Chapter 1

 In the woods of Melk Forest a young man trotted along with a happy skip in his step. He was in his mid twenties and had long black hair, his eyes were the color of the sea something that made the ladies swoon when they looked into them. The young man’s name was Lawrence Lee, and he had the build of an warrior, he was strong and sturdy from hammering away at pieces metal all day in his blacksmith shop. Today Lawrence had been given the day off and he planned to take full advantage of it.  

      Lawrence joyfully paced through the lively forest, where all around him birds sung pretty songs, and Lawrence himself began to hum a gay tune. Lawrence walked all the way to an opening in the forest, a large green meadow where deer and rabbits roamed freely. Lawrence sat himself down in the middle of this pasture and pulled out his pipe. Gazing up at the wide blue sky Lawrence drew a long breath from his pipe and then exhaled a long stream of smoke along with a big smile that crossed his face. Lawrence watched the sky as birds whizzed around it, they danced with one another in the air in a splendid display of color and sound. As Lawrence watched these birds a sudden rustling in the brush disturbed him. 

      Lawrence snapped out of the trance and looked over to his right. Emerging from the forrest was his good friend Clive. Clive was a big chap, not in the way Lawrence was, rather he was more round, which is to be expected if you are the bakers son. Clive was also fatter because he was apart of the Amica clan, a clan though good natured, lived a very bourgeois lifestyle compared to other people. Lawrence was part of the Rontanda clan, a hardworking people who lived a rough style but were nonetheless well respected. Lawrence raised his pipe to Clive as he approached. 

“Good day to you.” Clive said pulling out his own pipe. As Clive took a seat next to Lawrence he fumbled with the tobacco, Clive had always been clumsy and uncoordinated. “Master Smith had given me the day off today, he told me ‘Lawrence go on and have yourself a break, you’ve been working to damn hard’.” Lawrence said mimicking his master’s voice. Clive chuckled at this “I think your master is lying, he said you’re working too hard.” Lawrence chuckled at this as well. Clive lit his pipe and took a long drag on it. 

      Together they sat in the field enjoying each other’s company laughing and trading stories. The fact that Lawrence and Clive were friends was a strange thing, they were in two different classes and it was uncommon that people of two different classes became friends. The story of their friendship was one of chance. 

One day Lawrence found Clive being robbed by some people of the Ambrose clan. The Ambrose clan was universally disliked because they were known for never putting in any work and traveled around different towns pulling scams and stealing from people of any class. Anyway, Lawrence had stumbled upon Clive being robbed by two members of this clan, Lawrence charged at the attackers and scared them away. Being built the way Lawrence was he hardly ever needed to use actual violence, just one look at him and most people backed down, as was the case with Clive’s attackers.

       After this day Clive was in Lawrence’s debt, a debt which Clive willing volunteered for and then evolved into a true friendship. Eventually Lawrence put away his pipe and together they walked out to the lake where they fished for the remainder of the day. Living in the upper class, Clive had more leisure time than Lawrence, so he was more experienced in the art of fishing. Though Lawrence was no slouch and managed to bag four large trout, but Clive managed to gather six. 

      When the sun began to set Lawrence and Clive gathered the fish and went back to their town. They passed a sign on the way that said “Green Hills.” The town was a large and somewhat cramped town. In the beginning it was mostly made up of farms, but as wars in the east were waged many refugee’s came seeking shelter. By the king’s demand the town was forced to assist in building homes for the people. The people were treated well enough, they were given jobs and fair wages and integrated well into society. 

      Now as Lawrence and Clive entered the town they went their separate way’s. Lawrence went back to his small cottage which rested on the outskirts of the town, while Clive went to his large home located in a gated community. 

Inside Lawrence rested, he prepared himself a small dinner composed of the fish that he had caught earlier, and a brown ale to wash it all down. He then went out to the near by pub and drank with his friends. As the night winded down Lawrence returned home and slipped into bed and then into sleep. 

