The next winter hit hard. It was cold, very cold. He was not used

to it yet despite having been born into it so many years ago. He

woke up to the sound of wolves howling in the distance, they

sounded big. Probably Dorynies. His father started calling him

out of his room in order to aid the village against the attack.

‘Alduin, come here! And fetch me my bow! Do so quickly we

haven’t much time!’ His father shouted in a way befitting of his

status.

Aeden the Golden they called him. Alduin followed his orders and

quickly started running out of the house. As he glimpsed out

of the door, into his line of sight immediately emerged three

wolves.

‘I knew those were Dorynies’ howls!’ He told himself quietly,

smiling.

Three frighteningly large ones, around three meters tall and one

meter wide each, wearing dark-brown fur, shivering void-black

eyes and fangs that do not fall short off a cutlass. He threw his

father’s bow to him while also unsheathing his dagger from

its scabbard, preparing for the wolves’ attacks. Despite being

one of the youngest in his village, he was still considered the

deadliest of the rookies as a result of his father’s tough training

routine throughout his childhood. At the feeble age of nine

he had already mastered the usage of daggers and basic ice

spells such as Ice-Touch and Ice Spikes, which was regarded

as very impressive even amongst the Elves who were way more

physically capable and intelligent than humans. With such quick

progress, at the age of eleven he was already a formidable foe.

Though his goal was not just to become powerful, he was striving

to become a Hekket.

His father and him were already completely in sync due

to their long years of training together. They were swift. As

one shot his arrow the other manifested his catlike reflexes –

using the arrow as a distraction to land a fatal blow to the wolf’s

essential organs with his blade. They killed one, then two, then

three of them all by themselves, both very excited of Alduin’s

progress towards becoming a guard and following his father’s

footsteps.

With the end of the raid came the shouts and cheers of cele-

bration – and with that a feast! Snow Elves are not as gracious

or royal as the High Elves or humans, but they do tend to throw

balls and feasts when the time or need for one arises. Alduin

knew today was a great day for him, he had proved both to his

father and to his village that he is worthy of the title of Hekket.

He wondered whether his uncle would attend. In Snow Elf vil-

lages Hekkets are chosen once every ten years (one hundred and

ten in human years) between villagers that are at least twelve

years of age and have already earned the village’s respect as both

fearsome fighters and potential commanders.

‘Only two more years!’ He shouted to his dad, grinning.

‘Yes,’ his father responded with a quick smile.

As years passed the villagers began looking up to Alduin, having

kept assigning him with several tests and tasks in order to assess

his resolve and virtue. One of them consisted of sending him

off to the wilderness to survive all by himself for a year in the ice-cold arctic lands they called home - Euphata. In that exam

he had proven himself to be very capable and strong-willed for

he had not only survived for a year, but two. It was finally 28th

of Ruyen, 1220 MDW. Today was the day the Hekket trials were

planned to finally take place, after more than a hundred humans

years from their previous occurrence. He was thirteen years old

now and finally able to take on the last test for him to become a

Hekket. Alduin was obviously very excited. You could see it on

his very face, always smiling like he’d just won something. He

woke up a few hours before sunrise in order to prepare for his

examination today.

Tradition dictated that in order to participate in the Hekket

trials one must pay a tribute – the bodies of two Dorynies, two

snow tigers, three bunnies, one snow fox, one bear and one snow

lion. Tradition also dictated that the hunt for these creatures

must begin and end exactly on the day as the trials themselves.

In addition, each contender must chant a Cylie spell and finish

obtaining the required tributes before the spell wears out so he

had to begin early. He ate his breakfast (a few slices of bread

with leftover bunny stew his mother cooked last night), wore his

hunting gear and went out of the house. As he exited his house

he saw three youngsters going on their way to fetch their own

tributes.

‘I see I’ve got competition,’ he said to himself and waved to

his competitors, wishing them luck.

They waved back at him.

‘Vetir cillie, yur u cillie!’ He shouted.

This spell showed how much time one has left until a specific

event would begin. It was mostly used by elven prophets to

inform people of the time they had left before something ter-

rible was deemed to occur, like a natural disaster or the death

of someone specific. When activated, one’s arm would be filled with elvish runes glowing in the color of ice and each rune rep-

resented a whole hour. Only extremely skilled mages were able

to set the spell to a specific event and so Alduin was not able to

do so by himself.

His father, being the overseer of the trials had installed

magical seals on all exits. When a seal detected the presence of

Cylie, it would set it to wear out the moment the hunting phase

of the trials was supposed to end. He exited the town and as he

had done so, all of the runes disappeared except for only four to

remain.

‘Only four hours huh? Harsh! I’ll make it!’ He thought to

himself and smiled briefly.

‘Let’s see... Hm.... Dorynies, bears and wolves are not active

at this hour. I’ll start with getting the bunnies, then the fox and

then the tigers!’

