《The Cradle of The Lonely Crown》 Prologue & Chapter 1 Prologue A young boy suddenly awoke from a nightmare. The boy was in the middle of the woods. It was snowing. The boy did not know where he was or how he got there. The boy tried to stand but his legs felt weak and cold. He touched his naked legs; they were warm but were slowly growing colder. The boy panicked as to why he was almost entirely naked and he felt across his body and came to something he did not remember. There was a scar running from his right shoulder to his left hip. He had no clothing under the scar and the clothing above it was ripped and shredded. The boy willed his weak legs to move and slowly he stood up. He noticed there was a bright light behind some trees. He stumbled towards the light. He came upon a village. The village was burning down and bodies littered the roads. The boy made his way through the burning corpses before tripping over the body of a young girl. He tried to scream as his face landed near the face of a small boy but no sound came out. After he regained his composure he stood back up and unsteadily walked into a house which had not yet caught fire. He searched a room that seemed to be that of a young child just like him. He found some clothes that fit him it was a black shirt and dark brown pants, along with a light brown jacket and an old withered brown cape. He had difficulty trying to put on the clothes with his weak limbs. The house had caught fire before he realized it and he had to escape fast but he did not have shoes for treading through the snow. The boy escaped the burning building and took some brown gloves and black boots from the bodies of children before he set out away from the burning village. The woods were calm and no insects could be heard around the boy. The boy did not find the lack of noise unnatural because he had never quite been in a forest. The boy kept walking no matter how uneasy his legs became. He came to an unnaturally large stone at the edge of a clearing in the woods. The boy touched this stone. It was quite warm compared to the chilling air. The boy sat down against the stone and closed his eyes. The boy did not open his eyes again. It would seem today was too much for him. Chapter 1 A young man held his daughter in his arms. The young woman on the bed held out her arms and the young man gave her his daughter. The young woman held the baby girl close to her and smiled as she stared into the babies eyes. ¡°What are we going to name her?¡± The young woman asked the young man without looking away from the baby. The young man scratched his head as he was thinking, they had originally thought that the child would be a boy and decided on a name but that name would only work if the child was a boy. ¡°What about Anaphiel?¡± The young man asked. ¡°Ana? That might not be bad.¡± The woman touched the baby¡¯s cheek. ¡°Then let she be known as Anaphiel Lizbeth Lionbranch.¡± The man grinned as he announced the baby¡¯s name. The woman was surprised, ¡°You¡¯re using my name as a part of her name?¡± ¡°Is it wrong?¡± ¡°No, no absolutely not it¡¯s just I was a bit surprised.¡± The man caressed the baby¡¯s cheek as he told her, ¡°Hear that Ana, from this day forth you will be known as Anaphiel Lizbeth Lionbranch.¡± The baby¡¯s eyes stared at the man who touched her cheek before she began to cry. ------------------------------- Ana was now three years old, she lived in a village near the lord of this land¡¯s castle. The lord had once visited this village personally or more accurately the lord came to visit his old friend, Ana¡¯s father. Ana had already begun to walk but she has never uttered a single word, her parents thought she might be sick or mute but they were proven wrong. Her mother walked passed her room one day when she was playing by herself her mother heard a voice inside her room and peaked in, she saw Ana talking. She immediately went to get Ana¡¯s father, the two stood in front of the door the whole day and listened to their beautiful daughter talk almost nonstop. Ana was spoiled a bit more than usual that day and she didn¡¯t care why, she was happy at being spoiled by her parents. It was the first day Ana walked outside the house; she was helping her mother with her work. She curiously stared at the people of the village who had different colour hair than her parents. Her mother had light blue hair and her father had dark red hair. She herself had beautiful red hair with blue stripes in-between. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.She carried a small empty basket while her mother carried a larger bucket filled with unwashed clothes. They were going to the stream nearby to wash their clothes. Her mother had the job of washing the villagers¡¯ clothes along with a few other women with blue hair. She sat her basket next to her mother¡¯s near the river, her mother showed her how to wash the clothes and handed her a few practice cloths. She eagerly began to clean the cloths, her mother had been against teaching her while she was still so young but she couldn¡¯t deny her child when she asked her with words. She ripped one of the practice cloths accidentally as she had been too eager. ¡°Honey slow down a bit, you¡¯re going too fast.