Phoenix

Prologue:

It all started on a rainy night, a small number of people started to gather in what seemed to look like a shrine, the majority of this eerie looking place was covered in faded paintings of rivers and clouds with figures made of light, each wall had a golden statue of a phoenix at its base, all except the front wall which had an arc shaped hole with a fountain in it. The fountain had apparently run dry years ago judging by vines and leaves that ran across it. A tall lean man with blonde hair and blue eyes stood at the mouth of the arc and tried to collect the attention of the small audience before him, he raised his hands in the air and spoke in a foreign language. He took the silence that spread across the crowd afterward as a sign for him to continue, he folded his arms across his belly and said, "The time has come to fulfil our clan's purpose, brothers and sisters, I come with good tidings today," he spread his hands to his side as he wore on a gleeful smile, "the blessed one has been born!! And it could not be in better timing." He looked to the right and gestured to a woman who was standing by a tent, she bowed to him in response and peered into the tent. A minute later, a beautiful woman dressed in a simple white garment walked out in a gracious manner. A golden blonde hair waived gloriously behind her as she sauntered towards the man, the people however had their attention on what she carried in her arms, a nursing baby, no more than a month old perhaps. She stepped up to the man showing nothing but concern in her eyes, she held her baby tight trying to hold back the tears that left her watery eyes. She handed the baby to him barely looking at him in the eyes. Before taking the child, the man caressed the woman's cheek making her look at him, he wore on a different kind of smile now, a much more sincere and mild one. After cautiously taking the infant from her hands, he began to chant an eccentric language before he pulled out a small vial, he emptied the vial's contents into the baby's mouth. Not long after, the baby began to display a sign displeasure on its face and soon started to cry. Its pulse slowed down as its skin got pale, even when weaker now, the baby bawled as loudly as it could. It soon became silent as its skin got colder, its once watery eyes closed slowly as the baby drifted away. The man tried to calm himself as his hands began to tremble, he looked at the baby's mother who was almost in tears and gave a faint smile. He neared the corpse to his mouth and whispered into its ear, "My last gift to you" He removed the thin robe he wore around him with one hand and spread it across the ground, he placed the baby's corpse on it, with tears in his eyes he placed his hands on the baby's chest and chanted in almost a whisper, "Chivala caldhora" His hands glowed in a magnificent tone of yellow that lighted up the baby's entire skin, the man closed his eyes slowly and laid by the baby. With a smile, his last breath escaped his lips. The mother picked up the child in her arms, she held it up to the people who watched as the infant began to cry. The crowd started to chant a prayer in unison, all except the mother who had her gaze on the man, her gaze narrowed at him as tears rolled down her cheeks, who could blame her though, before her laid her deceased lover.

The kingdom Dameran was feared throughout the land, it was with no doubt a stronghold built on the wisdom of its leaders and the strength of its warriors, one warrior however, was feared the most. After ending a war that strived for months, the warrior was praised and admired by all not just because she was a very young woman, but because even without magic, she surpassed every warrior in the kingdom with her ability to master any weapon she holds in a mere moment. With her golden eyes and rare velvet red hair as her identity, she has been known as the famous weapons master, and by her side another young female who uses a magical enhancer to strengthen her already mastered combat skill, together, they conquered every foe they faced. Aldrich slage was never an interesting person, even though he excelled in everything he focused on, he never showed any interest in anything and had led a life of simplicity, he spent most of his days reading alone, his life had become so monotonous that if noticed one could sense a pattern in it, little did he know that his fate would take and uneventful turn, this is a tale of how he turned from a boy into a legend to be reme

William approached Aldrich while he was sitting with his back resting on an apple tree, the setting sun turned it's autumn leaves almost orange, he closed his eyes giving a weary sigh when he noticed the book in Aldrich's hand 'tales of zolda' it read, he wore on a friendly grin and called on to him, Aldrich gave a blank stare and asked in a somewhat punitive tone,

"What do you want?"

William rested his shoulder on the tree trying to have a peek at what Aldrich was reading but was stopped as Aldrich shut the book close, he looked at Aldrich with a grin on his face and asked,

"Since when aren't you delighted to see me?"