The bunnies required for the trials only lived in forests. The

nearest forest to the village was the great forest ‘Vel Anot’a Fa’. It

was named that way because of its unique phenomenons. It was

created via magic by the first clan chief of Alduin’s village many

years ago inside of a huge ball of ice. The forest was protected

by a very strong magic barrier that hides it in plain sight and

was only penetrable by a specific school of magic called ‘Key’ –

unsealing magic.

Magic in Vanthea was mainly used through chants, spo-

ken in Omnitongue and must be pronounced the exact way as

intended (including grammar) or one may face severe conse-

quences. Best case was that the spell itself would just not work

(or would work but weaker than intended). Worst case was that

you would lose a limb forever. He remembered the words. They

were Sner, Nor and Din. The problem was remembering in which

order he should utter them! He decided to go by instinct, be-

cause to be frank he had no time to waste...

‘Din nor sner!’ He shouted.

Nothing happened so he tried again.

‘Sner din nor!’

And again.

‘Nor din sner!’

He was correct! Immediately emerged a tremendously big ice-

ball that stood in front of him. After a few seconds it suddenly

cracked and revealed an enormous forest inside! Alduin quickly

ran inside of it before the crack closed itself up again and started

his hunt for the bunnies.

‘This is so bizarre. I’ve never been here before. Actually, I’ve

never even seen green leaves before! All I ever saw was trees

covered by thick snow,’ he said, extremely excited.

When he realized that he was caught in awe instead of looking

for the bunnies he slapped himself on the cheeks, gave himself

a word of reassurance and went on his way to look for them. Fi-

nally, he found a few droppings that seemed to belong to a bunny.

He proceeded to smell and examine them and then climbed on

a tree to look for his first kill. For a human, this task may be

immensely difficult. Bunnies are tiny and very quiet. Snow

Elves however or rather Elves in general have extremely useful

hearing and seeing abilities. Their hearing is a lot clearer, their

depth perception is better, they can assess the distance between

them and a target and can easily locate a small animal from a

few kilometers away.

He started looking for a bunny using his supernatural eyes

and suddenly after a few seconds had caught a glimpse of one!

He quickly took out his bow and shot it instantly.

‘Drawing my bow this time took less than a second! I am

improving! Two bunnies to go,’ he shouted with a big smile

drawing from one cheek to the other.

He’d already gotten used to the terrain by now. The only thing

left was locating two more bunnies which he had successfully

achieved using his supernatural ears. He heard a noise between two bushes about six hundred meters away from him.

He quickly but silently started sprinting towards it and as he

took out his dagger and unleashed one powerful thrust towards

the bush, he heard a bunch of bunnies crying in agony. Behind

the bushes was a small family of bunnies. One mother and her

two offspring.

‘They said three bunnies, not three adult bunnies! I’m done

here. Hehe. Now it’s time to get out of here and start looking

for a fox,’ he said to himself.

He began rehearsing the correct chant to reopen the exit out of

the forest so he wouldn’t find himself stuck inside. The ice ball

opened and he swiftly ran out of it. The next target on his list

was a snow fox – a very rare find but also a truly majestic one.

At this time of day they were either looking for food or hiding in

holes in the ice for protection and warmth.

Locating a fox would be much more complicated than lo-

cating the bunnies back in the forest. They left droppings that

were easily noticeable on the forest ground while the snowy land-

scape was vast. Trying to find a few droppings on it was nearly

impossible. He knew his only way of finding a fox would be to

look for their usual prey - lemmings or pools in the ice where the

foxes would hunt small penguins, fish or other small rodents in

the area. He decided to use his sense of sight in order to locate

those animals and through them, locate a fox. Suddenly, as he

was walking carefully on the ice floor trying to find an animal,

he had heard a mighty roar of a large animal.

—

‘Are you coming, son?’

‘Yes.’

‘Today we will practice a very specific sword art that my

father taught me when I was your age. If you impress me with

your progress I will tell your mother to prepare your favorite

food today! Enough motivation for you?’ Aeden smiled.

‘Yes!’

‘Good! Follow me!’

Alduin followed his father who was as usual, sprinting rather

than taking his time. He must not fall behind! A five-year-old

elvish fighter of his reputation and repertoire should be able to

keep up with this speed. His father took him to a pond where

many wolves used for daily fishing. He threw one of his swords

at him, testing his reflexes.

‘Ouch!’

He managed to catch the sword but it was a little too late. It hit

his chest hard.

‘Never lose focus.’

‘Yes, father.’

‘Now. I am now going to demonstrate a move called Whirl-

wind Spider. Charge at me and try to land a horizontal strike to

my chest.’

