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It was summer, the whole kingdom was in uproar.

The abundant crops provided enough supply to the cities to keep them busy for the whole season and the commerce strived with all the commodities available.

It was on that summer day, as the people were preparing their lunch, that the very foundation of the world trembled beneath their feet.

For several seconds, the world shook so violently that some thought the sky could fall into their heads.

It didn’t last long, but the tremor caused a huge damage to all buildings throughout the kingdom. And as they thought it was over, a shockwave hit them with such strong wind force that that sent the most damaged buildings and their roofs flying.

From all around the Kingdom they felt the same thing, but in the capital, by the way things went flying about, all they could tell was that it must have come from the west.

The bells of war rang in the city and the population hurried to the closest shelter they could find, still shook and afraid from what just had happened.

Soldiers rushed to the west walls, armed and ready, certain that an enemy was attacking them.

And with fearful eyes, the soldiers searched from above their walls, looking for any sign of an enemy.

But to their surprise, there was nothing.

Eventually they sent out scouts, in all directions while not moving from their defensive position.

And still, they could not find anything.

King didn't know what to make of any of that. It was just when the messengers from the other cities arrived, that he began to understand the dimension of what happened.

All messengers reported the same events the capital had experienced.

Inside his Castle the king went to the royal hall where he sat at his throne.

He was not young but was still a strong man, his black hair and beard showed a few gray hairs that mixed well with the golden crown on his head.

Apprehensive, he had summoned the court mages and was waiting for their arrival.

His throne was more of a sculpture than a chair, carefully carved in a dark wood with lion crests and lion heads on top of it. The arm support was made in the shape of a lion's arm.

It was located at the end of the hall, centered above some marble steps, to ensure anyone would have to look up to face him.

A purple mantle covered the seat, serving as decoration and cushion to the throne itself.

As he waited, he looked contemplative towards the end of the empty hall.

In his mind were every city in the kingdom, all of them had requested aid to repair the damages and rebuild what was lost.

The mind of the king had only one question “What could have caused such a thing?”

Taking a deep breath, he laid back on his chair.

"Bhalrom!” shouted the king. A knight quickly enters the room to meet him

“Aren’t the mages ready yet? Why are they taking so long? Go and get them here immediately," said the king to the knight.

The armored man elegantly bowed his head. The knight had a rather austere demeanor and a face of a military man. A sign of a family with a long line of military service.

Silently acknowledging the command, he moved out of the hall by the door at the far corner of the room.

The king was now alone once again.

He sighed and lowered his head, lost in thoughts about the crisis that surfaced in the middle of what have been a calm summer.

Suddenly he is taken by surprise, a voice addresses him.

"Tired of the royal duties, my lord? Or are your old bones taking their toll on you?" A known voice mocked him in a light tone as it echoed in the empty hall.

The king kept his head down and grinned "You calling me old of all people? You who were already a grown man when my father was born?" said the king in a much better mood, raising his head towards a man that was now standing in front of his throne.

But the king's smile quickly vanished, concern filled his expression.

"My friend, for you to have come here personally, after all these years… it can only mean that this situation is even far worse than we expected"

The man standing in front of the king nodded. He was wearing commoner clothes. With short gray hair and well trimmed beard, he showed a well-built physique, looking like just an ordinary middle aged man with gray hair.

The old man’s face suddenly turned into a serious expression "I'm afraid so Elrik, I’m not sure of it yet, but if my suspicions are correct we face a grave danger. I'd strongly recommend that you a some soldiers to the west, to the very border of the kingdom at the edge of the Endher forest, send them well-armed and ready for anything”

The king gasped barely containing his surprise "The Endher Forest?!"

The forest was located at the western border of his kingdom. But how the dead forest could be the source of such a strange event was beyond his knowledge, much less how something could reach the whole kingdom from there.

The forest was widely known for its mystery, it fueled the legends and myths throughout the world since the dawn of civilization. Over the course of many centuries, many different legends and stories were told about. Why are there no animals or insects and especially why nobody that dared to enter it, ever returned.

The most known legend is that the forest guards the gates to the realm of the dead and because of that, no living being can enter its woods and return.

The Forest covered a vast part of the land, no road or path could ever be built through it, so little was known of what lay beyond it.

The thought that something in such a place caused the phenomenon sent a shiver through the king's spine. "I will send someone at once..." said the king in a low tone, still immersed in the thought and the ramifications of such news.

