In a tiny, yet proud town, on the edge of the great Clawed Mountains, celebration had spread throughout the town, as it had done throughout the 8 Domains. After a decade, the long and brutal war between the Fey and Men, that would one day be known as The Blood Feuds, had finally ended. People gleefully cheered in the grimy streets, young women stripped down, without even caring that they were in the company of men, and flung their naked bodies into the freezing ponds of Hyleer, and old men and young war veterans alike enjoyed the company of beautiful and barely legal harlots as they drank the sweet poison of Spirit Water.
As cheering and fireworks went off in the background a beautiful young girl, no older than 16, briskly walked towards the dark forest as instructed by her mother. The first snow had just fallen, but the girl was in old tattered clothes that wouldn't allow her to stay outside for long without getting hypothermia. After several long hours of labor she had just given birth, and the father was not her betrothed. As she walked through the woods, her light brown hair shining in the moonlight, she thought about the baby boy she had just brought into the harsh world. She pulled back the blue swaddling cloth the tiniest bit and peeked down at his face, studying the features, so that she could keep a mental image of her son forever in her mind.

He was a perfect melding of Greater Fey and Hylic. His cheekbones were high, he had golden, almond shaped eyes, and a pointy chin like his father. His hair was light brown and wavy, and he had a small, upturned nose like his Hylic mother. His skin was the light brown of his mother, but it looked as if underneath there was a layer of shining gold that he would have inherited from his father. She looked down at him, with tears in her eyes as she held back her sobs, and kissed him on the forehead.

"Aru f'ne rotah" she said as she laid him down on a dirt path that she knew was safe because it was used frequently used by Morcastic traders.
She placed a protective charm necklace around his neck and walked off into the cold night without even looking back, without even knowing how big of a role her son would play in events yet to come.

Exactly as the town's ancient clock tower struck midnight, 4 hours after the birth of the young infant, 3 menacing cloaked men silently crept through the town, unnoticed by the few drunks who were still celebrating what most had stopped 3 hours prior. They made their way from house to house, without stopping at a single one.

None of them spoke a single word, but grunts and wheezes could be heard from under their blood-red cloaks. From the arms of the cloak, long and scaley clawed hands could be seen peeking out.

They walked along the snow covered trail heading out of the town and towards the dark and menacing forest. They only stopped when they heard the wails of a newborn echo across the woods. They followed the sound of the cries until they had found the source of the noise.

The shortest of the 3 stooped down in front of the baby and snatched off the golden protective necklace that hung around his neck.

"Silly humans." the tallest grunted in gravelly and chilling sounds that could barely be described as a voice.

The shortest reached down with one of its sharp and mangled claws and dug it into the child's cheek, created a wound that extended from the top of the cheek to the corner of the mouth.

The shortest put the silvery red blood-stained claw into its mouth and savored the taste of the baby's blood.

"A strong Talynt flows through the blood of this one." it croaked as he began to pick up the wailing child.

"Give him to me." the tallest demanded.

Right as the baby was being transferred from the one man to the other. A woman approached them from the other side of the trail.

"Whose child is this?" the middle aged woman questioned them as she made her way towards them.

Suddenly she smelt the crisp autumn air and smelt more than just fallen leaves and new snow. A fearful look seized her entire body and she held up her staff in defence.

"Demons" she hissed.

She began to harshly spit out ancient words at a rapid rate and the demons cringed at the sound of her voice.

"You have no place here!" the middle demon shrieked as it covered its ears.

The woman pulled down the hood of her purple cloak and began to speak the words louder and more violent. She pulled out a bottle of snow white powder and uncorked it. She slowly poured it into her palm, carefully as to not spill a single grain, and blew the dust in the direction of demons.

When the powder reached their skin they all let out shrieks of pain and fury and suddenly dropped the infant and in a blink of an eye they were nowhere to be found.

The woman extended her hand, and the baby came to a halt mid air. When she reached the child she wrapped him in her arms and looked down at him and kissed him on the forehead only to feel his frostbitten skin.

As she walked back to her cottage in the center of the forest she looked down at him and said in a soft and gentle voice "I shall I call you Silvanus, because it means of the forest. Now let's go inside so we can both warm up or this weather will be the death of us both"

Silvanus sat in the old wooden chair of his Aunt Freda's cottage. He looked down at his palm as tiny flames danced across his golden brown palm. He was in the middle another boring Talynt lesson and he had stopped paying attention an hour ago, but his aunt was so absorbed in the topic that she hadn't even noticed that his mind had wandered elsewhere.

"Focus Silvanus!" the old woman finally snapped. "Do you want to set the house ablaze again?! Listen to what I am saying"

"I was listening Auntie!" Silvanus insisted.

"Then what was I saying?" she skeptically questioned.

"You were talking about how to break the Mist, duh." he smirked, thinking her outsmarted her.

"Then show me how to do it." she requested.

She carefully picked up her familiar, a fat brown tabby cat Till, and placed him on the table.