Alduin did as was instructed. Just before it seemed like the sword

would slash open his father’s torso, he did a backflip, landed

on all fours stretched out. Then, used his left arm to spin his

body around for a kick to Alduin’s legs, knocking him off his

feet. Then, Aeden immediately launched himself to stand on his

left hand, curled his arm muscles and threw himself in the air

for a pirouette that ended with a vertical strike. Alduin tried to

defend himself using his bare arms making the shape of an X.

The sound of a bone cracking was instantly heard.

‘Ouch!!! Ow! Ow! Ow! You broke my right arm! My good

arm!’

‘It will heal. I heard Ley taught you restoration magic. Use

it.’

‘I only know how to cast it with my good hand...’ Tears

started dropping from his eyes.

‘Then practice. I made sure the sword would be dull enough

not to cut you but pain is important for training to be effective.

You need to have motivation to dodge or this would be futile.’

‘Yes, father,’ he sighed while wiping his tears.

Aeden threw him a note on which the chants for the restoration

spell were written.

‘I know you tend to forget things so I prepared this for you.’

‘Thank you, father.’

‘Gladly. Now heal yourself and practice this move on me.’

He took the piece of paper and began reading the words in a calm

voice. Spells work less efficiently when one is not completely

calm minded.

‘Benejil ant. Benejil tvek u ant.’

It did not seem to work and it took him five tries to get his arm

fixed.

‘Now. Let’s begin,’ his fahter said affirmly.

His father swiftly executed a horizontal slashed which Alduin

failed to dodge and one of his ribs broke. He screamed but knew

it didn’t faze his father. He healed himself and got back on his

feet, ready for the next iteration. He failed again and again and

again but after about two hours was able to execute the backflip

part of the routine. It wasn’t enough because he was hit on the

head with his father’s sword shortly after.

‘Again!’

Two hours later he had managed to both dodge, backflip and

begin practicing the pirouette. This was good practice for many

skills he would require as a Hekket. Restoration magic are cru-

cial as these special operatives usually guard alone and therefore

must be able to handle their own medical care. It was also good

practice for his reflexes, agility, acrobatics and coordination.

The sun had finally gone down and with it the end of today’s

training.

‘You mastered almost half of this routine. Well done! Your

reward is well deserved!’

‘Thank you, father,’ he said having difficulty to breathe nor-

mally.

‘Tomorrow we will continue practicing it if I have time.’

—

‘What in Munesa is that? A bear?!’ He shouted, panicking

as he wasn’t ready for such a dangerous foe.

He saw a native polar bear charging towards him while revealing

its big sharp teeth. Bears may be smaller than Dorynies but they

are still very fearsome foes. Extremely dangerous when caught

off-guard. He quickly snapped out of his panic and drew his

bow. He remembered his training. Two arrows to the bear’s

eyes, thus taking the bear’s ability to see. Next, he shot three

arrows directly to the bear’s forehead, promising a kill.

‘Phew... That was close! At least I got the bear checked off

my list. Now where is this stupid fox?’

He cut off the bear’s head and attached it to his belt using a small

strap of leather. The sun had risen and the beginning of the trials

was closing by. He had to finish his checklist before the Cylie

spell wore out or else he would be disqualified automatically,

destroying both his father’s and his own reputation.

He started frowning as he thought he had no way of finding

a fox in such short time. The landscape was vast and the snow

was blinding. As his spirit started wearing off he remembered

something his uncle taught him. A spell that he learnt from his

time with the Wood Elves during his journey around the region.

The spell named ‘Animal Call’ was crafted by the first wood Elves

in order to make hunting a lot simpler for their younglings.

Alduin decided to try it out.

‘Hmm.... So, it’s ‘An vetir yul jerda, ternas quo’... And then

I need to add the name of the animal right? So fox is Pheolet.

Okay! An vetir yul jerda, ternas quo pheolet!’ He shouted.

Almost instantly, he heard the high-tone howl of a fox from afar

and its stomps on the ground as it started running towards him.

He was not aware whether the spell had made the animal obey

or whether he chanted it wrong and caused the animal to go

on a violent frenzy. It didn’t matter however since foxes, even

in a magical land such as this, are not dangerous enough for

him to fret. He decided he mustn’t wait and used the most basic

offense magic he knew.

‘Serandi u uli!’

An ice spike blasted from his hand and hit the fox right in its

head, killing it immediately.

‘Okay, so... Three bunnies, check. One bear, check. One

snow fox, check. Now it’s time for finding myself two tigers and

a lion. I’ll leave the Dorynies for the end as they are the most

dangerous on this list,’ he said, breathing heavily.

Finding snow tigers and lions was not an easy task yet it was

rendered a lot easier because of the animal call spell. He shouted

the words in Omnitongue but then grew impatient due to the

lack of some sort of sign that it had actually worked. He decided

to risk his life a bit and call the two tigers and lion at the same

time! Almost immediately he started hearing the roars of mul-

tiple big ‘kittens’ (as he liked to call them in his very arrogant

manner). However, it seemed that he did forget one word in

the spell that specified the number of animals to be summoned.

