Chapter 1

A Day in Berania

Ziaxe always thought there was something strange about his walled hometown of Berania. Unlike other cities in the kingdom of Sargenia, Berania was surrounded by what people called the "Great Walls": four walls of great height, width, and length that formed a square around the city. This city was the capital of the kingdom, but Ziaxe failed to see anything magnificent about it. He was sure there were better places in the world where people lived more freely. Despite that, throughout all the places he would ever see in his life, Berania was his only true home. He would see many more wonderful and fascinating places in his life, but none of them had the same at-home feeling that Berania had.

The city was divided into a rich district and a poor district. The northern end of the city was the rich and the southern end that Ziaxe lived in was the poor. In the north, Ziaxe could see the tall, grand buildings of the rich district appearing regal and majestic compared to his house and the many other peasants' houses. The rich district was about half a mile away down the dirt road that went from between the two districts.

As he thought about the strange things about his city, he thought of the fact that he had never stepped outside the Great Walls. It gave him a sense of sadness and longing for the outside world that grew inside him every time he would see a bird fly over the Wall. The birds don't know how lucky they are, he had thought.

He got up off his bed in his little peasant house and walked over to the window of his room. He was greeted by a bright, burning sun that shone through the window. As he looked out, he could see the other houses of the poor district adjacent to his. The houses stood on each side of the dirt road as it ran around the corner at the end of the street to return north.

He walked over to his water basin and picked up his small oval shaped mirror that lay on a small dresser. Both the water basin and the dresser were bathed in the morning light coming through the window. Looking at the mirror, he saw his dark hair that was a little too long and in need of a trim. His eyes were hazel and he was rather skinny for his age-living in the poor district, he rarely got more than a meager amount of food each day. He was also about five feet tall and could easily touch his room's short ceiling. He was fifteen years old and his birthday was near the end of the month.

At the age of sixteen, he would be eligible to join the Beranian army. Usually people were not too excited about joining the army because it was sometimes a perilous career that could cost a man his life, but Ziaxe was curious of the outside world and saw that being a soldier would be the only way out of Berania's Walls. He had been training extra hard for his opportunity to join.

He walked over to a corner of his room and picked something up off the ground. It was a wooden sword; its wooden blade was strong and sturdy so it would be hard for it to break. The wooden sword was used for practicing his swordsmanship. Ziaxe had gotten this sword almost three years ago when he was thirteen years old from his friend Kron.

Thinking of his friend reminded him of something…. The sun was slightly over the Eastern Wall so that meant it was nearing eight o'clock in the morning. He was late for class.

He quickly got dressed in a ragged tunic and hose and washed his face in his basin. When he was done, he left his room to the main room of the house. In the main room, he could see the front door that led outside to the road, the small archway to the kitchen, and the closed door to his uncle's room. A dining table sat in the middle of the main room surrounded by four chairs. It was a rare occasion whenever he or his uncle actually ate at this table together though.

Ziaxe looked around the main room for his uncle. He did not expect him to be there though.

"Hello?" yelled Ziaxe. "Alben? Where are you?" He knocked on the closed door of his uncle's room, but there was no response. "He's probably out drinking again," he groaned to himself.

He always found it hard to believe that he was related to a man like Alben. Alben was Ziaxe's uncle on his mother's side. He usually sat around the cottage while Ziaxe was doing work and chores. The only time he ever left was when he went to work in the crop fields north of their house.

One of the irritating qualities of Alben was his drinking problem. Rum was Alben's favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was a miracle if you ever saw him without a tankard full of some kind of liquor in his hand. Everyone could tell he had a drinking problem, but he was always too stubborn to admit it. Ziaxe had tried to help him in the past, but he had become accustomed to just ignoring Alben during his drunken rages.

He left his house and was greeted by the warm sun. It was a warm morning for September with the grass gleaming with dew and the birds tweeting in delight. He walked out onto the road, looking around at the other houses bustling with people waking up to the morning inside. Many of the buildings were homes to his friends; they were all made out of wood, each with different architectural designs. Some had flat roofs while others had triangular tipped roofs; some also had fields behind them for crops or raising livestock. And some houses had multiple doors and windows while others may have had only one of each. Each house had its own individuality with their residents each doing a special job to support the kingdom.

