Chapter 1

The Birth of a Treasure

The forest known as Fengle’s Mourning normally maintained an illusionary barrier protecting a small village in the center of the woodland area. Using magic, this obstacle made it so individuals approaching it would unknowingly walk around the barrier or enter it with a skewed sense of direction and directly leave that area in a confused state of mind.

The illusionary barrier was a magic formation set up by the powerful magician known as Amron. Coincidentally, this magician was also considered one of the small village’s elders.

This village was known as Limwell, and whenever issues arose, he used his powers to settle the matter. Yet unexpectedly, he was not from this village, but had in fact stumbled upon it and decided to settle down in Limwell. Because it was here he found a sort solace in his training with the natural and serene environment of this forest.

However, this forest wasn’t always obviously peaceful. As you would expect most forested regions held dangerous wild beasts, yet for some reason Fengle’s Mourning only had weak beasts that were of no threat.

The reason was actually in the history behind this forest. As the story would tell, Long ago a demonic beast named Fengle, had once ravaged all of the five continents with many other powerful beasts approximately ten thousand years ago.

Back in those days humans were still getting a foothold in the world. Sadly, it was normal for beasts to kill humans because they were considered insignificant.

Fortunately, one day a group of powerful human warriors and mages arose, and by working together pushed back these devils, and at the same time wiping out most of Fengle’s close kin.

Enraged, he irrationally killed thousands of humans until reaching the central continent. Upon arriving in Tolboud he used his might gathering many powerful beasts from the nearby forest and attacked the group of warriors and mages that defended the last bastion of humanity.

In the end this proved futile, as he and all of the beasts died, leaving this forest void of beasts except the few that roamed into it over the centuries. Justifiably, this forest then became a memorial to the defeat of Fengle, and the heroes who vanquished him announced the forest as Fengle’s Mourning for all the beasts and humans who had died.

Yet there is a rumor whispered that somewhere in the forest lays the tomb of Fengle, which the mighty Heroes created to honor such a tremendous foe. This however, was a myth that had never been proven.

Interestingly enough, these terrifying beasts of legends were all either deceased or had disappeared from Fengle’s Mourning, and hardly any beasts would wander near the village of Limwell.

As time would have it, Amron has lived in Limwell for nine decades since he set up the powerful barrier, and with it in place, protected the village from bandits and any other threat.

His age showed him to be that of sixty years old but he was actually nearing a hundred and thirty. With the barrier in place, he would only occasionally leave Limwell as he needed, and always left another Elder in charge of the village until his return.

He was never gone more than a year during those times, so it was a trivial matter and he would resume his position when he returned. Weirdly enough, he forbade anyone from leaving the village. So every couple of years, when the village needed goods or wanted to trade, only he was allowed to leave to pick up goods from the nearest major city of Domington.

There were no relatives here in Limwell that he could claim, but on his first arrival to the village, he was well received by the Elder of the clan that was initially in charge of the village. Since then, he developed an attachment to that Elder’s family which belonged to the clan and decided to show them the kindness he was given. Unfortunately, since ordinary humans live short lives, the ones who he was acquainted with when he first arrived had long since passed on in death.

The current generation of the family he cared for had a man named Geron, who was in his thirties, and had a family of his own. He was blessed with a boy named Tamlin, who was seven, and a girl named Amriel, who just hit sixteen. Seri was the name of his wife, and she was currently pregnant with their third child.

Since Amron cared deeply for this family, he demanded them to show him their child every time there was a birth in the family so he could give them his blessing. While doing so, he would secretly probe them with his mind to see their aptitude in cultivation towards the magical laws and laws pertaining to be warrior.

Sadly enough, almost every person in this village except Geron held absolutely no aptitude for cultivation in the laws. This was actually normal since the vast majority of the human population didn’t carry any aptitude for the laws.