Two tigers had indeed emerged... But also a whole pack of lions!

Ice spikes began getting launched in the air along with mul-

tiple arrows. Some of them missed but some of them hit their

marks. Three lions went down, then five then eight but he also

had to look out for the tigers that had so ‘conveniently’ decided

to emerge from the other side of the terrain! He tried to look

for an offensive spell that could hit multiple targets at the same

time. For some reason the ferocious beasts kept appearing out

of nowhere, just as if he had kept chanting the spell on and on again. The sheer number of beasts that stood in front of him

was insane. He wasn’t even able to count them all due to their

annoying decision to constantly move.

Alduin was very afraid. He had never fought this many

opponents before but he kept his cool and tried to look for an

elegant solution. His father always said ‘When in doubt, make

the doubt perish’, to which he responded with ‘Easier said than

done, father!’ time and time again. This time however he knew

exactly what his father meant. It is natural to be in doubt when

in a dire situation but you need to assess the risks and come up

with a solution that has a minimal risk alongside a high chance

for success. It wasn’t the existence of doubt that was the problem,

it was letting it remain in your head. In a tough situation you

must act fast to avoid your demise. He must decide what to do

unless he wants to turn into these kittens’ breakfast.

After a few minutes of dodging their claws, killing a bunch

with ice magic and his dagger, an idea had suddenly popped

in his head. He remembered the time his uncle went fishing

with him. Ley enjoyed showing off spells he had learnt from

his journeys. This time, with an area attack. It was a sort of

an ice-release spell but was rather a manifestation of the snow

around him, making it gather in the shape of a circle, and then

muster it together into very thick ice using powerful pressure.

The snow had then become a circular blade that expanded its

radius around him. As he got in the water the circle had begun

expanding and shrinking in some sort of vibration, cutting every

single living being in the radius of a few dozen meters.

‘This could work!!!!! I just need to figure out the words...

Hmm... YES! Uli, feni to balerisa set ant!’ He screamed, almost

desperately.

It worked. It took almost his entire energy but it worked! The

tigers and lions were immediately slayed. He stood there alone,

bleeding and sweating. It was very hard for him to breathe as this spell was a lot more than he anticipated, or even was capable

of doing.

‘I hate those things! Stupid... Fucking... Kittens... And

their stupid... Fucking... Claws!!!’

He suddenly fell to the ground and in his mind he heard his

father’s voice shouting ‘No cursing, boy!’. He pulled his head

out of the snow, rolled his eyes and got back on his feet.

‘What an asshole!’

‘I heard that!’ His father responded and made him fall to

the ground again.

‘Are you spying on me, father?’ He asked him in his mind.

He was answered by nothing but silence.

‘Okay... Wow. [Strong exhale]. [Sigh]. So, now I just need

to kill a few Dorynies and I’m done. Right? Damn! I almost

died! I thought this test would be simple, just as the previous

ones. Never mind! Dorynies are usually found in.... Yeah! They

are usually found in caves surrounding the water, because their

prey is animals that hunt fish like foxes, wolves or even bears. I

think I remember seeing a pack of them yesterday. I’ll go that

way!’

The Cylie had only one rune left on it, meaning he had to kill

two Dorynies in an hour or else he would get kicked out of the

competition. At least he was right about the location of the pack.

They had been staying there, probably hoping for some kind of

snack to appear before them. Ironically, that’s exactly what had

happened.

Alduin knew how to deal with Dorynies. One needs to use

fire as they are weak to it. Unfortunately, he didn’t know any

fire spells but he did know how to light a torch. Plus, flame-

lit arrows were also a valid option. All he needed to do was to

successfully avoid their attacks and only hit them straight in the

head. Missing the mark was not an option.

He sneaked into their cave, swiftly and silently as to not disturb their slumber. He then took two rocks, poured oil on

his arrows and lit them on fire using the spark from hitting one

rock with the other. The bang caused the Dorynies to wake up

and start looking for the tasty intruder. He knew he had no time

to waste and must use stealth if he wanted to keep his loins in

their rightful place. He climbed up a tall rock and waited there

patiently for his first victim to appear. He killed two Betas with

five flaming arrows straight to the skull and the remaining two

betas using a dagger. He attached two heads to his belt and let

out a smirk. The real challenge immediately began. An Alpha

Dorynie is much larger than a beta. Its fur was crimson red, his

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eyes piercing blue and each claw is the size of Alduin’s arm.

‘Arrows wouldn’t work on it,’ he thought to himself.

‘Also my blade wouldn’t work! I have to use fire magic, but

how? I don’t know any flame spells and I’ve never fought an

alpha before. Sneaking is not an option as well as it could very

easily find me. Alpha Dorynies are much more capable...’

Suddenly, the alpha caught his scent and began charging to-

wards him. Alduin decided to run away and hide for a short

while. He recalled something his uncle told him many times

before which he had always associated with cowardice. Now

however it starting making a lot of sense.

