Daniel awoke feeling none of last night’s pain. He sat up groggily and looked around, everything appeared to be the same in his little hut. Casting his gaze down towards his hand he spotted the ring on his finger. Looking over his hand he felt a dull throb of pain from where he bit himself to stop himself from screaming. The wound had scabbed over, but his hand was still covered in dry blood. He could barely close his hand from the pain he felt when he tried to move it.

Looking at the ring on his finger he was amazed at how it seemed to be an even deeper red than when he first saw it, almost as if it had absorbed the blood that had flown over it. Daniel made a futile effort to remove the ring, remembering the pain it brought him. Although no matter how hard he pulled, it had his finger locked firmly in place by its maw and sharp claws, which had dug into the flesh of his finger. The only way it would come off would be if the finger itself came off.

“Damn, well there goes my chance to strike it rich, guess I’m stuck with this cursed thing.” – Muttered Daniel under his breath. Now he had to find a solution to this new problem, what the hell was he supposed to do with this ring, and probably most importantly, what exactly is it. He seriously considered chopping his finger off to get rid of it.

For now, he decided to hide it. He ripped a long strip from his blanket, and rinsed both the cloth and his hand in the now slightly bloody water bucket. – “Really time to change this.” – Voiced Daniel as he proceeded to wrap the cloth securely around his hand, hiding the ring and covering up the wound. Luckily for him, no one had heard his muffled screams last night, of if they had then they hadn’t bothered to come and investigate. Even better the idiot trio hadn’t decided to visit him today. Probably thinking he was still too disabled by his wounds to be a bother.

That meant that he luckily had today free from the bother of other people. He went over to where his chest normally was, and pulled up the loose floorboards that were usually hidden below. This hidden space contained some of his most prized possessions. He shifted through the items, moving aside his father’s journal, a pair of sturdy leather gloves, one of the last gifts his father had given him, and pulled out an old locket in the shape of a lantern. Within was a small, ink drawn picture of his father and mother together with him as a babe, and the inscription –

‘Light of my life, may your fire burn strong and eternal’.

His parents never talked about their past much when they were together with him, and he never got and he never got a chance to delve into it due to their untimely demise. From the small amount he could garner from his father’s journal, he had fought for the old empire near the end of the war, and had met his mother whilst fleeing from the destruction that had followed. He assumed they must have had some form of education, maybe his mother had even been minor nobility. They’d taught him to read and write, and some arithmetic, and his father had planned to show him how to use a sword before he disappeared. He managed to learn how to hunt at least from the few lessons his father had been able to pass on. His mother had taught him some basic herbology, and tried to help him find suitable plants to stave off her illness.

He cherished these memory’s some more before finally putting the pendant back in its hidden spot, and moving the chest back to cover it up.

‘First things first, I have to fix that door, then I’ll head down to the river to refill this bucket’ – Thought Daniel as he mentally prepared himself for the day. His hand would stop him from any strenuous tasks, but he could manage as long as he used his off hand and was careful. He went to inspect the damage done, and saw that one hinge had been bent and the nails knocked out, luckily, they were still nearby, and hadn’t damaged the wooden frame. All he’d have to do was straighten the hinge and then nail it back in.

He quickly got to work, using a flat stone as an improvised hammer to bend the hinge back into place and to hit the nails deeply into the door. Again, he was thankful that no one had taken the nails, as iron was a precious commodity and even nails could be sold for a copper or two. It took him more effort than it should off, as using his offhand turned this 5-minute job into a gruelling 30 minutes. Every time Daniel struck a nail with the rock, he felt a jolt of pain lance through his wounded hand.

He stepped back to look at his finished work. he was no carpenter or blacksmith, so the nails were slightly bent, and the door sat wonky in its frame. As long as it wasn’t subject to another one of Cale’s entrances then it would do fine. Feeling satisfied with his work Daniel picked up his water bucket and headed towards the lake. Intent on getting some fresh water, and getting rid of the bloody mess that his bucket contained. He had to be careful not to empty it out near his hut, least he draws in wild animals.