Only a select few humans, who held the bloodlines of the first powerful warriors and mages, had any talent. This was because only the heroes of old carried the greatest of capacity for the laws. Yet, after the first practitioners of the laws, every following generation would dilute their chances for greatness especially if they married someone of a lesser bloodline.

Although, Geron was not suited for magic, he did have a marginal capacity to cultivate into a warrior. This was the same reason Amron doted on him.

He was a slow learner but even still Amron taught him from a young age. Diligently absorbing the basics, Geron strengthened himself so he was able to grasp the second rank of being a warrior.

It was fairly difficult, but in order to be a warrior you have not only strengthen the physical body you also need to strengthen your mind to be in harmony with the movements of your body.

For magic it was the opposite, you instead were harmonizing your mind with the elements of magic that were outside your body instead of looking to harmonize with your body.

In fact, this act of using your mind to harmonize with your body or with elements was known as the laws of cultivation taught by the Church of Ascension. Seemingly, the better you were at being able to harmonize, the better talent for cultivation you possessed.

According to the Divine Laws, there are nine ranks of both a magician and a warrior. For each rank there is a trial of the mind that must be passed for each corresponding rank. Potentially, these trials were also different for every individual as well so no amount of help can tell them what they will face in these trials.

It was Regrettable but, Geron had to face these two trials of the mind on his own in order to have accomplished becoming a second rank warrior. The trials were not always easy either and Amron was only able to prepare him by sharing his own experiences trusting in Geron to succeed.

However, if someone was not able to pass the trial of the mind then the mind would never again be able reestablish connection with the next stage. Causing you to be permanently stuck in the rank you are in for the remainder of your existence.

Therefore passing the trials was clearly, very important. Thousands of years ago the Church of Ascension declared everything from the trials to the ranks to be known as the Divine Laws, and passed the knowledge down for generations. It wasn’t commonly known that the trials could be lessened, because the knowledge of this was kept secret by high members of society.

While deep in thought, Amron was sitting quietly in his study reading a book attempting to understand it. The room itself had books and papers sprawled on the floor and desk giving the feeling that of a typical mage.

While wearing a long grey robe and playing with his grey beard, he sat there trying to solve a mystery that eluded him. Quite puzzled he had his brows furrowed in confusion over the text, when abruptly a knock at the door sounded. Because he was a village elder, naturally he had servants wait on him hand and toe.

Raising his head and quickly dispelling his frustration of the text, he replied, “Come in.”

After short pause the door slowly opened revealing an elderly lady and a small girl of six years standing at the door of his study. The elderly woman was named Daphiel and she wore a magnificent green dress that had gold patterns embroidered on the sleeves.

She had a weathered face with green eyes and grey-blonde hair that came down past her shoulders. Although, she may be old with leathered skin, she still showed a hint of kindness in the sparkle of her eyes. As the village’s only midwife so she had to handle most of the child births.

The little girl next to Daphiel was her granddaughter Rana. Wearing a simple yellow dress with adorable blonde hair and blue-green sparkling eyes she simply radiated light into the cluttered room. She seemed to wave around an enthusiastic carefree attitude and held boundless energy for someone of her age.

Actually, if Amron was to even to have the slightest inclination to see how high her cultivation was he would have been fairly surprised, but alas he cared not for the other villagers of the clan other than that one family that initially received him.

Smiling, Daphiel walked into the study and stopped just short of Amron. She then happily said, “Elder Amron, Geron’s wife Seri has been in labor since this morning it would appear the baby will be coming today.”

A typical birth was forty weeks yet it had only been thirty-five since Amron announced Seri to be with child. As his magical prowess were vast and he could use a magical sensing ability, which discovered there were two lifeforms on Seri and not just one, so it was easy to conclude her to be pregnant.

Confused on the matter, Amron’s eyebrows rose slightly and replied, “It’s a little early…”

In fact only being thirty-five weeks along would be considered a premature birth which could cause complications.

Waving his hand in the air, like throwing off a matter to later think about, he held a smile and said, “It’s no matter go and see that this delivery is a success. I will want to see the child after.”

