So I'm having such a great time writing this I decided to give a little sneak preview of the first to chapters. The route I'm taking with this is to split it into three parts each with several chapters. It seems more logical to do it this way since when everything is said and done it would be well over 50 chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Chronicles of Narnia except my OC's...It's also rated M for language and adult themes which aren't so present in the first part but will become more prominent as the story goes on.

So here's part one of Test of Time!

It is raining again. It's always raining...or that's how it always seems to me anyway. I don't mind, though, I like the rain. I like the way it sounds against the windows when I wake up in the morning; the soft pitter patter.

It relaxes me.

If it wasn't for that damn wind, I probably would've enjoyed this morning's rain.

Today is Saturday. Just a normal Saturday, though, a much needed one because my workload at school is starting to weigh me down. Six AP classes is no easy task, but it's my goal to start college as a sophomore, maybe a junior depending on where I am accepted.

I want out...I've wanted out for the longest time. New York just isn't the place for me.

With a large yawn I draw the blankets back from my bed, slip on my robe, and pull my dark hair back into a ponytail.

Breakfast would, once again, be left up to me as my parents were probably already at work. My dad, he's an engineer with NASA and my mom is an influential defense attorney...letting all the bad guys go walking. Neither of them were ever home. They couldn't even bother with a nanny to at least keep me company. In my mind, it's fair to say they neglected me. Of course, they showered me with gifts any chance they got just to "prove" they still love me. I can't say it doesn't hurt... but it certainly isn't love either.

Nanna Jules agrees with me.

She always goes on about "today's children" and their obsessions with celebrity, fame, and fortune.

"They never stop to look at what they have if they just worked for it," she always says.

To some extent, I try to listen to what my Nanna tells me, her and Granddad Max have basically raised me in my parents stead. On the other hand, I am a seventeen-year old girl living in the 21st.

Health, wealth and happiness...It's all I've ever known.

I never had to face the poverty of The Great Depression, or the terrors of Pearl Harbor, World War I, or Vietnam. Sure there was 9/11 and the Iraq War but when all that started I was only seven and didn't understand a thing about it. To this day, I'm still not even sure I do. The point of all this is...I'm a selfish, spoiled, brat all because I've never had to live through anything in my life.

My life is boring, plain as that.

In a heartbeat, I would take all the terror, pain, sorrow, love, and excitement of those times and trade them with this mundane, superficial, life.

Aside from all this drabble, I always enjoy visiting my grandparents. It's a habit of mine every Saturday morning, especially in Granddad Max's worsening condition. Amazing he's even lived this long. The old man is turning one-hundred year's old! Could be living a lot longer if it weren't for the Alzheimer's...

"Hello, Nanna," I beam at the squat, old lady setting the dining room table for brunch.
"Ohh there you are, Evi. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come at all," she pulls my head down and plants a big ol' kiss on my cheek.
"And miss you're delicious cooking? Not a chance," I smirk, picking at the strawberry strudels.
"Where's Gatsby?" I ask, noticing the absence of my grandparents' old German shepherd.
"He's upstairs with Max. Barely leaves his side," Nanna solemnly shakes her head.
"How is Granddad?" I ask, hoping for some kind of change.

Her body slides into a chair, her snow-white hair falling on her shoulders and a deep sigh passing by her lips.

"He's getting worse. All he ever does now is cuss at me or go on about those stories of his," her eyes start to well up with tears, "He's just becoming too much to bear for me. I'm starting to think that putting him and myself in a nursing home would be better for the both of us."

"But, Nanna, you and Granddad are all I've got. If you go to a nursing home, I'll never see the two of you," I softly protest, the very thought ripping at my heart.

Nanna is silent as she looks into my pleading, silver eyes and holds onto my strong hand.

"We'll talk about this later. For now, why don't you go see your grandfather? It'll do him some good to see a familiar face," she nods with a weak smile.

I thought she was about to have a change in heart.

A nursing home? And lose the two closest people in my life?

