Chapter 1

Eden's POV:

The last thing I remember...

Smoke

Smoke

Fire

Ashes

Burnt flesh.

I was loosing my mind I didn't know what to think

The pungent smell of blood and burnt human flesh was choking

I was so scared and confused

There was no one alive...

But me and a dying man

He gave me a weird sword that had no blade and told me to watch over it.

I don't remember anything that happened earlier

If I had a family ...who were they? Where were they ?

Probably dead I guess

The man died eventually, but before he did he told me something.

Something important perharps.

"If anyone asks, your name is Eden Faustus"

I don't know who that man was but I could feel emotions from his words.

Fear, Pain, Strife, Agony.

Me bearing the name is probably his dying wish.

I wanted to know more about my family, what happened, why there was such a great slaughter and how it had anything to do with me

I guess it can't be helped the past is in the past.

I need to move on

From now on, I am Eden Faustus

**********************************************************

THE OUTSKIRTS OF AVIA: One of the provinces of the kingdom

     Hermit comes out of his old mansion and sees his granddaughter returning from the woods with her basket full of herbs and a kid standing next to her.

He was shocked at first but then he decided to keep his cool.

"Lynn, you're back early and I see you brought home a friend"

"Oh, he's not a friend he's just some kid that got caught in one of the booby traps I had set in the forest", she sighs then continues, "The little brat is so careless and now I have to take responsibility for his injuries"

"And who's fault is that prey tell"? The kid claps back, "who the hell sets random traps in the forest without giving warnings for innocent travellers"?

Lynn and the kid go on for a while pointing fingers and tossing blames at one another  which seemed adorable to Hermit.

"Alright break it up you two, it's been along day. Lynn go prepare supper and tend to his wounds. I've got work to do" he strokes her hair and leaves carrying a sack on his shoulders.

Lynn gets supper ready and calls out to her grandfather. He invites the kid to have dinner with them and asks about his family and why he was alone so late in the forest.

"I have no family", he replied Hermit with his face down staring blankly at his bowl of raddish soup.

"And also this soup tastes terrible"

Lynn was like a volcano ready to explode but her grandfather wasn't ready for any of her drama he tapped her on the head severally which helped in cooling her down.

"By the way, what's your name lad"? Hermit asked fixing his red down turned eyes on the kid sitting adjacent to him at the dinning.

"My name ? My name is ...Eden . Eden Faustus", the kid raising his head slowly and finally fixing his eyes on Hermit's.

  The name Eden Faustus rang like a bell in the head of Hermit, he gave off quite a shock on hearing the name. He quickly took a sip of water from the plastic cup beside his plate and tried his best to remain calm. The kid, Eden, had a feeling that the old man knew something but wasn't going to say anything. He then decided, since he wouldn't say it then he shouldn't bother asking, but Hermit's reaction bothered him quite a bit.

Later on, Lynn was left to do all the dishes while Eden had a chat with Hermit in his study.

There whole place was filled with old letters scattered everywhere and a couple of them were burnt.

"What are all these"? Eden asked Hermit as he held some of the letters trying to read the words written in them.

"A bunch of old letters from back in the days. Some are requests for new blades, some were a bunch of love letters and yes I was rather good with the ladies and the others are a bunch of who knows what, I write alot"

"I can tell", Eden quickly replied still trying to make meaning out of the letters he was holding.

"Do you know what a messenger hawk is?" Hermit asked Eden while getting up from his seat and walking towards a shady corner of the room.

"I've heard of them but I've never seen one up close"

"I see", Hermit brings out a bird cage with a messenger hawk inside it, "Now you've seen one up close"

Eden stares at the bird with a light *woah*, it was his first time being close and touching a hawk. The messenger hawk that belonged to Hermit Nickel

has been with him since the early days. He used it to send private messages to different parts of the kingdom.

"Majestic isn't it? His name is Majesty"

"That's a pretty dumb name", Eden quickly spitted out

"Is it? Lynn came up with it"

"Of course", Eden gives off a light sigh then he continues, "is it okay if I stay here for a while? I really have no place to go"

"But of course, you can stay here as long as you want." He smiles stroking Eden's silver blonde hair, "Now if you excuse me, I have a letter to send, Lynn will show you to your room".

      The next day, Eden was taking a stroll round the mansion gazing at all oldy shaped furnitures and artifacts set up as decorations. Some where carvings of animals he has never seen before, a few seemed like sculptures of ancient diety and a couple of others he didn't quite understand.

