Ham woke up with a start, panting heavily. His hands instinctively gripped the hilts of his two swords, his body tense, anticipating a battle.

No multiheaded monster emerged from the woods to devour him and his family.

As he slowly took in his surroundings, he realized where he was, and the terror began to lessen.

Just a dream, he thought to himself, slumping back into the driver's seat of his carriage, perhaps a bit too forcefully. His grip on the weapons relaxed.

He was in Strixenguard, standing in the middle of a bustling food market, waiting for the runners he had sent to return with supplies for Chimney Comb. Their new home.

It had been a while since Ham had such dreams, and the fact that he was having one now agitated him to no end. He had spent over a decade training his body and mind to prevent such lapses, so that when the time came and he faced the monster again, he would not waver.

Yet, as he looked down at his gauntleted hands, he found them shaking.

He tightened his fists, trying to force his nerves into submission.

Sakoe was 16 years in the past now, and miles and miles away, deep within the Grove of Eljor.

"Hey, Lester!" Ham shouted as he jumped down from his seat, prompting a young human to hastily emerge from the back of the carriage.

"Take care of the carriage. I'm going for a walk."

"Oh, all right, sir!" he replied in his timid voice, awkwardly snapping to attention.

This forced Ham to crack a smile, and he shook his head.

"Relax, it's not an army, and I'm not your commander," he said as he approached the young lad, ruffling his already shaggy hair. "Just hang tight and don't let any thieves near the cart until I get back."

"Yes, sir!" he replied again, sounding more flustered this time than nervous.

"Remember, you have the sending stone," Ham said softly, "in case you need my help," and then he moved past him and into the crowd.

Lester was one of the younger children when Sakoe was destroyed, and they had to take refuge in the nearby mountains. He had grown up watching Ham and his mother Viona doing their best to establish, organize, and protect the community that was flushed out of their home by the Hydra invasion, and so he harbored a fair amount of respect for them.

Ham didn't believe that killing a few wolves or other wild animals that attacked the village from time to time commanded such respect. The one who truly deserved it had perished with the fall of Sakoe, and not even his remains were ever recovered. All Ham had done since was sully his legacy by hiding, just biding his time in the name of preparation. Perhaps a day would come when he would proudly head into Sakoe to terminate the horrid monster and reclaim his land, to stand up to his father's name and legacy, but until he had done that, it was hard for him to buy into people's perception of himself.

However, as he walked among the bustling population of Strixenguard, the grip of the nightmare slowly faded, and Ham started noticing other things around him. The town, although almost always busy, being the centermost and the oldest city of Arcavios, seemed to have an even greater influx of tourists today. All kinds of people, be it Dragonborns, Humans, Elves, Githyanki, Gnomes, Dwarfs, and even a few races Ham had never encountered, were present, hurrying in and out of various shops and stalls, towing all manners of packs and bundles. All of their faces carried varying levels of excitement.

After hearing a few conversations in passing, Ham was able to gather that most of the tourists were either prospective students or worried parents rushing about in preparation for the congregation ceremony and subsequent pilgrimage to the University of Magic, Strixhaven. It happened every year but it was the first time Ham’s supply run for his village had coincided with it. The novelty felt rather refreshing to him.

Ham never had any strong affinity towards the magical arts, so the only education he had gotten was in Martial skills, which he had learned through trial and error, and a few languages taught to him by his mother. Everything he knew about the university was from an outsider’s perspective, however, he knew that apparently, if you had to learn any form of magic and really make a name for yourself, Strixhaven was the place to be. It didn't matter if you drew your magic from nature, music, logic, or simply your blood, Strixhaven had a place for you in one of its five colleges of magic, established long ago by the five founding dragons.

In terms of importance, saying the university was a place of knowledge was only scratching its surface. It was also where the most powerful mages resided, it was a place of research and history as well. Even the infamous vault of Strixhaven rested beneath the university where untold treasures and horrors alike rested in top security. In simple terms, it was just about the most important place in the realm, and being a part of it was one of the greatest honors to have in the Arcavios.

It made sense that the students were elated by the prospect of joining there as freshmen. A younger Ham would’ve been jumping on his toes if he was in their place.

