Today was the day. Zorn was finally 18 years old and it was his ascension day. He threw himself out of his bed and quickly got dressed. He threw on a plain white shirt with some black leather pants and a belt with an attached dagger before heading out of his room. As he left he almost ran into a maid who was dusting a painting in the hallway. He quickly apologized as he sprinted through the halls of his house. As he ran the wind almost seemed to speak to him as it rushed past his ears. He quickly made it to the small gathering hall where his mother and his breakfast was waiting.

He quickly took his seat and began devouring the food that had been laid out for him before he had arrived. “Well, you're currently in a rush this morning.” his mother commented. As she watched him devour the plate of food in mere seconds.

“I mean it's finally the big day. I have been waiting for this day for what feels like forever.” he shoveled another big bite of food into his mouth as his mother let out a long exasperated sigh.

“You know you could at least show some of the manners of a young nobleman.” his mother seemed to sigh as if resigned to her fate before whispering under her breath. “Oh, where ever did I ever go wrong.”

The softly spoken words seemed to carry themselves almost unnaturally to his ears as a gust of wind swept through one of the open windows. “I don’t think you did anything wrong mom. All things considered, I think you did a great job.” He said between bites as he shoveled more food into his mouth. The food as always was amazing, and Zorn couldn't help but to shove his cheeks with as much food as possible.

“You know that means less coming from you than you would think.”

“He just gave her another large grin; crumbs falling out of the corner of his mouth as he did so. This time he did his mother the courtesy of swallowing before asking. “So, you said you had a big surprise for me? What is it?” Zorn asked excitedly.

“Well, I was going to wait and give you this just before you left for the awakening, but since you are so eager I'll give it to you now.” a small box floated over from the corner of the room and into his mothers hands. “This is something that I acquired many years ago at great price from the king of Edmondon.'' She looked at the box for a long moment and a flash of sadness seemed to cross her face as old memories buried were once again brought up. A moment later the box left his mothers hands and slowly floated its way across the table and into his own cupped hands that were held out in front of him, his food forgotten for the moment.

The box at first glance looked like a normal wooden box, but upon closer inspection he could just start to see the very small runic lettering all around the edge of the box that was no bigger than one of his hands. He just sat there and carefully inspected the box trying his best to read the runic lettering just as his teacher had taught him to do, but before he was able to decipher many of the runes his mother startled him out of his inspection of the box.

“Well, are you just going to stare at the box all day or are you going to see what's inside?”

Knowing that he shouldn't have kept his mother waiting he quickly did as she asked and opened the seemingly ordinary box even if the runes did intrigue him. Inside the box sat what looked like a small iron ring which rested on a velvet pillow. He knew it didn't look like much, but he knew that some of the most powerful items hid their power behind seemingly ordinary facades, and based on what his mother had already told him about the price she had spent to acquire this ring he knew that it must be an extraordinary item. Picking up the ring he began to carefully look over the ring. After a quick inspection he discovered many microscopic runes on the inside of the ring. They were so small that he couldn't make even a single one out. “What is this? It's nothing like anything I have ever seen before.”

“It's a ring of concealment, and from this day forward you will never take this ring off ever again. This ring will keep your secrets hidden from anyone wishing to uncover them with magic, skills, or abilities.” She said with a stern voice a bit of hidden tension also coming out as she spoke.

His mother was serious, and Zorn could sense it, but that didn't stop him from questioning her. “But why do I need this? Zorn questioned. “I get the usefulness of such an item, but why do I need it?” he questioned again. “Today is the day of my awakening. It's like I currently have some secrets to hide, and it is not likely there will be anything of importance to hide in my status.”

“You will have more to hide than you know, and you have had many advantages that others did not. It's better to start hiding your secrets now rather than later when you actually have secrets and no way to conceal them. Besides, your father and I have our own secrets which could be discovered through you if you're not careful.”

He saw in his mothers eyes that she was trying to tell him something, but the creeping tendrils of familiar anger “Yes, my father who I still know nothing about.” Zorn said with a bit of heat in his voice.

His mother just let out a long exasperated sigh, for they had this conversation many times before. “I will explain everything very soon, as soon as you get back from your awakening, and not one moment before.” Cassandra said with not a bit of heat in her own voice as she had said this line many times before.

Zorn just sighed and let it matter drop and the familiar anger faded away. He would have his answers soon enough and pressing the matter would only ruin this happy occasion. He slid the new ring onto his right ring finger before continuing. “Well, I'll be heading off to the temple here in a few minutes. Is there anything I Should know about before leaving?” Zorn said. Emphasizing the word should as he spoke.

“Don’t tell anyone about the nature of your abilities after the awakening even if they ask you, either lie or decline to answer. It's not uncommon for sions of noble houses to not talk about the nature of their abilities; it won't raise any eyebrows if you decline to talk about the results of your awakening.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Okay thanks for the information. Now if you'll excuse me I'm running late and I don't leave now I might be late.” Zorn grabbed another perfect slice of toast off the table and slathered it in a crimson colored jelly before he fled the room. Taking a bite he savored the flavor. He had no idea how Meranda made food taste so good, but it was always amazing.

Walking through the corridors he saw many of the various workers employed by their house. Zorn had never liked thinking of them as servants even in his own head. It almost felt demeaning to them, for many of them he had known his whole life and were almost family to him in many ways. “Good morning Mrs. Hanns, you are looking as lovely as ever.” the middle aged woman waved as he passed.