The Great Southern Wall stood only a few yards south from the street to Ziaxe's right while the Great Eastern Wall could be seen in front of him past a large pond. Behind Ziaxe's house, there was a field of long, wild grass that stretched a few miles until it reached the Great Western Wall.

His first neighbor on the right side of the street a few feet from his house was his best friend Kron. Kron was a little more muscular than Ziaxe, and Ziaxe had always, in a way, looked up to him. He was already sixteen and ready to join the army. They had decided to go join the army together and try to do missions with each other.

The two knew each other ever since Kron first came to Berania at the age of five. Kron's childhood was a mystery to Ziaxe because he had never left the city walls before. This had always made Ziaxe wonder even more on the fact that there were places in the world other than Berania. In the past, he had tried to question Kron about what life was like before Berania, but Kron always replied, "I don't remember," and it irritated Ziaxe terribly.

Kron walked out of his house and joined Ziaxe.

"Good morning" he said with a smile. "We're going to be late. Where's Venna?"

"Still home, I think," replied Ziaxe.

Kron had short bronze hair that seemed to reflect the sun light and his blue eyes looked like the ocean that Ziaxe had never seen. They went over to the house across from Kron's.

When they reached the house, a girl walked out. She had long blonde hair and brown eyes. Her name was Venna and she was fifteen years old.

"Hello, you two," said Venna joyfully as she joined Ziaxe and Kron in the walk to class. She walked on the left of Kron while Ziaxe was on his right. Kron stood a couple inches taller than the others looking like a true man compared to them.

"Hello, Venna," said Kron. "How are you today?"

"I'm good," replied Venna with a bright smile. "How are you guys?"

"I'm fine, though I am a little tired. Something was in my backyard last night. I went to look for it, but I didn't find anything."

"Oh? You too? I heard something last night too. Well it sounded like it could have been someone, but I can't even imagine what kind of strange person would be outside that late at night."

"Aye," said Kron with a chuckle.

"What about you, Ziaxe? I haven't heard anything from you yet?" Venna smiled at Ziaxe, showing her bright, white teeth, and made a gentle laugh.

Ziaxe was staring in the distance at the pond a couple yards away. He had always been shy around Venna because he could not help but think that Venna was really pretty. "Uh… I'm fine," replied Ziaxe. He looked out over the flat fields in the north, and he could see the Beranian Castle and the more royal buildings and families in the far distance. Those fields were also used for farming crops for the upcoming harvest.

They walked silently for a couple of feet. Ziaxe was used to the awkward silence around Venna. Usually Kron was there to help with a conversation.

"Soo…" Venna started saying. "I hear it's your birthday soon, Ziaxe. How old are you going to be again?"

"Uh… yes," said Ziaxe. "I'll be sixteen. Kron and I were going to join the army, right, Kron?"

Kron was staring ahead when he heard his name. "Aye," he replied.

"Really?" inquired Venna. "You guys are really going to join the army? Won't it be dangerous?"

"I guess it will be," Kron said. "But Ziaxe and I want to see the outside world."

"Outside world? I'd like to see the outside world too. Haven't you seen it before though, Kron?"

"Well… I don't remember anything that happened before Berania though. That was a long time ago and I don't know anything about my parents. I'd like to find out why they seemed to have left me here."

"Aye…. It's strange. I don't remember when you first came here either. I guess I was only four years old when you came. Your foster parents have told us about how you were brought here though…. It looks like joining the army is a great opportunity to be able to go to whatever great places are outside of Berania."

"Right…. But you have to think about what could be out there. Most of the people here have never gone past the walls in their life. I just think it's strange and—"

He was interrupted by a loud crash coming from a nearby house on their left. There was a movement behind it, and a boy came out pushing an older man in front of him. Sadly, Ziaxe recognized the man.

"Guess what I found, Ziaxe?" said the boy angrily.

The man the boy was pushing was walking dizzily toward Ziaxe. He was his uncle Alben.

"Hey… uh… Ziaxe," Alben struggled to say through his drunken state as he swayed back and forth.

