In a broken light, the crow calls to the shadow that lays dead. Haunting: the story of this shadow. Through the innocence and lost wondering you shall hear him. But tis not a story of sadness or depression, but a story of true justice. Hunted is this shadow. Hunted by the ones he thought accepted him, the ones that were left after his tragedy. “I fell to the world that day…”

Chapter 1: Welcome…

Ever wondered “why here?” Have you ever asked “when did this happen?” I know that you have felt it but have you ever questioned it? Life is full of these moments. Sometimes we notice them; sometimes they aren’t even significant enough to notice. Well that has never happened to me. I have always thought if you are going to ask those questions here, wouldn’t you ask them somewhere else? I guess that changed in a moment when I say that sign. That weird sign…

I think it was when I was thirteen…no, it was when I was fourteen. It was spring break and my family decided to go to Florida. We decided to fly there instead of driving – so we could get there sooner. Where does this story begin? Well to tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea. The only thing I truly knew at that time was that my name was Derrick Clark Mathews, age: 14 and I was a local of Hells, Minnesota. Let’s just say this story began when I was on the plane from Texas to Florida because a straight flight from Minnesota to Florida was too expensive. It was 9:45 P.M…I think. It feels like we have been flying for hours and we probably have. I couldn’t see the ground below us – I wasn’t sure if it was the clouds covering it up or that we were flying over the miles of water. I was starting to think “Is there still ground to land on?” “Did we past our destination?” Those questions disappeared when they said we would be landing soon. This is the part of the story that Dave Mustaine describes as “when the story takes a twist, it is always like a contortionist.”

As we descended to below the clouds: I only saw desert…for miles and miles, only desert. A stretch of road just extended as for as the eye can see. When we got off the plane, I saw a rusty old sign, the sign was amazingly chipped away, but I was still able to read what it said. It said: “Welcome to nowhere. Obey the law that remains unwritten. To be different is the highest of crimes that will be settled with death. Again welcome to nowhere.” Creepy: right? Well, there isn’t sign of life for miles as far as I know.

“What now?” I asked my family.

No one responded. I turned to ask again but they weren’t there. Hell, even the plane station was gone. I turned back to the sign. But it wasn’t old and chipped away like earlier. It looked like it was brand new. The message was different too, it said: “Welcome to Sylotac.” There was also a city on the other side of the sign and it was day time instead of night. “What the blue fucking hell?” I thought to myself.

Now I know what you are thinking “Wouldn’t this be the start to the story?” Well it is more complicated than that…Just keep reading.

Sylotac looks like any regular 21st century city. Except…everyone looked happy. No one was fighting and no one had tension among their face. It was relaxing, it was peaceful, but most of all, it was full of joy. I suddenly forgot about my problems. It is as if it never happened. As if I always lived there. I decided to enter this town further. Just to check out what I could. The smiles, the joyfulness in their eyes, it is like they have nothing to worry about. It is just the main detail I paid attention to that day. From the entrance: all the way to the malls. It isn’t like insanely big smiles. But they seemed so damn happy when the rest of the world seemed angry. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know this secret. But I guess my problems caught up to me. I was walking down a market place when I suddenly remembered that I had lost my family for some unexplainable reason. A tear came to my eye. I just hurried to the closest ally so I didn’t disrupt the peace. I slumped down while I leaned against the wall. The tears wouldn’t stop. The idea that I would forget my family haunted me enough. Along with them disappearing just made it hard.

I must have drawn attention to myself when I ran to the ally way because I heard a voice say, “Are you okay?”

I looked up and I saw a girl, couldn’t be older than 15, with brown hair long but not super long – somewhat like mine, she had blue eyes, she was wearing a red-ish orange shirt with a red-ish orange semi-long skirt and black shoes, from what I remember: they were leather shoes. She had a curious look on her face. In her eyes, I saw my brown eyes. I almost forgot what my eye color was because I just haven’t bothered to look into a mirror for years.

I simply answered while trying to make it a clear sentence “Yeah, I am just havin’ a bad day.”

“Okay” She replied in a casual tone of voice. She leaned against the wall and looked straight head.

“I don’t think I have seen you before. So, are you from around here?”

“No.” I answered. “I am from Minnesota.” She just looked at me with a puzzled look.

“Minnesota? Never heard of it, is it a Fora Terra?”

Then I got a puzzled look on my face “Fora Terra?” I have never heard of the term Fora Terra.

The girl I was talking to sighed.

“So what’s your name?” I decided to ask.

“Jessica Falls.” She responded with a joyful smile. “What’s yours?”

I just sighed and answered, “Derrick Mathews.”

“Well Derrick; welcome to nowhere.” I quickly turned my head towards to her but she didn’t seem to notice. She just chuckled.

“Well, that is what I prefer to call it. But the locals call it Sylotac.” I also chuckled. “Well, since you are new here, how about I show you around the area.”

“That would probably help a lot.” I said while standing back up.

Author’s note: Hopefully you liked the first Chapter. Will put more in A.S.A.P.