Showing respect, Daphiel bowed to the Elder and taking Rana’s hand, left the room. Amron watched them leave, while feeling confident in Daphiel's capabilities, knowing she would indeed guarantee the birth a success.

As Daphiel walked with Rana in tow and hurriedly headed towards Geron’s small farm, she glanced at Rana smiling and started to think back to the past.

Thinking back she recalled her own daughter, Joanna, who shared no interest in becoming the next village’s midwife. In fact, this profession wasn’t an easy one and she had decided to abandon the village four years ago, leaving Rana in Daphiel’s care.

Joanna was in fact taught how to be a midwife but she sought adventure instead. She left the village and traveled around the world only to return pregnant and full of tales about a man that could be dead.

To be honest, Daphiel couldn’t blame Joanna for leaving Rana with her since she was searching for clues of the man she once loved in order to find out if he was still alive; but she still pitied Rana for having a mother that abandoned her.

Knowing that eventually she would have to tell Rana about her mother, she told her on her sixth birthday. Honestly, she didn’t fully disclose everything but instead said to her that one day her mother would return with her father. It might have been a false hope for this little girl but it was a hope to keep her moving forward.

Afterwards, she became intent to teach Rana how to become a midwife in her place because the village was going to be in need of a midwife after she passed on. Especially since she had doubts Joanna would ever return.

From then on she put all her effort into caring for Rana and even though there was a generation difference between them she still treated her like she would a daughter. She placed all of her hope in Rana, that when she grew up she would be a strong presence in this village and make Daphiel proud.

Finally, Daphiel and Rana arrived at Geron’s residence and politely waited outside the hut.

Raising her voice Daphiel called out, “Geron, it’s me, Daphiel.”

Hesitant and giving a slight pause she then continued, “Amron has instructed me to oversee this birth as a success much like your last two children.”

It was unfortunate but giving birth didn’t always create life, particularly with the complications of a premature birth. Sometimes without a midwife there would be complications and the child or mother could die, sometimes even both. Though, even with a midwife there could still be problems and a premature birth had its own set of issues she would have to manage.

Opening the door the man known as Geron stepped outside the hut to let Daphiel and Rana enter. Physically, he had short brown hair and a well-built sturdy figure. He had a square face and a strong well-defined chin with brilliant green eyes. Contouring to his built figure, he wore a patchwork of leather and fur.

Blocking them, he stood in front of these two women outside his hut, emanating a slight aura around him that showed he was quite powerful. Currently however, he wore an expression of worry and stood aside to let the two women enter his house. After they entered he closed the door to the hut and followed promptly behind them.

Inside the hut, his son and daughter were also there sitting off to the side patiently waiting while holding grim expressions.

Tamlin, his son, had short brown hair and green eyes much like his father. In fact, he was rather tall and well-built for his age giving off the impression he was older than he really was. He currently wore a brown shirt and leather pants that were tattered at the bottoms.

Amriel, Geron’s daughter, was a girl in her adolescence and had blonde hair that flowed down to her back with deep blue mesmerizing eyes complimenting her features. She had high cheek bones with a small nose and adorable elf-like ears. By wearing a bright blue dress her image was absolutely stunning matching her image. Although it was tragic, she had a couple of blemishes on her face due to puberty, but after she left that stage she would be an unquestionable beauty in the village.

Geron’s wife, Seri, was lying exhausted on a bed in a corner of the hut. In her condition you could see she had blue piercing eyes and blonde hair that was unkempt. She had high cheek bones and small facial features. Lying on the bed, she was currently in a great deal of pain from being in labor for hours and was moaning loudly.

After Daphiel entered the hut behind Geron and the instant she heard the moaning of Seri, she hurriedly came to her bedside. Taking one glance at Seri, she quickly instructed Rana to get a bucket of water and a cloth.

Turning back to Seri shortly after Rana left, she checked her dilation and found she was already nine centimeters dilated as well as her contractions were lasting more than a minute.

