My whole body hurt. I could barely move and my chest was throbbing. I opened my eyes to see Alfhild at my bedside, her face covered in tear marks. She must have been bawling her eyes out for some time. I reached out and touched her cheek. “I suppose that was no dream after all. I really did fight the Lord of the Mountain… and survive, all thanks to…” I remembered my Uncle and Aunties dying faces, the memorie so harsh it made me want to scream. It was unlikely that any of the other villagers knew what became of the two, I was the only one to see their end after all, thus it fell to me to give the news. I shook Alfhild awake. She slowly opened her bloodshot eyes and looked up at me. After a few moments, she jumped up and immediately ran outside the tent yelling, “Chief, Miss Ylva, Calder is awake. Everyone, Calder has woken up.” She came back in and flopped down by my bedside. “Calder, how are you, are you hurt anywhere, can you talk, can you move, are you, are you…”
Before I could get her to slow down, a rush of other people came into the tent, Father, Mother and Elder Ragna, to name a few. I could hear the voices of the villagers outside, several children were even poking their faces into the tent. Father and mother both hit me with the same onslaught of questions, though never giving me so much as a moment to answer. Finally, Elder Ragna spoke. “Alfhild, Keldi, Ylva, leave the tent now. I will talk with Calder and hear his story, your all too noisy and the boy needs his rest.” The old lady shooed the three out of the room and made the villagers disperse as well, leading to a strange and eerie silence.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I took the chance to finally talk a bit. “Thank you Elder, that was becoming a little overwhelming,” I said to her. “Well you can’t blame them for how they reacted,” she said. “You have been asleep for almost three days now on the verge of death. Most of your ribs are broken and you almost froze to death. It was a miracle that you were found at all in the middle of those frozen wastelands.” I had not realized my injuries were that bad. That I almost died... the fear of the moment when I faced the Lord of the Mountain returned to me. I could vividly see him impaling Uncle Esborn and Aunt Serana. “What’s wrong child,” Elder Ragna asked me. I felt something wet and cold run down my cheek. Touching it, I realized I was crying. I suddenly, and much to the Old Woman’s surprise, let out a loud howl, tears streaming down my face.
After some time, I finally stopped crying. My eyes had become bloodshot and my voice hoarse. Elder Ragna looked at me with great worry. “Why cry child, that was not a cry of joy for surviving. What happened in that forest.” I told her all that had taken place. The way I had found Alfhild curled up in the woods scared for her life, the way I stood before the Lord, ready to accepted my fate… the way I was saved by Uncle Esborn and Aunt Serana. After going over my story, I started feeling tears well up in my eyes again. “What a foolish child you are. I don’t know if you are brave, or just plain stupid, but to face the Lord of the Mountain alone. What were you thinking, facing a beast like that.” I could not help but laugh at the remark.
Old Lady Ragna let out a long sigh. “Well Calder, what’s done is done. Esborn and Serana saved you, keep that sentiment in your heart. You have to live up to their expectations properly and fulfill their final wishes to lead this tribe well, understand?” I nodded, fully understanding her point and leaned back into the soft furs. “How long until I can get back on my feet Elder,” I asked. She frowned and went deep into thought. “Calder, do not take this the wrong way. The injuries you took were almost fatal, you had frost bite in your right arm. I am sorry but…” I looked down at my arm. All that was there was the upper portion, the rest was likely cut off to stop the frost from reaching my body. “I see, so you are saying I will live my life as a cripple then,” I asked her, my tone clearly showing my anger. “That is not what I am saying Calder, there is plenty you can do, even with only one arm. However, leaving the issue of your arm for the moment, it will take close to three cycles for your ribs to heal, about four for you to get back on your feet, fully able to move.” (One cycle is roughly equivalent to one month)
I felt a sense of worthlessness consume me. “Not only did Uncle and Auntie die for me, now I am out an arm and it will take close to a third of a year just to get back to my former strength.” I gripped my right shoulder, lamenting the fact that I could no longer even hunt. “I will leave you for now Calder. Get some rest and heal up, we will discuss what you will do next when you are a bit better.” I closed my eyes, not saying a word of protest, merely letting exhaustion take over. I fell into a deep sleep for another two days.
