1 Chapter 1

In the Kingdom of Therisia, near the southern border, there was a small trading town called Drez. It was the home to Baron Lord Reginald Antonious, who oversaw the border, protecting it from the threats of the Dark Forest and its neighbors to the south. Under the blanket of night, soldiers wearing dark cloaks covering their armor ran through the town's streets and alleyways. They kept to the shadows in hopes of hiding their movements from the watchful eyes of the sentries guarding the baron's manor.

Meanwhile, in the manor, the halls echoed the labored cries of lord Antonious's wife. In the bed chambers, she was lying on the bed. Her stomach was swollen with child. Ab old midwife was near her feet at the foot of the bed. Giving her words of encouragement.

"my lady, you are doing well, but you need to keep control of your breathing and push with the contractions!" The middle-aged midwife cried.

"You are bleeding way too much, my lady. The sooner you push the baby out, the sooner we can get the bleeding under control and save you both.

A Sharp cry pierced the room as a reply.

The baron Lord Reginald was pacing along the room's back wall out of nervousness. His son's delivery was not going well. His eyes were filled with worry.

"my love, everything will alright, just keep pushing! He was unsure if his wife could hear his words, but he kept giving words of comfort and love.

"it's nothing I haven't seen before, my lord but time is of the essence. That baby needs to come out soon." the midwife quickly replied before shouting for more warm water.

One of the servants rushed from the room. Only to return a moment later with a bucket of warm water. It was threatening to spill over the edges.

"My lady, the head is crowning. You need to keep pushing," said the midwife. There was too much blood, and it was only getting worse, and she needed to find out what was causing the excess bleed soon, or she'd probably be following the lady into the void of the afterlife.

"I'm trying!!" The lady screamed out in pain.

"Yes! Yes! Just like that", the midwife said encouragingly. "I think one more push would do it, my lady! Keep it up! Get me that needle and thread. We need to be ready to get everything stitched back up fast!" she called to the servant that brought in the water.

"And where is the hot iron at?!"

"Aahhhhh," the lady's scream full of agony.

"oh, look at that, your son is out!" The midwife said excitedly. "Oh no." It was then that the midwife noticed that she was so focused on getting the baby out and stopping the bleeding that she failed to see the baby's paleness. It was only when he didn't cry that she realized something was wrong besides the amount of blood.

"What's wrong? What's wrong with my baby!" The lady's weak cries pleaded for an answer as the baron rushed to his wife's side.

Moving her hands so fast that she stumbled with the blade to cut the cord as the mental pressure bared down on her and then scrambled towards the table near the wall.

"What is wrong?" Bellowed the Baron.

"My lord! Your son isn't crying! Which means he can't breathe. I need to act fast, or we might lose him!" The midwife said shakily as she turned the newborn baby onto his side then started patting his back hard enough to try and force whatever was blocking the airways to dislodge. "Please, oh, please start to cry." She mumbled under her breath fear showed on her face.

A horn call broke its way through the room as cries of alarm sounded. "Attack! We are under attack!"

The room temperature seemed to have plummeted, at that moment sending shivers down everyone's spines, their breath came out as a frosty breath, visible to the eyes.

"Guards! They have mages. Get our battle mages out there now!" The baron shouted.

Soon after, two armored men broke into the room.

"I need-"

"wahhhh!!" A sharp cry cut him off as everyone but the two guards in the room looked towards the baby.

"He's breathing! He's breathing, my lord!" The midwife's excited shouts echoed through the room. "What's going on?" She asked, asking as she held the now crying baby in her arms.

"Guards! The baron continued with new fervor. "Take my son and grab a few more guards and run towards the forest near here!"

"But my lord," one of the guards said in an almost pleading manner, for they did not want to abandon their lord.

"Don't waste any more time!" The baron interrupted them. "My son is my heir, take him and run!

"What about our daughter?" The lady asked weakly.

"I'll send some guards to get her out as well. They will meet up in the forest and hide their protecting our kids," he reassured her. "Preparing for the worst-case scenario is the best we can do in this sneak attack."

He spoke as if trying to reassure himself as well.

The midwife quickly wrapped the newborn up with as many blankets as possible before handing him over to the guards. "Please be careful with him, and don't shake him as you run. You'll kill him if you do!" She said sternly, " I didn't bring him back from the dead so he can die again."

"We will do our best," the guards promised as they took the baby out of the midwife's arms.

Nobody noticed the black mark forming on the baby's left shoulder.

