Chapter 1

 “How did we come to be? Why are we here? These questions are to be ignored, for we do not know the answers ourselves. As a Legend you are The Forest, not one, but an individual part. I will mentor you in the responsibilities and actions of a Legend, but for many things I will not guide you. I may be only a year above you, but I started learning this craft when I was only one year. The Order of Legends fell a year ago, and the remaining members are scattered across the nations. There are 3 that live here on the mountain and I am the most powerful. One final thing, you must choose a new name, for nothing that comes from the P-zone is welcome here. What will your chosen name be, discipula?”

She replied with utter confidence, someone must have informed her of this beforehand. “Spark Tritium,”

“Okay, Spark, not only do the Legends protect the forest, we have social lives as well. Why don’t you go ahead and meet the others down the mountain.  I expect you back here at sunrise tomorrow.” She nodded her head and walked silently out of the room. That’s good, she knows how to be quiet. One of the possibly many skills I won’t have to teach her.

I made my way through the halls of my mountain home passing by the doors with Keaton Adams and Lilly Stone until I got to my door, the one labeled Camden Adams. The room was long and narrow with windows at the end. I lit three candles and made my way towards my bed, but instead of sleeping I found myself thinking. About the despair I felt when I lost Lilly and Keaton, but also the joy and hope that Spark would bring.

I woke up an hour before dawn, like I always do. I slid off the cot and slipped on a white shirt and cotton pants. The smell of chocolate pancakes filled the lodge, so Spark must be up. A pleasant surprise. She was in the kitchen, attempting to make eggs. I stood at the edge of the doorway and watched. After a while, I spoke up to give her some advice, “You’re supposed to crack the egg’s shell before you put it in the pan.”

She slowly turned around and asked, “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,”

“Why don’t you do it for me, then?”

“Because then you could never learn how to do anything. I will not do anything for you, but I will teach you how to do your task more efficiently. Do you understand?”

“Yes, that makes sense.”

I took a beginners cooking book off of the bookshelf on the wall and flipped through the pages until I found the instructions for scrambled eggs. I slid the book across the table for Spark to read, then stepped back to watch. She had no other help except for the occasional tip from me. After thirty minutes had passed, she had a decent looking breakfast set out for us. Only then did she check the time, as it was already midmorning and her eyes widened.

Before she could freak out about being late, I put my plate in the sink and started to leave. As I walked out, I said, “This was our lesson for the morning, good job.” And I really meant it.

+-++-++-+

At midday, I called Spark down to the abandoned mess hall to talk to her about her next task. She rushed into the room, sliding on the wood floor in her socks and coming to a stop about two feet away from me.

“Am I going out to the forest now?” She was shifting her weight from foot to foot in anticipation.

“Yes, you are going to the forest, but there is a assignment you have to complete while you are there. You may already know that a Legends rank is displayed by their staff, and since you are an apprentice your first staff will be made of Birch. I will bring you to the birch part of the forest, but after that, you are on your own,” When I said this she stopped fidgeting and stood completely still.

I continued, while looking over at the broken parts of my old staff laying in the corner, “I cannot accompany you because I have to go receive my own staff, from the Snakewood part of the mountain. One more thing, you are not allowed to hurt the tree or use any tools on the tree to make your staff.”

Spark took a moment to absorb the information and instantly got a big smile on her face, ready to take on the challenge.

­­­­­It only took a few minutes to reach the birch tree part of the forest because it was the first layer of the forest on the mountain. At the entrance of the forest, Spark turned towards me and waved a goodbye in my direction before jogging into the foliage.

I rested for a moment, then continued on the curving path up the mountain. By the time I was at the Snakewood section of the forest, the moon was already high in the sky. It cast eerie shadows on the forest floor. I walked off the path and began to wander. The trees were whispering with the wind, their voices barely heard. The night sky was barely visible and the trunks were skyscrapers in the bit city.

After a long while, I stumbled upon a clearing, where a single tree grew in the center. Unlike the other Snakewoods, this one was silent.

I made my way to the lone giant and put my hand onto its trunk. As soon as I opened my mind to it, a thought-speak was projected into my head.

“We have been expecting you. The whole mountain knows of the loss of your staff.”

I ignored his allusion to my brother and answered with a question, “Has Spark received her staff from the birch yet?”

“No, she has yet to speak to a tree.”

“She will figure it out soon enough,” After a long pause, I conjured up the image of my staff. I thought of the slight curve in the top half and the runes covering the body of the staff. I sent this image over to the Snakewood tree and he processed the information.

“It is done.”

Just then, a bright flash of lightning shot down from the sky and the world winked out of existence for several seconds. When I finally gained my eyesight back I saw what was in front of me. Laying on the ground, was a Wolf Staff, the kind of staff that only existed in Legends. Instead of the many runes I had pictured, there was only one rune, a wolf curling its body around the staff. The wood was not Snakewood, but a rarer variant called Dragonwood.

The staff glowed slightly when I picked it up, and it was by this light that I found my way to the path.