With a hint of concern she said, “This is your third child now, I need you to be strong.”

She clasped her hand and gave her a bright smile saying, “I’m going to help you deliver this child and I will use some herbs like last time to take away the pain. Just remember, like your previous child birth, this herbal drink will allow you to walk around after.”

Her smile slowly disappeared and was replaced with a sense of seriousness. She then continued, “As you know Amron has instructed to see the child afterwards, so I need to make sure you are able to present your child to him.”

Utterly Incomparable, Amron was the single most powerful figure in the village and if he requested something nobody dared to say otherwise. While grimacing from the pain Seri nodded her head showing she understood.

After seeing Seri nod, Daphiel pulled out a gourd which contained the herbal drink to take away the pain and fatigue from childbirth. Holding it to Seri’s lips she helped her slowly down the contents of the gourd.

By now Rana returned diligently with the bucket and cloth and set them next to Daphiel. Feeling grateful, Daphiel turned to Rana and said, “Rana you did a good job, I will take it from here I want you to head on home before it gets dark.”

Obviously Rana was displeased, and wanted to say something but could only form a pouting face. Understanding her grandma’s desire for her to leave, she gave a curt nod of acknowledgment then turned around and left the house heading back to her home.

Normally seeing off Rana would be important to make sure she stayed safe. But this was a small village and it was protected by Amron’s great and powerful magical barrier so there was essentially no need.

Determined Daphiel turned back to Seri, whose face was pale. She nodded and said “Ok, now the medicine should have kicked in. I need you to start to push.”

Taking the cloth and dipping it into the bucket she put it over Seri’s forehead and tried to help her through the pregnancy. Over a half hour passed by, with Seri’s constant moaning and Daphiel’s encouragement, when suddenly the crown of a baby’s head started showing.

Feeling exited Daphiel smiled and happily said, “Your almost there just keep pushing.”

Positioning herself she got ready receive the baby as it was born. But then unexpectedly, a brilliant white light came crashing down from the heavens unimpeded by the hut, and fell on the body of the baby. Illuminating the baby in a white light, it appeared as though Seri was giving birth to a divine being.

The magnificent bright white light did not stop pouring from the heavens and stayed centered on the baby as it was born safely into the arms of Daphiel. Even though the beam of light was hitting the baby, she did not shirk her duties as a midwife and quickly used a small kitchen knife to cut the umbilical cord. Afterwards she stood there flabbergasted while staring at the newborn child in her arms that was enveloped in light.

 *********************************************************************************

Simultaneously, as soon as the beam of light from the heavens shot down and hit Geron’s baby Amron splurt out blood from his mouth and started coughing up blood while his body rapidly grew weak.

Just then the powerful magical illusion barrier he had set in place to stop anything from entering regardless of whom or what, got destroyed by the heavenly beam of light.

The barrier had fought the force of heavens light for a short while, but ultimately it was destroyed and since Amron was the creator of the barrier it drained all of his magic. At that moment all protection for the village was gone and anyone could now enter the village.

Although he was a seventh ranked magician, taking that large amount of heavenly force against his barrier severely injured him. His stamina and energy were all but drained from combating the effects of magic being drained from him. That was the terrifying power of the heavens light. Incidentally, if he was even a single rank weaker he most likely would have perished.

He knew something was wrong with the barrier getting attacked, but he had no energy or stamina. Ultimately, he was completely powerless in his current condition and feeling the urgency he closed his eyes trying to meditate in order to gather back magical energy to reform the barrier.

 *********************************************************************************

With feelings of amazement at the white light beaming down Daphiel could only barely whisper, “It’s a boy.”

Nonetheless, since the room was in complete silent everyone heard Daphiel but they were all dumbfounded because of the white light coming down from the heavens.

An occurrence like this was rare and whenever it transpired, typically due to the laws of heaven, divine artifacts were left behind which allows someone to further their cultivation in the Magical Laws and the Warrior Laws. But that’s not all, not only does it help with cultivation it can also help you overcome your trials making them very desirable. Unfortunately they were considered random occurrences so the chances to receive an artifact are slim.

