Chapter 1

What have I gotten myself into now? I thought, running through the winding corridors of the warehouse. I couldn't believe I had actually done it. "Lia!" I heard a voice call out "What are you doing?!"

I spun, taking a different passageway. Just this morning, I had been looking forward to a nice quiet day, filled with lots of books. But my quiet peace had been interrupted by a shocking letter. It had said this;

Lia, I hope this has reached you, because if it hasn't, then both Jandell

and Earth will be in great danger. I'm afraid I must be rambling to you, for you have heard

nothing of Jandell, nor the Cloak. Please Lia, please believe what I am about to say. There is a

whole other world out there, a place filled with magic, and it needs your help. Have you ever

wondered about your last name Cloakia? Or your parents? You were born in that magical place,

and your parents were protectors of the Cloak, a mysterious object with powers even I don't

know about. It was stolen 14 years ago, the day you were born. Your parents were

honor-bound to rescue it, Lia, I promise it was not their fault that they had to leave you. They

managed to stop the cloak stealer, but they died in the attempt. The cloak's whereabouts were

lost, until today. That's why I need you to go to this location and find the cloak. Don't worry, you

will meet someone there to help you. Good Luck. (Location: Borins Warehouse, Alexander

Street)

-Daphne Willows (AKA- The Fairy Godmother)

Of course, I immediately turned to throw the letter in the trash. Who can blame me? It sounded like nonsense. But as I turned, I saw something flash in the corner of my eye.

A white haired lady smiled at me through her window. She held a flashing wand at her side, and she slowly held it up. Then she suddenly faded into nothing. I gasped, pressing my nose against the window, but there was no trace of her.

I whistled. "Someone wants me at that warehouse really bad," I said aloud.

I looked at the location again. Alright, then. I'll go see what there is. I thought. Of course, that was a really bad idea. And that is what led me here, running through the warehouse, looking for some mysterious cloak that probably doesn't exist. Just my luck that my foster parents caught me trying to leave and followed me!

I ran out into an empty room. The sounds of them calling me had faded, so I stopped to take a breather. Of course, of course, at that exact moment, I had to trip. 'Woah!" I yelled.

I looked around on the floor (which wasn't very hard considering my current position) to find the thing that tripped me, and throw it to the next continent. Maybe even the next planet. What was strange though, I couldn't see anything. The floor was as smooth as glass, and there wasn't a bump to be seen. I had felt something though, I was sure of it.

I stood up and slid my feet very carefully over where I had tripped. There it was again! A small little bump, like when you take two magnets and push them together, and they slide away from each other. It wasn't like there was anything there, it just felt like I couldn't put my foot down. No matter how hard I pushed, my foot slid away. I frowned and reached down with my hand, preparing for it to slide away.

Instead, I grabbed something! A black fabric appeared out of nowhere in my hand! I looked down and jumped. On my hand that was holding the fabric, a glowing blue circle appeared! As I stared more, it stopped glowing, and finally, it was just a faint circle outline on my right palm. I stared at the fabric, preparing to drop it and run when I noticed something. It wasn't fabric, it was a cloak! I gaped. Maybe the letter was right! Slowly, all my beliefs were unraveling. "So it was you." A voice said. I jumped and turned around.

A girl emerged from the shadows. She had dark skin and braided black hair, with a blue tank top and short jeans. "The name's Trisha, by the way. But you can call me Trish. The Fairy Godmother asked me to watch for you."

I nodded, not saying anything, accepting, if not believing. Trisha smiled. "Don't worry, I'm here to help. I know you don't understand." I smiled nervously back, unsure of whether to go with her or call the cops. Trish held out her hand, and I took it. "Here we go!" She yelled.

I looked around, confused. Go where? Suddenly, a blinding flash of light made me close my eyes. I couldn't focus on anything when I opened them again, so I kept them closed. "Trish? Where are we? Trish!?" I asked, panicked.

"It's fine." She said soothingly "We're in Jandell." I gasped, trying to open my eyes. "Sorry I didn't warn you about how bright it would be. I'm so used to it." I nodded.

I looked around, squinting. I closed them again. "Trish?" "Yes?" she answered. "Answer me truthfully. Are we, or is this just a dream, standing in a field of pink grass, surrounded by blue unicorns, with giant purple flowers?"

She winced. "Yeah, kinda sappy, huh? It hurts my eyes too." "No." I said "that's not what surprised me. It's just..this isn't usually what I see at home."

She nodded. "Yeah, I suppose to Disses, it would seem like that." "Disses?" I asked

"Well, their children from magical families, who grew up on Earth. We call them Disses because they don't believe in magic." I nodded, thinking of how I had been going to throw that letter away.

We walked along a path of yellow brick, just like the one from Wizard of Oz. I still held the cloak in my arms and Trish glanced at it. "We should probably put that away before we enter Byice." I nodded, then asked," Byice?"

"Byice is the city of Jandell. There are multiple cities, but Byice is the biggest. The minor cities are Waverley, a city built entirely on the water. It's home to many sea creatures and mermaids." I sighed. Of course there would be mermaids in this crazy place. "And Witchlyn," she continued. "But I would avoid it. It's home to many dangerous and wicked creatures."

She took the cloak from me, then suddenly dropped it! Just like that, it was gone. I remembered how I had tripped on it, and reached down. Nothing happened! I looked down at my hands and remembered the outline of the circle. I put the outline on the ground, and suddenly the cloak appeared! "Oaa-kay." Trish said," I guess only you can hold it. Put it in this bag, will you?"

