UNITY

Chase slowly and tiredly opened his eyes and groaned, as he removed the covers off of himself.

He lazily got out of bed and walked over to his broken mirror on his wall. 'I wonder if dad will be home at all today?' Chase thought to himself as he brushed his fluffy blonde hair to the side and out of his eyes.

...

After putting on a brown leather tunic and a pair of white baggy sweat pants, Chase walked downstairs and to the kitchen where he fixed a plate of toast and eggs.

Chase sat at the table quietly eating his breakfast and thinking about what he wanted for his twelfth birthday coming up in just two weeks.

...

After finishing his breakfast Chase got up, cleaned off the table, and then walked over to the closet underneath the stairs. Chase's house wasn't big but it was roomy enough for just Chase and his father.

Considering Chase's father was hardly ever home, it gave Chase even more free space at the house. The downstairs of the house was the largest because it was all one room with only some pillars separating the kitchen, living room, and main hall. 

Chase opened the small closet door and grabbed his small black back pack off the bottom wooden shelf, and closed the door behind him.

... 

After closing the door to the house, Chase walked across his lawn to the fence gate that separated his house from the other houses in the neighborhood. 

It was a small, isolated town at the southern edge of the continent, far removed from any major kingdoms. What surrounded most sides of their small village of Willowmere was none other then one of the most dangerous landmarks on the continent. 

It was the main reason the village wasn't very populated, or had much trade involved with it. Mainly because there were only two pathways that led to any civilization. Those pathways were also quite dangerous if you didn't travel with experienced guards and in the light of day.

Those pathways were at the northwest and northeast outer gates of Willowmere. What surrounded the village though, and what covered most of the continent, was The Dark Forest, one of if not, the most terrifying places in this world. 

However Chase did not want to think about that! As he walked across the path in his father's garden he spotted his neighbor also leaving to walk to school. 

"Hey! Cloudy over here." Chase called out loudly as he waved to his friend. 

Cloud (nicknamed cloudy by Chase) waved back, and met at the gate of Chase's yard. 

"Good Morning." Cloudy said while yawning as Chase was closing his fence gate on the way out. 

"Morning Cloudy." 

Chase and cloudy quietly walked on path to the school house after their greeting, which took about ten minutes. On the way they walked past a lot of trees like usual, but they also noticed unlike most days there were very few people outside of their houses, or people in general for that matter. 

"It's pretty quiet today," Cloudy remarked, glancing at a shuttered window.

Chase shrugged, kicking a rock. "Yeah, kinda weird. Maybe everyone's just busy." Chase wondered while watching the ground pass as they walked.

"Kade won't be at school today." Cloudy said as they passed a group of smaller kids chasing a small black cat.

"How come?" Chase asked, curiously.

Cloudy shrugged and responded "Cloudy shrugged. 'Something about his family having a big gathering to choose the next head or something."

"Oh yeah, he kept talking about something like that all week." Chase said while recalling how their friend Kade wouldn't shut about trying to become the next head of the House of Lightning.

The House of Lightning was the only remotely large and notable house in the village of Willowmere, and the third member of Chase's trio was the eldest son of that house.

After Chase was done pondering about whether or not Kade would actually become the house head, he looked up at his friend, who was wearing a pair of plain grey shorts, and a white tunic, he had short messy raven black hair, and had sparkling ivory white eyes. Chase then looked at the sky and whined loudly causing the birds in the trees to panic and flee into the sky.

"I really don't want to go to school today!"