Chapter 1

A Chapter by Cris

Nox Aeterna

There was a sound of leaves crunching beneath his feet. It seemed apparent that the fall was approaching quickly. He needed to gather food and wood, and he needed it quick.

A quick breeze came in from over the mountains , brushing against his face. Lifting his dark auburn hair from over his eyes and outwards in the direction of the breeze. He wore a vest that appeared to be made from the hide of an animal .It didn’t seem to offer much warmth, around his pants he had a belt that had a scabbard, with the hilt of a sword coming out he felt something behind him and almost grabbed the hilt but the young man continued to walk seemingly un-affected by the wind and unknown presence.

“This isn’t fair, my siblings get to have fun and I’m forced to go out and gather materials.” He said aloud to himself.

He kept walking, after finally gathering enough wood he realized he needed to start to head back to town, it was getting dark and the wind was getting stronger.

“Seems there’s going to be some sort of storm tonight, best to keep inside. I need to make it back to town..” He began to walk towards the dirt road that was barely visible through the thick over hanging tree branches that were ahead. He finally made it on the road and was in front of one of the Guard Towers, above on its top was one of the Guardians Flames, an everlasting flame that lighted the path at night.

A man in armor and wielding a heavy blade stood before him as he emerged. He looked down on the young man. “Hey kid you better get back to town, there’s gonna be a storm tonight. Don’t want you to get lost in it.”

“I know, I know don’t have to tell me twice”

He turned and walked in the direction of town, it was faintly noticeable in the distance. “Ugh, they force me to go this far out into the wilderness just to get some wood? I know my father wants me to grow up but I’m only 15 no need to push me so hard..” He rambled inside his head for a good length of the walk, without noticing the sun had already set, it started to get dark.

Luckily the storm still hasn’t hit, and the faint glow of the Guardians Flame behind him still on the ground in front of him. It would slowly fade into a section of darkness before another Guardian Tower stood and it’s flame would light the next portion of the path.

Before reaching the dark portion, the light beneath his feet and ahead of him suddenly disappeared. He was surrounded in complete darkness. He began to walk faster, above the trees past the bend in the path ahead was the faint glow of another tower. He walked in the direction of it, almost running into a tree until the faint glow of the approaching flame lit up the ground behind the tree.

He finally began to regain his cool and walked slower, approaching the next tower he realized something different, the people that stood there seemed panicked. Before he even opened his mouth one of the Guards looked at him, “Get home.” That was all he said before he walked back into the tower.

“Well that was…abrupt.”

He thought to himself but he heeded the guards words and began to pick up a quicker pace towards town. Just like with the original light, the light beneath his feet eventually disappeared. At this point he was running, he ran past the following tower. But the sight he saw at the tower was unsettling. The guards were panicking, there were guards running around and bringing out weapons whatever was happening it wasn’t something that should be taken lightly. He only looked forward for the rest of the way home.

Finally he had reached the town, the forest behind him was completely dark, there was a silence in the town. Everyone stood looking at the gate of the town where the young man was standing. Their eyes widened and mouths opened.

A man stepped from out the crowd, pushing his way through the people. “Aiden get down! There’s something behind you!”

Aiden turned around and before him stood a large figure that was covered in a black aura, its eyes radiated red and the immediate area around it looked black and white and was significantly colder than anywhere else. He was paralyzed with fear, the figure looked down on him. It stood there looking at him. It seemed like it wasn’t just looking at him but through him. As if it had been looking for something. It raised its arm and suddenly within the blink of an eye a black sword that radiated small black lines of energy around it appeared in his arm. It opened its mouth and let out an ear crushing screech that seemed to echo throughout the land, birds flew into the air and the towns people stood in fear. The very ground beneath Aiden began to shake and rumble. There was suddenly another figure beside the original, soon afterwards another. In about 3 seconds there stood more than 10 before Aiden and the townsfolk.

“What..are you things?”

Aiden said slowly to the one who had still been looking down on him.

“We are the Exulans” was all the figure said before it seemed to instantly appear in front of the crowd. One man was standing in front and got his fist ready, before his fist were raised he was cut down. Blood was squirting from the cut that was across his chest, the blood went in all directions but didn’t seem to get onto the Exulan. The townsfolk began to scream, they were being cut down and houses sprung into flames the second an Exluan pointed towards one.

Aiden cowered in fear, he looked at the carnage, seeing his townsfolk before him being cut down. It was a traumatizing sight, there was no explication for why this was happening. He began to get angry at himself, wondering if he did something if he could have done something to prevent this. His anger soon turned to rage as he drew his sword from its scabbard. He began to dash towards one of the Exulans, striking quick he cut straight through it's shoulder and into it's back. The blow seemed to only have made the Exulan more angry as it turned itself around with the blade still in.

Aiden was thrown into the air by a single push of the Exulans hand, he landed 20 feet away and knew in his mind this was a battle he would not win.