(Author's notes)

'So the man said "this story is a fan interpretation and holds no claim over any intellectual property it might pertain to, any resemblance to any real characters, either past or present is purely coincidental. As a new storyteller I am happy to receive feedback from all readers and appreciate the time you have given to this work." and began to tell us the tale...' Frank the priest explained, hopping to intrigue his rather disinterested colleague Dave.

Chapter 1- The Dreams of Our Youth

Deep in the forests of Witchwood lay the small town of Knothole Glade, hardened through time it produced generation after generation of proud warriors that were renowned as the fiercest fighters in the whole of Albion. Here lived a boy who dreamed of adventure, he would wonder over to the old oak gate and walls that enclosed his home and stare into the darkness of the woods.

He would imagine himself fighting the great beasts that lived out there, battling for his life against waves of vicious, howling mouths and emerging victorious to return home to the cheers and admiration that greeted the slayers whenever they would come back from a successful mission. That was all the children were ever taught, be strong and protect the town against all that would threaten it.

One day, following an excursion to repel the monsters, less than half of the slayers returned, bloodied and terrified. They had been overwhelmed by the dark spawn of the forest and for days they were trapped inside the town, surrounded on all sides by the ferocious creatures the boy came to know as balverines.

In this time of need a hero came to the townsfolk from the mainland, a powerful wizard called Maze. The children of Knothole Glade were mesmerized by this man, his eyes looked as if they had been chiseled onto his stony face, his shoulders were broader than most of the town's doorways and lines of mana flowed down his skin like rain water running down the trunk of a tree. Using his mastery of magic he brought forth torrents of fire to eradicate the beasts, however more would arrive to take the places of the fallen. In an attempt to keep the town's children safe he kept them as removed from harm as possible, locked away under supervision at the school.

After several days had passed the boy and his friends succumbed to their curiosity, the aging sorcerer had pushed the aggressors to their limit and the few remaining stragglers assembled by the main gate to hack a way in with their axe-like claws. The boys snuck past their watchful protector, out of the school and down to a secret opening in the wall, they slipped open the tight passage that had arose from the decaying wood, which had been loosened by the ever expanding tree roots.

The boy struggled to calm his nerves, whilst he knew much of the feeling was the fear of getting caught by their elders, he felt as they crawled like silent hunters through the mud that there was a pair of great, hungry eyes pushing him down. That he should have made them stop and hold their breath to listen for this ghostly stalker, but he was too proud to ever admit fear, as were his friends and their schoolmates. In their veins ran the blood of champions and no monster was ever going to convince them to turn tail and hide.

For most of them that would be the last mistake they'd ever make.

The three boys sat in the thicket, as the mage battled to save their home, their expressions a gasp at what they saw. Maze stood at the gate as four balverines closed in on him, these creature were far beyond even their childish imaginations, though likened to wolves they were not dog-legged but actually possessed knees that bent as theirs did and no paws either but instead ten fingers and toes.

What went without doubt however was that these were not human beings, the thick brown fur that covered their whole bodies and ravenous eyes that could boil water were monstrous enough but what chilled them to the bone were the teeth. Teeth longer than the boy's arms and sharper than the forks of lightening that rang out above them.

Knothole Glade was only protected by a simple oak palisade and gate, hardly an impregnable fortress, but the danger it placed its inhabitants in meant that they had fought countless times with this evil and continued to stand defiant. The thought that a single man could do that for days seemed impossible to the would-be slayers, however Maze stood without fear or reservation.

When the balverines descended upon him he didn't move a muscle, the boy leapt to his feet to warn him but before he could open his mouth the demented attackers were gone, a ripple had expanded from Maze and pushed the pouncing predators into the sky before catching fire and almost instantaneously turning them to ashes. Their bodies did not even hit the ground, their remains were blew apart in the storm and before the boys could fully comprehend what had happened the ashes had already became part of the soil and the soil had already became part of the mud.

'I believe that's the last of them.' bellowed the hero towards the chief.

'Right, I'll go check to make sure the women and children are alright and then we can discuss your pay.' He responded, trying his best to hide his anger that the slayers could not handle it on their own.

'Of course, lead on.'

The gang made a desperate retreat, it was strictly forbidden to leave the school during an emergency such as that. They waded through the puddle that had accumulated outside the entrance hole and each flung themselves back in, with the boy being the last to squeeze through. Swollen with water and made all the more difficult by his panicked state the boy was unable to slide the entrance shut again.

'Just leave it we'll do it when we get back!' one of his older friends yelled.

But he was not satisfied with that idea and tried a couple more times before his two friends pulled him away and dragged him towards the school's rear entrance which was now only metres away. He attempted to bring his feet underneath himself but the others were heaving him at such a speed he wasn't able to right himself and could only allow his companions to hurriedly carry him.

..

Whether it was real, or whether the boy's memory in his later years had been corrupted by the trauma, what appeared to happen as they dragged him towards the school was that a very dark and malicious shadow darted across the entrance they had left behind and glanced at him through the gap, paralysing the boy with so much fear that he was left completely speechless.

.

