GAH!!! Sorry about the large gap... I totally forgot about doing this. Well here's chapter one. hope you like it.

Chapter One

As the sun rises over the horizon, light begins to fill the land. As the light reaches a village it begins creeping up the homes and pours inside them. As the light reaches one house it shines in a young man’s eyes. He turned when the sun was too bright. He was already awake, awoken from a nightmare.

As time dragged on he eventually sat up and stretched lazily. He got dressed and went to get breakfast. To most people he was just you ordinary villager, but he is distended for greater things outside the farms.

“Morning, William. Sleep well,” his mother asked. William only grunted in response. To him, he wasn’t awake enough to talk in complete sentences. He yawned tiredly and turned to his mother.

“What’s for breakfast? I’m starving,” William mumbled as his stomach churned.

“Same as every morning. Why do you bother asking a question to which you already know the answer?” His mother questioned.

“Hopes of a change I suppose,” William said and yawned again, “I’ll be going to Cassandra’s after breakfast.”

“I swear, you act as if she is your family and not me by how much time you spend by her side.” His mother said.

William slid his hand in his pocket and took hold of an object, wanting to make sure it was still there. Perhaps dear mother… after today perhaps we will be family… He thought.

After breakfast William readied himself and kissed his mother on the cheek before leaving. Cassandra’s family owned the largest farm in the town at the west. It would take nearly an hour to reach there by food but William knew a short cut. More so knew people then a short cut. William’s father was childhood friends with the Stable master and in turn taught young Will how to ride. William and the Stable master are still friends even after Will’s father’s passing.

“Where are you hiding Old man?” Will shouted when he got to the stables. A aged man with some gray in his hair walked out from the back. His face was glistened in the sunlight from the amount of sweat he had accumulated and was scarred from his past life as a soldier. His build was strong and dressed in his work clothes.

“Will you stop with the old man cracks? I’m not but thirty-eight,” the Stable master said.

“And I’m at the ripe age of nine-teen. What else am I to call you then old? Eh, Nick?”

“No matter how old you become you still act as if you were just pulled from your mother’s womb.”

“Hey! That’s an insult isn’t it.”

“And will you quit playing dumb.” Nicolas was become agitated with only caused William to laugh.

“Sorry Old man. I need a favor.” William stated.

“If you keep borrowing my horses like this I’ll have to start charging you a rental fee,” Nicolas replied.

“I know but this is serious.”

“Off to see your bed buddy again I assume?”

“Cassandra my be my ‘bed buddy’ as you so plainly put it now, but hopefully by nightfall she’ll be much more then that.”

It took a minute for Nicolas to get the meaning of William’s words, but when he did he said, “No… you mean-”

“That’s right. Today I will ask for Cassandra’s hand.” William said with a smile, “But I will need a horse to reach her in time.”

“I suppose you would. I suppose you want Thundara again?”

“Is there any other horse I rather ride?” Nicolas laughed at William’s words and went to fetch Thundara. When he returned, he led Thundara by her reins.

“You best have her back by nightfall if you know what’s best for you.” Nicolas said.

William climbed upon her sandal and took the reins from Nicolas’s hands. “Do I ever fail you?” William said with a smile and cracked the reins and Thundara ran off.

“Every time!” Nicolas called out in vein. He laughed slightly and turned to continue his works.

William cracked the reins again to gather more speed. He had the entire day planned out for Cassandra. He would take her out of the village into the woods. Hidden in the woods were no other villager knows of is a secret meadow were Cassandra and William first meet as children. It was there where William asked Cassandra for their first date. Now it will serve an even greater moment in their lives, it will be the spot were He asks for her hand.

As he got closer he noticed smoke in the distance, yet the people didn’t seem to notice nor care. The sight of smoke and the area it rose from had William grow worried.

“Come on girl, we need to move faster,” He muttered slightly to Thundara as he cracked the reins again. The closer he got the more ominous the sights got. The air grew warmer and the smoke seemed to flow towards them.

William stopped outside the land. The farm Cassandra’s parents owned was set aflame. “By the gods…” William muttered slightly. William quickly turned and rode back toward the shops, someone had to have seen the monsters that had done this act.

“Who did this?” William asked as he entered the shops. “Who set Orion’s farm ablaze?”

“We do not know nor care, young Will,” one of the people answered softly.

“Do not care? How can you not care when lives have been wrecked?”

“We do not care because we still live on. It would be wise for you do the same,” A man said as he came out of his shop.

“What causes you to be like the deer when the wolves attack? Peaceful once again after one of your own is slaughtered and consumed no more then five feet from you spot. Did it not occur to you that they will return and take down more of us? If we do not act they will see us weak and unfit to live. And as for living on, good sir: my one and only love is gone now. My life has lost all meaning.”

William turned Thundara and began to return to Nicolas’s stables. “Wait young Will. I have news that will restore your diminished spirits.”

William turned to see an old woman. She was the village story teller and young children always sought her out at night for stories of lives long past.

“Did you see something, Elder?” William asked.

“That I did, young Will. Come with me and I shall tell you what happened,” the elder said and turned back into her large tent. Will followed, tying Thundara to a spike not far from her tent. He then crawled in behind her and sat down on one of the pillows.

“Well, what did you see?”

“Patience, young Will. You were never good at sitting still.” She said as she lit a pipe and took a puff of the tobacco.

“It was Orcs. They’ve raided our town before but never in such away that it could kill us all. The Orion farm provided us with much of our daily food.”

“What caused them to attack us? Was there some reason behind it or was it just all fun and games to them?”

“I do not know why they attacked the farm. Perhaps it was King Karnack who sent them for some reason. He dose have the truce with the Orcs and he doesn’t let anyone forget it.”

“So, how dose this news restore my lost spirit? All I know now is that Cassandra and her father were killed by Orcs.”

“That’s not entirely true, young Will. Though it hurts for me to say that Orion spirit left this world during the raid, Cassandra’s still breathes on. The Orcs took her captive and has more then likely turned her over to Karnack for his pleasure.”

“I won’t stand for this! The orcs will pay for these darkest deeds!” William yelled.

“And how will a little black smith apprentice like you do this? You haven’t the proper training to use a sword or arrow. I strongly doubt the Orcs or King Karnack will just willingly hand over Cassandra.”

“You know as well as the rest of the village how quickly I learn. I have grown in strength over the years from my work over the fires and iron. I have crafted blades that have stolen the lives of our kingdoms enemies and will steal the lives of these damn orcs as well.”

“Then you should hurry, you-… William. You should ready yourself for this trek for there are great things in store for your life outside this small village of ours. You must hurry for in three days a great aid to you will be near. Though I do not know wear it will be or who it is, I do know that you and only you will know who it is.”

“How will I know who it is?”

“By looking inside your heart, William. Now hurry.”

“Thank you,” William said and bowed his head respectively. He then stood and walked out of the tent. A cold wind blew as he left his tent. William turned to see the storyteller once more only to see her laying lifeless on the pillows they sat on.

Never forget William, you are destined for great things…