Chapter 1

“The ground crumbled, the sky cracked, all that was known is now lost. The age of strife was welcomed by the envoy of discord.”  

* The Book of Eno 

Koden ran with all of his might alongside his brother Nivra, passing the thousand-year-old trees occupying the vast Cold Crown Forest. Koden heard the monstrous squeal of the giant boar hunting them, toppling trees as it rammed them out of its way. “I’m going to try, and block its path, distract him for a second!” Koden hurriedly said to Nivra.

“Got it!” Nivra replied as he brought out his wooden bow and retrieved an arrow from his quiver. 

He turned and faced the boar while running backwards as he drew his bow back, holding his breath and closing his azure left eye to steady his aim on the boar as he released the arrow. Soaring through the air, the arrow made a faint whistling sound as it raced towards the boar. The iron tip of the arrow made a made a dull thud as it met with the boar's brown snout leaving behind a white scrape. The boar bucked in pain but only for a moment until it resumed its chase.

That moment was all Koden needed as he channeled nimora energy into his right palm molding it into multiple layers of gravity in the shape of a fist-sized sphere in his hand. The several needles of gravity sprung back and forth chaotically warping the air around it as it screeched a shredding sound. Koden leaped toward a large tree to his right and pressed the sphere of gravity out making contact with the mossy trunk. The needles of gravity dispersed as they impacted the tree making a deep ripping sound as they shredded the base of the trunk. The towering tree sounded off a series of cracks as it plummeted to the ground creating a barrier between Koden and the boar. The boar seemed unfazed as it continued its furious charge. “Let's see if this works,” Koden panted as he ran alongside his brother, their short fair hair flying through the wind.

The boar lowered his head upon coming closer to the toppled tree. In one swift motion, the boar hooked its yellow tusks under the trunk and jerked its head up with a roaring squeal sending the tree soaring upwards long enough for the boar to run underneath it. Nivra expressed a dull look as he realized their actions were for nothing. “You cuck!” he cursed as he picked up his pace.

“Dammit! All that energy wasted for nothing,” Koden exclaimed in frustration. “Now What?”

“Maybe the boar would lose interest if we hid in a tree he can't topple over,” Nivra suggested.

“Anything is better than what we just did,” Koden replied.

“There's one right up ahead,” Nivra declared pointing to a towering tree slightly larger than most. 

As they neared the giant tree, they both leaped toward it grabbing onto the thick protruding bark. They began frantically climbing the trunk like a ladder towards the lowest branch. As the boys arrived at the first branch, they turned to see the location of the boar only to find that it was charging the base of the tree. 

“Brace yourself!” Koden yelled, his sky blue eyes widened as he thrust his saber into the tree branch. 

Nivra quickly unsheathed his dagger from his sash and jabbed it into the tree down to the hilt. The boar rammed the base of the tree with thunderous force. Its long gray fur running along its spine whipped as a shockwave ran over its body. The entire tree shifted as the bark splintered outward, cracks formed around the base as the tree began to fall. Green torso sized leaves showered from the tree as it came closer to the forest floor. “Jump!” Nivra shouted while kicking off the branch after ripping his dagger out of the bark with Koden following suit.

They met the ground with a tumble quickly rising to their feet only to find the boar was directly behind them charging full force. Nivra’s eyes widened in shock as he leaped to the side narrowly avoiding the boar. “Shit!” Koden quickly exclaimed while diving to the ground desperately crawling under the boar as it sped over him. 

Nivra aimed his right palm at the boar's face while ice blue Nimora energy engulfed his hand. The Nimora condensed into a thin layer of icy scales blanketing his hand. Nivra coalesced a light green ball of fluid in his palm and projected it at the boar. The boar seemed unfazed until the ball collided with its face, splashing in its eyes right before it solidified into ice. The boar squealed in pain as it flailed around randomly trying to extract the ice out of its eyes. 

Koden arose and began running away with Nivra, hoping to gain distance. The boar still flailing unknowingly struck his head on a tree, breaking his left eye free from the ice. The boar scanned the area until it made a visual of the fleeing boys recommencing its chase. “There’s no stopping this thing,” Nivra said in despair as his face grew pale. 

Their legs were burning almost as much as their lungs were. After being chased for going on an hour, their options were shrinking. Ahead Nivra saw where the forest temporarily ended and dropped off into a canyon. “Hey look there is a canyon up ahead,”  Nivra said.

“What should we do?” Koden asked

“Let's jump!” Nivra yelled.

“Good idea!” Koden exclaimed as he accelerated with a grin on his face. 

The boar was quickly closing the gap and is mere feet away from the boys. They reached the edge of the canyon and leaped off in unison. The boar became aware of what was ahead of him and locked all four legs. The boar now sliding gouged its hooves further into the ground making even more prominent hoof marks. It narrowly slid to a halt and looked down the canyon to find the boys only to see they were not in sight. The boar became even further enraged and let out a blood-curdling squeal along with a powerful buck. It gave one last look in search of its prey before it turned and returned to the forest. 

