Dan waited uncomfortably in the center of the glade that was the heart of the elven village of Glenhaven. The elves of Glenhaven were surrounding him and Kiln and Dan felt distinctly out of place. He had never seen so many elves gathered together in one place at one time. There had to be at least five hundred of them. If someone had told Dan five years ago that he would ever have the opportunity to see so many elves gathered together he would have never believed them. Even at El Torre Sorcierre, the school of sorcery where Dan had been raised, there had never been more than two dozen elves at most.

Now Dan was distinctly aware of their presence he began to look more closely at his surroundings. His Mana Sight only had a limited range but he could still pick out a few of the elves watching from more hidden locations throughout the village. For a moment, Dan thought he even spied one of the elusive Sylvan Silverback Wolves that would occasionally accompany the elven hunters on patrols through the forests, but the form he saw disappeared behind a nearby thicket before he got a good look. With a silent curse Dan turned his focus back to the elves and their ceremony just in time to see Mistress Elisara step away from Kiln and towards him.

Dan felt his face go red as the ancient elf placed her left hand on his shoulder then her right hand over his heart. He had read about the ancient custom of farewell in several of his texts before leaving El Torre Sorcierre but this was his first time seeing it up close, much less being a recipient of it. Usually it was only exchanged with family before a long journey. Why was he the target?

Mistress Elisara leaned forward and gave Dan a gentle kiss on his forehead. As she pulled back she gave Dan a small smile, one that conveyed her support and sympathy for him and there was the faintest whisper in his ear.

“Courage young Dan, today marks a new path opening for you.”

The magical whisper was gone as quickly as it came and Dan gave his gracious host the best bow he could manage. He was sure that he looked absolutely awkward, but the other elves were too polite to mention his bumbling of the ceremony. They did not even show the amusement on their faces. He hated that little quirk of the long lived race. They were always so difficult to read. A few centuries of practice certainly seemed to help them when they needed to hide their thoughts and feelings.

Fortunately, one elf’s face could at least still be read. Kiln locked eyes with Dan and nodded. The excitement from the young elf was palpable and Dan returned the nod eagerly. Anything to get out of here and away from all the attention. Together the two young men turned and strode into the forest and toward a distant hill. There was a brief exchange but Dan’s heart was not into the conversation and it soon died. Eventually they reached the foot of the hill and Dan nodded to Kiln as the elf proceeded up the slope. Dan found a good log to sit on while he waited nervously. After what felt like hours, but was probably only a minute or two, Dan reached into his satchel, pulled out a book and opened it to the page he had marked earlier and began to read.

A little while later Dan felt a change in the magic in the air and looked up from the book he had been reading. To his great satisfaction he saw that the Door had appeared. He had read up extensively on the phenomenon and it was exactly as described in the books, a simple unadorned wooden door. Dan carefully closed his copy of Modern Defensive Sword Styles. An ironic name as the book was written over two centuries ago, but it was probably modern when it was first penned. Now it was more than a little outdated.

Dan set the tome aside and stood up. He adjusted the empty blue and gold scabbard at his waist and strode forward. This was the moment for him to find out if his theory would hold true. He swung open the door and stepped inside and looked around. The space was a large stone library. The shelves filled with thousands of books all carefully chained to the shelves. Dan shook his head. That was just plain mean. Surrounding him with a vast collection of knowledge and then not letting him read or take any of the books. Well maybe he would be able to take one, but if his theory was correct at least one of his two items would be a sword that would help him achieve his dream of becoming one of the greatest swordsmen in the world. Magic was amazing and Dan had loved studying it, but history always seemed to turn the greatest swordsmen into legends instead of mages. It was not fair to Dan’s way of thinking as mages clearly did as much, if not more than ordinary fighters, but that was just how the world worked.

