The World Unknown
Chapter One
The Seven-Legged Illendotter

Chamberlay is a small town which is often times passed through due to how small it is. There aren't that many good jobs here, so people who want a good paying job more often than not, chose to drive an hour to the closest city next to us in order to do so. Even so, I like it in Chamberlay. It has always been my home.

It was just last Tuesday that I had begun babysitting my neighbor's children for a week while she was away on a business trip which could not be rescheduled. I, being too unmotivated to look for a job in town, took the babysitting offer with glee. Afterall, Zyan and Melissa were old enough to feed, clothe, and bathe themselves, all I had to do was make sure they did eat and were in bed no later than eight. Unfortunately, since we did live next door to each other, I was forced to temporarily move into their house so that they would feel more comfortable and so that if they were to break or damage anything, it was theirs and not mine.

For the most part, everything was fine. Sure, they screamed at each other quite a bit, but it was nothing a little "time out" couldn't fix. Besides, they were easy to care for, they both liked apple juice with intense passion, they loved eating ravioli, and they loved playing tag.

Five days had flown by so quickly that it was a bright and early Sunday that I decided to take the two kids to the park for some fresh air. The Chamberlay park was a small one that suited our small town. It had monkey bars, two slides, and a basketball hoop with faded markings on the pavement below. Still, it was enough for the kids to scream with joy as they ran around the empty park. As they did so, they knew to come to me immedietly if they needed something or if something were to happen. They also knew to stay away from the parking lot which I was blocking for them anyways as I sat on a decaying wooden park bench that stood between the playground and parking lot. Straight across from me, past the playground, was the Chamberlay forest, which they also knew to stay away from because I didn't want either of them to run in and trip and hurt themselves.

So, I listened to them run around and chase each other as I quietly played random games on my phone. Sadly, for me, this blissful peace wouldn't last forever.

I was interrupted by Melissa's ear curdling scream, my body jerked foreword to look for her, which didn't take long as she was running to me, pointing backwards.

"What's wrong?" I asked as she grabbed my arm tightly and began tugging as hard as she could to get me to follow her. I repeated my question but got the same crying response which I could not interpret into English. With her other arm, she just pointed at Zyan who stood dumbstruck past the playground.

"What happened?" I asked him, hoping to get more of a response.

"Nothing! I'm hungry!" He frowned.

Melissa screamed again, causing Zyan to tense up, I asked again, this time narrowing my question, "What did you do?"

He let out a harsh sigh and rolled his eyes, "She pushed me-"

"I TAGGED YOU!"

"YOU STILL PUSHED ME!"

"Then what?" I pressed.

"Then I took her dumb bow and threw it in the forest." Zyan said bitterly.

I shook my head as I gently pried Melissa's hands off of my arm, "Zyan, apologize to Melissa."

"NO!" He screamed.

"Apologize or I'll send you in to get her bow."

"No! That's not fair! I could die!"

"You won't die."

"Yes, I might will! There's a whole ton of monsters and ghosts!" He squeaked out as his eyes began to water.

"Then apologize and I'll get it. I have on my 'anti-monster' necklace so they won't be able to touch me." I smiled.

He wiped his eyes and turned to Melissa who was still sniffling with red eyes, "I'm sorry I threw your bow." He mumbled under his breath.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear that." I said slyly, causing Melissa to let out a devilish giggle.

"Fine!" Zyan hissed as he kicked the dirt, "I'm sorry!"

A smile formed on my face and I nodded, "There you go. Now wait here." I spoke, turning to enter the forbidden forest.

I didn't even have to look at the two to know that both of their eyes were wide as they watched me enter the forest for what they thought, would probably be the last time. Luckily, it didn't take long for me to find the bright green bow.

"Melissa, I found it." I assured her as I picked it up and turned around to meet her gaze.

Except, she wasn't there. Neither was Zyan. I took a step back to where I had come from and felt something turn in my stomach. I appeared to be very very deep in the forest, but there is no way I took more than three steps in.