¡± Her mother helped her with the second one showing her the pace she should keep while washing the cloth. Ana tried it how her mother showed her on the third one and the cloth did not rip this time, she was so proud of herself. She washed the other cloths the same way and most came out without any rips in them. Next she and her mother went to the chief¡¯s house to deliver the washed clothes. Ana¡¯s basket was filled with her clean practice cloths. They left their baskets filled with clothes at the house¡¯s doorstep except for the basket with their clothes in. Her mother held her small hand as the two went back home to prepare for lunch. Ana was a bit tired from the excitement of washing her cloth. When they entered their home Ana was walking unsteadily, she was completely worn out. Her mother put down her basket filled with washed clothes and picked up Ana. She was laid to rest by her mother, she was put in her bed and almost instantly she fell asleep. Ana woke up after only a few hours of sleep. It was now lunch time, Ana climbed up from the bed and ran to her mother who was finishing a lunch box for her father. Her father was the village¡¯s blacksmith and he would work from morning till evening thus her mother would pack him a lunch and take it to him. ¡°Are you awake, Ana?¡± Her mother asked her as she saw her. Ana nodded while curiously trying to peak at what her father was getting for lunch. Her mother lifted her up to show her, ¡°want to go give daddy¡¯s food to him with me?¡± Her mother asked her as she put her back down. Ana¡¯s face lit up and she nodded ecstatically. Her mother handed her the lunch box and instructed her to not let it fall. The two headed out of the house, Ana held her mother¡¯s hand and kept her eyes glued on the lunch box to ascertain it would not fall. Her mother saw her determined focus and giggled, her daughter of three was trying to be as serious as she possibly could be in trying to deliver the lunch. She and her mother were greeted many times as they made their way to the blacksmith but she didn¡¯t pay attention to them she only kept her focus on the lunch box. They suddenly stopped and she was curious why, her mother was crouched in front of her. ¡°Ana go give your daddy his lunch box, he will be so happy if his little girl brought him lunch.¡± Her mother told her with a smile. Ana nodded and walked passed her mother into the blacksmith workshop. The shop was now quiet as it was lunch time and all the blacksmiths were taking a break to eat something. She looked around for her father and saw him talking with another person. She ran up to him, still focused on not letting the box fall. She tugged on her father¡¯s trousers. He turned around to see his little girl holding out a lunch box for him. ¡°Did you bring me lunch sweetheart?¡± Her father asked as he took the box and picked her up. She nodded happily. ¡°Did you come alone?¡± She shook her head and pointed to the door where her mother was standing, her mother waved as her father looked at where she had pointed. Her father walked over to her mother while still holding her in his arms. ¡°Thank you, honey.¡± Her father said as he kissed her mother. Ana shook her father¡¯s shoulder and stared at him with desire in her small eyes. ¡°Do you want a reward too, Ana?¡± Her father asked seeing his cute daughter¡¯s reaction. She nodded without breaking eye contact with her father. ¡°Seems like she is a greedy child.¡± Her mother pinched her cheek. ¡°Well it can¡¯t be helped.¡± Her father gave in quickly. He kissed her on her right cheek, she was happy for her reward but then her mother kissed her left cheek. Her mother smiled as she added, ¡°A bonus for being so cute.¡± Ana was ecstatic about her bonus reward and she couldn¡¯t help but smile and snuggle into her father¡¯s chest to hide her embarrassment. Chapter 2 Today was the 38th of Pyriel; the four moons were all full moons as well. Today was also Ana¡¯s fourth birthday. Her father gave her a hair ornament which he made himself and her mother gave her a doll made from clay. Ana was extremely happy about her gift and immediately when her parents gave them to her she hugged them and ran off to her room to play with her new doll. Ana had one straw doll and now one clay doll. When her parents gave her the straw doll the previous year they found out what power the gods gifted her. She could make the doll move to her commands and she would usually talk to the doll in her room instead of her imaginary friend. Later that day Ana went out with her mother and father. They went to the chief¡¯s house for a small party for Ana. Ana was not expecting the party and she was completely surprised when they arrived at the chief¡¯s house, even the Lord of this land came to celebrate Ana¡¯s birthday. ¡°Happy birthday Ana, you might not remember me but I am your father¡¯s best friend.