The tales of Lysia (Part one)

Long ago in the ancient kingdom of Lysia a boy was born. He was the son of two merchants named Arthur and Cassandra who lived in a little shack by the river. The shack was small and cozy, perfect for the family to live in; it was near the southern border of Lysia. The boy had his father’s deep green eyes, while he got his light hair from his mother.  Inside the shack were two rooms, the living room that doubled as a small kitchen, and the bedroom where the family slept. The boy loved his family and the family loved their son whom they named Starr. Arthur, the father decided to call his son that because on the night Starr was born the sky shined as bright as fire.

        Although the little shack by the river was a peaceful and loving place, the rest of Lysia was not so. For as long as Starr’s parents could remember, an evil king named Crimax ruled Lysia causing great fear and darkness amongst the people. Chaos engulfed the kingdom, and soon it was reduced to nothing but a shell of its former self. Starr’s parents had wanted to hide themselves and their son from all of this. They fled to the southern tip of Lysia, praying that they would be safe. For many years they were.
        Starr had never known about what Lysia truly was and instead his parents told him stories of fairies and elves that lived deep in the forest, and other such stories. These stories gave Starr a sense of adventure, which drove him to exploring every nook and cranny of his house and all the surrounding forests. Although Starr never did find any magical creatures he still had high hopes. Starr had grown up into a little boy of ten; he was learning to read and to write, it was a great time of his life. Until one night a knock was heard on the door of the little shack.

The tales of Lysia (Part two)

