Chapter 1

One night, in a peaceful kingdom, lives a happy family at a cottage in the town. The mother is cleaning the table after dinner, meanwhile, the kids are going to bed. After cleaning the house, the mother yawns and finally gets ready to go to bed. Until her one daughter and son ran over to her.

"Mother! I found an old book in the attic" her daughter said, as she gives the book to the mother.

The mother looks at the book, the book has a red cover and the title is already blurry, she opens the book and suddenly smiles.

"Now there, do you want to hear a bedtime story?" the mother asked with a cheerful and kind voice.

The son got excited, smiled, and started to hop around.

"I would like to Mother!" the boy said to his mother.

The kids then go to their room, tuck themself into their beds, and are ready to listen to the story. The mother giggled and sit in the chair in the middle of the room, she opened the book and started reading.

"Once upon a time... a long time ago...

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Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a beautiful kingdom named Nucatopia surrounded by a very dangerous forest, the forest is full of dangerous magical creatures. They are all hunted by the humans in the kingdom of Nucatopia and they'll sell them to the other kingdom at high prices, making them the richest kingdom of their time. The kingdom was ruled by a very brave and mighty king, named King Henry. Everyone in the kingdom adores King Henry very much, he was not very good looking though, but just with a little bit of money and power, you can have anything in the world.

Many years ago, before King Henry rule the kingdom, live a very strong cat, a black cat, they were named Skiters. These Skiters were very strong, there was not only one of them, there was a whole family, a whole clan of them. These Skiters were considered magical and holy creatures, they act as a protector to the kingdom. When the Skiters before them died the next generation will continue protecting the kingdom of Nucatopia, until one day, they betrayed them. The Skiters lead an attack to attack the kingdom they've protected for generations with an army of magical creatures, a war happens between these two races.

Many humans and Skiters died in the fight, humans who do not know magic will never win, making it impossible to win. One day, the Kilyters came and helped the humans, Kilyters are cats that have white snow fur, they're not as strong as the Skiters, but with the help of the humans they can fight back the enemies. From that day, the Kilyters were seen as holy creatures and the Skiters as dangerous creatures that suppose to be eliminated.

Because of the war, almost all of the Skiters were killed, leaving just one Skiter in this world. The Skiter manages to survive by fleeing right before he got killed, the Skiter flees to the forest that was surrounding the kingdom with the other magical creature. The humans and Kilyters decided to burn down the forest to find one Skiter, but they underestimate the Skiter's power, the Skiter had put a magical shield in the forest so the forest won't be hurt, and until now, the Skiter is still waiting in the forest for the right time to take revenge.

The citizens from the Kingdom of Nucatopia tell this story to their kids before they went to sleep, to remind them that they need to be careful and never leave the kingdom, they even teach this in school, but Misty never believe it.

Misty Charm was a 12-years-old girl who lives in the Kingdom of Nucatopia, she is a kind and cheerful girl, who have long brown hair and two beautiful emerald eyes, Misty never trust the story about the Skiter betraying the kingdom, it feels odd and fishy. Magnius Charm, Misty's father was a hunter who leads the royal hunting team. Magnius likes to collect weird artifacts that he found on his journey hunting in the woods, he shows all of those artifacts on a shelf in the living room, Misty never likes it, some of the artifacts are beautiful and covered with beautiful stone or sometimes gold but some of them are also covered with gross and disgusting slimes or sometimes worse. Myla Charm, Misty's mother was a baker, she has a bakery in the town hall, one of the best bakeries in the Kingdom of Nucatopia, just like Misty, her mother never really like her husband's collection and already said many times that she'll throw it all away, even though she never does it.