¡± The old plump man smiled at Ana. She stared at him and nodded, her father then pulled the old plump man with him away from Ana. She sat on a chair in the corner of the room and played with her doll. She was talking to her doll when her mother came to talk to her, ¡°Ana you should enjoy this party a bit more, the Lord even brought his own daughter for you to play with.¡± ¡°Ana don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°But this party was arranged just for you, it wouldn¡¯t be fun if the birthday girl didn¡¯t enjoy her own party.¡± ¡°Ana don¡¯t want make people sad. Ana play with girl.¡± Ana¡¯s speech was still a bit broken when she spoke to others but it was now better than before. ¡°Good girl, I¡¯ll give you some sweets when the party is over.¡± Her mother took her hand; they walked towards the old plump man. ¡°Yay, Ana like sweet.¡± Ana was happy that she could get some sweets from just playing with another girl. When they stopped in front of the old plump man Ana saw the girl who was going to be her playmate. The girl was dressed in a sparkly white and silver dress, everything this girl wore screamed ¡®expensive¡¯. The girl came up to Ana and introduced herself, ¡°I am the Lord¡¯s daughter, Sapphire Dyeborne. What might your name be?¡± ¡°Ana is Ana.¡± ¡°Well then Ana let¡¯s be friends.¡± Ana nodded to Sapphire who took her hand and lead her to the play room inside the chief¡¯s house. The two played with dolls the whole time and Sapphire was quite surprised to see Ana¡¯s clay doll move. Sapphire did not know Ana had a power to control dolls. ------------------------------------------------------------- The following morning Ana woke up to her usual roof and bed. She thought she must have fallen asleep while playing with Sapphire as she could not remember how she got back home. But there was one problem, her clay doll was missing. She quickly ran towards her parents¡¯ room only to find it empty as the sun was already quite high they must have already gone to work. Ana tried to open the front door but she was too small to reach the handle. She ran back to her room. She appeared with straw doll in hand; she went back to the front door and instructed her doll to open the door. It did as instructed but with some difficulty, it was much smaller than Ana but it used its light weight to climb up the door. When it reached the handle it and Ana both realised something, the doll was too light to open the door. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Big brother, how get out?¡± Ana asked her doll as it climbed back down the door. The doll waved its arms and ran to the kitchen and pointed at a window. Ana followed and opened the window. The doll climbed through the opened window and landed on the ground outside, it waved its arms signalling her to follow. ¡°I don¡¯t know, scary.¡± Ana was scared, she had never tried going through a window as she never had too. The doll drew a picture of the clay doll in the dirt and waved its arms at Ana. Ana looked at the picture, ¡°Okay, I go.¡± She climbed out slowly and minimized the fall by first hanging on the edge before dropping down. She picked up the straw doll and ran to the river near the town where her mother would be. She arrived and looked around but her mother was nowhere to be found. The doll climbed out of her arms and drew a picture of a person with a hammer and a table near him in the loose dirt. ¡°Daddy¡­¡± The doll nodded at Ana and she picked it up again. She hurried back home as she only knew the way to her father¡¯s work from her house. The door to her house was slightly open when she returned. Curiosity struck the little girl; she opened the door and walked through the house to find her mother investigating the window that was open in the kitchen. She walked up to her mother and pulled on her dress. ¡°Ana where have you been?¡± Her mother had hugged her, ¡°I was so worried when I couldn¡¯t find you.¡± Ana looked at her mother¡¯s crying face, she knew she did something bad but now was not the time. ¡°Mommy, new dolly lost.¡± Her mother stood back up and patted her head, ¡°Then let¡¯s go back to the chief¡¯s house, you probably forgot it at his house after the party last night. Ana nodded to her mother and took her hand. They walked out of the house towards the chief¡¯s house. ------------------------------------------------------------- ~Somewhere else entirely~ A girl threw a doll made from clay at the wall, breaking one of its legs, ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it move, it moved at the party last night. I even infused some magic into it.¡± The maid that stood watch over the girl picked up the doll, ¡°Little mistress why don¡¯t we have the court magician take a look at it, maybe it needs something else to function.