Midsummer's eve, a time of magic and what should be cheer. This day is nothing but hell for Xander, the day his Mother died of cancer, and he was sent to a orphanage.

Xander had jolted awake covered in sweat with a tear in his eye. He had one of his recurring nightmares. This time was about his mother being removed from this world by a six-eyed, scaly lizard whose scales were obsidian purple and eyes were the purest gold imaginable.

The nightmare began the same way they all do, with him siting on his bed listening to his Mom telling him the story of Little Red Riding Hood when the next thing he saw was the snake, which he started to call Metus, or Fear. He called it this not because of its looks, but because of the way its golden eyes could see into the deepest parts of his soul. He backed away slowly calling out "Mommy move, hurry Mommy the evil snake is going to get you." Then the snake lunged at his mother and wrap its scaly body around her and drag her thru the window right over his wooden bed as she screamed "Xander, Run don't let it get you!" Every time Xander got to that terrible part of the dream a distant voice whispered, "Excito" causing him to wake up unable to get the terrified look of his screaming mother out of his mind.

The darkness seeping in the window showed it was still night. When Xander looked over to his alarm clock the time said 3:00 AM. "Great, now I have four hours to get ready for school instead of six," he muttered to himself. As he did most mornings he got up and went to take a cold shower to wash off the sweat and hopefully get the salty tear stains off of his face. As he was nearing the bathroom he noticed a strange aura seeping out of his step-parents room. Against his better judgment he opened the door to their room. His step-parents room room was pitch black save the golden eyes of what could only be Metus. "Shit!" Xander turned and ran downstairs and for the door hoping to get away for Metus.

As he reached the bottom step the floor fell out from under him. He began falling slowly but as he fell further and further into the darkness he sped up. Suddenly he just stopped falling, but was still unable to move. Metus slowly slithered and wrapped its body around Xander slowly until a voice shouted "IGNIS" igniting the snake in flames of purifying light. The flames were gone as quickly as they were there leaving Xander standing alone in the dark.

"Xander, get your but over here!" The voice that seamed to burn the snake called. Rubbing has head he moved towards the voice that called out to him. Considering he had no clue what was going on he decided that the voice would be the best place to go anyways. Moving towards the voice Xander called out with a hint of exasperation, "Who the hell are you?".

A/N
Words that might not look familiar are Latin, trying to portray a thing of older times, Xander also was taught a little Latin before his mother died. Also I'm sorry if the chapter is short but I'm just beginning and I thought I might leave you guys with a cliff hanger.