It's a sunny day in Nucatopia, and everyone is doing their activity, while Misty is stuck in school. Today's subject is the legend of the Skiters, the legend about the Skiters who betrayed the kingdom, it's been 5 minutes through the subject, and the teacher already mentioned the name 'Skiters' ( angrily ) 3 times. The one that Misty never believe. She is so bored, Misty turns her head and looks outside through the window, there are three rows of seats in Misty's classroom, and Misty seats in the center row. She rests her head on one hand and looks outside from her seat, the sky is clear, and it's sunny outside, it's perfect weather to go out and play if only she's not stuck here in school.

She looks around the class, her eyes scanning the whole room, she then spotted a boy sitting in the back row beside the window, but she never realizes there's anyone there. She looks at the stranger at the back and realizes she once saw him on the first day she came, but she never really pays any attention to him.

She looks closely at the boy at the back, he has dark black hair, as black as the night sky, and if you look closely, you'll see a few tiny dots in his hair, it looks like the stars in a beautiful night sky. He has a pale skin tone and two beautiful sky-blue eyes, and he wears a pair of round glasses with a black thin frame, Misty always thought that glasses are for nerds, but he doesn't look like a nerd at all, he looks like a bully instead. he wears a plain white T-shirt, it's so clean without any dust or any dirt covering it, a pair of long black pants and two pair of white shoes.

Else than his odd appearance, she's also amazed by his face, he looks so handsome, just like a prince, is he from a noble family? There's no way someone can be this handsome. She looks at him for a second, the boy's gaze is fixed on something outside the window, he didn't even bother to pay attention to the teacher explaining at the front of the class.

She is lost in her thoughts for a moment until the teacher called her name and brings her back to reality, "what are you looking at? You need to pay attention to the class, young lady!" the teacher told her, she feels so embarrassed, "I'm sorry sir" she side while looking at the floor. The teacher then continued the class, while her teacher is now starting to explain how the Kilyters come to help them fight the Skiters, Misty turn her head around and look at the boy again, until the boy switches his gaze to Misty, his cold blue eyes gives Misty goosebumps. She then pretends to focus on the subject, and when she thinks it safe, she turns her head around again, looking at the place the boy is sitting, but the boy is not there anymore, she's just looking at an empty chair and table that haven't been touched for years. Where did he go? She asked herself, did she just imagine him? Her mother always says that she has a very wild imagination. She shook her head and tries to forget about it.

{***}

After Suffering for hours in school, Misty can finally go out and get some fresh air. She steps outside and takes a deep breath, the warm and gentle evening wind is playing with her long brown hair and her long white dress, and her two green emerald eyes shone as the sun starts to set. She was ready to go home and eat some of her mother's delicious bread, but then she saw something, she look to the right, and just a few meters away from her, she saw the boy, the same boy she saw in her class.

She look at her for a moment, then the boy spotted her, and to her surprise, the boy smiled at her. Before she can process what just happen, the boy turned around and left, what is that? She thought, he didn't even say a thing, but he did smile at her. She just ignores it and makes her way home.

A few minutes later, she finally arrived at her house, she opens the gate to the front yard and gets in, the front yard is full of many kinds of flowers, her mother loves flowers so much, so her father save up money and buy a house with a yard so she can start gardening. Misty walks over to the front door, but then the bushes beside her move, she turns her head to the bushes, looking at it confusingly, did she just imagine that? She look at it closely, and without a warning, a cat jumped out of it, and not just any ordinary cat, it's a Skiters!

Misty eyes widened, and she froze in her spot, she didn't dare to move, she was afraid that if she move the cat in front of her might attack her. She never believes that Skiters or even Kilyters exist, and now a Skiter is standing right in front of her. She thought that maybe the Skiter is going to kill her, but all the Skiter does is just sit there and start grooming itself, she looked closely at the Skiter, it have dark black fur as black as the sky and two sky-blue eyes, and she feels like she's seen those eyes before, but she can't remember where.

After grooming, the Skiter looks up at Misty and stares at her for a moment, as if the Skiter is judging her. She froze, doesn't even dare to move a muscle, then finally, without doing anything, the Skiter jumps back into the bushes and disappears. Misty was shocked by what she just saw, she then immediately rush into her house and lock the door. She is planning to tell her father what she saw when he gets home.