"Oh come on," said Ziaxe to himself. He examined the drunken man. His uncle had light brownish hair and brown eyes. He was covered in cuts and scratches from doing his strange drunken antics. His tunic was torn and had a couple of dirt spots on it. The tunic was probably clean and white at one time but now as it was covered in dirt Ziaxe thought that it was an unbelievable theory. Alben's brown hose was torn at the bottom and had a few holes in it. But the one thing Ziaxe saw strange was that Alben was carrying a bunch of random objects like fruits, vegetables, clothes, and firewood.

"It looks like your uncle was having a stealing spree last night," said the boy with a scowl. "You're lucky I don't report you to the royal guard!"

He gave Alben a hard push forward. The drunken man tripped and fell flat on his face sending the random objects scattering all over the ground.

"Alben!" yelled Ziaxe worriedly as he knelt down to his uncle and helped him off the ground.

"What's wrong with you, Kycan?" Kron asked the boy angrily. His hand was in a tight fist and he looked like he was about to let out a fiery ball of rage on the boy.

Kycan was a sixteen year old boy who always tried to irritate Ziaxe and his friends in any way possible. He had short blonde hair and large muscular arms. Rumors said that he was going to join the army along with Ziaxe and Kron during the next chance they had.

"My problem is that this bastard won't stay off my property!" yelled the boy enraged with his hands in tight fists like Kron's.

"You don't have to treat Ziaxe's uncle like that though!"

"What are you going to do about it!"

"Stop, guys!" yelled Venna as she got in between Kron and Kycan. "We don't need to fight, and besides… we're all late to class and Professor Alavar will punish us if we're not on time. So come on!"

Kron sighed and relaxed his fist. "She's right," he said.

Kycan grinned as if thinking he had won the battle. "All right, Kron," He said through his devilish grin. "Go along with your little girlfriend."

Kron's ears turned red. "She's not my girlfriend."

Ziaxe looked at Kron and saw him make an uneasy look at him then he swiftly looked away. Ziaxe always knew that Kron thought about Venna just like he had. They had shared their secrets many times before.

"Okay," said Kycan sarcastically.

Ziaxe walked up in front of Kycan. "That's enough, Kycan," he said as bravely as he could.

"Oh, so now the little one speaks," said Kycan angrily as he moved closer to Ziaxe's face. "You must be crazy trying to pick a fight with me. I will crush you!"

Ziaxe gulped and took a deep breath. "I don't care, Kycan. It's time to get to class."

"Oh, I see. You're trying to sneak out of this fight like you do with all of the other fights in your life!"

Ziaxe instantly thought of all the times when Alben was drunk and he had hidden from his drunken strolls around the house. He felt a surge of anger run through him. His teeth started grinding hard, and he glared at Kycan. His hands formed fists, but he had no thought of what he was doing.

They stood in silence for a moment, and Kycan's eyes slowly started to widen. His jaw went ajar and he seemed to be showing a new emotion… fear.

"Ziaxe…" said Kycan slowly. "Your eyes…." He suddenly backed away from Ziaxe and ran away to the pond. "Get away from me, you freak!" he yelled as he ran.

Ziaxe blinked and relaxed his muscles. "What just happened?" he asked Kron and Venna.

He turned around to face them, and they looked just as confused as he felt. "What's wrong with my eyes?" he asked.

After a brief and slightly awkward examination, with her face inches from his, Venna said, "Nothing… that I can see."

"We didn't see anything wrong earlier," answered Kron. "It's probably nothing."

Ziaxe decided to agree. He had to get Alben safely home, but he would miss class if he was delayed any longer.

He stared at his uncle who was now rocking on his feet, back and forth, dizzily. The poor, intoxicated man, clueless of what he was doing, fell forward back on the ground. Ziaxe sighed deeply at the thought of how pathetic his uncle was.

"That's it," said Ziaxe, making up his mind. He looked at his friends. "Let's get to class."

"But Ziaxe," said Venna. "You can't leave your uncle like this."

"Why not?" inquired Ziaxe. He looked back down to his uncle in disgust. "What good has he ever done?"

"Don't say that," said Venna softly. "He's taken good care of you all these years."

"What are you talking about!" Ziaxe found himself yelling. "He's been nothing but a horrible relative. I don't even see how we could be related!"

