1 Prologue I

A man stood just outside a cave that was located nearly atop a mountain. That mountain was surrounded by dozens more, all sharing the same dark rock and snowy caps.

It was a place he discovered long ago when he was but a snotty and curious little child. Finding he enjoyed the humid cave as he could oversee the valleys that lay beyond the mountain ranges with no way of being disturbed. The face of the mountains were too steep for climbing and the dirt was always too loose for any normal fellow to simply encounter his little paradise.

That same man did not appear to be anyone of great importance, as he wore no insignia on his chest like a powerful nobleman, nor sword sheathed on his hip like a valiant knight. All he carried on his body was the bear-hide cloak, long-covered linen clothes, and a shortly trimmed, dark-brown beard mangled with the occasional white hair of age.

Let it be known that despite his commonly appearance, the man who sat upon the rocky mountains was one of the few who could determine an entire continent's fate with his right hand alone. What made his power so special among the few, was he didn't need be a king that sent a whole army to create change; he'd need only to unleash his sons upon the world.

"It certainly was a chilly night, hopefully they were smart enough to make shelter. Though I doubt it, quite a reckless bunch this time around." The man muttered to himself in a voice that expressed great amounts of exhaustion.

The scolding his sons' mistakes became so frequent over the last few millennia, the man would do it without ever needing their presence. An outsider to such traditions would find mumbling of that caliber to be the side effects of senile age or simply the unfiltered thoughts of a drunk.

After watching the sunrise turn from orange to yellow, the man gave a few pats at his pockets before finding what he was looking for within his jacket pocket. Out came a tinder box and a few parchment rolls of tobacco with other dried leaves, his body craving the northern kingdom's luxury already, despite that the early sunrise had just started.

While halfway through his first cigar, the man noticed the first of his sons were starting to arrive. He caught a glimpse of a leather boot among the shrubs eight stories below, then an arm catching a hold of a tree root for support, until finally a blonde-haired child no older than ten winters pass arrived at the mouth of the cave.

The cigar on his lips hardly progressed in all the time it took the child to arrive eighty feet up, racing at nearly impossible speeds. Soon after, another boy close in age with light brown hair had arrived right behind him.

At a glance, they both seemed only out of breath when they stood there, reacting as though they were simply children that raced to see which one would make it back to the village home first. However, the man could see their race up the mountain was a lot more difficult than a simple run through a little forest.

It was normally a three day trek from the bottom of the valley to the cave he stood at. These two clearly rushed with the travelling, as signs of the difficulty were written on their bodies and it was only just the start of the third day. They arrived with far too much time to spare. There was many scrapings across their arms and legs from branches they had whipped past, and the hunger in their stomachs from only eating wild berries was clearly audible with many groans.

"Selith and Mydron." The man shook his head as he proclaimed the boy's names. "Always competing, always rushing ahead. Are you two aware why I had you and your brothers make their way up this mountain by yourselves?"

Both boys were excited to have arrived at the top of the mountain, but now they hung their heads in silence as they realized they were being scolded once again for not thinking clearly. He took their shy behavior as ignorance and began explaining.

"No? Well it should have been obvious, I was hoping to see you gain a sense of independence while only using the knowledge I provided you. Yet it seems you still treat my lessons as a competition, a common trait found amongst fools. If the weather had been any cooler or the berries hadn't ripened earlier than normal this season, then you'd certainly have collapsed from exhaustion or froze to death on the way here."

Their eyes drooped further as the man's lecture became insulting of their foolishness once again. He peered over them and their frowning faces while stopping to draw from his cigar. After he let out a puff of grey smoke with the morning air condensing on his breath, he cleared his throat and continued.

"That being said, using that competitive spirit to build up a resilience to harsh conditions will certainly build you up to be far greater than fools."

The two boys eyes grew wide as they heard the man suddenly give a mix of little praise with his wisdom. They glanced at one another while trying to hide the grins growing across their faces.

"Just remember." He continued, "Do not confuse the urge to compete as an urgency to complete. Being a part of the Eternas means you have the time and power no one else will ever have to solve what others call impossible. Which should speak for itself when I say, think deeply before acting. Now go wait for the others."

He ended his little speech with a toss of his cigar stub over his shoulder, it made no sound as it fell down the mountainside and into the trees below. Selith the brown-haired boy gave a little bow and Mydron followed suit, before making themselves a place to sit quietly while awaiting the rest of their siblings to arrive.

