King of Shadows: Of Blood and Tears

Chapter 2: Dragon Whisperer I

At seventeen years old, Max had yet to find a sense of belonging. He felt as though he never had a purpose. For the longest time, he only had his lifelong friends, Shayne, John, Tim, and Sammy. They came along on his expeditions to discover the mysteries of space and time, and the purpose of this "gift" of life that we all experience. Sadly, his parents proved their selfish intent, making Maximus depart from his friends and go to an unfamiliar place, Shadow Grove.

Shadow Grove was only home to around nineteen-hundred people, getting its name from the humongous trees that blocked out most of the rays of sun. The trees, unlike most places, were unique, their bark etched with tints of green and blue. Their branches hung low, and the leaves changed into beautiful shades of orange, blue, red, and purple in the fall. The vastness of these wooden entities cast down shadows, sometimes larger than houses.

Everybody, from the second the move happened, knew who he and his family were. Everyone knew of the house they had moved into, and the strings of horror that surrounded it. He ignored the rumors, and tried to live his introverted life as normal as he could, no matter how impossible it may have seemed.

Yet what can you do when those strings become entangled within your own subconscious? Every rumor of terror that encircled Max binds him to the cruel realization that these nightmares could be real. Ever since he moved, he would always have this irrational fear that somebody or something was watching him. His restlessness at night would eventually always lead into an episode of traumatic sleep paralysis or just very vivid night terrors.

Max felt those chains weigh on his shoulders every single day. He felt the shackles of insecurity and fear pulling him away from his loved ones. He felt as if he were a slave to an entity lurking in the shadows.

The boy lived in quite a large room, entirely designed like a cellar that was connected to his house, right under the terrace that led to the sliders of his home. Whenever Maximus had the urge to use the bathroom, grab a bite to eat, or visit one of his four younger siblings, he had to complete some form of physical labor.

His parents made them all move in May, and with that, he had to switch high schools. Now that idea to many was already chaotic. But moving to a ridiculously smaller school, and starting your third year of highschool in a foreign land was drastic, according to Max anyway.

Fortunately for him, or possibly unfortunately for him, (he has yet to decide) his home was enormous, and in its prime worth over half a million dollars. The home itself resided in the main downtown portion of Shadow grove, near Lake Tawah. It gained a lot of attention, as well as tourists the past couple of years after kids from Shadow Grove posted a viral video of some sort of humanoid swimming in its depths. Yet the lake was massive, so searching for something mystical would not be an effortless task.

The home itself had a medieval scent about it. It was entirely made of brick, with a stone gate guarded by gargoyle-like statues. If his family were viewed as wealthy because of this, it would give Max access to the "popular, depthless, and more so trivial group of people," a concept Max found to be unfortunate after all. The boy refused to pretend to be someone he wasn't, even if it meant getting a bit of credit. And he would never be friends with people who prioritized money and sports over everything else. He was not in it for the popularity contest. He was just trying to survive.

Maximus still had a week until his junior year started, and he was quite nervous. His body would recoil at the thought of being in a foreign classroom, with teenagers looking to criticize. He shook his head at those thoughts, trying to shake them from existence. He wished that Victoria and William Johnson would be in the same classes, his heart racing with anticipation.