{***}

It's a peaceful evening in the Charm's house, Myla, Misty's mother is washing the dishes in the kitchen, while Magnius, Misty's father, is drinking his coffee while reading something in the newspaper. Until Misty's noisy steps disturb the peace, she's rushing down the stairs while wearing her pajamas and almost falls. She rushes to her father, "Father, you won't believe what I saw on the way home! I don't even know where to start!" she said in a hurry, she look scared. Her father tried to calm her down, Misty slowly start to calm down, "now can you explain to me what you saw, slowly?" her father said.

Misty takes a deep breath and starts explaining about the time she meets the Skiter in their front yard, her father is listening with full Interest when Misty finishes explaining, her father is thinking, there's a sudden silence in the room until her father asked, "when did you meet this Skiter dear?", "I don't remember" she answered

"is it already dark when you meet it?" he asked again

Now Misty's brain started to work, she tries to recall the memory of when she met the Skiter in the front yard, "no..." she then answered "The sun is starting to set, but it's not dark yet, why? She asked with confusion. Her father then looks at her in the eyes, with a friendly smile on his face, "well you see dear, Skiters are just like vampires, they can't stand the sun, or they'll turn to dust. The difference between them is that Skiters don't eat blood" he answered.

"but I do see it Father, and it's not just my imagination!!" Misty said furiously, trying to convince her father. "Misty, you just got home from school, your starting to imagine things because you're tired" he answered calmly. Now that her father mention it, she do feel a little tired at that time, did she just imagine it? What kind of person will trust a 12-year-old anyway?

{***}

The moon is shining brightly in the night sky, with beautiful stars accompanying it. Almost everyone in the kingdom is asleep, but Misty can't sleep. She's just laying on her bed while looking at the ceiling, did she just imagine it? She asked herself. She then hides under her blanket, trying to sleep. Tonight is colder than usual, Misty thought it was going to snow tomorrow, and she was right, snow starts to rain down from the sky, covering their yard. Misty got down from her bed and walk over to the window beside her bed.

She's staring at the beautiful view, she started to count each of the snowflakes, wanting to count them all, but the snow starts to come more, Misty then gives up on counting them and just enjoying the view. She then looks down at the yard and to her surprise, a black cat is sitting on top of the pile of snow that's covering the yard, looking up at Misty. Misty, without hesitation, grabs her winter cloak and decided to go out to catch the Skiter.

She opens the door slowly, not wanting to wake anyone, and tip-toed downstairs. She stopped at the kitchen, checking through the kitchen window, she wants to make sure the Skiter is still there or not. But the Skiter is still there as if it is waiting for her, it starts to give Misty goosebumps, she look closely at the Skiter, and she realized that this Skiter is different than the other Skiter she met before, instead of blue eyes, this Skiter has a pair of red eyes, but as long it's a Skiter, it's not a problem to her.

She then sneaks to the front door, she wears her shoes without noise, and opens the door slowly. The cold winter breeze brushes through her hair, and she shivers a little but it's too late to go back now. She turns around to where the Skiter is sitting and to her surprise, it's still there. She slowly walks to the Skiter, not wanting to scare it, she's now just a few steps away from it but then the Skiter runs away, "wait!" she shouted and followed the Skiter.

Her eyes are focused on the Skiter in front of her, she has no idea where she's going, but she needs to catch that Skiter. The Skiter then jumped into one of the bushes and disappears, Misty then sighs with disappointment and finally realizes where she is. She looks around, she's not familiar with this place, where is she? Is she lost? She doesn't remember the way home and that place is so dark. She can see a statue beside her, it's the statue of the Kilyters, it's made to honor them and as a thanks for helping them. Looks like she's in the town square, her father brought her here once, maybe she'll find a way back home. After gathering her bravery, she chooses a path and starts walking.