CHAPTER ONE

Elselsia, The Great Forest

3rd Month, 13th Day, 1st Year, The Forsaken Age

I quietly stood by myself in a small hallway that branched off of the main chamber and did my best to avoid making eye contact with the elves who walked by me. Even with my head down, I could feel their hatred from the way the different elves would stare at me. That wasn’t particularly concerning though, especially when you considered the very storied past that was shared between our two races. I had been brought and unceremoniously dumped at their capital city just under three month ago.

So far, most of my interactions with the elvish had comprised of several verbal altercations and heated emotional disagreements. One particular argument with a young male Antleri had almost lead to violence. Before the boy and I could come to blows; Faldri, the son of chief Jugara, had heroically stepped in and defused the tension with his goofball personality. Despite not letting the denizens of Elselsia push me around, I still couldn’t blame the Elvish or the other forest races for how they felt.

The elvish and humans have had a very tumultuous relationship over the last few thousand years. Humans with their small life spans tended to have memories that were just as short, but the Elvish lived for a period that was significantly longer. Most of them also had family who either were personally affected by different conflicts with humans over time or knew another elf that had been. It made sense to me that they would still hold a grudge. Even if most of our problems stem from issues that have lasted thousands of years, that was a short period of time for a long-lived race. After all, old legends mostly forgotten over time by the humans were still recent memories for the Elvish.

I thought about this while waiting to be called into the meeting room on the other side of the hall. I had been kept in relative isolation upon arrival so that I would be “protected” but in reality it felt more like the Elvish had actually been carefully observing me. The first two weeks had been terribly lonely besides a few visits from Jugara, who was the elven male who had discovered me lost in The Great Forest over three months ago. Eventually the Elvish had allowed me to wander around town under supervision. That wasn’t what I really wanted, though. I had begged them but no matter what I asked the Elvish or Jugara, they still wouldn’t let me see my dog Shadow.

The way I was being treated had caused me to sulk initially, but that changed when I first met Faldri and Briella. Faldri was the eldest and had an attitude that made him appear like an immature womanizing troublemaker, but he was well liked by all the other kids around Elselsia. It hadn’t taken more than a few moments for the two of us to become fast friends. Faldri had shown Aelan around the city and showed him some of the more incredible creations of the Elven people. Faldri loved pranking people with his trusted bow and arrow but he never did anything to anyone vindictively. If the person became actually upset he would apologize or try to make up for it in some way. He gave me a quick run-down on the history between our two species as well so I wouldn’t think that what people say to me was so personal.

On the other hand, Faldri’s sister Briella had absolutely despised me from the first minute we met. I had tried to win her over with a braided bracelet that Sir Ribvan had taught me how to make, but that didn’t seem to work on her either. Briella looked like she was about the same age as me, but definitely didn’t act like it. She had an extremely cold, serious personality for someone with her appearance and already seemed much smarter than her older brother Faldri. Briella was always extremely sarcastic and treated Faldri and I like we were a couple of idiots. Most of our time was spent shouting at each other or bickering like cats and dogs, much to the amusement of everyone else in the house. Jugara and his wife Bria found this to be particularly hilarious for some reason. Briella also had a tendency to show up at the worst time. She also seemed to constantly be around whenever we were getting reprimanded by her father, laughing from off in the background as Faldri and I took our punishments. It definitely felt like she was enjoying herself.

Regardless, those peaceful days had helped me relieve some of my stress and temporarily forget about some of the terrible things I had seen in the last year. I felt bad for being able to still enjoy myself and I pushed down the guilty feeling I was getting from reminiscing. I sat quietly, contemplating how my last few months had gone since Jugara found me alone in The Great Forest that day. No, anyone in my position would count themselves lucky...

A few minutes passed when Jugara finally stuck his head through the door into the hallway and calmly called me into the meeting. I stood somberly and tried to shake off my nerves. It sort of felt to me like I was heading into my execution, but I pushed the feeling down into the pit of my stomach and put on a brave face before walking into the meeting room.

The place I had entered was shaped like a square, with four floating mana crystals that were arranged in a half circle around the center. There was very little natural light in the room and the only illumination seemed to be a glow that was emanating from the crystals. Jugara stood in the middle of all the crystals and waved for me to stand next to him. Another elven man stood on guard near the back of the room and didn’t even flinch when I entered which gave him the appearance of a living statue.

As I made my approach, I could see the figure of four strangers projected on the face of the mana crystals. Aelan tried to get a brief glimpse of the people who would be interrogating him before remembering to kneel respectfully like he was instructed to do earlier.

There was an older woman with white hair and a chilly demeanor; a muscular man with red eyes and dark blue hair; a young tanned woman with dark hair who was barely clothed; and a middle-aged woman with green hair in a dress made of vines. With Jugara also in the room, the five elven leaders had all assembled for the first time in years to hear my story.

Knowing these people held his fate in their hands, I tried to muster the courage to begin speaking. Suddenly Jugara placed his arm around me and smiled warmly. I could feel some of the pressure vanishing from my shoulders and thought about how to begin before clearing my throat dramatically. “I would like to thank the high council for allowing me the chance to tell my side of the story. I know you all want to hear about what happened to my home, but I think it’s important to start at the moment where everything started. It was less than a year ago after all; at the end of the 4th month, in the 24th year of The Quiet Age. For those of you who aren’t aware, please allow me to introduce myself….”

∞

My name is Aelan Koga. I’m from a mid-sized north-eastern territory next to the Violet River that happens to also be called Koga. The region was given to my family for their military contributions during The Second Offensive. The county is located on the north-eastern edge of the Capriocian Empire, pretty far off from the main population. The city had roughly 40,000 citizens when you counted up all the people who lived in the neighboring villages that bordered the keep. On a clear day like this; the people of Koga could mostly be found out in the streets, on the river, or in the fields, working away while the kids ran around practicing their various talents and trades. It was a pretty normal morning and I found myself alone (as usual I might add), but with a surprisingly strange amount of spare time available for once. You see, as the son of a lord within the empire, most of my time was spent doing various tasks that we’re supposed to prepare me for adulthood.