"Since I met you." They both smiled and burst into laughter, he tapped Aldrich on his knee and said to him, "come on, it's getting late"

William was Aldrich's first and only friend, though he wasn't the most skilled or outstanding person, he had a blithe personality which led him to always find himself in trouble, this made him someone Aldrich wanted to avoid. But after almost a year of unnecessary rivalry and juvenile challenges by William during childhood, Aldrich found himself with his one friend who always found a way to cling to him. As they walked together, Aldrich was distracted by a flashing light, he noticed the light was being reflected from a daggers edge which was half tucked in its sheath tied to William's belt, he looked at him with twinge of frustration in his eyes and grumbled,

"You still keep that?" William quickly sheathed the blade completely and replied,

"Why not?"

"When are you going to stop this annoying habit of picking that catches your eye?"

"I really have stopped, but I found this on a river bank and something just drew me to it"

"Something draws you to everything you see"

"No, this is different, it's ..."

he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed a tall man in a black tunic, William took a look at him and still couldn't fathom his resemblance with his son.

One could say the only difference in his appearance and his sons were his eyes hair and skin, while Aldrich had his late mother's black clear eyes, black lustrous hair, and brown caramel skin. His father had rather small and brown eyes brown hair that was all over the place, and light skin. Aside from those, the similarities shown in their physique was uncanny. William greeted Archer and excused himself, when leaving, Archer called on to him and said, "Be careful out there, rumour has it there is a killer on the loose"

"Sure" he replied, Archer then looked at his son, Aldrich only gave a naughty grin knowing he had gone past curfew, his father had always been over protective when it came to him since his mother had passed away five years ago and the war that happened two years ago only made things worse. Aldrich never had a problem with it though, "You were out reading again?"

"Yes" Aldrich replies in what could be mistaken as a whisper, his father sighed softly and roughened his hair as a gesture of forgiveness. He then smiled and said, "Let us go home" Aldrich was a bit cold to everyone he met, everyone but his father who he showed love and respect. It was a short and silent walk back home, not that anything was wrong though, neither of them were chatty enough to start a conversation, there was no denying that this silence though, was uncomforting. As they arrived in the three chambered house they called home, Aldrich felt a bit of ease, it wasn't anything extravagant, everything about it was simple and moderate, its den was furnished dark brown sofas around wooden table, a fire place made with bricks at the front wall and a lot of books arranged in a shelf right above it, the books were Archer's, but unlike Aldrich Archer spent his time researching and studying. Archer took a seat while Aldrich tried to start a fire, the silence that filled the room became too uncomforting to Archer making him decide to break the ice,

"Did you hear about Bridget?" Archer asked,

"No?"

"Word has it her son 'Arthur' has become a knight,"

"Poor kid" Archer sighed in weariness and said, "You know most people consider it an honour to serve the king as a knight"

"Well I don't think like most people"

By now he was done kindling the fire, he opened a small section of the shelf, here there were about seven books all arranged alphabetically, he pulled out his book and placed it in its rightful place in the shelf. He sat down on a chair facing archer and said, "To be honest I don't think becoming a knight is something that suits me,"

"Aldrich they are people risking their lives to protect us, I don't think they worried if it suited them" the fire reflected the black colour in Aldrich's bored eyes, he yawned and stood up ready to leave when he said to Archer,

"if becoming a knight is as rewarding as you say, then I'm sure a lot of young men are just dying to join, they could probably do without me"

With that, he finally left for his room, Archer closed his eyes and rested his head against the chair, "What am I going to do about you?" he soliloquized.

