1 SWORD APPRENTICE

CHAPTER 1

It was very busy in the market district. All the people are hurrying to their homes before nightfall. Shopkeepers are trying their best to sell few more items before the closing of the shops.

Among all these people there was a graceful lady who was running through the crowd like a fish in a river toward the back of the palace. Everyone who sees her stun for a while seeing her charming breath-taking smile.

"Princess Zi waits for your maids" shouted one maid who was almost ready to cry.

The two maids are running behind the princess carrying heavy packages of goods. It was a princess's hobby to sneak out of the palace to wander in the market. The most suffered ones of her this behavior are the two maids of the princess.

The two maids were trying their best to keep up with the phase of princess Zi. But the heavy packages they are carrying make it very difficult to go with the energetic princess who runs like a wild stallion.

Princess Zi is the youngest daughter of the King Woung of the Sri kingdom. Being the youngest princess, she is pampered by the king as his favorite child. So, her mischievous behaviors are nonstop in the place which irritates most in the royal palace.

Princess Zi stopped and looked back toward her maids who are far behind her and shouted "Maid Zu hurry up we should sneak back to the castle before getting dark and guard getting strict, otherwise, we will get caught to the majesty "

Telling this to the maids she turned around the corner of the street toward the road which led to the back palace. When she turned, she had a glimpse of a man who is having a unique aura to himself, a young handsome, attractive, mysterious man for a moment in a shady dark corner at the end of the market street.

She stopped and turned back for the man she saw. Looking for the young handsome, attractive, mysterious man who had a unique aura. But when she turned back there was no one at the end of the street.

She observed for that unique face in the two busy streets thoroughly. But the person she was searching for was not there to be found. Within just a moment, within the few seconds she got to turn back, that man has disappeared into thin air. She could not understand whether he was a ghost or a hallucination.

Being a student mage in the Wizard Academy, she knew there cannot be a powerful wizard that much young who can have the power of teleportation or invisibility.

It is a very big mystery to her. She again looked at the crowd in the two-street wondering where can that man disappear into.

"Princess Zi Hurry up. What are you looking at? It was the younger maid among the two maids. Maid had at last catch up to her.

With the shout of the maid, the princess came back to her senses and hurried back to the castle with the maids, wondering about the mysterious man she saw.

But the person she searched for was not a ghost or a hallucination, he was real and brimming with life. He was standing on the roof of the tallest building in the market, the six-storied tower with ruined walls which is at the end of the street. If the princess looked up, she could have seen his silhouette against the setting sun.

It was no wonder princess Zi wanted to look at the mysterious man she only had a single glance. He has unique handsome features, an unordinary look which most men are lacking. He is not a very big muscular man, having a well-proportioned, well-maintained body full of energy. He was wearing heavy dark black clothes. The hood he is wearing covers most of the features of his face. But the rest of the facial features keep a deep imprint in everyone's mind who sees him.

He is having very special eyes, which give him a mysterious look. They are dark blue and very deep and sharp like an eagle. But there is a trace of tiredness and loneliness in his eyes which he tries to hide from others. Only those who look into eyes clearly can see a trace of these feelings.

The aura which he gives is very different from the young men in his age. He can be considered to be in his early twenties, but his body features, behavior, and sharp looks give an air of a very experienced war veteran.

He put his right hand into a pocket and took out an old locket. He opened it and kept looking at the picture inside. It was a women's portrait with a baby boy on her lap. The woman and the boy both had blue eyes like his. The woman is his mother who lost during the great battle of the desert. He and his mother got separated when the soldiers of Khan were chasing after them.

He can always hear the word his mother told to him when they got separated.

"Remember your father, who was a great hero. Brave, a fearless general who was loved by the people. Be like him, never afraid to be against the wrong and never hurt the innocent. Claim what is yours when the time comes." Telling this to him she hid him in the old pottery shop and ran away attracting the soldiers to her.

He put the locket back to the hidden pocket and raised the hood to cover his face further under the hood from the right hand.

When he raised the hand a dark red scar in the shape of a sword can be seen. This scar is very special in the kingdom of Sri.

All the sword practitioners are having different sword marks on their right hand which wary according to their sword knowledge. The sword practitioners are divided into levels as Apprentice, Master, Elder, King, and God. Each level is then divided into three parts as beginning level, mid-level, top level. Apprentice mark is a single word, Master mark is two crossed swords, elder mark is two crossed swords inside a circle, king mark is crown top of elder mark and god mark is two heavenly wings on either side of king mark.

Though most of the martial practitioners are sword practitioners few factions practice other weapon training such as bow, axe, daggers, and other various weapon training. Those practitioners their respective weapon mark which they practice instead of the sword mark in their hands and the division of levels are also same as the sword practitioners.

Apart from these marks, few special marks belong to the wizards.

In the kingdom of Sri only apprentice and master, wizards are there. Their marks are totally different for each level. Apprentice is having the mark of fire and maters are having the mark of fire and earth both in the right hand.

In the recent history of the Kingdom of Sri, there was only one elder wizard has been there, who was the former head maser of the Academy of Wizards, but he got wounded and passed away in the last great battle against the Khan kingdom. The other two wizard marks of the King and the God are unknown. There has been not any king or God-level wizard in the history of the kingdom of Sri.

This sword apprentice is the only son of the General Lin of the kingdom of Cey, Darsh Lin. In the last decade, there was a great battle between Kingdom Khan and Kingdom Cey because the kingdom of Khan invaded the Kingdom of Cey. This war lasted for three years and in the end, Khan kingdom got the help of a dark wizard and defeated the Cey kingdom and his father General Lin was slain on the battlefield.

He and his mother were able to escape when the Khan soldiers attacked their castle and came to the border of the Sri kingdom. It took them months to come to the border because they had to hide from the Khan kingdom patrols and search parties.

But on the border near the river Mhaa, they got spotted and his mother hid him in an old shop and sacrificed herself to take the guards away. He hid in the old shop for two days and due to hunger, he had to go out and find something to eat.

While he roamed searching for food he fainted because he was not able to find any food to eat in the chaotic battlefield. All the villages in the area were destroyed and robbed.

Luckily two travellers had found him and took him to the Kingdom of Sri's town near the border and treated him for his wounds. After he got better, they took care of him and travelled with him in the kingdom of Sri to various places along their route.

He was able to gain many experiences while along these journeys which made him a more wise person. He witnessed the cruelty of the world and the beauty and kindness of the world.

On these journeys, he started to learn the practice of the sword under Monk Ti Liu, one of the travelers who saved him who is a sword elder.

The other traveler is a wizard master. But due to the backlash of his magic spell dark powers are trying to evade his mind in the nights with no moon and he was saved by the sermons of the monk making them travel partners and good friends.

Darsh had a natural talent in the practice of swords. Sword practice is in his blood. That is what the Monk always says.

He was able to learn the basic sword moves very quickly. His sword movements are flawless and very elegant.

He was able to become a sword apprentice at the age of thirteen, it took him only three years. The appearance of a sword mark in his right hand is one of the happiest days in his life. But later he stuck in sword apprentice level and was not able to increase his sword practice to sword master level in the last five years.

He knew that he is at the bottleneck in the last two years but then he started to have weird dreams which even Wizard Wong Chen could not understand. He was doing magic, fire spells in his dreams. These dreams were very confusing to him.

Wizard Wong Chen told him that sometimes when a wizard awakens power, he will get these kinds of dreams. But because Darsh is a sword practitioner and only one power can be developed in the body thought of awakening the wizard powers had to left out.