Chapter 1:The Birth and first encounter with a monster
In the village of Urk, the eastern most outpost of Bellor the smallest of the three kingdoms, there is a baby being born. Born to a weaver and a poor shepherd farmer, while they aren’t the poorest in the village compared to the rest of the people living in the kingdoms most would consider them destitute. Urk is a village of 50 straw, thatch, and mud houses surrounded by a 12 ft. wall wood most consider it a miracle monsters haven’t overrun it yet. In one of the better looking mud houses there is the couple. On the only bed in one of the three small rooms in the house there is a woman giving birth.
*****
Father’s pov:
Beth is giving birth now. The village midwife is helping her but so far it has been a difficult birth.
“Wahh, wahhh” I hear and I rush into the bedroom. The midwife had kicked me out of the bedroom because I was pacing too much so I race back in to check on my wife and the baby. My wife was there holding our child in her arms her curly silver hair matted with exhaustion and the tips of her slightly pointed ears showing.
“You look so beautiful there with our child. I was worried I might lose you I tell her” I tell her.
“Come over here and hold your son” she says sounding exhausted and worn out. The midwife had already wiped him off and cut the cord so I reached out and grabbed him. He was so tiny in my arms. He had curly black hair and green eyes, like his mothers, his pudgy little hands grasping my finger as I swept the air out of his face.
“What will we name him” I ask her.
“Since he was so stubborn being born and after your grandfather we’ll call him Will short for William Shepherd.”
The midwife walked over to her and said “you need to rest now honey, you’ve had a long night the baby is fine now and you need to take care of yourself” she said and helped clean my wife up before pulling a blanket up over her.
After doing this she took the baby from me, showed me how to feed it with a bottle of my wife’s milk and then wrapped him up in a little gray wool blanket my wife for him. She handed him back to me and I placed him into a wooden crib I had carved this summer.
*****
Five years later, Will’s pov:
Dad was finally letting me go with him to take the sheep out into the pastures. He had always kept me from going with him but after all my begging and pleading to go outside of the walls he finally agreed to take me with him two weeks ago on my birthday since I was now 5.
This was the first time I will have ever been outside the walls. Before I always helped mother with her weaving, listened to a village elder teach twice a week, and played with the other kids running around the village.
I was jumping up and down waiting for dad to get ready. Mother finally got tired of it and said “sit down and eat your breakfast, your father will come in once he has finished checking with the guard and talking to the elders about where the flock will go today.”
I sat down and started eating my bowl of oatmeal. It was what we had every morning for breakfast and most nights. We would occasionally have deer, fowl, or a leg of mutton but as poor as are family was we could only afford to eat maybe one or two of our sheep a year, usually the oldest ones. Everything else was bought from the miller who ground the grain or hunted by my father.
Come on, come on hurry up father I was thinking in my head scooping the food into my mouth as fast as I can. Finally when I was scraping the bowl to get the last of the oatmeal father came back.
“Good news son” he said. “A few guards went out to check the forest outside this morning and they came back saying there were predators or strong magical beasts around us. That means instead of just letting the sheep eat the grass in front of the forest we can go a little bit into it to show you what it looks like.”
“Howard, you better be careful out there if our son gets hurt out there I’m blaming you. He’s 5 years old he shouldn’t even be thinking of going outside the village let alone allowing him into the forest” my mother said.
“Of course I’ll take care of our son Beth. I won’t even let him out of my sight” father told mother.
“Come on son, are you ready for your little adventure.”
“Yes, yes I am” I said shouting out while bouncing up and down. I had been waiting for this for so long. I would finally be able to see what was outside the walls. Father went outside every day with his sheep; however, other than the guards he was one of the few people who regularly went outside the village walls.
“Okay come on Will, follow me. We’re heading over to the sheep and then we’ll drive them out the gates and into the forest. Once we’re there you can look around as long as you stay within sight of me.”
I followed father out of the house and toward the sheep pen that was between the wall and our house. Our house was in the outer row, the section of houses closest to the wall.
