Adam's eyes became a blur and he fell to the ground with a "thud".............."Wake up Adam, Hello Adam are you listening to me.",Tommy was saying and trying to wake up Adam. "Where am I? what happened?", said Adam meekly; "It's alright Adam, we are in my house.",said Tommy and he continued ,"Its' been just a few hours since you fainted,". "What were those things that went through me.", said Adam now rubbing his eyes ; "No idea dude, seemed like some Grey smokey thing." "How are the others, how did I get here.", "Adam, when you fainted Kristen got a little emotional and she just started crying and with her mobile phone she had to try three times to dial the phone number of the Ambulance Service right and then some ghostly things started happening in the school - lights flickering, all the lockers were opening and closing very rapidly by themselves. Ambulance arrived quickly and my Mom is a Paramedic and the moment she saw you she said that you just fainted and we brought you here.

"Everyone else, are they all right?" asked Adam now feeling much better. "Yeah man,everyone at school is just fine, anyway tell me how was it when those things went through you?",asked Tommy. Adam remained silent for a while and said," It's difficult do describe in words but when those things came rushing through me I felt strange I saw something, I felt that I have seen the scene somewhere before but I can't remember where." "So what did you see???", asked Tommy excitedly "I don't remember." Adam knew he had seen something important and he tried hard but he just couldn't remember the more he thought about that scene the more his head started aching. Tommy saw that Adam was not feeling better and to cheer him up he said,"Hey man Kristen called just now,she was inquiring about you." "Say thanks to your mother from me, I will go home now Mom must be worried about me.",said Adam and he was getting ready to leave.
"Don't mention it,what are friends for, anyway Adam I don't think it's such a nice idea for you to leave right now, just take a look at the NEWS man.",said Tommy switching on the T.V. ,in all the channels there was only one thing - "Dark Woods under attack, everyone stay indoors. There seems to be a sudden rise in the number of spirits and demons, the official count has not yet been established and the experts say the number is way beyond what is normal in Dark Woods." Then the power went off suddenly in the house.

A few days later,when Adam went to school as usual he was met by Tommy near the narrow path which ran across Dark Woods. they were discussing about the test which would be conducted that day by their class teacher-Ms.Amanda. But as the two of them went deeper into Dark woods, they heard the rustling of leaves behind them.

When they turned around, about a few meters away from the place they were they saw the form of a creature running fast behind the bushes. Then there was dead silence for some time Tommy broke the ice by saying, "Adam, what do you think it was?" Adam replied,"Don't know man never seen anything like it." Adam asked Tommy if he was scared and Tommy said," Adam, even I am as brave as you are but its just that I am not able to keep my legs from shivering ad stop sweat from trickling down my face."
Adam then said."Let us not linger around here unless you want to be late for school." Even before Adam completed his sentence Tommy began to run in the direction of their school closely followed by Adam. A few minutes of running and they reached school. Everyone entering the school at that time felt something different about it. Spook school looked the same as always- The same old dilapidated walls, poison ivy hanging from the roof. But it just did not feel the same it was as if it was surrounded by some strong demonic aura, it was difficult to express the feeling in words.
Adam and Tommy met Kristen in the hallway but they said nothing about the thing they had seen in the bushes. Kristen started the conversation by saying," Hey boys, have you prepared for the test." Tommy just nodded his head and said," No Kristen today Adam is going to be my God Fatherl." Kristen looked at Adam angrily and Adam simply smiled. Adam just remembered that he needed to take some books from his locker and as the Trio's lockers were far away from one another he had to walk some distance to get to his locker. As soon as he opened his locker,he least expected the scene which he saw- inside the locker every thing was pitch black all his items were gone it was filled with strange smells and sounds and suddenly many red eyes opened and stared at Adam and to this Adam gave a scream. The scream started a chain reaction and everything present inside the locker came rushing out Adam felt as if dark, hot smoke covered him as the things came out and then escaped out into the Dark woods.

