In the kings throne room, deep inside the mighty castle of Urubaen, the whole floor resembles a map of Alageasia. On the walls are many dark figures, twelve to be exact, and one is set over the mighty stone doors that are so big that a full grown dragon could enter the room through those doors without much trouble. Thirteen dragons if you look at them closely, and every single one of them has some slight resemble of a colour, colour that once may have been bright, but worn out over the decades. These were the thirteen forsworn's dragon, and by their sides were statues of their riders, a symbol of the king's gratitude to those who serve him well. The throne was like carved out of the wall, with valuable gems and stones all over it and at the head were two large gemstones carved to resemble two dragons uniting in one. The one to the right was purple, the kings first dragon, and the second one was black, Shruikan, the kings dragon. When criminals were taken to the king for judging, they normally stared at the floor. And when one looks at something so beautiful and so specific, one can not resist the urge to look closer. And if they looked close enough, they would notice that the throne itself rose from the spine, making a part of the spine disappear under the kings comfortable seat. But many of them must wonder, what is it that makes the king think this place is irrelevant enough for it to disappear.

But the answer is far more complex than that. It was there that he had lost his dragon, and it was there that the final battle of the dragons was fought, where the wild dragons fought with teeth and claws, but had eventually to loose, for it did not have the number to match the empire's power nor the king's. And maybe it was because of guilt, knowing that it was there that he had almost killed every single dragons alive, with the exception of his and his servant's, which were all male, and he would have, if it wouldn't have been for the eggs he found on doru areaba after triumphing over the riders.

But he told himself that it was just the uselessness of this place, it had no great cities, and only a few villages, and a few places high in the mountains where monks lived and prayed to their gods, which of none those places were relevant. It was in one of those places this story begins, a boy's story destined to become a legend of a man.

The spine continues several miles north from where the kings map ends, and at the end of the spine stands the mountain of eternity. It stands higher that the mountains all around, and it's more dangerous than the rest of the spine, for it has many earthquakes that only shake that particular mountain. When a stranger sees it from a long distance, he sees it as a head of the spine, for it is so much bigger than all the others, and it's roots fall into the sea. And if anyone would try to climb up the mighty mountain, he would not likely succeed, for eternity didn't like to be triumphed and the mountain held many secrets, secrets not meant to be found, so eternity was tricky, and would easily betray anyone who tried. High in the hills of the mountain stood a proud building, the . It could easily be called a castle, though it was more of a monastery than something warlike. It had seven towers on its walls, three at the sides and one over the gates, which were made of stone with golden carvings of dragons in it. The walls covered about quarter of a mile to the sides and the same from the gates to the main building, which was a great tower carved from the mountain. It was circular and stood more than hundred feet's from the ground. Its top was flat, and the roof was made of crystal, which gave enormous light into the tower. But the main part of the monastery was The mountain monks ruled this place, as this mountain, and called them selves the protectors, for they knew things not many others knew, like how to climb the mountain without to much trouble. And although they were monks, and monks usually were peaceful creatures, they were the protectors for a reason. Every single person that dwelt in the monastery practised the art of war, and those who could, the art of magic. The monks had their ways of seeing who would be capable of handling the hard training, mostly by sending out one of their own to seek out the worthy, and then bring them to the monastery for their training.

But one day a young child was found on their doorstep, a boy of maybe three weeks or younger. There was a note attached to its blanked, which was tightly wrapped around the baby. The note had only one message written on it;

Please take him in.

The protectors decided to take the child in, for mercy's sake really, because normally the monks would find someone older, at least five or six winters old, but since the child's former keeper had left it there he must have been desperate because the monastery wasn't easy to access, just dangerous really to climb up the hills. And there was no sign of him either, whether it was the child's father, mother or just somebody related to it. As the boy grew, he got the name Jen, which meant light in the language of the ancient people of the spine, ones who lived there long before king Palancar came, strong people and strong with magic to. Light was the monk's choice because of the light that always seemed to sparkle within his eyes, and the power that surrounded, invisible, but there nonetheless.