As I turned back, I could hear very faint heavy breathing in the distance. It sounded like an animal, but not the type of animal I was comfortable meeting. I looked around on the ground one last time, hoping to see a bow, but I did not. I did however, see something shuffling around in the distance.

I held my breath and stood back against a tree, hoping to not make a single sound. Whatever that thing was, it was not worth dying over for a bow. I'll just go and buy her another one or a doll to make up for the loss.

I looked around for an escape that wouldn't draw the attention of the strange animal, but upon looking around, my foot slipped on the bottom of the tree stump I was standing on and pressed onto a small twig.

Though it cracked, the animal didn't seem to hear it. I took in a slow deep breath and stepped off of the stump and slowly began to make my way back through where I thought I came from. Really, I just wanted to get as far away from the animal as I could.

However, as I took a few more steps, the giant monster raised its eerie looking head in my direction. I froze in place as I stared directly at it. I could see its strange looking body, it was one of which I had never seen before. Its head was long and protruded back like an almond and on its face, four small eyes that looked black and devious. On the tip of its face, a large pig like nose that stuck out and twitched as it smelt the air. Its body was long and hairless, and its back was raised like a startled cat. It had four hind legs like that of a dog which moved in unison as it moved around slowly, trying to find something. Its remaining arms, I looked closely to see they resembled long and disfigured human arms with human fingers to match. Seven limbs in total, I didn't want to find out what the inside of its mouth looked like. I held my breath and stared at it as it turned around.

I must not have waited long enough because as it turned, I took another step backwards and stepped on a stone so as to not make any noise. Still, it turned to look at me. I knew it immediately that I was going to die if it decided to make its way towards me, so I decided to stand as still as I possibly could.

"You don't want it to see you, so you're standing still. You know about Illendotters too, then, huh?" I heard a voice lazily ask from a tree above me.

My head jolted up in fear, but it was only a boy who looked not much older than I.

"SHHH!" I hissed in a loud whisper.

He, however, laughed loudly, "I suppose you're not that well informed on them then if you're nervous about making a sound." He could see the confused look on my face and explained further, "They've got poor hearing, basically deaf. Its movement that you want to avoid."

I wanted to ask him how long he had been sitting up in that tree and how he knew about the monster and how I should escape it, but as I opened my mouth, I was unable to speak.

He must have seen this as well as he spoke again, "I don't suppose you've got your wand on you?"

"N-No."

He clicked his mouth and tilted his head back and forth for a moment as if he were thinking, as he glanced back down at me, he shook his head, "I'm going to get in so much trouble for this." However, he did not sound disappointed, "Pick that rock you're standing on up, will ya?"

"You just said movement will attract the bloody thing!" I spat back at the brunette.

"It's at a good distance isn't it?" He said, motioning over to the Illendotter which was sniffing a fallen tree, "You better hurry if you wanna get outta here alive."

His words sounded apathetic and cold as if he were taunting me. He, who was safe in a tree. He, who didn't have two children waiting for him back in the park, probably scared and confused because I had not returned yet. Still, the image of the children was enough to make me certain that I did not want to die to this monster.

As slowly as I could, I stepped off of the stone and took another step backwards. I then knelt down and grabbed the stone in my hands as tightly as I could so as to not drop it.

"Throw it!" The boy cheered me on.

"Throw it?" I asked.

"Throw it!" He repeated himself, this time with more enthusiasm.

I looked around, unsure where to throw it. In the moment, it just made the most sense to throw it at the monster to knock it out. So, I threw it at the monster. Unfortunately, the results were unforeseen.

"ARE YOU ACTUALLY MAD?" He shouted at me, furiously.

The monster had jerked its head directly at me, this time, even standing as still as I could would not have been enough to divert its attention from me to any other thing. It began to charge.

The boy jumped out of the tree and grabbed my arm roughly as he jerked me back and around the tree just as the monster managed to pass right where I had been standing.

It took a second for the thing to turn around and face us, but once it did, it was charging full pace again. Just as it was about to hit us, however, the boy jerked to the right and pulled me along with him and we began to run in that direction.

Again, the monster took a second to turn itself around and I realized what the boy was doing.