***
It had been almost three months since the Grand Hunt and the death of Uncle Esborn and Aunt Serana. Their funerals had been held several days after I had told Elder Ragna of their demise. The loss of Uncle was huge to the village. He was our greatest warrior, perhaps the greatest in the North. However, life went on. The village, for the most part, went about business as usual. Death was not rare in these mountains. Even the mightiest could fall at anytime and everyone was prepared to wake up the next day, only to never see a loved one again. We lived side by side with death, forged by the cold and snow. Father was continuing his duties as chief, clearly attempting to distract himself from the death of his brother. Alfhild was depressed for about a cycle after her parents passing but soon returned to her cheerful self. Father had also adopted the girl into our family, seeing as she had nowhere else to go. I, on the other hand, had been forced to remain cooped up in the tent for the last three cycles. Unable to move, I could do little more than think and regret what had happened.
“Calder, Elder Ragna is here to see you again,” Alfhild told me as she entered the tent. I looked up to see the old lady enter the room. “Hmm, you seem to be healing quite nicely child, you should be good to get up start moving around soon.” Hearing this perked up my mood a bit; being forced to lay down for several cycles had only added to my depression. “Anyways Calder, as for the reason I came to see you, do you know what magic is, my boy?” Hearing this question, I sat up in the bed. In this world, magic existed, however, not everyone could use it. In fact, only about one in a thousand had a chance to use magic. Only one in ten thousand had any chance to become a high end mage, or so I had been told by uncle. Just to use magic, many conditions had to be fulfilled, though I had little knowledge on the subject.
Elder Ragna continued, “I believe, Calder, that you have the aptitude to become a mage. While you may have lost your arm to these mountains, along with your ability to hunt, you have not yet lost any chance at being able to fight for the tribe should the need arise.” My face lit up at this remark. What had been the most depressing for me had been losing my arm, which meant my ability to fight, in turn, affecting my ability to protect the village and my family. “Elder Ragna, please, teach magic. If it will allow me to gain even a fraction of the strength my Uncle had, I want to strive for it.” Elder seemed pleased with my reaction. “Slow down child, there is little you can do until you regain some of your physical strength, using magic is not as simple as you might think. There is much involved just to be able to gain the ability to use magic,” Elder Ragna said.
Naturally I understood that I needed my strength back first, but I could not contain my excitement at the thought of learning magic in this fantasy world. In my old world, magic was something I could only dream about. Plus, this would likely help take my mind off of the deaths of my Uncle and Aunt. “Elder Ragna, at least explain to me the process of learning magic, what does one have to do to become a mage,” I asked vehemently. Elder Ragna and Alfhild smiled, both enjoying my continued excitement. “It is a difficult and complex process and not everyone who tries succeeds, in fact, most fail… with extreme consequences. If you are sure you want to learn to use magic, I would be more than happy to guide you.” I agreed to learn without hesitation. Elder Ragna then began her first lecture, “The first step of magic is forming a contract with an elemental. Here in these mountains, frost elementals are the most common.” I knew about elementals, they are also referred to as fea or fairies. “To form a contract, first you must locate an elemental who will agree to work with you. You then offer the elemental something and if they accept, they will form a contract with you and share their power in return, allowing you to use magic. The magic you will be able to use will be dictated by the elemental you contract with. Ice magic for frost elementals, fire for fire elementals and so on.”
She continued to explain the different strengths of elementals. As elementals absorb magic either from nature or from their contracted mage; the more magic they absorb, the stronger the elemental grows. The stronger the elemental, the harder it is to contract with. Thus, it was tradition to contract with a low level elemental and grow together with it. This way, one could eventually have a high ranking elemental without having to go through the difficulties of finding and contracting with a wild one. “So Elder, where do I find one of these elementals,” I asked. “For you, we will have you look for an elemental in the frozen caves north of where we currently are. There are other places in the mountains with them but that location is the closest one I know of.” Elder Ragna got up and looked down at me. “In one more cycle you will be ready to look for an elemental, we will talk more at that time.” She turned and walked out of the tent, Alfhild following her. I layed back down and attempted to rest as much as I could, though I was much too excited to sleep.