We arrived at the sheep pen and I opened the gate. Father got behind them and started herding them out with a wooden crook. We had 15 sheep a fairly large number for a poor family. There were 4 with white wool, 6 with black wool, 5 with gray wool.
Mother always said the white sheep were the best because their wool could be died pretty colors. Father raised the sheep and sold most of the lambs while mother turned the wool into yarns, sweaters, socks, and pants.
On our way towards the gates father stopped to talk to the guards to see if anything had been spotted since he talked to the elder earlier.
“No, the only thing we’ve seen out there are a few beginner tier 1 or 2 magical beasts nothing strong enough to worry about. Though there have been rumors that the nesting period for some of them has started.” The guard told father.
“That’s good to know” Father told him.
“Okay son, so you need to be careful out there. The guard said there are some tier1 and 2 beasts that have been seen today. Those are mostly insects and small animals like lizards, mice, and rabbits. Still you need to be careful if you get separated from me even if they are considered weak. Against a child like you they are still considered deadly.” He told me.
“Okay father I will pay attention”
“Who knows though, the guard said some of them are nesting so maybe you can find an egg. If you find one and can safely get it I will help you convince your mother to let you form a bond. As commoners we can only have one bonded magical beast though so you have to think carefully about it, wouldn’t want to be bonded to a snail now would you or a fly. I never found a beast I liked enough to bond with and since it can only be done with eggs it is fairly rare to get a bond beast unless you buy the egg.” Father told me.
I knew about magical beasts because there were a few in the village. There were some magical chicken east owned by the Village Head. The guards where the only people I knew with bonded beasts though one of the guards had a snake bonded beast and another had a dog and five others had bug bond mates though the village often made fun of them for having bugs as bond beasts.
“What is the difference between ranks of magical beasts? Can I really have a magical beast?” I asked father.
“Magical beasts are similar to animals however they have mana, which they can cultivate to get stronger. Magical Beast ranks are based on how much power they as a species on average have when they reach maturity. Most beasts get killed off around this rank so that is the generally excepted beasts rank; however, like people they can cultivate so over time an older rank 1 beast will become as strong as a rank 3 or 4. Lower rank beasts take longer to get as strong as higher rank beasts however with enough time they can be equal in strength to a stronger rank monster.”
“So a fly can be as strong as a dragon” I asked amazed thinking maybe I should stop making fun of the guards with bees, ant, and fly beasts.
“That is stretching it a little far now cause let’s remember a dragon will get stronger the more it cultivates but theoretically after 20 or 30 years a fly beast could equal a young dragon type beast.” My father says while laughing.
“To answer your second question if you find an egg you can bond with it. However, let’s not get our hopes up too much son causes it’s rare to find a magical beast this close to the village, let alone find a nest” father tells me.
Disappointed that I might not even see a magical beast let alone get one as a pet I say “okay dad.”
“Cheer up though, now that your mother has let you outside once it’s bound to be easier to get her to do it again” my father told me with a smile.
“You’re probably right. Maybe she will let me go with you every day now.”
“I wouldn’t try to push your mother that much, maybe try for once a month and then when you get older once a week” father said. “Besides she’s not gonna let you slack off on your chores to play out beyond the wall. Come on lets go. You wanted to see the outside didn’t you.”
Excited once again I follow father who was driving the sheep through the open gate. Wow, it is so big out here. In front of us is a massive forest filled with pine trees, maples, and countless others. Looking around I see a road curving around our village and heading away from the forest.
I can’t even see the end of that road. There are giant mountains off in the direction of the road and countless other things I can’t even describe.
“Pretty amazing isn’t it son that road leads to the capital Bellora, which is ruled by the royal family of Bellor, the Bellinghams.”
“Well come on son, we’re here to take the sheep into the forest try to stick close to me.” Father said walking off after the sheep into the forest.
I hurried after him trying to keep him and the sheep in sight. We stopped a small clearing about 10 minutes into the forest.
“Okay Will, the sheep are going to be eating here for the rest of the day. You can explore till noon but then you need to go back inside to help out your mother. You got about three hours till then so you can explore till then just remember to stay in sight of the clearing so you know how to get back to it.” Father said as he turned away from me to watch the sheep.
