Chapter 1: Just a Kid(Prologue)
A soft breeze crawled in-between the two huge mountains, down across the valley that they created, and over the top of the small city that was nestled in the middle. This small little village was mostly inhabited by people who didn't expect much out of life: either they where too old to work a good paying job, or on the run from the law. It is actually pretty calm and easy going though, and the people get along without much incident; most just sat in the house all day reminiscing and sleeping, or some other meaningless task, while the kids where in the training stations set up throughout the streets. There was one person outside though that was there to feel the taint, almost like a presence, creeping through the wind.
He stepped sideways, quickly thrusting his wooden sword to his right, then spun his body a half circle and let his sword continue like a upward slice for the abdomen; then a quick flick of his wrist had it cutting downward in a curve that complimented the prior slice with the other half of a figure 8. Suddenly, he shot to the left with undeniable speed---boom! He fell onto the roof of the abandoned building he was Drilling on with a resounding thud. As he got up, he thought he tasted a passing flavor of copper on the wind. This building was a good place to practice because he could stay close to his family, make sure they were safe, and get free sword lessons at the same time.
He had loved to play with his father's sword when he was young, but now that he was gone, all he had was this little wooden sword.
He picked himself up off the ground, sighed at the memory of his father, and started gathering his things. His father had been dead since he was 6 years old. Picking up his sword, he forced his fathers memory out for the moment. He had to get dinner ready for his mom and sister. He slung his possessions over his shoulder and dropped down the 2 stories to his feet with the grace of a dancer, but the presence of a black smith as well. For only being 13, it was already obvious that he was going to be a stocky man. The one thing that pissed the camp trainers off about this boy, was that even though he was already stocky, and should have slow movements, almost seeming like delayed reactions, he was even more graceful and smooth than the trainers, plus was a natural when it came to blades. He had already basically surpassed all the trainers, he just wanted to make sure he didn't get rusty.
As he made his way into the building adjacent to the one he had been on, he noticed that there where no cats or dogs anywhere on the street. The streets are usually riddled with them, so this was a strange sight, but he didn't pay it much mind. He had given up trying to figure it all out, he just took it as he was lucky. As he crossed the threshold of the building they had been staying in, he stopped dead in his tracks; he didn't know how it was happening, but over the past couple of years, he had started knowing things, like how to skin a deer, without knowing how he knew. His reflexes and ability to asses situations and danger levels of everything had been on a constant rise. He was more in shape than any man in the village. As he walked into the house, he saw his sister playing on the floor, and his mother was rocking in her favorite chair. His sister just turned her head and smiled at him as he walked in, then she was back to playing. His sister was just 4 years old; too young to know how much trouble they were in. His mother was rocking the chair vigorously, counting the money in the "jar", were they held the money to repay his fathers debt. He had a gambling problem, and when it finally caught up to him, he was penny-less. He then joined a fur trading company that was going out hunting, and needed able men. His father had gone but-"Jed, are you alright? I saw you fall up there" said his mother
"I'm fine, one foot just hit another."
"How is dinner, I'm starting to get really hungry?" she asked putting the jar away in a loose floorboard in the corner of the family room.
" it will be an hour or two, it is just roasting in hot water." he had caught a pretty big Rex with his bow running through the autumn leaves earlier that morning; it had startled him into shooting early, but he still hit it. He wasn't too surprised though, that had been happening a lot lately. No matter how big the mistake he made, he still succeeded in whatever he was doing.
"I'm going out. I'll be back soon." Jed said to his mother on the way out the door.
"Alright; but Be safe, it is a big city, and you are only 13" she said, giving him the look she sometimes gave to all of his father's old possessions when he found her crying in her room. Sometimes he hated his father for dieing on his family and obligations, but no matter what ran through his head, he would always love his father for the memories he left him.
"Mom, I'm bigger than half the first years here, and I have another three years till I take my vows to the gods and my new lord accepts me to study under him." A first year took a vow to the local lord to learn the basics of warfare, literature, reading, arithmetic, etc. For a whole year he would became a part of another family and learn everything he needed to know to live. " You know I can watch out for myself" and with that he was gone.
Jed, named named after his fathers eldest brother, kraithjed, a warrior of no small reputation, had grown an outcast amongst the other boys. They thought he was weird because of his talent in combat and hunting, and the fact that Jed can't help but smile when he is skinning a animal.