***
“Are you sure you want to go alone Calder?” Mother was looking at me, obviously worried. Father stood by her with the same worried look. “I will be fine, I’m just going to get a small elemental and then I’ll be back.” Elder Ragna approached me, handing me a cloth pack. “Do not underestimate this task Calder. Contracting with an elemental is no small feat. I will have you know your Uncle tried once and failed miserably, as did your father.” Hearing this, I started getting slightly nervous. “Elder, what is in this bag,” I asked her, trying to ignore her previous statement. “It is a bag of Frost Pods, frost elementals can’t resist them. It should help you in your negotiations. It also has some food. Remember, the contract is give and take. Think about what you can give the elemental in return for its magic.” Taking that last piece of advice, I bid everyone farwell and began my journey north of the village.
I walked for about two hours until I reached a large, cliff wall. “So where to from here,” I said to myself. I looked to my left and right, trying to make out a cave entrance. To my left, I saw nothing but rock and snow. However, to my right, I saw a pale, blue glow coming from the cliff face. Deciding to follow the light, I ran towards it. After about 100 meters of running, I found it, the cave entrance. The entrance was adorn with beautiful icicles and a pale light coming from within.“This light, could it be from the elementals?” I tightly gripped the bag of frost pods, following the light.
I went through many twists and turns, room after room. After what could have been hours, I came upon a large cavern that was far brighter than the other sections of the cave. I was stunned by what I saw. Flowers of pure white grew from the rocky floor and it was snowing… inside the cave. I looked up to see the source of the light. Pale, white balls that looked like small snowballs floated around, making it snow on the ground below. The small balls released a small, humming sound. “And those must be my elementals,” I thought to myself. I kneeled down, setting the bag of frost pods onto the ground. I opened the bag and grabbed a handful of pods. Standing up and opening my hand I yelled, “I am Calder Erantu, next chief of the Erantu tribe. I come with this offering, seeking a contract with one of you. Anywho would consider entering into a contract with me, please come down.” After I said this, I waited for several moments, though nothing happened.
After a few more seconds, I the humming sound grew louder. The room started to grow cold… I continued to fix my gaze upward. The many balls of snow that were floating above me started to fly towards me. Scared at the sheer volume of elementals, I ran for the other side of the cavern, the entrance I came through now covered by a swarm of flying snowballs. I reached the other side of the room only to be greeted by a hard and cold wall. “This cannot be happening,” I said to myself. Hundreds of elementals were coming my way and I had nowhere to run. I pressed my back to the wall, preparing to be smashed by the many, hundreds of elementals. As I pressed back against the wall, I heard a loud crack. The wall gave way and I fell down a hidden shaft. “I see, this must have not been rock but a thin layer of ice covering the hole.” Analyzing the situation as I fell, I looked below me to see darkness. I fell for several more seconds and then could see more pale, blue light. “Not more elementals,” I cried loudly. I then smashed into the ground, the force of the fall knocking me out.
***
I did not know how many hours I had been out for. I sat up, having landed right on my back, and surveyed my surroundings. “How did I survive a fall like that,” I wondered to myself. I then looked beneath me to see a pile of snowballs. The elementals hummed and then moved from under me. “I see, these little ones broke my fall for me.” I got up and gave the elementals some frozen pods, which they seemed to happily accept. How the little, floating snowballs ate them, I will never know. They then started flying off, almost bouncing as they went. I followed them down what seemed to be a rather narrow tunnel. As we continued on through the tunnel, I could see another light ahead, this one quite a bit dimmer than the other room. It was also far colder down here than where I was before.
