"So, who are you really?" Elaine asked.

Contemplating if he should be lying, he remembers the mark on his back and the young pup gently sleeping in his lap, Will decided to tell the truth.

"My name, as you somehow know, is William Tíriel Marlow, I was the second prince of Aclan in the northern kingdoms. Being the second son of the royal family my destiny was to marry into a powerful family and sire children to continue the royal line. But eight years ago, those horrid creatures crashed down in my home city of Almadas and destroyed my home, escaping from the ruined capital I fled along with my mentor Artír and a band of soldiers and civilians. After that we have travelled all around the northern kingdoms and picked up other survivors, as many as we could at least. However, we knew our numbers would never be enough to retake Almadas, and therefore we left the northern regions and headed towards the Southern most point of the continent, the sultanate of Salamish where we would gather allies and retake our home, but due to the sudden distraction of the monster in this forest we were split up, I sent my best soldiers and the civilians to head towards the town of Ishban south of Cymbal forest while my soldiers and I tracked down the monster to slay it." Will retold his story, not seeing Elaine's bewildered and shocked expression.

"Sorry to interrupt, but how old are you?" Elaine asked.

"This year I will be twenty-two, how so?" Will responded.

"Wow, so you have been leading and slaying monsters since you were fourteen?" Elaine's shocked expression was now caught by Will, cracking a smile on his before stern face.

"A prince has to lead his people, no matter the enemy or obstacle." Will simple answered.

"How old are you then?" Will asked back.

"Im twenty-three this year." Elaine responded.

Amazed by the story Elaine sat in contemplation, comparing herself when she was his age eight years ago she felt pitiful for herself, not having the strength to stand up for herself against Tach.

"So, what's your story?" Will asked back, wanting to hear her story, having never conversed with a druid before he was interested in her history.

"As it stated before, my name is Elaine Nyve and I am the last druid of Cymbal forest. My mother was one of the arch druids of the sacred forests but twelve years ago she disappeared during her travels in the druidic leylines, and no one have seen her since. After that no one wanted to take on the role as arch druid of Cymbal and all druids and rangers left the forest for the other sacred woods, leaving me as its last guardian. Similar to your story, I was reporting some weird pollution in the forest and travelled towards Tirnas, the hidden forest, to report to the arch druids but suddenly the forest was attacked and the forest was lost. A person I knew had betrayed us and had gathered the arch druids and their heirs in the same location, after that I don't know their outcome, either dead or missing. Since then I have had no connection with the other sacred forests. After that I met Nyalith for the first time and she gave me the mission to find the other champions of the primordial beings, and here we are in the present, I have found the first one, four more." Elaine spoke with melancholy in her voice, remembering her mother and the betrayal her heart was filled with anger and regret.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"It seems like we share a similar story. A hatred for the monsters and a need for revenge." Will stated, Elaine nodded simply in agreement.

"I have a question." Will suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.

"Yes." Elaine responded.

"What does it mean to be chosen by a primordial being, in my home country Nag'losh was a guardian of winter and defender of the north, but does it change now that I have become a chosen?" Will asked, still confused by the whole chosen thing.

Thinking for a moment on how to explain properly, she answered, "To be a chosen of a deity is to be their acolyte on Terrum, to spread the word of the deity. In regards to the primordial beings we gain an innate power to speak and command the animals of our deities origin, meaning wolves for you and stags for me. Also, for the moment we can only talk with our deities when we sleep, since the calamity eight years ago a barrier was placed around Terrum, thus keeping the deities away from entering and forming avatars on Terrum. But it seems like we can talk to them in the dream realm." Elaine explained.

Thinking about Elaines explanation Will sat in silence on the bed, while waiting for Will Elaine headed to the kitchen to grab two cups of water and returned, handing one of the cups over. Seeing the cup will received it and thanked her.

"By the way, what does your middle name mean? I haven't met anyone with the name Tíriel before, it sounds elven in nature but you are human." Elaine spoke, breaking the silence.

"Its from the founder of my family, Tíriel Cad Marlow, he was a legendary warrior who was said to defeat hundreds of demons during an incursion hundreds of years ago. However, I think its just a story." Will explained. Suddenly Will began coughing loudly and blood had spewed out from his mouth, his injuries still severe from the battle with Hyrix.

"Will are you okay." Elaine exclaimed, not understanding why her treatment didn't work.

"Im fine, it seems I'm not as hardy as I thought." Will joked, receiving a roll of her eyes Elaine began checking the wounds on his shoulder, accidentally touching Will's mark on his back both of their visions were warped away from their bodies. Regaining their senses they saw a battle the size of a blood bath, untold demons and chaotic creatures throwing themselves at a large bastion being defended by a man covered in silver armor and wielding twin blades, equal in length.

"That fighting style..." Will said out loud, getting Elaines reaction.

"You recognize it?" She asked.

"Of course I recognize it, I use it, its the family style of my house." Will explained, his eyes wide open at seeing the perfect execution of his family's style of swordsmanship.

"So that means..." Elaine spoke but Will interrupted her. "Its Tíriel Cad Marlow, My ancestor, this must be a vision of his battle against the demons of old."

Looking on for a few minutes their vision was suddenly warped again and now Will and Elaine were floating high above the ground, overlooking a battlefield with corpses littering the ground, mortals and monsters alike.

"This must be the future." Elaine spoke, understanding what the vision was telling them.

"It seems the entire world will be embroiled in war." Will continued explaining, their minds weirdly connecting with each other.

"And its up to us, we have to find the other chosen and amass an army." Elaine exclaimed.

Watching on as the burning battlefield becoming more and more blurry their vision snapped back to reality and they were back at Elaine's home.

"A vision of past and future, a duality of story in life, the past leading to present, chasing the future." Elaine spoke with a poetic tone, listening in Will was entranced in her words.

"It seems your goal have suddenly become our goal Will." Elaine suddenly became serious and looked towards Will seated in her bed.

"I guess so, glad to have you on board Elaine." Will said as he reached out with his hand, grabbing it they shook hands, silently agreeing to be allies and help each other in their quest.

"Do we even know who we are up against?" Will suddenly asked.

"During your sleep I went back towards the corpse of the monster and with the help of a fairy I got some information. Its name was Hyrix and it apparently was a servant of a being called Scorpiel, and they call themselves the Zodiac Beasts.

"Good to know, now we just have to amass an army." Will simply responded.