The knock

         It was the end to another wonderful day at the shack, Arthur had caught a few fish and so the family feasted on wild winged trout, while regaling about the day and all its merriment's. The meal was so good and the conversation was so deep that the family almost didn’t hear the light knock on the door. The chatter died down and the feast was almost forgotten as the Arthur and Cassandra starred at the door in absolute silence. Another knock at the door sent a shudder down their spines, confirming their fear that the chaos had eventually caught up with them. Starr was deeply confused since he had never seen anyone else besides his family by the river. Slowly Arthur rose and crept silently by the door, his brow beginning to sweat, and his body beginning to shake from fright. When he reached the door he opened it and peered outside. What he saw almost made him faint from fright; standing at the door was a massive figure clad fully in black steel armor, a sword almost as tall as the man himself was standing by him, the tip sunken in the ground. The figure, which Starr assumed to be a giant, removed his helmet. Starr wished he hadn’t, for what greeted him was a scarred and serious face that wore a heavy scowl, so menacing it made the whole family shake with fright.
         The figure looked at Arthur and spoke, with a deep and angry voice. The voice said,” I am Hodor of the Royal King’s army, slayer of all that stands in my way, and head of the tax collecting division. “Pulling out a large and heavy scroll the man continues, “It says here that you have failed to pay your dues on time, the punishment for this is most severe, do you know what the punishment is?” With the last few words his face twisted into an evil grin, as if he knew what the answer was already. Arthur was beginning to weep, something that he had never done before, this scared Starr for he knew that the man at their door meant nothing but trouble. Starr could not do anything about the man however since he was only 10 years old, and the man at the door seemed to have no problem with hurting a child.
         Arthur began to speak however it was in such a low and pained voice that it did not bring much comfort to Starr, in fact this scared him even more. “ I..I do understand the punishment for failing to pay sir. Please do not hurt my family, take me instead.” Starr had no clue what was going on, he had no idea who the king was or why he sent this man here, nor did he understand why he was scared or why his family was scared. And what was bothering him most was the punishment. He had no idea what the punishment was, and that was the worst part. Hodor suddenly grabbed Starr’s father and picked him up from the ground. In a booming voice Hodor said, “You and your entire family will be punished because you are all vermin, you disrespect the great king Crimax, you will pay the price.” Hodor then dropped Arthur with a loud thud. Both of Starr’s parents began to weep with no control, tears pouring over their face.
         Hodor then tied up the family using a red rope, Starr didn’t think the rope was originally red. With heavy feet the family began to march behind Hodor to a massive cart that was walled with rusty metal bars. Hodor opened the door of the cage with a loud bang, and the family stepped inside. The cage was empty and soulless, Starr felt a heavy sadness wash over him as he saw the only place he knew disappear behind the heavy trees as the cage was pulled by horses into the forest. The forest was a dense place that was shrouded by massive shadows; it would have had a charming nature to it if it weren’t for the cage. The forest path that they followed seemed to twist and turn for ages until suddenly the forest broke into a clearing. The light blinded Starr for a moment and what he saw was shocking. All around them giant mountains stood with snow capped peaks and jagged edges. For a moment Starr forgot about everything except for the splendid view around him, a sudden bump made his head hit the cage bars, a cruel reminder to show him that he was in big trouble.
         Starr then remembered that he was unsure about the severity of their punishment. Starr then asked his father “Father, where are we going and what is this punishment?” Starr almost wished he hadn’t asked, his father bowed his head into lap and spoke with a soft and broken voice, “Starr, all this time we have hidden from you the fact that Lysia is in complete turmoil. The whole kingdom is ruled by the mad king Crimax who only spreads fear amongst the people.” He paused to allow Starr to understand what he had said, Starr then asked, “But, why does Crimax spread fear, and what does this have to do with us?" Arthur had no explanation that Starr could understand. He knew that the true answer would frighten his son too much. Finally after much deliberation he spoke, "Starr, Crimax is an evil man who cannot be reasoned with, he only wants to destroy this once mighty kingdom. A man like that cares not for his people but only of himself. As for us, we have broken the law. The law states that every citizen must pay a tax every year, we fled to the outermost region of Lysia to avoid all this, and in doing so we avoided the tax." Starr began to realize the scale of their predicament, and this made him even more afraid. Before Starr could ask another question his mother began to speak, she spoke as if she was pained just from talking, "Starr, the reason we are so saddened by these circumstances is that the punishment for our actions is jail." She shuddered at the thought of jail. Starr was still scared but a bit relieved since he was still going to be able to be with his family. 
          The family remained in silence for hours; the mountains disappeared into more forest. The forest seemed to engulf them in shadows; the forest felt cold and threatening unlike the forest near the shack. Hodor did not make any movements besides the occasional grunt and flick of his wrist to steer the horses. Suddenly Starr thought he saw a flash of light come from the forest, it illuminated the darkness for a split second and made Starr's eyes hurt from the sudden change. Hodor must have seen it too because he stopped the horses and dismounted, grunting with anger as he did so. The man stepped in front of the cage and casted a massive shadow upon the family. He then spoke with a trembling force, "I will go and investigate the light, you are to STAY HERE! If any of you try and fight, you will be slain where you stand." With that, he unsheathed his sword and headed into the dense forest. As he was just about to reach the forest's edge something happened in the forest, a flash like that of metal. The next thing Starr saw was Hodor get hit with something, he thought it was a rock because Hodor stumbled backwards when he was hit. The man turned around to face the cage, what Starr saw was far more disturbing. The man had been shot with an arrow the size of a small tree and was now sitting on the ground in shock; he eventually fell with a great thud and stopped moving. The whole family was riddled with shock, who was it that killed Hodor, what was happening, and even more pressing, what is going to happen now that their captor was dead? 
            They sat in silence for a few minutes before a figure emerged from the forest. Starr was surprised to see that it was a boy, no more than fifteen who had emerged. He was of average height and had fair brown hair that was kept a little long, he had dark green eyes and pointed ears. He looked like a normal boy except for the pointy ears it was a little strange. The boy was holding a bow and had a dark green shirt with brown trousers; Starr thought this was for camouflage. The boy stopped in font of the cage and looked at the family inside, his eyes were bright like fire. The boy then spoke, "I am Darius, the son of the noble Elven warrior Kessius. Who are you?" 
            "I am Starr, and this is my father Arthur and my mother Cassandra. We were captured by the man you just shot." As he spoke he glanced at the body of Hodor who still lay motionless on the ground; Starr continued, "We are forever grateful, Thank you." He bowed his head at Darius who simply walked up to the cage and broke the lock. "You are free now," He said "You may leave now if you want, or you can come with me and fight back against this scum." Darius kicked Hodor as if he was just a stick on the ground; Starr was scared the giant might get back up. Darius looked at the family expectantly as if wanting an answer to his proposal. The family looked at each other, each one wanting to go home and pretend that none of this had ever happened. To go back to a normal life before the knock on the door, all except for Starr. Although he was scarred beyond his mind about fighting, he could not resist the urge to seek justice. 
           "I will go with you Darius." Starr finally confessed. Both Arthur and Cassandra were shocked and confused about his answer. They wanted to play ignorant and pretend he had just said something like " That would be the noble thing to say but I must go with my family back to the shack by the river." after wards. But to their dismay he remained firm with his decision. A new look of ferocity shone in his eyes that they had never seen before. This scarred them since they knew they could not plead with him to change his decision. Both Arthur and Cassandra said goodbye to their son with heavy hearts and left him with Darius. As they marched away no one knew that it would be the last time Starr saw them alive. 

