Prologue

"Tomorrow's the day, huh Elliott?" dad says.

"Yes." 

"Are you nervous?"

"No, not really. I'll be fine." I say, even though I've never been so nervous about anything in my first 15 years of life."

"Are your bags ready to go?"

"You know they are dad, you helped me pack them."

"I know, I know. I just want to make sure you're ready. This coming year will be the most difficult one so far. Don't underestimate what you'll be up against."

"I know what I'll be up against, you and mom have prepared me well."

"Still, the third year at the academy is no joke. Getting a Beast egg without dying, learning who amongst your fellow students you can, and more importantly, can't trust."

"You got your scar while looking for your egg, right?" I say, waving at the scar he's had for as long as I can remember. Even in the dim candlelight I can see it clearly. A pink claw mark that starts on the upper right-hand side of his face, running past a nose that looks like it has been broken too many times to count, and ending at the bottom of his old, yet still very chiseled, jawline.

"You still managed to walk away with a White tiger egg though. One of the rarest Beasts out there."

"There were a number of times on the islands where my life could have taken a VERY different turn, Elliott."

He looks down at the table, creases appearing on his forehead as he starts frowning. I start looking around the room and see our faucet dripping behind my father, the oak door next to it, hanging from two hinges, the third one broken by Snow when she first tried to come inside the house.

The wood creaks loudly because of the heavy winds outside, whose breeze from under the door was, at least at first, a welcome relief from the blazing heat that plagued Hedal all summer. It's December now, and that sweet breeze has long since turned into a chilling wind, tearing away at the warmth emanating from the fireplace. As I turn my head toward the living room, I see the brown bear skin spread across the floor, covered only by a couch and a grey coffee table.

Right beside the bear skin, in front of the fire, is Flake. The little white tiger cubs' fur breathing along with the fire that's keeping her warm. Flake is the offspring of my fathers' bonded Beast, Snow, who passed away last winter, and because a bonded Beasts' egg is automatically bonded to the father or mothers' handler, Flake is now my dad's Beast. They say losing your bonded Beast is like losing a part of yourself, and you can never fully recover from it. Watching Flake lay there, enjoying the heat, has been one of my fathers' favorite pastimes since Snows' passing.

A creature usually bonds to us when it's still in its egg, and given that most of our magic comes from our Beast, any eggs it lays while bonded are usually taken away by the kingdom in order to keep any single person from gaining too much power.

Someone once bred Beasts in secret, reportedly bonding over 50 of them in total, and used them to mount an attack on the royal capital, attempting to kill the Hedal royal family and take the throne for themselves. They laid waste to an entire district before demolishing the royal castle. Apparently, once they were inside, the Beasts started attacking anything and anyone in their way, sparing only those lucky enough to stay hidden.

At the time, my father was one of 7 guards, 7 Handlers of exceptional skill called the Ascensori, tasked with protecting the Hedal royal family.

The usurper succeeded in killing the king and his 4 Ascensori. The other three, my father and two other men, were assigned to the prince.

People say they killed 27 enemy Beasts in order to protect their prince, also killing the usurper in the process.

My father almost lost his life that day and had to remain in the infirmary for 5 weeks to recover.

Even now, 24 years later, people pay their respects to the fallen heroes who protected the Kingdom with all their might. We call it Crownfall Memorial Day.

After the attack was over, the prince was crowned king and decided that he owed my father and the 2 others for saving his life. He gave them each a single favor, to be called in at any time. My dad used it when Snow laid its egg, because he knew it would break Snow to lose her child.

"I don't think you realize how deadly the islands can be. Most of the students don't come back with a Beast egg or don't even come back at all. Even some of the teachers don't survive a trip to the islands, just look at what happened to-"

He suddenly stops talking, catching himself before saying something he shouldn't, and looks down at the coffee mug he now grips a little more tightly.

I already know who he was going to say though.

"Uncle Devan, right? Can you tell me what happened to him?"

Dad's eyes briefly flicker my way, but his head doesn't move.

"You'll know soon enough."

"Know what?" mom says, startling us as she closes the front door.

"We were just talking about Elliott leaving for the academy tomorrow honey."

"Oh, so are you excited?"

"I really am!"

It's not a lie, although it's not the full truth either. I might be excited but I'm also really worried.

"Great! I'm going to start preparing dinner. Can't have you going off to the academy without having eaten properly. Elliott, would you please set the table?"

"Okay." I say, and start setting the table for 3.

We haven't talked about uncle Devan since the day my parents told me he was gone.

Uncle Devan used to be a teacher at the academy I now attend. He educated the students about Beasts on the islands and their dangers, teaching them what to look out for and how to survive there. Mom was always full of pride, saying it was thanks to him that more students were surviving the islands than there used to be.

It should have been his job to prepare me for the search for my very own Beast egg, but I was never so lucky as to have him as my teacher.

5 years ago, mom and dad came back from the capital and I could tell she had been crying. I remember it like it was yesterday, her cheeks were dried out from crying and her nose was red and chafed from blowing her nose constantly. Her voice was shaking and her hands were trembling, still in shock.

Dad brought her inside and sent me to my room, only afterwards did they tell me that uncle Devan wouldn't be coming back.

They never told me why or what happened, only that uncle Devan was gone and that I would never see him again. Every time I asked about him or talked about him in the following years, my mom would instantly leave the room and my dad got very quiet all of a sudden. I quickly understood that it was better not to talk about him, but sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me, and I can't help but ask about him.

An hour or so later, we were all at the dinner table, enjoying one of my mom's specialties, a casserole with meatloaf, cauliflower and mashed potatoes. I'm really gonna miss mom's cooking.

Afterwards I did the dishes and headed straight to bed, knowing this might be the last night I get some actual rest.