"You're up early", Hermit  came out of his study with a light smile, holding an old scroll in his hand and a large sack that seemed to have something very heavy inside. But the weight of the sack didn't seem to be giving Hermit any trouble. He was an old man, yes, but also a blacksmith, his several years in the job had him looking all buffed up and many would doubt on hearing how old this man actually is.

"Are you going somewhere", Eden asked trying to figure out what on earth was in the sack the old man had on his shoulders.

"I'm going on a trip and I...",

"Grandpa, you're traveling?! Can I come with? Please say yes grandpa", Lynn immediately cuts in

"Ugh.. actually I..um", Hermit scratches his head not exactly sure how to respond to his granddaughter

"Pumpkin, it's just a two day trip, I'll be back before you know it. Besides you need to stay back and take care of your little brother"

He headed out of the mansion to get his carriage ready.

    Lynn still being reluctant to stay runs after him.

"Grandpa, you can't leave me here with that kid. I don't even know who he is",

"He's your kid brother from now on and I expect you to treat him as such. I'll be in Botiva by sun down, you kids take care of yourselves", he heads out on his journey after waving his daughter and his new grandson goodbye.

Eden packed his stuffs with intentions of leaving the mansion while Lynn sat on the ground at the courtyard, sobbing. She raised her head and saw Eden carrying his stuffs out of the mansion and got totally pissed.

"And just where do you think you're going"?

   Eden ignored her and kept on going

" Hey ! Hey! I was talking to you"!

He ignored her again and at this point Lynn was ready to release all the anger she had been surpressing and ran after him. She tripped over a stump and fell on him, they both had a quick trip to the ground.

"Get off me you crazy person", Eden groaned.

      He succeeded in getting her off him but she laid on the floor in pain. It must have been one heck of a fall.

      Moments later she sat up with her head on her right hand, spitting out curses at Eden. Then an argument broke out, they yelled and pointed fingers at each other then suddenly Eden began to feel uncomfortable. He sensed someone watching them.

"Did you hear that just now"?

"Hear what"? Lynn got up dusted herself having enough of Eden. "Listen, if you wanna go just go. You were never my problem in the first place. I'm going back" she turned to leave.

"And hopefully I'll never see your ugly face again", he replied still feeling uncomfortable but decided to  leave.

      He walked a few meters further and this time he got more worried about Lynn and decided to go back and check on her. He ran back as fast as he could and saw that half of the mansion was destroyed.

When did all this happened? And how did this happen? He kept on asking himself sorting through the ruins of the mansion in hopes to find Lynn.

He called out for her but got no answer

Where could she have gone?

Is she safe?

Did she get kidnapped or worse, crushed by the building.

Half an hour past and Eden still hasn't heard anything from Lynn

     "Lynn! Lynn! Lynn"! He called out for a very long while but no one answered.

He felt so terrible inside, if only he had listened to his guts earlier perhaps Lynn would still be alive.

He sat on the rubbles beating himself up when suddenly the rocks bega to move moving. He got excited and quickly ran over to check it out with hopes that it might be Lynn. He pushed over the huge slabs and saw a man with severe injuries on his head, bleeding profusely. He looked so pitiful and at the verge of death, he's lost so much blood he didn't look like he was going to make it but then where the hell did this guy come from and how did he get such terrible wounds? Eden wondered still staring blankly at him.

        Just then he heard a voice similar to Lynn's from behind him yell, "Eden duck"!!!!

He turned round around and saw another man about 6feets swing a sword at him. It was a close call, thanks to Lynn he was able to dodge the hit but still ended up having a cut on his left cheek.

Lynn quickly slammed the side of  Eden's attacker with  sledgehammer and landed a finishing hit on his head.

      Eden was shocked and impressed at the same time. He tried so hard to control his breathing while being stunned by Lynn's ability to handle herself. She wasn't the granddaughter of a famous blacksmith just for show.

"You okay peepsqueak"? She asked giving off a shit eating grin.

"I've been through worse", he replied finally catching his breathe.

"Any idea who these jerks are and why they trying to kill us"?

"Not exactly sure but they look like soldiers from Botiva", Eden held his chin examining the dead soldiers

"Botiva? How'd you figure that out"?

"I've been travelling around Ashterah for a while now princess, trust me I know"

"I just hope my grandfather is ok and ...."

Eden quickly interrupts her, "Um Lynn I think it's time we got the hell out of here because we um ... Turn around"

"Ooooh shiiit"!!

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