As the guards ran through the manor towards the back entrance. They called a few more guards to follow them. "The back entrance is probably being watched." One stated as they ran. "Hopefully, not too many; our lord isn't known to run from a battle." another said between his breaths.

They all came to a halt by the back entrance door. "Phill, you open the door. But do it slowly and try to see if anyone is out there."

"What? Why me?" Phill looked around at the others as he spoke. "Why not, Jean? We all know he's better at sneaking around!"

"Just do it! It's opening a door, not sneaking into a lady's chambers! We need to hurry it up, or we might lose our chance of getting the young master out and us all dying!" The guard who was holding the baby shouted.

"Ugh, fine. I'll do it." Phill grumbled.

Clicking sounded as the locks opened. Followed by the slight creaking of the old door. The guard Phill slowly opened the door just enough to poke his head out for a quick look.

"I can't see nothing out there; why would this happen on the night the moons are not out?" Phill whispered quite loudly.

"Okay, we rush out on the count of 3, keep your shields raised; I'll be in the middle holding the baby." the guard said.

So form up and let's get moving; we need to make it to the town's wall. There is a small door then we run as fast as we can towards the trees. On the count of 3., 1``Everyone sucked in a deep breath of air. "2...3!" They all shouted at the same time, rushing out the door into the darkness.

The enemy soldiers were running as fast as they could to encircle the manor.

"Over there! There's a group escaping from the back! After them!" Shouts were heard to the groups left and right. "Don't let them make it out of the wall! Archers!"

"Ignore them and keep your shields up!" Wallace's airy cry sounded.

The group of guards ran as fast as they could towards the wall. The guard named Jean pulled ahead of the group. "I'm going to try and get the door open so we don't give these bastards a chance to catch up!" He managed to say in between breaths as he ran as fast as his legs could move him.

An Enemy officer watched them run.

"Humph looks like the baron's guards are a bunch of cowards! Deserting their men instead of dying with them!" He called after them." ten of you men, keep following them! The rest of you lot fall back! We need to make sure no one else gets away! He barked.

Jean had made it to the door; he gasped for air as he lifted the solid wood planks locking the door. Then gave a swift hard kick to the door; it burst open with the plank still in his hands. He called, "it's open! Move! Move! They are right behind us!"

Crossbow bolts bounce off the wall nearby; one hit Phill's shield. "That was close!" Phill grunted. Sweat running down his forehead.

Once everyone was through, Jean followed them through, still carrying the plank of wood. He turned around and kicked the door closed. He threw the plank against the door, digging one end into the dirt. "Hopefully, this will buy us time! He shouted as he ran to catch up. The forest seemed to be almost alive in the distance.

Back inside the manor, the midwife was hastily treating the lady to stop the bleeding. The baron, who was now suited up for battle, entered the room once again.

"Jillian, the guards who have our son seem to have made it out of the manor. However, by the time guards tried to get our daughter Sophia out, those bastards were already trying to knock the door down. They took her to hide with the servants." The baron's voice seemed to trail off as he broke the news to his wife.

"How bad is it, Reginald? Jillian asked.

"Let's hope they are merciful. And spare the servants," He said grimly.

"They must have had someone on the inside. This attack has gone too well for them not to have an insider.

I must go now to try and buy more time." He walked over to his wife and kissed her one last time, and turned and left.

Outside, the fleeing guards just entered the forest. "We can't see well enough to keep running, Wallace," Phil managed to say in between breaths. The others grunted their agreements.

"o alright," said Wallace. "Let's slow our pace; we need to get deeper into the forest."

"Keep our voices down; we don't want to attract any unwanted attention in this forest," Jean whispered.

The guards all turned and gave the manor one last look. They could see that the attackers had made it past the wall.

"It will take them a while to reach the edge of the forest; let's get moving," Wallace said.

The others nodded their heads in agreement and started moving deeper into the darkness of the forest.

Shortly after, 10 soldiers stopped their run at the edge of the forest. "Shit! They really ran into the forest." One said bleakly.

"Think we can just say we lost them? I don't want to enter this forest at night! It's bad enough during the day! Another complained.

Their eyes never left the forest as they talked as if expecting some creature to jump out and attack them.

"Can we head back, or at least get away from the tree line? I feel like I'm being watched," a soldier said as sweat formed on his forehead and ran down his face.

"Let's go back. After all, it was just a small group of deserters. "

The soldiers started walking back slowly towards the manor, chatting.

"Was it just me, or did one seem to be holding something?

"It was probably something they stole from the soon-to-be-dead baron." the soldier chuckled as they made their way back to the fighting.