Moments before waking up Aldrich was disturbed by the early light of dawn shimmering through his window, he barely opened his eyes before he groaned from displeasure. He tried to cover himself with his blanket and go back to sleep when he heard a woman's doleful wail in the midst of a crowds noisy murmur making him fully open his eyes, he began to wonder what was happening so close to his house. He stood up sluggishly and put on a simple white tunic that covered the lower parts of his chest and half of his arms. He headed downstairs in haste thinking of what may have happened and worse, who it may have happened to. Reaching his den only made things worse now, while he usually found his father by the fire place asleep with a book in his hand, this time he found nothing but an empty armchair with open books on it, Aldrich knew his father had an obsession of closing and arranging his books even when wanting to ease himself, whatever was happening outside was urgent and Aldrich was scared by this. He noticed the main door unlocked and slightly ajar, judging by how close the commotion was he inferred his father couldn't have gone far. As he got out he met a crown a fair distance away from his front door, he tore his way through the people in haste to see what was going on. As he finally reached the point where all eyes were, Aldrich beheld something he wouldn't soon forget. It was a disfigured corpse, the deceased person was a young boy probably just reaching puberty, one could tell by the way his left hand was stretched out that he was trying to escape till his last breath, the bones on his back were broken and scattered in large pieces in his back and the only things holding his head to his body were thin muscles, his right leg was entirely strewn while his left leg barely had any skin left on it, Aldrich didn't even notice his father as he walked towards the corpse, around the corpse were some guards and surprisingly William, beside him was his weeping mother. William was too much in tears to notice Aldrich who looked more confused than appalled now, this confusion in Aldrich soon cleared when he got a closer look at the body, though the body was massacred all over the face stayed intact, and Aldrich knew that face all too well. It was William's younger brother. Aldrich approached William and tried to comfort him but given the situation, he didn't think he could say anything that could ease his pain. He didn't stop trying though, one of the guards called on William to ask him about the incident, he looked at Aldrich gave a forced smile,

"Thank you" he said to him with a shaky voice, Aldrich tapped his shoulder gently and said to him,

"take care".

Aldrich didn't bother to look at the corpse before he left to meet up with his father. As they get home the clouds started to darken and from it droplets of water started to fall, Aldrich's expression was nothing but gloomy, his father decided not to bother him, so he began to start a fire. Aldrich sat on a chair and placed his head on his palms, "Why?" he muttered, Archer placed a jar of jam and a loaf of bread beside him and returned to his fire, Aldrich looked up at him and asked,

"Who could have done this?"

"Well, judging by the recent kills it wasn't a random wild animal"

"A person couldn't have dismembered a body like that" Archer poured two cups of tea and handed one over to Aldrich. He sat with the other one in his hands, by now the rain was pouring heavily while lightning was shedding a bit of light in the darkened sky, he looked at Aldrich with an insipid face and said,

"A normal person wouldn't do that, however the world we live in makes this a painful reality we must bear."

"But why would someone do something so inhumane"

"Not everyone thinks the way you do son, even though it isn't as noble as some people, you have a sense of what is right and wrong," he leaned towards him and continued, "some people lack that sense" Upon saying this, Archer realized that Aldrich was only getting more depressed seeing his gaze continuously shift towards the ground. A lighting flash shone brightly across the room and thunder roared stridently, Archer sat back and gazed at the rainy sky and said,

"you know a certain race now forgotten, believed that when we die, our souls ascend to live in the skies, and so whenever we see rain it means that the deceased are trying to tell us not to forget them"

"If only it were that simple"

"If only"

The whole place was enclosed with silence, only small sobs could be heard as they were lowering the casket, the people around were about seven, all dressed in black garments, it was in a grassy field with a small number of trees at a distance. Aldrich and William could be seen sitting by a tree, Aldrich wore on a simple black tunic with a pair of leather trousers and sandals while William on the other hand wore a black leather jacket with silver buttons and a pair of brown trousers, Aldrich looked at him bowing his head on his folded knees. Although he knew it would have been painful to relive the memory, Aldrich couldn't resist the urge to ask him what exactly happened since it was said that it was him who discovered the body, William held his knees tight as he tried to control his shaky voice and all Aldrich could do was wait in anticipation. William calmed himself and began,

"It all happened so fast, he had gone missing the night before and my mother sent me to go look for him, I spent the night searching the forest all to no avail" he bowed his head further as Aldrich patted his back to comfort him, he drew out a handkerchief to wipe his tears and sat upright, he then continued,

"As I was coming back home I could swear I was hearing his voice, I ran towards it and found him dead" "I'm sorry"

"Right now I am the only one my mother has"

"Well I'm here now"

William smiled faintly and punched him lightly on his shoulder, Aldrich returned the smile and says, "Besides, someone has to keep your fashion sense in order." The service was short, it wasn't long after that everyone decided to go home, William was escorted by Aldrich while Archer went on home, Aldrich spent some time at their abode before he went home. There was as an apparent gloomy mood in the house until now, he greeted Archer with a smile and archer returned it, Archer then asked,

"How are you doing?"