The thought consumes me like cancer and I feel my muscles tense as I climb the stairs to Granddad's room. If they leave, I would have to leave too. I could not and would not stay in New York with my parents. I don't know where I would go but I could survive on my own.

"Easy, Jay," I soothe the slightly growling dog, using my nickname for him, "How's the old man doing, huh?" I scratch his head between his ears.

Granddad is slumped in his blue wingback chair, numbly looking out the window at the pounding rain.

"Hey, Granddad," I gently kiss his wrinkled cheek, sliding a chair up next to him.

His eyes briefly glance in my direction, but there was no sense of recognition at all in his grey irises.

"Some weather, huh?" I ask, pointing to the raging tempest outside.
"It's fucking cold," he mumbles.
"Are you cold, Max?" I lean back and grab a blanket off the trunk at the foot of his bed, "Here's a blanket."
"I don't need no damn blanket!" he yells, and I take it back with a sigh.
"She made everything so cold! That bitch with her staff and ugly voice!" he continues to yell.

I really have no other choice but to listen to his rant and nod as if I understand what he was saying.

"After her I had no need to stay. My duty was over. But it was so beautiful, unlike anything I've ever seen. And the creatures...they were so nice. It was a peaceful time. Not like this shit hole we call Earth!" he violently throws the book that was carefully set upon his lap.

Violence was another thing Granddad seems to have picked up with his Alzheimer's.

In his small rage, though, his grey eyes connect with mine once more; this time...he was actually looking at me.

"Have you seen it?" he quietly asks, his voice barely above a whisper, and I'm even sure if he was directly asking me.
"Seen what?" I slowly answer, realizing he is asking me after he kept staring.
"Narnia of course!" he bellows, turning his chair toward me.
"What's Narnia?" I shake my head.

I know I should not encourage him, but I'm genuinely intrigued. This is the first time in months Granddad has directly spoken to anyone...to me.

"Only the most gorgeous place in the universe," he blissfully sighs, relaxing back into his chair, "It's a planet, shaped like a disc; not a sphere like our own. There's also a country Narnia, where I served to the King and Queen. I was their protector. I did my job well and with honor. I had to, for Aslan gave me the task. The Great Lion. Oh, Evi, I wish you had been alive to see it."

Salty tears silently cascade down my cheeks.

He recognizes me.

I mean he actually recognizes me, face and name. But it's killing me at the same time. How can he remember me, but be so utterly lost in fantasy of this imaginary planet?

"I see how miserable you are here. Aslan would've given you a purpose. Maybe even the same as me! Protector to the Throne of Narnia! I know you would've been good at it too. Alas, I haven't returned since the Long Winter and I doubt it would still be there. But it was sure beautiful," he sighs again, turning his chair back to the window.

In hindsight...I should've done more.

I should've wrapped my arms around him and asked him to tell me more about Narnia. I should've spent as much time with him as possible...

As it were, I simply mop up my tears and join Nanna for brunch, leaving the house as soon as I was finished, never once mentioning what happened with Granddad.

It's my deepest regret that I didn't find out more about Narnia from Granddad before he passed.

Three days later, on a Tuesday, it isn't raining. In fact, it's a warm, sunny, spring day and it feels unfair that it's so nice when I feel so terrible. It only makes things worse when people keep going up to my mom and telling her how sorry they were for her loss.

As if she cares.

She looks as if it was just another one of my goldfish that had died. She doesn't even know I have any goldfish...

I'm the one who is in pain. I am the one who suffered a loss, Nanna and me.

Nanna couldn't even bring herself to his funeral. So, I sit in our house...in a short, stupid, black mini dress...practically vomiting at all the people who pretend they knew Granddad.

Those moochers are here for the free meal.

Nobody really cares.

"Oh, Jean, we're so terribly sorry for your loss. Take these, they're from everyone at the firm," a middle-aged woman hands my mom a bouquet of flowers.
"Thank you, Beth. They're wonderful. My father meant so much to me, I'm really going to miss him," she sniffles, my father rubbing his hand over her back.

The gaping hole in my stomach intensifies and I am overwhelmed by arrogance and stupidity of the people around me.