In the northern part of the kingdom of Drakool, in a town called Woods Brook that is located just south of the forest, there was a home connected with the town's smithy, a giant mountain of a man talking to his wife. She was of average height and slender, but she looked tiny in front of her husband. This man's name was Vareth and only known to him and his wife; he was half-dwarf, which made him almost unnaturally muscular, but he was tall because of his mother's side. His dwarf blood made him an excellent blacksmith. His wife's name was Lily; she was a merchant's daughter and was taught the trade by her father, but he had still passed the business to her brother. Even though she was a better merchant than he was, she was still just a woman. Now she and her husband ran the only blacksmith shop in Woods Brook.

"Vareth," Lily said as she looked up at her husband. "We can't keep going like this; the price of ore keeps going up from the mines over in Stone Harrow. But we cannot keep increasing our prices, or nobody will buy or be able to afford repairs, and we'll starve." Lily brought her arms up and folded them, and started tapping her foot as she sank into thought.

"Lily, how else are we going to survive?" Vareth asked in a low voice. "The orcs and bandits are more active this year than years passed, and it keeps driving up the prices of everything coming in from the other towns and cities." Vareth looked down at his wife's tapping foot. His eyes seemed to dim as he lost himself in thought.

Lily was biting her lip now out of frustration.

"What if we." She began. Only to pause in thought before continuing, "Find our own mine?" Her voice didn't sound confident, and she watched her husband's face show a flash of discomfort.

"It is not that easy, Lily," Vareth said. "The only mountains nearby are deep in the forest, and that place is perilous."

Lily just stared at him, her eyes boring holes in his soul. Vareth finally huffed out a deep breath, almost in resignation. "A few weeks back, I overheard some hunters talk about their time in the forest while I was down at the tavern. They said they had come across something that looked like an abandoned mine."

Lily's eyes jumped up at this. "If you can reach it safely, we might be to keep the prices lower by using any ore you can mine from there," She shouted, her voice almost couldn't contain her excitement.

"That wasn't all they said, Lily," Vareth said before continuing. "They said there were signs of corruption. They said even the trees were black, and nothing could be heard, not even insects. It scared them so badly they turned back." His face stiffened, he huffed out a breath of air again. "I'm not a warrior, I may know the fundamentals for each weapon, but I haven't fought in a battle since the last war. If anything sees me in that forest, I'll die! "

Lily puffed up her cheeks then sighed. "Well, it was a nice thought. How will I have kids if you die?" A soft smile emerged on her face.

"Lily," Gareth's face softened as he looked down at his wife. "After the last miscarriage, they said that your body was damaged." his eyes watered as he spoke.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke. "I know what they said, but I don't want to believe it! "

"Well, then we best figure out how this ore situation if we want to have another mouth to feed in the future. Besides, maybe that new alchemist can help us with our problem" his voice was soft and full of care as he talked to his wife. He brought his arm up and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Mmm." Lily hummed.

They had continued their conversion until late in the night. Lily had finally gone to bed while Vareth went out to his forge to clean up for the night. His eyes kept looking towards the forest and the mountains within. He was thinking hard about what his wife had said. Every so often, a sigh would sound as he looked back at his home.

"Maybe," he said to himself. "Maybe, the risk is worth it?" His eyes looked up at the moonless sky, then they landed on the mountains in the forest. "This feeling that I have is only getting stronger, it seems." His voice was only loud enough for him to hear.

Vareth turned and walked towards his shop's cellar, pulled a key from his belt, opened the cellar doors, and descended into the basement.

Once he was in the cellar reached for the candle that he always kept near the steps. Striking a match, he lit the candle. The light grew until the basement was illuminated by the candle. Vareth walked to a shelf and grabbed an old leather pack.

"Dad, let's hope your lucky mining pack brings me great luck tonight, for I'm going to need it." Vareth quickly packed it up with everything he needed, grabbed his dad's old mining pick, and walked out.

Vareth was trying not to jog as he walked as fast as he could towards the north gate. As he neared the wooden gate, the night watchman called out to him.

"Vareth, is that you?"

"Who else could it be? For whom else is as big as I am?" Vareth called back as he kept walking closer.

This caused the watchman to chuckle.

"I suppose you're right. But where are you heading in the middle of the night?" The watchman asked.

Vareth was now standing in front of the watchman; looking down at the watchman, he pulled out a silver coin. "Don't tell my wife where I went unless I'm not back in 2 nights."

"And what if you don't come back? What do I tell her?" The watchman asked.