But by the time they had returned to the school he already felt the worst was behind them. Inside the school was quiet, the boys had made it back in time, they had gotten away with it. They left their muddy boots outside and joined their classmates in the main area.

'And where have you boys been?!' exclaimed their rather frantic guardian, who at that point seemed to be suffering the worst from fear; between the balverines and losing his position in the town guard for losing the children he was meant to be keeping an eye on it wasn't all that surprising.

'We were in the toilet, sir' replied one of his friends.

Though it was possibly the most terrible excuse in the world it seemed to content the supervisor, after all just because he hadn't seen them didn't mean they weren't in the school somewhere and with the rest of the guards patrolling the town he alone couldn't know where every child is all the time. However just as they thought they were off the hook…

'Their lying, they couldn't have been in the toilet all this time.' A sharp young voice called out from across the classroom, it belonged to one of the boy's classmates, a girl with eyes that saw through even the thickest of bullshit.

'What you been using the boy's toilets have you?' his friend retorted much to the amusement to their younger schoolmates.

The guard's expression had reverted back to one of panic, but it didn't matter, the boy thought, the young daredevils had covered their tracks and no evidence could link them to an escape… except for the key. As the boy sat he felt the key in his pocket, the very key to the backdoor they entered the school through, the very key it appeared the guard was frantically searching the teacher's desk for.

The guard looked back up at the truants and proceeded to check the backdoor. Seizing his opportunity he leapt to his friend, raced across the room and returned the key to the box on his teacher's desk and returning silently to his friends.

'So you did sneak out!-' the girl began to exclaim before being shushed by the daring trio.

'We saw him, he was incredible, he killed all the monsters like pew, crash, waaa' his restless companions roared as others gathered to hear of the enigmatic creatures and fearless hero. Falling silent once the guard returned, agitated and almost on the verge of tears he tore at the teacher's draws.

'Where is it! Where is the damn key! Just let me lock this damn place up until those balverines are gone! Arrrrghh! I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die! It's not in the desk, it's not in the backdoor WHERE. THE. HELL. IS. IIIIIIIT! Oh there it is.' finding it in the teacher's box the boy placed it he seem to even realise he had checked that exact box only moments ago. The weary guardian composed himself and walked with chin-up and confidently back to the backdoor.

Without missing a beat the children continued with their heart stopping tale. 'I think you'd make a good hero' a tiny girl, little older than five, spoke aloud in the direction of the boy.

'You should have seen him, when the balverines were about to attack Maze he was this close to leaping out to protect him.' his friends exaggerated to the boy's embarrassment.

'Balverines would be the last of his worries if the chief ever found out.' his judgmental classmate joked, sticking her tongue out at him.

'Don't you dare!' the boy pleaded and rose to his feet in a panic.

'Oh sir!' she giggled running to the backdoor with the boy in pursuit.

..

Suddenly the giggles and playful childishness that had filled the room had evaporated and vanished forever. The paralysis that gripped the boy before had returned, the eyes that pressed down on his very soul earlier entered through that secret entrance they had left open and now through the backdoor they forgot to lock.

Stepping over the body of their protector the balverine, wide eyed and mouth gaping with blood stood staring down at the pair. Angry that its brethren were dead, in ecstasy from the hunt it was embarking on and hungry, so very, very hungry.

They ran for the main room, screaming for help and without thinking led the beast to their friends. Hurtling down the corridor it smashed through one of the tables on its entry; shattering one of the lanterns and sending the other one that hung from the ceiling spinning and as the light danced around the then poorly lit room all the boy could make out were screams in the dark and glimpses of claws ripping through the class room.

There was banging from the front door but their guardian had obviously locked it out of fear, whatever the chief was shouting from the other side it sounded a million miles away for the children. The boy rushed in to find one of the broken table legs, the girl responded in similar fashion.

Screams surrounded the pair and as the boy shuffled nervously trying to find the terrifying figure he felt his foot brush up against something. It was the head of the little girl who called him 'hero', at that moment his knees buckled and he knelt beside the decapitated child. Tears streaming down his face, he looked up to see one of the friends he snuck out with being held up by the monster.

He held up the broken table leg and with a fleeting voice whimpered 'Let him go.'

The creature refused to comply as his friend screamed 'Help me! Help me! Please I-' he wretched and called out wildly as it bit into his arm and tossed him aside. Then the creature was resolved, the front door began to buckle as the guards attempted to break it down whilst footsteps could also be heard galloping down from the direction of the backdoor, it was time for it to finish the hunt.

It pounced with jaws open wide enough to rend the boy in two and legs strong enough that there was no evading it now that it had leapt towards him, besides the boy's legs had turned to mush, he was helpless in the face of such a ravenous entity as the one about to claim his life. This thing was unstoppable and yet when he grew up he was supposed to kill several of them at once? How? How could anyone stop something so powerful? He closed his eyes and clenched before feeling a somewhat unexpected sensation.

He felt warm, a fleshy squelch rang out in front of him and he opened his eyes to find himself covered in the creature's blood and his classmate stood above him. The broken table leg she had been gripping had passed through the roof of the balverine's mouth and jutted out of the top of its head. She had killed it with only the stake she held in her hand and as she pulled it free blood gushed out onto them both, soaking her gown red.

