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CHAPTER ONE

Man, my legs hurt cried Jamie, he has been whining since we went to the forest to get some woods. Knowing how lazy the blonde boy is, I just kept pushing to him continue, promising him a big portion of my birthday cake tomorrow.

Jamie has been my friend since childhood and has always been crazy for cakes.” Say Peter it’s your thirteenth birthday tomorrow meaning you will have to go for your awakening, you know all those sparing sections we have, I wish you would be a swordsman because of the stamina you have been gaining all this while”, I looked at him and smiled, “you know Jamie, you can also be a magician and also a swordsman you know”. Jamie was already thirteen last month and when he went for his awakening he turn out to be a knight, a swordsman to be precise.

The awakening is a way of waking up the dormant talent or affinity within you based on your body constitution. The awakening is divided into two sections, the first section is the knight section which is divided into three classes; swordsman, archer and spearman. Being in the swordsman class has been his dream and I was happy for him. The other section of the trials is the magic class, which was made up of healers, defenders and battle mages. I was hoping to get into magic class and be a battle mage, plus I always had this belief that we can mix both magic and swordsmanship, that is why I train a lot with my wooden sword.

We talked while heading back to the village, all of a sudden I could a felt a presence around us, I stopped walking and looked around to figure out where the person is, when I saw a man wearing a black hood, the only thing visible was just his blood red eyes. I turned to Jamie signalling him to walk back slowly which he did. We walked back our eyes not leaving the strange man staring at us. We got to some distance then he started chasing us, without a word we ran straight into the forest, being our ground we knew where to turn and the path to take.

The chase continued for about thirty minutes with the man gaining on us fast and Jamie was begging to slow down due to his lack of endurance. What should I do we are already close to the village and I have to buy time for Jamie to get help. I stopped and picked up a one-and-a-half-foot log facing the man who also stopped cocking his head to the right like he wants to see what I am up to. I turned and told Jamie to run to the village fast to get help which he hesitantly did when I assured him I would be fine.

Now coming face to face with the man that has been chasing us for close to an hour now waiting for who to make the first move, he raised his right hand forward and I watched with anticipation, the next word I heard was a fireball, flames came out of his fingers, I was staring with awe in my eyes when I notice the heat coming towards me, I dived away escaping the flames that was sent towards me. I dashed forward with speed to close the gap between the both of us because that is how I was taught to fight mages, I got within close distance with him and swung the stick aiming for his legs, but he kicked me in the ribs sending me flying to a tree.

I tried to catch my breath but when I looked up it was another fireball aiming at me, I rolled out of the way before dashing into the woods without a sense of direction just running to survive. I ended up at the edge of the cliff, looking down all I could see is just clouds then it stroke me that I ran towards the cliff edge, I turned back facing the woods waiting for the red-eyed mage to come out, flames came out of the wood towards me, rolled over to the left, struggling to get up because of my legs hurt, he came out laughing manically and stared at me with his blood red eyes.

“Boy you gave me a tough time chasing you too bad I couldn’t get the blonde too, but you are good enough for me, all I need is your blood to increase my power”, it was then it done on me that he was a dark mage. I have heard of them from my father, they are evil mages that use blood for sacrifices to increase their powers. I looked at the cliff thinking of just jumping off the cliff to avoid the torture of him capturing me and then turned to him.

I looked at him with fear in my eyes. I turned to the cliff running towards it as my last hope, then I felt heat coming towards me, with the blast of the flame at my back, I flew over the cliff all I saw before I was clouds that I was falling into, at that moment all I thought of was that, so this is how it ends, tomorrow is my birthday and I was going to the die today, oh mum and dad sorry that I wouldn’t be coming back home to you, mum take care the baby coming and dad protect them for me. I close my eyes and let myself fall to my death.

Silas POV:

Jamie ran straight into the house with tears in his eyes. “What is wrong Jamie where is Peter?” I looked into the boys shaking eyes. “We have to hurry a man was chasing me and Peter so he decided to buy time while I call people for help we have to hurry,” he said as he dashed out, without blinking an eye me and my wife Alice ran out after him calling for the fellow villages as we ran to the forest.

We got to the spot where he said Peter was and what I saw was a part of a tree scorched by fire, he was a mage, and we saw two different sets of footprints heading towards the cliff. We ran there hoping that nothing happens to my son. As we approached the cliff we heard a scream and a bang sound, Alice shouted running towards the cliff, when we got there we saw a black hooded man, “ah that was a waste”, were the words he said before he faced us with his blood red eyes, without a moment to waste I drew my sword and dash towards him shouting before I could get close to him he released a wave of fire sending me flying back.

“Would you look at that, a bunch of insects thinking they can kill me, I sent your son flying through the cliff, too bad he was quite agile and would have made a wonderful swordsman or mage, goodbye let your heart drown in the grief with you knowing you lost your hope”, he said all that and laugh while disappearing in a cloud of smoke? Grief hit us like a wave of wind but it brought sorrow instead, I looked at my wife wailing and the other women trying to calm her down, I just stood there looking at the last place my son stood to defend himself.