I finally got to go exploring, mother always caught me when I tried to sneak out and go exploring. Then I would always have to listen to her ranting about how dangerous it is and how I’m going to give her a heart attack trying to sneak out of the gate.
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So today was the first time I had really ever been exploring on my own. I look around trying to absorb all the sights into my memory so I can brag to the other kids, I slowly walked out of the clearing and deeper into the forest.
Spotting a pine cone I rush over to pick it up. Looking it over it looks the same as one I might see on a tree growing in the village but I hang onto it anyways, more bragging points after all. Next I wander around looking for more stuff to take with me. In the end I find a moss covered rock, the pinecone, and a neat looking crooked stick. With everything in hand I go to head back to the clearing when I hear the brush rustling and see movement along the side of a tree.
Torn between fear and curiosity I inch over to the tree and peak into the whole where I saw something disappear into. Straining my eyes to see what’s in there I see a squirrel and am about to leave when I notice three things: the squirrel has horns, it is injured, and there are three dark brown eggs beside it.
Thinking wow a horned squirrel I decide I have to find out more about it. Looking closer at the squirrel reveals a large fang protruding from the side of it leaking a dark green liquid. The fang appears to be from a snake. I know cause someone dared me to stick my hand in the guards snake beasts mouths and I saw them. The green liquid must be poison, Mama says that’s bad.
With the squirrel barely breathing now I decide it is safe enough to grab the eggs, these will be the ultimate bragging rights. Reaching in I grab two eggs and pull the out as I grab the third though I hear a hiss and run away with the eggs in hand. Looking back I see the squirrel flying at me.
“Aaaah” I scream running from the crazy flying demon squirrel. It is definitely a demon, mother says those are really bad evil horned things and this totally matches the description. Luckily I get out of the way before it gets to me and I keep running back to father. Going back to the clearing I run into my father.
“What’s wrong?” he says “Is there a monster, did something bite you, attack you?”
“A flying demon squirrel, there was a flying demon squirrel. It had horns and everything and it just started chasing me.” I shout out in hysteria.
“A flying demon squirrel, huh” he says raising his eyebrow. “And it just attacked you out of nowhere.”
“Well” I say shifting from foot to foot “I might have seen it was injured and grabbed these as souvenirs” I say showing him the three little dark brown eggs.
“Are those what I think they are? Those are magical beast eggs. You said it was injured come show me where you found those eggs. An injured squirrel type beast should be easy enough to deal with after all.”
“Okay dad, but was the demon squirrel really a magical beast and does this mean I can hatch an egg and have my very own pet magical beast. I wonder what it will be.” I excitedly said bouncing up and down my earlier terror forgotten.
“Well if you found these with a squirrel type magical beast they will probably hatch into squirrel type magical beasts.”
“Why’s that dad? What do these eggs have to do with the squirrel I found earlier?” I asked curiously looking at him with questioning eyes.
“Why don’t you ask your mother about that, she’s better at explaining things after all.” He said looking nervous. Then I heard him mumble under his breath “Who that was close, she would kill me if I explained sex to a five year old.”
“Well why we don’t go and see this mighty winged demon squirrel of yours, just don’t be disappointed if it isn’t as scary after I’m done with it” he said.
“Okay dad” He was acting a little weird but I wanted to show off the monster squirrel so I led the way back to where I saw it.
It took us about 5 minutes to get there but when I was running from the monster it felt twice as far. About twenty feet from the tree where I first found the beast was the squirrel lying motionless on the ground. It must have died in the time it took me to get to dad and bring him back here.
“There is the beast” I say stepping to the side and pointing towards where it lays on the ground. Father walks past me and rolls the beast over with his cane so he can see it better. Looking at it now I notice it was a mixture of black, reddish brown, and a pale cream color. It was black with a cream underbelly and end on the end of its tail; it had red ears and a red saddle like pattern on its back. The squirrel beast had 2 reddish brown spiral horns growing between its ears and flaps of skin connecting its front and back legs.
