Everything the old man had worked for is entire life was gone. His entire family and he poured their heart into making the foundation for the newer of the three villages, Valent. Sorrow was not the emotion needed just yet however as the old man’s eyes suddenly clouded into a whirling milky white hue. The sky above seemed to crack open as if from stress as the old man threw his robe to the floor and raised his arms with open palms. At this point Amira hadn’t the slightest clue as to what was going on. Instincts took over and flight was chosen in fight’s stead.

“What the hell is going on… where is my son?” Amira whispered to herself while peering in from outside the village gates. The faerie’s face remained dull except for its burning red eyes. She noticed that this one in particular was unlike any faerie she had heard of. It was dark and wasn’t fidgety instead it moved slowly and with purpose. The wizard almost floated toward the unmoving faerie and came to a halt about four horse lengths from the faerie.

Rain now began to fall from the confused sky above. If it had vocal chords it would have sighed in relief for the rain was much needed. Slowly one by one the cottages burnt out and black smoke lingered above for quite a while. Amira knew in her gut that the wizard had done this but one thing made absolutely no sense to her: Why couldn’t any of the other wizards have done this? And why couldn’t they defend themselves? After all, there seemed to be only one faerie. Just as her brain kicked into overdrive did the faerie stop grinning and lowered fully onto the ground, its leathery wings found their way into its backside. The rain now pounding relentlessly grew which in turn made the atmosphere foggy. Amira squinted and shielded her brows to see better yet it seemed not to affect either the wizard or faerie. In turn the faerie finally spoke. It’s voice was unearthly: dark and ominous yet surreal. “Let not your eyes beseech you, mortals. Everything is not as it seems.” It then paused and glanced from Amira to the wizard, “We faerie fall under a set of rules and regulations foreign to humans yet at times unfortunately governed by humans. This is one such example. We must follow the sound. It calls for us and entrances us, each time in a different way. The call tonight was of malice… though we mean no harm, we were for.…ce…” the faerie continued but was cut off by an abrupt burst of lightening. Amira let out a scream of terror between the strike of lightening and the faerie’s prolonged speech. A shadowy figure leapt from atop of a cottage and within an instant came a blinding red light that cut swiftly through the air and ended in the earth. It landed crouched beside the faerie with a right arm held upwards clasping the hilt of a vibrant sword. The faerie frantically grabbed its own face and patted down its chest as if searching for something however it was all too late. The faerie slid in two separate pieces and fell oppositely to the muddy earth below.

The figure sliced randomly at the air while rising to rid the weapon of stray blood and in one smooth motion sheathed it into its leather scabbard strung to his left side. “Immortal, huh? The gods must be on my side tonight” It said while turning to the pair. Before it could continue Amiya had already ran and pounced the figure back to the mud below.

“How could you do this to me!? Your just like your father, do you know that? You’re never leaving me again Tristan! Even if I have to…” screamed Amiya as she continuously attempted to punch her son. Eventually Tristan managed to bring them both to a kneel and took her closer into an embrace. Her concerned anger vanquished into a shaking sob.

“So this is Tristan. All brute and no brain I see.” The wizard boomed, eyes returning to normal as the rain slowly died down. “That creature apparently had more to say. Now we are left wondering what happened!”

Within a flash the sword Tristan carried was pointed an inch from the wizard’s throat. “Well “apparently” you are no smarter than I for if you seen my skills you would know I could kill you on the spot!” Amira ran to the pair and tried her hardest to pull her son away but soon realized the futility as he continued and pressed forward, sending the wizard toppling backward. “A lot of strange things have been happening lately ever since I went to mount misery. I honestly believe some force is controlling these faeries. A force that doesn’t quite know what it is doing or is capable of for that matter… My sword seems to interact with these strange occurances as if it is calling for something. Soon I will find out these answers so that nobody else gets harmed.” Tristan once more sheathed his weapon and extended a hand to the wizard. His gaze pierced the old man’s eyes as he concluded “I alone have been the protector of Dyne. I know now what I must do and become… for the sake of our world, the guardian of Tybonia.