BOOK OF FOLK 1

Background info (In a world very similar to our very own planet Earth, each country is inhabited by a different fantasy creature. For example, the USA, one of the most powerful countries, is inhabited by elves. Canada by humans, and so on. This first chapter just introduces the main character and some minor details.)

*Hey! I'm Chester, Chester Reney and I'm here to tell you a little bit about myself and the world that I live in. First and foremost I live on Earth, but not just any Earth, an Earth were magical creatures such as elves and dwarves exist.

In my world we also have magic that we use to power all sorts of things from cars to rotary dial telephones, heck we even have magic-powered guns! We don't only use magic for conventional use however, some people and races that are super skilled with magic such as the elves use it to cast spells that shoot out fire and lightning from their hands.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you, this world is also made up of many different countries and in each country, there is a special race. For instance, I live in Canada, which is home to the human race.

Below us is the United States, one of the most powerful countries in our world and also the homeland to the elves. Besides those two countries I don't know much, I mean I'm mainly getting my information from my father's book, it's called The Book of Folk.

The Book of Folk is set in crimson red leather with clear black lettering on the front that says "The Book of Folk". The Book of Folk starts with a basic introduction to our world and a basic map of all the countries on Earth. Besides that, it also contains large empty boxes were pictures and descriptions can be written/drawn.

The Book of Folk was made by my father because he had always wanted to adventure out into the world and find out just who was living in it. Unfortunately for him, however, he had found my mom and in the process had me.

Now, he could have continued his dream to adventure if he just convinced my mom to take me along but that didn't end up being the case...at all. While giving birth to me my mother died and in turn, my dad had to take care of me.

Don't get me wrong, my father took very good care of me and taught me a lot but I always felt like something was missing from him. My father was 23 years old when he had me but it felt almost like he had lost all his youth when he figured out he couldn't continue his dream.

On empty nights I could see my father staring at the night sky, almost like he was looking for something...looking for someone. Anyways, my current day to day life consists of me helping out around the house by doing chores cleaning or doing laundry.

In a sense, it's like I've taken over my mother's position of being a housewife and have therefore taken over all the tasks she would have done. I don't mind though, it's not like I have to go to school or anything like that, that's only for the rich kids in the city not for boys like me who live in small towns.

My father works at the local sheriff's office, although it's not like he does much because of the lack of action or rather the lack of anything that occurs here. I'd say the biggest event that's ever happened here was the opening ceremony of our town.

Well, I think that's enough information, for now, I've always wanted to write a diary but I don't want to make the main focus of it my dreary town life. I want this diary to be filled with my exciting adventures as I travel around the globe because when I grow up I want to be an adventurer!

Fulfilling my dads' book is only the start of my adventure. Who knows, maybe I'll be in the history books when I grow up. I can already imagine my title "The only person to have ever recorded every single race on Earth."

I know what you may be thinking, "If there's a map of Earth then why aren't their detailed accounts of all the races living on it?" The answer to that is very simple, the people living on this planet don't get along very well.*

"Chester! Son! come downstairs I gotta show you something!"

*Oh shoot, it seems like my dad's calling me. I'll tell you more about Earthly relations tomorrow diary, for now, I'll end it with "Day 1 complete."*

I put down my pencil and my diary and make my way downstairs as I start to wonder why my dad would call me down as he usually doesn't. "Chester! Good to see you, son, I got something to show you that you're not going to believe!"

"What is it, dad? You don't normally call me down unless it's for dinner."

"Well, son I just wanted to show you...this!"

Dad pulls out what seems to be a seemingly normal badge.

"Dad...Is this all you called me down for? It's just a normal badge."

"Look closer son, It's much more than what meets the eye."

Dad hands me the badge and upon closer inspection, I notice that it's a sheriff's badge!

"Wow! Dad does this mean you've been...promoted?!"

"Yes! Exactly so son, thanks to the old sheriff stepping down due to old age I've been selected as the new sheriff of North Louise!"

"That, That's awesome dad! Does that mean you'll be known by everyone around town?"

"Haha son, everyone in town already knows me. If anything, this will just make people depend on me more."

"Is that so, well I hope that the new responsibility of being sheriff doesn't keep you home from coming home early."

Dad decides to ruffle my hair after hearing that and says, "Don't worry too much son, family always comes first for me no matter what. This new position just helps solidify our financial position, expect some new family trips soon?"

At the mention of family trips, I couldn't help but get excited. Ever since the death of mom, family trips have been one of the only ways I see dad be "dad".

"Alright dad I trust your words, now don't you have to go to work and take over your new position as sheriff of North Louise?"

"Haha, you betcha kiddo, I'll see you later son, take care."

And with that dad grabbed his coat and hat and headed off to work, but not before stopping and saying, "Oh and also, Chester once I come back home I want to talk to you about something. It's something that I've been wanting to tell you for a while but haven't been able to because I thought you wouldn't understand. Now that you've grown up, however, I feel like it's better than ever to tell you."