I need some air.

A light wind blows chills up my spine and I tug on my long, black, trench coat, also taking care not to let my sandals sink into the mud from the rain we had gotten all weekend. Outside, I let myself drift farther and farther away from the house, letting all the noise develop into mere hum in my ears. My wandering brings me closer to the wood in our backyard where I stop and just idly stand. Tipping my head back, I calmly listen to the sound of the birds chirping, and I gaze up in the clear blue sky.

It's all I can do to keep my thoughts away from Granddad.

"Evelyn Wood?" the aged and accented voice startles me from my reverie.
"Yes?" I turn to find a man about as old as Granddad.
"My name is Daniel Kirke. You're uh, grandfather was a good friend of my elder brother. Years ago, your father gave to Diggory a letter that was to be given to his first grandchild in the event of his death. Now, Diggory passed away years ago but before he did he gave me the letter and now I shall pass it on to you," the man pulls out a thick, yellow envelope from his coat.

"Well, what's it for? What good does this do me?" I ask, slightly annoyed that this stranger was handing me some forgotten envelope that has utterly no significance.
"I am so sorry for your loss, dear child," he nods and turns to walk back inside.

Frowning at the man, I watch him trek his way back to the house. Once he was out of sight, I tear open the envelope, pulling out what felt to be pieces of parchment. The pages are covered in Granddad's handwriting and drawings. Flipping through page after page, I stumble on what appears to be a map. In the bottom-left, corner, a legend is boxed, indicating what the dots on the map represent.

Cair Paravel...Ettinsmoor...Anvard...Beruna

These places sound as if they came straight out of Lord of the Rings or something.

And then a flash of red on the corner of the map catches my eye. In wide, bold, letters the word Narnia was elegantly written in calligraphy.

A small gasp escapes my lips and my fingers loosen their tight grip around the pages. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, a large gust of wind rips the stack right out of my hands and into the woods.

"No!" I shout, following the scattered pages into the brush.

The map...the page that I was most curious about... soars between two towering trees that almost formed some kind of path or gate. I lunge forward, hoping that I would catch the paper before it flies sky-high. When I land, however, my face is covered in the icy powder of a fresh coat of snow.

My heart stops.

Like, seriously, I think my heart stopped beating, and I scramble to my feet, out of the snow.

I just stand.

There was nothing else I could do.

Where the fuck am I?

And then, out of nowhere, I feel like crying. So I do.

I just let the tears fall and let the sobs escape my mouth. My body is frozen stiff...one minute I'm in my backyard and...now? I'm somewhere ankle-deep in the snow.

Again, where the fuck am I?

That's when I stop crying.

I realize, that this is all one bad dream...nightmare. Granddad dying, me falling into Wonderland is all a dream.

I'm asleep!

I could get onboard with that idea.

I like sleep and this dream certainly is concurrent with the dreams I normally have. I mean, my dreams are weird. And the way I jumped from my backyard to this forest totally makes sense with the dream world!

"Ooohkay," I breathe, getting a better bearing of where I am.

Dream or not, I don't like to be alone. So my first goal is to find some kind of company.

On my right, there's a lightly trodden path that I decide would be my best option. I had only been walking a couple minutes when I realize this dream is beginning to become boring now that I know I'm sleeping.

Besides, I probably am late for school or something so I have to wake up. I close my eyes, willing myself to just wake up on my own. It only takes me a moment or two to see that that strategy isn't working. Instead I try pinching myself.

Nothing.

My heart is starting to race again.

Then I try slapping myself.

Still nothing.

My mind is all over the place again as the panic starts to set in again.

"Ok, ok, ok," I take a deep breath, "You die in a dream you wake up?"

I spot a sharp, broken branch a couple feet away.

A deep pain sinks into the pit of my stomach as I raise the branch in front of me, the point directed at my chest. I am about to kill myself.

"It's a dream. I'll wake up," I remind myself, tightly closing my eyes as I prepare to drive the branch through my chest.

"NO!"

My eyes snap back open at the shout and am tackled to the ground by something with... fur?