As the elementals and I approached the entrance to the glowing room, I grew colder and colder. Starting to shiver, despite my warm, enchanted cloak and armor I reached the room only to be greeted with an impressive blast of cold, the temperature dropping even more than before. It was so cold, I fell to my knees, looking up to then see what appeared to be a large pillar of ice. The pillar was surrounded by many elementals, happily humming while circling it. The pillar let off a cold, blue light, similar to that of the other elementals, only more sinister. It was also covered in familiar looking runes that shone with the same light. “Where have I seen those markings before?” I thought back to where I might have seen them, though nothing came to mind. A small snowball came up to me and rammed itself into my face, and then flew off back to the pillar. “Are you telling me to approach that thing,” I asked it. The elemental bounced up and down, almost as if nodding. I struggled to my feet, the cold still biting into me, and walked up to the pillar. “This kind of reminds me of when I first met Eris,” I thought. I did what I did back when I first met her, reached out and touched the pillar.
A sudden pain ran through my head, my whole body instantly freezing. I could hear screams and anger well up inside of me, madness consuming my very being. The pillar of ice started to shatter; a hand from within the ice reaching out to grab me. When the ice fully broke, I was greeted by the creature within, a large and ghost like humanoid creature. Its body was shaped like a human but it looked like a large mass of wispy, blue energy. As it held onto me, I could feel my skin freeze at its touch and the room grow even colder. The creature looked me in the face, and then down at my missing arm. It reached out and touched the stump that remained and I felt pain shoot through my right shoulder. Screaming, I started to kick at the creature, but I could not get it to let go.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Let me go, LET ME GO!!!” I continued to scream, struggling to get away, my whole body now feeling the sheer cold. I could feel the frozen monster grip my right arm harder and harder, obviously not willing to let go. Still I yanked away, strength leaving my body. I fell to the ground, no longer able to stand, and could start to feel myself blacking out from the pain. “Just how many times does this world want to kill me,” I said, laughing at myself, tears welling up in my eyes, only to freeze to my face as fast as they appeared. Unable to bear the pain any longer, I gave in and stopped resisting the monster. It’s face approached mine and I felt like it said something, though I could no longer hear or feel anything. I blacked out… again.
***
I could feel a light tap on my forehead. Opening my eyes, one of the small, floating elementals was flying around my head, bouncing off of my head over and over. I swatted it away and rose to my feet. I looked around to see I was still in the same room with the ice pillar, though it was no longer as cold. Several more elementals swarmed towards me, congregating around my right side. Watching them dance circles around me, I could not help but smile. I could feel them bouncing off of my right arm and leg. “Wait, my right arm?” I looked down and saw an arm, one that should not be there. It was seamlessly integrated in the place where my old arm once was. I raised it and the elementals continued to swirl around this new arm. I could see runes clearly engraved into the skin, the arm pale and cold. I opened and closed my hand, flexed my muscles and bent my elbow. This arm… it just felt… right. It felt like it belonged there, like it was always there.
I could feel tears welling up in my eyes and streaming down my face. I suppose losing my arm had been more traumatic than I thought. The elementals started to hum, swirling around the outstretched arm faster and faster, like a mini snowstorm, they spun. Cold started to fill the arm and it went numb; a bright, blue light emitting from within the small storm of elementals, my arm at its epicenter. While I was frightened, it did not hurt, thus, I did not resist. Finally, all of the elementals hummed so loud, I thought my ears might burst. The light blinded me and then… silence. The elementals had vanished with a little popping sound, like a puff of smoke into thin air.
I looked back at my new arm, the runes now aglow with the pale, blue light. I could feel power emitting from it, the runes letting off a similar hum to that of the elementals. I touched the arm with my left hand and could feel the cold running through it, as though my blood flowing through the arm was made out of ice. “This power, this feeling, does this mean… did I contract with an elemental… maybe.” I was slightly dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events. I did not know what that large creature was, be it an elemental… or something far more… questionable. However, I had my arm back and I might have gained the ability to use magic. It just felt like I could, I would still need to test it and talk with Elder Ragna about my current situation. She would likely have a better idea than me about what is going on with my body and what kind of elemental I contracted with.