"If I'm not back, my luck ran dry, and I'll most likely be dead." Gareth's voice came out firm and heavy.

"Oh, you're not doing something illegal now, are you, Vareth? The watchman asked. "I kind of have to ask you that now."

"No, just dangerous." Vareth held up his mining pick for the watchman to see. "Hope luck is on my side tonight."

"I see, hoping to dig up something valuable, huh? We are all short on coins this year, but I don't think anything I say will change your mind based on the look you are giving me. Well, wish you luck then." the watchman turned and walked over to the gate and cracked it a bit.

"Hope you can fit through that. Don't want to risk opening it any further at night."

"Thank you" that Vareth squeezed through the gate and started making his way towards the forest.

As Vareth walked closer to the forest, the shadows reached towards him as if wanting to engulf him and send him on his way to the void.

Doubt seeped into his very soul. The air seemed colder and colder with every step.

Am I really going to search for a mine that may or may not exist? He thought as he stepped through the forest threshold.

"Yahoo!"

Were those wolves or worgs? It does not matter which they are anyway if they smell me; I'll be dead either way. Vareth darted from tree to tree, pausing at each one to look around for danger. His eyes luckily had inherited his father's vision and enabled him to see somewhat in the darkness of the night.

When he entered the tree line, he saw it, it was a green light, but his legs would not move. "Oh no!" He cursed as the light shot towards him. His heart froze in place as the will-of-the-wisp stopped in front of him.

"A living soul? What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? It asked, the voices from it overlapping as it spoke—each one carrying coldness in their voices.

"Uh" was all Vareth managed to get out as the will-of-the-wisp took on a human female shape in front of him.

"Does it not speak?" It asked.

"I do, but I-"

"It wants to know if we are here to guide it to safety or to the void?" It asked, finishing Vareth's question before he could.

But why? He was not lost, for he had just entered the forest. Why did he run into this creature of all things? The dead of the forest were the worse things within it.

"Y-yes," Vareth cooked out sweat forming on his forehead and back as he could do nothing but wait for it to decide his fate.

The will of the wisp tilted its head as its eyes seemed to see into Vareth's soul. "Answer us this, what is it that brought you into the forest?" It asked, its eyes turning sharp as if looking at prey.

"W-well, you see, I was looking for a mine I heard was at the base of the mountains." Vareth stammered.

"We see." It said, "we know of that mine, but what can you offer us in return to guide you there in safety?"

Vareth's mind raced as he tried to think of what he could offer to something that didn't have a body.

"Actually." It said as it looked around, almost as if nervous, then it seemed to smile. "We will guide you to the mine as well as guide you safely out of the forest if you take something out with you for us."

Gareth's heart stopped. What could the dead want him to take out of the forest with him? It could not be anything good.

"What is it that you want me to take with me?" He asked. He could only hope that it was not something that would bring him harm. But if I disagree, will I be killed? He wanted to live and return to his wife.

As soon as it heard his question, its face grew sinister. "We will show you, but we think if you want to live, you must agree before we do."

"I-I'll agree!"

"Very good, it wants to live. Follow us now, for time is of the essence!"

With that, it turned back into a ball of green light and shot towards the mountains.

What did I just do? Vareth thought as he broke into a run to catch up to the will-of-the-wisp.

Well, at least he knew he would not get lost or yet.

It had been hours since Vareth started to follow the will-of-the-wisp. The forest seems to grow darker. The tree's bark started to turn grayish, and the leaves were almost dead. Plants on the forest floor get scarcer, the soil turned black. The mountains loom overhead as Vareth breaks through a tree line after the will-of-the-wisp.

"We are here. Now we wait." It said with determination in its voice.

Vareth looked around, then he could see it a run-down mine entrance; part of it was collapsed.

"What are we waiting for?" He asked.

"For what you must take away from here."

"How long do we need to wait?" Vareth asked as cold shivers shot down his back.

"Until our sister arrives, but if you are wondering if you'll have time to explore the mine." It paused and looked up at the sky as if trying to sense something.

"We believe you have time."

"Then, if you don't mind, I'll take a look." Vareth walked towards the mine. Then he set down his pack and started digging through it. And pulled out a small lantern and lit it.

"Do you know if creatures live in the mine?" He asked as he lifted the lantern up high to shine its light into the mine entrance.

"Not anymore," it said.

"Not anymore?"

"It left already."

"What was it?" Vareth turned to look at the will-of-the-wisp; his gut churned as he waited for the answer.