Ham soon emerged from Dragonfire Row, the market district of Strixenguard, and reached the Commons, otherwise known as the entertainment district. He was instantly surrounded by an array of inns and taverns, with some looking more humble than others and vice versa. Ham hadn't planned it, but now that he was here, a drink sounded just the thing to take his mind off the dark past. But as Ham checked his pockets, he came up with only 10 golds in total.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

For Stormborns, being in charge apparently did not translate to hoarded wealth. He had added his own money to the supply funds so that they could stock up properly for the harsh winters of the mountains.

"Hmm," he grunted and started looking around for the most lackluster of the bunch.

He didn't have to look far; somehow, the most central tavern of the district looked the most run-down.

Ham was sure there was a story behind it somewhere.

"Bullywug Pissing Pot," Ham read as he made his way toward it.

As he entered the tavern, the first thing he noticed was how full it was. Despite the rusty exterior, it seemed the place wasn't any less famous than the rest. Or maybe the wait for the others was too long today, given that it was a busy morning. The second thing he noticed was the big, fat, not-so-clean-looking frog that sat behind the counter. There were two more of the bullywugs, just a little less well-off in terms of sheer physical mass, acting as servers and helping hands.

Ham took another look at his pocket, hoping for a miracle to happen for a second, and decided that it wasn't so bad after all.

After a few rounds of drinks, Ham was finally feeling himself again, and his eyes started wandering. The tavern seemed to be full of all sorts of dubious patrons, busy doing all sorts of questionable activities, and it was actually fun watching some of them. For instance, a big, bald Goliath, sporting a respectable beard and wearing nothing but a loincloth, was having a series of arm-wrestling matches a few tables over, leaving many who dared to participate with broken hands and arms.

Having a few drinks in his system, Ham was ready to give it a try himself when a dwarf woman stormed into the tavern looking somewhat pissed. To Ham's surprise, all the racket suddenly stopped, and people started making a path for her as she passed through them. She didn't lose a stride or look at anyone present as she jumped onto the counter and placed a poster on the notice board.

"Mr. Mittens has gone missing again," she said in her high-class dwarven voice. "Anyone who finds him will get a 5,000 gold reward."

Then she looked over at everyone present from her high vantage.

"Be mindful that not a hair on his person is harmed!"

Then she just jumped to the other side of the counter and disappeared into the back rooms.

No sooner had she disappeared than the ruckus that had gone quiet immediately picked up again. Many people started pushing and quite literally throwing one another back to reach the poster.

"Lora Frostfire!" someone spoke from right beside him, a feminine voice. "She is the owner of this tavern, not to mention the sister of the Jarl Mage, the most powerful wizard of Arcavios."

As Ham looked to the side, he saw an armored girl with red hair who was fiddling with a flute.

"You looked confused," she said nonchalantly. "I thought I should help."

"Thanks, I was indeed wondering who she was, to have that kind of effect on a room full of drunkards," Ham said, smiling as he extended his hand. "Hamend Stormborn by the way."

"Rhaldri Marsk, nice to meet you."

"A local?"

"Yeah," she replied casually. "Though you don't look like a student."

"Oh, I'm not. Most magic I work through is my sword," Ham said as he looked back at the greatsword sheathed at his back. "Right?"

And the sword jumped out of the sheath as if in reply and casually flew around their table before going back to rest in the sheath again.

"A dragon's guard are you?"

"No, not even that, just visiting to gather some supplies for my village, probably be heading back before the evening."

"I see, do you want to earn some extra money maybe?" She said, "To help out your town perhaps, buy some extra sugar or spices?"

Ham thought about it for a moment, he did have to return before the evening, the way was long and the routes could be dangerous, especially for the people he had brought with him. His thoughts went back to Lester. But on the other hand, some extra funds to help support the town could be useful.

"All right," Ham said. "If it can be done before the evening. 2,500 gold doesn't sound bad."

"Actually," she said, counting on her fingers. "A little over 1,600."

"Hmm?" Ham asked, "How so?"

As she pointed ahead, the arm-wrestling Barbarian was lumbering toward their table with a poster in his hand. Behind him lay a few fast-asleep grunts and even more surprised ones just gawking at his back.

"Meet Gharan," Rhaldri said.