Dan walked past shelf after shelf of books, occasionally he would reach out and just let his hands run across the surfaces of the spines of the texts. Most were without markings or titles on their spines, which was odd, but occasionally he would stop to read the words written on the spines. One book he did notice was titled The Five Secret Methods of Achieving Immortality. Another read, Mysteries of the Mystic Arts. Yet another read, Secrets of the Guardians: The ForgottenLibrary of the Thirteen. Naturally the chains binding the books to their shelves were particularly sturdy looking and Dan thought he might have seen a rune glowing on the book. At one point Dan saw what he thought were a pair of enchanted cutters leaning against a shelf. He could probably use them to free a couple of books from their shelves. This entire situation was just one gigantic taunt. Dan was sure of it. Whoever or whatever was responsible for the Forging was clearly aware of who he was and what he wanted and had tailored the entire scenario just to intrigue him, to tempt him and test his resolve. He would not fall for such an obvious ruse.

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Scowling, Dan tore his eyes away from the books to look for his two Gifts so that he could leave as quickly as he could and get back to books he could actually read. Even as he did this he could have sworn that the last book he saw was titled Victory is Mine! That simply reinforced his opinion that whatever created this place knew exactly what it was doing. Annoyed, Dan moved faster and deeper into the library.

Finally, the shelves gave way to a pair of alcoves. Each one had a pedestal with a beautiful red velvet cushion and a single object on it. The first was a beautiful steel longsword. The blade was a simple silvery steel and the cross guard and pommel was a bronze looking steel of some kind in the shape of spread wings. The grip was wrapped in a deep blue leather with smaller strings of white leather wrapped over the blue. The placard on the pedestal read: The Blade of Memory. Dan looked at the scabbard on his hip. The shape and colors matched perfectly. Satisfied, he reached out, picked up the sword and slid the blade into the scabbard.

Then he turned to the second alcove. The second Gift was smaller than the first. It was a wand. It was jet black along almost its entire length, with an almost oily sheen to it. Dan did not recognize the material. The grip at the base of the wand was the only exception to the color and texture. It was an ornate gold carved into the shape of a cauldron with carved clouds of golden smoke rising up until it melded with the simple black length of the rest of the wand. The placard on the pedestal read: The Wand of Binding.

Dan picked up the wand and without a second thought headed back to the entrance, only pausing there to turn back to the room. Then he bowed deeply.

“Thank you for the Gifts.”

Dan did not know why, but he felt the gratitude towards whatever force or entity that bestowed the gift was appropriate. Then Dan took another step and was back outside in the woods. He fingered the wand in one hand, while his other hand rested on the pommel of his new sword. What would be the best way to test his new items?

A sound from further up the hill caused him to look up. Dan smiled as he saw an elf descending the hill towards him, dressed in the traditional brown and green of an elven ranger, their long unruly brown hair tied back into a que. A heavy green cloak was now draped around Kiln’s frame and a longbow was strapped to his back.

“Everything go alright Dan?”

The elf’s voice was cheerful and the smile on his face reached his dark brown eyes and made them twinkle for a moment.

“It went about what I expected. Did it go well for you?”

Kiln shrugged.

“It wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but it was nice. A beautiful forest at sunset. What was yours like?”

“It was a Library.

“I should have guessed. Well, should we head back.”

“Probably, your parents will be waiting for us. I am sure they and the other elves are preparing a celebration.”

“True, though I really wish that they wouldn’t.”

Dan grinned.

“Well it's not very often that your people get to celebrate one of their family members going through a Forging.”

“True, curse of longevity I suppose. We don’t have children very often, so I suppose I can forgive my parents. Maybe.”

The two strode off into the woods together laughing. Eventually they did arrive at Elven Glade, one of the cities of the elves nestled deep in their woods. There they found nearly a thousand elves gathered to celebrate the Forging of the six elven youths who had come of age that year. They included Dan with a great deal of enthusiasm. He may not be an elf, but he had been living with them for nearly five years and it just gave them another reason to celebrate. As they celebrated late into the night, though, Dan began to feel a pang of regret. He wished Master Aridan was here as well, but he was not and he never would be. With a wistful sigh he partially unsheathed the Blade of Memory. For a moment, the cheerful flames of the torches that held back the darkness of the night closing in around Glenhaven gleamed on the polished blade. Then the light of friendly torches seemed to swell and all Dan could remember was a similar night five years ago when it wasn’t the simple woodland torches that burned, but a magnificent tower of stone.

Name: Dan Del Torre

Age:16

Race: Human

Blessings:

Blade of Memory

Wand of Binding