Growing up, I had shown talent in the art of the sword but that was nothing compared to my other siblings. My eldest brother was lucky enough to be blessed with a skill called ‘Freakish Strength’, which was perfect for an aspiring warrior like him. My other brother had received ‘Arcane Scholar’ and ‘Mana Manipulation’ respectively, basically guaranteeing that he'd be accepted into any magical academy anywhere across the entire world. Being blessed with a number of inherited skills wasn’t too strange for a kid who was from the nobility like we were, controlled breeding and power marriages happened all the time after all. So at the age of six, I was excited to finally be tested for my magical element affinity and be told what skills I had received. It wasn’t just me either, the talk around the keep was buzzing with different people's speculations and some were even betting on what would be revealed through my test. At first I was a little put-off by the behavior, but I changed my tune after Sir Ribvan explained that they were all just proud of me.

Due to my never-ending curiosity, I had to look into the upcoming procedure for myself. I managed to learn what I could from a book I borrowed from Ribvan. Here’s a quick rundown for anyone not familiar. Using a device called a mana-sphere, which was standard for pretty well all of the humans of the Empire. Mana-spheres were created several thousand years ago by a small group of humans to help determine a person’s amount of mana and their primary magical element. It consisted of a small glass ball called ‘the sensor orb’ that was attached to a large glass ball called ‘the manifestation globe’ by a u-shaped copper pipe. The larger orb sat on a pedestal that was anchored to the ground, while the smaller orb hung suspended in the air from its connection at the end of the pipe.

The mana-sphere itself is actually pretty simple to understand and was designed so anyone could use it. After any person made contact with the smaller orb, the rest of the mana-sphere would fill with color to display your primary magical element. The larger sphere also glowed to determine a person’s mana reserves. Basically, the brighter the light from the mana-sphere, the more mana that certain individual actually possessed. Lastly, the name of any inherited skills a person had would appear on the larger orb in a script we called the ancient language. Over the years, researchers and administrators created information lists to help explain what each color specified exactly and decipher the skills displayed in ancient text. Simple right?

Anyways, that’s what is supposed to normally happen with the mana-sphere test. When the day arrived, I was excited to see if I had what it takes to become a mage like I had always dreamed. I arrived in the court room where a wizard from the Mage’s Guild and my father were waiting for me. I could tell the atmosphere was tense between the two of them, but I was too nervous to care. I knew a person from the Mage’s Guild would come for the test, but it was still a shock for me to actually see a wizard in person for the first time. Wizards are extremely powerful masters of magic who have been acknowledged for reaching the heights of their crafts. Only a handful of them exist within the Empire. The international rules for the Mana-Sphere tests stated that only a licensed appraiser or person from the Mage’s Guild were allowed to administer the test and interpret the results. Due to this fact I was at least expecting some sort of mage to arrive, but I wasn’t expecting them to send someone from the top to test me. Wizards we’re generally extremely busy with all of their other tasks. Seeing my confusion, my father explained to me that a wizard was always sent to test the children of the nobility. The nobility funded all the guilds across the empire, so it was obviously important for the Mage’s guild to maintain its relationships with the nobles. On top of all of that; this wizard happened to be the leader of the entire Mage’s Guild, Feigrin Ludwig.

Feigrin reiterated the procedure to me and instructed me on how to begin. “Now that the explanation part is finished, please place your hands around the sensor orb when ready.”

When I went to touch the smaller orb, the larger ball displayed two completely opposite hues that refused to blend together. Now, I should mention that as a test result, it wasn’t strange to see multiple colors. Many people throughout the past have had primary affinities for multiple elements, but it actually was the very colors themselves that caused Grand Wizard Ludwig to lose his relaxed composure.

“What in the divine’s name is this?!” Shouted the wizard with his jaw dropped in a state of absolute shock.

Swirling around but refusing to mix, a cloud of pure white and a shadow of endless darkness seemed to be fighting each other for dominance over what little interior space existed within the glass orb.

“What’s the matter, Wizard?”

“In all of our recorded human history, neither of these two colors had ever been seen before in over five thousand years of affinity testing. For the first time in my life I’m completely stumped!” Even the grand wizard couldn’t identify what types of magic these colors were actually referring to. That wasn’t all that was odd. For whatever reason, the larger orb didn’t seem to have any glow at all. The orb had always glowed for every person who had ever been tested. Even if you didn’t have enough power to cast any spells, you’d still be able to see some light from the mana-sphere. All living things possess mana, after all. The lack of light seemed to suggest that I was the only human; no, person in the entire world who had absolutely no mana particles to speak of what so ever. Due to how accurate the results were, even the elves and certain beast-men had to acknowledge the ingenious human invention. Practically everyone had been using the mana-spheres since their inception into modern society. Feigrin said that he had never seen nor heard of a result like this before and didn’t have anything in his notes that described any similar effects from the mana-sphere. He also had never seen two colors fight inside a mana-sphere for total control of the device.

“Hey Ilan, would it be alright if we take the boy to the capital for some uh, private testing? Who knows, the other members of the Mage’s Guild might be able to determine what type of power he has. Clearly he’s got far too much potential to manage on his own, right? Allow me to help relieve some of your burdens, yes?”

“Control yourself, Feigrin. You should see your face right now, honestly. I wish I had a mirror. You’re so excited, you’re practically drooling. It’s quite the look for someone of your age and position.”

“That’s not true in the slightest, and who are you to judge my appearance? You could at least shave and try to clean up before saying something so immature or does your wife need to be present for that to happen?”

“Your pathetic attempts to get under my skin have never worked in the past and they won’t work now.”

“So you would hog the boy instead? Don’t be greedy, Ilan.”

“You would accuse me of being greedy? That’s rich, coming from you. I know you just want to use him for your own nefarious purposes. The answer is no, Feigrin. It will always be no. Nothing you can say will change my mind.”

“How rude, you make it sound like the mage’s guild only cares about elevating our own power.” The wizard spat back sarcastically.

“If that isn’t the case, why would they put someone like you in charge then?” I could practically see the sparks flying between the two men. Poor Sir Ribvan was trying his hardest to stay in between them while I tried my hardest to not laugh at the bizarre scene playing out in front of me. The two prominent figures were nose to nose when they were suddenly interrupted.

Five different groups of symbols had appeared in glowing golden script on the manifestation orb, bathing the entire room in a warm yellow light. “Ah, finally. The boys skills have just been listed, so I guess we can put this argument aside for now, can’t we Ilan?”

“You’re the one who started it.”

“And I’ll also apparently be the one to finish it, you childish nitwit.”

“I hate to interrupt, but this is supposed to be a special moment for the young lord. I will not let the two of you continue to ruin it for him.”

“Relax Ribvan, I know there’s a time and place for this.”