Jen woke when the bells rang. They always did that exactly at sunrise, and had since Jen remembered himself. They were bit annoying really, but Jen didn't notice it anymore, he had grown use to it. His sleeping place was in a large room, with fourteen other boys sleeping there to. There were seven rooms similar to this room in the monastery, each holding fifteen boys, except for one which only held twelve. Jen had lived there all his life, and had slept in this room since he was four. When his fourth birthday came, the head monk thought it time for him to sleep in the local rooms instead of one of the monks rooms, since he was getting to the age where other boys were coming. Jen didn't own many things, mostly the things he had crafted himself, for they taught how to make clothing, weapons and armours. Among his things were his sword, which he had made when he was ten, four years ago, his armour, made by him last year, lay on his bed, two daggers, which were in the shape of a dragon, and had been his project over the years, and was mot yet finished. Those where the things he valued the most, but he also had some clothes an some minor things that he liked to keep, like the blanket that had been around him when he first arrived. It was the only thing he had from the past that wasn't hidden from him.

When Jen had dressed, he walked out of the room, his bed was in the far end, and started walking towards the big hall, where he and the other boys ate. To get there he had to go through a long tunnel, which had nothing to light it self up except for a few torches, which didn't give much light. When he had finished breakfast he went back to his bed, put on his armour, which still was a little bit too big, he had decided to make it bigger so it wouldn't get to small when he got older. The armour was a masterpiece; even Jen had to admit that. It was made of the strange metal that was found in the mountain, strong but flexible, light but still thick enough, and on the chest lay an image of an dragon breathing fire.

The dragon was one of the head animals of the monastery. When you were nine of age, the day of choice came. It was a test of your abilities and wise ness. The boy had to run down a long tunnel, and avoid any traps that might lie there. If you hit a trap, a fire would light up in a torch at the nearest door. On the door would be a sign, showing some elements of nature or power. It could be all from love and hatred, to air and water. And each room held several statues of creatures. You would walk into the darkness of the room until you felt it was time to stop. There was no way of seeing where you were, but when you stopped, a torch would light up and the creature would be shown. The creature would be your guardian, your way of fighting and learning. If you would get a rabbit, you would learn to move fast, attacking only if necessary, but a fierce attack nonetheless. Jen remembered every bit of that day.

He had walked that room wondering if he would get any creature at all. It was well known that if the boys wouldn't get one, they would be taken back to their home. Some hoped that would be it, they wouldn't get a creature and would go home to their families, which they often missed very much. But Jen's only family were the monks and the other boys, so he had hoped he would get his guardian, even if it wasn't but a little fly. But when the time came and he walked down the tunnels, he was getting desperate, for he had walked a long time, and the stones he saw on the sides, for there was a little light in the tunnels, were more ancient than the ones he had already passed. He wondered if there was any ending to it at all, if the tunnels would just go on forever. But just when he thought all hope was over, a loud sound was heard and a torch lightened up on the right side of him.

On the doors was the symbol of fire. Hope filled his thoughts and he entered. He had heard about the inner rooms, the rooms that were far into the mountain. There weren't many in them, but the creatures were powerful. When he had stepped inside, the doors slammed shut behind him. He had never been strong with magic, but still he could feel the mighty presences in this room, room he was sure not many had entered for many decades, centuries even. He walked forward, slowly but steady, terrified of what fate had in mind for him. He didn't look back, even though he was scared of the dark. After all he was only nine. But courage was one of the things they thought at the monastery, and Jen was a good student. He hadn't walked for long when a mighty roar came from his left. His head moved faster than lightning towards the noise.

Nothing, nothing at all but darkness all around. But he had been so sure he heard that noise. It felt so real, so magnificent, that it just couldn't be an imagination of his mind. He couldn't move, just stared at the direction he thought the roar had came from. The only thing that had been in his mind back then was that roar.