—

‘Today I will tell you about the story where I was almost crucified

by a unit of Roman soldiers that caught me stealing their gold.

Oops, sorry... Borrowing their gold. My bad,’ he laughed.

Alduin rolled his eyes. Ley took a sip from his wooden tankard.

‘Roman?’ He asked.

‘Yes! They were a Tri-[Burp] Trireme crew of the Roman

Republic. I will tell you about them in greater detail next time.’

‘Alright, go on.’

‘I was visiting port Piraeus in Greece. I assume you know of

Greece, right?’

‘It is where the ancestor of all ancestors lived!’ Alduin grinned

childishly.

‘Yes! In planet Earth, or 0x403 as The Order calls it. You are

very knowledgeable I see!’

‘What were Roman soldiers doing in Greece?’ Alduin blushed

visibly.

‘Great question! Apparently the Romans were controlling

Greece at the time. Until like 189 MDW or so.’

‘Ah.’

‘Yes. So... This one time a friend of mine told me about a

naval unit rumored to possess such epic treasure that I just had

to borrow it! Right under the deck in the ship’s hold.’

‘Have you fought at sea, uncle?’

‘Yes. Many times! I love the smell of salt and rum as I punch,

kick and slice up good men! And they were really good men.

Tragic.’

‘Yes... Very...’ Alduin rolled his eyes again.

‘I asked my contacts in Piraeus when the ship was deemed

to arrive. I had to wait for two days before they finally came.

Once they boarded I jumped into the water and immediately

began climbing onto the ship with my superb acrobatics. When

an opportunity arose I sneaked into the ship’s hold and started

’accessing’ the biggest looking chest i could find!’

‘So infiltrating their ship was that easy?’

‘Nope!' He burped, 'They eventually caught me stea-... Looking at

the treasure.’

‘Ha!’ Alduin shouted sarcastically.

‘Unfortunately, some Dunbar soldier decided it was time

for their pre-voyage inventory assessment and caught me in the

act!’

‘And what happened then?’

‘He started yelling for backup and eventually the captain

had me seized. After a brief questioning to which I responded with sheer honesty he had decided to beat me in the head with

the gold I was searching for! It was so very shiny!’

‘You kind of deserved that though...’

‘Right you are! Anyways... They locked me up in a cage. I

heard the captain telling his men that he was going to a tav-

ern nearby to relax a bit. I waited for the next change in guard

which took a few hours of utter boredom. When it finally hap-

pened I used magic to make myself appear like their captain

and convinced the guard to release me.’

‘Did he actually believe you?’

‘Yes! I shouted ‘prisoner escaped’ and rallied up my men to

try and find me. I even joined them in their search for a few

hours!’

‘So stupid...’

‘Yes! After it stopped being funny I just shouted ‘I found

him’ and turned myself back. Their faces! You should have been

there! They were so terribly confused!’

Alduin laughed

‘They circled me awfully quickly so I just sprinted towards

the captain’s quarters and grabbed the shiniest thing I could

find. It was a golden goblet with a bunch of diamonds attached

to it. Then I immediately used that invisibility spell I taught you

and escaped.’

‘Why didn’t you fight them? Humans are weak. You could

have taken so much gold!’

‘Killing soldiers of the Roman empire could get me in seri-

ous trouble. [Burp] Plus, I love [Hiccup] love the wine in Greece

and wouldn’t want to lose my access to it! See? Even mentioning

it makes me all excited!’

‘Uh... Uh-huh.’

‘It was a time where I wasn’t skilled enough in combat. A

unit of that size could have easily made that day my last. I’d

much rather like to keep my trousers, thank you.’

‘Keep my trousers?’

‘Survive I mean. I like my trousers as much as I love life

itself. Made them myself from scales of a dragon and fur from a

Dorynie alpha! Look how astonishingly beautiful they are!’

‘Right... What’s your point?’

‘There is no honor in death, child. [Burp]. Life is great!

There is plenty of food, booze and women to go around. Don’t

waste your life on futile, worthless shit! Money isn’t worth it,

despite the nearly endless possibilities that it unlocks.’

—

He took his bow and rushed towards the exit, barely making

it out without getting his hand torn off by the alpha’s claws.

He made it outside and started running toward the Colosseum

which was positioned around two kilometers northeast of the

village. One misstep or slip and it could be the end for not only

his chances to become a Hekket but also to continue existing.

It seemed that the Dorynie was not fully awake and found it

hard to focus on one tiny Elf running away from it. It gave up

eventually. It was now a lone alpha since its entire pack had been

slain. In terms of nutrition it should definitely survive since

Dorynies were cannibalistic and could consume each other shall

the need arise.

