The world of Avontia is one of magic, one where goblins are seen as pests and griffins roam the skies.

  The 16 year old reddish brown haired, green eyed boy gets ready for an adventure he's been waiting years for.

  "Kaelen!, you got ya sword?".

  "ugh, yes father I have everything I need" Kaelen sighed at his father's words. "I have bandages, some coins and I got food and water. There's no need to worry".

  Kaelen was found only a few months old, sleeping outside the front door of the village blacksmith's house. From then on Darian loved Kaelen like he was his own flesh and blood. Kaelen grew up round flaming hot iron and the smell of charcoal in a little village on the outskirts of a country called Blackclaw. Kaelen lived in this village like any other boy, learning magic, making friends and even dabbling in some romance (didn't go well for little 11 year old Kaelen).

  Darian approached Kaelen from behind, while Kaelen was putting on his boots "you know I'll worry about you son". "My own little boy becoming a man... enough to make a grown man cry" he said sniffling a little. Kaelen puts his boots on, he stands up and faces his father. "Don't cry old man, ill be back at some point" Kaelen says with an ambitious smile.

  "What about your nodes?, are they all in check?, does it have max mana?" Darian puts his hands on his son's shoulders. "Yup all in check" Kaelen reassures.

  In this world everyone has a node deep inside their chest. This happens from mana exposure over a long period, allowing people to manipulate and control different types of mana. A node can only have 1 type of mana inside of it, so some mages have 2 or even 3 nodes. These can form under training or naturally under the right conditions, sometimes it depends on the person's body or even their determination.

  “Right, I'm leaving now, old man,” Kaelen says with a smile as he opens the front door and takes a few steps forward, taking in the country air of Blackclaw. As Kaelen walks towards the path out the village Darian calls behind him “You better come visit!”. Kaelen in response put his hand up as he disappeared down the path. The path was long and rocky but with a sword by his side nothing could stop young Kaelen. He couldn't help but be fascinated by the mountains in the distance, the greenery surrounding the path and even the small animals that ran across him. 45 minutes in, the path was covered by a large pine forest, covered to the point where grass and shrubs started to cover the path. The sun barely got through the giant pine trees. If someone stood opposite Kaelen he could see that fine, the danger was in the forest, where many dark spots could cover a predator or something worse. Kaelen's legs start walking a bit faster, not enough to look desperate but enough to get out quickly.

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  “Hey boy” said a man slowly walking towards Kaelen. He smiled sinisterly as he approached, he held his head high in confidence, the man had a scar above his lip and a stubbly beard with a bald head. “We don't wanna fight, just put ya bag and that sword down “ threatened the man as he kept getting closer. 2 other men came out of the forest, 1 on his left and another on his right. “It's just a kid,” complained the man on his left. “Just makes our job easier” grinned the man on the right. Kaelen's hand gripped the hilt of his sword getting ready for any attacks, a bead of sweat and uncertainty drooped down his face.

  “Tch, fine you wanted this!” The bald man said nearly amused, as he revealed a small sharp blade in his sleeve. The man drove towards Kaelen blade first aiming for his neck. Kaelen moves his head and neck out the way by turning side body to the right. Leaving no room to properly think, Kaelen rose his right into the bald man's jaw making him stagger a little. “Boss!” shouted both the men, the guy on the right clenched his fist and ran toward Kaelen. “Stay back!” Kaelen shouted, quickly facing his palm at the guy. The man kept pushing, Kaelen's legs started to shake, this was his first real life or death situation. “You look scared kid” mocked the guy. Kaelen gritted his teeth “fire spark!” hot mana built up around Kaelen's forearm and pushed out through his palm making a spray of flames. The guy pushed back feeling the heat, “little brat” snarled the man.

  “Forget about me?” The other man said behind Kaelen. Kaelen's eyes widened “this is it” he thought as the man threw a string of punches ,the only thing Kaelen could do was attempt to block. As the punches took Kaelen's attention the guy from behind drove his fist to the back of Kaelen's head, as the fist connected Kaelen's vision blurred and his legs nearly gave way. “Shoulda gave us ya stuff”, Kaelen's head turned to meet a fist smashing into his face. The force made Kaelen's legs fall, now on the ground the bandits started throwing kicks and punches onto the helpless 16 year old boy. As his vision blurred and ears rang, the punches and kicks stopped.The bald man grabbed Kaelen's hair, looking at his bloodied face, as kaelen faded out of consciousness he could see the pure disgust and disappointment on the bandits face, that angered Kaelen but all he could do was fade into unconsciousness for now.

  A few hours later a traveller passing through saw the slumped, bloodied, young boy unconscious on the side of the path. The traveller carried Kaelen on to his carriage. “The gods must have not been in your favour son”. Once Kaelen was secured safely on the travellers carriage he continued down towards the village just on the cusp of the horizon. The moon gleamed across the pine forest as the occasional wind passed, as the carriage moved through the darkness…

  Will the carriage make it to the village safely?

  Will the cruelty of the world be enough to break Kaelen Thorne's spirit?

  Find out in chapter 2