I put it in. "You've been so silent." Trish put in. "Sorry. Just processing, y' know?" I answered. She nodded." Maybe you could tell me more? The letter didn't really explain much."

"Ok." she said," let's see. What do you want to know?"

"Well, I think....my parents." I had never heard about my parents before and the letter had awoken a curiosity in me. "And maybe the cloak. And everything else, like why the heck I'm here."

"Hm," She said," Ok. Your parents' names were Amelia and Clarence. They were both very nice, and they were very attached to their job. The day that you were born, they couldn't leave you. Ameilia was screaming for you, and Clarence was trying to reason with The Fairy Godmother. Of course, they had to do their job, and it's because of them Jandell is not dominated by the ones who stole the cloak. I don't know their personal lives, because I was very young when they died." She looked at me.

I smiled at her to keep going, though a tear slowly slid down my face.

Trish nodded solemnly and continued. "The cloak's original name was The Cloak of Darkness because The Cloak Keeper had kept it. The Keeper is the leader of a tribe of humans, scattered across Earth and Jandell. It is said that no one sees his face, not even his most trusted minions, and he was made out of darkness. He was the one that made the cloak to take over the world, and he put in many unearthly and dangerous powers. The day after The Four, four heroes The Godmother chose, took the cloak, and foiled his evil plan, he disappeared. Until yesterday, nothing was heard from him. Then a spy that was sent to Earth a month ago came back, and she reported that she had seen traces of the Cloak Keeper. The Fairy Godmother acted, called The Four together again, and sent a letter to you. I'm one of The Four."

I looked at her, wondering how old she was, and the age restriction on The Four. I smiled wryly to myself. Jandell probably doesn't even have age restrictions.

"Your parents are the ones who went with The Four and took the cloak. There's one problem though. Last year Gloria, the leader of The Four, left. She had to help her family with personal problems. The Fairy Godmother wants you to take her place."

I gasped. "Me? But an hour ago I didn't even know all this existed! What am I supposed to do?"

Trish grabbed my hand. "You don't need to worry. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. You're just here so we can explain and inform you."

I shook my head. "No, no, that's not it. I've loved fantasy and magic for a while, this is like a dream come true. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

She smiled. "Don't worry! I'll explain everything. Let me tell you about Jandell. Jandell was created long ago, back when humans believed in myths like Unicorns, Manticores, and Dragons. What you might not know was that because humans believed in them, they were real. Only human imagination was strong enough to create those amazing creatures. We played together, imagined things. But human kind were discovering things everyday. They wanted more knowledge, they wanted explanations. Mythical creatures were disappearing more and more, going into hiding. Eventually humans didn't believe in mythical animals and magic anymore. Anytime they saw something unexplainable, they would push it away.

"Eventually someone named "Sasha Jandell" discovered a unicorn deep in the wilderness. The unicorn was injured, its foot stuck beneath rocks. Sasha helped it and they became fast friends. He created an organization dedicated to finding and helping mythical animals, and relocating them somewhere safe. He used science, technology and magic to create a portal that led to another world, filled with everything they needed to survive. He named that world "Jandell" after himself. The organization recruited more and more members, relocating all the animals they could. But one day, someone named "Lite Drager" joined the organization. He was exceptionally talented at most things, including magic, but he wanted more power. He learnt how to use dark magic and used it to create a powerful cloak, capable of being used for good to help Jandell, or to destroy us."

I held up my hand. "Wait, wait. Why, and how, is it so powerful? When I had it, it didn't seem like anything much,"

Trish shook her head gravely. "It is very powerful. Let me explain first. He made this cloak, and the Elders of this organization wanted to destroy the cloak, as it was dark magic. Lite called it "The Cloak of Darkness", which is a bit of a dead ringer for "evil". Lite rebelled, stole the cloak, and ran away. He used the Cloak's dark powers to create a black palace, which he called "Drager Castle". He ruled on the throne, and made plans to take over Jandell. Just your typical world domination plans. But with the Cloak, he was unstoppable. He could create armies of the dead, and destroy cities with one snap. But everytime he did something big with the Cloak, it sucked a bit of his life out of him, taking away his last bit of humanity, and making him into something much, much worse. It did nothing on the outward appearance, but inside he was dark and twisted. The Elders fought and rebelled, but nothing they did worked.

"The Elders decided to send messengers out to all four corners of Jandell, and choose one gifted child from each corner. Together they would make "The Four". The most famous and talented people would train them with everything they would need to defeat Lite, or as we call him now, The Cloak Keeper. And that they did. Together, they defeated him. They took the Cloak and banished him to a dark realm. And they were only 14, to 15. They aren't "The Four" that you know today, they retired a few years ago. We are trying to keep young children as "The Four", as their minds are more open, and can learn things faster. They are also more agile, and children are surprisingly one of The Cloak Keepers weaknesses. About 14 years ago, he came back. No prison can hold him for long, not even magical ones. Stole the Cloak from your parents, and went into hiding, Probably to regain his strength and powers. It's still a mystery to me as to how the Cloak ended up in the warehouse. Perhaps it's connected to you in some way, and teleported itself to the warehouse where you were."

I was stunned. There was so much I didn't know about. This was all so hard to believe, but then again, I was standing in a multicolored field of unicorns. I nodded slowly. "I'll help. Also I wanted to know-"

I cut off, as I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Something black was skimming over the ground. What is that? I wondered. "Lia! Run!" Trish shouted.