Oskar awakens to piercing screams and the cracks of a raging fire. His mind races trying to make sense of the disturbance as runs to his parent’s bedroom. When Oskar arrives at their room, he finds the door swung wide open with no sign of their presence.

He rushes outside to discover the source of the disturbance. As he opens the shoddy wooden door to his home, he is immediately hit with the cold somber air of the winter night.

Oskar flinches in horror of the sight; screams of agony and anger fill the night sky of the once peaceful farming town. A great fire, like Oskar has never seen before, consumes the town to fuel its raging battle against the frosty night. On the streets, another battle of equal intensity ensues between the villagers and a number of bandits.

Oskar snaps out of his stupor, every fiber of his being wanted to run from the imminent danger but he knew it was a death sentence. The winter had been particularly harsh and the nearest town was a day's journey by horse. With no rations or map, it would be a slow and painful end as the winter sapped his strength.

Despite his fear, Oskar had no intention of hiding from the invaders. ‘I need to find father and mother, they’ll need all the help they can get’ Oskar thought to himself. Without further hesitation Oskar bolted towards the sounds of the battle, trying to keep his head down to avoid any unwanted attention or arrows.

As the sound of metal clashing and screams grew louder, Oskar realized the situation was much worse than he could have imagined. Despite his neighbor’s courage, they were no match for their assailants. Equipped with iron hoes and scythes, they posed little serious threat to the enemy.

In contrast the assailants were much better equipped and clearly not new to combat. It wasn’t long before Oskar realized it wasn’t a battle but a slaughter. He watched in shock as a long sword from one of the bandits pierced straight through the stomach of one of the villagers, emerging in a sheath of blood before its victim had the time to collapse.

Oskar turned in a panic, he had nowhere to go but his instinct wouldn’t let him walk any closer to certain death. But alas, those who stray to close the fire get burned. One of the bandits notices him trying to flee and begins to give chase.

Oskar was by no means a slow runner, but given that he was 4’2”(~128cm) tall, his stride couldn’t compare to that of his pursuer. Despite the gap in physical prowess, the bandit chasing him was burdened by his heavy armor and sword.

The bandit was equipped head to toe in chain-mail armor with padding and a leather casing on the outside of his armor; it was designed to allow for fluid movement so as to not disrupt the wearer in combat. Although the armor did little to restrict the movement of the bandit, the same could not be said for his 50 inch(127cm) long sword which he lugged around.

As soon as Oskar began to create distance, the bandit called to one of his comrades behind him “Helga!”. Within a few seconds Oskar felt the dirt beneath him falter as it transformed into thick mud which binded his legs. When his pursuer reached the mud the ground hardened beneath his step as he drew closer to Oskar.

When he came in range Oskar lashed out with a right hook that did more damage to his own hand than the bandits armor. With a scoff the man grabbed Oskars right hand and pulled him into a headbutt.

The cold metal of his helmet crashed on Oskar’s skull leaving him dazed and discombobulated. Before Oskar could respond, another strike to the left side of his head by the pommel of the man’s sword caused Oskar's world to begin fading, black stars he saw began to consume what little light he still perceived until nothing but the void remained.

He awoke to the sound of a rattling carriage, Oskar quickly scanned his surroundings. The inside of the carriage was dim, cloth completely covered the carriage save for a small tear in the fabric above their heads from which a few rays of sunlight emerged.

Inside the carriage an assortment of 10 children were gathered, their hands and feet bound like his own. Oskar attempted to stand up but unable to keep his balance, he quickly fell to the carriage floor with a loud thud. “Shh, keep it down” a voice whispered to Oskar’s right.

It came from a young girl who appeared to be around the same age as Oskar, about 12. Oskar glared at her, she had unkempt shoulder length dark black hair and blue eyes that reminded Oskar of the azure sky but darker somehow. Her skin shone pale despite the little light available.

When his adrenaline wore off Oskar’s memories flooded back into his head as he began to hold back his tears to no avail. His mind raced with thoughts ‘where are we going? Who is this brat? What about Mother? Father?’ Oskar thought to himself.

The silence was once again disrupted by the girl, “you won’t last very long if you don’t make some friends… or at least connections… the name’s Mizuya, and you are?” the girl whispered. Oskar pondered her words, ‘I hate to admit it but she’s right. I have nothing but questions meanwhile she seems to know what she’s doing; I better play along for now’. Oskar thought.

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“I go by Oskar, nice to meet you… I guess.” He replied with a whisper as well. “First time huh? If you don’t want to end up dead or worse, just keep your head down and follow my lead. If you’re lucky you might be able to avoid the mines” she said.

“You speak as if you're experienced,”  Oskar replied.

“Only once before, my cooking skills were deemed inadequate by my former master.” Mizuya said with spite in her voice.