      Suddenly Lawrence was awakened by a knocking at his door, strong knocks that sent vibrations through his walls. Lawrence was annoyed by this and also confused, for he hated being wakened from his sleep. Lawrence got up and answered the door, ready to berate the drunk who had dared knocked on it. But when he opened it he did not find some drunken fool, but an older well dressed gentleman. The gentleman seemed to be in his early forties, and wore garbs similar to that of a lord. 

      “Hello.” Lawrence said confused by the presences of a well dressed elite. “Hello my boy,” the gentleman replied “I seem to be in a spot of trouble, do you mind if I take refuge in your home for a few moments?” Lawrence was confused by the question. The gentleman seemed perfectly calm for somebody who was in trouble, not to mention the streets were silent with no signs of any danger. Lawrence then thought this man was an Ambrose who meant to rob him, with this thought Lawrence began to hastily close the door “No, I do not feel like being robbed tonight.” he said. The gentleman stopped the door from closing, he was stronger than Lawrence expected “I am not trying to rob you,” he said sharply “Will you not help a man who has found himself in a precarious situation.” “Look the streets are silent, now I don’t know what your game is but I want no part of it.” Lawrence tried to close the door, but once again the gentleman stopped it. “Just because there is silence does not mean that danger isn’t close.” he said. Lawrence eyed the man suspiciously, for the gentleman seemed to be genuinely anxious, and had an honest appearance. Finally, after much inner debate, Lawrence decided to give in and opened his door to the man. 

      The man quickly came inside and Lawrence closed the door behind him. “So how long will you need to stay?” Lawrence asked “You are a most ungracious host,” The gentleman said “You invite me inside then question how long will I burden you.” This man was extremely strange, he dressed like some one of the upper class, but spoke rudely and with a lower class accent. “I didn’t mean any offense, but strangers going around banging on doors requesting refugee on an otherwise peaceful night, is not a normal occurrence.” The man nodded “Yes, yes this must be very strange for you. My name is Matthew Carpenter by the way.” he said extending his hand. Lawrence shook it “My name is Lawrence, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Lawrence said. As Lawrence shook the mans hand, he was also trying to deduce who this man was, for he had a lower class name. Now not every lower class citizen shared a last name with their trade, but an upper class man would never have a lower class name such as smith, carpenter, or cobbler. While these things were strange, the more important issue dawned on Lawrence. 

      “You said that you were in danger, in danger from who?” Lawrence asked. “You wouldn’t happen to have any tea with you?” Matthew asked. Lawrence was thrown off by the question “Uh, yes I can brew some if you like?” Matthew nodded. Lawrence went off preparing the ingredients and Matthew began to tell his tale. “I was on my way to the winding river where the seat of Asorn lies.” He said. 

      The seat of Asorn was the land of the pure ones, many men who go there never return. Some say god’s inhabit the land as a sort of vacation spot, although that somewhat trivializes the land which is so great and pure. “As I walked to the land,” he continued “I came across a small band of shadow creatures, horrible wretched things they are. Now as you know they don’t usually bother people unless they feel wronged or threatened, and under any other circumstances I would not do either.” Lawrence set the kettle above the fire while listening intently to Matthew’s story, it was true that shadow creatures where not something that you wanted to mess with, for they hunt any one down relentlessly should that person wrong them. Upon hearing that Matthew had wronged some shadow creatures made Lawrence frightened, for it was near impossible to kill a shadow creature without a special foraged blade made from the pure metals. 

      Matthew continued with his story “Though as I passed them I noticed that they held a strange object, it was like a medallion of sorts. Oh how they coveted it, they didn’t even pay me any mind as I passed by. So curious as I was I decided to sneak in for a closer look. As I slowly crawled over to them I noticed that the object was pure in nature, they had probably take it from one of the pure ones, or rather taken it off his corpse. This angered me, but what was I to do? Well this is what I did, I decided to take one of my arrows and light the end of it on fire. Then once I had a clear shot, wham! Hit one of them right on the nose.” Matthew chuckled at this “Oh how they screamed! Surprised and frantic no doubt they scurried along trying to put out the flames, and that’s when I took it! I snatched that medallion right from them and ran as fast as I could. I ran and I ran until I nearly collapsed from exhaustion, I even dropped my bow. Then I come to your town and as luck would have it hear I am, sitting in the home of Lawrence.” 