“Yes, yes. If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed that Ribvan’s the father of the boy and not you. He clearly cares about him more, but moving on…. Whoa, and he’s got five different inherited skills to boot! It’s too bad you won’t let me take the boy Ilan, but I’m too old to sulk over such trivial matters. Besides, I’m sure you’ll end up sending him my way anyway-”

“What language is that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.” I interrupted in an attempt to cut into the conversation before another fight started between the two men.

“And you wouldn’t have, boy. These symbols are from something we call Scrypten, which is an ancient language that we think has been around since the beginning of life itself. It’s believed to be the language of the first denizens of this world, a species we often refer to as The Gifted. Due to the language’s age, most of it has been forgotten, except for the words that were passed down from generation to generation. Let’s examine the symbols, shall we? Before we begin, do you know how we classify skills in this world Aelan?”

“Yes sir. The empire classifies skills into two different types; inherited and earned. Earned skills are acquired through purchase or experience. The most common examples of earned skills are professional talents like blacksmithing or herbology, martial techniques and spells. Inherited skills are a little trickier to explain. They are skills that individual can have from birth for various reasons.”

“Good lad. You’re absolutely correct. Incredibly smart for a six year old. You must be exceptionally well raised. What have you been doing to make him so special, Ilan?”

“You’re attempts at pandering flattery will get you nowhere, old man.”

“Yikes. Same as you always are, huh? At least your son didn’t inherit you’re terrible attitude.”

“Just get to the point, we don’t have all day.”

“Hmm, fine. So impatient. Now as you alluded to Aelan, there are several different ways to actually get an inherited skill. Obviously, inherited skills can be passed down through your ancestry or provided through racial traits. They can even randomly develop, like innate skills. The important thing to remember here is that these types of skills come about naturally and cannot be learned later in life. That is why we also consider a person’s IQ and magical affinity to be inherited skills. Those parts of a person cannot change despite how much one will try. Understood?”

I nodded to show that I was still following. The grand wizard smiled, then took a second to sketch the hieroglyphics that appeared on the larger orb from my test. After he finished, he pulled out another book that looked interesting so I glanced at the cover quickly. The title read ‘The Greater Encyclopedia of Skills, Techniques, Titles and Talents, Volume 7’. Feigrin opened the book and proceeded to leaf through the different sections like he knew exactly what page he was looking for. “Hmm, I recognize the first and second group of symbols. Yes, I’m almost sure of it. This has to be the innate skills ‘Master Strategist’ and ‘Perfect Genius’. Both of these abilities do exactly what you’d think. Their fantastic skills for a noble to have, boy.”

“I guess so, but neither of those are combat or magical skills right?”

“I’m sure you’re disappointed, but that isn’t completely true child. For example, I once knew a man who managed to be quite successful with the innate skill ‘Tickling Touch’. He never lost a fight and eventually rose to the rank of Capriocian High General, if you can believe that.”

“Seriously?”

“HA-HAH, Yes my boy, seriously! How useful a skill is in battle totally depends on how a person decides to utilize it. Even if you aren’t happy with the results, please try to remember that, okay?”

“Yes sir.”

“Right. The third skill listed is ‘Inherent Gravity’, which causes people to be drawn to you in the same way that the moon is drawn to the planet. What’s interesting about this inherited skill is it clearly isn’t the innate version like the last two, it’s ancestral. You must have inherited it, but that doesn’t actually surprise me. ‘Inherent Gravity’ happens to be the evolved version of ‘Born Leader’, which both your father and older brother have as well. It’s definitely stronger than the latter, but the skill isn’t without its drawbacks. You never know what kind of person you’ll happen to attract to your side. It works on everyone; friends, allies, rivals and enemies. It can be quite useful, but also very dangerous. Be careful with your relationships and who you can trust. Most people who have had this skill in the past end up betrayed by the ones they hold close. Next is this group of symbols. I think this is the skill ‘Eidetic Memory’.

“What does that mean?”

“Basically, it’s the ability to never forget. Like the last one, this also is an ancestral skill; but this skill must be from your mother’s side of the family. No Koga that I have ever known has had ‘Eidetic Memory’ as a skill, and I’ve lived a very long time. Your mother on the other hand, is from one of the oldest families in the world. She could have had any number of ancestors who possessed this skill over the last thousands of years. The fifth group of letters I’ve never seen before and there’s nothing in the book about it, so it must be a unique skill.”

“A unique skill?”

“Yes, that’s right. A unique skill is also a skill you are born with and can’t be earned, but the difference is that the skill is unique to only one individual. In other words, I can’t explain this skill to you because it’s completely your own and hasn’t been seen anywhere in the world before. Unfortunately, that also means I don’t know how to use or activate it. It might even be a skill that is harmful to you.” Feigrin tried to make that sound not too ominous, but it still made me nervous. I was never super-religious, but I decided to say a small prayer to the divine in my head in hopes that it would somehow bring me good fortune. The golden Scrypten symbols began to fade, and a new silver symbol appeared in their place.

“Oh, it’s a title? One second, let me just flip to that section. Huh? Wait a minute. No, that can’t be right. Let me just double-check my notes.” The colour slowly started to drain from Feigrin’s face and sweat poured from his forehead as he triple-checked the text of the page he was currently on. He mouthed the words he read as his eyes feverishly scanned the words on the page and I couldn’t help but feel worried. He was so panicked that my Father decided that he had to say something.

“What’s the matter, Wizard?” My father asked rather rudely, perhaps putting to much annunciation on the word wizard to show that he didn’t care much for the man's antics. Even I was disturbed by the man’s rapid change in demeanor.

“On second thought, you can keep the boy. The guild doesn’t want him anymore.” My father’s eyes narrowed on the wizard suspiciously. “Quit being so ominous. What does it say Feigrin?”

“The title the boy has is… End-Bringer. He will play a part in the end of the world as we know it.”

“…..Um, can someone explain what’s going on please?” Nobody in the room replied to my question though, the adults just continued to have a silent conversation through eye contact while I sat there completely puzzled. I thought things in the room were tense before, but the atmosphere now was noticeably worse. The two men stared at each other unflinching, with eyes like predators assessing their prey. The room was suddenly filled with a permeable blood lust. I felt like I was standing in the middle of a battlefield, right in the middle of no-mans-land between two gigantic, powerful armies. Compared to before, this silent conversation made their previous argument seem practically pleasant in comparison. The wizard eventually let out a deep sigh before turning towards me.