The tales of Lysia (Part three)

Sanctuary 

        Starr sat down on a log next to the side of the trail; his face was dripping with sweat from the entire running they had done to get this far. His legs have never hurt as much as they did now, and the worst part was Darius had said this was the half way mark. Darius was a few feet away drinking from a wineskin that looked to be made of leather.  "Hey Darius?" Starr said, "Where are we heading?" Darius looked at Starr with a look that resembled pity. "I can't tell you that until we get there, it is a secret location of my people." That made sense to Starr so he was content with the answer, “Here, take some of this." Darius gave him the wineskin and Starr drank heavily. It wasn't water but it was sweet and Starr didn't really care at the moment. He gave the skin back to Darius and they set out again in a brisk run. 
         The farther they went into the forest the denser it got; they were stepping on roots more than on dirt at this point. The forest was more beautiful than Starr could have imagined. Every second there was a creature that emerged from the underbrush, some of them Starr had never seen before. There was once a squirrel that passed by that looked like it had two tails, which could have just been a trick of the mind though since Starr was very tired. Starr was already missing his family, he knew he could visit them later but he was a little hurt that they had decided not to come with him. He wondered if they were back at the shack, they must be close it had been a few hours since they left. As Starr contemplated this he saw the sun begin to rise signifying the start to another day. It was then when Starr realized just how much he and Darius had run. He was about to ask for another rest when suddenly Darius stopped in front of a large tree. The tree looked dead yet its size was impressive and made Starr feel uneasy about what their purpose for stopping in front of it. "Wait here." Darius ordered. Darius then climbed to a hole that looked as if it was carved into the side of the tree and fell in. This puzzled Starr but he stayed and waited regardless. Starr sat down to appreciate the view without running through it, a decision his legs must appreciated. 
        Starr sat for what seemed like hours, he admired the trees that seemed to be moving which unnerved him a little bit. Each and every single tree was knitted together so close that the sun seemed to be blocked completely. It was refreshing since this made the forest cooler and easier to be in. It must have been a few hours since Starr fell asleep. It was a weird dream that he had about the forest and his parents, something in his gut told him that his parents were in grave danger. Just as he was about to figure out the meaning to his dream Darius woke him with a light pat on his shoulder. "Wake up," He said, "Kessius would like to speak with you." 
        Kessius was the father of Darius, he was an honored solider, according to Darius. He was the chief of all the warriors and he needed to approve of Starr to see if he could join them. Both Starr and Kessius climbed to the hole in the tree and hoped in. Both of them were suddenly plunged into complete darkness yet they were sliding down something; Starr assumed it was a branch. Both of them were sliding faster and faster downwards when suddenly a bright light blinded them. As Starr's eyes adjusted he saw a big crowd of people surrounding him, this made him a little uneasy. He saw that they did not look down on him though, and instead they were smiling at him with warmth and kindness. As he began to see more and more he realized he was sitting down on a little patch of dirt in the middle of a giant room. The room must have been hundreds of feet tall with staircases that circled the entirety of it. Doors lined the walls with lights illuminating from inside them. The walls were made of what Starr thought was wood. He then looked around to see the people who were currently still circled around him. He saw what seemed to be normal looking people all around, except for the pointy ears, every single one of them were dressed similarly to Darius except they did not have bows with them. He also noticed that they had markings on their skin, like a tattoo except it shone very bright. This puzzled Starr because he had never seen anything like it. 
       "Out of the way people, come on move it!" Darius was making his way through the crowd to get to Starr who was stilling sitting on the floor in awe. He finally made his way through and pulled up Starr to his feet and began to march him through the crowd. "I hate crowds, it's like they've never seen a human before." Starr was puzzled by the whole "...never seen a human before." Comment as if they weren't humans themselves. He decided to keep this to himself though in case he was wrong. As Darius led him through the crowd Starr began to see more and more of the room he was currently in. It had giant pools of water that seemed to glow with a subtle power behind it. All around them little alcoves were carved into the walls; they hosted people who sat and talked or others who appeared to be studying. Some however were the homes to doors with big ornate looking handles. This was what interested Starr the most, what was behind these doors? 