"But… Ziaxe…" Venna looked at the ground. She had always been so nice and gentle. Ziaxe realized that he may have never seen her act angry before, and she was not going to start now. She had always tried to keep smiles on everyone's faces, but now it looked like she might be losing her own. Ziaxe knew she was only trying to get him to do what is right... but he didn't want to help the cruelest man he had ever known.

There was a long moment of silence between them. Ziaxe refused to make eye contact with her.

Kron put his arm around Venna and said, "Come on, Venna…. We're late."

Ziaxe looked back at Kron and saw a look that was probably the same disgusted look that he had been giving to Alben. It was like looking in some invisible mirror, and it made him feel disappointed in himself. Kron and Venna started walking away towards the pond.

Sadness overcame Ziaxe while he watched Kron walk away with Venna. Then a sudden burst of jealousy flowed through him. He knew that Kron knew how he felt for Venna… but he could not help feeling that Kron might have the same feelings….

Taking one last look at Alben, he turned toward the pond and slowly walked far behind Kron and Venna. He refused to help Alben. I know he'll just wake up and trudge home for even more rum eventually, he thought.

Before the pond there were several boulders on the grass. One huge boulder almost as tall as a grown adult stood in the very center of them. Around the huge boulder was a circle of nine smaller boulders, and outside of that circle was another circle of nine small boulders.

The boulders seemed to have been placed in these specific spots physically many years ago. This spot was always used for Professor Alavar's classes. The professor would always sit upon the large boulder in the center while his eighteen students would sit on the small boulders around him. Ziaxe was one of those students, and over the years he had learned many things from the brilliant professor.

Ziaxe stared out to the pond beyond the boulders. His eyes gazed to the far end of the pond where the water drifted off into a stream; from there the stream ran straight through a round culvert about a half mile away in the Great Eastern Wall. The culvert was tall and wide enough to fit the width of the stream. It had strong iron bars that kept out everything except fish, water, or any other small creatures that could fit between the bars.

He saw that the other students were all getting seated on the many small boulders. Venna and Kron entered the outer circle of boulders and sat on two of them near the pond's edge. Kycan was also there, and he sat on a boulder behind the bigger boulder in the center. Ziaxe decided to grab a seat away from the three of them in the outer circle. He sat on a boulder between a sandy haired boy and a brown haired girl in the back row, away from the other three.

As he took his seat, the brown haired girl looked at him with big blue eyes and smiled. Returning a confused smile to her, Ziaxe awkwardly looked at the big boulder in the middle. He knew this girl but sadly, could not remember her name. They had never had a real conversation before.

On the center boulder sat Professor Alavar cross-legged. He was a middle-aged man, his age nearing two hundred years old, who had white balding hair and a short white beard. He wore half-moon spectacles that covered eyes full of knowledge. This man was one of the only people in Berania's poor district to have had any real education.

He was said to have lived outside of the city walls in some other faraway city at one point in his life, but the Great King Broniton of Sargenia had given him the job of teaching the children of Berania. For some strange reason, the professor had taken a house in the poor district to live in while others might have thought he would pick a rich and beautiful house in the rich district instead. Some said he grew dull of the big rich cities of Sargenia and wanted to live in the small secluded part of Berania instead. But others said his kind and knowledge loving nature got the best of him, and he chose a small cottage shaped house to teach the peasants of Berania. Either way the people thought, they could all agree that Alavar was a brilliant and tender man.

"All right, children," said the Professor in a clear, joyful voice. "Is everyone here?"

The students started looking around adding the students to make sure all eighteen were there. Ziaxe quickly ducked his head down to examine his shoes to avoid any angry looks from Kron, Venna, or Kycan. This was turning out to be a bad day for him so far now that his best friends were angry with him and his oldest enemy thought he was a monster with strange eyes.

"Yes… that's all eighteen, Professor," said one of the boy students.

"All right," replied Alavar happily. Ziaxe raised his head to see the professor smiling a joyous smile as if the man thought teaching was the greatest thing in the world. "Today, children, we will be reviewing what we've learned."

The other students all nodded in agreement. This seemed easy enough for Ziaxe. All right, thought Ziaxe. Let's get this over with…. I need to apologize to Venna….