¡± The girl puffed her cheeks in displeasure, ¡°Fine¡­¡± ------------------------------------------------------------- Ana and her mother were standing in front of the chief¡¯s house, they searched everywhere where Ana was but they have not found the doll. They even asked the maids and none of them seem to know where it is. ¡°Ana do you want a new one?¡± Her mother asked as she gave up on the search. ¡°No¡­ Dolly present¡­¡± Ana felt heartbroken from losing her birthday present. ¡°How about we tell daddy to make you one out of metal, like your hair pin?¡± Her mother pointed at the hair ornament in Ana¡¯s hair. Ana took off the ornament to inspect it; she showed it to her straw doll and asked, ¡°Metal?¡± The doll nodded slightly. She looked back at her mother, ¡°Dolly of metal?¡± ¡°Yes, dolly of metal.¡± Her mother petted her with a smile. Ana nodded and held her mother¡¯s hand. They made their way to her father¡¯s workshop to place an order for a metal doll. Chapter 3 Ana¡¯s father had made her a hollow metal doll that is about the same size as her. The doll was made from a metal known as Iron but this metal was not normal iron either. It was a fusion of iron and fire created from her father¡¯s power. The doll had a brownish shine to the black iron. It was smoothed completely to hide the areas it was hammered flat. The doll was quite heavy and a few people were needed to put it on a carriage. Ana¡¯s father was the coachman and the doll was the only passenger. He rode home with the doll imagining how happy his little girl would be when she sees her new doll. He wanted to see his little girl smile and not be sad as she was when she and her mother came to him when she lost her clay doll. He arrived at his home late morning. His wife had just returned from her job. He entered the house only to be immediately greeted by his beautiful daughter, Ana. ¡°Ana, daddy brought you a present.¡± He said as he picked her up. Ana was curiously looking around, ¡°Present?¡± He held her in his arms and began to walk to the carriage, ¡°Yes, a present just for Ana.¡± Ana saw the ¡®giant¡¯ brownish black doll on the carriage, her excitement boiled over. When she was put down she immediately ran up to the doll and touched it. The doll was cold but her touch made a warmth flow through it. The once cold doll moved slightly. Her father was surprised to see she could control such a large doll without training her power. Ana climbed off of the carriage and went to stand next to her father. They watched the spectacle of a doll made of metal slowly beginning to move. After a few minutes the doll¡¯s movements became smoother and it jumped from the carriage. It landed on the stone road, making a dent in the road. It recovered from the landing almost immediately and made its way to Ana. It picked her up and set her on its shoulders. Ana was now nearly as ¡®tall¡¯ as her father. ¡°hehehe¡­ fun¡­¡± Ana enjoyed the new unfamiliar height. Her father petted her head, ¡°Want to show mommy your new dolly?¡± Ana nodded while pointing towards the door of the house, ¡°Forward march.¡± The doll began to walk to the house. ------------------------------------------------------------- ~Somewhere else~ ¡°Mistress it would seem there is no magic power in this doll at all.¡± The court magician spoke to the girl who sat on a chair as he examined the doll, ¡°If it truly moved then it might have been a spirit that possessed it.¡± The girl stood up from her chair and left the room. She was on her way to her father. She needed to know what made the doll move for she wanted it. Just think. A servant that will never complain and do anything you say, such a thing could only be described as glorious. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. A total obedient servant that needs no food is what all wish for especially this small girl. She wanted a servant that could build her, her own dungeon. She wanted a dungeon as those she had read about in story books. The dungeons were ruled by beings stronger than all the monsters that appeared in a dungeon. ¡°Father, I want to visit Ana.¡± The girl commanded her father but he was extremely busy and did not even pay attention to her. ¡°Father!¡± She tried again and this time he reacted, ¡°Guards please escort my daughter out of the room, I am too busy now.