Now that I was alone, I took a moment to explore the room in a bit more depth. I walked to the middle of the room first, right up to where the pillar of ice once was. The whole thing was shattered thousands of tiny shards, all of them having lost their previous luster and glow. “It must have shattered when I touched it and that creature came out. Does that mean that thing was sealed away? But for what reason?” Thinking allowed, my voice echoed off the walls of the empty and silent cavern. I then started exploring the walls around the cavern. I realized the room was actually rather small compared to the other rooms in the cave.
After looking around for a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that this room was utterly empty save for the pillar that once stood as the centerpiece of this room. There were two entrances in the cavern to go through. One led to the area I fell into earlier, which was a dead end, and another hole in the wall that I had not yet gone through. This left me with little choice but to follow the path laid out before me. So… I went down the path, the long, winding, narrow path that it led to. I continued on for a few hours. I was hungry and thirsty, having already eaten all the food I brought with me. “I was definitely underprepared, who knew this little day trip would turn into some grand adventure,” I thought to myself. As I continued down the path, I was reminded of the expedition with Levai and Eric, our journey had ended with us having no food or water, just like the situation I was in now. Though that journey ended with no real conclusion (save ending up in an alternate world) I did not want this one to end in the same way.
Finally, I reached the end of the tunnel and was at last greeted by the morning light of the beloved, snowy mountains. Breathing in the fresh, crisp morning air, I was truly relieved to be out of those caves. The only problem now was that I had no idea where I was and I had no food. Water would be no issue seeing as the mountain was covered in snow. My first goal for now would be to supply a source of food and then try and figure out where I was. I was familiar with hunting and had both of my arms again. Though I had one issue, I had no weapons with which to hunt with. I left my sword and bow back at the village and all I had was an empty bag, some Frost Pods, my armor, a small skinning knife and my enchanted cloak. Before worrying about weapons though, I had to find an area with some animals or plants to eat. I headed in the direction of the rising sun, which meant west. Plants tended to grow towards the west since that was the area with the most direct sunlight. That would also mean that animals would congregate in that general direction in search of food. After eating some snow to rehydrate myself, I started my trek through the snow.
***
After a few hours of searching, I finally found a small forest, likely a part of the Forest of Torgath. I entered into it and almost right away, I saw a group of deer like creatures, only slightly larger and with far more devastating horns than the variant in my old world. I considered sneaking up and killing on of them with my knife but ended up following my better judgment. Those horns and hooves looked like they would really hurt. Trying to figure out a way to catch one, I knew what I would need. “If only I had a bow to use, I could make one from one of the trees but that would take a while. I need one now?” With that thought lingering in my head, I began to hear a high pitch hissing sound and felt a burning sensation in my right arm. I looked down to see the lightly glowing runes in my arm hum and show a far brighter light than before.
Once the humming reached terminal volume, some of the small, floating, snowball like elementals popped out from the runes in my arm. Their form changed to take on that of a bow and an. These landed in my hands and the humming then stopped. The bow and arrow were both made out of an ice like substance, though not very cold. The bow also had optimal bend and felt perfect, even more so than my enchanted bow back home. I turned to face the deers, surprised they were still there after all that noise. “Maybe only I can hear that humming,” I said under my breath. I notched the icy arrow onto the bow’s frozen string. Expecting it to slip, the arrow instead fit neatly onto the bow. I drew back the string and did not hear any cracks or pops. This was a good sign that the bow was stable. I fully drew the bow back and let the arrow fly. The arrow missed, landing on the ground right next to the deer, exploding into a large spike of ice. I looked down at my arm and said, “I need another arrow.” Right then, another elemental popped out and turned into an arrow. I drew once more and fired at the running deer. It hit this time, and when it did, I was shocked. The arrow pierced the skin of the animal and then a large spike of ice emerged from the deer, opposite the arrow. “I guess these arrows explode into large spikes when they hit.”