"Okay then, we will be discussing the History of Berania…." He took a few moments to gather his thoughts as his fingers twirled the end of his beard. "First question… an easy one to start us off… who is our king at this period of time."

Several hands flew up into the air to reply. Alavar searched the crowd and picked someone. "Yes, Nea?"

The girl next to Ziaxe gave the answer in a soft, timid voice. "It's King Broniton, of course."

Oh, that's her name, thought Ziaxe.

"Yes, correct," said Alavar with a grin. "Now… next question… when were the Great Walls of Berania built?"

Another flurry of hands flew into the air. The Professor picked another student. "In the year forty-seven twenty-five, right?" answered the boy sitting next to Ziaxe, "after the Yasson Harvorens ransacked Berania."

"Yes, you're right, Srion" replied Alavar. "Now… what happened in the Vician War?"

The process of the hands flying in the air repeated itself and Alavar picked another boy. "Uh… the King Vician led the Vidians of Vidala to a war against all of the Sarbenian kingdoms."

"Correct again," replied the Professor. "Now… let's remember… who were the armies in the Vician War?"

Another boy answered the question, "King Vician led the Vidians, the Thrans, the Vilarians, and the Dremuns against King Broniton who led the Sargenians, Zarians, and Mintonite Harvorens."

"Yes correct," replied the Professor putting on a solemn stare. "Vician had planned this campaign for many years. He called it the "Rebalancing of the World" thinking that with brute force he could take the place of the Nizain and balance the light and dark. And so in sixty-nine forty-five, over one hundred years ago, he led his armies to the Kingdoms of Sarbenia.

"His followers, the Vidians, led the front striking fear in all of their enemies with their monstrous appetite for killing innocents!" The Professor began shouting in his famous speech voice as he stood up on his boulder with a distant look on his face as if he was remembering it like it was yesterday. "The Vidians of Vidala would forever strike fear to the hearts of men.

"The Thrans! A people devoted almost entirely to war craft marched behind slaughtering whoever was foolish enough to stand in their way! Their giant blades came down upon the chests of hundreds of men! The casualties of that war nearly matched the number of shining stars in the night sky.

"The Dremuns, the people who seceded from Sargenia years ago, showed the world their clever strategies that almost tricked our great King several times! The foolish traitors who abandoned us in our greatest time of need joined the enemy!

"And finally, the Vilarians, the worst of them all! May Sarben's light burn their King Varlidi to the ground until his soul is dragged down to the Demons below! They left no mercy for our people.

"But… when all hope seemed lost, our army grew and conquered! Our cousins in Zaria brought their great armies to our aid. And with the support of Emperor Yaron the third of Harvoren, the Army of the North grew menacingly large!

"And so, in the year sixty-nine fifty-three, outside these very walls, was the Battle of Berania. After many hours of fighting, our Great King Broniton came down to the plain just past the southern wall and yelled out 'If thou art as mighty as the words of the South claim thee to be, take up thy blade and duel with me, Accursed Vician! The senseless fighting ends here!'

"Vician, knowing that he must accept the challenge lest his people would see him as a coward, took up his weapon and charged to the center of the plain. His weapon has brought fear and pain wherever it goes. The scythe with three sharp, deadly blades was his only weapon; it was all he ever needed.

"King Broniton went to Vician with a weapon so fascinating that it goes beyond all human understanding. It was a sword that gleamed as bright as the sun. Tears of pure light dripped from the blade like fresh blood. The people who witnessed the battle called it the 'Sword of Light.'

"The Sargenians knew though that this weapon was the weapon of the Nizain. This bright, shining blade was used—as far back as history can tell—by the very first Nizain, Lexar. The fact that King Broniton had such a mighty weapon suggested to many people that he somehow had obtained the Power of the Nizain…."

Everyone sat surprised in silence. No one truly knew what the "Sword of Light" was. Ziaxe knew nothing about the Nizain or the Nizain's weapons. He did not even know who the new Nizain was.