¡± But it did not go as she expected. The guards led her out of the room and closed the door behind her. She thought that if her father will not help her then she would make her own obedient slave. She set off to the room where she left the court mage. She wanted knowledge on golems and magic. ------------------------------------------------------------- Today was too much for Ana. She was very happy and fell asleep while still playing with her Ana sized doll. The doll carried her to her room and put her on the bed. It then went back to where Ana¡¯s father was. It helped him carry tools and other things back to his workshop. It was passed lunchtime when they arrived at the workshop. The doll dropped the items it carried where Ana¡¯s father showed it to. It then shaped one of its stumps (Hands) into a hammer shape. The doll stood still in front of an anvil, when Ana¡¯s father put a white hot iron ingot on the anvil the doll began to hammer it into a sword shape. Whenever the ingot cooled to a dark red the doll would put it back in the flames of the furnace and continued to shape other ingots Ana¡¯s father lined up on the anvil. Ana¡¯s father was surprised by the doll with a hammer for a hand but it grew on him. The orders he had to fill out for today was quickly finished and he and the doll began with the orders for tomorrow. The Red Drake Smithy developed into the topic of rumours pretty quickly. The owner of the smithy apparently had a golem working for him and he had power over the flames. All weapons that originated from this smithy were of a quality that even the lord of the land would place orders. Of course since the lord bought weapons from here other nobles would soon follow. The Red Drake Smithy was very popular. It made adventurers and knights all want a weapon made by the master blacksmith Reinald Lionbranch. Although they all wanted one the weapons sold by the smithy to nobles were the only ones made by Reinald. Chapter 4 Ana¡¯s mother had passed away in the year when she turned five. Her mother had a horrible disease that ate at the magic power of a human. The disease only affected those who could use magic but did not. After her mother passed away Ana cried for days after which her father introduced her to magic. He taught her everything he knew of his element that was fire. Fire was at the top of the food chain followed by Earth, Water, Air, Light and Dark. The rulers of the lands ranked mages by their main element and their overall strength and usefulness. Light and Dark had the least amount of uses in the world. They could not even be used in battles. Ana had affinity to fire, water and air but her main element would be fire. She went with him to his workshop and practiced her fire there while her doll and her father made weapons. Today was one year after her mother had passed away and she had yet to turn six. She was at her father¡¯s workshop along with her doll. She practised her basics, just as she did once a day for the past year. Her father taught her even if she could use the greatest magic she would get nowhere if she lacked control. Her father was busy igniting the stone furnace once more as he had done every day. The doll was ready and waiting for white hot ingots. Her father took a few minutes before he got the furnace up and running. She had noticed his flame grew weaker when her mother passed away. She wanted to strengthen her flame to be the guiding beacon for her father. She wanted to help him as much as she could. She also packed lunches for them as she knew they would not return till night. She produced a small flame on her palm and bended it into different shapes. This was one way to practise control over magic. She would think of a shape and then shape the fire to resemble the shape she thought of as accurately as possible. A few times her shaping failed and the flame shot from her hand against the wall in front of her. After the basics she would try different things such as making a whip of fire and using it as a whip. She would then follow with something like a tornado of fire but she was not allowed to make it bigger than her fist for what happened to the shop previously. She made a small ball of fire that was compressed enough for it to attract wood or iron shaving. She brought it close to her doll and saw that the part of the doll closest to the ball of fire had turned white hot. She pulled it away and realised she just made something new, a sun or the concept of a sun in this world. Ana tried to dissolve this dangerous thing but to no avail. Water would be caught in its effects and form a sphere around the ball of fire before evaporating into a mist. Ana slightly panicked and thought of what would happen if she made another. She duplicated the ball and brought them closer. They consumed each other, what was left was simply a larger version of the ball of fire. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Ana ran out of the workshop and decided to get rid of it. She tossed it into the sky with help of her air element the ball flew high and fast. When she went back to the shop there was a sudden explosion a few kilometres away. A large burning cloud could be seen in the distance. Ana quickly returned to her corner in the workshop and practised further hoping her father would not think it was her fault. Later that day an old man in a robe entered the village. He was in search of the mage that made a large explosion just outside this village. He asked around the village and was told the only mage in this village was the famous blacksmith Reinald. The old man wandered the village. He was searching for The Red Drake Smithy. A red haired man and his red haired daughter passed the old man but he did not pay them mind. Their magic power was not large enough to cause the grand display of magic that happened just outside the village. Unknown to the old man the people that walked passed him was Ana and her father. The old man however was very surprised to see a golem follow Ana and her father. The old man¡¯s interest was quite peaked but now was not the time for him to get side tracked. He had a mission. He must find the person that did that damage before the soldiers of the kingdom did. The old man was a master mage, his rank, Wizard. It was the second highest rank for a mage. The highest would be Arch Mage but there was only three Arch Mages on the whole continent. The old man ignored the golem and continued his search and little to his knowledge, Ana and her father took the next couple of days off. He would not see them anytime soon. Ana had a unique experience. She saw an old man that wore a robe on her way home. Her father told her that must have been a high ranking mage judging from his clothes. She was interested in this new species she had discovered (The old mage) and she wanted to study it a bit but her father forbade her. The following days the two of them would go to the lord¡¯s castle and spend a week there. Ana was also quite excited in spending some quality time with her father. Her father wanted to ask the lord a favour. He wanted to let his girl be taught magic by a high ranking court mage. He knew the lord would not refuse a request from him but when it came to politics the lord was quite cunning and stubborn. A court mage was the ultimate political tool followed by a daughter and then a son. A son could always take over but he could not spread his influence much. A daughter could be married off and gain profits for her family. A court mage on the other hand would be lent out for favours and was used as a line of defence. Her father simply hoped that the lord accepted his selfish request. He would even return to work for the lord if he had too. Chapter 5 ¡°My dearest %&^*&@#%, you may not know me but I have been with you throughout your entire life.¡± An elderly mage sat on his ¡®throne¡¯ located in his personal library. The young girl near the door gazed at the mage in silence. ¡°I might be a little late but happy birthday sweet %&^*&@#%.¡± The mage promptly placed down a book he was peering at. He turned his focus to the little girl before he stood up and leisurely walked to her. ¡°I hope that you can forgive and old man for all of his wrong doings. I am leaving soon my precious friend.¡± The girl had a surprised expression and she briskly shook her head yelling, ¡°No, please don¡¯t leave me!¡± The old mage gave a soft smile as he petted the girl. ¡°I¡¯m sorry truly but one must move on in time. You will learn to forget me and live a happy life.¡± The air around them trembled slightly before shattering like glass. ----------------------------------------- ¡°Ana, wake up!¡± Ana was violently being shaken by the shoulders. The girl opened her weary eyes and glared at her father. ¡°What do you want?¡± she was somewhat annoyed by her incompetent father. She had to clean up after her father when her mother passed away but recently she had had enough. Her father smirked as he said, ¡°Today is the day of the fair!¡± Ana was overjoyed, today was the day she has been waiting for almost all year. The reason for her excitement, the fair happens once every four year and she missed the last one as well as her quest. Her quest was simple, find a beautiful mask that would make her metal doll seem less like a doll and more like a human. Ana had actually overslept but her father did not want to wake her. She had been working hard the past week for some pocket change to be able to purchase a mask. Thus he let her sleep until late afternoon. She pushed her father out of her room and closed the door. She opened her closet and picked out one of her favourite dresses. The dress fit her body almost perfectly. It was decorated by frills that ran diagonally across the dress. The dress was a simple blue colour, it belonged to her mother. As she stared at herself in a body sized mirror she noticed something. Tears ran down her soft white cheeks. She whipped away the tears as she consoled herself, ¡°Ana must stay strong.¡± The door to her room creaked as it was opened by a small metal doll. The doll was now almost half as tall as Ana. She had grown quite big but her doll always stayed the same. The doll was dressed in a black suit accompanied by an extravagant fake moustache on its face. The doll held out a pair of light aqua high heel boots. Ana took the boots and swiftly equipped them then followed the doll out into the busy streets. Her father waited patiently for her outside the house, clad in a dark green undershirt, a dark aqua jacket and a pair of black trousers. Ana and her father held hands as they walked through the streets and gawked at all the stalls. There was one which caught Ana¡¯s attention, the mask stall. Ana pulled her father towards it accompanied by her metal doll. ¡°Good day young lady, would you like to buy a mask?