The monster began to charge at us one last time, but the boy wrapped his arm around me tightly as he jerked to the left and jumped.

I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the impact of the dirt and rocks on the ground, but rather than that, I felt cold stone beneath my arm.

The boy pushed himself up and turned to face me, "I said to throw it, not throw it at the Illendotter!" He said furiously.

"I was SCARED you idiot! How was I supposed to know what you meant?" I explained.

He rolled his eyes, "So immature. I didn't have my wand because the last Detinkeller I was feeding took it and ran away, but what's your excuse?"

"Wand? Are YOU the mad one here or what? What do you mean a wand?" I spat at him.

His reddish eyes widened as he turned to face me completely, "You're a witch... right?"

"Is this some sort of elaborate joke?" I asked, furrowing my brows, "Where are the kids?" I asked, looking around the closet we now seemed to be in. As far as I could see, there were only multiple brooms lining the walls.

"Oh... shit." The boy cursed as he looked forward. It appeared like all of the blood had drained from his face as he quickly became pale, "Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. I'm really going to be stoned to death now, I kidnapped a human."

"When did we get in here?" I asked, realizing my surroundings. Everything had happened so quickly that it almost felt like some sort of dream. Except in dreams, one never knows it is a dream until they wake up. So perhaps, I was lucid dreaming?

As I continued wondering and the boy continued to murmur curses under his breath, the door suddenly slammed open and a tall looking figure appeared, looking concerned.

"VLAD! YOU'RE BACK!" A boy shouted as he slammed the door open, his big blue eyes quickly turned towards me, "Uh-oh."

His eyes turned back to the boy, Vlad who stood up, "OK. It's still very much OK. We just have to find someone to preform a memory erasing charm on her and take her back and it'll be OK!" He smiled weakly.

"M-Memory erasing charm? On ME?" I asked, taking a step back, "What does that mean?"

The blue-eyed boy entered the closet and blocked the entrance as he ignored me and turned towards Vlad, "A giftless human, Vlad." He paused, "This isn't good."

"I KNOW that, Alfred, but it was an accident! I saved her from an Illendotter, I could've sworn she was like us!"

"There aren't any Illendotter in the human world." Alfred responded.

"That's WHY I thought she was like us!" He explained.

Both boys turned towards me, "How did you end up in the forest with me and the creature?"

"I honestly don't know, I was babysitting the kids, Zyan and Melissa then I just... I was trying to get Melissa's bow, I don't know how I got there."

"Melissa?" Alfred asked.

"The kids, you idiot." Vlad replied, "Well if you just teleported in front of the Illendotter, maybe you 'dying' was fated."

I burst out laughing. It wasn't the type of laugh you have when something is funny, but one of pathetic anger, "No?" I hissed, "Me getting killed by some MONSTER was not my fate!"

"Well, not anymore." Alfred commented under his breath.

"OK. Well, how about we just find someone to erase her memories then we'll take her back before anyone even notices she's missing." Vlad said, going back to square one.

"Cool, but who in our grade knows that spell? It's super advanced."

"Maybe... Amber? She reads a lot, doesn't she?" Vlad pondered, "I'd ask Arthur, but that kiss-ass will rat us out to those pretentious ass Protectors."

"Don't you imagine Lukas would know a thing or two?" Alfred asked.

Vlad looked back at me and pressed his lips together for a moment before turning back towards Alfred, "It's worth a shot, I guess."

I wasn't allowed a chance to respond back before the two grabbed each of my arms, and proceeded towards the door, "Keep your head down and do not say a word, this is for your own safety."

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A/N: I've been watching/rereading SO much Harry Potter. I know it's not an original idea, but I did want to write about a magical world, but I didn't want to use J.K. Rowling's world because I didn't want to ruin the perfect ending it had with this SINFUL fanfic.

Still, I was SOOOOooooOOoo tempted to call people 'muggles' 'nomajs' but I didn't want to, so normal people are just 'giftless' because I'm uncreative D':

REGARDLESS, I'm sorry I'm shit at finishing books, but I PINKY promise I'll finish this book.