Alduin couldn’t care less regarding the alpha’s newly found

social status in the wild. He finally made it to the arena when

the last rune had almost faded out completely. Almost too late

but also sufficiently early. In the entrance were standing many

people, shouting as they welcomed the children back from their

quest. It had later become known that a few children didn’t sur-

vive the ordeal. Some of them used to be Alduin’s friends, even

his best friend Yulia with whom he’d been friends throughout

his entire childhood. He sobbed out in utter grief and after a few minutes decided to use it as fuel for the upcoming tests. After

all, death was to be expected and his goal was more important

to him than depression. He promised to mourn her death in the

evening, after it all ends.

There were stalls where the candidates would place their

spoils of war and get their entry ticket to the tournament. The

Hekket tournaments as they were later presented to Alduin

were quite cruel. They appeared to be some type of a gladiator

ring but instead of providing each candidate with a weapon

the candidate must make a weapon out of the ‘spoils’ he had

gathered today, with only an hour to do so. Meaning, Alduin

must craft a weapon out of the bodies of Dorynies, bears, tigers

and so forth... Or at least what was left of them.

‘How in Munesa do I do that?’ He thought to himself.

‘Son. Language.’

‘Right... Right... Sorry, father.’

The problem was that he had never crafted weapons before, let

alone from literal animal products. He took out two of the Do-

rynies’ teeth, cut off their skin and tied them all together. Then

he covered the improvised handle with a fox’s fur. He used the

tigers’ teeth to prepare himself some throwing knives. Finally,

time was up! He made himself one ‘sword’ (if you could even call

it a sword) and five throwing knives in the time he was given. It

was time for the grand battle to begin. His family cheered him

on as he entered the arena. His eyes met the happy gaze of Ley

who was still wearing his long black robes.

‘He... He’s here!!!’ Alduin was in pure ecstasy.

He desired to impress his uncle. He saw he had about thirty-

four competitors and the audience bore incredible numbers. He

saw faces he had never seen before. His father told him that the

Hekket trials were very famous in Euphata and many outsiders

had come to witness the rituals and goings on. Apparently, the trials were shared publicly, meaning that all of the Snow Elf

villages in the region participated in them. Each one had its

own turn in the cycle to host it and luckily for Alduin, his turn

had come along with that of his village. His opponents looked

fearsome. Some of them were a lot more masculine than him.

Some seemed a lot swifter and agile. Some seemed a lot older

than him and he could spot two competitors that were at least

thirty years old.

‘Losers... Mhmm, hehe.’

There were bow users, sword users, spear users and many more

creative ideas. Alduin had really no clue as to how someone

could make a bow out of animal corpses so he just stood there

in utter awe and childish curiosity. The match began. You could

see friends forming alliances during the fight in order to ensure

better chances for survival. It was known that only the last five

survivors would win the title of Hekket but the contestants

chose to remain optimistic.

His opponents weren’t only the young Elves competing but

also wild beasts that were caged in by Aeden’s soldiers. On a

tall pillar stood a man holding a sheet of paper, announcing

the amount of survivors left. The numbers dropped extremely

quickly because, well... Many were either exhausted, injured or

both from the entry exam, becoming easy targets for the ones

the test was simple for. Some were eaten by bears, some were

first cut open by some other competitor and only then devoured

whole. Utter madness engulfed the arena. Alduin had killed

about five contestants, lost four of his fingers and had blood

and sweat dripping all over him. Some of the blood was his. He

hoped that not most of it. For a quick second he turned his head

towards his family, hoping to get a look of approval from his

father, though strangely he wasn’t watching the battle; Alduin

saw one of his father’s Hekkets whispering in his ear and he

appeared concerned, nodding worriedly. Distant screams for help were ignored by the crowd as the spectacle of the Hekket

trials was just too interesting. Had something happened?

Eventually it was announced that there were only ten sur-

vivors with Alduin standing amongst them. He was trembling

and exhausted but still very eager to win. He turned his gaze to-

wards his father again, maybe this time he would pay attention

to him, at least a quick nod, but he wasn’t there. A few minutes

later it was shouted that there were nine, eight, seven remain-

ing. It was nearly over and his excitement could not have been

more apparent. Suddenly, cries of wolves, women and children

were heard from outside the Colosseum’s gates! The sky turned

red and there was a very strong scent of iron in the air.

—

‘What? Where am I? What am I? Who are you?’

‘I... I don’t know... Who are you?’

‘I have no idea... Where are we? Why is there no one here

other than us?’

‘I don’t know... I don’t remember anything!!!’ It started

panicking.

The two beings were floating next to each other, facing the vast

landscape.

‘It is beautiful here. I don’t know how to describe this with

other words!’

‘Yes but why are we here?’

‘Again, I have no idea...’

‘This place seems abandoned. It is nothing but a very large

piece of land with no one on it except for us... Shall we try

looking for someone to ask in case there are people residing

here after all?’

‘We can try...’