       It seemed like Starr was about to find out since Darius led him to a big red door that had a sign in front of it that read "Danger" but in a weird looking script that Darius had to translate for him. When he saw that Starr was a little agitated he said "It's just to scare away the little kids who might want to stick their nose in private business. Also there are tons of weapons in here and they could hurt themselves." He smiled invitingly while he explained and this made Starr feel a little more comfortable. He then urged Starr to open the door. "Wait your not going inside with me?" Starr asked.                                                                      
      "I cannot, this is something you must do alone." Darius replied.
      "But what is this? All of this is so confusing to me. I don't even know where I am."
      "All of this will be explained Starr. You are welcome here so breathe easy."
      "Okay I will, thank you Darius, for everything."
      "Do not worry about it, just go forward with confidence and you will succeed."
      With that Darius turned around and left. Starr then turned and opened the door. Inside was a very small room, which housed a rough looking wooden table that had all sorts of stains on it. It also had a small fireplace that had a pot on it, the smell alone made Starr realize how hungry he was. Starr was so focused on the room that he forgot to notice the man sitting down by the fireplace on a wooden rocking chair. The man looked like a mountain, he had giant broad shoulders with big arms and a rough looking face. His eyes were the only soft things about the man; he seemed to be able to comfort someone with his eyes alone. The man beckoned Starr to a rocking chair opposite of him. Starr sat down and the man began to speak in a warm and kind voice. "I am Kessius, the father of Darius and the leader of the warrior division in this village. We warriors risk our very life and limb to protect our village from the ever-ensuing chaos. This is not a job, it is a commitment, a life choice, for once you are branded a warrior, and you may never turn back." He paused to allow Starr to understand the gravity of the commitment. Starr looked at the man with complete and total focus, never breaking eye contact, this greatly impressed the man who continued to speak, “Do you have any questions any concerns?" Starr's head was filled with questions; he was wondering where he was, and whom these people were. With great effort he focused his line of thought to simply, "Where am I sir?" Kessius laughed. It was a mighty and kind laugh, like one a father would have. "Darius didn't tell you? I was wondering why you looked so confused. You are in the sanctuary of the elves, in the village called Lilsatalos. We locals call it sanctuary since this is the most peaceful elven village." Starr was stunned; he was in a elven village? He thought that elves were just fairy tale and myths. "I was always told you were myths and legends." He blurted this out without thinking that it could offend Kessius. To his surprise Kessius laughed once more, he laughed with such force Starr thought the chair would break. "Myths? That's a good one, we have had many humans in Sanctuary and none have said that before." 
        "Wait, I'm a little confused." Starr said.
        "About?" Replied Kessius
        "Well, if this is an Elven village why are their humans?"
        "Because Starr, we take in anybody who needs help. That's why your here, because you needed help."
        "I see. Are there other races besides humans and elves?"
        "Of course, we have dryads and naiads and ents and all sorts of different creatures."
        "Wow, I never thought they existed."
        "Most humans say that, your species was always sheltered from magic."
        "Magic?" Starr almost didn't believe it.
        "Oh yes, we have plenty of magic. But before that, I want to know your story."
        Starr agreed and he told the man everything, from his birth to know describing events with such detail. He went on about how his father and mother never left his side and how he was loved very much by them. He told of his times exploring the woods and looking for "fairy tale" creatures, to this Kessius chuckled. Finally Starr began explaining the knock on the shack door and how he ended up here. When Starr finished Kessius asked him, "Will you join us in the fight against the king?" Starr knew immediately what his answer was, "Yes sir." Kessius looked at him and then said, "Come with me."
       Kessius opened a door to his right, one that Starr hadn't seen before, and led them to a room with a fountain in it. The fountain looked as if it was made of pure crystal, every inch of it was glittering. The water, or what Starr assumed was water, glimmered a solid greenish, blue color that was very pleasing to the eye. Kessius pointed to a tree stump and instructed Starr to sit down. He then proceeded to pick up some of the water in his hands and bring it to Starr; "Drink." was all he said. Starr began to drink the liquid from Kessius's hands and immediately he began to feel immense power building inside him. When he finished drinking, his vision became very muddled and he felt his eyes would give up on him; soon the world faded into black.