Daniel again noticed that the warm feeling in his chest hadn’t vanished like it normally did. It now sat there, pulsing along with his heartbeat. – ‘I have so many questions that need answers, what is this ring, dragon?, thing, and what’s this heat I’ve been feeling in my chest since I woke up’ – Daniels mind was working over these thoughts, trying to come up with any explanations to these phenomenon.

Before he knew it he’d already made his way to the lake, a small distance outside the town. He spotted a few fish swimming along, but didn’t have it in him to get his rod. Emptying out his bucket and getting some fresh water, he started to head back towards his hut. The walk back was quite, and Daniel was silent, enjoying the sound of nature around him. About halfway back to his home, Daniel noticed some muffled voiced coming from the direction of his hut, he was too far away to make anything out, but as he got closer be started to make out the conversation.

“It's not right this, I know you don't like the twerp, but this is taking it too far”

“O shut up you fat lump of lard, he deserves everything he's got coming, now help me shift this out the way”

“He's got a point Cale, I mean, brats done nothing to us, we should just leave him alone”

“I don't give a shit if he's done nothing to you, I don't like him, so shut up and help me would you”

It didn't take long for Daniel to work out what was going on, Cale and his two lackeys had broken into his house. Daniel set off at a run, desperate to get back. As he rounded the corner the sight of his newly fixed front door hanging off its hinges greeted him, with three figures moving about inside his hut.

“What the hell are you doing!” - Yelled Daniel as he burst through the door. The sight of his chest overturned and Cale standing up from his hidden place, his mother's pendant in his hands, greeted him.

“Well if it isn't Daniel, we heard you'd been hiding things from us” - With a disgusting grin on his face, morphed by his scar to make it even more foul, stood Cale, with a slightly regretful looking Markus and Rake stood next to him.

“Couldn’t help but notice you’ve been keeping this junk a secret Danny boy” – Mocked Cale, as he continued to dangle the pendant in front of Daniel.

Daniel rushed at him to try and snatch the pendant back, but was knocked down by Cale’s larger bulk. He hit the ground hard and felt blood in his mouth.

“who knew you had something so good, I bet I could sell this for a couple of silvers at the right place.” – As Cale continued his gloating, Daniel could feel the rage building inside of him, hotter than ever before.

“I wonder who your mother had to sleep with to get something as good as this?” – This was enough for the rage within Daniel to boil over. The fire in his chest boiled over, and with a roar his ring’s eyes snapped open. A torrential wave of fire spilled out with Daniel as the origin, it engulfed Cale and the duo completely.

Daniel launched himself forward towards the already aflame youths, ripping the amulet out of Cale’s hands and incinerating him further. The fire had engulfed everything in his hut, but he only had his sights on the burning Cale. He straddled him and repeatedly pounded his face over and over again.

They trio had long since been turned to a crisp by the time Cale came to his senses. The rage had lasted far longer than ever before, and his hut had already fallen around him. Quickly opening his hand, he checked the pendant within, miraculously it has survived the onslaught of fire unscathed. He then quickly went to his hidden stash to see if his other possessions had survived. His father book had been burnt, with only a few of the centremost pages surviving, but his gloves seemed to be fine. Quickly snatching up his few possessions he ran towards the woods. He could already hear the villagers running towards his hut. If they found him they’d surely claim him to be a demon of some kind.

He made his way towards the copse of trees he’d hidden his bow and hunting supplies at. Approaching the tree, he collected all the items of use and did a quick survey of what he had on him. He had his trusty bow, with 20 arrows, the hunting knife, a cloak and spare leathers he’d kept for hunting, and a small bag to store it all in. He also had some of the smoked fish he’d left here along with a waterskin. His mind racing, he thought of the one person who could explain this all to him. The shady merchant.

Deciding on a plan for the immediate moment Daniel set off, keeping to the woodland along the road in case he was spotted. He had no idea how far he had to walk before he’d find the merchant, but he was prepared to go to any length for answers.