"I think I'm okay now." It had been a week since the incident happened, all had seemed to forget it ever happened, even William, Aldrich continued his everyday life of reading under a tree and occasionally meeting up with William, this however didn't stay the same. On a day like every other, Aldrich just finished reading a book and was about to head on home, but something felt odd to him, he felt a strange sensation in his head that made him shut his eyes close continuously. He suddenly started to see a green midst surrounding him, he shook his head and in a second it all disappeared,

"Perhaps it was just a trick of the light" he thought to himself, he stretched his arms in the air and stood for a second or two, "maybe I should just go for a walk" he soliloquized. He wandered in various parts of the streets for at least an hour and finally sat down by a tree, the wind caused the leaves on the trees to rustle loudly and it didn't take long for him to notice he was in the woods. The questions on how he got there was already too much, added to the fact that he is not the type to just take walks out of the blue. He stood upright and started pacing trying to make sense out of it, but this new found confusion soon turned to great fear as he noticed something at a distance coming towards him. It looked like a wolf but was barely using its forelimbs to run, the creature was undoubtedly abnormal. As it got close, Aldrich saw it was the size of a bear, it had dull black fur and large fangs stained with blood, its eyes weren't like anything Aldrich had ever seen, there were pure white filled with blood lust. Aldrich couldn't tell what exactly it was but he wasn't waiting to find out, he ran like never before. All he could think of was to escape and all he could feel was his heartbeat, with every few meters he ran he heard the creature's step getting closer, he could now even feel the warmth of its breath on his back, at this pace Aldrich knew the creature would catch him. He didn't relent though, just as it was about to pounce on him, he jumped towards the ground and rolled on it to continue his impetus, this caused the beast to miss him as he pounced over him. Aldrich didn't waste a second as he got back to his feet, he immediately started to run in the opposite direction looking for any where he could escape from. Just ahead he spotted smoke in the sky, he could only hope there were people who could help there, but keeping his gaze high proved to be a bad choice as he tripped on a felled tree, he tried to get back up but the creature was already above him. He stared into its white eyes as it bared its fangs at him, there was no doubt it was a wolf. With its right paw on Aldrich's chest, the creature rose its other paw and tried to slice him with its claws. But just then, as if it were a moment of truth, Aldrich acted solely on instinct as he grabbed a root of the felled tree and swung the entire tree at the creature hitting it on the ribs. The creature tumbled sideways shrieking in pain, Aldrich got to his feet frightened no longer by the creature but by himself. He looked at the tree he was holding by its root, it wasn't too big, but no normal person could carry it alone let alone one-handed. Aldrich was barely understanding the situation with himself but wasn't at the best place to start pondering it as he heard the creatures growl. He looked into its white eyes and felt its blood lust. Without any signs of warning the creature pounced at him but Aldrich who was no longer in a state of panic, took a stance and held the tree up straight like a staff allowing the creatures teeth and claws sink into it, as the creatures posterior paws reached the ground, Aldrich tried to topple it by pushing it towards the ground. This started to prove effective until the creature strengthened its bite on the tree. This caused the wood to crack and Aldrich who was heedless to this began to push harder to topple it once and for all but things turned grave for him when the tree snapped in two. This caused Aldrich to lose balance for a moment and that was all the creature needed to swipe a paw at his head. Aldrich was sent flying and crashing into a tree causing it to break slightly. As blood began to drip by the side of his head, Aldrich slowly started to lose his cognizance, his sense of hearing was reduced into a mere thud on the ground as the creature ran towards him, body became numb all over and his vision was nothing but a blurry image of the beast. But just as he is about to black out, he saw two other figures not sure what, fighting of the creature, it wasn't long until one of them noticed him and rushed towards him right before he lost all sense of awareness. Aldrich woke up feeling light headed, the whole place looked blurry for about two seconds after he woke up. As everything cleared up, he realized himself on a bed in a small room and judging by the orange light entering its window, he could tell that dusk had reached. He tried to sit up but was hindered as he felt pain in his back and head, he noticed there were bandages wrapped lightly around his torso and head. He forced himself to sit upright despite the stinging pain he felt in his body,