The two boys found a flat rock to sit on and sat with their backs against the early morning winds. Only a few hours passed before another boy arrived alone this time at the mouth of the cave.

This boy was only a few years older than Selith and Mydron, but he carried himself with a manner of complete reserve that usually is found among adults of high discipline.

His face gave no strain or emotion as he lugged around a hefty looking bag and his stance reveal nothing of his personality or even level of exhaustion. It was impossible to tell if had slowly walked the entire time, or slept in shifts before continuing his journey.

"Ahh, Everus. I see you took the time to hunt on your way up here." The man gave a gesture to hand over the large bag for inspection.

The boy complied without a word, more preoccupied rubbing the shoulder that was now free of its burden. To the older man's surprise, he found several, brown hares drained, skinned and gutted for cooking.

He took a whiff of the bag and noticed they were fairly fresh, hardly dead a few hours and still glistening in the light with moisture. Everus would have needed to have caught them just before sunrise to have them ready upon arrival.

"You timed the catch quite well, did you use traps?"

Everus shook his head, "I gathered riverstones and use my belt as a sling, I already had the burlap bag from using it as insulation to my coat."

His voice was plain and expressed his disinterest in going through the details. Everus seemed more interested in retying his shoulder length, black hair into a ponytail that came loose some time ago.

"Always a resourceful lad, go ahead and grab the cauldron from inside, we can start stewing the meat now. Maybe the scent will motivate the others to hurry before midday's end."

Everus glanced into the cave, staring briefly at the darkness before eventually setting off inside. Selith and Mydron tailed behind him, curious what secrets might be held inside the unlit space. The three of them had never been past the valleys around their home, and curiosity was drawing them to inspect the new location.

A few clangs of metal could be heard inside, Everus shortly emerged dragging a large metal pot with a ladle and other utensils rattling about the large basin. The younger boys were still muddling about the caves in exploration.

"You can set it there. I'll have some of your brothers turn back and pick up brambles and such for starting a fire."

"No need." Everus point at the fourth boy now walking up the mountain with a large bundle of sticks in his hands. As he grew closer, they could clearly see he had collection of dry logs tied to his back with tree vines for twine as well.

The fourth boy who looked to be just a year younger than Everus, had a rather angular face that could really catch a female's attention, but his most defining feature was his abnormal height. His eyes nearly met with the older man's chin, who was already considered tall among any of the rare guests who visited the Eternas home. So it was not wrong to say the fourth boy was going to live a life of breaking many hearts.

After a great deal of wheezing and walking up the last bit of the rocky trail, he noticed through his long bangs of blonde hair that there was a cauldron. He let out a loud sigh of relief, once he saw the large, metal dish.

"Oh good, I didn't assume wrong when I spotted the guts and skins tucked away from the path. Otherwise it would seem pretty misfortunate to lug all this up."

He dumped his fuel in a pile and immediately sat down on the rock slab Selith and Mydron had been waiting on. Everus began checking over the pile for starter kindle, while his lengthy brother started sunbathing with the peak of noon somewhat warming the frigid air.

"By the way." He said with his eyes still closed. "Those hare skins you left to tan by the riverside were almost swept by the current, and in case it rains tonight I left a note on the trail for someone to carry them up that last leg of the hill."

Everus nodded quietly. "Thank you Tark, the help is appreciated. But do keep in mind, I'd prefer neither you or anyone else recklessly handling my pelts."

His tone told the relaxer that his actions were considered invasive and cutting into his personal affairs, yet the messy haired blonde called Tark kept a soft expression made it clear that he did not care.

The old man seemed to find the conversation amusing, thinking how strange that brotherly bickering does not require being bound by blood, only with familiarity. He kept his chuckles hidden, pretending to find the tinder box still in his hand and passing it to Everus who was intending to ignite the pile of twigs.

Tark only shrugged on the rock at his older brother's displeasure and stayed comfortably seated.

"From the footprints I saw, I am the fourth to arrive and the only ones behind me should be Omari, Zekell, and little Quell. Having a bit of intuition should tell us the next one due.

Omari will be watching over Quell as he have the most difficulty getting to this destination, and Zekell will trail behind for that most obvious of reasons."

"Tark, watch your tongue." The man's voice did not raise in volume, but dropped to a more grim rumble, expressing how he would not allow the discussion turn to a certain topic.

"Of course Father, I only mean to say they'll arrive latest by nightfall. I do not share my opinions on how I draw such conclusions." Apologized Tark.

To which no one replied after the sudden change in tone, leaving just the silence to fill in the time before the rest arrived.