In the scattered plains of Judea lay a young boy named David sat alone against a sycamore tree. His eyes were closed and there was a sense of peace around him in the silence. The fields before him rolled along like waves along an endless green tapestry. The gentle stirred up the boy's messy brown hair. With a slight smile the boy yawned and grabbed a hooked cane from the ground.

“Well I guess it’s time to go back to work”

As he strode off down the hill he started counting his sheep. The dome surrounding their land was huge and the imbeciles had a tendency to leap off cliffs. Although they wouldn't die die they could still break their bones which was a hassle to heal. 

“Lil Darkie why have you wandered so far from your friends?” 

A lone black sheep had wandered away from his herd and was stuck in a bramble patch in a cove the boy had never explored. It turned its pitiful head and bleated obnoxiously as if to let the world know of its sad plight. He had seen that same sheep chew delightfully on a full grown wolf. The boy shook off that frightful memory and crouched down helping the sheep to untangle itself. Within the thorns he saw a glint of light. 

“Huh lil Darkie did you find something?”

The boy reached deep into the branches and ended up getting nicked by a few thorns but managed to reach the glowing object. What he picked up was a branch emitted a strange yellow glow but caked in mud. While wiping it off the boy was puzzled by this strange piece of wood that seemed to have strange symbols etched along its sides.

“What a weird stick. If you had eaten it darkie maybe you would grow wings” the boy remarked to his sheep. Only a bleat answered him, but the boy was happy with his find.

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“David, have you attended to all your duties? Your brothers are still out in the fields or working hard in the war” Jesse, David’s father, called out.

No dad, I'm just here for a break. I’ve found some new wood I want to carve.

“Fine, just make sure you don't shirk your responsibilities.” With that Jesse returned to his work at his lab. A geneticist's dream, Jesse had gotten tubes and lab equipment from the town over and was experimenting with some form of plant grafting. Unknown to David, one of fathers plants had just escaped their confines and was slithering swiftly to attack him. This little fern sneakily wrapped around David's arm and latched its brown thorns into his hand.

“Ouch, dad, one of your damn pets escaped again! It's trying to eat my arm” David shrieked, pulling at the ferns stem trying but failing to rip off the plant.

“Hmm this one won't be attracted to you normally. Did you get a cut? The blood demon plant does have a craving for blood” Jesse sighed as he got up and petted the fern between its bottom leaves prying its blood leaking jaws from David's arm. 

“I might have pricked my hand on some thorns, but why do you have a demon plant just laying around?” David grunted, feeling aggrieved. 

“You know my beauties like to be free. But I can't let them roam all of Judea. Only here they will be safe” 

To that David just sighed and quickly retreated into his own room/lab. David's family were all shepherds. But they were far from ordinary shepherds. Their domain was a giant breeding ground for magical monsters. Being the youngest of eight brothers David was in charge of the weakest demon sheep in their land. But David was content because that allowed him all the time he wanted to work on his other passions. The reason his father indulged him so much was both because he was the doted on youngest but also because he shared a similar interest in his plants. Though David would rather kill the nasty beasts and use them as sweet materials. When he wasn't crafting something from the various plant abominations that his father had kindly parted with, he would be off writing songs and making music from his harp. There was a beauty in creating both his sculptures and the poetry that he would sing into being. He was gifted enough that even Jesse would hold off his experiments and listen to the soothing playing of David's music.

This is where the magic begins.