His plan was simple: just be brave and try to scare those creatures. So they gathered all their courage and tried scaring the monsters by making sounds and different faces. His plan seemed to be working because the Bog Monsters were not only becoming small but also were losing their body parts. First they lost their horns next their scary face then their big bellies, fish tail followed and finally in the end their hands and legs. Now they became Small Tadpole and eventually vanished. Everyone were stunned by the outcome of events. Adam decided to keep the puppy to himself and call the puppy “Lupus”. Finally the sun was rising and the attack of the bog monsters was over; thanks to the brave little hero “Lupus”.

Then all of them went to their houses hurriedly and Adam had to give a lengthy explanation to his mother for not turning up early. The lame explanation he gave to his mother was that they were attacked by some Bog Creatures and they hid all night and nothing was said about his adventure. He also had to persuade his mother a lot for keeping Lupus. He even did not tell her anything about its strange powers as if anyone would and if he ever told her about it then she would not even let him go near it.

The dog in Adam’s hands which was yelping and wagging its tail stopped doing that, Adam thought it was frightened too but it was not, he knew it was angry because he could hear it growling and it suddenly jumped to the ground from Adam’s hands. He could see its eyes becoming red and gray smoke covered all the students when the smoke covered them all the students some how just froze, it was as if the time stopped for all the students except Adam and Kristen who could still move and that was very strange experience for both of them and in that smoke Adam and Kristen gasped at what they saw, the pup was now transformed into a huge bear like dog about 10 feet tall and looked more like a cold blooded killer rather than an adorable puppy. It gave a menacing growl that caused all the Bog Monsters to retreat back and the strange thing was that they grew smaller in size. As the Demon Dog roamed from side to side growling and staring ferociously the Bog Monsters grew further smaller in size.

Adam was taught to predict the weakness of a monster by observing its behavior he thought for some time and understood why the Bog Monsters grew smaller because they could taste a person’s fear and the more scared one was, the stronger they grew that is why when the Bog Monsters saw the Demon Dog which was not afraid of them they became weak, this theory also explained why no Bog Monster came the way in which he and Kristen went, then suddenly when Adam was lost in his thoughts the smoke drifted away and again the Demon Dog turned into the puppy, he was shocked to find that none of his friends except Kristen saw what had happened just now, he had an idea, it was risky but worth trying, he explained his plan to his classmates.

Adam and Kristen were running together and they stopped to catch their breath and looked back, there was no one behind them. Both of them gave out a sigh of relief, but a sound suddenly made them jump, the sound was not that of a Bog Monster but then Kristen spotted something on a nearby tree. She and Adam went closer for a better look at what it was and were surprised to find a small puppy trapped on a branch, Kristen said,” Some monster must have left it there.”, she then asked Adam to climb that tree and help the poor little thing, Adam tried to argue that dogs could not climb trees and that a dog which could climb might not be ordinary but could also be dangerous, but as usual Kristen was adamant and said that something as cute and innocent looking as that puppy can never harm anyone,

Adam finally gave up and climbed the tree and went closer to the puppy, instead of barking it remained very calm which was even more surprising for Adam, so he grabbed the puppy and brought it down. In the moon light they could see that it was a young Labrador puppy light yellow in color. Kristen said,”Oh! You poor thing must have been clinging to that stupid branch for days, you look so tired and hungry” she thrust that pup into Adam’s hands and searched her pockets for something to feed the pup and found two cookies and both of them were given to the pup by her, the puppy ate it happily and Kristen again took the pup from Adam’s hands and cuddled the puppy for some time, strangely during all this time none of the bog monsters came that way Adam and Kristen started running again with the pup in their hands. As the path came to an end they could see all their classmates huddled together and all of them were looking terrified, even Adam and Kristen joined them clinging to the puppy, it was dead end so they could not go anywhere. Suddenly from a nearby bush the Bog Monsters jumped out and they looked bigger and meaner than ever.