“It pains me to do this Ilan, but the boy needs to be locked up. Hell; it might be better to dispose of him completely, for all of our sakes! I know how important he is to you, so I’ll take care of this myself. Fire Magic: Incinerate.” A blue flame of intense heat suddenly surrounded the wizard. Despite the fact that he was using a fire spell; I could sense a cold, murderous intent leaking through the man as he stared me down. For some reason, I felt like I was finally getting a chance to see what the man was actually like. No wonder my father didn’t trust him, the Grand Wizard was absolutely terrifying! The blue fire slowly left his fingertips and flew in my direction. Without hesitation, my father stepped in front of me with his hand grasping the pommel of his sword. He drew his blade and met the flame with the guard, deflecting the spell and causing a massive firestorm of blue to explode outward in all directions.

“I won’t let you, Wizard.” My father practically spat out in disgust at the man.

“You dare put us all at risk?! You’re stubbornness will doom all of us this time, and that’s something I won’t ever allow. I can easily live with the death of one child if it means the safety of the entire world. Responsibility should always trump one’s personal feelings.”

“Please. Are you trying to make me laugh, Feigrin? As usual; you’re only concerned with your own survival, so quit pretending that someone like you cares about anyone but yourself. It’s trivial and embarrassing. There’s no question that you’re strong, you might even be the strongest person in the Empire, but you’re not invincible. No one is. So that being said, do you really think you can take on all of these guards and escape this place unscathed?” It was at the moment I realized that the room was now filled with armed guards, all of them had their weapons already drawn. Sir Ribvan must have gone to get them while I was distracted listening to their conversation.

“Do you think one as powerful as I can’t take on a bunch of scrubs?”

“Maybe so, but you’ll also have to go through me first.”

“Hah. Who says that I do? You won’t be around forever.”

“That’s funny, especially coming from a man who looks like a walking raisin. If you want, I could just kill you now and be done with this.”

“As a vassal of the state, I have the absolute protection of Emperor Marxis. If you do anything, you’d be thrown out of the Empire and the Kogans would be exterminated.”

“Oh really? So that’s what the Emperor would do, huh? Are you sure about that? Either way, I’m willing to find out. I’m ready whenever you are.”

The wizard sneered at him, but relaxed his posture and changed his stance. Slowly, the flames that surrounded Feigrin vanished from sight. “So, will you lock him up then?”

“He’ll be protected. I give you my guarantee. Now leave this place wizard, before I change my mind.”

The grand wizard promptly left the keep as fast as he possibly could, dropping the overly-chivalrous act he had been trying to display at the beginning. I had so many questions about the title I inherited and what any of that meeting meant. Pretty soon, an ominous feeling had clouded over me and I isolated myself even further in an attempt to find an answer. Some time passed and I still really didn’t know what to think. Instead of the test being a sort of coming-of-age ceremony for me, it felt more like I was just given a death sentence. Word got out around the keep of what happened, and even the servants started to avoid me like the plague. Then I was locked up in my room. I was told it was to keep me from danger, but it felt more like they were trying to keep danger from me. So; whether I liked it or not, the test led to my subsequent removal from the public eye and the beginning of the loneliest period of my life.

For a while, I thought my troubles were over, but suddenly strange individuals started coming to see me. Apparently, my father had begun trying to find information about this ‘End-Bringer’ title by asking different magical experts and wizards that he trusted from across the world. Not a single person who visited had any clue what these mana-sphere test results we’re supposed to mean and no one could figure out why I was given this title. One expert had suggested that we try traveling to a man called ‘the expert’ in the capital for answers. We reluctantly went, but he unfortunately didn’t have much information for my father or me either. Brian Feldspur; the head mage of my father’s court, thought that my mysterious innate skill would be the clue to figuring this all out. Another mage had even suggested contacting one of the older races to see if they knew something we didn’t, but this suggestion just upset my father even more. He decided that he had heard enough on the subject and we returned home. Unfortunately, I would have to give up on my dream of being a wizard.

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Then there was the other issue. Albeit small compared to the other races, humans have always at least had some capacity of mana. As far back as time had been recorded on the continent of Mecron, I apparently was the only known anomaly in human history. My father began to openly question if I would ever be able to defend myself and what kind of person I would become without a combat or magic skill, which left me constantly depressed. I tried my best to take his sword training more seriously in an attempt to hopefully impress him, but it was already pretty late for me. A large gap had grown between the other noble children and me in the city.

At first, I hated being stuck in the castle constantly, but that inevitably changed when Steward Ribvan started bringing me to the library every day. He figured that even if combat wasn’t my forte, I could at least put my Perfect Genius and Master Strategist skills to work. He was the only person who didn’t treat me any differently. Sir Ribvan had always done little things to make me feel better when I was down like that.

My father had met Sir Ribvan twenty years ago. Sir Ribvan wasn’t much of a knight, in fact, he actually was an entertainer from the capital. My mother had taken a liking to him almost immediately and realized that the man possessed a fantastic intellect. She decided to bring him with her to Koga to be the family’s steward, and the rest was history. Sir Ribvan was an extremely caring person and very generous. He stood about a head and a half taller than my father and practically had the same body type as a broomstick. He couldn’t help having a flair for the dramatic and could be quite overly theatrical at times, but those kinds of things never really bothered me.

After being granted permission by my father, Ribvan began my special education with his daughter, Helene. For the next few years I spent hour upon hour reading away to my heart’s content. I devoured books about the nature of magic, studied ancient history, consumed famous literature and honed my battle strategy. I learned about the different countries around the continent of Mecron and some of the races and religions that inhabited them. Ribvan had even taught me how to speak a bit of Bali. If I thought something we we’re learning at that moment could one day help my father, I did my best to retain the information. What at first seemed like a prison sentence slowly became my favorite parts of the day.

Anyways, it was a few months after my ninth birthday and I didn’t have class that day. It was a beautiful morning during the spring in Kogan Keep, and a gentle breeze blew through town while the denizens went about their daily work. My father had just started allowing me to travel around the inner city on my days off, so I decided I would go out to get something to eat. I knew there was a guard somewhere watching me, but I didn’t care. The city of Kogan Keep was a sprawling place, with a maze styled layout that spread out from the main roads. The market district and barracks were located on the opposite side of town from the Keep. I left home and walked towards the market hoping to get something sweet from one of the local shop owners who liked me.

