Chapter 2: At the fortress

In the silence of the night I heard a cold scream.

I get off the bed and start walking towards the door. With every step I take the pressure on my shoulders keep getting bigger. When I reach the living room I find myself in a pond of blood.I was fully aware of what could have happened so I walk further, and after a few meters I stop. My tears start flowing but I don't make a sound. In front of me were my parent lifeless bodies. Shaking like hell I head outside for a breath of fresh air.

When I arrived outside, I witness the rages of hell. Houses are burning, villagers are killed and bandits are everywhere. Filled with rage I pick up a weapon and charge at a bandit but before I could even get close I got knocked out.

***

66th day of Kusha (Autumn), year 844 A.C.

On the road

The Narfest Woods, located between Badusha village and Trafford town is a large forest which spanning hundreds of square kilometers. Is a dark place that houses hundreds of different wild beasts and is a perfect place to hide for a fugitive or a bandit.

On the main road that goes right through the center of the forest there are a few carriages loaded with different objects.In the middle carriage two people are having a hot dispute.

“I'm gonna kill that little shit!” one of them cry out.

“Hyte! Calm down!”

“He tried to kill me, why should I let him live after that?”

“Because the boss ordered us to take the boy with us alive. Now keep your mouth shut before you get yourself killed”

The revolted man is the bandit that the little child tried to kill back in the village. His name is Gileon Hyte. The other person is Nichye Quinte. A wise man who thinks before speaking unlike his companion.

“It seems that we arrived” – Nichye

The place where the carriage arrived was a midsize fortress. The walls were made out of cobblestone and wood. Inside the fortress were a few houses and a castle like house almost fifteen metres height.

The bandits began to unload the cargo and move it in the fortress. Nichye approach a muscular man who was wearing a leather armor. After the talk with the person who seems to be the boss of the bandits, he take the kid and leave him in a room inside the fortress.

A few hours later the boy wakes up and starts to remember everything. In his distress he realise where he is and try to understand why is not dead, why would bandits keep a one year boy alive? In his attempt to understand what's happening, the exhaustion kicks in and he fall asleep.

***

43th day of Finore (Spring), year 846 A.C.

Fortress

Two and a half year has past since the boy has arrived at the fortress and now he understand everything.

One day he got outside the room and spot a dozen of kids that were practicing with swords.In that moment he understood why he was there.

‘They take kids and brainwashes them to become loyal bandits.’

Upon seeing this events his hate towards the bandits only increased. He was still too weak to do something so he make a decision. Asking Nichye to arrange a meeting with the boss was something easy to do because Nichye in the past year grew attached to him.

The boy stood in front of a huge door waiting for the boss to let him in. Suddenly the guards open the door and the kid start walking. In front of him was a huge men wearing leather armor. At his waist he had his two swords and on his hands were a few magical rings. Near him were two men. One of them was Nichye. The other one was clearly a mage.

When he was living with his parents he learned about magic. He find out that in the world not everyone can become a mage. Only those who are born with aether, a mysterious energy and the source of magic can use it.

‘He is clearly a third tier mage’

The boy could feel the aether within the persons around him. From what he knew, a person is born with a exact capacity of aether and he cannot increase it. Those Ones

who have more aether than their body can sustain have to be careful not to use more then their limit at once, otherwise they will blew up.

The mage before him was a good one. Not anyone could achieve the third tier.

His thoughts are interrupted by the man before him who starts speaking.

“So?... Why are you so eager to meet me?”

“I wanted the permission to train myself like everybody else” The boy answers

“You are still young. What's with this determination ?”.

"I want to know how strong can I become.."

“And what you wish to gain with your strength?”

“Money, as much money as can!”

In the next moments the man starts laughing so hard that you could hear him from the forest and then with a smile on his face he spoke.

“You remind me of myself when I was young. Nichye give him a sword and start training him!”

“Yes!” – Nichye respond without delay.

“Boy... what's your name?” The bandit leader asks.

“Zephyr” The boy respond with a boring tone.

After a short time they arrived at the training center. Nichye picked up a wooden sword and throw it at the boy. Zephyr catches the sword and begins to listen the instructions. In only a few he already knew how to use that piece of wood, fact that amazed half of the bandits.

‘This kid has a natural talent with the sword’-Nichye thinks himself.

He understood that a kid like this is like a two-edged sword. He could become a great asset or a great misfortune for them. After few hours the kid pass out from the exhaustion.

The training kept going everyday, and before anyone could realise, seven years has already past .