and took my shoes off and put it on my shoe rack. Now for food, I checked my fridge and it was kinda empty. There's some vegetables, eggs, and milk. So, I decided to order pizza. I ordered the pizza and after about 10 mins the order arrived. I got to my bedroom and turned the TV on. While watching the TV, I ate my pizza. When I was done, there were 4 slices left so I put them in the fridge. Then, I went to take a bath. When I was done I put on my pajama and got into bed after turning off the lights and closing the blinds.

When I woke up, I wasn't at my house! I looked around me, I was in front of one of those ancient Chinese palaces. There was a lot of people around me, they all seemed confused."All contestants are here, now you might be confused. But, you all chosen to compete in the Elemental Conquest. Be grateful because only five-hundred people get to participate every thousand years. You each will choose an element, or which element is calling you to choose them. Depending on the element you can progress further on in the game. The winner takes all and the loser dies," the Announcer said. I looked at what I was wearing, and I wasn't wearing my pajamas. My main question is who changed me because I was not wearing a white robe. I looked around again, many people are still confused but a few looked confident about the contest or whatever challenge that is."Hey, looked to the right, your friends are waiting for you". What was that? I could've sworn that I heard someone talk to me but, no one was there. But, the voice said to look to the right. When I looked to the right, I saw Samuel, Kaley, Elly, and Sophie. They all were here but, how. I ran to them and yelled,"Thank god I'm not alone."Hey, do you know what this is?" Samuel said."I only remember that I was watching anime then I popped up here," Sophie said."But, hey these robes are from ancient China, I wonder how they got these," Elly said."We need to figure a way to escape because if we lose we die!" Kaley yelled."Over-dramatic much," Samuel said with a smirk."Hey, announcer can we make teams!" I yelled."Oh, a question! Yes, guilds can be made and they can consist of any of the elements. You all will have 10 minutes to decide your element." He announced. Just as the announcer finished announcing, five portals each with a different color popped up in front of everyone."These portals will lead to your test and will determine your element. But, in each portal is a test where if you fail you will be killed or maybe eaten. This will probably lower the numbers down to 350 people at least. When you go through the portal you will arrive at a town. And there are 5 different towns that represent each of the elements. Now, have fun. Oops, I forgot, killing is allowed but, no killing within towns but when there's a contest then it's allowed." the announcer announced and then disappeared."How about we split so, everyone is a different element so, later on, there's a variety of skills?" I asked."But, what if we die!" Elly asked terrified."I usually wouldn't do this but, Carmen is right...We need to split up. But, we will see each other in the future," Kaley said."Promise?" Elly asked."Promise" Kaley replied. We had a group hug, and we all walked our own ways. I walked to the portal with a purplish effect. Surprisingly only 20 people were there compared to the other portals with hundreds of people."Why aren't there so, little people here?" I asked one of the people that were near the portal."Did you not know?" He said."Know what?" I said."This portal is the darkness element, whoever wields the element is very powerful. But, the success rate is very low. If your powerful enough with this element you can become a god and bring people back from the dead!" He said. The guy seemed unafraid. Samuel, Kaley, Elly, and Sophie already got to their portals but, I need to gain this element to be with them in there future. When it was my turn to go through the portal, a guy pulled me back."This portal leads to the darkness element. I don't think a little girl like you can handle it." He said."I'm am sure that I can handle it. I'm not a little girl for your information." I said as I pushed him away."You!!!!" He yelled with rage. The gatekeeper kicked him back."No violence when choosing elements," she said. I walked into the portal, the inside of the portal seems dark. I saw a glowing orb, I went to touch it. But, some force pushed me back."Who dares to disturb my slumber!" A voice bellowed. I took a deep breath,"Are the dark elemental orb?" I asked."Yes, you seemed to have awakened me from my slumber so, you must pay!!!" The orb beamed. A giant dragon appeared behind the orb. The dragon roared which pushed me back. This was the test that the announcer said. The dragon launched itself towards me and I was sure it said,"You'll be my lunch!". I didn't want to be a dragons lunch, so I ran and dodged the dragons attack."Looks like you are indeed special," the dragon bellowed."What do you mean special?" I asked."There was never a human tried dodging my attack but, only one had. Most humans are puny and scared of death." The dragon said." But, in order to pass the test, you have to defeat me!" The dragon bellowed. The dragon breathed purple fire towards me. I put my arms in front to take the impact and closed my eyes knowing that I would die. But, when I opened my eyes I noticed that I was unharmed but, the fact that the robe got burnt."Looks like you have awakened your powers. Now, it would be a fair fight!" The dragon said. My hands were on fire and the fire was also purple, I tried putting the fire out but I wouldn't go out. The dragon slashed its claws at me. I tried jumping to dodge the slash. But, I apparently had a jumping power and went a bit too high. When I was falling down, I spotted the dragons head. I looked at my hands, they were still on fire so I decided to fall and try cracking the dragon's skull. Crack. The dragon fell down, its head was cracked open."Looks like you successfully pass the test," the orb beamed."The dragon will be your guide."But, it's died." I said confused."He's not died. His essence will be formed into the first stage of a dragon." The orb said. The dragon corpse disappeared and what appeared was a black egg."Is this a dragon egg or a black ostrich egg? It's not that big," I said."That's a shadow dragon egg and later it will become a mighty dragon." The orb said."Now, I will send you to your next destination." Everything went black. Then, I saw a deserted town there was no one there, skeletons laying on the floor, and houses in runes. Suddenly the skeletons on the floor got up, some of them had axes and they started heading towards me.