¡± The lady who owned the stall asked Ana expectantly. Ana ignored the question and examined all the masks. There was one that caught her attention, a white featureless mask. It had one hole on the left side where your eye would be and a large grass leaf was painted across the mask. It was a peculiar mask; all the other masks had features such as noses or mouths but not this one. Ana had made her choice, ¡°I would like this one please.¡± She handed the featureless mask to the stall owner. ¡°That will be 30 copper young lady.¡± Ana was unsure of the price. Other masks cost only 10 coppers each. Reluctantly Ana pulled out three small coins and placed them in the stall owners hand, ¡°Pleasure doing business with you, young lady.¡± She gave the mask to Ana. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ----------------------------------------- ~Somewhere else~ ¡°Father, may brother take me to the festival in the nearby town?¡± The girl asked her rather busy father. He was especially busy on this day with a request sent by his old friend. ¡°Sapphire, listen to your father now. You will bring Ana back with you tomorrow as she will study under the court mage as a favour for a friend. If you do that then I shall permit your visit.¡± The girl, Sapphire, nodded happily and ran out of the room towards her brother¡¯s room. She barged in on her sleeping brother and shook him awake, ¡°Brother, brother, father said we can go to the festival!¡± Her brother unwillingly opened his tired eyes, ¡°Payment?¡± He asked Sapphire. She walked back to the door, bent over and then stood up straight again. She returned with a red stone about the size of an adult¡¯s fist, ¡°As promised I brought you the fire mana stone father gave me.¡± Her brother opened his eyes wide to clearly view the stone. When he made certain it was the stone he wanted he climbed out of bed and dressed accordingly. He took the stone and held it in his hand. It was engulfed in a blue flame causing it to melt and form a red layer atop his flesh. It was a magical control device. The device assists a young mage to learn to control his or her abilities. ¡°Let us be off, my little sister.¡± He strode out of the room closely followed by the enthusiastic Sapphire. ----------------------------------------- ¡°Ana please wait here for a bit, daddy is going to prepare something for you.¡± Ana¡¯s father had taken her into the woods near the town. They were in the middle of a small clearing. Ana sat down on the grass alongside her trusted companion, the doll. Her father went back into the direction of the town. It was the end of the festival which was to be celebrated with fireworks. Ana only knew of the word but she has never seen one in her life. A few minutes passed after her father disappeared and she could already hear the screams of joy. She could easily see the bright town through the thick trees. A few more moments passed and finally the fireworks were launched. They formed beautiful, colourful flowers in the sky. Ana was so absorbed in the spectacle that she did not even notice the snow falling around her. It was to be a ¡®long¡¯ winter this year¡­ Chapter 6 ¡°Brother, over here! This one is still breathing.¡± A little girl yells to her older brother. The two of them came to this town for some reason but when they arrived it was merely ash covered in a thick layer of snow. The brother picked up the child who was covered in a thinner layer of snow than the rest. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The sister asked as she pointed at a thing on the child¡¯s face. It was a black featureless mask with a large red crack across it. There is one hole for an eye and on the other side is a light-blue eye painted onto the mask. ¡°It¡¯s just a mask.¡± Answered the brother a little bit bothered by the strange mask. The brother placed the child on one of the seats in the carriage next to him. The sister climbed in after her brother. ¡°What about the girl?¡± The brother inquired. The girl stared out one of the windows in the carriage, ¡°I think she is in that ¡®pile¡¯.¡± The carriage left and made its way to their home in silence. ¡°Father, the town was destroyed. It was ash when we arrived.¡± The brother reported to his father. The father looked up from a book he was studying quite vigorously, ¡°Boy, what nonsense is this you are spouting?¡± The father was furious for his own child to pull such a stunt. ¡°It is no lie, father. We have brought the only survivor back with us.¡± The father was shocked. He had heard of monsters passing towns near his region but he thought them mere rumours. ¡°Take me to this survivor immediately.