Chapter 1

William's eyes fluttered and he slowly began to wake. A dull throbbing pain throbbed in his head as he sat up in bed and looked around.

"W...where am I? " he said aloud. As he turned his head to the left, he saw a beautiful silver-haired elf sitting just a few feet away, staring at him with a look of concern on her face.

"Am I dead? " William asked. "Am I dreaming? Or have all those rumors of the afterlife really turned out to be true? "

"If you're still in one piece, that means you're still alive..." Sarah said in a soft voice. She leaned forward and brushed Will's hair behind his ears.

"Just look for yourself, " she continued.

William turned to his left to see Sarah smiling at him with her silver hair cascading around her. He noticed her ears were slightly pointed, like those of an elf.

"You're a... you're an elf, " he said while pointing at her ears.

William's mouth hung open and he stared at Sarah in disbelief.

"How... How is this real?" he asked. "How can this be possible? " He turned to look all around the room, taking everything in.

"Am I still dreaming?" he asked Sarah while turning back to look at her.

"No, you're not dreaming..." Sarah replied. "You've been teleported here from somewhere."

William turned to look at Sarah with a confused look on his face.

"You mean... the same way you see those anime characters get sent to fantasy worlds? Is that what happened?" he asked.

Sarah nodded and moved closer to William's bedside, gently taking his hands into her own and holding them together.

"Yes. You have been transported to another world." Sarah said with a kind smile.

William's eyes widened as he sat there and thought about what Sarah had just said.

"I... I'm..." he started, but couldn't come up with the words. "I can't fathom this. How is it possible?"

Sarah could see the confusion and fear on William's face as he tried to come to terms with everything that had happened.

She gently stroked the back of one of his hands with her fingers.

"Do you remember how you got here?" she asked him.

William took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he looked down at the silver-haired elf holding his hands.

"No... the last thing I remember is... the crystal... " he said. "I was with my friends..."

Sarah could see the pain in William's eyes as he thought back to that day.

"Where are they?" he asked.

Sarah shook her head. "I... I don't know."

William looked down at his right hand. Embedded in the center of his palm was a glowing black crystal.

Sarah noticed the crystal in William's hand. She stared at it for a moment in silence before speaking.

"This... this might be what caused you to be here in the first place." Sarah said. "I've never seen anything like this... "

William was still puzzled by it. "Is this what they wanted? " he asked.

"Who?" Sarah asked as she raised her eyebrows. "Who are they?"

"My friends... " William said. "We went treasure hunting in the jungle."

"Did you find anything?" Sarah asked.

William nodded slowly. "Something really big... really important. "

Sarah's eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened with surprise. She gently pried his palm open and looked at the dark crystal.

"Wow...," she said, staring at the crystal in her hand. "This might be why you're here."

William leaned forward and looked at the crystal in her hand. His eyes widened with curiosity.

"Is this crystal magical?" he asked. Sarah nodded.

Sarah looked up at William with her silver eyes glittering in the light.

"This crystal has a lot of power... it might be a chaos crystal... "

William leaned forward, his eyes locked onto the crystal. He could feel its power calling out to him.

"Can I harness its power?" he asked. Sarah nodded in agreement.

He looked back at her. "Will you help me? "

She nodded again. "Yes, I will. "

His eyes widened with excitement. "So.... that means I can become stronger?"

Sarah smiled and lifted her left hand. An orb of blue light floated in her hand, slowly rotating around her palm.

"It seems like your powers are already activated. " Sarah said. "I can feel the power emitting from this crystal."

William looked down at the crystal and held his palm up to it. He felt a strange energy flowing through his body and could see blue light emanating from the crystal. He turned his hand back and forth, making the light dance before him.

As soon as his eyes returned to Sarah, he burst into a wide smile.

Sarah smiled at William's excitement. Watching him discover his new power.

"I can already feel its power within me, " he said as he stood up and flexed his open palm at Sarah. The light grew brighter, with streaks of black lightning dancing across his skin.

Sarah watched in awe as William demonstrated his growing power.

"Let me train you, " Sarah told him. "You can definitely become stronger."

William stared at Sarah, then looked down at the crystal, wondering what he could do with this strange new power.

"I can already tell you're going to be even stronger with magic than you ever thought you could be. " Sarah said with a smile.

William nodded and smiled back at her. "If you can train me to wield the power of chaos, I think we'll be a pretty dangerous team." He said.

"A dangerous team..." Sarah repeated, a smile spreading across her face.

William reached his hand toward the crystal, staring at it as he continued to think. "What will you teach me first? " he asked.

Sarah considered the question for a moment before she looked back up at William with a serious look on her face.

"I will teach you to harness your power safely," she said finally. "Your power comes from a chaos crystal. It is very unstable, and you need to learn how to control it without letting it control you."

She paused for a moment, then continued.

"First, we need to test your control. Try this. "

She held out her open left hand. In her palm was the orb of blue light William had seen before.