"Wise as always Elrik. I intend to join the convoy once I finish my preparations" said the old man turning and preparing to leave.

At the same moment, the sound of many steps could be heard approaching from the door on the back.

The gaze of the king quickly shifted to the door as the mages walked inside.

He quickly turned back to the front of the throne, to face his old friend, but the man was already gone, disappeared without a trace.

He looked again at the mages, but by their reaction, none had seen him.

'That old fool, always showing off his tricks' thought the king to himself. He waited for the mages and the knight to take position in front of the throne.

"Thank you all for coming, but before I brief you about the situation…” He turns to the knight “Bhalrom, get a company of the best from the First Army, you are to lead them into an investigation to the west. Assess the damage to the land on the way as possible and head to the very border of our kingdom. Wait by the Endher forest, and be prepared for anything!"

The eyes of the mages widened the moment they heard the famous forest name, they quickly exchanged glances but none seemed to know anything about that.

The knight Bhalrom acknowledged the order in the same manner as before.

"Bhalrom..." the king continued before the knight left “Go as soon as the men are ready, a friend of mine will join you there".

------------------- Over 4 weeks went on

The group had around three companies that were being led by Bhalrom himself. They marched on as not all were from a cavalry unit. They were in total 140 of the finest soldiers the kingdom had to offer.

And finally, after a month of marching they finally arrived at the last village before the forest borders.

The dark trees and the strange fog that is always present at the forest were unmistakable and immediately made all soldiers uneasy.

The place was very different from any other forest there. Despite the season, climate and temperature the Endher remained the same.

And what was more curious, not too far away from the strange forest, a small village was set in those strange lands.

As the knight approached the place, he could see that despite a month had passed from the incident, the villagers were not completely finished fixing the houses. They had to rebuild everything from scratch after the event.

The Knight quickly dispatched his men to start patrolling the forest borders with the order to report any findings immediately. He continued his way towards the village center.

"Sir, are you the chief of this village?" Asked the knight after being informed by other villagers.

He was very old and was working on a house, hammering a plank to a wooden wall. When he noticed the knight he quickly dropped everything and went to meet him.

"Oh yes, yes! That would be me, what can I do for you my lord? What brings you to this faraway place?" The man kindly answered the knight. He was a very simple man, a farmer that despite his old age was still helping out rebuild the village.

With few white hair left in his head and many wrinkles all over his face the man smiled at the knight.

Bhalrom looked at him impressed, despite the old age, he was quite a healthy man for his ange and clearly still works hard below the harsh sun.

"We are investigating the incident that happened four weeks ago, do you have any information regarding it?" continued the knight with his business.

"Well, as you see, we are still finishing the repairs of the village because of it” Said the elder looking around “That damn thing sent everything flying in the blink of an eye! Luckily we were all gathered by the stream to the north to catch fish, so no one got seriously injured, just a few bruises and light wounds. I easily patched everyone up. I'm an excellent healer you see, I worked for the priestess for many years before settling down here"

And with a concerned face the old man continued "But that thing, that thing, was fierce. In all my life I had never felt such power. Something must have angered the forest! I’m sure of it.”

The knight could see the Elder was enjoying telling the story and allowed him to continue.

“We knew something was not right. When you live this close to The Forest you learn to read it, understand its mood you know? We all felt it in here when it was about to happen" He said pointing to his guts.

"We took shelter and before we knew it… it happened and all our houses flew away. But it calmed down since then, but it is not over yet, I can tell, there is something still bothering the forest" said the elder pointing to the forest.

“Why do you say that?” questioned the knight.

“Well just look at it, she is moody, like something is not right with it”

“How can you tell?” He looked like he was finding it just like a forest should be.

“She looks like a baby with a tummy ache” compared the elder.

The knight sighed and nodded, forcing a smile to the elder.

"Very well elder, thank you for your report. Please tell the villagers to come to any of the soldiers if they see anything out of the ordinary. We will be camping nearby for the time being.” The knight waved to some soldiers nearby to come closer and continued “We will arrange some soldiers to help with the village repairs as well" The knight pointed to one of his soldiers that acknowledged the order and began gathering others to help with the repairs.

The elder beamed with joy.

---------- over a week later

It was mid-morning, Bhalrom was concerned that whatever caused that event would remain a mystery, they'd been there for over a week and discovered nothing so far.

Not a single leaf or branch had moved in the forest, not even signs of any damage from the event could be seen anywhere on the forest borders.

