In a time when magic was prevelant and monsters roamed the land, a child was born who was marked to change the destiny of the entire world. Many such children are born every day and some go on to fulfill their destinies while others live mundane lives and their potential is wasted. But there was something different about this birth. The mother knew it and the father knew it but nobody else seemed to care. Perhaps that is because nobody else was present for theirbtheir  and maybe and most likely of all it was because of the tragedy that happened shortly after their birth. 

Born in the back of a wagon driven by the father on their way to the great city, this marked child was only a few hours old when the bandits attacked. Days later the people of the home town would find the wreckage of the looted wagon and the corpses of the mother and the father picked at by the beasties that came after. The good people of the town who found them made the only logical assumption that the child that hadn't yet been born when they'd set out for the city had perished in the attack as well. They couldn't even bring themselves to think that the poor thing may have survived the attack only to be dragged away by the beasties. Bandit and wolf attacks were so common along this trail to the city that it had become a tragic commonplace occurrance to lose a townsperson or two or three every few weeks and that is what it was all chocked up to be. One more tragic loss that nothing could be done about.

Those very same townspeople didn't think twice when a young person about the right age to fit the child lost on that day came to the town years later. So many young people had been coming out to their small frontier town of late to set out for their own adventures or to settle in to a place they could call home away from the noise and people of the city. The loss had been so long ago and so many more had occurred since then that it really meant nothing to any of them. Well most of them at least. There was one man who looked into this aspiring young person's eyes when they first arrived and saw the glint of a memory. A memory of a lost sister that had died alongside her husband to a bandit attack some years ago now. But it was merely a glint of a memory and that quickly passed. 

The child, now almost an adult by the standards of the time, took to the odd jobs around the town that needed doing with a fervor and dedication that nobody truly understood coming from an outsider. But in time they became accustomed to it and many of the long time residents began to take a liking to them.

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"Teva!" 

One of the Stonekeeper brothers was headed Teva's way and that old dwarf sure looked excited about something. 

"Oh Teva, you won't believe what we've discovered! We've found it, we've finally found it!"

He stopped his excited chatter and looked around where they were standing. It was the middle of the town out in the open and a few other folks were passing by. Brodgren, the dwarf, spotted one of the Blueburn thugs that had recently taken a liking to the town lounging about and perking up his ears at the excitedly booming voice of the dwarf. 

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"Hmmm, maybe it's best if we head elsewhere before I tell you any more, kiddo. Here, drop that pile of rocks and follow me. It'll be worth it I swear. On my life as a Stonekeeper." He placed one hand over his heart and the other twisted his beard as was the custom his brothers all seemed to share.

Teva looked from the excited dwarf to the interested Blueburn nearby and then at the wheelbarrow of decorative red stone they'd been hauling for Mister Brathen. It wasn't worth much but still they'd agreed to take care of it by end of day. Looking up the sun was still high in the sky so there was plenty of time to hear old Brodgren out and return to finish moving the stone afterward. Teva settled the wheelbarrow down on its supports and shrugged at the now almost impatient dwarf who immediately took it as a sign that Teva would indeed follow him and took off in the direction of the Greenhill Inn. Teva smiled feeling the infectious excitement start to build and took off after the dwarf.

Greenhill Inn was one of the few buildings Teva actually felt comfortable staying inside, for some reason the warmth of the place and the people who ran it was almost as inviting as the outdoors was and the food was always good. Seeing as it was after lunch time but to early for most of the day workers to be in for drinks there was plenty of leftovers for Teva to snack on without any onlookers. Tomden, the owner of the inn had had a problem with rats a little while back that Teva had taken care of discretely and now they had a bit of a deal where whatever food didn't get finished but wasn't proper enough to serve again could go Teva's way pretty much whenever. Tomden didn't know it but Teva had never harmed any of those rats back then, in fact Teva had never harmed an animal before, rather the animals had simply been encouraged to find another place to live and take food from. However it was handled though the deal stood and today there was plenty of leftover stew.

Teva sat happily on a stool spooning stew into open mouth down to hungry stomach all the while listening to Brodgren tell of the brothers' great discovery. Apparently a long lost mine that hid secrets to immense power had been nearby their town all this time and the Stonekeepers were planning on starting an operation. It was all very hush hush and the only reason Brodgren was even willing to tell Teva about it was because everybody knew that Teva hadn't spoken a word since arriving in the town back in the day. It had been odd at first but folks had quickly become accustomed to it as Teva had proved again and again just how useful they could be here. But that wasn't the only reason Brodgren was telling Teva all of this.

"I want you to come to the city with me, Teva." 

He announced. The spoon that had been going from bowl to mouth and bowl to mouth again froze midway there. A bit of the stew sloshed onto the Teva's pants as they stared at the old dwarf.

"I know, I know. You haven't left this town since you arrived but..." 

Brodgren sped up as if he could convince Teva if only he talked fast enough. "Well there's nobody I know better with animals and I'm going to need to hire a wagon and some draft horses to haul all the supplies I'll need back here before we can really get our operation going and if I have to take horses over The Trail I'd really rather have somebody I know and trust to get them back in one piece to do it." He breathed in as if to start speaking again but the spoon in Teva's hand slowly was placed in the bowl again and then released. The silent near-adult placed their hand on Brodgren's arm and smiled. The tension all went out of the dwarf's body and he sighed a sigh of relief. 

"So you'll do it? You'll go to the city with me just like that?"

Teva simply nodded and grinned. And just like that the destiny that had come so close to being cut short so many years ago was begun again. Teva's adventure was about to begin.