"You don't need to concern yourself with it, for it won't be back until long after you leave." It answered.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Vareth hesitantly looked towards the trees, watching for signs of movement, before turning around and heading into the mine, searching for ore.

Wallace clutched his side with one hand to try and slow the bleeding; his other arm held his young lord to his chest. As he stumbled after a green ball of light.

"Please make sure that this baby lives!" He begged the light as he followed it.

"We will make sure as long as you keep following us, but you, on the other hand, won't." It said.

"Your companions are already waiting for you in the void."

"Curse our luck, if only we didn't walk right into those orcs."

"But they sacrificed their lives so the baby you are holding could live," it said; its words were cold and carried no emotions.

"Why? Why are you helping me? Wallace grunted out as pain shot from his side.

"Believe it or not, we could care less about you. Grown men have already lived and made their choice to enter the forest. But we feel for that baby that you are so desperately trying to save." It said.

Wallace clutched his teeth as he stumbles on a root. But somehow remains upright. He stopped to look behind him for a moment before continuing on. Phill and Jean were still alive when he last saw them. Shields up, pushing the orcs back. It had only been a few orcs, but they got the jump on them. Jean was the one who insisted that he take the young lord and run. As he turned to run, an orc threw an ax at him. Hitting him in the side, bleeding out and running, it was only luck that he came across a will-of-the-wisp that was willing to guide him to safety. Wallace believed that it wasn't lying to him; he knew he would die due to blood loss. But he needed to take the chance that the baby would live.

"Hurry! You are already being called by the void." It spoke.

Wallace grunted as he mustered up his strength one last time. As his speed picked up, the blood coming from his side started to bleed out faster. Wallace broke through the tree line to see an old run-down mine. He could see what looked like a pack near the entrance.

"I've made it right?" He asked as he fell down, rolling to the side so the baby wouldn't get hurt.

"Yes, the baby will be safe now. The man inside the mine will take him out of the forest." He saw another green light floats up to the one that he had followed just before closing his eyes for the last time.

Vareth found iron ore as well as cold iron and black iron. He had mined the cold and regular iron just enough to fill his pack. As he stepped outside to put his haul into his pack, he saw an armored man clutching something in his arms on the ground near the tree line as he looked up from the pack.

"The time has come to fulfill your end of our deal!" The will-o-the-wisp called. Vareth noticed there are now two of them floating near the man.

"Hurry and grab the baby in the arms of the corpse, and we will guide you out." They said,

Baby? Vareth was stunned. "A baby! That's what you wanted me to take out!" Shouting as he ran towards the baby in the dead man's arms. He carefully picked up the baby, and it just looked at him. Not crying just looked at him with big amber-colored eyes. Amber was an unnatural eye color for humans.

"This is a newborn?" Vareth gasped.

"Should we?" The will of the wisp ignores him and seems to be talking to each other.

"Living one, would you care for another deal?" They asked

"Another deal?

"Yes, if you not only take it out of the forest but also raise it, we will guide you and protect you every time you enter the forest," they proposed.

Vareth held the baby in his chest.

"Even if you didn't ask me, I would be willing. My wife and I have had no luck having children of our own.."

"We don't want to hear your sob story! Do we have a deal?"

"Yes!" Vareth hurried and agreed to the deal as he's still looking down at the baby.

The sun was almost cresting the horizon. When Vareth stepped out of the forest, his pack is full of ore and a baby in his arms. He stopped and turned to face the woods.

"Thank you." He said, but the green lights were already gone.

"You're back already!" The watchman called

"Your wife has been looking for you everywhere this morning. Hey! What's that you're holding?"

Vareth smiled and replied, "my son."

He did not bother to explain it anymore as he walked past the shocked watchman.

Vareth opened the door to his home only to hear Lily shouting at him already.

"Where have you been! You didn't come to bed last night, and the tavern keep said he-"

"Wahhh!" A sharp cry cut her off.

Vareth started trying to calm the baby in his arms down as his wife does not seem to know what's going on.

"W-what?! Is that a baby?" the question barely escaped her lips; her voice was hushed.

"Yes, my love, I found him in the forest last night. The man who was holding him was dead." Vareth said glumly.

"Dead? So, are you saying this little guy's family might be dead?" Lily asked. Sorrow is heavy in her voice.

"The man had a letter and a strange black box on him," Vareth said as he hands the baby to Lily, then takes the pack off his back and sets it down with a loud thud. He then opened the pack and took out a letter and a strange black box.

"I found the mine in the forest, by the way, but I think this will tell us about the boy," Vareth says as he starts to open the letter.