Chapter 1: A Cord

The room seemed to fall to a eerie silence, Jackson felt his gut suddenly churn as if there was a stone inside it. His palms tightened and screamed in agony from the pressure. The faint glowing numbers floating above the crystal hung in the air like a phantom. Jackson Stared at the single digit number unsure of what to say or do.

"Your soul level is three and your attributes are summoning and shadow magic" Jackson nodded slowly not really listening to the proctor and walked down the wooden steps of the stage. Each step clapped in his ears like an explosion as his boot hit the steps. Jackson walked over to his family, who had taken seats to watch the spectacle of the coming of age ceremony.

"It could be worse." Jackson's mother said softly to him. Her voice showed signs of breaking. Jackson's father said nothing just stared at him.

Jackson knew that in this world even most people needed some kind of strength or talent, most people start in the ranges of ten to twenty soul force, which allows them to assimilate with a soul beast spirit of equal strength. Summon although rare is a support skill and can only be used once a person breaks into tier one after reaching one hundred soul strength. Shadow magic is the biggest problem, the first creature some assimilates with has to be of their attribute but shadow creatures are rare and extremely dangerous, making them extremely expensive and Jackson's commoner family would never pay for one child that has a starting strength of three.

Jackson's mother drew him into a hug and held him close. Part of Jackson knew this day would turn out like this, growing up most kids from the village could use basic magic to help with daily life but Jackson had no ability.

"The shadow magic explains why as a kid you always loved the dark, standing outside in dark starry nights staring out into the sky. Most kids were afraid of it." Jackson's mother laughed.

Jackson's father smiled a little and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I know this is a set back for you, you want to attend the academy but only hard work will get you there."

Jackson's mother pushed herself away from Jackson. Who slowly nodded in agreement with his father, the road would be extremely hard, raising one's soul strength isn't easy when you have no combat skills from a beast soul. Jackson was already fairly well built for a sixteen year old, the hard labors of working a farm made his arms and legs strong and his neck was thicker than most kids his age. His father had taught him a few moves with a sword to practice.

Jackson gave a hollow smile as he looked at his father, he always looked up to him. He may be a farmer but he once stood as an adventure and fell in love with his mother after they met during one of his adventures, his mother used to tell Jackson stories of their youth filled adventures when Jackson was young.

"Right, I need you to bring a cord of wood to the house from the market, please try not to get lost in the woods again. I wouldn't like to have to go searching for you." His father said with a smile trying to lighten the mood.

Jackson nodded and walked away from his family, he knew moving a cord of wood would take him at least three trips from the market.

The shop keeper didn't pay much attention to Jackson when he arrived, just pointed to the wood pile and went back to tending his store. Jackson began hauling the wood to his home, the walk was around five minutes both ways and Jackson could carry around four pieces at a time. The sun was beginning to set as Jackson made his last trip through the woods that separated his home from the town.

The forest was dark and quiet. The only sound was Jackson's breathing. Jackson stopped and looked around, this wasn't normal. Most of the time there was some kind of sounds of birds or insects but it was absolutely still, as if the whole forest was frozen in time. That's when a sudden flash of movement caught the corner of his eye. Jackson turned towards it but saw nothing. The forest was dead still, Jackson's instincts started to kick in, his heart started to pound faster. His ears straining to hear even the slightest of sounds. Jackson turned to walk towards his house.

The dirt path that he had traveled all day suddenly felt dangerous to take even another step on. Jackson looked ahead when slowly out of the bushes to one side a wolf around the same height as Jackson walked into the center of the path, it's eyes never leaving Jackson's. Jackson's blood ran cold, it was a timber wolf. They told stories to kids growing up about them to keep them from playing in the forest after dark, they weren't nearly a strong monster, not even breaking into tier one but they were intelligent and most of the time hunted in groups. Jackson dropped the wood, and reached slowly for his hunting knife, the blade was to small to really do anything but he felt at least he could defend himself.

The large wolf let out a growl that shook Jackson's bones as it took a single step forward, he could feel the air around them vibrate. Jackson's mind started to race, he knew he could blindly charge at the wolf, it was nearly the same size but it's power was still more then Jackson could handle with a hunting knife. The only option was to run, but it meant going further into the woods which wasn't exactly the best thing ether.

The wolf took another step forward, slightly lowering itself as it did clearly readying to bolt. Jackson also bent down slightly to ready to spring. The wolf showed its teeth and snarled. Jackson dashed off the trail and ran as fast as he could, he could hear the wolf in pursuit. Jackson dashed passed an old oak tree when the wolf caught him, he felt its weight strike his back and a sudden searing pain shoot up his arm. He fell towards the ground when suddenly the ground gave way. Jackson starred helplessly into a dark pit as he and the wolf fell only to strike his head against something and the world slowly faded away.