The specific problem here wasn’t that any divine artifact appeared, but rather that the beam of light was hitting Geron’s newborn son. Speechless Geron sat there with his mind reeling wondering exactly what was going on as the mysterious beam of light was continuously flowing into his son, and enveloping him in a bright white light.

Stammering Seri became the first to speak staying, “Our son…”

Eventually, once her brain thought process clicked she grew ecstatic and continued, “…seems to be a living divine artifact!”

Likewise, Geron had similar thoughts, but then again was that just too crazy. He had never heard of divine light hitting a person and in fact this was indeed the first time for it to ever happen. Standing up, Seri took the baby from Daphiel and held him in her arms. Usually, a mother would be completely drained from giving birth but thanks to that herbal drink she was just fine.

Although, white light still enveloped the child but she could clearly see the baby boy had brown hair and blue eyes. Looking close you could see he had a defining chin as well as high cheek bones. Seemingly, he shared the traits of both parents, while his siblings took after only the father or the mother.

Happy, Seri couldn’t help but smile as she stared down at the baby boy. Then something dawned on her, shocked and worried, she came to the realization that babies typically cry when they first are given birth. If a child didn’t cry it’s possible they were stillborn or had birth defects, but this child was not crying and was instead just looking around the room casually.

Glancing around the room the baby’s brilliant blue eyes first paused on Geron before he looked up at Seri. It was as if this new born baby knew exactly who he was and who his parents were, which startled Seri.

An unnatural fire blazed from within the baby’s eyes while his gaze seemed profoundly intense. Normally, a newborn cannot see with their eyes and can only make out blurs. Except this baby appeared to not only be able to see perfectly fine, but could also recognize who his parents were. Most importantly with the bright white heavens lights still enveloping the baby, he seemed like an impossibility taking reality.

Over the course of time everyone became accustomed to the bright light enshrouding him. Suppressing their confusion everyone took turns in happily holding the little new born. Growing attachment to their newborn brother, Tamlin and Amriel both got their turns to hold him and coo over him, slowly forming their own bonds with their new baby brother.

After taking their turns at holding their little brother for a time they unwilling handed their baby brother back to Seri. Time flew by and it quickly became four hours since his birth and suddenly the bright white heavens light slowly started fading away. Weirdly enough, everyone had gotten used to the light encompassing his little body over the hours and didn’t know when it would disappear but just as suddenly as it appeared it faded away.

 *********************************************************************************

After several hours of meditation Amron opened his eyes. Luckily, he had gathered some Magical energy but he was not even close to a small portion of his original strength. After hearing yelling outside, Amron immediately stopped his meditation, and listening intently he could decipher the sounds of people screaming out of fear nearby.

Taking less than a second, Amron used his magical sensing ability to scan the nearby area and was shocked to find a large group of bandits were currently killing, raping and sacking the village. Helpless, Amron knew in his current condition he couldn’t do anything.

Since his magic capacity was still nearly depleted he would just get killed. Hesitating, he decided to abandon the village in order to save his own life and return later with a vengeance. Stepping outside, he took out a small talisman that resembled a small spherical rock with green runes flashing on it.

Closing his eyes, Amron put his remaining magical energy into the talisman while he thought of a location. This talisman was in fact a rare and coveted teleporting talisman, yet Amron carried one with him.

A powerful ripping noise could be heard all of the sudden as the space itself surrounding him tore open. Finally opening his eyes, in the distance he saw the bright white heavens light in the distance slowly fade away. But before he could even think about the small hut of Geron’s and the heavens light which enveloped it, a bright blue light enveloped him and he disappeared.

*********************************************************************************

Shortly after the light disappeared from the baby, an abrupt bang came from the door to the hut as it flew open and ten men who looked like bandits rushed inside the hut. With the sudden appearance of those men, everyone in the hut quickly became frightened.