In the thin light from moon which was shining on the bog they spotted a strange human like creature coming out of the bog. All were rooted to the spot as fear gripped them. The Bog Monsters walked on their 2 hind legs like a human but they had no features of one. Their hands and legs were slender, the legs had 2 giant claws instead of toes and they had webbed feet, their hands had three claws in the place of 2 fingers and a thumb, their skin was scaly; their belly was enormous and protruding. Their head was round and had the jaws of shark and on the back of their head were 3 horns but the strangest thing was that they had the tail of a fish. They had putrid breath which could be smelled for miles; which was like a mixture of stinking onions and rotten tomatoes.

All the students gasped in horror and a few even fainted. But most of them were frozen like ice. The worst was about to happen. Many other such creatures came out of that bog. Adam thought that they were going to be dead meat. Suddenly huge black clouds covered the moon. Now the whole swamp was plunged into darkness. They could hear dry leaves and twigs snapping and understood that the Bog Monsters were closing in on them. It couldn’t have been any student as all of them were too scared to move. Adam’s mind drew a blank as he didn’t know how to defend himself or the class from these creatures as in his Kaijudo class he was not taught any thing about Bog Monsters and he couldn’t use any other beast’s technique as they did not look like anything he had learnt about. clouds moved away and as the moon shone brightly over them, the monsters started running, they were only a few feet from the students and Ms.Amanda found her voice and shouted to her class to run as fast as they could, now the Bog Monsters started chasing them, the Bog Monsters ran pretty fast even thought they had huge bellies, there came a fork in the path and all the students went different ways, even the monsters stopped running for a moment and they too separated.

Ms.Amanda told that this swamp was once a beautiful picnic spot,One day a man carrying a deadly virus came to the picnic spot and all the people present there got infected and died after a few days from Fever. After no one took care of the place and it became a swamp and was called “Fever Swamp” in remembrance of the incident. The place had been closed down for years but recently some scientists with their latest equipment came here and cleared the swamp of all viruses and made it public again. She also told them that there had been a lot of mysterious sightings over the past few days.

People claim to have seen strange creatures that come out at night to hunt. As scientists never had any proof of such things they closed the case saying it was a fake. But Adam and his fellow classmates were soon going to find out because the sun was setting and everything was becoming dark. The students wondered if the sun set here quickly or did they have a problem with their watches because it was still only 5 P.M. The mysterious creatures were called “The Bog Monsters” and these creatures evolved from the Fever Virus which was the cause of many deaths. Now it had become completely dark and their only source of light came from the thin sliver of moon that hanging in the clouds. Kristen and Tommy were standing just beside Adam but he could only hear their trembling voices and not see them as it was too dark to see anything. He knew that they were terrified of The Bog Monsters that came out at night to hunt people. Even he was scared and felt cold sweat trickle down his chin. Then the whole class suddenly turned because of a strange sound and they spotted a Big Bog which was bubbling like as if it was some liquid in a cauldron which was being boiled over a thousand degrees.

As the days passed by Adam got along with everyone at school except Arnold and his rowdy bunch of friends who thought their only work at school was to bully their juniors and tease girls but the worst thing for Adam was that they were in the same class as he was.
One day their class teacher Ms.Amanda entered the class and announced that they were going on a field trip to “Fever Swamp”

All of them were filled with zeal and there was a din of chatter which broke out among the students. The bus that was going to take them to Fever Swamp arrived as soon as they reached the bus stop. Everyone had the opinion that the bus was very luxurious compared to their school bus.
They reached fever swamp about half an hour later. It was a very thick swamp and the teacher had brought them there to learn something about this swamp which had a very tragic history.

The next day Adam could not get rest because of all the excitement he had the previous night. He thought about the night he spent with the Werewolves. His school started from the next week and he was eager to meet his new teachers and make new friends. Time seemed to pass very slowly for him. Monday Morning came late but it did come at last.