The conversation soon began to die out as the two noticed the carriage come to a sudden halt. A bandit appearing to be somewhere in his late 30s opened the door to the back of the carriage.

The man scanned the contents of the carriage before pulling out a small hunting knife from behind and cutting the bindings of the children's feet. When he was finished he called out to the children who gave him looks of fear or anger. “Get a move on,” He declared with a low rumble.

After being helped to their feet the children were ushered into a line outside the carriage. When he stepped out of the carriage, Oskar found himself in a large warehouse with an indoor dock.

The only light shone in from the ocean and from a handful of torches which lined the entrance to a small white tent near the end of the harbor. Behind the tent was a small sail ship with two floors resembling a sloop with no apparent weapons.

Oskar had never seen the ocean before, let alone a proper sailing vessel, but now was not the time to gawk. He found himself at the back of a queue heading toward the white tent. Oskar began to scan his surroundings looking for any path to escape.

‘There are two doors, both located at the front of the warehouse. They’re both watched by armed guards and…’ Suddenly Oskar heard Mizuya’s voice replaying in his head. ‘Just keep your head down,’ her voice recited itself in his mind. ‘Damnit, if I try to run, I’ll only draw negative attention to myself and allow them to make an example of me,’ Oskar thought to himself.

As he drew closer to the tent his mind raced with thoughts as he watched Mizuya disappear into the tent. Shortly after it was his turn and the guard out front of the tent ushered Oskar into the tent. Inside the large candle lit tent was a desk with what appeared to be a glass prism on it.

Behind the desk sat a man cloaked in black with a full grey beard where his mouth protruded from the hood. In his ear another cloaked man whispered something inaudible before the first man began to speak. “Step forward child” The hooded man ordered.

As Oskar trembled his way to the desk, the man spoke again. “Are you afraid?” he asked. Oskar froze unable to respond, he couldn’t describe it, but it felt as if Oskar’s body had become heavy for but a brief second. “That’s good, it means you're not yet ready to die,” the man continued.

“Place your hand on the prism, and tell me what you feel,” the man ordered while pointing to the prism. As Oskar began to touch the prism, he felt nothing at first, but then he felt a pull that seemed to come from within his veins.

“Do you feel it, the pull of the arcane?” the man asked and Oskar promptly nodded. “Don’t fight the pull, push into it” the man said. Oskar did as constructed and the small prism began to turn black with a hint of a dark purple shrouding the edges.

“You have an affinity to the void; the element of night, space, and death,” The hooded man declared. “But this is enough for now, we will soon see how talented you are,” Spoke the man before he called out to the merchant waiting outside the tent.

“We’ll take this one as well,” he said as he  instructed the man standing beside him to deliver a small purse of coins to the merchant. When the assistant finished paying the merchant, he proceeded to lead Oskar by his bindings onto the sloop behind the tent. As they stepped over the gangplank and onto the ship, it rocked and swayed like Oskar had never experienced before.

Although it took him but a moment to regain his balance with the help of the man holding his bindings. Oskar was led below deck to a holding cell where he spotted a familiar face in Mizuya. The assistant proceeded to unbind Oskar’s hands and lock the door to the cell behind him, leaving the two alone with some rations of bread and water.

The cell was by no means large, but contained enough space for the two of them to comfortably sit across from each other as they scarfed down the first pieces of  food they had received in days. It was nothing fancy but to them it was the best bread and water they had ever tasted.

The water revitalized their throats like a river in the desert. When the assistant had headed back up-deck, Mizuya cleared her throat and began to speak. “Glad to see you made it, I was afraid I’d be the only one,” she said. “Likewise, Did they make you touch the prism too?” Oskar replied.

“Yes, it appears our magical aptitude is what they were looking for, the prism turned blue to my touch” Mizuya answered. “Black” Oskar replied to Mizuya’s silent question with but a word.

Then the two began to hear a bell ring as voices from the top deck, unintelligible, informed them of their imminent departure. Within minutes the soft splashes of the waves grew in intensity as the two could only assume they were approaching open sea. The two continued to make small talk for the proceeding hours until the dimming light inside the ship informed them it was time to rest.

A task easier said than done given the lack of bedding or adequate space for the two to sleep comfortably. But the largest problem was their thoughts; every time they began to doze off, their minds began to flood with thoughts or the rough seas rolled one of them into the other. But eventually the two managed to muster enough peace and quiet until the night claimed their consciousness.

AN: Hey guys, thanks for reading. This is my first time writing a novel so please feel free to leave feedback. Also, when the story fleshes out a little more you will begin to see all the tags become relevant so don't worry. Regarding release schedule, I'm trying out web novels as a hobby so I don't have any set release schedule, but the more comments I see, the more motivated I will be to work on future chapters. Again thank you all for your time, I appreciate your audience and look forward to many more chapters.