Tyros was crouching in a bush near the central barrack of the village, waiting for his target to get out of the building.

Playing with some pebbles in his hand, making them roll slowly, while convincing himself that he won’t miss his target. Eyes unblinking, he flinched when the door of the barrack opened to reveal the guard captain. His target, captain Budres, was talking to one of his sergeant. Tyros exhaled slowly, flexed his arm and launched one of his pebbles with all he had, aiming for the back of the captain. His hope was crushed instantly as the captain grabbed the projectile in the air, not even fully turning his body. He ended his talk with the other man and turned toward the little rascal that was ambushing him. When he met Tyros' eyes, he grinded and let out a small laugh:

“Nice try kid, but you're 10 years too early to win our bet”

Sulking, the kid conceded:

“Fine, I’ll clean the barrack for a week but you’ll still teach me how to use a sword next week !”

“Why would I do that? You lost the bet kiddo.”

Using a well trained technique, Tyros made puppy eyes and tried again:

“Oh please, just one lesson to reward the hard work I will be doing during the coming week !”

Musing, the old guard captain didn’t answer for a few seconds, before finally giving in:

“Fine but only if your mom agrees, and don’t come crying when you’ll end up all bruised and beaten”

Jumping in joy the kid thanked the captain and headed back toward his home, where his mother would be waiting for him. Probably exhausted from her day’s work as she was the only one capable of bringing food on the table nowadays.

Tyros’ father died a few years ago, he didn’t have any tangible memory of the man. And it was even harder to connect since he rapidly learned that he wasn’t his biological father. According to his mom he was sent by the gods, just like Niror, Nici and Erely. The women from the village found them floating peacefully on the river while doing the laundry back when the village was full of natives.

As he was too young, he didn’t remember when things changed, but a few years ago soldiers from the kingdom of Waedor established themselves in the village as it was the closest civilized place to the temple of the weaver. Thanks to their arrival, things changed quickly in the last decade, the wall was enhanced and the village was named: Sunhaven, the last haven pilgrims will find. Sunhaven was situated on the road of the pilgrimage toward the temple of the weaver, located deep in the jungle of the plateau.

The sun was setting down and the sky turned slightly orange while Tyros was rushing in the village streets heading toward his home while smelling the air as most families would start preparing dinner. He waved at Niror as he passed his house. This kid was tall for his age, easily a full head taller than Tyros. His round face and his freckles made him look like a nice and gullible kid. Which he was. When the kid reflexively responded with his hand, the bucket of water that he was carrying fell down. Watching his friend's face while he tried to save as much water as possible made Tyros laugh hard but he kept running happily toward his home. The kid was nice to play with but he could be a bit lost in his own mind sometimes.

There were two gates in the village, one to the west facing the jungle and the kingdom of Chalintis. The second one, the east gate, was close to Tyros' home. This second gate faces the kingdom of Waedor. The village was built fairly close to Waedor: a few miles and the tunnel was what separated it from the kingdom.

The plateau was considered a neutral place between the two kingdoms, it couldn’t be claimed.

When arriving in front of his home he could smell the scent of a pie being baked inside. Tyros felt that today was a good day !

He nodded respectfully toward the little sculpture of the weaver made by his mother some years ago. His mother, Cierra, had a real talent with her hands, she was making and selling some sculptures to make a living.

He entered his home and repeated his gesture toward a small sculpture representing his dad, then he rushed toward the kitchen and exclaimed:

“Mom ! Mom ! You won’t believe it: if I clean the barracks for the next week, the captain himself will teach me how to use a sword !

Why would you need to learn how to swing a sword ? You know that I could use a helping hand in the house.”

As he thought, she was probably tired, the negotiation will be hard:

“Please mom, I promise I'll make some extra effort with helping around after my sword lessons. Anyway I lost a bet to captain Budres. I can’t back down now or I'll be branded as a man who doesn’t respect his word.

-First of all boy, you are not a man yet and secondly you shouldn’t have made a bet. Especially when you are not the one to decide whether or not you can assume the consequences.

-Please mom, I swear I'll be more useful in the house !”

Cierra sighed:

“We’ll discuss this after dinner. First, set the table for us. I made a pie for tonight. “

Tyros knew the conversation was over now. He felt that the first round was lost and that he would need to make some good points in the second bout if he wanted to train with a sword.

Once the table was set and the food ready to be eaten his mother began her usual thanks to the weaver and the dinner passed while they exchanged about their day.

The dinner over and his mom’s infusion ready, they were relaxing in their small house. The atmosphere was good and that’s when Tyros decided to plead his case:

“Mom, I won’t have many opportunities to have someone like captain Budres teach me the sword and I am even pretty sure that he has an ability.

-You are still a bit young, why don’t you want to try something more artistic like sculpting? could even help you !

-At least let me try this one time, I would learn what it is like. Maybe I won’t even like it.”

As his mom was thinking about her son’s answer, she was interrupted by some screaming outside.

This was highly unusual. The village was pretty quiet at night time, the soldiers from Waedor made sure that the village was secured at all times. Both Tyros and his mom rushed to the door to see what it was about. Tyros’ mother peeked outside and used her arm to stop the kid from getting out as an arrow whistled near them and ended up in the wall of their house.

Falling back inside while grabbing Tyros to make sure he was out of danger, Cierra stood up quickly and shut the door. There was only one other way out and it was a small window. She grabbed Tyros and headed this way:

“Go and when you are out you just run and don’t look back, I'll follow right behind” she hugged him and helped him through the window.

Tyros peeked outside and started to feel his blood hammering in his head; he couldn’t see much but the sound of what was going on was enough to make him panic. He went through the window and turned back instantly to help his mother outside, not obeying her previous command. Halfway through, their door slammed open. Two soldiers they couldn’t recognize went in. They were not wearing the guards' uniform.

Tyros saw the first soldier approach with a smirk on his face. He panicked and pulled his mom as hard as he could through the window. They started to run toward the nearest guard post. It was the guard tower of the east gate. While turning behind another house, they heard an arrow hitting another house. Right after that, one of the soldier yelled at the other:

“Don’t fucking shoot the kids, let them go. They’ll end up in another team's hands.”

“We need to find the guards !” Cierra said, panicked.

Tyros didn’t even answer and rushed behind houses as fast as he could while holding his mom’s hand.

When they arrived at the gate, Tyros could see some of the civilians fleeing the village through the gate. It was open during the night, which should not happen. The situation looked dire.

The guards were organizing themselves and trying to secure the position for the civilians to evacuate. Some of the men that were not even soldiers volunteered to join the rank of the guards with whatever they found that could be used as a weapon. Tyros recognized one of the guards and asked him how to get to security. The young guard guided them toward the gate. Some small squad of soldiers were ordered to regroup civilians and escort them to Waedor.

When the mother and son duo passed the gate they were told to find a group and to obey the guards escorting them no matter what.

They found some familiar faces and grouped with them. Children were crying and the atmosphere was tense. You could almost physically feel the anxiety in the air.

They knew the danger of the jungle and its beasts but they knew nothing of war among men.

The fear of something unknown and overwhelming made them start walking in the forest. It was dark and eerie. None of them would adventure themselves in there during the night but they had no choice.

And so, they started marching toward the darkness.