The tales of Lysia (Part four)

A world of magic

        Starr awoke in an outburst of pain, every single inch of his body felt like it was being riddled with electricity. It was painful beyond belief but it was not frightening or scary, he felt safe as if he was back at the shack. The pain subsided and Starr was able to look around. He was in a room that from top to bottom was made of wood, not like wood boards but it looked like tree bark. The room was filled with hammocks made of giant leaves; Starr was occupying one of them. Besides him it seemed that the room was devoid of life, the walls had flowers but they didn't seem to help lighten the mood of the room. Starr began to move out of his hammock when a voice came from nowhere, "Do not move, I promise if you do it will be to painful to bear." Starr was alarmed by the voice so he quickly lied back down again. The voice belonged to a young woman walking through the room to his bed. The more he saw her the more intrigued he was. She did not look like an elf or a human for she had greenish skin and dark black hair that seemed to shimmer. She had on a dark red tunic, unlike the elves he had seen before. She looked very pretty to Starr. She came beside his hammock and spoke, "My name is Thalia, I am a dryad and you have endured a hard transformation, magic now flows inside you." She paused because Starr was giving her the weirdest look. He had his face in both disbelief and confusion; it was not a pretty sight. "Yes?" She asked tentatively. 
        "You said I have magic flowing inside me?" He asked his voice cracking
        "Why yes I did, in fact every citizen of Sanctuary has magic."
        "What exactly does that mean?"
        "Well, it means that you are able to summon magical powers from your body to use in the physical world. For example, my magic specializes in healing which means I can heal people better than others who specialize in combat magic."
        "Oh, how do you know what you specialize in?" He was beginning to feel uneasy.
        "You can choose when you first perform any magic ability." 
        "Oh, how can you choose?" 
        "You just shoot out a bit of raw magic and your spirit will choose for you." 
        "How do you shoot out magic?" He was starting to feel more comfortable.
        "Like this."
 Thalia then shot out a purple spark from her hand; it flew about two feet from them and fizzled out into nothingness. This amazed Starr who was sitting up in bed in awe. Thalia turned around and said, "Now, you must not perform magic just yet, you need to let your body recover. Humans are the only creatures here who have to receive magic from the elves. It is a very painful process since your body needs to adjust to the fact that you now host magic." Starr was a bit disappointed since he really wanted to try out magic as soon as he could. "How long must I stay here?" He asked, hoping the answer would be "soon." Instead the response was, "When you can walk on your own." This puzzled Starr since he thought he already could walk on his own, to test the theory he leaped from the hammock and landed on the ground feet first. He then proceeded to fall since his legs had locked up. He looked up at Thalia who was trying to suppress a laugh. "What is so funny, that really hurt." Starr said. "It was because you were too naive and had no idea what I meant, now you know." She replied. Starr was still wondering why his legs would fail him; he knew his legs were not hurt since he did not feel pain. He pondered this for a moment. "Why am I not able to walk on my own?" He finally asked. Thalia, who seemed to be figuring out a way for Starr to understand, began to speak slowly. "It is because, as we speak the magic that courses through you is currently anchoring itself to your legs. It happens to all of us and it temporarily immobilizes us." 
       "How long will I not be able to walk?" Starr asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
       "Each person is different, the last person here was stuck for about a month." She replied.
       "A month!?" The worry in his voice was overwhelming.
       "Yes." Thalia was very calm in her response.
       "Was he different or was he not able to understand magic?" He was hoping his predecessor was just a bad egg.
       "Um actually she, is one of the best assassins we have and guess what?" 
       "What?" Starr was nervous of what would happen next.
       "She is going to train you. Until you can hone your magic."
       "Oh." Just peachy, he thought, an assassin.
  As Thalia kept talking she began to explain all the different type of warriors and what they do and specialize in. There were the Assassins who specialize in taking out tough enemies and spying. Starr thought this would be a really cool position to have. There were Medics who helped to heal the injured in battle; Thalia was a Medic. Starr thought this was sort of a lame job; Thalia did not appreciate that comment. Archers, Starr found out, was what Darius was. They specialized in long range combat, and supporting their fellow warrior in battle. Brawlers were big and tough warriors who used swords and other close quarters weapons to fight one on one with the enemy. Kessius was a former Brawler and Starr could see why he was an honored warrior. Lastly there were Summoners, those who used their magic to summon different creatures from the dead to fight alongside them. It was very creepy, at least to Starr who could not imagine summoning zombies to fight. When Thalia was done talking she asked Starr, "What warrior type would you like to be?" Starr had no solid answer yet, he was leaning more on being an Assassin because he thought it was the coolest one. "Assassin, I would like to be an Assassin. I think it is the coolest job for sure,” He blurted out. Thalia looked at him with a very serious face and said, "Follow me." When he still couldn't follow she gave him a wheel chair. As he followed her she did not say a word and she did not look back, only walking forward. They traveled through corridors that were illuminated with yellow flowers. If were not for the situation it would have been a pleasant walk.