"Hey now, hey now." Till snapped. "We're not even asking for my permission now?"

"Oh quiet, you!" Freda hushed as she lifted up her rune carved oak staff and pointed it at the cat.

Silvanus began to feel the tingly feeling that meant that Talynt was being used. Goosebumps formed all along his skin and his hairs stood on end. He shuttered and when he looked up he noticed that Till was no longer there.

"I'm waiting." Freda said as she looked over to Silvanus.

He looked over in the direction where he remembered the cat had been standing. He tried doing everything his aunt had told him to do break the Mist.

He imagined that a strong gust of wind was blowing everything away so that the cat would be standing there once again, but still the table stood there empty.

"Come on now Silvanus, you should know how to do this." Freda stated. "You have more Talynt in your pinkie than I have in my entire body."

He tried again, but he could still not break the shroud that surrounded the cat.

"Are we almost done here?" Till grumbled. "I have things to see and mice to chase."

"You might as well, I'm just not getting this." Silvanus sighed.

Suddenly, but only just for a moment, Till was on the table. He quickly dashed out of the open study window and off into the forest.

"It's not a big deal Silvanus." Freda reassured. "We can always practice tomorrow."

As she was about to leave the study and go back to the miniscule kitchen to make them dinner Silvanus finally worked up the nerve to ask her the question that had been on his mind all summer.

"Auntie." Silvanus said, getting her attention. "Can I go to Festival tonight?"

Tonight was the 16 year anniversary of the ending of the Blood Feuds, and it was also his 16th birthday. Although he wasn't well liked up town, and most children his age thought he was weird, he still wanted to have a fun birthday and not sit up in the cottage with his aunt like he did most weekends.

"I'm sorry, Silvanus." the old woman apologized. "You know I can't let you do that."

"But why, Auntie?" Silvanus whined.

"You know very well why, young man!" Freda snapped. "Every 8th birthday people are most susceptible to a whole host of dark people and things. The 16th birthday is by far the worst. If is was any other day i would gladly yet you go,but no tonight Silvanus, not tonight."

"You never let me do anything!" Silvanus shouted as he stomped to his room.

He slammed the door without even touching it and jumped onto his bed, turned over to his stomach and screamed into his pillow.

From the hallway he could hear his Aunt saying "Well maybe if you kept up on your Talynt work I wouldn't have to worry about you so much."

Hearing this he went into a rage as tiny sparks danced across his golden brown skin. He punched his pillow angrily several times before he finally laid on his back, breathing heavily, as he stared at his room's brown wooden ceiling.

"Well someone has anger issues." he heard from the alcoves above his bed.

He heard a whooshing noise as his familiar, a small fruit bat named Val, landed on his chest.

When every young Talyntholder turned 8 that got to choose a familiar. Every familiar starts out as a ordinary, non-talking animal. But through a quite complicated enchantment a part of the Talyntholder's soul is transferred into the familiar. The familiar could be used to practice spells on, but more importantly it was the Talyntholder's lifelong companion and protector. Every day since he had chosen Val he had regretted it more and more.

"I'm just mad, ok?" Silvanus explain.

"Well I could tell that much." she said.

Finally after several minutes of moping Silvanus got up off of his bed and looked at the giant mirror that hung on his wall. His hair was wild and unruly and an interesting shade of light brown. He had a golden brown skin and arching eyebrows that oddly almost always made him seem surprised. He also had sparkling golden eyes, that would almost make him look attractive if it wasn't for the giant scar running along his face. He had tried several times to Mist it, because it a lot easier to create a Mist than to break one, but he still couldn't cover it up.

"Where are you going?" Val asked him as she flew onto his shoulder.

"None of your business" Silvanus snapped and he tried brushing her off his shoulder, but she had a good grip on him.

"I think it's Freda's business." Va; giggled. "How would you feel if I told her?"

"You wouldn't!" Silvanus said as he picked up Till by the scruff on the back of her neck.

"Oh, but you know I would!" Val said, sticking out her tiny pink tongue.

"Come on, it's both of our birthdays, can't we have just a little bit of fun?" Silvanus whined.

"I guess so..." Val began. "But, you have to buy me any type of fruit I want while we're there."

"Deal!" Silvanus said, finally giving in.

He put on his best pair of trousers, and his favorite shirt, and began to climb out of his window. Just as he had one of his legs out of the window he heard a knock at the door. He panicked and with a swish of the finger he had locked his door.

"Silvanus, let me in!" Freda demanded. "I brought you your favorite soup!"

It was tempting, but he knew that there would be even better things to see uptown. As he leaped from his window to the tree next to the cottage he heard his Aunt shouting in the background.

He awkwardly jumped down from the tree and stopped an inch from the still-green ground and then landed with a soft thud. Val landed on his head as he sprinted through the dense woods towards the bustling town. He stopped right before he entered the town's limits and sat down on a pile of leaves to enjoy the colorful fireworks that had just started. He was too absorbed in the show to notice the three hooded men walking towards his Aunt's front door.