"You shouldn't move too much, your injuries aren't completely healed" A slightly gassy feminine voice said from his left, he turned his head to see who it was and saw a young woman his age no doubt, in a light blue long-sleeved tunic and black leather trousers. Her eyes shone ocean blue and her straight hair very bright yellow neatly cut right above her back as it covered her ears, Aldrich was admittedly taken aback by her feature but was more so put on edge as she returned his quizzical gaze with a smile, "Where am I?" Aldrich asked,

"Well I found you injured and brought you back here" Aldrich was somewhat impressed at how calm and refined her speech was, it took a moment for him to realize she was the one he saw fighting the creature. She leaned forward to resting her elbows on her knees, Aldrich felt very self-conscious as she refused to break her stare at him,

"Tell me, do you live around here?"

"Yes"

"And what led you to this part of the woods"

"I can't remember myself", she sat upright and examined his wounds.

"How are you not dead?" "What do you mean?"

"When I found you, you were crashed into a tree which caused it to break only to discover that the demon wolf was injured its ribs, tell me, how did you do it?"

"It happened so fast and..." Aldrich stopped mid-sentence when something dawned upon him, he looked at her with worry in his eyes and said, "Wait, wasn't there two of you, don't tell me the beast..." she cut him off with a light giggle,

"For someone who was losing blood you sure are perceptive, my partner is currently trying to track the beast"

"I see"

"I must thank you though"

"For what?"

"Even though it was unintentional, you helped us a lot by leading the beast to us"

"You were actually going after that thing?"

"Yes"

"Why would you try to confront it with such few numbers?"

"Didn't you try to fight it alone?"

"Yes but I ..."

"You see that's what interests me about you, somehow you fended of a creature the size of a bear with no combat experience whatsoever and survived what a crash that is sure to kill anyone. I have to say, it's the first I have seen" she moved her chair closer to him and asked,"What is your name?"

"Aldrich"

her furrowed brows made Aldrich feel she was somewhat disappointed to hear that,

"Your... full name?"

"Aldrich slage"

Her eyes lighted up upon once more, she stretched out her hand and said, "Mine is Evelyn." As Aldrich received her hand, he couldn't help but ask, "Who exactly are you?"

just then another woman showed up in a red sleeveless tunic wearing leather armour on both her arms, Aldrich wasn't able to hide his shock when he caught a glimpse of her velvet red hair in the sunlight flowing down her back and her large golden eyes. There was no mistaking it, Aldrich had come face to face with the weapons master.

Archer wasn't the type to get worried easily, but the worry in him today was enough kill a man. Aldrich hadn't come home since the day before and still wasn't back, the fear of what may have happened to him was too much to bear for Archer, after pacing back and forth all morning he decided to go look for him. Just as he was about to head out, he saw a boy running towards him. The boy was about Aldrich's age and height and even from the distance, Archer could tell it was William by his unique white hair.

He came yelling Archer's name with worry and lethargy in his face, Archer ran to meet him at the front of his house where William stopped to catch his breath. As the two of them met William tried to speak but couldn't the get words out of his mouth since he was too busy trying to breath properly, he muttered.

"Al... Aldri..."

"What is it boy?!!"

Archer roared at him gripping his shoulders firmly. After a few deep breaths, William was finally able to gain a little composure. He brought out a small book titled 'tales of zolda' and handed it to Archer. Archer's hands began to tremble as he held the book, he looked at William who then said, "I think he might be in trouble".