Slightly scared to use anymore arrows, I walked up to my catch kill. I set the bow down; the moment it left my hand, it turned back into the small group of elementals. Two more elementals flew over to me, likely the ones that had been used to make the arrows, and they joined with the larger group. They all then flew to my arm and, one after another, touched the runes and were absorbed again. “I am starting to understand how this works I think,” I said to myself. I examined the deer, expecting to see a large, gaping hole in it, only to see that the animal was perfectly in tackt. Looking at the area where the ice spike had been. I could see that the skin of the animal had turned pure white, waxy and firm These were all sign of a sever ice burn of the highest degree.
Seeing this damage, I attempted to cut open the deer. It’s whole body was frozen solid, though, making this task very difficult. After ten minutes of attempting to cut the animal open, my knife finally snapped. “Damn, now what do I do, i need to thaw it out and cut it but…” Again the runes hummed and out popped an elemental that turned into a knife of ice. “Well, a knife is nice but how am I going to cut through something frozen?” Almost as if insulted by my unwillingness to use it, the elemental knife flew out of my hand and floated in midair, retaining its blade form. The knife then proceeded to fly all around the frozen deer, slicing huge chunks of meat off of the creature. Within mere seconds, the animal was skinned and buchered; neatly sliced pieces of meat were laying on the ground, only leaving some bones and organs.
I was amazed, the little floating knife had done is seconds what would take me several minutes, and far more neatly. Additionally, since all the meat was already frozen from the animal, it would keep for a good while in this cold environment. “Amazing, you elementals are truly amazing,” I said to the little knife. It bobbed up and down several times as if pleased with itself and then returned to its ball form and was absorbed back into my arm. I filled my pack with as much meat as I could and then took the largest chunk hauling it for a few minutes until I came across a nice, little clearing.
I gathered up some firewood from the local trees, some dry straw and leaves for a tinder nest, and a dry piece of bark. “Now I just need a bow drill.” A bow drill was a tool we used to help make fires. It was similar in shape and size to a short bow but had a long, loose string. You would wrap the string around a stick and use that to quickly spin the stick on a piece of flat wood or bark and make some embers. I had the elementals in my arm make a fire drill for me and then used it to light some emberes. Dumping the lightly burning embers into the nest of twigs and leaves, I had a small bit of fire now. I threw it into the large pile of firewood and watched as the fire roared to life.
I built a basic spit to put the meat on and then let it cook over the fire. As the meat cooked, I had the elementals make me a small table and chair, along with some eating utensils that existed in my old world. “These elementals can do anything,” I said. Of course, I knew there were limits to what these elementals could accomplish. At the end of the day, they were still made out of ice, thus the elementals were highly useful in the cold environment of the north but I was unsure of how they would fare elsewhere with a warmer climate.
After a little while, the meat was cooked. I took it off the fire and placed it onto the middle of the icy table. I had one of the elemental knives cut up the meat, just like before, leaving me with nice, small, cube shaped pieces of meat. I wolfed down as much as I could, though I came to notice a problem with the elementals while eating. When they cut or touch something, they chill it. The once hot food was now cold, though not quite frozen. I dealt with it and continued my meal. After eating most everything, I decided I should freeze the remaining meat cubes to preserve them in case I needed a fast meal. I asked the elementals to do it, and five small balls of snow came out of the runes and seemed to chill the area around the meat quickly leading to nice, frozen meat cubes. I put the cubes into my pack and summoned the elementals back into my arm. As I did this, I could feel a slight headache coming on. “I think I am starting to understand how magic works a bit more now,” I said to myself, “As well as my own limits.”