Down below in the canyon, the boys held on for dear life under the overhang of the precipice, tightly gripping the outcrop of rock protruding from the wall of the canyon. As they heard the boar retreat back into the forest, they began to ponder. “You think it’s safe to go back up?” Koden questioned.

“I think one of us should go up and check first,” Nivra replied.

“Well I used some nimora on that Shredder-star to cut that tree down, so for the sake of preserving my energy, you should check,” Koden said.

“Hey, I used nimora on that ice to blind it! It was your idea to preserve as much nimora as possible for this stupid trial,” Nivra snapped back.

“Well you’re the oldest so shouldn't you take responsibility for this?” Koden remarked.

“Like a year matters,” Nivra muttered as he began climbing up the cliff.

Nivra peaked his head just above the edge of the cliff cautiously, scanning the area for any trace of the boar. With no trace of the beast found Nivra began climbing up the rest of the way. “It’s clear baby brother; you can come up you precious darling,” Nivra sarcastically said to Koden.

“Oh, wise old brother, what would I have done without your snot ice,” Koden replied as he began trudging upward.

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“Let's set aside this bickering, we have bigger things to focus on,” Nivra said helping Koden up from the cliff.

“Well, first things first we need to find out which way to go again,” Koden replied.

Nivra looked to the sun's direction and saw that it was falling to the west, which meant their destination was in the opposite direction. “Let's walk east along this canyon, so we have less of our surroundings to watch,” Koden elaborated. 

Nivra nodded as they began walking the edge of the canyon. The sun was falling, and it was beginning to become dusk. “We should only walk for a little more before we stake a claim for the night, it’s suicide to remain moving at night,” Koden explained.

“Good idea, we should find a high place to rest,” Nivra added.

As the night crept closer, they were able to locate a branch as large as the base of a house, growing off of a colossal tree. They stripped off their brown leather sacks on their backs and plopped to the ground. “We should cook these squirrels before night hits,” Koden said as he rummaged through his bag, retrieving the animals.

Nivra pulled out kindling he collected at the start of the trial and placed it between him and Koden on the bark of the branch. Koden turned to his side and pulled his knife out of its sheath. He laid the two squirrels down before him and began skinning them. Nivra walked to the end of the branch they were on and began collecting smaller branches to fuel the fire. As he did that he noticed a river in the distance reflecting the setting sun. He returned as Koden was finishing up the food by skewering the pieces of meat to his sword to hold over the fire. Nivra strategically placed the branches over the kindling and channeled a small amount of nimora to his right index finger aimed at the sticks. A thin jet of orange flames spurted out of his finger and showered the target. The kindling succumbed to the fire and was quickly engulfed in flames as it was met with more sticks. Koden immediately hovered his blade over the fire to cook the meat. After minutes of exposure to the flames, the squirrel chunks went from a pink hue to a light golden brown. Koden pulled the meat from the fire being careful not to overcook it. “Here,” Koden offered to Nivra as he pointed his grease-covered blade near him. 

Nivra slid half of the steaming bits of off the blade, and into a wooden bowl, he took out of his sack. They both began greedily wolfing down the food for they have not eaten since that morning. Upon completion of their meals, Koden channeled nimora energy into his left index finger and pointed it at the fire. A mist of water began spouting out of his finger, dousing the fire. “It’s a shame we had to kill a good fire for the sake of not attracting beasts,” Koden lamented.

“Yeah it is a shame, but safer is safer,” Nivra agreed.

“Speaking of safer, I know we were talking at the beginning of this trial to conserve as much nimora as we can, but we can't keep running away from every beast we run into,” Koden said.

“I agree, in hindsight, it was a foolish idea,” Nivra replied.

A moment of silence passed as they watched the remaining embers fade away, leaving nothing but darkness and the smell of smoke. “Alright, who wants the first watch?” Koden asked.

“You can,” Nivra said.

“Alright get some rest, see you in two hours,” Koden responded as he took position looking out.

Nivra rested his head on his sack and quickly fell asleep. The thick forest canopy blocked any moonlight from entering making the environment nearly black. Koden utilized his families specialized eyes that have been passed down for generations, which allow him to see better in the dark. What a normal man's eyes cannot see in the dark Koden, and his brother can see distinct outlines of their surroundings. 

For the last two hours, Koden remained standing the entire time because he knew that if he sat down, he would've fallen asleep. He approached Nivra and gave him a light shake to awake him. Nivra groggily stood up and rubbed his eyes, assuming post so his brother can rest. Koden quickly rested on his sack and fell into a deep sleep. Nivra just like his brother remained standing in fear of passing out as he paced back and forth. 

