Light or Dark Volume One
Chapter One: A Day of Many Firsts
In the territory of the Spirit of Darkness is a small village near the borders with the territory of the spirit of Light. This village has few inhabitants, and despite all of them being obviously different from each other, they all have one thing in common. After observing any one of them for a short period of time, one can tell that they are some type of terrifying master whether they are male or female, human or not, mage or warrior. This village is the forward operating post of the man known most commonly as the General.
All of these experts lived in orderly homes that surrounded a circular two story building. This central building had no windows, and only one door, which was made out of an unknown material, slightly different from the surrounding walls. These walls reflected light back in a soft manner, while the door seemed to absorb all light, making its edges indistinct.
Outside of this orderly formation of houses was a much smaller cluster of houses which held the so called hopefuls of the next generation, the young ones who had not yet fully decided upon or realized their paths. Outside of this cluster of houses was a small tent, and inside this tent was someone who no one could even start to guess at what he would become.
A voice broke the serene silence as the first hints of dawn appeared on the horizon. “Rookie!” The voice called out. “If you want to find a suitable mentor, you better start looking now. Since it’s your first time browsing, you better find one who can get you off to a good start.”
Gray snapped out of his thoughts groggily. He had been thinking about what he should do today, and what type of mentor he was looking for. The other hopefuls had been here for months, and some of them even years, so they already knew which mentor was right for them at this stage of their development.
When he had first been told about this strange system, Gray had been very confused. Why would these people, regarded as some of the greatest masters of their fields take the time to mentor someone who might not even make it very far in the future? The answer had shocked him the day before when the General had told him to find a mentor.
“People are like lakes, taking in new water is a good thing, but you must also let some of this water flow out into another body of water, otherwise the water will stagnate and become cloudy, or a dead sea. Just like this, masters must always instruct others, only by doing so can they stay at their best, and even improve further.” The General had told him as he pushed him out into the light, from the darkness of the central building where Gray had been living for several weeks.
The General had then told Gray that his barrier skills were impressive, but for his age only, so they didn’t need much work, at the moment. He had then said how the thing he needed to improve the most was his healing abilities. Only after he could make some sizeable breakthroughs with his healing abilities would he be allowed to use his abilities again.
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Gray was still unsure as to how he was supposed to improve his healing abilities without being able to use his abilities. What further added to his confusion was the note that he had found in his tent last night.
Gray,
The General is renowned for never saying the full truth, so it might not be so simple to improve your healing abilities and get your abilities back.
Good luck,
Blake
Gray looked at the letter laying on the floor and thought to himself, Well, nothing to do but try, As he headed out in the direction of the central building, and its satellite buildings.
Gray wandered around the cluster of buildings for a short while before realizing he had no idea where he was actually headed. He glanced around and saw that above all of the doors to each of the buildings was a plaque with a unique symbol on each of them. He assumed that they signified what type of expert was in each building, but he did not know what any of the symbols actually meant. While glancing around, he noticed that a middle aged man was walking in his direction.
“Excuse me sir.” Gray called out. “Do you know where I can find the healing mentors?” He asked with uncertainty as he had no idea if the man would even acknowledge his existence.
“Hmm.” The man seemed as though he had just noticed Gray’s existence. He then looked into Gray’s eyes and Gray felt as though he could see numerous emotions flashing through the man’s features. The man then broke eye contact and pointed over his shoulder at a building that was larger than the ones surrounding it.
Gray could make out two separate doors for this building. The closer door had a plaque that was two different colors, blue and yellow, and had a picture of a strangely shaped bottle on it. The second door had a blue and green plaque above it with a single drop like shape as a symbol. He did not know what these symbols meant, but he figured that since the man had pointed, they should be related to healing. Gray turned back to thank the man but he was no longer where he had been, so Gray decided to head towards the building he had been pointed towards.
The man who had pointed him in the healers direction had simply entered a nearby building while Gray was not paying attention. The building he had entered was rather small, and the plaque above the door was completely blank. Inside the building were no decorations and very few pieces of furniture. If one did not know what the building actually was, they would assume that it was simply a vacant building.
The man sat down in the only chair and looked at the closed door. “Hmph.” The man sneered. “He won’t be able to learn anything from those sorcerers.” He muttered as he put his feet up on the only stool in the building, leaned back, and closed his eyes.