“Good Morning my lord!” one of the merchants called out as I ran by, and I quickly waved back in his direction.

It took quite a bit of convincing, but after putting on quite the pious act I managed to convince the nice old general store owner to give me a tart apple. Normally an apple would have cost you two kels, but the owner of the store never asked me or my siblings for money and was very kind to us. I contently plumped down onto a nearby bench to eat my treat when a large commotion on the next street over distracted me. Intrigued, I put my treat into my pocket and sauntered around the corner.

As I turned around the last building on the street I saw a large group of children had gathered in the square. Seeing a boy I recognized, I asked him what all the fuss was about. Apparently, my siblings and some of the other older children had decided to sneak off to The Great Forest to play a game of capture the flag. The rest of the children gathered in the square were debating on going to join them. The Great Forest was off-limits to anyone under the age of fourteen and was considered extremely dangerous.

Despite that, my brothers had decided to go out anyway and risked punishment for the sake of having fun. I thanked the boy for the information and left the small crowd that had gathered to go back to the bench I was sitting on previously. I thought about the last time our father had punished us for going to the forest and how mad he had been.

Father being the lord of Koga would make an example out of us any time we acted out or did something we weren’t supposed to, and there were serious repercussions for anyone who did not do as he said. Now that mother was not around anymore, there definitely wouldn’t be anyone around who could suppress his rage.

Our Father was a man named Ilan Koga, one of the twelve heroes of the Second Offensive and the holder of the greatest accomplishment of that entire campaign. Ilan was a stern, serious man with an aptitude for strategy. For his decisiveness in battle; Ilan was made into a commander of the Capriocian Empire’s army, was elevated to the title of lord, was given a parcel of land along the Violet River, and the hand of the Capriocian Princess Mura. He was extremely well respected and liked by his people.

He named the parcel of land that he was given “Koga” after his family name and proceeded to build a castle on an embankment next to The Great Forest not too far from the river’s bank. He then opened the region to all species recognized by the Empire as citizens, making Koga only the seventh region within the entire Empire to be open to all races. After the keep’s construction finished, thousands of people moved to the region from different parts of the continent, building tiny villages and towns in the area. Eventually; Princess Mura gave birth to Ulan, the first of Ilan’s three sons, and the people held a massive celebration in honor of the new child of their lord. Over the years the county of Koga flourished, and the citizens of the region lived rather contently.

These happier times unfortunately couldn’t last forever, though. My mother Mura contracted a horrible case of Fester Rot and passed away when I was quite young. My father spared no expense in searching for a cure but none of the doctors he brought to Koga could save Mura. Since then, Ilan had grown bitter and was prone to fits of anger. Being unable to do anything to alleviate her symptoms had obviously left quite a toll on him. After her death, Ilan retreated within himself and into the castle the two of them had built together. He was rarely ever left unless he was forced to.

I thought I could still picture my mother’s face and her wavy blue hair at times when I was growing up. Whenever I tried to talk to my father about it though, he would frown and tell me that I was mistaken before attempting to change the subject entirely. No matter how many times I tried to bring up the subject, my father wouldn’t divulge any additional information and that was always the way our discussions concluded. That was until one morning. I was sitting in class with Helene and was fed up about getting nowhere with my father yet again, so I decided to ask my teacher about my mother instead.

“Your mother was absolute perfection in human form, and a perfect example of someone everyone should strive to emulate. So kind, generous and compassionate. Just knowing her was one of the greatest gifts I could have ever been given. A true maiden fit for the legends of old. Did I mention the time…”

Sir Ribvan would go on to describe her for me in great detail and in such apt fashion that his description took up most of the entire lesson that day. I was surprised to learn from him that Princess Mura had curly copper-red hair like my two brothers, and didn’t have blue hair like the woman I pictured in my dreams. I asked Sir Ribvan if he knew a woman with curly blue hair, but he flat out refused before I finished asking the question. I suspected something about his behavior was odd, but Sir Ribvan had never been the kind of man to lie for his own gain. Based off his reaction, I figured that it must have been a taboo subject and thought it was best that I stopped my inquiries. No matter who in the keep I asked, not a single person could identify the lady that I had been picturing in my head. I decided I would just chalk the experience up as a weird dream and had to give up trying to find an answer yet again.

Sorry, I got a little distracted there. Where was I? Oh, right. So I had just been ditched by my brothers on another day off for literally the umpteenth time. Anyways, I sat on that bench thinking about how extremely disappointed in them I was and questioned how they could be so consistently absent-minded and juvenile. I hated that the never brought me along with them. My brother Olan was eleven years old and Ulan was almost thirteen, so the two of them had a tendency to treat me like I was a child due to the simple fact that I was the youngest.

Olan was an apprentice water mage with great potential. In fact, Olan had so much potential that the Mage’s Guild told my father after his test that he could become a top-class wizard with the proper training. Apprentices of the Magister constantly hounded my father to let them take the boy, but just like with my circumstance Ilan always refused the Mage’s Guild for some reason or another. Instead of a member of the guild, Ilan brought his own tutor in to teach my brother the ways of water magic, but that didn’t stop the guild’s lofty expectations from going to Olan’s head. His attitude slowly worsened until it eventually got to the point where he would constantly go on about how great he was going to be in every conversation. As we got older, I dreaded running into him around the keep more and more.

Ulan on the other hand, had very little magical ability like me, but was much stronger and larger than all the other kids his age. Most people around the city thought he would make a fantastic commander in the future, and the boys who dreamed of being soldiers flocked to him. He was a bit on the dense side, but he generally meant well and would go out of his way to do anything to help the servants around the grounds. He was a bit of a hot-head and had problems when it came to controlling his temper and emotions, but he was so easy to read that you could easily avoid ending up on his bad side.

I tried to bury my feelings about my family and resolved to sneak out to The Great Forest on my own to yell at my brothers myself. I figured this would at least prove that I was brave enough to come to the forest from now on and the two of them might bring me with them in the future. Resolved in my thinking, I finished half of the apple I was given. I then placed the other half of the treat back in my pocket and stood up from the bench. I knew if I wanted to go play with my brothers, I would need to ditch my supervisors. Luckily, the moment I was waiting for was about to arrive. Gong! Gong! Gong! Gong! Gong! Five bells blasted from the tower next to me, letting everyone in town know that afternoon mass was about to start at the church. Within moments, people started pouring out of every building in the direction of the church just up the street from me. I waited for the crowd to swell in size first, then I made my move. I threw my hood over my head and ducked into the crowd, weaving through the masses as low to the ground as I possibly could be. I eventually pushed my way through to a nearby alley and stopped to take a look at my pursuers. I could see my escorts struggling to move through the throngs of people, carefully scanning the faces of the individuals to try and see which direction I went in. I had lost them. I chuckled to myself, proud that my plan had worked so well and turned to keep going.