      They finally made it into a giant room with a big wooden door that Thalia pushed open. Inside was a sight that made Starr uneasy: a massive graveyard. Unlike anything he had ever seen, the room was hundreds of feet tall, with a staircase leading all the way to the ceiling of the room. The walls were lined with coffins, like a catacomb. Everywhere he saw were graves, all with a marker made of what Starr assumed was pure light. Thalia then spoke in a somber voice, "Many people are buried here. All of them have died in battle, most of these brave souls never stood a chance." She looked at Starr with a look of sadness. "What we do is not a game; I am sure Kessius has already told you this. He would know about all the pain and loss that plagues us warriors. Take this very seriously because you will lose your life if you don't." She knew what she had said reached Starr for he had grown quiet and serious. "Choose what your heart wants, for that is where you will have the best chance of survival." With that she left, leaving Starr to ponder this.

      It was many hours before Starr entered the hospital wing again. Thalia was waiting for him with a pure black tunic in her hands. "If you are serious about being an Assassin you will need this." She said, handing him the clothes. "Thank you," was all he could muster. As he climbed into his hammock wearing the black tunic, he felt different, changed in some way. He knew his parents would be proud, if only they were here. His thoughts finally lulled him into a deep sleep that was much needed.       It was many days before Starr was able to walk fully on his own. Thalia had been helping him with trying to get his legs back in action. At first it was hard since Starr felt frustrated about his needing to be constantly helped. As the days went by though his legs became more and more functional, until he was back to normal again. Thalia told him he was now able to go and see Kessius again for his formal introduction to his new family, the warriors. He said his goodbye to Thalia and promised to visit her again when he could, with that he left the hospital. 
       It took him longer than it should have to find his way back to the grand room, which he first came into sanctuary from. After asking many Elves and other creatures he made his way to the room in which he met Kessius. He opened the door, and to his amazement, the room was completely empty. The fire was still going but the room felt cold, and desolate. The table and chairs seemed abandoned, even though they were still being used. Starr was not used to this type of feeling in sanctuary, usually it was full of life. As Starr wandered through the room he failed to notice the presence of another person as she crept in. She was silent as a shadow and sneaked behind Starr, waiting to strike. 

