"William, get up!" Came the banging on the study cell's door. William woke from his bed, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm up!" He called out.

"Now you are!" Came Brother Barry's voice from the other side of the door. "Get dressed and ready, I need your help making preparations for the Pureheart festival."

William groaned and climbed out of bed, dressed and stumbled his way over to the door and headed down to the mess hall as he had the night before. He walked toward the entrance to the hall before Brother Barry stepped out in front of him.

"No you don't, boy."

"I need to eat, Brother!" William contested.

"No." Brother Barry said firmly. "There's no time and too much to be done."

"How do you expect me to work if I can't eat?"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before sleeping in!" Brother Barry retorted. "Now come, we have to get groceries for the festival."

The two left the front doors of the chapel. The sun was shining, it was growing closer to noon. Brother Barry took off down the lane, muttering "much to be done, much to be done," to himself and every once in a while barked a "keep up, boy!"

William set off after his mentor, struggling to keep up with the tall, older man's long strides. The village was a hub of activity. It was the most important holiday of the year, and attendance was mandatory.

"You need to appreciate the hurry we're in, boy!" Barry said again.

"I understand, Brother Barry." William huffed.

"You don't appreciate the importance of this day." Barry said.

"Brother Barry, I've read about the Pureheart festival for years, I've participated in it each year, I understand it perfectly well!"

"Reading is not understanding, boy! You think because you know your letters that you understand things?" And the Brother set off on another of his religious rants while shaking his head.

"For thousands of years, thousands of years, boy, we were enslaved by those beasts! It wasn't until the blessed prophet Vero that we were able to be set free, but the evil of that covenant still stands!" And the Brother threw open his brown robes and exposed his chest.

Across the old man's chest was a deep black and gray mark, right over his heart. It was the same black mark that all mankind had, the curse put on humanity for their covenant with the dragons long ago.

"And every year we remember the blessed prophet's last prophesy; that one day another will come, the Redeemer who will restore mankind from the corruption of the dragons." William rolled his eyes, he had heard it many times. Brother Barry finished with. "And we wait still to this day. Now go over there and get us a bushel of potatoes."

The two rushed about the market, collecting greens, starches and all various other vegetables, tubers and fruits they could load onto their hand cart. And soon the cart was filled to the brim and William was dragging it home with Brother Barry walking beside him.

"Hey William!" A voice called out from past the crowd. William looked over and saw Luke Porter standing in the doorway of the brewery, waving to him.

"Hey William!" He called again. "How's the arm, eh?" And slapped his own arm and laughed before going back inside.

William's arm prickled and stung with a renewed flare from Luke's comment. Just you wait, Luke, William thought, I'll get you back for that hit yesterday!

Dusk came to Hollyheln, and the town was transformed. The once quiet lanes were lit with various colored candles and paper streamers, vibrant reds, fiery oranges, cool blues and indigo. The villagers all gathered in a great crowd to the chapel and pushed their way in. From the open chamber doors which spilled warm torchlight into the courtyard came the learing tune of lutes, lyres and bowlins as a wandering minstrel band played soft hymns for the people.

William tried to make his way through the crowd, being bumped, pushed, shoved, griped and forgotten about. Eventually he gave up and pushed his way out of the crowd to a wall and leaned against it and let everyone pass by. They processed into the chamber and took their seats at the pews, the song of the minstrel's music coming into the corridor.

What William didn't see was that in the midst of that crowd was a robed man who mingled with the moving bustle to take a seat at the back of the chamber.

William stayed against the wall and looked out the open doors into the night air.

What would it be like to step out those doors and never come back? William wondered. Where would I go? What would I do? Who would I decide to be?

"Boy!" Came the familiar call down the corridor. The music had stopped in the chamber and the service was beginning as the priest's voice echoed into the corridor.

"Brother Barry." William started. "I was just-"

"Lazying about again, I can see that." Brother Barry said. On his hip he held a crate of potatoes "Come, we need to get in the kitchen and make preparations for the feast."

"But Brother, I was just thinking I could?..." William said, looking into the chamber longingly.

"Oh, this must be a first." Brother Barry joked. "William Kingsfeld actually wants to attend a service?" He snorted. "There's no time, boy. We are here to serve, not to enjoy. Come."