An hour later, I had made my way to the southern wall of Kogan Keep that bordered The Great Forest. While I walked, I began thinking about how entertaining it was going to be when I showed up out of nowhere and surprised everyone. I remember thinking that it would be pretty funny if I hid somewhere along the way and scared the living daylights out of them. Olan in particular, had always been more than a little jumpy and (hilariously) screamed quite loudly whenever he was scared. That would probably make for some good, playful revenge right? What? Too over the top? Well, that’s your opinion. Anyways, I found what I was looking for roughly five hundred meters from the back gate.

A pile of hay that was poorly stacked against the wall marked our secret entrance in and out of town. Behind the hay, a hole that was roughly the size of a wagon wheel was hidden where the wall had decomposed over the years. One of the local kids had noticed the spot and had been smart enough to hide it with the haystack before any of the guards discovered it. Since then, the secret of the hole had spread amongst the rest of the children and had become the best way to sneak in and out of the city without going through the front or back gate.

I quickly looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and then hastily dove head-first into the haystack. After a few seconds of struggling through the thick pile of hay, I managed to feel the serrated edge of the stone wall that marked the beginning of the secret entrance. I quietly pulled myself through, moving the piece of wood aside that covered the exit before I retrieved it and put it back in place so no one would notice. As a necessary precaution, another child in town had painted the wood covering so it was the same color as the stone city walls. Guard patrols often circled the perimeter of town on the orders of my father, so some level of camouflage was vital or the secret entrance we relied upon would have been discovered. I pushed the wood back in place over the hole, and spun on my heels to take a look at The Great Forest. A breeze calmly blew by and the vast expanse of trees and foliage responded, almost like the forest was magically calling out to me. Barely containing my excitement, my sense of freedom grew exponentially the further I got from the keep.

It was around noon when I had finally made it to the edge of The Great Forest. I tried to look around for any signs of my brothers or their friends, but couldn’t turn up anything that indicated they were close by. I figured the group must have gone further in, and began squeezing my way between the foliage as I pushed on. The further I went, the denser the forest around me became until all I could see were tree trunks in every direction. The whole time I listened for the sounds of children and looked for the boundaries that marked the capture the flag game area that my brothers liked to play but again, there was nothing.

A significant amount of time passed as I trudged on, and I could start to feel myself getting tired. Searching everywhere without finding results was beginning to bore me and I hadn’t anything to drink in a while. Just when I started to think it might be time to turn back, it occurred to me that I had never been this far into the forest alone before. Panic slowly settled in as my heart started to race. I tried desperately to swallow my nerves and put on a brave face in case the other kids we’re closer than I thought. On alert, my eyes darted between any sign of movement in the nearby foliage rapidly. It was at that moment when I finally heard something.

A faint rustling sound came from my rear, and a shiver went down my spine. “Okay, that isn’t funny Ulan,” I tried to calmly say as I whipped around as fast as I possibly could. Standing behind me, a small dog barely older than a puppy had one leg up and was marking its territory on a stump. Judging by its expression, the dog was obviously just as surprised to see me as I was it. The dog was so distracted, it still had its leg in the air even though he was clearly finished relieving itself. The poor thing must have wandered out of the bushes and froze when it saw me. It was unlike any dog I had ever seen before, with black and brown fur that was covered in red streaks. After getting a better look at the red markings that adorned its body, I realized that the colour was actually some kind of body paint. I didn’t know what an animal like this was doing out here in the middle of nowhere, but it clearly didn’t seem like a threat. I didn’t sense any malice or aggression from the animal, and the fear that I had built up slowly began melting away.

“Hey boy, are you okay?” I asked and the dog turned its head sideways while looking at me. It was quite the puzzling look, almost like the dog was trying to understand what I was saying. Seeing that response, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. That exchange gave me a little more confidence and I tried to approach it, but the dog recoiled as soon as I took a step.

“Are you okay boy? Are you out here all alone like me?” I asked again but the dog just stood still with a fearful expression on its face. That’s when I had a brilliant stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.

“I know, are you hungry?” I said as I pulled out what remained of the leftover tart apple. The sweet smell of the molten sugar wafted gently through the air. The dog sniffed at the air aggressively before it realized that the smell was coming from the thing in my hand. The dog slowly began wagging his tail at me and sat promptly on its rear, all of its attention fixed on the treat in my hand. Seeing the dog change its expressions that quickly made me laugh quietly to myself. “You don’t exactly keep your cards to your chest, do you?” The dog barked playfully at me and showed off a big toothy smile that was extremely heart-warming. I slowly walked over, carefully inching myself towards the animal until I was close enough to reach out and touch it. I bent over and offered to the dog the tart apple in the center of my open palm. At first, the dog seemed reluctant to take the food, but then its stomach grumbled aggressively. The dog was clearly hungry, and it wasn’t long before it snatched the apple from my hand with almost lightning quick dexterity. At first I almost jumped out of fear, but seeing this wild animal I didn’t know anything about act exactly like your average house pet made me relax internally.

“I know! Do you want to be friends with me? I can bring you home and take care of you, if that’s what you want. I mean, I’ll have to ask father first but I should be able to keep you if I take care of you myself. What do you think?” The dog let out another happy bark and continued wagging its tail back and forth. It was pretty cute and I before I knew it, I was smiling back down at the animal. “I guess I’ll take that as a yes.”

Again, I slowly reached out for the dog and pet the fur around his neck. The dog watched me carefully, but let me touch it. Just when I was about to make contact; a white light appeared from my palm that I had never seen before, brightly illuminating the entire glade. I could feel an intense heat permeating from my hand, but I never felt any pain from it. The sudden appearance of the light startled me, and I couldn’t help but fall backwards out of shock. The light shone from my hand for what seemed like a few more seconds, then everything went back to normal.

