Great stories have strange beginnings.

[Leroy Dark]

Dark Manor, Dallas Texas.

It was a dark stormy day, a perfect day for a "Funeral." Lucien Dark, current head of the Dark family, had finally been pronounced dead. He had disappeared two years ago, but most people had just assumed he had gone to look for a muse in the mountains. Inside the somber Gothic house stood the entire Dark family. To the casual on looker one would suspect it was a meeting of Vampires. Roughly thirty pale men and woman in ages varying from thirteen to 50 sat in plush chairs as they waited. All thirty Dark's stood as the lawyer, who was also Lucien's wife, entered the room. She was a tall blond woman with gorgeous sapphire eyes that betrayed her composure. The whites were tinged slightly red, which revealed she had been crying.

Standing in the front was Leroy Dark, the only child of Lucien and Alaine Dark. He stood slightly under six feet tall, and had perfectly average straight brown hair. His face was perfectly average in every way except for one major detail. His stunning blue eyes that his mother had given him. His body was slender, and his muscles were average. He wore a nice, unwrinkled black shirt, and tight black jeans. Behind his ear was a black fountain pen his father had given him before he had disappeared. Leroy loved the pen, he had seen his dad write his last twenty books with it, and the fact that it had been passed down to him made him happy. The circumstances though smothered any possible happiness.

His mother cleared here throat, and the murmuring Dark's turned their attention to her. James Dark, a famous biologist, cleared his throat and spoke. "Alaine you must be crushed about your husband. I loved my brother, we all loved him, are you ready to read the will?" Leroy seethed in anger, turning a scorching glare at his silver haired uncle. Not one Dark had ever come to visit them since his fifth birthday. Rumor was that both James and Lucien had been ion love with Alaine, and James was looking to step in now that Lucien was gone. Self righteous pompous bastard! he screamed in his head. You didn't give a rats ass about my father! Alaine then spoke. Her voice was like a soothing lullaby, something Lucien had loved about her.

"My last will and testament
By Lucien Dark.

Over the years I have accumulated a vast amount of money from my many books. I feel like none of you deserve a dime. So I wish for half of my fortune to go to charity, then the other half to be used to care for my wife and son. All my belongings but one are to go to my wife. This one is a black journal located in my study on my desk. This is to go to my Son Leroy. That is all.

P.S Go to hell James!"

Signed: Lucien Dark

[Leroy Dark]

The response from the Dark family was uproar. The Dark family was notoriously smart, and greedy to the extreme. Alaine was overjoyed knowing she would be able to take care of her son and still live in comfort. Then James turned to Leroy. "Tell ya what, if you sell me that journal I'll-" Leroy silenced him with punch. This was something almost no Dark had ever done. Leroy found it surprisingly calming. Needless to say it wasn't a strong punch, but James wasn't used to taking punches either. Alaine stared in horror as Leroy stormed out.

James cried out in pain, but the other Dark's were too obsessed with their own problems to notice. Alaine would have followed her son, but she decided not to. The reading had been done in a nice dining room with a giant crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The rest of the house was dark and gloomy, just the way Lucien liked. Which was odd because as far as most Dark's went, he was a social butterfly. The door to his study was possibly the strangest door in the house. The was made of two stone giants wrestling over the door, which was silver and depicted several scenes from Greek mythology. It had often been said that the Dark's were Athena's bloodline. Leroy didn't doubt that one bit. He pushed the door open, and cringed as it squealed loudly.

The Study itself was small, and dusty. With little in it. There was a rather large bookcase with every last one of Lucien's books in it. Next to it was a large desk with a white lamp and a strange journal. On it in big white regal letters it said "The adventure of a lifetime." Leroy frowned and sat down in the chair, looking at the journal. The rest of the Study was empty stagnant space. He grabbed the pen that was behind his ear and opened the journal. It was completely blank. Sudennly inspiration struck him and he grabbed the pen from behind his ear. He put the tip of the pen down and began to write the word "The" and then hell broke loose....

[Leroy Dark]

It was as if the entire world swirled in circles. Then the colors of reality faded to white, making the whole world seem as if it was a black and white drawing. Then the lines swirled away into the oblivion. Leroy just floated in an empty expanse of white. Then he began to plummet. He had no clue which way he was going, just that he was shooting like a rocket. His vision blurred and faded. Soon his vision converted to tiny square pixels. Then it seemed like one by one they changed to a color. Once all the squares were colored they cleared and began to focus.

All around him was tall grass. His head throbbed in pain. He let out a small groan. It felt like he was having a bad reaction to a flu shot. He rolled on to his stomach and looked around. It appeared he was in a forest. Dew hung like tiny crystals from each blade of glass. He reached an arm out and pushed himself up, sliding his feet to where he could push up to a standing position.

The sun had just risen, shining like tender tendrils through the gaps in the trees. The air smelled strange. It took Leroy a few moments to analyze what it was. The air was clear of any pollutants. He turned around multiple times, scanning the woods for any immediate threat. He had once read a book on wilderness survival, and had even gone camping with his father once or twice, who had been strangely good at it.

His mind raced a thousand miles a second to try and determine what had happened. It appeared his thoughts would have to wait, because his journal fell from the sky and conked him on the head. He cringed, his eyes rolling back into his head, then fell over unconscious.