Elisa Button and the Nightwalker

Chapter 1

Elisa Button the Elemental Witch of Wind sat around the campfires in the Forest of Enchantment with her four best friends, Sophie the intellectual Witch of Metal with her long black straight hair and serious expression, Mary the undead kind-hearted healing witch who sat on the log staring into the fire with white eyes. Her hair was the color of ash and her cheeks were sunken. Lizzie the joking shape-shifter stared with a mane of red hair that complemented her green eyes and round face. Nightmare the dark and mysterious one with the power to spin dark mist that could bring out people's worst fear. She considered herself as the leader of the five. Dressed in her Goth fashion of black and purple with her dark hair done in pigtails. Her pale skin and black lipstick and eyeliner.

They were taking turns telling scary stories. It was Lizzie's turn when they heard the rumbling sound, then an ogre came charging out of the forest and through the camp, trampling the fire and he would have ran over Lizzie if she had not leaped out of the way. Then he disappeared through the trees.

"That ogre wasn't after us," Sophie stated

" No, " Nightmare agreed. "That ogre was scared."

" What can scare an ogre? " Elisa wanted to know as she wiped her hand through her short brown hair.

"That is what we need to find out" Nightmare replied. "Get your brooms and come with me."

" Are you sure we should? " Lizzie asked nervously. "I mean, if there's something out there frightening enough to scare an ogre, then maybe we shouldn't be searching for it."

"But as witches, we must check it out," Mary pointed out. "The magical creatures of Perinia depend on our protection."

Sophie nodded in agreement. "If there are somethings spreading harm we need to know what it is."

Lizzie slumped her shoulders. "You right, but I think Mary should lead the way."

Mary looked over. " Me? " she asked in a small voice.

"Well, it's not like they can hurt you," Lizzie said matter-of-factly. "You're already dead."

Mary sighed, picked up her broom which was leaning against a tree and headed into the forest, Nightmare right behind her followed by Sophie, followed by Lizzie, Elisa right behind her.
Elisa and the others moved quietly through the forest. As they walked deeper Elisa noticed the leaves on the trees had turned brown.

"Guys, isn't it kinda early in the season for the leaves to be changing color?" Elisa said.

No one said anything and continued their trek through the forest. As they walked deeper they saw more trees with brown leaves and falling off.

"The leaves aren't just changing color," Sophie spoke up. "They decaying. Look!'

They all gazed to where Sophie was pointing and saw the bark on a tree slowly rotting away before their eyes.

"I sense dark magic here," Mary, who was extremely deceptive to dark magic, said quietly.

Just then an old man came stumbling out of the woods. "You must leave here at once," he yelled, then dropped to his knees.

The young witches rushed to his aid. As the old man gazed up at Elisa with kind blue eyes there was something about him that seemed familiar.

"Elisa," the old man croaked.

It was then that Elisa realized who he was, but she did not want to believe it. She could not believe the old man that sat before her was the boy from the Warlock School she had been crushing on ever since she first came to Perinier though the last time she saw him he was the same age as her.

"It's Troy," Elisa informed the others.

"How could that be?" Lizzie gasped. "He's so old!"

"Look, " Mary yelled.

They all turned toward to where Mary was pointing and saw something black moving through the trees.

"Run," Troy cried.

Just then a shadowy figure emerged from the woods. It was shaped like a man except it was nearly twenty feet tall. As it slowly moved through the forest the trees around it withered and died.

"On you brooms," Nightmare screamed. "NOW!"

Without hesitation, everyone obeyed and took to the sky. Troy rode on the back of Elisa's broom.

" Nightmare, you know what that thing is? " Elisa wanted to know as they raced away.

"Yes," Nightmare replied. "I just didn't think they existed."

They went back to the Witch Academy where they took Troy to see the headmistress Abby Crum.

They were in the parlor. Troy sat in the comfy chair by the fireplace. Abby's assistant Edgar handed him a cup of tea. Troy took the cup in his wrinkled hands and lifted it to his thin lips.

"Nightmare told me that a nightwalker did this to you," Abby informed Troy.

Troy stared at her and replied with a small nod, then began in a withered voice, "It all happened this morning. I was in the Forest of Enchantment searching for herbs for a potion when the nightwalker appeared and did this to me."

What's a nightwalker? " Elisa demanded to know.

"True evil," Nightmare replied. "I've heard imps told stories about them. It's a very old story that goes back before even time itself existed when the universe was plunged in darkness. But there was life inside the darkness. Beings known as nightwalkers, though their true name was long since forgotten. Then there was a huge explosion. I believe the humans preferred to it as the Big Bang. However, not all of the nightwalkers were destroyed in the explosion. Some were pushed into a pocket of space."

"But if it was pushed into a pocket of space, then how did it escape?" Elisa asked.

"Any number of reasons I suppose," Abby said. " It may have absorbed the energy from a passing meteor. Or the humans have polluted the world enough to weaken the pocket so the nightwalker could break free. Or it could just be one of those unexplained things. How and why it has escaped isn't important. "

"So, how do we stop it?" Elisa asked.

"How?" Lizzie cried. " Anything that can survive a cosmic explosion is no wimp. "

"It's in pain," Mary declared.

Everyone turned to her.

"Right before the nightwalker appeared I felt its pain," Mary explained. It's suffering. "

"It was injured during the Big Bang," Abby declared "It need to absorbed life energy to heal."

" So, that is why it's stealing the youth from everything, " Sophie concluded. "It's trying to heal itself. "

"I don't care how much pain it's in," Nightmare said, her black lips in a thin line. "This thing cannot exist."

" I'm afraid Nightmare is right, " Abby said with a solemn frown. "As long as the nightwalker live no one is safe." She bit her lower lip. "But that's not gonna be easy. The creature is made out of darkness. Only light can defeat the dark."

" Oh, great, " Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. "So, all we have to do is get it out in the sun."

" I think there's a little more to it than that, " Abby said. "We need to stab it in the heart with a light sword."

" Where do we get one of those? " Elisa asked.

Abby signed. "The Lost and Found."