Hello and welcome to my first story. So first time on here and still trying to figure out this site. Let's keep this short. I've been writing stories for as long as I can remember and I truly enjoy it. So I thought I'd put some of my fan fictions out there for others to enjoy. I'm happy to take reviews, good or bad. I love feedback and want to make my stories better, so if you have any comments or thoughts, don't hesitate to put them down.

But in the mean time let's get on with the story.

Just wanted to add that I don't own the story. The only bits that are mine are the characters I developed to help this story grow and mostly it's just the their description and their names. That's about it. Everything else belongs to their respective creators and parties that claim rights over them.

And that's it for me. Enjoy the story!

Prologue

He hated his predicament. He hated having to hide away from the sun, only to make company with the worms and roots below the surface. How long had he been in this hole? He couldn't quiet remember, and now he couldn't quiet care. Time was nothing but an entity that consumed too much of his focus, where that energy was better spent plotting.

Those foul Guardians. They had made a fool of him time and again, but this time a mere boy had been the bringer of his destruction. Now all he had was his rage and his dwelling; a dwelling covered in shadows and lying in ruins. He was not concerned. Once his strength returned, as it always did, his castle would rise to its former splendor along with its master.

But that would take time. Fear was always present in the world of humans, and without direction and guidance, it was harder for fear to grasp and cling to the hearts of humans, children especially. With the Guardians protecting those children from fear, it was taking longer for him to recover, but fear would always find its way back into the world. There was no stopping it; there was only time to delay it.

It was subtle, the recovery process. Every flicker of fear, doubt and hopelessness felt and expressed was just a steady drip of strength introduced back into his veins. How much longer would this take? Suddenly, something had merged with his being, settling into his muscles and chasing away the ache in his bones.

"Ah, now what is this?"

A new fear had festered, but not from a human. Compared to the human's fear, this was something else entirely and he hungered for more. He fed off the fear, and the fear in turn gave him the ability to rise to his feet and a few of the crumbling structures had slowly started to mend. The fear did not last long, an hour, maybe two, but the fear slowly subsided.

"It seems someone has beaten their fear for now, but no matter. A brewing storm like that certainly has potential."

Behind that fear was a torrential storm of untapped power, one that he was certain to invest his time in to harness.

He slipped his hand inside of his black cloak and pulled out just a small handful of golden sand. "I appreciate your generosity Sandman." The sand shifted and turned into the same shade of crushed onyx and the sand took the form of a small dark raven.

"You know what to do."

The raven pecked at his hand affectionately before taking flight into the air. Once the bird left, the man walked along his path, observing the damage that was done when he had lost control of his fear. There were some minimal damages and some excessive, but it was not a cause for concern.

"Seems I will need to make a few altercations before I make my appearance into the world once more."

And the darkness flowed from his hands as he begun to reconstruct his castle. Palisades were remade, the thousands and thousands of staircases had been redone, and lastly, he had reconstructed his globe that had kept watch over all the people in the world. There were a few golden specks to show the hope and love of children around the world, but as he peered at the world, he couldn't find the one speck that had given him the strength he had now. It had simply disappeared from the globe.

His fingers stroked his chin as he sighed. "Disappointing, but no matter. I will see it again and this time, I'll be sure to temper myself with patience. I will also need to expect the impossible."

As he stared at the globe, a golden dot here and there had faded and with each light snuffed out, a surge of strength and renewed life had freely flowed into his body. Now all that he needed to was the will to wait and watch for the light that had given him this new chance. And he would not let this chance slip by him so easily.