I simply nod my head as I watch my dad depart, not knowing that this would probably be the last time I ever see him off.

I close the door and sit down on a chair nearby wondering for a while as to what my dad could be wanting to tell me. After a while, however, I get bored and switch to working on my daily chores.

The rest of the day is normal, I finish drying the laundry and finish cleaning up the house with spotless perfection. I go sit down and turn on the radio were I tune in to the local news station to hear what's new.

All I hear is static at first but after a while, I hear talking, "A terrorist group known as The Only Race, has been terrorizing nearby towns and causing destruction all around Canada. Please be advised to stay indoors and keep day to day activities to a minimum as the government works to stop these evildoers."

"A terrorist organization, coming to this small town? There's no way, this town's so silent that it's almost like it's hidden on purpose."

With that being said, I get up from the chair I was sitting on and make my way to the kitchen where I plan to start dinner. As soon as I step into the kitchen, however, I hear a large "BOOM" coming from outside.

I feel goosebumps sprout around all over my body as I stop my movements. I stand there for a while before I regain my senses and realize that I've been standing in the kitchen for a solid two minutes.

"The...there's no way that terrorist organization would a...attack right? I mean we're a small silent town, nothing t...to offer."

"BOOOM" I hear another loud crash come from outside and finally conclude that today is the day where I may very well die.

"Well I've lived a very nice quiet life in this town, I didn't do much or achieve much but at least I lived a fairly normal life."

"BOOM, BOOOM, BOOOOOOOOOM"

This time it was 3 explosions, with the last one sounding pretty fatal.

"Well If I want to survive I guess the only thing I can do is hide."

I move to make my way towards a nearby closet but then come to remember something very crucial. The person who has taken care of me for almost all my life, my one and only family.

"DADDDD! HOW COULD I FORGET HIM?"

Almost as if ingesting a courage pill I immediately make my way out of my house. It's like hell, almost like instead of stepping outside I stepped right into hell's entrance. All around me there is fire, everything is on fire, there is nothing that isn't being consumed by fire.

The heat was so intense that it gets hard to see, my vision starts to get blurry and my body starts to sweat much faster than usual. I stare blankly at the inferno of flames for a while before deciding to move.

I ran, ran like the biggest most horrifying creature was chasing after me, ran like the fire had manifested itself into a living being and had chosen me as its victim. Where did I run to, only my legs knew that answer.

Finally, after my chest felt like burning and my legs felt like falling apart, I arrived. I arrived at the sheriff's office, the place where my father worked. It was burning, burning to the ground, I couldn't help but look at it and imagine, I imagined that this was probably what hells sheriff office looked like.

From looking at the sheriff's office I came to two conclusions. The first one was that my dad had escaped before the fire was lit and had made it out of town. The second one, however, made me shake like a mad man.

"Was...was my dad truly dead?

Had the person who I loved most in this world and the person who I most admired truly been burned to a crisp?

"No, that's not…"

I wasn't thinking right, I normally would have thought about this more rationally, come to a more positive conclusion but faced with the reality of the situation I could only look down at the floor with my knees on the ground.

Suddenly from my right, I heard gunshots. Jerking my head so fast that It almost felt like I had expected this, I saw my dad.

A small smile formed on my face as I realized that my dad wasn't dead yet.

"Dad! DAD! YOU'RE ALIVE! DAD LOOK OVER HERE ITS ME! DAD!"

My hysterical yelling was drowned out by the sound of the inferno, the sound of wood being burnt outpowered my desperate shrieks.

My dad was shooting at what seemed to be...elves. I couldn't tell because of the masks but the long ears made a clear indication that they were some type of elf. My dad was bleeding, he was heavily wounded with blood seeping out from all over his clothes.

I wanted to help, I couldn't just stand idly I had to do something, I had to move. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! I repeated this in my head a million times over but my legs didn't agree with me, they forbid me from moving.

I didn't know why at first but after seeing how fast my hands were shaking, I realized why. My fear had beaten my courage in a desperate battle and had taken its rightful place as the owner of this situation.

This fear this overwhelming despair, I've never experienced it and my body was a clear indication of that. I just stood there until finally, "BANG!" I looked up only to realize that the person who I loved the most, had just taken his final breath. Being shot like he meant nothing to anyone like he wasn't loved by anyone, he fell to the ground like a lifeless doll.

The person who I most admired was no longer of this world, he was now a being who resided among the dead. My father, he was gone, expired, lifeless...dead.

If anyone was looking at me right now they would realize that my pupils were shrunk almost to the point where they were non-existent. All this adrenaline coursing through me had been for nothing, I had accomplished nothing.

I let my father die, I just stood there and did nothing. With this, I looked up at the sky and realized how beautiful it was. The sky is especially beautiful when all you can see is red. And on this day where the sky is red, I Chester Reney had decided that today was the day that I finally die.