The night was clear and there was no snowfall whatsoever. The trees of the forest acted as a natural barrier for the wind. In conditions like this, there was no need to build a tent since my cloak had a frost protection enchantment, allowing me to stay nice and warm, even in the snow. I dug a small hole into the snow in the shape of my body, lining the bottom with bits of twigs and leaves. I used my pack as a pillow and layed down, covered up by my cloak. I could see the full moons in the sky, both Lovita and Manatu. One difference between this world and my old world was the moons. Where the old world only had one moon, this one has two. Lovita was the larger of the two moons and pure white, while Manatu was smaller and hidden slightly in the shadow of Lovita, touched by a red hue.
I now began to go over in my head what I knew about magic. It seemed my arm was a mechanism for storing or summoning frost elementals. With a simple verbal command, I could summon them and have them do or make things for me. I did not yet know what the limits of what they could make were, though it seemed one elemental was enough for a small object like and arrow or knife. More than one was needed for larger objects such as a bow or table. I also did not feel very physically tired from using magic, though I did get mentally tired. The headache was likely caused by using too much magic. I would have to be careful not to overexert myself until I clearly understood my limits. Along with not knowing the nature of my contract with the elementals, there was something else bothering me. I was fairly sure that each snowball was one low class elemental. Elder told me to contract with only one of them, however, I had what seemed like dozens living in my arm. There was also the large, blue creature from the cave. There were just too many uncertainties.
I looked up at the moons, now much too tired to worry about all of the things I did not know. My first task was to get back to the village, then I could get my answers about what was happening to my body. For now, I just had to survive. I had food and water. My cloak kept me warm and I could make weapons with magic. I had all the tools I needed to survive, all the tools I needed to get back. At that moment, I decided to let sleep take me, worrying about the other things in the morning. As I looked up at the two moons, I made up my mind. I would no longer give myself up to death like I did with the Lord of the Mountain, I would not let those I loved die like with uncle, but most of all, I would find her… find Eris. With this resolution made quietly to myself and myself alone, I rolled over, curled up into a tiny ball in my cloak and fell into a deep slumber, my arm humming quietly all the while.
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“My lord Ludwig, I accept this position as Grand Paladin with great honor and will do my utmost to please you and the royal family.” Elizabeth said this while bowing before the emperor. “To be made Grand Paladin at the age of just twelve, what is the Emperor thinking,” said High Priest Cornix; he was viewing the event from the back of the room. “It should be obvious father, it is her position as a daughter of the Duvark family.” A young boy with a nasty smirk on his face was standing next to the High Priest. “If you are born into the Duvark family, it is only natural to be given high ranking positions in the military, even if you just a child with no accomplishments.” The High Priest looked down at his son, “I suppose you are right Mark, my boy. Now come, you have your training to attend to today.” The High Priest left the throne room, Mark Cornix right on his tail.
Grand Paladin Elizabeth Duvark rose and left the room as well once the ceremony ended and was greeted by a small, well built, boy. “Congratulations big sister, at this rate, it will only be a matter of time before you are one of the three high generals.” The young boy looked up his sister with the utmost respect. “I might become a high general one day Blake, but you too will be knighted before you know it. Once that happens, we will have to have another celebration.” An old man walked up to the duo with a big smile on his face. “That is true Elizabeth, but today is your day. Enjoy it while it lasts.” Elizabeth looked up at the old man, “Thank you Grandfather. Tell me, when am I heading out to the field again soon.” The old man frowned a bit, “Call me Grand Marshal when in formal settings girl, and is war all you can think about” he said. “At this rate you will never find a man to marry.” At this remark, Elizabeth smacked the old man square on the face. “Just answer my question, when am I going to war again grandfather?” The girl was insistent. “Not yet child, not yet. For now, we will have you train for a while. Your next conquest will be far more dangerous than your previous one and we will need time and resources to prepare, a few years at least. I want you to be as strong as possible for it.”
Elizabeth let out a sigh of frustration at the prospect of waiting. “Your next conquest will take place in four more summers. Long have the inhabitants of this land enjoyed the honor of being a part of the empire, though they refuse to give up their barbaric ways and obey the empire,” The old man said. “I know the land you are speaking of Grandfather,” Elizabeth said. “You mean to send me to… The North.”