As I sat in the forest with my new friend, I wondered what in the world had just happened. Some time passed where I was lost in contemplation, and I almost completely forgot about the reason I had come out to the forest in the first place. Before long I realized that I still hadn’t found my brothers or the other kids, so I decided to head back to the city. As I walked through the underbrush, the sound of the dog trudging along happily beside me brought a wry smile to my face. A few minutes into our trek, I began to notice the dog’s behavior changing rapidly. Instead of sauntering alongside me like previously, the dog was now pacing out in front, eyes locked on the surrounding bushes. It almost seemed like the animal was nervous about something, and the dog definitely didn’t have the same bounce in his step that he had when we originally started.

Every few steps the animal would come to a halt, stopping to investigate a particular set of trees or bushes it didn’t seem to like. At first I thought he must be looking for his family like me, and his behavior didn’t seem to strange for a young puppy. I decided that whatever was causing him to act like this probably wasn’t a big deal, and promptly kept going. Looking back on it, I should have realized in that moment that the dog was trying to warn me. It was right then that the dog stopped again, but this time it ran behind me and started aggressively growling.

“What is it boy, you hungry again?” I asked playfully as I turned to pet him. I bent over to the dog’s level and saw that its stare was unflinching, completely locked in. Curious, I followed its gaze towards the section of the underbrush the dog was focused on. What I saw nearly made me leap out of my skin in fright. Partially hidden in the bushes, a massive horned monster was watching me. I didn’t need to see its third eye or bull-like horns to know what it was either. With its bulky size and distinct vomit green color, I was clearly looking up at a massive adult-sized Grogg.

Seeing that it had been spotted by its prey, the Grogg howled and rose its massive hulking frame out of the brush. Fear immediately set in, and even though my mind screamed at my body to run I remained absolutely locked in place. The Grogg wound itself up and hurled a small log it had been carrying directly at me. The dog barked, and I managed to come back to my senses in the nick of time. I ducked just before the log would have crushed my entire top half, and a thundering crunch echoed from the impact past me.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the trees directly behind me had caved-inwards where the log had collided with them, almost completely destroyed from the weight of the monster’s blow. I couldn’t help but shiver slightly as I looked at the damage the log had caused. Somehow some of the trees was relatively still in one piece, but I knew if the Grogg managed to land a strike on me, I most likely wouldn’t be. Seriously; if I took a hit even once, the soldiers back at Koga would have to scrape little pieces of me off of the forest floor to use for a funeral ceremony. We’re talking flat as a breakfast sweet cake here, folks. I tried to push that thought out of my mind before paranoia set in and took control.

I stood up from where I was and ran out of there as fast as my body would possibly let me. I could hear the sound of the trees and branches being viciously snapped behind me as the monster chased me deeper into the forest. I desperately looked around for anywhere I could hide or catch my breath, but I didn’t see any spots that would actually work. I could hear the Grogg gaining on me, the sound of its steps growing louder as the monster got even closer with every passing second. Judging by how fast the creature could move, I was sure that the Grogg would be on top of me within moments.

I tried to recall everything I had learned about Groggs from Sir Ribvan and the book Deruga’s Manual of Monsters as I sprinted onward. It was in moments like this that I was grateful for the Eidetic Memory skill. I pictured the book in my mind and flipped open the cover, ruffling through the pages until I found the entry I was looking for. Eidetic Memory allows its user to picture previously consumed information in whatever way they’d like. My father had given me an oral recording of The Second Offensive as a gift when I was younger, and I was immediately blown away by it. I had never seen technology like that before and it instantly captivated me. The recording slowly started up in a voice I had dubbed ‘The Narrator’. ‘Groggs were extremely strong creatures known for being highly resilient to pain and damage, but they did have a weakness. Their massive frames and bloated bellies were supported by tiny legs that were barely strong enough to keep the monster upright. That fact combined with their extremely low intelligence was really the only known weaknesses of the species.’ With that information, I had what I thought I needed. I started to put together a plan.

I leaped over a boulder in my way and saw a tree that had its trunk split down the middle, almost like a massive wooden letter “V” that stuck out of the ground up ahead. I hustled towards it and squeezed myself through the gap. The Grogg, who had been right on my heels at that very moment, tried to follow directly behind me. There was another huge crashing sound and I stopped to see if my idea had worked. From what I could see, half of the monster’s chest and right arm were now completely wedged in place between the split in the tree trunk. The Grogg snarled and howled at me as it struggled to pull its body out from between the branches.

Using the brief opportunity afforded to me, I observed the small clearing I now found myself in. It was time for me to switch recordings. The words of a book I had just previously finished called Survival Tactics started playing where the Manual of Monsters had left off. ‘Good hunters always exhaust their prey before going in for the kill, essentially eliminating any chance of the hunt’s failure.’ Okay that was useful, but I’m the prey. If a confrontation did occur after the monster tired me out, my chances of survival would be unbelievably slim. Knowing that didn’t exactly make me feel any better, but Eidetic Memory doesn’t care about one’s feelings. I did some calculations in my head and came to an important realization. If I was going to make it out of this I had to fight right then and there while I still had a chance, but there was one small dilemma. I didn’t have any weapon to speak of. I needed a way to defend myself.

At that moment, the Grogg thrashed against the tree it was stuck in. A decent sized branch broke off and landed in my general direction. I instinctively grabbed the stick and pulled it close. Next, I picked up a rock that was roughly the size of an adult foot and was partially buried in the ground a few feet from where I was standing. Without panicking, I pulled my belt off as fast as I possibly could and tried to use it to secure the rock tightly to the end of the stick. I finished making the make-shift club I had hastily thrown together and stopped briefly to admire my handiwork. Feeling a little better with my new makeshift weapon in my hands, I spun around to face the Grogg just as it managed to pull itself free from the split.

The Grogg looked down at the ‘weapon’ in my hand and let out a horrible howl that chilled me to my core but I had resolved myself not to run any more. It turned back to the tree it was just stuck in and grabbed the entire right side of the split. The tree whined in protest, then gave way to the monsters strength. The Grogg swung the log around like it was testing the weight of it before it looked back at me with an evil smile. I was terrified, but I refused to budge. This would be the only window of opportunity I would get. I couldn’t afford to let my nerves ruin it for me. About twenty feet separated me and the monster, which put me just barely out of the Grogg’s melee attack range for the second. If it decided to throw its weapon at me again, I wouldn’t be able to dodge at this distance. I was really hoping the monster was too stupid to realize that. Time seemed to temporarily slow down as the Grogg and I stared at each other.