An hour passed and Nivra was faintly holding on to consciousness when he heard a light dragging noise not too far from him. Nivra instantly became alert and stopped in his tracks to hear more. The noise stopped, which was an indicator to Nivra that a beast was nearby preying on them. Nivra’s eyes assisted him but not enough to locate what was near. He quickly weighed his options and came to the conclusion that he needed to light up the area before whatever was hunting them attacked. He quickly raised his hand to the sky and channeled nimora energy to his palm forming an orb of light that instantly illuminated the area. Nivra’s eyes widened in horror as the light exposed the beast that was hunting him. A branch next to the one he and his brother were on held a gargantuan black snake, that was staring directly at them, seconds away from striking. “Shit, Koden!” Nivra yelled shaking Koden violently while drawing his sword.

Koden jumped up instantly awake and saw the snake darting its arrow-shaped head at them with its mouth completely open. “Fuck!” Koden roared as he dived off the branch he was on, followed by Nivra.

The snake's mouth aggressively wrapped around a large portion of the branch and using the power of its jaw crushed it, sending thousands of splinters flying through the air. Their back sacks came tumbling down with the branch heading for where Koden and Nivra landed. They both swiftly separated and dodged the impact as a cloud of dust followed. Nivra funneled more nimora into the light orb, making it larger and brighter. It detached from his palm and slowly floated to the canopy, illuminating their surroundings. Koden finally unsheathed his sword now that he had time, and matched Nivra’s light orb to increase visibility. The snake dove at Nivra with its mouth open ready to feast. As the snake neared, Nivra formed a spike of blue ice and hurled it at the beast. The spike struck the inside of the snake's lower jaw exploding into a cloud of ice, knocking it off course. Nivra jumped out of the way as the snake fell to the ground and began chasing him. He only deterred the snake for a moment until he turned around and engulfed his blade in black nimora. The snake with gluttony in its beady black eyes sped towards Nivra. The snake approached striking range, Nivra darted forward, swinging his blade upward trailing the black nimora. Nivra’s blade struck the snake's jaw making a loud boom far greater than a normal blade would. The added velocity of the blade shot the snake's head upward, shutting its mouth, and sending Nivra tumbling. Koden who has used the time that Nivra bought to climb a tree dove towards the snake with a Shredder-star in his right hand. The snake caught a glimpse of Koden and reopened its mouth in hopes to feast on him. As Koden closed in on the snake, he pressed the Shredder-star out and shot it at the snake's mouth. With the accuracy Koden put into his shot the star went down the snake's throat. The star swiftly entered the snake's stomach just before it exploded into thousands of rampaging needles, blowing apart the snake and instantly killing it. Blood and organs from the snake painted the forest around them, including themselves. “Did we kill it?” Nivra asked from a distance as the upper half of the snake thrashed around mindlessly.

“It’s dead, the only thing remaining are the nerves,” Koden said, retrieving both of their bags from underneath the crushed branch. 

“We can't just leave this thing here, it’s worth a fortune,” Nivra greedily said.

“Yeah you're right, let's take what we can carry,” Koden replied.

Koden and Nivra quickly took everything they could from the snake. The white fang's covered in translucent yellow venom, venom sac, and even a portion of its lustrous black scales were extracted for resell. “That's what we get for sleeping in an area we just cooked at,” Koden said stuffing his findings in his bag.

“Yeah, this forest is far too dangerous for error,” Nivra replied.

“Let's find water to wash off in, or this blood will attract even more beasts,” Koden said.

“While I was getting sticks for the fire I saw a river over that way,” Nivra said pointing to the direction of the water.

They quickly traveled the distance and arrived at the bank of the river. They striped off their equipment and in unison walked into the river and began washing the blood off of their clothes and bodies. The blood coming off of them was swiftly swept away by the river's current. After a few hours of mild resting at the bank Koden noticed from the corner of his eye something laying in the shallow water by the bank farther down from them. He turned towards it and noticed it was a human body laying face down in the muck. “Is that a dead body?” Koden calmly questioned as he pointed at what he saw.

“Looks like it, let's go check it out,” Nivra said as they approached the body with their blades drawn.

Koden roughly kicked the body over onto its back the muck clouded the water as the body stirred it up. The body was mangled with large gashes on its torso seeping with fresh blood, its head was crushed as if smashed by a boulder. “They have only been dead for a short amount of time” Koden analyzed.

“I wonder what killed him,” Nivra stated looking around the area, he saw that imprinted in the river's shore was hundreds of hoof marks.

Koden also noticed the markings and came to the conclusion that a stampede of beasts just recently went through the area. The sun was slowly rising, casting more light as time passed. “Let’s go check it out,” Nivra said.

“It’s none of our business, and all it’s going to do is drag us into something stupid,” Koden remarked.

“Alright well, I’ll meet back up with you after I check it out,” Nivra said walking away from Koden.