Inside William, not for the first time but for the greatest there grew a flame of passion inside him. He wanted to go inside.

He started walking toward the chamber doors.

"Where do you think you're going?" Brother Barry said and strode after him. William grabbed the handle to the chamber door and swung it open.

"Thou great Adir, bless man with the knowledge of thy-" came the voice of the priest.

"You dare disobey my orders?" Brother Barry hissed.

William started walking forward.

"-guidance, and with the power of thy will-"

Brother Barry lunged to grab William. The Brother tripped on his robes and, catching himself on William, spilled his potatoes from his crate which came tumbling down the air towards the floor.

William turned toward Brother Barry.

"-show us thy servant, the Redeemer."

Time seemed to still. A flash resounded in the chamber, and the potatoes that Brother Barry dropped, that William was staring toward, were standing transfixed in the air, as if they had frozen in time. As everyone looked, an emanating glow surrounded William, and the very ceiling of the chapel seemed to open like clouds as light streamed in, and from high above came the distant call of trumpets.

"What..." Was all Brother Barry said, in disbelief.

William looked around. Everyone was watching him. He held up his hands and they were glowing as he held them up to the open sky above him.

"What's happening, Brother Barry?" William asked.

"I don't - I don't understand..." Brother Barry said, staring at William open-mouthed. "You?"

Then another sound exploded into the room. The light disappeared and the clouds above popped back to the wooden ceiling like a flame being snuffed out. The stained glass windows shattered, the doors were blown open, and from every opening there erupted a black robed, masked figure.

As the figures appeared, they drew their swords and began slaughtering everyone in their midst.

Panic set in the crowd, everyone rushed for the exits, stampeding and trampling others. Blood ran across the room, and William was quickly forgotten and thrown into the chaos. The masked figures continued hacking down the crowd and making their way through the panic with vengeance and death.

From the crowd, a robed man reached out and grabbed William by the collar.

"Come with me." He growled to him and dragged him through the stampeding villagers.

The man had an iron grip on William's shirt, and moved deftly through the crowd, splitting the tide and rushing for the doors.

As the two came closer to the door, pushing through the crowd from the door came knights clad in heavy armor, and on their tabards was the symbol of the Dawn's Watch. The knights pushed through the crowd with swords drawn, and engaged with the robed cultists.

One of the knights passed the two and shouted. "Go! Get him out, we'll hold them off!" To the robed man dragging William before engaging the cultists.

They exited the chapel and the man continued dragging William into the night. A fire had broken out in the chapel and smoke was beginning to rise as the sound of swords clashing and men dying echoed into the night.

"Let go of me!" William said and tried to break the man's grip.

"Don't fight me." The man said and continued dragging him. But William twisted and struggled and broke the grip on his collar. He jumped backwards before the man could grab him again.

"Who are you? What's happening?" William demanded.

"There's no time. You need to come with me." The robed man urged him.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers!" William said.

They heard a cry behind them and looked back. Coming out of the chapel's cemetery was Brother Barry, the older monk rushing away from the building. He had a wound to his scalp and was bleeding down the side of his face. From around the corner of the chapel appeared a masked cultist, who looked to the old monk and began following him with a bloodied blade.

"Brother Barry, run!" William cried out, and tried to run toward him before the robed man grabbed him by the arm in an iron grip once more.

"Let go of me! Brother Barry run! He's behind you!" William cried out.

Brother Barry limped forward before looking back at the cultist approaching him, and yelled to William.

"Flee! Get away from here, boy!"

"Run, Brother Barry! Let go of me, help him!" William screamed at the robed man.

"We need to go!" The robed man said to him.

The cultist came closer. He raised his blade.

Brother Barry locked eyes with William.

"It's okay." Brother Barry said. "It's okay, son. Run."

The cultist slashed down and the monk collapsed into the night.

"No!" William screamed. He felt a hole in his chest, straight through his heart, as if a sword had just been driven through him. His entire life went up in flames like the chapel burning brightly in front of him and his one attachment to the chapel was cleaved in two. He felt like a jar that had just shattered to the ground and stomped into dust.

"Come on, we have to move!" The robed man barked. And with one last glimpse behind him, William was dragged away into the darkness.