The kettle began to whistle and Lawrence quickly removed it and poured the tea into Matthew’s cup. Lawrence was shaken by the story, for if the shadow creatures were to find Matthew and Lawrence they were likely to kill them both. Though Lawrence couldn’t just throw him out now, that would be breaking the laws of both god’s and men. Instead Lawrence quietly sipped his tea, and hoped that Matthew would leave soon. 

      “Would you like to see it?” Matthew asked “See what?” Lawrence asked “The medallion! The thing I risked my life for.” Lawrence would have lied to himself if he had said he didn’t but his curiosity got the better of him and he agreed to see it. Matthew pulled it out from one of his pockets and placed it on the table. It was a beautiful piece of gold that was dotted with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and in the very center a stone which Lawrence wasn’t sure of. The stone had all the colors of the rainbow rippling through it, and quietly beckoned for Lawrence to take it. “Beautiful isn’t it.” Matthew said “I’ve been thinking to myself who could this thing belong to, certainly not some earthly king. No it is far to valuable to belong to one of them, and when’s the last time you saw a shadow creature covet any jewelry that belonged to men.” 

       Lawrence was still mesmerized by the jewel in the center, he reached out to try and touch it, but Matthew pulled it back into his pocket. “Best to leave it alone for until I figure out what it is.” he said. 

“I remember hearing tales when I was boy,” Lawrence said “Tales about a great jewels that gave power to men and the blessed one’s alike.These jewels are what allowed the two races to govern their people. They took many forms, rings, necklaces, and even crowns.” Matthew quietly sipped his tea, he knew the stories that Lawrence spoke of, but he decided not to engage him further. “Do you have a spare room for me to rest in, we both have a long journey ahead of us.” 

      Lawrence snapped back to reality “We? No, I plan on remaining right hear.” He said. Matthew shook his head “No, no, no. You have given me refuge and so now you are on the shadow creatures list. If you wish to survive you must come with me, and return the medallion to it’s rightful place.” Lawrence sat there in shock, he couldn’t just up and leave his home. Even though his town had problems he still loved it despite it’s flaws. To just up and leave it was almost like an act of treason. 

      Yet a part of him wanted to go out and explore the rest of the world, to go out and see what lied beyond the Melk Forrest. “What is it that you do for a living?” Matthew asked. “I’m a smith.” Lawrence replied “Ha, I should have guessed by the look of you. Tomorrow before dawn you need to sneak out and acquire some swords for us, also some daggers if you can manage it.” Now he was asking Lawrence to steal, this Lawrence could not do “Steal!” Lawrence exclaimed “I’ve worked in that shop for most of my life, and have come to respect the people I work for. If you think I’ll just up and steal from them you are greatly mistaken. Not to mention the swords we forage wouldn’t even kill a shadow creature.”

       Matthew nodded, for he understood Lawrence’s grievances, but there was a bigger picture that Lawrence’s couldn’t see. “Yes, this must be difficult for you, but there are other things than just shadow creatures that stalk in the night, and fortunately for us a sword will be very effective against them.” 

Lawrence now regretted ever opening that door, if only he had known that it would have lead to him betraying Master Smith, the man who had practically raised him from childhood. “Fine, but you must swear to me that once we return we will reimburse the smith shop.” Matthew swore to him that they would repay the smith. 

      “Very well then,” Lawrence said “There is a guest room behind you, that should be suitable for the night.” Matthew finished the rest of his tea and gave a goodnight bow. “I will make sure to wake you before dawn, and then our journey begins.” Matthew said, and then retreated to the guest room. Lawrence did not bid Matthew a good night, instead he went to his own bed and crawled in. He snuffed out the nearby candle and then rested his head upon the pillow. As he slept he had horrible dreams of shadow creatures and monsters that stalk around in the night, and also strange visions of the medallion resting upon a gate. 

Author's Note

Feel free to critique whatever you think could be improved.