After a long moment of silence as Alavar stared out at the south wall, he took in a deep breath and returned to his story, "The true battle began then… with King Broniton and King Vician, with each of their blades spreading fear in each army. By the end of the battle, Broniton dealt a fatal blow to the Accursed King. But alas! before our Great King could end the enemy's life, a witch came to her master's side; she summoned many hideous Demons to attack Broniton as she escaped with Vician's nearly dead body. After the retreat of their king, the Armies of the South were defeated and Berania returned to peace."

And so the professor's speech ended. The two circles around him became utterly silent as they were amazed by his story. After a few seconds, a boy in the crowd began clapping his hands, and he was soon followed by the rest of them. A roaring applause with cheers of praise began to surround the professor.

Professor Alavar smiled, adjusted his glasses, and sat back down on the boulder. "I think that is enough for today, children. Good class today!"

Ziaxe was glad to get out of there. He jumped off of his boulder along with the other students and walked to Kron and Venna.

"Hey, guys," said Ziaxe.

Kron looked a little angry but he said, "Hello, Ziaxe, how's your uncle?"

Ziaxe realized he forgot all about his uncle. His friends probably thought he had taken care of him already. "Oh…" he said, thinking of what to say. "He's fine."

He hoped Kron could not tell he was lying. Kron looked over past Ziaxe to observe something. Ziaxe slowly turned around in curiosity, but he did not see anything important. He saw where they were with Alben and Kycan before class started and saw that his uncle was luckily not there.

"Okay, Ziaxe," said Kron. "Now what should we do?"

Ziaxe and Kron were sitting on the two boulders by the pond. This was their usual spot where they would take some time to relax after a busy day. Sometimes they would go fishing or practice their sword fighting or even just talk. Today they were just talking. All of the other students had left including Venna and Kycan.

Looking at the eastern wall, they could see that the sun had left and was setting behind them in the west. The wall was over a half a mile away, and Ziaxe would sometimes feel tempted to try to climb over it. But that would be suicide…. The walls were taller than all of the buildings in his part of Berania. The walls were roughly about half as tall as the Beranian Castle….

The Beranian Castle was almost in the center of Berania. The castle was several stories tall. It had dozens of towers and turrets and was surrounded by a wall that was smaller than the Great Walls but still strong and massive enough to stop any intruders. Ziaxe had expected it to be full of hundreds of people who could easily get lost in the many rooms and corridors.

"So Ziaxe," said Kron starting a conversation. "Uh… what are you doing for your birthday? Anything special?"

Ziaxe was staring in the direction of the Beranian Castle. He could see a huge turret near the top of the castle. He had never been in the castle before and probably never will. "Uh…" wondered Ziaxe. "I don't think so…. You know Alben never does anything fun." He sneered at that thought.

"Aye," said Kron remembering Ziaxe's birthdays. Ziaxe never did anything fun or entertaining on his birthdays… mostly because of Alben not giving him an approval for it. "But this is going to be your sixteenth birthday. It may be your most important one. You'd think he'd be nice enough to give you some gift for it."

"You'd think…. He probably wouldn't even give me rum for my twenty-first birthday."

Kron chuckled under his breath. Ziaxe saw him and could not help himself from also laughing.

"You do that a lot don't you?" asked Kron, with a smile.

"What?" said Ziaxe perplexed.

"You think about the future too much."

There was a silence between them for a few moments as Ziaxe thought about that. "Aye… I guess I do," said Ziaxe, realizing it for the first time.

"You don't even know if we'll live to be twenty-one," said Kron losing his smile.

"Hey, don't say that!" said Ziaxe with a serious face. "We're going to be great warriors in the Beranian Army, and then we're going to retire…" he swallowed hard but hoped that Kron did not notice, "or die… for our kingdom's honor."

"There you go again…."

"Oh… sorry…."

Ziaxe stared out to the pond. The sun was disappearing more by the second. He soon could barely see anything.

Then he saw something. Out past the pond, by the culvert on the Eastern Great Wall, he saw it.

Something was moving out there, but he could not make out what it was. It looked like a man, a strong, muscular man, but how could a man have gotten through the bars of the culvert. The culvert was too short and small and the bars were too close together for anyone to squeeze through.

The figure started walking slowly northward as it leaned against the wall in a limp. Though he did not know it, this was the first strange experience that would start Ziaxe's adventure.