“Where are the wings, I know it could fly it jumped off the tree and flew after me.” I asked father questioningly.
“This is a rare type of squirrel magical beast known as horned flying squirrel. They are the magical beast form of flying squirrels a type of squirrel which flies by spreading its arms and catching the wind.” Father said staring at the corpse like he was surprised.
“Oh, so it was born that way it’s not all saggy skinned cause it’s old.”
“Yes, they are naturally born looking like that, and you must remember to never call someone old and saggy, especially a woman.” He said staring at me intently like it was the most important thing in the world.
“Why” I asked father looking innocently at him.
“Let’s just say it would be bad for your health.”
“So I could get sick for calling mother saggy or old.” I ask surprised looking at him.
“Yes or worse but let’s put that aside for now. This squirrel is not only a flying squirrel magical beast but a dual element one at called a horned tri color flying squirrel. It has an affinity with both darkness and earth elements and is classified as an initial third realm beast because of this. Normally a horned flying squirrel would be a peak second tier however when it has a second affinity it gets a major power boost.” He said shaking his head in disbelief that his son had not only found one but got three eggs from it.
“Come on son let’s get the body, those eggs, and the sheep and head back in we need to have a talk with your mother about all of this. I have a feeling she isn’t going to be happy with me about this adventure.”
“Why’s that dad?” I ask looking at him with questioning eyes.
“Let’s just call it a feeling” he says with a dry laugh.
*****
After showing the corpse to the guards we put the sheep up and headed towards the house.
Father put his hand on my shoulder and said “Okay just let me do the talking and explaining everything that happened to your mother.”
“Sure, okay” I say not really listening and run inside the house shouting “guess what I saw mamma, it was this flying demon squirrel it attacked me but I’m okay and I found some eggs dad said I could hatch to keep as pets.”
Father started turning pale and sweating and mother started looking mean and turning a shade of red. “Is that true honey?” she asked father. “Did you let our son be attacked by monsters and tell him he could keep some in our house?” she said with a cold tone releasing her killing intent.
Father was fidgeting from side to side and started with “Well you see, he was always within hearing distance and he doesn’t even have a scratch on him.” Mothers killing intent only seemed to grow stronger with his words.
Wanting to help father out I said it’s true “When I screamed father came running and the monster was already dying from a poison fang stuck in it.”
My plan to help father out didn’t seem to be working out the way I planned it.
Mother just seemed to be getting angrier and angrier looking like she wanted to strangle father. Trying one last thing I showed her the three eggs I had found and asked her “how do eggs get made, dad said you could tell me?”
Stammering and momentarily forgetting her anger she said “that’s something you can find out when you’re older, but what’s this about finding some eggs.”
I once again raised up the eggs in front of her to show them to her “I found these by the mean squirrel.”
Looking at my father she says in disbelief “are those what I think they are?”
“Yes, honey. Those are magical beast eggs, more specifically they are initial 3rd tier Horned Tri-color Flying Squirrel eggs.” He says calmly looking at my mother. “I said he could have one as a bond beast.”
“What!” Mother shouts. “These are dangerous beasts, we can’t let a five year old bond with one.”
“If you think about it’s not that rare. There is no minimum age on getting a bond beast and most nobles would have an even more dangerous one by the time they turn eight.”
“The key difference is he is a five year old though, he’s a little kid he shouldn’t even have been outside the village let alone encounter wild magical beasts!” Mother said shouting at my father and starting to look angry at him.
“Son, why don’t you go to bed and your mother and I will talk this over more.” He said crouching down and looking me in the eyes.
“Okay dad” I said and raced off to bed excited to go to sleep so I could wake up in the morning and hopefully find out I have a new pet to play with.
*Hope you guys liked the chapter. The squirrel monster is based off the color pattern of a Indian Giant Squirrel. I will post a link to a picture of one if I can figure out how to do it.
indian giant squirrel
Indian Giant Squirrel pic 2
*These are not my images I just wanted to show you what they look like
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These squirrels look bad ass I have to say. Hope you guys like the story. My fictions are World Update: The Era of Monsters and A Warlords Origin