The two started charging forward. They had no goal in mind

other than trying to find another individual to question regard-

ing their existence. It seemed helpless however as the land was completely and utterly empty. There were no creatures nor build-

ings. Just earth, water and the sky. They kept on going for hours

on end. The time it took for them to forfeit their search was

immeasurable and currently unknown.

‘Well... It seems we are alone here after all.’

‘Yes.’

‘Hmm...’

‘Mmm...’

‘About our names, I have an idea.’

‘What is it?’

‘If no one here is able to recall what our name is, not even

us... Maybe we could just name each other?’

‘I like that idea. What did you have in mind?’

‘For you I thought about either Hala or Vaonie.’

‘I prefer Vaonie. What about a name for you?’

‘Do you have an idea?’

‘I am not very creative.’

‘Hmm... Lulia? Jul? Entus? Austomia? V... Veridia?’

‘Austomia was the one I liked the most.’

‘So, Austomia it is!’

‘So...’

‘So...?’

‘What now?’

‘I think we should figure out why we are here.’

‘Yes. Maybe we were put here to rule this place? After all

we are the only ones here... We could try to come up with new

names for things, make them our own.’

‘What a god complex you have, Vaonie... Luckily for you, I

too possess this personality trait.’

Vaonie generated a sound that could be interpreted as a laugh,

just not by any person with his right mind still intact. Vaonie

and Austomia resembled orbs. Floating around and uttering

words in a language not yet known to anyone. For some reason

they were able to understand each other despite the fact that this

language wasn’t even invented yet. The dialogue you are reading right now has been directly translated via ancient sources of

information and dictionaries.

‘What would you like to name first?’ Austomia asked.

‘This broad thing above us. I want to name it ‘Jul”

‘Fine.’

‘And I wish to name the thing that is below us ‘Veridia”

‘All you did was copy my ideas!’

The same bizarre sound came out again.

‘I will name this region ‘Heonmeyu” Vaonie said.

‘Did we just run out of things to name?’

‘Unfortunately, I think so... I do hope we are mistaken... It

would be very boring.’

‘Hmm... What if we can just create new things?’

‘How?’

‘I don’t know. What if I just think of something and it would

just appear?’

‘I personally think you have officially lost it.’

‘Do you have anything better to do?’

‘True.’

‘Let me try.’

Vaonie began thinking about a certain creature but nothing

happened.

‘Maybe you need to say the word ‘create’?’

‘That sounds way too convenient, but sure I can give it a try.’

Vaonie tried again.

‘Create!’

Out of thin air a being appeared. It bore large wings made of

steel. Hair the color of Jul. Its eyes were the color of Veridia

and its skin had no color named after it yet. It wore no clothes

and after an unknown time period disappeared again into thin

air.

‘Such lazy writing!’ You, right now.

‘That was... Interesting! Now we know we are able to create

things! Maybe we are meant to rule this place.’

‘Maybe...’

‘What do you call it?’

‘I call it ‘Tyrewhiin’. Now you try it!’

Austomia began the same process. This time the same creature

but a bit different appeared. It was no longer naked but wore

something resembling knight armor in human culture. The

armor was shiny and resembled silver. The creature had a large

spear attached to its hip which made it fall a bunch of times due

to the lack of balance it had caused.

‘You should have put that thing someplace else on its thing.’

‘Thing in its thing?’

‘The thing that is itself. I call it ‘Tvek’. And the thing that

is on it that made it fall. I call it ‘Platir’.’

‘So you claim I should have put the platir somewhere else in

its tvek?’

‘Yes!’

Austomia and Vaonie began a journey of creating more and more

words, creatures, concepts and beings. All of them entirely new.

They altered the appearance, abilities, strengths, weaknesses

and so forth of several creatures like the tyrewhiin whose skin

color is now called ‘Pol’. Eventually they had ran out of ideas for

beings to create and name. Suddenly, Austomia had yet another

‘clever’ idea.

‘What if we create more beings like us?’

‘Flying senkels?’

‘No, you know what I mean! More gods like us!’

‘Will they also be able to create things?’

‘No, I think that would just invite trouble. They could be our

own Qulteba! We will base them on us.’

‘Interesting... How many did you have in mind?’

‘Twelve.’

‘Go on with it then. I am intrigued!’

‘I need your help in this for precision.’

‘Alright.’

Their thoughts intertwined and from them immediately emerged

twelve new flying orbs. Their ‘parents’ taught them how to speak

and what the names of everything were. The children were

named, in the chronological order of creation, Hanali, Jaone,

Anor, Kans, Astrugiel, Lodus, Ophiin, Ayurë, Gonuiel, Pholexu,

Kyyn and Fema.