Suddenly the statue was lit up by fire. It was a dragon, the most magnificent and wise of all creatures, including men. Jen couldn't stop himself, he simply had to reach out and touch it. When he did, the fire that lit up the statue went into his hand, and Jen was suddenly on fire. But it felt good, the fire wasn't hot, just warm and comfortable. He had expected to burn to death, but instead he felt it in every vain of his body, a feeling of a new power, something that was his and no other's. He took one final look at the statue before turning around, walking towards the door, small sparks of fire still burning on his skin.

Since then he had concentrated on his studies, hardly having time for anything else. This had made him good friends though, for those who also practised the art of war trained with him. There were few who could mach his skills, for the creature that had chosen him did not only give him the rules of fighting, but also gave him the power to obey those rules, and the dragon's way was almost unmatchable. He was only fourteen, but he already practised his skills with weapons with his masters.

Jen was on his way to one of those practises, as he always did after breakfast. The sword master's quarters were at the far end of the monastery, several hallways and two floors up. It was a good exercise to run all that way from his bed, it gave him a good warm up, and an advantage of his master.

Jen was half way there when he heard a familiar voice call from behind.

" Jen wait! ". It was Bjorn, his best friend, and the only kid who could almost mach him in a duel. He had been chosen by a bear, and the name of the bear had gotten attached to him after that, but on the same language as Jen's name. Bjorn also practised with the masters, so they had gotten close friends, and usually met at this spot, since Bjorn's bed was in another room than Jen's.

"Easy now buddy, I was gonna wait for you at the stairs" Jen replied.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you would have, just wasn't gonna miss you since you were there".

The two of them made their way to their master. When they entered their master was occupied in a duel with one of his brethren. When he finally noticed the boys, he twisted his sword and slammed it hard into the other's chest. Fortunately the sword had been magically enchanted so it would not hurt anyone unless the enchantment would fall off, so the man got no wounds but a few bruises where master Norton had hit him.

"Hello lads, nice to see you so early, I wasn't expecting you until half an hour from now " Master Norton half yelled, it was a sign of pleasment.

"We finished breakfast early master Norton" Jen said, " and wouldn't want to keep you waiting" he added.

"Well go on, start your practise, I will be here after I go and see if brother Oakman is all right" master Norton said.

With those words he disappeared through a wooden door. The two boys began their practise with a bow, as was the protectors way, and then drew their swords an began. Bjorn was strong far beyond his age, and his blows were strong and would have been deadly too, if not for the spell that was cast upon his sword. But the same thing could been said about Jen, and a duel between those two was always worth watching. They both were unbelievably strong and fast, but what Bjorn needed but Jen had was flexibility and cunningness in battle between two. A lot of Bjorn's moves were predictable, but Jen always had more moves to show and use.

The duel ended as Bjorn swung his sword towards Jen's chest, but Jen actually jumped over the sword and to Bjorn's side, bringing his sword over to Bjorn's neck, making it stop just an inch away. Bjorn had no way of stopping this, since his sword was still swinging. He had lost and Jen had won.

"Well done boys" Master Norton, who had just entered the room, said.

"Thank you master" the boys said, both at once. It was a thing they had practised over time, and at this point they could almost do it as one.

"Don't thank me boys, it's a pleasure to see my students make so much progress" He said with a smile on his face. "And I have some news for you. I have spoken to the head monks…" He said, a grin forming " and he has made some decisions. Your test will be only two weeks from now!"

Well, that was my first real chapter. I thought I had to make at least one chapter explaining Jen's past and why he is the person he is today. The next chapters will have less history in them, more action.

And about Jen's name. It has no history in the real world, just something I came up with. And it is not pronounced as "djen" but as " yehn ". Like the Japanese coins now that I think of it. Hope you enjoyed it, already have heaps of ideas for the next chapter!!!

Adalbjorn

Ps. One thing as well. If you notice any spelling errors, that's because I'm from Iceland and my main language is Icelandic, English only comes second after that. I'm trying though to get better, which is one of the reasons I'm writing a fan fiction!!!