Geron stood between the men and his family spreading out an intense aura of a second rank warrior.

As anger coursed through his veins, he furiously asked the men, “What is the meaning of this? This is my house and I did not give you permission to enter!”

Quickly detecting ill intent, he moved over to the chest near the bed and grabbed a long sword contained within, and boldly held it up with one hand whilst brandishing it towards the men. In fact, he had confidence in his strength as a second rank warrior. Yet, he was unsure of himself while up against ten men, especially when he did not know what their own cultivation levels were.

It was regrettable but Amron was not a warrior and could not teach Geron the main laws pertaining to be a warrior. As a result only the basics were taught to Geron so he had no way to use the main laws of a warrior to perceive these men’s strength since he couldn’t read their Aura.

Upon entering the hut and seeing a lone man attempt to stop them, the bandits looked at each other and laughed while brandished their own weapons. Nearly every bandit wore some form of armor and carried swords or axes causing a chilling effect since they meant business. Shoving others aside, a burly looking man in the center of the group pushed his way to the front.

This man’s name was Brumar. He was the largest of the group of bandits and wore thick leather armor that had plated metal on the chest. He had short black hair and a rough scraggly beard. Squinting with his black beady eyes he stepped forward and sized up Geron.

Raising a large one-handed axe and pointing it at Geron he said haughtily, “Under my commander’s order we are to bring all of you to him. He has questions he wants to ask you.”

Geron’s face grew ugly. Obviously, he knew that this was about the divine light that hit down and the power that could be obtained gained from a divine artifact.

Irritated he frowned and replied, “There is nothing here your commander would want from us. You should leave and seek elsewhere.”

Gripping tighter on his axe, Brumar snorted and said, “Have it your way.”

With Brumar words as a signal, the bandits instantly all charged forward at once. Taking the initiative as well Geron threw out an intense pressure of his aura, and then swiftly came to the closest bandit effectively displaying his swordsmanship. Clashing with the bandit, he landed a couple of well-placed strikes, over powering the man and drawing first blood with a simple cut on the arm. However, just as he felt like he had an opportunity to take the man’s life Geron became overwhelmed as all ten of the bandits converged on him simultaneously.

Understanding that Geron was a difficult opponent, Brumar fiercely yelled, “Slice his legs to cripple him!”

Geron parried blows like mad while still holding back all ten of the bandits at a lightning speed. You could tell his warrior status was not just for show, considering how he was holding off all ten men. But just as he started to gain confidence that he could possibly win, a white hot stab of pain shot out on the back of his right leg. Screaming in pain he collapsed, putting his right knee on the ground.

Just then, Brumar had seized an opportunity to get a good strike in while Geron was fighting nine other combatants. Yet not giving up, he still madly parried a couple blows while half on the ground, but after the initial collapse on the ground another bandit wielding a short sword saw an opening and his left leg got cut too.

With both leg tendons sliced, he had no support and fell face first onto the ground. Shortly after he fell to the ground face first, Brumar took the opportunity and stomped on his hand making him release his sword and immediately kicking his sword out of his hand. He was feeling utter despair knowing that with his defeat, his family was done for.

The bandits were elated that now they took down the only obstacle, they could start to grab everyone to drag them outside. Just as a bandit tried to grab Daphiel, she suddenly charged at a man with a small kitchen knife.

At first the bandit was startled, but then he quickly regained his senses dodging to the side. Moving fast he griped her wrist holding the knife and then slashed her down the back, most likely killing her as she bled from the wound profusely, staining her green dress. Still taking precautions the bandit wanted to make sure Daphiel was dead by stabbing her through the skull with his sword. It was unfortunate but Daphiel’s death happened rather fast and after her death Geron’s family gasped and sobbed.

Not sparing any time, Brumar grabbed Geron’s right arm to support him and motioned for another bandit to grab his left. Moving hastily, One by one the Bandits grabbed the family members and dragged everyone outside.