A few hours later, they were still roaming around the five districts of Strixenguard, trying to look for the enigmatic cat Mr. Mittens.

Gharan had actually gathered quite a collection of these small furry beasts in the interim, and was non-ceremoniously towing them around the town until they unanimously revolted and launched an attack. They scattered in different directions after that and both Rhaldri and Ham had to try their best in stopping Gharan from going after them.

Ham noticed that his skin was tough enough that a few cats had actually broken their nails trying to hurt him, doing very little damage to the Goliath.

Eventually, they decided to look outside the boundaries of Strixenguard. For whatever it was worth, they had spent too much effort into the whole thing to give up now.

They found themselves traversing what is called the pilgrimage road in Arcavios, where the students of the university take a somewhat dangerous trek to reach the university by foot, and this was where things took an interesting turn.

The road was completely empty as the students still had one day left before they started their journey, but hiding behind a particularly dense brush was a lightly armored male Elf and a particularly beautiful water Genasi. Although clearly visible from their angle, it seemed they were trying to hide from or track someone.

Without a spoken consensus, their own troop tried to hide and silently make their way toward the two.

It wasn't long before clanking from Ham's armor alerted the couple much to the ire of the other two. The couple did not panic, however, and let them approach.

As they reached their position, they could clearly see the reason why the two were hiding.

A huge army was making its way out of the surrounding jungles and heading toward the northeast. Their troop seemed to be entirely made up of Drows, Orcs, and Demons. The kind of races generally aligned with malicious intents.

"Whose army is this?" Ham ended up asking the Elf.

"Seems like a cult of Lolth," he replied seriously. "The flag simply says 'The Hand.'"

"Where do you think it's headed?"

"Well, the university is in that direction," the elf responded. "But they should know, they'll be blasted to smithereens if they try a direct assault! The mages there are no joke!"

"They look strong!" Gharan added as if to suggest that they could pose a danger still, but somehow Ham could sense the 'I want to fight them' in his tone without him saying.

"Shouldn't we tell the Dragonsguard, Will?" the blue woman asked in her earnest voice.

"We will," replied the elf seriously. "But first we have to get that cat."

All three of their ears went up at that.

"Wait, you are after the cat as well?" asked Rhaldri.

"What do you mean as well?" Retorted Will. "We are the ones who found him."

Then he turned and fully looked at all three of them.

"I see you were in the tavern as well," He said, "but buzz off! We are not sharing our gold."

"Is that so?" Gharan asked, standing up. "Make me buzz off, skinny wrist!"

"Hey... hey," Rhaldri jumped in and ineffectively tried to pull him down into the hiding spot. "Chill down, big guy, they're gonna see us."

Just then a gong rang out, and all of their breaths were caught in their throat.

As they looked, a portion of the army split off and started heading their way. For a few terrifying seconds, they were sure it was them they were coming after, but then they realized how worse it was.

Only a small portion of the army had actually broken apart from the main force and their aim seemed to be the Soul Rocks, not them. The rest had just continued to march toward the university.

The Soul Rocks, for those who don't know, are five massive stones of power. It is believed throughout the realm that they hold immense power. Power to save the realm if it ever was in jeopardy. The power to become the Avatars of the five founding dragons. However, just like any other story, not anyone can pull out the proverbial sword of power from the stone, only the most worthy can. And so in the years since the university was founded and the realm of Arcavios was established, it had become a sort of a tourist attraction. People from all around the world would come to this place and touch the stones in hopes of gaining the powers that the stones hide, none has ever succeeded, but none has ever doubted their potential either.

Now as the five of them watched, a small army of orcs were heading toward those same rocks. Their intentions were unknown, yet nobody among the group could believe them to be pure.

"Shit!" Will cursed. "That cat is there."

Then he took the girl's hand and started running toward the Stones.

Before Ham could stop them, they had both disappeared, vanishing into the thin air.

Ham looked at Rhaldri, "Aren't those stones like... you know, the national heritage or something?"

"More than that!" she replied. "They are part of the ancient prophecy."

"Then we should try to save them," Ham said as he pulled out the larger one of his two swords and threw it into the air where it hung lightly bobbing up and down. "Let's go!"