“Good morning young master. Are you ready for your big day?” she said in a cherry voice

“As ready as I've ever been.” Zorn responded back. The mild anger from his conversation with his mother already forgotten. He would have answers soon so there was no need to dwell on the old argument any longer.

“That's good to hear young master.”

When he finally finished traversing the manors halls he emerged into the light of early morning, and saw the manor grounds laid out before him. As always the grass was neatly trimmed and every bush was flawlessly cut, and even the flowers were carefully cultivated into neat rows. Bending over one of the many plants was the old groundskeeper Gorden. Gordon was an ancient looking man in a brownish white shirt and dirt covered leather pants and a tool belt around his thin waist. “It's good to see you Gordon. How are you feeling after that fall you took?”

“Oh yes I am. Your mother, Lady Cassandra bless her heart, had Elna the alchemist make something up for me, I was only laid up in bed for a couple of days as the healing tincture did its work.”

“Well that's good to hear. But still try to be more careful in the future, okay.” Gordons voice was quite frail sounding, but despite this his body still looked strong and healthy.

“Of course, of course. I'll be sure to get some of the younger boys to do all the tall ladder trimming going forward.”

“I'll hold you to that. If I hear even one word about you climbing one of the tall ladders again I'll send Mrs. Meranda out here to set you straight with her wooden spoon.” Zorn threatened. It wasn't an idle threat either. He had been the subject of her wooden spoons ministrations more than once when he was a child. She hadn't taken kindly to him taking her sweat rolls when they had been cooling off.

“Oh that won't be necessary.” Gordon waved his hands emphatically. “No more tall ladders for me.” as he said that he made a cross with a circle on the center of his chest. It was a symbole many of the devotees of the god of truth used to signal their sincerity.

Zorn just nodded as he walked away. Everyone in the manor was scared of Meranda’s spoon. Himself included.

After only a minute of walking Zorn finally made it to the gates of the manor's compounds only to be greeted by two of his oldest friends. James and Stephen were twins and had ascended a few months ago when they turned 18. Their father, Captain Lazarus was the head of his family's private guard. After the twins had awakened he had officially recruited them into the family guard. They had been living in the manors compound for his whole life and had been his best friends for as long as he could remember.

Even though they only “officially” joined the guard a few months ago their father had been grooming them for the position for as long as any of the boys could remember. “Well. Well. Well. if it isn't the two trouble makers on gate duty again.” Zorn flashed them a wide smile as he walked up.

“Oh, come off your high horse Zorn, we all know it was you who came up with the plan.” Stephen said. Stephen was a tall man though still a little bit shorter than Zorns 6’ 2’ frame. He also had a slightly deeper voice than his brother James whose voice was slightly more nasally from when they were kids. They had been messing around with some training swords and Stephen had accidentally broken James' nose. It had been an accident just James did not forgive Stephen for at least a few months while his nose had healed.

“Oh, but I'm not the one who carelessly got caught.” Zorn said with a small smirk on his lips.

“Yeah, well it's not like all of us can jump between roof tops like we're gliding through the air.” James scoffed. “And besides, if Stephen the lumbering oaf that he is hadn't knocked over the pot and alerted Meranda we would have been fine. I can still feel the imprint of her spoon on my butt. I swear stealing those cookies wasn't worth it now matter how good they were.”

Zorn had been in trouble with Meranda before, and it wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat. “Well if you gentlemen wouldn’t mind opening the gate for me I will be on my way. I have important matters at the temple to attend to. It is my ascension day after all.” Zorn said with the hautest voice he could muster.

“Is that today? Oh man, I totally forgot to get you a gift.” Stephen said with as much sarcasm as he could muster. “It's not like you have been talking about it every day for the past two weeks.”

James snorted. “Weeks? More like months if you ask me.”

“Well, I'm sorry that I'm excited. It's only like the biggest and most important day of my life. Besides you guys can't complain, I know how both of you guys were leading up to your own ascension day.” Zorn rebutted.

“Well I guess you're right. We were both pretty bad in retrospect.” Stephen sighed.

“Anywaysssss,” James said, "Here's your gift from Stephen and I. It's nothing much, but I hope you like it.” as he said it James pulled out what looked like a glass marble that could easily fit in the palm of his hand. “It's an endless water stone.” James said as Zorn took it from him and began to carefully inspect it. We know you want to be an adventurer, and it's said one of these is a must have items for any would be adventurer. I don't want to tell you how long we were on a waiting list for to even get this one.”

“Wow, thanks guys. Both of you.” Zorn nodded to both of them in sincere thanks before giving each of them a quick hug. “I do hate to cut this short, but if I don't get going now I'm definitely going to be late.”

With a start, both boys turned to look at the clock on the post next to the guard station only to curse and in unison began to pull the gate open for him.

“I’ll see you guys in a bit, and maybe we can do a bit of sparing once I get back. I can't believe I haven't been able to beat either of you since your guys awakening and ever since your dad started giving you that special training that I still can't watch or be a part of.”

“Well I'm sure dad will bring you into the loop after your awakening.”

“Yeah that's what I keep hearing.” With one last wave and a parting farewell from the twins he was off jogging down the street of the noble district and towards the temple. He was currently cutting it close. Even if he did manage to arrive on time he was sure high priest Fuildes would still give him grief about cutting it close.