Episode 1, part 7

Sarah and Tom were led down a long hall, with no windows or doors. Just blank white walls. How can anyone stand to live here? Sarah thought.

"Stop," the Cloaked man said when they reached a single, plain, door. He began speaking in another language, "NeehA meyyy choh juAH nllama chssss."

Another voice answered with a simple, "juah chs!"

The Cloaked man nodded, "The Dark King will see you now."

Sarah and Tom stepped into the room, and stopped. Waiting for them was almost completely covered with fog, but not enough for them not to see that he was a six-headed who-knows-what.

"Who was that cloaked man who led us in?" Sarah asked.

"That was one of my servants," the "Dark King" started laughing, "Man? That was a Clooka!"

"Clooka?" Sarah was confused.

"Cloaked gas" The "Dark king" said. "Now shut up, I'm try ing to blast off."

Episode 1, part 6

Sarah and Tom were just getting close to the wall, when it was suddenly very, very cold. "Is it just me..." Sarah said quietly.

"No, it must be some effect of the mansion's protection," Tom said, though he was confused, too. This was never mentioned in anything he had studied. Suddenly, they heard a loud flapping noise, and they jumped into the protective pose they had learned at camp.

They looked up, and saw a bird. Not any bird, this one was the size of an average sized ship. It looked down on them with piercing eyes, and swooped down.

Sarah and Tom were grabbed by the bird's claws and as the bird flew upward, they went with it. The bird's legs folded up into it's body, and placed them in a room with ice blue walls.

"This is not a normal bird," Sarah said, "They're not this big, and hopefully they don't have rooms inside of them."

"No, this is not a normal bird,"

Sarah and Tom spun around, and standing right behind them was what looked like someone with a cloak hiding their face.

"Follow me," It ordered.

Episode 1, part 5

For the first time, Sarah raised her head and looked around. "You're right," She said, "I guess that makes our job considerably easier!"

"Not really," Tom was the better educated of the two about Darkwood's politics and values, "We still need to decide where to look."

"How about that big castle-jail thingy?"

"The mansion of death, darkness, and despair?" Tom asked, "No. we'd die before we even got to touch the wall."

"That's why I think they're hiding the prisoners there!"

"Ok, we can try, but it's your fault if we never make it back."

"Yay!" Sarah celebrated. Tom was confused. If you're going into a place with "death, darkness, and despair" in the name, why would you be excited? Sarah interrupted his thoughts. "Will there be ghosts?"

oh. "Yes, probably."

"Good. I can make them help us." Sarah looked up. Now that she had thought about it, the place was practically covered with ghosts.

They took a deep breath, and started walking.

Episode 1, part 4

Sarah and Tom woke up quickly. At least, it felt fast to them. It had really been 2 hours since Sarah had made the mistake of talking to the "Pebble Man." She looked around, but didn't see anything because it was so dark. They must be on a boat! What are we going to do next? she thought.

Just then, she felt the boat shudder to a stop. That's funny. Is it a magical boat? No normal boat can stop that quick. She stood, and walked around, trying to find the exit.

"Come on," Tom whispered, "Just use your powers!"

"Ha, why didn't I think of that?" Sarah stopped walking, and tried to "feel" where the door was. She pointed up and to her right, then realized they couldn't see.

"Follow my voice," she whispered, then started humming softly as she climbed up to the door. "It's locked. Can you blow it down?"

"Uh..."

"With your powers."

"Yes," Tom stepped up and concentrated. Just enough wind to get through the door, and it swung open. If that blew down the door, then this will be easy.

"Now all we have to do is get to Darkwood!" Sarah said from behind Tom, making him jump.

"Uh, Sarah?" Tom said, uncertainly, surveying the area around them, "I think we're already here."

Episode1, part 3

15 minutes later, and Sarah and Tom were still running. "Are... we... even... going... in the... right... direction?" Sarah panted, out of breath.

"I hope so," Tom replied, "Anyway, here's the map I brought. Most likely they're being taken to Darkwood. Most of the bad things that have happened to these islands came from there."

"HOW ARE YOU NOT OUT OF BREATH?!"

"Huh? Anyway, let's head to Darkwood, and see if we can find out what's happening to those people."

"Ok, fine!" Sarah looked around cautiously, only just realizing where they were. "Wait, we're in the middle of Shandroi." (Shandroi is the capital of Cherrywood)

"It's not that hard to find a boat! We'll be in darkwood within two days." Tom said, "We'll find Ashean in no time."

"Okay..." Sarah looked around, "Hey, I'm getting decent waves from that guy over there, I'll go ask him how to get to the docks." Sarah got up and walked over to the guy. "Excuse me sir? I need directions to the docks, please."

The man smiled, and Sarah gasped. He had no teeth, and in their place were rocks. He made a slight motion with his hand, and for Sarah and Tom, everything went black.

EPISODE 1, part 2

That night, Sarah sat in her tent, pretending to be asleep. She went through the plan in her mind. The moment it got quiet outside her tent, she slipped her coat on and snuck outside, then turned right and ran into the woods. Turning left off the trail, she saw the tree that they often used to practice sword fighting. She stood by the tree and waited for Tom.

Meanwhile, Tom was packing a bag full of everything they'd need for their mission. He stepped out of the tent and started down the trail.

Sarah saw Tom walking through the trees, and waved. "Hi, you got everything?" she asked.

"Yeah" Tom responded. "We'll find Ashean in no time, but we can't come back when we're done."

"I know."

They walked back to the trail, and stepped out of the boundaries of the camp. An earsplitting screech filled the air.

"Crap." whispered Sarah, and they took off running.

EPISODE 1, part 1

Once, 10s of thousands of years ago, several rocks were infused with power, and were molded into humans. Strong and powerful, they were the perfect weapons, and all the woods were desperate for one.

You may ask, What do you mean by "woods"? Woods are countries on a planet called "Solaria". The powers were each collected from different woods, therefore giving each "Rock Person" their nationality. Sarah's powers were from silverwood, a powerful country with a decent sized army. Tom's were from the two most powerful woods there were, Goldenwood and Platinumwood.

That's how Sarah and Tom were created. Tom's Rock was infused with fire and Wind, and Sarah's rock had electricity and phantomism. Others were created by the rocks, too, but soon, they began to disappear, one by one.

***

"Where do you suppose they're all disappearing to?" Sarah asked one morning. Ashean, a close friend of theirs had been there last night, but was missing in the morning.

"I don't know," Tom answered.

"Well, we need to find out," Sarah said, trying to think, "For one, it's Ashean we're talking about. Also I just want to get out of this 'power training' camp."

"Ok, we'll try to figure it out later," Tom said. "And we'll find a way to get them all back."

"Good," Sarah said, standing up.

"We'll go tonight," Tom suggested.

"Ok!" Sarah said, then ran off to her tent, probably to get her "ghost sensor", a small silver box that, used in the right hands, would vibrate near any spirits. Or maybe she needed her shock stick. No one ever knew.

THE OPENING WORDS

10 years ago, In State College, PA, Tom, Sarah, and Grace created a game Called "the monster" where they ran around the house killing bad guys a.k.a. monsters. Now it's A LOT better Including places like: goldenwood, Silverwood, and mahogany wood, and characters such as the monster of darkness, Zephaniah, and Zechariah. We're going to be posting "episodes" of the story on this blog.