Meanwhile, Aldrich was still trying to come to terms with what his eyes were seeing, there was no doubt about it. Her physique clearly showed that she'd been in battles, tied to her back was a peculiar thin and symmetric blade in its sheath, she wore on her hands what looked like a red leather armour which stopped a fair distance away from her elbows and exposed only her fingers. The most surprising thing to Aldrich was that judging by her looks, she was also his age if not younger. He had always assumed that her velvet red hair was just and overstatement to what it was, but looking at long flowing hair tied at the back of her head now was all the proof he needed that her very unnatural yet beautiful hair was real, and then her eyes, Aldrich couldn't help but feel they didn't look human as they were large as they were beautiful in their gleaming golden colour decorated with her slightly russet eyelashes. He became aware of how he must have looked staring at her when she returned the gaze with a rather disturbed look. He held back all the questions he had and thanked them for saving him.

The weapons master replied in a calm and clear voice, "You only have her to thank." she said as she gestured to the other woman sitting near him, she continued. "Frankly I saw it as waste of time since I thought you were as good as dead."

Aldrich found her way of speaking strange, there was no regret or harshness in how she talked to him, nothing but pure sincerity. There were no expressions in her face but he could still tell that she wasn't trying to act cold to him. She pulled a chair over to her and sat to face Evelyn her partner, she began.

"I lost it"

"You should worry more about getting sleep, the beast couldn't have gotten far"

"It has probably left the forest though" Aldrich then asked them,

"What exactly is it?"

Evelyn turned to him to explain.

"It's called a nuruk demon, they are ancient creatures which has been known to exist since the beginning of time, once freed from their relics they tend to cause havoc in whatever way they can. This one in particular seems to enjoy dismembering its victims." Hearing that, Aldrich remembered the body of William's brother, he closed his eyes and shook his head trying to forget the morbid scenery. Evelyn continued,

"its killings seem to be concentrated in your region which is very close to the central, so the king sent us to deal with it." The weapons master then said to her. "If the creature isn't far then we should still be trying to track it."

"I'll go check if some of the residents around here have seen anything" Evelyn said in agreement. With that, she left the room leaving only Aldrich and her partner behind. After about a minute of silence she got up and said to Aldrich "let's get you home" Aldrich made no argument as he got up immediately.

As they went through the forest, the autumn leaves shook as a gentle wind blew it, the silence in the forest played a strange kind of melody, the birds chirped on the trees in a song like manner. This put Aldrich in a trance for a moment until he noticed the sword sheathed behind his company, it had some of its blade exposed and it was unlike anything he had seen. Its blade lustred so much that it was almost glowing and its hilt was as red as her hair. He said.

"Um weapons..."

"My name is Lydia" she cut in,

"Oh...okay"

"And what might yours be?" she added,

"Aldrich, Aldrich slage" he said with his tone a bit too formal.

"Slage it is then."

The sword caught his eye again and he said. "Umm Lydia"

"Hmm?"

"What kind of sword is that?" She pulled out the sword to look at it, he notices a strange inscription written on the spine of the blade, she said.

"It is believed to be a legendary blade forged from the talons of a divine creature"

"And do you believe that"

"At first I didn't but after two years of using it I found out the blade is indestructible and exceedingly sharp"

"So how did you get it?" upon hearing that, her face turned gloomy. When Aldrich noticed this, he realized that he must have triggered a bad memory. He tried to go of topic, before he could say anything though, Lydia suddenly looked ahead with a questioned expression on her face. As Aldrich looked to see what she was looking at, he noticed two people at a distance coming towards him, as they got closer he saw that it was Archer and William.

"Friends of yours?" Lydia asked, Aldrich replied with a smile on his face,

"Yes"

As they got closer Lydia lowered her voice as she told Aldrich. "We need to talk later"

"Sure, but where?"

"Meet me...."

She was interrupted by Archer when he hugged Aldrich so suddenly,

"Don't scare me like that" he said to him, Lydia cleared her throat loudly as an attempt to get their attention but received it only from William.

"Thank you" he said to her, she looked at him for a moment and asked,

"Who are you to him?"