The door collapsed and all fell silent, parents rushed in to try and find their children but broke out into wails of pain, horrible sounds of grief that the boy would never, ever forget.

'Guards I don't want anyone in here you understand, not even parents, get everyone out!'

The guards did as the chief asked of them and needless to say many resisted, but broken hearts make broken people and just as the boy could no longer stand, neither could many of the townsfolk after seeing what had happened in that school. That day, not a single smile was worn following Maze's victory, the loss of most of the town's slayers and its offspring was a day in the history of Knothole Glade that nobody in Albion would ever forget.

'What about them?' one of the men asked pointing towards the two.

The chief hesitantly approached, the survivors frozen in place, ready to recoil from him at any given chance. They had been shaken up far too much to accept his expressions of sincerity.

'What happened here? How did this happen?' he asked as he knelt beside the girl.

The boy sprung to life, his eyes widened glaring up at her fearfully every inch of his being believe she would tell them it was his fault. 'I don't know… it snuck in through the back and killed our protector.' she responded reluctantly.

'It did? But then…who?.. did you..' for all the men it clicked at once, this young girl had killed a balverine single handed. They looked among themselves unsure of what to think as Maze entered through the front door unopposed. His eyes drifted across the room, analysing what he saw. For many he seemed cold and unfeeling but the boy noticed something different in him than when he was at the gate, though calm and calculating back then he spoke slow and wearily having seen what had become of the school.

A groan came from the corner of the room, it was the boy who had been bit on the arm. 'Is… is it gone?' the boy whimpered teary eyed. 'We showed him didn't we.'

Maze slowly approached lifting the boy and examining his arm. 'Did you see it Maze? We're heroes now, right? We can be like you, I can be a slayer.. a balverine slayer.' the boy staggered over, to be beside his friend.

'I killed my first one, we're the youngest slayers ever, you know, so that mean I can't die… doesn't it? there's no way.. everyone's gonna know… everyone's gonna cheer for us. Aren't they?' the boy stretched out his hand to comfort his friend before a broad and strong hand stopped him.

His eyes darted up to meet Maze's stare. Maze moved his hand away and lifting the injured young slayer he held his palm over the child's face and as a cooling blue light passed over him the bite soon stopped bleeding, the tears fell away from his cheeks and he closed his eyes, never to open them again.

'Did you heal him? Is he going to be alright?' the boy asked, after all that had happened he was holding on for something to be okay, for something to be alright, anything.

'Were you bitten?' the hero replied. The boy, not fully understanding, shook his head. Maze lay the body back down at his feet and all too suddenly the boy realised that his friend was gone. He broke into tears and mourned, as a cascade of grief swept over him.

'Chief, might I suggest something?' Maze asked, hoping his proposal wouldn't appear to be taking advantage of the local leader. 'You are short on fighters and with this latest development you have lost much of the new generation.'

'Make your point hero and be done with it.' the chief was obviously no mood to talk disguisedly.

'Open a Cullis Gate in Knothole Glade and the Guild will protect the town until a more permanent solution can be found.'

'I imagine we'll end up with quite the debt to pay, you people aren't the type to do something like that for free.'

'All I ask for now is that I may take the girl to train as a guild apprentice.'

Whether he was still in shock looking at the remains of the pupils or if he was simply speculating over Maze's real agenda the chief paused briefly 'it's not my choice, you'll have to ask her parents, but I find myself in a position where I can only accept such an offer.'

'They're dead.' the two turned towards the still bloodstained former schoolgirl. 'My mother died giving birth to me, my dad was one of the slayers that never came back. If it's okay, I'd like to go.'

'Very well.' Maze looked back down at the boy, who still clutched onto the wooden stake, still trembled over the body of his fallen friend. 'What about you, boy? Do you think you have the stomach?'

He wiped the tears from his face and looked up at Maze blankly. 'Suit yourself then.' Maze said turning away.

'Wait!' The boy spoke up. 'I do have a family, but I know I can't stay here, not anymore.'

'I see and you think the Guild might be the place for you to go then?' Maze asked turning his nose up and anticipating an answer that might please him.

'I don't know if there is a place for me.' he responded solemnly.

'Well then, if you indeed wish to embark on this kind of training you'll need to pack your belongings and meet us tomorrow morning at the gate. You'll need a title to… hmm… how about… Drifter? I'd say that seems to sum you up pretty nicely.'

'Erm… can't I just pick one later?' he objected.

'Nonsense, boy. Your parents didn't name you later did they? Or was your name just "The boy" before now?' Maze joked dismissively before turning to the girl. 'And you-'

'I do have one in mind.' the girl interjected, hoping to avoid a conflict over her name also.

'Really? Well, do share it with us then.'

The girl looked down at her bloodstained robe and threw away the splintered wooden stake, there was no going back for her either. Her family was already gone and now she was being given a new life, a new purpose and identity. She returned her eyes to the mage ready to find out what was in store for the both of them.

'Scarlet Robe.'