He liked roaming the streets at sunset, the horizon reminded him of blood spreading across the floor, then it all being set on fire, blazing through the sky, illuminating all but the darkest shadows. He used to be afraid of the thoughts he had, but he just took it as he was different and he couldn't change it, so just ignore it if you can.
He did not look forward to leaving his only family for a couple of days; he didn't know what he was going to do about having to leave for a year. The thought of leaving his sister and mom for that long was agonizing on many mental levels for him, even with visits every other month.
He watched the exercises of "The Hand is quicker than the Eye", in which the master caught the student by surprise with a sudden burst of speed and wood that knocked the first kid unconscious and sent a few others away in stretchers. The kids loved it though. If you weren't a weaver of magic or a warrior, you weren't considering anybody of any importance to any race or territory. You could not become a lord without one or the other. That is why the kids could put up with getting carried out in a stretcher with no regrets or cares.
He looked at the stars in the sky and realized he had been here longer than he meant to be. Mother won't be happy if dinner is burnt tonight. He had just started jogging home when he noticed the cries and the smoke in the distance.
He stopped where he was at so that his refusing mind would accept the facts. That fire and those screams were coming from the side of town where he had been living for the last 12 years of his life. That whole side of town had gone up in an inferno that could be seen from miles away.
Without a word he broke into a sprint that to the normal eye would only be seen as a blur. He had always been the fastest runner, but not even he could imagine something moving so fast; but his mind didn't comprehend what was happening at the moment. His whole being was bent around making sure his family was safe.
"Thats all that matters." He didn't realize he was repeating this under his breath, he was to consumed with what he saw.
He finally made it to his side of town, only to find a giant wall of fire in front of him. He didn't flinch. He ran directly through the wall and kept running for everything he loved, straight into the fire. At first, the fire started to burn, but then it slowly cooled to where he could run through yards of roaring fire, taking it like he was running through the rain. Another impossible feat he would never remember because he wasn't paying attention to anything other than the thought of his family slowly burning to death along with everything they had ever owned.
For some strange reason, he started to gain the use of his brain as he came within a mile or so of his house. He noticed there was no noises at all, not even the distant roar of the flames, with smoke driving miles into the air. Through all the wreckage and dead bodies of kids he grew up with, people he had know his whole life, there was no noise. He took it in stride and finished off the rest of the sprint as fast as his body would let him.
As he turned the corner leading to his house, he nearly vomited from what he saw. His home was a thirty foot wall of searing, burning memories and… Then came a feeling and thought he had never experienced and couldn't prepare himself for. His family. As that reality burned itself into his brain, he started to tunnel vision. He was sinking inside of himself. He was running towards the door, and he had just about lost control of himself, when the beast that had killed his family stepped out of the house.
He froze, unable to think and barely able to breathe, and saw what could only be Death.
A massive, human shaped form stepped out of the threshold, bleeding shadows and killing even the dead wood of the door way that its massive form took over. It was made from what seemed like black mist, but totally solid in a way that calm water looks solid. Tendrils of black smoke moved, touched, and assessed everything around the beast.
The reaper of his family, of everything he had fought so hard to keep safe, of everything he had ever loved and cherished, stood before him like a massive tornado of calm. Through all of the damage and people dieing and homes being destroyed, this demon stood before Jed like the eye of the storm, the calm before death.
That was what awoke the evil inside of Jed the rest of the way. It was now 2 reapers of death, 2 demons with glowing red eyes that could trap and destroy a mans soul if exposed too long. Jed was drinking off the evil like an oasis in the desert, letting it consume him to a point where he no longer thought about his family; it was just Jed and the demon.
The ripping sound of what little sanity Jed had left, the tiny section of humanity Jed's mind still possessed, brought him back to reality enough to see that the monster was now looking at him, and somehow he knew he was what it had been after. By then the full shock of that had and was happening hit Jed hard, and he lost control of his body and mind to what used to be a foreign presence, but that Jed now knew long enough to accept; but this time the presence didn't sooth or try to make Jed happy, it took complete control of his body and ran. Jed was barley alive, so didn't notice the gasps as his body sped through the city at unbelievable speeds, dodging tendrils of black smoke and tongues of fire with the grace of the greatest dancer.
Right before Jed lost all consciousness, he heard a voice that slid through his mind like ice, but held him firmly in an almost maternal grasp. "Rest child, give control to me. I will get you to safety."
"It's your's," was Jed's last conscious thought before he fell into the red and black war zone that was his mind.