"Why we are best of friends of course"

"That seems hard to believe." William took offence hearing that for some reason, but before he could say or do anything Lydia called to Archer and said,

"Well if you don't mind I have to go"

"I can't thank you enough"

"It's okay, besides, he held his ground pretty well to have survived against the beast"

"Perhaps he did" William said to her. She looked at him with a slight grin on her face,

"I hope I can see you again" she told Aldrich and left. As they got home, Aldrich couldn't shake an uneasy feeling in him, Archer would usually scold him for being reckless or just bother him about how thankful he is that his son is alive. But he did neither, instead, he stayed extremely quiet throughout their walk home.

Even William was a bit bothered by this but didn't read too much into it. Could it be that something was on his mind? What could be so important that could silence him after this kind of incident? When they entered the house, William tried to make his way to sit down stopped when he noticed Archer's stare at him. He looked to Aldrich who was feeling nothing but anxiety and said,

"My mother is probably wandering where I am"

"Okay then"

Aldrich could easily tell he was lying, but who wouldn't in that situation? if he were honest he envied him for that moment.

"Sit down" Archer told his son. Silence filled the room for about a minute, Aldrich couldn't shake off the anxiety he felt at that moment. After a long time thinking to himself, his father finally decided to speak. He leaned forward to stare at the fireplace as though it were telling him something and asked,

"Did you really fight a beast?"

"Well barely"

"I guess there is no point" Archer said more to himself than his son, he faced Aldrich with an unreadable face and said,

"when you fought, did you notice something about yourself that wasn't normal?" Aldrich knew exactly what his father was talking about, the abnormal strength he possessed, he however didn't want his dad worrying too much about him and being an overprotective parent this will turn into a big deal for him. With that Aldrich decided to erase all suspicions,

"I was running the whole time, I didn't notice anything in worthwhile" he said. Hearing that, Archer leaned back to rest on his chair and smiled at his son, Aldrich was even more confused now than before. "What could be going through your head?" He thought to himself. Archer stood up without any more questions to head for his study, as he left the room, he patted Aldrich on his shoulder and said, "I raised a terrible liar, but if you aren't ready I can't force you to be." Aldrich felt a bit embarrassed and relieved at the same time, he looked back at his father who was almost gone. His father looked back and said, "when the time comes just know that I'll be here support you, so make me proud" with that, he left the den.

The next day, Aldrich stood by the tree he read next to often.

"This is where it started" he thought to himself. The leaves from the trees started to dance by the winds command and some on the ground were lifted up by it. As some of the leaves cleared, Aldrich noticed a small rock right below him. As he stared at it, he remember how he lifted an entire felled tree back in the forest. He picked up the rock and stretched his hand preparing for a throw. He took a stance and launched the rock high into the sky. The rock went on as far as Aldrich could see. He wondered how he didn't know about this before, he was never the athletic type but this kind of strength should have made almost any activity seem easier. Aldrich didn't think too much about this though, he was all kinds of exited by his new-found ability. He searched for larger rocks to throw and just behind the tree, there was a rock so large, he had to use his two hands to lift it. As he carried stood upright with the rock in his hands, he managed to balance the rock in a firm grip in his right hand right next to his shoulder. After three deep breaths he took a step forward and launched it into the air. Aldrich was amazed at how far the rock went into the sky. It was thrown so high that when it landed in the forest, all he could hear was a mild thud. Just then, he heard a voice behind him say,

"You know if you want to practice your throwing there is a great place in the castle for that."

Normally he would have assumed it was William but this voice was feminine. He whirled his head around to see who it was and surprisingly, he saw Lydia. She was dressed in a brown leather tunic with a black pair of fitted trousers. Aldrich was so shocked to see her there that he was dumfounded, she said to him,

"Do you know how hard it was to find you?"

"How did you find me?"

"Well at first I tried asking everyone around where you live, only to realize that people hardly know you"

"And then?"

"Someone told me about your dad who lived not too far away" Aldrich sighed and looked at her with a smile.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of this." He said to her in a jovial tone.

"Just follow me."