Of course that none dared to enter it to check it from within.

The knight was sitting in his tent pondering what to do to improve the investigation, and more importantly, what would he tell the king.

The knight captain was not used to staying so long away from the capital. It had been 5 long weeks since the incident. Maybe it was about time to return home.

It was at that moment that he heard a commotion outside, soldiers were very excited moving around and talking loudly. Some were even shouting for some reason.

Without delay the knight rushed to see what was going on outside.

He froze in place as he saw a middle aged man waving and smiling at the soldiers, walking calmly amongst them.

The old man was clearly being exalted by the soldiers. The knight immediately recognized him "Mister Eisenwald?" said the knight captain, remembering all the bedtime stories his mother used to tell him when he was just a young boy.

The True Magus, the Oldest human Mage, the Dragon Killer... those were just some of the titles that the old man was known by. It was not the first time that the knight was seeing him, but such was the respect and admiration he had towards the mage that he just couldn’t help to feel that way every time he saw him.

"Hello Bhalrom" Said the smiling man approaching him, "Hope you didn't have to wait too long, I had to prepare before coming here. Unfortunately it took more time than I had anticipated. But in any case, I believe I bring you good news. I’ve already done my research around the forest and I couldn’t find any trace of argonian magic so far."

The knight recollected himself “That’s great to hear Mister Eisenwald, but why would there be Argonian magic here?”

“It was just a suspicion of mine. Have you or your men seen anything?”

Without delay the Knight informed the Mage about the week he spent there, that everything was calm and the only thing his soldiers did was to fix the village.

"I see… I think I was wrong then, this might’ve been some strange natural event after all. Maybe a surge of energy from another sphere?” the mage stopped and began to ponder about it “Yes… yes, it could have been… enough power could have gathered and if the place didn't deviate enough..." he continued on thinking and talking to himself ignoring the knight completely.

He pulled parchments and books from a bag from his side and promptly began reading a couple lines from some of them, as if to be sure of what he was thinking.

The mage then turned to the knight that just looked confused, ready to continue the conversation with him.

The mage addressed the knight"But before we do any..in..g" another tremor suddenly occurred without notice. It was so powerful that both the mage and the knight barely were able to keep their balance.

The Magus was struck by an old sensation, it quickly took him over. An eerie feeling that he thought he had forgotten.

Immediately, he went for his bag.

There was no time for the past, for he knew what was coming.

The very fabric of the world was being torn apart once again and he was standing right next from its source.

The unexpectedly nimble hands of the old man quickly went to a specific pocket inside the bag, he quickly took a blue stone from it and immediately threw at the ground near his feet.

The stone glowed with sigils and runes as it touched the ground and a blue spark created a light that expanded from it, abruptly and very quickly creating a barrier that enveloped the whole camp and village.

It was clearly a very strong protective spell, it resembled a large city wall made of a very strong blue light.

“Brace yourselves!” Shouted the mage in a very powerful voice that reached the whole area.

The tremor stopped.

Everyone braced themselves expecting the worst.

A moment passed. They feared it with anticipation of what’s to come.

But despite their wait, nothing happened.

Flabbergasted, the mage quickly put his mind to work. He began to compare the incidents "It was a similar tremor, so why the different outcome?"

He dismissed the barrier and picked up the stone once again while moving around the tent talking to himself.

“The first tremor happened a few weeks ago and reached all the way to the north. The foundations of this world were struck by an unthinkable power. Only the rupture of the spheres could send out a wave of energy that… hum… which means this time there was no rupture? Then why did the tremor happen? This makes no sense"

He looked at Bhalrom that just shrugged as he thought the mage might be asking him the question.

The old mage continued on his work, he pulled up a small apparatus from the bag with some crystals hanging on it.

He set it up on the ground. It was like a small metal rod that he pierced into the ground, on the top of there was a metallic ring with 5 crystals attached by delicate chains hanging from it at different distances from each other. Each crystal had a different color and format. Only three of them were moving, wobbling in the direction of the forest while the other 2 remained still.

He almost laid down on the ground to look at them with more care “Just 3 and they are just wobbling… humm and at this distance from the source? This confirms that this event was something different... The magical signature is completely different, but why? And why now?" he stood up with the hand at his back feeling a bit of pain on it.

The old mage picked up the parchments once again and began analyzing them again.

