Prologue

A man walked briskly down a dimly lit street. As he walked, he passed abandon houses and torn down shops. His leather boots splashed in the puddles and a cold wind blew, rustling the leaves that lay scattered across the ground. After walking a ways he neared a warehouse. The man glanced around cautiously before he entered the building. Closing the metal doors behind him, he quickly went down a series of corridors and staircases till he reached a old wooden door. He murmured a few words and the door was flung open. The man walked into the room. The door slammed behind him and he was left in darkness.

“Have you found him?” A raspy voice asked.

“Yes.” The man replied.

“Good. Things are going as planned. Do you have have the key?”

“No.” The man said nervously.

“Get it.” The voice replied.
The man nodded, then left the room.

Chapter One: The Key

Jarvis stared at the soup that had just been handed to him. It had lumps of black goo sticking out of it and smelled rotten.

“Eat up, this is the only meal for a while.”

“But Uncle Gill,” Jarvis said looking up at his Uncle, “this stuff looks like-”

“Now, none of your complainin'.” Uncle Gill interrupted. “It's better then nothing.”

“I think I'll go with nothing.” Jarvis said as he pushed the bowl away.

“Suit yourself, but come tomorrow mornin' you'll be starved.” Uncle Gill said as he took Jarvis's bowl and dumped it into his.

“Well, I'm go to bed.” Jarvis said as he got up from his chair.

“Wait a minute.” Uncle Gill said in between slurps of soup. He fumbled in his pockets till he pulled out a dirty white envelope. “This came in the mail today. It's addressed to you.” He handed the envelope to Jarvis and continued eating the soup. Jarvis studied the envelope. It was bulky and smelled of charcoal. Jarvis tucked the letter into his pocket and left the kitchen.

The attic was cold and musty but Jarvis liked it. It was quiet and gave him time to think. He sat on the dusty wooden floor. Wind blew in from a open window at the far side of the room. Jarvis took the dirty envelope out of his pocket and slowly unfolded it. Inside the envelope lay a silver key. Attached to the key was a note. Jarvis untied the note and read it.


Jarvis,

I need you to protect this key. It is in grave danger. If it's secrets are discovered, it would be the ruin of us all. Do not let anyone know you have the key and do not show the key to anyone.
The fate of reality rests in your hands, so guard it carefully.

Jarvis studied the key, not sure what to make of it all. He heard a knock on the door and quickly slipped the key into his pocket. The door opened and Uncle Gill entered. A grim look was on his face.

“What did the letter say?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Jarvis said sitting up.

“Let me see it.” Uncle Gill said taking a step closer to Jarvis.

“It's not addressed to you.” Jarvis said, suspicion creeping into his voice.

“Give me the letter Jarvis.” Uncle Gill said a little louder. Jarvis backed up. “I said give me the letter!” Uncle Gill hollered. Alarms were going off in Jarvis's head. Something wasn't right. Uncle Gill never hollered. Without thinking Jarvis lept for the open window. He tumbled out onto the roof. Scurrying to the edge, he jumped off and landed on the hard ground. He looked up to see Uncle Gill standing on the edge of the roof looking down at him. His uncle let out an un-earthly cry and jumped towards him. Jarvis rolled out of the way just as Uncle Gill crashed to the ground. His uncle quickly got up and advanced towards him. Jarvis noticed with horror that Uncle Gills eyes had gone pure black and saliva was dripping from his uncle's mouth. Fear now coursing through his veins, Jarvis lept up, and ran.