—

The walls of the arena were smashed open like they were nothing

but tea leaves and into the arena entered a hoard of Vaermiraiits. Their numbers were big, very big. Blood was splashing

everywhere. Most of them were wearing dark-gray battle ar-

mor made of metal on which was engraved the shape of a silver

tear in the middle of the torso, short brown capes, silver elegant

circlets on their heads and two axes in their arms. A vampire

general ordered his minions to kill or kidnap everyone in sight.

The women were mostly kidnapped in order to be used both for

pleasure and the occasional thirst for blood.

Alduin was attacked by three vampire soldiers ganging up

on him to no avail as the arena had warmed him up for battle.

They were wearing black chain-mail armor and silver helmets

covering their eyes almost entirely. After all, all they needed was

their sense of smell. Some fought using their claws and some

using regular weapons like halberds, axes, swords and spears.

Their armor stood no chance against his ugly, improvised and

yet also quite deadly weapons.

During the turmoil he had begun looking for people he knew

in order to strategically group up and fight together. Doing so

had left quite a mark on his heart however as while searching

a variety of corpses had entered his sight. Tragically amongst

them were laid to rest the bodies of his mother, elder sister and

most of his childhood friends. All he had left now was his father

and uncle... The arena was already smeared in blood and bodies

of hundreds of Elves. It seemed that the vampires were very

excited to find so much of fresh meat all in one place.

‘So much food in one place!’ The general shouted and laughed

loudly.

Alduin began panicking. The sight of his dead relatives filled

him with misery, agony and hatred. He sprinted to his mother.

‘Mom! Wake up, please! Mom!!!’ He screamed and shook

her torso, his hands grabbing her shoulders, sobbing but to no

avail, ‘Please!!!’ He screamed again and caressed her hair with

his right hand.

He closed her eyes with his fingers and then tried the same with

his sister.

‘Veridia, please! Wake up! Open your eyes! I beg you!

Please!!!’ His face was soaked with tears.

Eventually, he gave up and looked away, trying to escape the

realization that they were dead. He knew he could not best the

hoard, especially because he had never been taught how to fight

them. He witnessed his father taking on three generals all by

himself but it was clear that he would eventually lose in a very

short while. Behind Aeden a black figure was laying on a large

pool of blood on the snow. Focusing his eyes on it had made it

clear that it was the body of his uncle Ley. A person Alduin had

cherished and adored immensely. He was desperate. He started

crying for help from the gods and got angry as he was met with

no response. He blamed them for his agony and started running

towards the vampire generals. Hoping he could at least die with honor. Live and die a warrior. Aeden and Alduin fought together

like twins, in complete and utter sync. One general ironically

collapsed from sheer loss of blood. They spared him no time to

lick some blood off the ground in order to heal and so he had

eventually perished. It was not enough, however.

The two remaining generals successfully stuck their claws

in Aeden’s chest who was already mortally wounded from before.

Alduin started crying and lost all manner of patience and sanity.

He knew he was going to die so making foolish mistakes didn’t

seem as shameful to him as they once did. He tried to punch

the general that stood in front of him right in his ugly little face,

hoping to make him lose consciousness so he could focus on one

enemy at a time. It did not work. The general caught his fist in

the air, turned him around and broke his arm. Alduin screamed

from shuddering pain.

‘Look what we have here... Quite daring I say. Hey, Gozo!

Look at this little pipsqueak!’ The general laughed and said.

‘He seems tasty, there’s something you just can’t beat when

it comes to child meat! I like his eyes, let’s take him with us!

Don’t hurt him, I want him for myself!’ Gozo replied, smirking

and laughing.

‘Fine! Here, take him!’

‘Come with me you little insect, you’re mine now!’

‘Why won’t you just kill me and be done with it? I am begging

you I have nothing left!’ Alduin cried.

‘Why do you think that I care? You’re mine and that’s that,

now be quiet and stay tasty before I simply take your arm instead

of merely breaking it!’

Alduin could not fathom the situation he was in. He woke up

today to the thought of fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming

a Hekket. Instead, his entire clan was slaughtered, his family

included, and he would become a slave of a Vaermiraiit clan.

He was all alone in the world now. He wanted to shout, fight and kick but he knew it would only anger the general Gozo which

would worsen his condition. He decided to act mature and

accept the situation as it was.

‘Maybe if I get them to like me, they’d spare me and I could

start a new life somewhere else!’ He said to himself.

Alduin sighed.

‘I know it sounds stupid but do you actually have any better

plan?’ He replied to himself.

The vampires started scavenging the arena while taking all tasty

looking corpses they could find. They also pillaged through the

village’s houses, taking jewelry and any other shiny looking ob-

jects. Gozo cuffed Alduin up with metal he found on the ground

and put him on his massive shoulder.

‘Guys, let’s get going! This has been fun! Let’s enjoy our

spoils back at base!’ He shouted to his men.

Alduin could see the village getting further and further away.

Smaller and smaller in perspective. It would probably be his last

time seeing his home.

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Author's note - I hope to get reviews and feedback. Thank you :)