When I got back to the House, Spark was already eating breakfast, her staff was leaning against the table and showcased only two runes, the rune to strengthen the wood and the rune to channel or store power.

I leaned my staff on the table and went to get my food. I stumbled over to the table and sat down across from Spark.

Spark started to talk, “I spoke to the trees, they told me about your staff.”

“What about it?”

“They told me that it shouldn’t exist and the likes of it haven’t been seen in years,”

“True enough, the Wolf Staff hasn’t been summoned since before the Order,”

Spark fell silent as I finished my pancakes and left the room, I needed rest before I could test the power of my staff.

+-++-++-+

                I looked out at the world from my lookout on the mountain, and I couldn’t help but be overcome by a sense of incredible grief. The world is in so much danger, and all but a select few know it. No not The World. Just My World. Why Brother, did you have to kill her. She was only trying to do what she thought was right.

                 The wolf was still here. Why would it still be here?

                It only spoke one sentence, “Lilly is not dead.”

+-++-++-+

                I bolted upright in my bed, rushing to put on my clothes and running down the hall to Spark’s room. I burst in, before backing out again, and knocking on the door. She turned on her light and gave me a groggy ‘come in’.

                I pushed open the door slowly, and practically demanded, “Put on some traveling clothes and gather all of your stuff.”

She looked over at me, confused, “Why?”

“I had a dream. Not just some silly dream though, the Wolf staff was there, and he told me that Lilly isn’t dead,”

“Who is Lilly?”

“No time to explain it now, meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes,”

I rushed back into my room and gathered up about 3 days of clothes to put in my pack. On my way out the door, I grabbed my staff and ran with everything to the kitchen. I jerked the pantry door open, and took every bag of dried meat that I could find. Only about half fit in my pack, so the rest would have to go in Spark’s pack. I took the remaining dried meat and dumped it on the table. There, now we have food, but we still need water. The canteens are kept on the top shelf of the cabinet farthest to the left.

We would only be able to carry two canteens, one for each of us, so I took the fairly large ones that had straps to carry them and started out the door. Spark was right outside the door as I walked out and I tossed her one of the canteens. She set her pack on the table and followed me outside with her canteen. The mountain is home to a large network of clear streams and rivers, so we do not have to travel far to fill up our bottles with water.

Once we filled the canteens, we went back to the kitchen and put the other bags of jerky into Spark’s pack. Spark had shaken herself out of sleep, and now she was starting to pester me with questions about our sudden quest. “Where are we going? When are we leaving?”

“I’ll tell you about all that when we’re on our way,”

“At least tell me who Lilly is. I’m pretty sure I saw her name on one of the doors here.”

“Fine, if it really matters, Lilly was a good friend of mine.”

“Was?”

“Yes. Until tonight, I thought she was dead, killed when the Order collapsed about a year ago.”

“Do you have any idea where she is?”

“Yes, I actually do. She’s right where I left her, at the Order’s Hideout. There is enough food and water there for a whole city’s population to last for a year. She would have no need to move.”

The conversation was over, so I focused most of my effort on packing. I would have to tell spark everything once we were on the road, and I was not looking forward to that.

Reviews

[David Jae]

I like where this is going. Spark, the apprentice Magician, is a very compelling character, as well as the relationship between her and her Master. It would have been nice to know his name, though. I like your use of dialogue, although it does feel like a bit of an info dump at the start. It might have been better to start slower and set up how Spark met him and where she came from.

Still, I can see a lot of potential, here...

[TheSummoner]

Thank you! I agree with the info dump part, but I did tell the name.
Here:
"I made my way through the halls of my mountain home passing by the doors with Keaton Adams and Camden Butki until I got to my door, the one labeled Camden Adams."

[David Jae]

Okay. I missed that. Do they put their N

[David Jae]

Do they put their family names first?

[TheSummoner]

Sorry, I don't know.

[S. von Glaubitz]

Intruiging! You seem to have worked out a lot of the intricacies of these Legends and work the world-building of it nicely into the narrative. I do have a few questions. Camden mentions "others down the mountain". Who are they? What is Spark doing before Camden meets her in the mess hall? I think it would help flesh out the nature of Spark's training and what the Legends do.

I also really like that something devastating has recently happened to Camden, resulting in the loss of loved ones and his staff, but you don't clearly reveal what it is. It makes me want to keep reading.

Opening with that piece of dialogue is great, particularly with those questions. It hooked me in. I would suggest breaking that paragraph up with some action and scene setting, though. It's a lot of information to take in all at once, especially without anything else to orient the reader. Similarly, you then move quickly to the next day, so again I found myself unable to get an easy footing in the story. Can you somehow make everything to the first break a single scene?

I also would love to have Spark fleshed out a little bit more. Some physical description or even just an age-range would help. Also, I was confused that she knew how to make chocolate pancakes well enough for the smell to be recognizeable, but didn't know to crack an egg before cooking it.

Great start! Is there a second chapter coming any time soon?