 
 
      

        

       

The tales of Lysia (Part five)

Ciel

       She was prepared to strike, bracing herself for the swift take down. She was almost at his back when the door to the room burst wide open. It was Kessius walking in and laughing up a storm with his son Darius, they were laughing about a druid they just met. Both men and the target stopped, Kessius almost could not contain his laughter and Darius was slowly shaking his head. "He's one of us you know?" Was all he said. The target was very confused and he looked at Darius with a weird look, Darius pointed at the girl who stood up and sat down in a chair by the fire. Starr almost jumped; she came out of nowhere! Was she standing behind him the whole time? Kessius seemed very amused by this for he was almost in tears laughing. When the man had finally gotten all his giggles out he said, "Starr I would like for you to meet your new training partner." Both Starr and the girl almost couldn't beleive it, She was the one who was the Assassin Thalia was telling him about? The girl didn't seem to happy with this either, she was silently judging Starr, seeing if he was material enough. Apparantly he did not make the cut since after a few seconds she shrugged and began to play with the fire.

      She had on a black tunic the same as Starr's except she had two daggers, one on each side. The daggers seemed to glow with power, this could have been some sort of magic. The girl had long legs and a slender body, she was easily a foot taller than Starr, who had always been short. The girl had pale skin with dark purple eyes, her hair was almost pitch black and was of medium length, to about her shoulders. Her face was warm and friendly despite being in an annoyed state. She was also carrying a messenger bag, Starr could only wonder what was inside. The bag was brown and had a weird symbol on it that criss crossed in all sorts of directions. Her appearance intrigued Starr since she had to be no more than 15, yet she seemed like a full grown adult.
      Kessius began to speak once more, "You two will be with each other every second of every day in order to get Starr's skills up to par. If he is to be an Assassin he must be well prepared, do you understand Ciel?" He was talking to the girl by the fire place. "Yes, I understand sir." She replied in a respectable voice. "Good, I must attend to some other business." He looked at his son as if to say "Come with me." With that they left, leaving Starr and Ciel alone. Ciel motioned for Starr to sit by the fire, across from her. "Starr is your name right?" She asked "Yes it is. Ciel is your name, I'm assuming." He responded. "Yes it is. Tell me, What is your story? What happened before you came here?" With that she motioned all around the room. Starr told Ciel all about him; he told of his times in the forest and of how he and his family were happy together. When he got to the part about him being told fairy tales about elves and such, Ciel couldn't help but chuckle just as Kessius had. When he was finished he told of his experience in the Hospital area and of how Thalia helped him. With the mention of Thalia, Ciel cracked a smile. "I really like Thalia, she helped me through my recovery period. If it wasn't for her I don't know what I would have done." The two talked about random non sense just to talk. Soon the fire began to dwindle. "Alright," Ciel began, "time for bed, tomorrow will be a very long day after all."
       She led Starr to a trap door underneath a rug in the room. Inside were two bunks one for Starr and one for Ciel. The room was dark and looked like it hadn't been used in years, cobwebs had infested every single nook and cranny. Ciel then illuminated it using magic; the room suddenly became more cozy. The room also seemed to be bigger with an extension from the bunks to what looked like a bathroom. Although the room was still small it had a newfound charming aspect to it. "This is where we will be staying until you finish your training." Ciel said. She didn't seem to pleased with the idea of taking up residence here. Starr climbed into his bunk, which he first had to brush dust off of, and fell to sleep.
      Starr had a weird dream that night; it consisted of him and his family. They were walking on their way back to the shack, when suddenly figures who stood eight feet tall attacked them. They were dressed like Hodor; black steel with a big sword. Starr was trying to protect his family with all the might he could. He tried pushing them and kicking them, but all the figures did was laugh. They laughed with such menace and hostility that it chilled Starr to the bone. Just as one of the figures began to swing his sword at the family Starr raised his hand and shot light at them. The figures then dissipated as quickly as they appeared, leaving the family alone.  
