Under the Cover of Darkness

Chapter 1 - Fear, Fear is a Man's Worst Enemy

"Nothing beats a day in the life of Fitch Greenwood quite like a cup of coffee."

Fitch sat quietly in his dilapidated dark brown rocking chair being held up by cautiously applied duct tape. Being alone in his large house in the midst of his little grotto made Fitch seem like he was compensating for something in his life. Fitch rarely left his humble abode and never had to. There was no tax to pay to some dirty landlord or king. Fitch was a free man. Liberated from the evils of the weak societal system that Netueeia had tried to set up among its various kingdoms. A social system so dishonest and evil that one must lie and cheat his way just to get a slice of bread. And in some cities, even the ones who made the bread themselves had to lie and cheat just to get to taste the sweetness of their own creation.

Life wasn't grand for anyone except for those few on the Great Expand who had a house or settlement that could stand against the constant onslaught of rogue bandits and lying vagabonds looking for a place to sleep. These same people would then kill the generous family who had welcomed them in with a warm fire, a cozy bed, and lovingly made food. These weren't even the worst people for what else could one do if they had no one to truly protect them. Only in the kingdom of Ardor did any lower class citizen, and middle class for that matter, truly face a life worth living.

Living on the Great Expand in a grotto found deep in the Silver Forest was called, by some, either pure luck or either skillful choosing. That is if you could even say the fourteen year old boy established the little grotto. While the boy seemed to be a trained warrior in hand to hand combat, and wasn't bad with a short sword either, no one would have expected him to be able to fend off the ruffians who plagued the Great Expand. Much skill was needed to defeat the darkness, but the little grotto on the edge of the Silver Forest would never be visited after the first incident. For word spreads throughout Netueeia like wildfire. When people learned that the Silver Forest was haunted, some snickered for only they knew who lived there. Those few knew of Fitch Greenwood and his happy go-with-the-flowlike nature. The story went something like this.

Fitch Greenwood was sitting on his front porch sipping gingerly at his hot coffee as he gazed lightly at a frog that jumped on lillypads in the little pond near the left side of his abode. There was almost a perfect amount of trees cut away for the little clearing to fit the pond and the house that Fitch had inherited from the last owners. His house actually climbed up a tree that sat right square in the middle of the clearing. The people who made the house noticed this and made a three story tree house after all almost every tree in the Silver Forest reached somewhere as high as fifty feet in the air.

It was around midnight when the always energetic Fitch slowly dragged himself from his spot in his rocking chair to put out the lantern he had dangling from a hook behind him. As he snuffed out the candle, Fitch slumped back down in his rocking chair with an exasperated sigh. Being a lonely teenager sure did take a lot out of him. In the dark of the night, Fitch, once his eyes had adjusted to the new lighting, peered inside his coffee mug only to be disappointed at the lack of coffee. Nothing was more disappointing than seeing that he had reached the point in the cup where he could drink the rest of the coffee in one sip, one sip slightly longer than the ones he had been making.

He stared at the black liquid with little focus. While his eyes looked concentrated on the coffee, his senses were focused on more present matters. He had learned to stay up until four in the morning in case of some sort of burglary or unwanted visitor. He had promised he'd never slack at the job for not just his sake. He had promised, and if there was one thing Fitch knew how to keep, it was a promise. He was an innately good person in a world full of terror and evil like a light in the darkness that is Netueeia. For years, Fitch had been staying up until four o'clock. It was just something he was used to. He slept from four o'clock until eight every day. He didn't like it, but he wasn't going to leave his house for the taking.