He got ready early that morning and went to the first day of his new school “Spook school” as he entered the class he found that the first class had already started and there was a teacher who was introducing herself to the class as soon as he entered he introduced him and he said to everyone “Hi friends, my name is Adam Macmillan. He saw that Kristen was also in the same class. After completing his first day as a tenth grader he and Kristen talked for a long time and she introduced him to Tommy who after a few days became Adam’s best pal. Adam felt that Tommy was a very good and dependable friend who was an easy going guy. Kristen on the other hand was a bossy girl who liked ordering everyone around and she was also one of the prettiest girls in the whole school, Adam liked both of them equally. Their class teacher’s name was
Ms. Amanda who was a very good teacher.

Now he was really tensed about where his mother could have wandered off to. So he went outside on his bicycle and he was happy that it was a full moon night, he saw the moon for sometime as it appeared from behind the clouds and the full moon cast a little bit of light aiding his vision. He then moved deeper into the jungle and saw a few people moving towards the big moon. Through the moon light he could see that they were sprouting hairs all over their body and were growing huge in size, he then remembered why his mother had warned him from going out into Dark Woods at night because it was famous for its Werewolves (people who become wolf like creatures on the night of the full moon).Now he had to find his Mother in a dark forest which was infested with blood thirsty werewolves.

But gathering all his courage he went towards them slowly and he heard a woman’s scream and the voice was none other than his Mother’s, now he started racing towards the sound only to find a group of Werewolves closing on her. Then Adam shouted,”Hey ugly over here!” and then shouted to his mother to run as far as she could from there. His mother was able to escape but now he was in trouble, however he felt happy that he was able to save her.He slowly bent down and found sharp piece of wood which he thought he could use as a stake just then a Werewolf pounced on him and Adam held the stake high and the Werewolf got pierced by it in its heart and died slow and painful death, the sound of the Werewolf was ringing in Adam’s ears. Adam thought it was the leader of the pack as the now dead Werewolf was the largest among the group. Seeing the Alpha Wolf (leader wolf) die the others got angry and started chasing him. He ran faster and faster to save his life but naturally the Werewolves were much faster than him and he formed an image of what will happen if one caught him and and a werewolf caught hold of him and was about to sink its teeth into his neck but in the nick of time a Lady appeared from nowhere and gave a blow on the head of the Were wolf with a silver chain. That lady was none other than Adam’s mother. The other wolves seeing this got scared and ran away. Later Adam asked his mother how she could have got lost and she said that she encountered a “Mind illusionist”(a small animal that lacks physical power but makes up with its mental power and has the power to manipulate one’s mind).It was nearly dawn and the sun was rising. Then later Adam had to make up different kinds of stories to explain how he came out of the house.

Later she asked him where he learnt to fight like that and he simply replied that he learnt a fighting style called “Kaijudo” and that he passed Level 2 out of the total 5 levels in it, sensing that she had no interest on the subject he let go of it, he later dropped her near her house and finally asked her which school was she going to this Kristen replied that she was going to “Spook School” the best school in the entire Dark woods and Adam was thrilled because that was the same school he was going to join after 1 week, he was glad that he made a friend even before the school began. He just remembered that his mom was going to return any time soon and he rushed back to his house wondering whether his Mom had returned or not and what reason to say if his mom had already returned.

In a chaos state of mind he went back to his house and was overjoyed to find out that his mother had not yet returned from work he opened the door with the spare key and quickly had a wash and changed his clothes as the little get together with the Rock Lizard had soiled his clothes, slowly the minutes passed into hours and it was getting dark outside now and he started wondering why his mother had not yet returned , then he remembered that his mother had told him that she would be getting the groceries as his Father was out of Dark Woods on a meeting, and Adam calmed down a little bit but after waiting for another 2 hours he could not think that she would be still at the Grocery Store. So he closed all the silver plated windows ( silver was used to coat the doors and windows as it acted as primary defense against low level monsters) Once again Adam opened the door with the spare key and went in search of his Mother. The first place he went searching for her was at the grocery store that she said she would go. The shop’s name was “Monster Mart” he entered the store and showed a picture of his mother at the counter and asked if that lady had come, the Receptionist after thinking for sometime said that the lady did come but left a few hours ago.

