Alex Frost | Rise of the Shadow Leopards

-= Chapter One =-

A dark shadow surrounded Alex, drowning out almost all of the sunlight. A creature shaped like a leopard emerged from the middle of it, it flickered in and out of the shadows, teleporting around Alex, circling him. A dark mist orbited its body, hiding its scarred back. "Help us Alex, please, we need you," The creature pleaded in a weary tone. "Find the Orb of Shadows and bring it to us, we are in the realm of magic, find the portal and help us!" Alex looked straight into the pleading eyes of the poor creature. "I'll help, I'll find the Orb," Alex said as he lost consciousness.

Alex woke up in a puddle of sweat, he looked down at himself in frustration. His hair was all messy and he felt unimaginably tired from not getting enough sleep. He had been getting the same nightmare again and again for the last week, every night had been restless for him. "I'm done with this," Alex thought, "I'll go see the Chief, he'll know what's happening." After getting changed and pulling his dirty sheets off his bed, he headed downstairs to eat breakfast. "Same nightmare?" Alex's Dad asked, looking up at him. "Yep, I can't stand this anymore, I'm going to go see the Chief to get some help," Alex answered, throwing the sheets into the washing machine. "Sweetie, are you alright? I'll tell the school about the situation," His mom said from the kitchen. After a quick breakfast, Alex walked out of their house and headed up the mountain to find the Chief.

He used the pulley system on the side of the cliff to get up to the top, last time he had made the mistake of climbing up the front of the cliff, not knowing there was a pulley system behind it. He breathed in the fresh mountain air and took a deep breath, it made him feel a bit better. He knocked on the door and it swung open after a few seconds, the stern face of the Chief peered out at Alex. "Hi Alex, I've been expecting you, come on in," The Chief said, holding the door open for him to enter. Alex sat down on a comfy leather chair and started talking about what had been going on, he described the animal that had been in his nightmare and recited what had happened. After he was done, the Chief sat there in silence, a shocked expression covering his face. "There is an animal that I know of, though it went extinct almost three hundred years ago," The Chief reached for a book on his massive bookshelf, the pages were yellow and it was covered in a thick layer of dust. The Chief opened the book and flipped through the pages, a few moments later he had found the page that he had been looking for. "Come here, look at this, it's a Shadow Leopard. Recognise it?" The Chief asked, as Alex peered over his shoulder. "That's the one, that's what it was, I remember it," Alex said, reading through the facts. The book said that the only way for them to live, the other was by using the Orb of Shadows to give them energy. The book also stated that the Orb had been lost after the Phoenixes attacked the Leopards. "We have to help them!" Alex said in a confident tone. "Sure, we'll help them. Hundreds of years ago, my great grandfather made a deal with the Shadow Leopards. It said that the Ice Crows and Shadow Leopards would help each other in hard times, we sent troops to help the Leopards when they were attacked but we were too late." The Chief said, looking out at the River of Magic through the window.

"We'll head out tomorrow, get your friends, I'll come with you guys since I know where the portal is," The Chief said looking at Alex. "Sure, let's get going," Alex said back, smiling slightly at the thought of another adventure.