       Starr awoke and was covered in cold sweat, trembling and afraid. He was afraid that his family might be in trouble, or even worse. Starr had no idea what time it was, the room was still pitch black and Ciel seemed to be asleep. Starr decided to try and fall back asleep, he was still tired after all. After a few minutes he was back asleep, this time he didn't dream at all. 
       "Wake up. Hey Starr wake up!" The voice awoke him and Starr sat up in his bunk. As he was beginning to wake up he saw Ciel standing over him poking at him. "Good your finally awake, time to go and get some breakfast." Ciel then began to climb the ladder leading to the trap door, she opened the hatch and left; Starr then realized that Ciel did not wait for any body. Starr had to quickly get out of the room and try and keep up with Ciel. As he climbed out of the room he saw Ciel leaving the room, but the room was filled with new people, all of them armed. Some had swords and bows and one person had a staff with a red gem in the top. All were dressed in different colored tunics and some had on big boots while others had on regular shoes. They all looked at Starr and watched him leave the room.
       As Starr left the room he saw the entrance to Sanctuary in all of its glory. Creatures of all sorts moving and bustling around going this way and that. In the middle of the entrance was Ciel running to the other side of the massive room, she was almost at one of those really big doors. She opened the door and walked inside, Starr knew he had to get to that room. He sprinted through the crowd, trying to dodge and avoid all the creatures in his way. He finally made it to the big door that had a sign on it. The sign was made of a strange looking metal that shone with brilliant light, on it was a few lines of inscriptions, the same type that was before the warrior's room. As Starr pushed open the door he was instantly hit with an amazing smell. It smelled of food, Starr then realized how hungry he was. The smell was so good that Starr almost didn't realize where he was. The room he had just entered was covered with tables, they all varied in sizes. It seemed to be a giant cafeteria. The weirdest thing about it were the walls. All four walls were lined with containers of, Starr was hoping, food. They all seemed to be of varying sizes, with different colored containers. As far as Starr could see there seemed to be three colors, blue, green, and red. Starr didn't understand what the colors meant but he was almost certain the red containers were dripping something.
       As he looked around the room he saw Ciel waving him over at the far side of the room next to an old man; he made his way down to the two of them. "Starr this is Ivan, he is the chief server. When you want something to eat you pay him and he will bring down the food for you." Ciel said,
       "Pay him? I don't have any money." Starr was confused and he was scarred he couldn't eat.
       "Yes, we pay people with this." She pulled out a rectangular stone from her bag. It was blue and seemed to glow ever so faintly. The stone was wrapped in metal and had strange writing on it. Ciel continued to speak, "When you pay somebody all you are doing is giving them a special type of magic. Magic here is currency and you can only acquire this currency from the bank. I can take you there later, for now this meal is on me. So, what would you like to eat?" Starr was grateful for the free meal yet he was again overwhelmed. With all the choices he had from the walls he could not decide, he didn't even know what they were. Before he could decide Ciel gave him a hot bowl of something; it was warm and smelled good but it was a dark brown liquid, it did not look appetizing. "Come on," Ciel was urging him torwards a table, "You were taking too long so I ordered for you." Starr could only respond with, "Oh, thank you."
       Whatever was in the bowl it was delicious, Ciel had a bowl of it as well. As he drank the liquid he could feel his body begin to tense up; it was as if energy was flowing through him now, pure raw energy. It was a very powerful feeling, it filled him with confidence. 
     When the two of them were done Ciel said, "So now that we have had breakfast I can tell you what exactly we are to be doing." Her voice was a touch softer than before as if she was trying to break harsh news to him. She continued, "This training is going to be nightmarish. I will not sugar coat this or make it easy just because your a kid. What we do is not easy so naturally your training should not be either. What we Assassins do is very dangerous, it involves weapons and killing, lots of killing. I didn't want to train you because in my opinion I think you are a bit young for all of this. Now we must go and get you some weapons."