A million thoughts raced through his mind and he finally decided to venture out in to Dark woods and explore the place a little bit. He opened the front door and then locked it slowly, he took his bicycle and went into the deep forest alone with only the cool breeze giving him company. As he penetrated deeper into the forest a whole new world lay ahead of him.

Dark woods was nothing like Red woods (the place in which he earlier lived in) the more he went into Dark woods the more excited he felt, then after coming some distance he heard a girl’s cry, curious to find out who was it, he went in the direction of the sound and he then came to a clearing
In which he saw a pretty girl gripped in fear as a “Rock lizard “(a medium sized monster which has hide as strong as a rock and spikes surrounding its back.) Was closing in on her. He quickly dropped his bicycle and with lightning fast reflexes he picked up a club that was lying in the litter and threw it on Rock lizard’s head and the head being the weakest part of the Lizard’s body it collapsed quickly. Then the girl slowly asked if the lizard was dead then Adam said it is not dead but just unconscious. The girl who was cuddled by a tree sprang up and suddenly ran towards Adam and hugged him, his face became red with embarrassment, after a few seconds she let go of him. She then said” What would have happened to me if you had not arrived in time”. Adam too embarrassed to say anything just said,”Hm oh OK” That’s all he could think of. Later they were walking down the thin path and she told her name was Kristen and that she lived on the other side of the river that flowed between Dark Woods and that meant Kristen’s house was just on the other side of Adam’s house.

“Adam wake up”, came a call from below. Adam who had rolled out of bed at night suddenly woke up with a starl as he had the worst nightmare ever, then he got ready and went down to have breakfast. His mother said “Adam you have school within a week why don’t you do some preparation before it starts”, to this, Adam replied “Mom there is no need to prepare as this a new year and nothing has been taught yet”. His mother then said “We have come to Dark Woods just for your education and I will not appreciate if you are going to neglect it like this”.

Adam then said “Really mom? And I thought we were here because Dad got a promotion and got transferred here”. “No more talking young man I am going to my office and I do not want you to leave the house no matter what, OK”. “OK mom it is not like I am going to run away or anything”. “I am locking the door and going so no moving out of the house”, said his mother and went off in a hurry. Adam always thought why his mother was so worried about him and he knew the answer, she was worried that if he went outside the safety of their house some demon would come and eat him. But he always wanted to explore new places and find out new things. He just accepted his fate and thanked God that he had such a caring and protective mother but sometimes he felt that his mother should not have been so protective about him. He was just exploring his new house as they had moved to Dark Woods only two days ago. He went near the front door and was very pleased to see that his mother had forgotten the spare key of the front door and left in a hurry to her new office.

Man has been telling stories of fantasy since times immemorial. He has believed in the unknown and wanted to know more about the things he did not know it was the nature of mankind. In different parts of the world we keep hearing myths and legends of things which we cannot even imagine, in some cases the truth is definitely stranger than the fantasy. This is one such story. This is the tale of Adam an average teen whose life changes drastically in a span of three years. Adam lives in an alternate earth where the humans and demons, monsters live together or actually where humans are dominated by different creatures. The number of humans is very less and the earth is covered with swamps and different kinds of forests which are called "Woods". So a sight of a werewolf or any other demon is not such a rarity in Adam’s world. The tale starts from when Adam’s age was 15 years and continues until his age becomes 18 during the span of these 3 years he has to sacrifice many things and battle for things he could not even dream of; in short this is a story of fantasy, love, trust, betrayal and friendship.