¡± The brother lowered his head as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry father but the survivor is out cold and might not wake for days.¡± ------------------------------------- The little boy felt invigorated for the first time since he ¡®woke¡¯. [Thank you Arrturias, I¡¯ll be going now.] The boy¡¯s quest? Simple, he wanted to return to the town and look for others such as he. [Young Chidilu, I shall not stop you but this is still a mistake. You are different from the rest.] His friend, Arrturias, shared a thought. It was the only way the boy could communicate. He did not know how to speak nor could he. [Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be fine, probably. I have not met any others, so we cannot judge them yet.] The boy was easy going as he had not once met any danger, yet. [Then please accept my gift to you.] His friend offered and he accepted. There was a loud roar followed by the painful screams of a child, then silence. The boy whipped the tears that formed in his eyes, [That was a bit¡­ owwy?] [Painful.] [Yes, that was a bit painful.] [Goodbye my friend, may my gift serve you well. Remember to not remove your mask until you find someone you trust.] His friend gave his final warning before he disappeared. The boy was alone once more. It has been a week since he first ¡®woke¡¯. His plans were to return to the town that was on fire, where he woke, and find other humans. The boy turned to face the direction of the town with teary eyes, [Bye-bye my friend. My only friend.] He set off on a grand adventure but before he even began he remembered something important. [Whoops, almost forgot to wear my mask.] The boy donned a black, featureless mask with a large red crack across it. It had one hole for an eye and on the other side was a blue painted eye. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ------------------------------------- ¡°Father, it woke up!¡± The sister yelled through the large home. Almost immediately she could hear her father stumble, fall and pick himself back up from his study. He appeared before her only moments later. He scanned the room searching for the child survivor. The child was standing at a window and seemed to stare out of it. It was hard to see where it was actually looking as it still wore the mask. The father and his children have not found a way to remove the mask nor found a way to determine the gender of the child. The father took a step closer, attracting the child¡¯s attention. ¡°Would you tell me your name, child?¡± The child simply tilted his head in confusion. The father was intrigued by the sudden response from the child. Just the head movement told the father the child was human, or something close to it. ¡°Do you understand me?¡± The father asked another question which was answered by another tilt of the child¡¯s head. Remore walked into the room where his father was still busy trying to speak with the child. When the child noticed Remore it immediately ran up to his side and¡­ just stood there, watching, waiting. Remore was slightly, only slightly, startled but continued with what he was doing. ¡°Father, it is time for our weekly duel.¡± The father suddenly remembered, ¡°Oh yes, then let us go. Sapphire, please watch over the child until I return.¡± The sister, Sapphire, bowed to her father as he left followed by her brother. She stood upright after a few seconds and saw the child¡­ or not. The child was gone. ------------------------------------- Chidilu had returned to the town where he ¡®woke¡¯. [I¡¯m back; it feels a lot spookier than it felt at first.] He walked through the burnt out village. The corpses on the ground were covered in a thin layer of snow that keeps increasing. [Does it never stop snowing? I have been taught a few things by Arrturias and one of them was that it usually doesn¡¯t snow THIS long.] Chidilu tripped over a corpse, or actually it was just a metal golem a bit shorter than he. [Cool, is it a gloom?] Chidilu poked around the golem in search of any indication to what it was. [Oh wait, that not right word. Glom? Gloem? Golm? Golem? Well, doesn¡¯t matter now.] He was taught about types off monsters that roamed the world by his friend but he always suffered with the pronunciation because he couldn¡¯t speak. He proceeded into the centre of the town of ash. There a couple of children sat around a small fire. As he came into view the children panicked and picked up stones ready to pelt him. But then he slipped on some ice, falling face first into the solid snow covered dirt. [Oww! That hurt¡­] Chidilu rolled over and tried to rub his face but his mask was in the way. ¡°Wh-Who are you?¡± one of the children yelled a question at Chidilu but he did not answer. He plainly stood back up and stumbled his way to the children. When he was ''too'' close the children pelted him with the stones and ran away when he was knocked out.