What seemed like an eternity passed before the Grogg finally moved, lunging at me with all of its strength and speed. It swung the branch it was using down vertically from over its head, trying to flatten me into the ground. I waited as long as I could before I made my move. Finally just before impact, I leapt from my spot and rolled just out of the way of the strike. I felt my feet hit the ground after the somersault and somehow managed to spring back up smoothly.

With one fluid motion, I had dodged the strike and closed about half the distance between us. The branch the Grogg had been using as a club was huge, and I figured initially that it would take some time before the monster was able to swing again. I let out a battle cry that seemed to come out of the very depths of my soul, and rushed towards the Grogg as fast as I could.

Using all of the little strength my feeble body possessed, I slammed the rock end of my makeshift club into the side of the Grogg’s right leg, bludgeoning its knee bone. There was a sickening crack accompanied by the monster letting out a howl filled with pain and anger. It stumbled and fell down on one knee, briefly losing the ability to support its weight. “I did it!” I shouted, absolutely shocked that my idea had managed to work. Unfortunately while I was having my little celebration, the monster must have figured out that I was distracted and suddenly lashed out at me.

The Grogg swung the back of its massive hand at me in the same way you’d swat a common house fly. I managed to get my arms up to protect myself, but it barely made a difference. The monster’s arm barrelled into me, sending me flying through the air. I landed on my back and felt the air rush out of me. The blow from the Grogg felt like I was hit by a horse, and I could feel my mouth fill with a warm liquid. As I lay there, I struggled to breath and my insides screamed at me. I tried to resist the urge to vomit and failed, spitting up a pool of dark crimson onto the ground. I didn’t need to see the puddle to know it was blood. Both my arms were completely shattered and my intestinal organs had been significantly damaged. I would live, but not for long if I didn’t get medical attention quickly.

I managed to glance over in the Grogg’s direction from where I lay on my back, and watched as the monster struggled to get back to its feet. For whatever reason an image of my father yelling at me about following the rules flashed through my mind, almost mocking me for being so over-confidant and stupid. In that moment, it occurred to me that I would probably never get to hear his voice again. I started crying and I regretted that I hadn’t listened to him. I couldn’t do much more than pray to the maker as the Grogg finally closed in on me. My (albeit brief) life flashed before me, leaving a terrible sense of regret and envy in its wake. I grit my teeth and closed my eyes, waiting for the death blow that would send me off to the other side, but the strike never came.

“ARRRRGHH!” the Grogg howled again and fell back to the earth with a resounding thud. Shocked, I opened my eyes and tried to roll over on my side to see what was happening but my injuries wouldn’t allow for it. There clamped onto the back of the Grogg’s Achilles tendon and ripping out large chunks of bloody flesh with every bite was the little dog I had found earlier. The Grogg was clearly in a tremendous amount of pain, wildly thrashing its good leg about as the monster desperately tried to get the dog to release its leg. After a number of wild kicking motions it managed to get its leg free, and the dog was thrown several feet through the air into a nearby rock. The force of the impact was so great that the rock partially crumbled. Horrified that the dog had just died protecting me, I was relieved when the poor thing let out a painful moan. The dog’s chest slowly rose and fell, and I could tell that it was somehow still breathing.

The Grogg slowly made its approach and I figured that this was the end. I couldn’t help but think sarcastic thoughts as the monster inched towards me. How embarrassing. At least I didn’t go down without a fight. Well, I guess the grand wizard had nothing to worry about after all. I’m going to die long before the end of the world ever arrives.

I closed my eyes and waited for the impact, but it never came. When I finally opened my eyes, the Grogg was staring at me with a look of utter shock. Sticking out of the Grogg’s neck was three feet of bloody steel. The Grogg desperately grasped at the sword protruding from its throat and began to tumble over. When the monster finally fell, there on the other side of its corpse was my father.

Ilan moved from the Grogg to the dog that was resting against the rock it had smashed into. At first I wasn’t sure what my father was doing but then he raised his blade to deliver a blow to the dog who whimpered slightly in response.

“NO!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, loud enough to startle my father. “That dog saved me, you can’t kill it!” I pleaded with him. Ilan looked at me with a frown on his face. “If you knew what this animal was you would kill it yourself, boy. That thing you call a dog is a hell hound. It can’t be allowed to live.”

“I don’t care what you say he is, he’s my pet and he saved my life!” I said as I used the last bit of strength I had to pull myself between the dog and my father. The exertion of moving my body abruptly caused my mouth to fill with blood again, but I fought through the pain and rose to look my father in the eyes. “He risked his own safety to put himself between me and the Grogg, he’s not a monster!”

My father regarded me without speaking for a while, then eventually let out a long sigh. “You should know Aelan, because of my refusal to hand you over, many people within the empire already see us Kogans as untrustworthy. Certain individuals have even imposed sanctions on our county out of nothing but pure speculation and spite. Putting down the monster and reporting it to the proper authorities is the safest thing to do before we garnish even more negative attention upon our household. You understand this, correct?”

I normally would have bit my tongue in this circumstance, but I chose to take a stand this time instead. “I’m sorry for saying this father, but that’s ridiculous. I may not understand everything concerning my title, but I do understand the way people feel about it. Killing a monster to avoid the empire’s suspicion will never change how the rest of the world feels about me. Besides; if the protection of the county is all you’re concerned about, why wouldn’t you have just killed me? You’re a good man, you should know this is wrong.”

My father stood ready to execute the dog, unflinching as he listened to my speech. His blade hovered over the dog’s neck as he stood lost in contemplation. Just as I began to think I hadn’t gotten through to him, he returned his sword to its scabbard. “My, you have grown. It seems my feelings may have overclouded my judgement. It would seem that you’re right. Harboring a monster won’t change our current situation too drastically, but you’ve made one small error. In life, I have never been concerned with what’s right or wrong. The only thing that matters to me is risk vs reward. It’s how I make all of my decisions. I saved you because I calculated that you would be an asset worth the trouble, not because of some trivial feeling like love or doing the right thing.”

“Wow, I feel really special.”

“Shut it Aelan, or I’ll shut it for you." My father glanced at my face and the hell hound a few times before finally giving in. "...Fine. You can keep the mutt, but you have to take care of him on your own. I will not have that thing mixing with the battle hounds we have, nor will it be the hound master’s job to see to him. If I hear even a peep from anyone about the hell hound causing trouble within the castle I will execute him myself. Am I understood?” And with that, our little family grew larger by one.

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