"Interesting” The Magus finally said. "This second event could not have been caused by the conjunction, this must have been something that had built up from the first event and just from our side of the sphere, that must be it” he suddenly raised his head with a smile, he seemed to have found the answer he was looking for.

But the mage’s expression quickly changed “But what could have actually caused it? There must be a reason for this build up, energy and mana wouldn’t concentrate like that on thin air, it needs some kind of vessel, which means..."

He turned to the knight that was just observing him, completely lost in the mage’s explanations.

With a sense of urgency the mage addressed the knight once again "Knight Captain, please send the men out immediately, tell them to search the outskirts of the forest thoroughly. Send lookouts to vantage points and ask them to look for any sign of destruction inside the forest. We must check everything in all possible ways. And tell them to report back immediately! They are not to interact with anything they find and I mean anything!" Said the middle aged man while quickly bursting out after quickly picking up his crystals and parchments and sticking them into the bag.

------ Few hours later, in the afternoon.

"Sir! Reporting in" A soldier rushed inside the knight’s tent.

Bhalrom waved him in and allowed him to speak.

"The south patrol found an unconscious person near the forest border!”

“Let’s tell the Magus and we will go there right away”

The soldier hesitated “The men ended up bringing the stranger to the village”

“The order was to not interact with anything and report back!”

“The men thought it was just a lost slave and if he escaped, he has been walking for a long time to end up here, could be dying for all they knew, so they brought him to the village”

Bhalrom sighed “A slave? Here, does he have a crest?”

“I don’t know sir, the men said the boy had nothing but some ripped pants and some sort of shirt with holes, I don’t think they looked for a slave crest”

“Where is he now? What does he look like?”

“The elder’s house. It’s a boy around fifteen years old."

The knight captain raised up from his seat "Show me the way"

Arriving in the room where the boy was, he saw him laid down on the bed. A brown haired young man. He was around fifteen years old as the soldier informed.

The boy was wearing some strange black shirt made of some odd material, his skin was very light colored, almost pale when compared to the common folk of Allard.

‘Could be part of the nobility? With this pale skin and clothes, he surely doesn’t look like a peasant that works under the sun.’

But Bhalrom could not recognize the boy, he was not from any of the noble families in that region. The knight then came to a conclusion ‘perhaps he is a noble from a foreign land? The norse or The islands by the hair and skin color. He certainly doesn't look like a Beastman or an Argonian. What would he be doing in these parts?’

"Wake up!" The knight said after checking the boy’s health with the elder. Despite the heavy sleep, there was nothing wrong with him.

Not a single response, “He is exhausted, but is fine” said the elder as the boy continued sleeping after being called by the potent voice of the knight captain.

“How was he when he was brought here?” asked the knight.

The elder began to explain that he was very dirty, his feet and hands especially like he spent months traveling in the wilderness. He said they found some bloody rags on his pockets. And that his grandson and granddaughter helped clean him up before laying him down on the bed.

Other than that he was fine, there were no signs of wounds anywhere. He must have been able to eat something as he moved, as he didn’t seem to be starving for too long.

The knight then came closer to the bed and with an extended arm touched the boy’s shoulder.

He tried to shake him a little.

"What’s your name?" inquired the knight.

Finally the boy showed signs of waking up, slowly moving his hands.

"What’s your name?" this time louder, and then once again "What’s your name?"

"Nah-me?" came out from the boy in the bed, clearly very confused of what was going on, the knight could see he was having a hard time waking up.

"Nahme?" the knight said and paused for a moment “Can you understand me?” he said, but the boy continued oblivious to him as he was still trying to open his eyes.

‘Seems like he can't understand me’. The chances that he was a foreigner increased in his mind.

The young man in the bed was finally opening his eyes and began to move on the bed.

When the knight was able to see his eyes, they immediately caught his attention, they were of a dark blue color which were not common for the common folk of Allard.

The boy seemed very relieved to see the knight. Which was expected by him as any rescued victim would feel good seeing the purple crest of Allard.

The knight continued to investigate him.

The boy had an average build, which again matched the nobles and he was very not in a bad shape or starving which was strange for someone that was supposedly wandering in the wilderness for many days.

Bhalrom was certain that he was not a commoner.

Too pale, no calluses on his hands and wearing such soft colored clothing. He was settled on it, the main question on the knight's mind now was how did this boy got there and at such a strange timing.

The knight left the room and requested the soldiers to summon the mage at once, he would certainly be able to help at this moment.