A month has passed since they have left Cedric's home village and every day they trained.

Marcus was a good teacher and he learned many things not just fighting, he learned about the three kingdoms and the capital cities.

" There are three major kingdoms and many smaller fiefs that are scattered around, The human kingdom is not really just humans", Cedric looks at him confused" well you see the name is just that because of who started it, but in earlier years it has been slowly been addressed as just the kingdom" Marcus took a swig of water and continued" the kingdom has four major races living in it, there are the humans, elves, dwarves, and the changed" he counted each one off his finger.

" The capital is the city of Dawn and is home to millions of people, the royal family lives in the middle of the city inside the royal palace and is protected by the order of weapon masters" he said.

" what's a weapon master?" Cedric asked.

" a weapon master is a person trained by the steel order, a person who has truly become one with his mind, body ,and soul. They are able to use anything as a weapon, but the more experienced ones can call forth their own weapons" marcus said.

Cedric opened his mouth to ask more questions but Marcus ignored him and continued his earlier lecture.

" Now we move onto the other kingdoms , the elves live near the coast and are ruled by a council of seven, next we have the dwarves who live in the outer regions and mostly keep to themselves and practice their trade, and finally we have the changed" Marcus demeanor changed and his shoulders went rigged " they are those who have been been born with abnormalities, some with the ability to talk to animals and nature, others are born with the ability to take on animal forms and the like,then their are those who are born twisted and cruel raised like animals and taught only to kill and become demons." Marcus seemed to be in physical pain just talking about this.

" That kingdom is divided by hundreds of clans that constantly fight and kill one another, but there's one clan that has a majority of land and power, they are a clan of murders and savages that are emotionless people, they rule over their land with an iron hand". Marcus was now leaking an almost physical rage.

" Wait, but you said there are hundreds of clans, how is this one so much stronger than the others and are able to keep a hold of so much land" Cedric asked.

" Good question, and the answer is just a simple one, each member is equivalent to ten foot soldiers and they have an archaic way of training that turns their warriors into monsters, they are separated into three classes, the claws are the foot soldiers, they average around the size of a grown man and covered in thick armor that's bonded with their body and can never be removed" Cedric shuddered" next are the fangs, they are the captains and leaders of the claws, each one is comparable to an experienced hilt and are twisted with magic that makes their bodies lighter and faster" Marcus said.

Cedric nodded his head and gestured for him to continue," and finally the serpents eye, they are the ruling elders of the clan and each one can decimate a legion of soldiers by themselves, they are 6-7 feet tall and have lean and muscled bodies that are red and black scaled, they are born in the middle of battlefields and created by sacrificing hundreds of lives". Cedric felt a cold shudder flow through his body at the thought of meeting any one of these monsters in real life.

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" So if these things are so strong, why haven't they taken over the whole world yet?"he asked.

" Well you see, they tried once and failed and now their is a barrier in place around that part of the land that no member of the cursed clan can pass through even if they tried, so now they are locked inside until the barrier is taken down, which won't happen for a long time," he said.

" So there's a barrier that keeps them at bay, but how did such a thing even happen" Cedric looked at Marcus eager for an answer.

" Well word got back to the kingdom that an army was amassing and would attack in a few days, so they sent what little they could of a group of volunteers and some elites from all around the neighboring kingdoms, they made their way to the center of the changed land, once reaching there they had to hold their position until the mages who were in charge of putting up a protective barrier were ready" Marcus eyes seemed to glaze over as he told this story.

" For three days they held against the thousands that were sent to kill them, and yet they stood against that great darkness and prevailed".

His eyes watered and a single tear slipped down his cheek" but at a terrible cost, out of the hundred that had left, two had survived and made it home to tell of their success." He spat that last part out as if it had a bitter taste to it.

Cedric sat their, digesting this information before asking" so how did the mages put the barrier up".

Marcus gave a snort " those pampered mages died in the first wave screaming and pissing themselves"

"But if they died how did they make the barrier" he asked.

" There was no they, there was only him, a lone weapon master who made the greatest sacrifice". Marcus took a swig of his flask that he kept tucked inside his jacket.

" This one weapon master was the reason we held out so long, he moved across the battle, it was like a dragon had descended, and inspired us to fight harder and we were able to hold them back,but" he sighed" even a dragon gets tired, little by little they wilted us down and on the last day of the battle he made his last stand so the survivors could make it back and try to at least warn everyone" he took another swig" on that day as I ran with my tail tucked between my legs” Marcus's hands started to,shake and tears started to run down his cheeks. “ I left my best friend to his death and as I ran for my life I could see his final moments, and by the gods it was a sight, the earth shook and you could hear his battle cries for miles, he vanquished thousands of the cursed and even killed two of the eye and he roared his battle cry, it was the sound of pure righteousness and good, it seemed to challenge all the evil and made it tremble in fear,then the light came down, it was if the very heavens had split open and sent down their wrath, every cursed for miles was eradicated and with the light came the barrier that now stands today" he said.

" So the gods put the barrier up then?" Cedric asked

" No something even more amazing, remember what I said about how some weapon masters can call forth their own weapon" Cedric nodded" well what i mean by that is that each weapon master will forge their own personal weapon so that they can merge soul and steel as one , effectively making a weapon apart of them that they can call forth."

"So with his own sheer will power he made the barrier and saved us all, but sacrificed his life in the process, because once you merge your soul you can't remove it and even trying to form it into something else was never tempted . "Marcus leaned back against a tree and took another swig of his flask.

Cedric gazed at him for a few moments and his mouth opened and closed trying to find words" so your best friend saved everyone at the cost of his own life,..... wow". He laid down on the ground and gazed up at the sky, then suddenly sprung up" wait you said you were their and that he was your best friend then does that mean".

" Yep, your pretty slow on the uptake aren't ya, that man who saved the world was your father