1 Choosing A Path

Northwest Evergreen. Barbarian Village of Helgahvall. 5010 A.S (After the Shattering)

As the first rays of the sun hit the snow covered rooftops of the village of Helgahvall, virtually every resident was in deep sleep except one. A young boy by the name of Rahz was jumping around doing the best he could to stretch his muscles. Today was Rahz's 5th birthday and that meant that he could finally start his training to become a warrior of the brave Barbarian race.

Since he could remembered, Rahz watched the warriors of the village fight against ferocious beast in order to protect and feed its residents without asking anything in return. It was this feeling of friendship and unity that filled Rahz with lofty dreams of one day joining their ranks and developing into a pillar of strength for the people he loved the most.

Rahz dreamt of wielding a giant Axe and vanquishing his enemies with one swing of his weapon 'swish, swish, swish'. In his mind the path of the warrior was the only one for him. Every morning he woke up early and did some light exercises while dreaming about epic encounters with whichever animal he had for dinner the day before and it usually lasted until his mother called him for breakfast.

Rahz's mother was a beautiful and delicate lady, she had long blonde hair, big blue eyes and a very svelte body but her most prominent feature was her pair of pointy ears characteristic of the elf race. As the son of a Barbarian and an Elf, Rahz was a lot smaller than the other kids and his peculiar ears caused him to be teased by the other kids on many occasions. Despite being smaller in size than the average Barbarian, Rahz still displayed fairly good strength characteristic of the Barbarian race and the wisdom and intelligence of the elf race. Nature was not without balance.

While finishing his breakfast Rahz asked his mother " Is dad a great warrior?".

Rahz's parents Rhaen and Etta were part of an adventurer team from the great city of Silverwing. Rhaen was a shield and sword warrior called a Guardian and was a profession specialized in the protection of their allies through the combination of defensive skills and durable plate armor. Etta was the healer of the group, as a high Elf she took advantage of her high wisdom and chose to be a cleric gaining powerful healing and enhancement spells from the god she decided to follow.

"He is the greatest adventurer I have ever met, and I am alive because of him"

Seeing her son's sparkling eyes she continued, "your father and I were part of an adventurer team which operated to the south of the great city of Silverwing. We did missions to earn money and help the small villages that couldn't protect themselves from the attacks of bandits and other dangerous races. As luck will have it, there was a group of Gnolls that had massacred a human village and were spreading their influence in a area close to the city. Naturally, a request was made to the adventurer guild to wipe out the Gnolls. We accepted the request and proceeded to their lair. The further we went inside, the higher the amount of Gnoll groups that were roaming around and this made them extremely difficult to defeat".

"In one moment of carelessness we caught the attention of three different groups that were close to each other and got overwhelmed by their numbers. We tried desperately to survive but every time we killed a group another seem to appear in an endless tide, people started dying and getting devoured which crushed our hopes to make it out alive until your father took it upon himself to distract every single Gnoll while some of us headed to the exit. I don't know how he managed to survive and until this day he won't tell me. Only three people managed to make it to the exit that day and your dad and me were two of them".

It was a sad story that reflected the cruel reality of the world but instead of making Rahz examined his choice of becoming a warrior, it fueled it with the desired to grow strong so that he could protect those he loved the most.

After that amazing story filled with action and self sacrifice Rahz left his house towards the center of the village. Along the way, Rahz caught a glance of his best friend Bhilr. Bhilr was the son of the village chief and unlike Rahz, Bhilr was the best representation of the barbarian race. At 5 years old he was already 5 feet tall and was able to lift a stone weighing 150 pounds. Bhilr had black hair hanging down to his shoulder, a very rough complexion and wore leather armor made out of animal fur. Despite being the son of the chief he was very easy to talk to and was not conceited at all.

" Are you ready for the ceremony?" asked Rahz. Bhilr looked in the direction the question came from, smiled and said " Of Course!!"

"Which path will you be taken?" asked Rahz

"As the son of the chief of Helgahvall there is only one path for me WARRIOR!! yours?"

"Same!! I want to develop into the Berserker class".

"It will be the Guardian for me." said Bhilr.

There were four paths granted by the gods in the realm of Elysian, they could be considered the blueprint for the development of an individual with the purpose of becoming the driving force of society. The four paths available for a native Elysian was the path of a Warrior, the path of a Healer, the path of a Scout, and the path of a Mage. each path had its strengths and weaknesses and an individual could use any of them to reach the Apex of the realm and reached the maximum level (50) and break the shackles of mortality.

What happened when a warrior reached the maximum level was all speculation as very few people managed to get to the Apex but one thing was certain if you wanted to get to Level 50 then it all started with the Awakening Ceremony. During the Awakening Ceremony a native Elysian prayed to the Gods of Creation and told them their dreams and in a sense the things that they aspired to do with the power granted to them. According to this information, the Gods could make a choice if they wanted the person as a follower or not. It was a mutual contract between a native of the realm of Elysian and a God of Creation, as for the benefits the Gods obtained from the transaction, only they knew.

Once the contract had been established, the God granted some gifts to his follower and the most important of them all was the Rune of the Awaken. The Rune allowed the Elysian to collect and used the energy of the realm to break the shackles of mortality and used powers otherwise not available to the common folk. The Rune could be seen as a receptacle that accumulated the energy necessary to change the body of a mortal and once it had enough for the change it was time for the individual to level up increasing the inherent characteristics of the person such as strength, toughness etc. The rune was the easiest way to confirm the level of a person and to keep track of one's progress due to its visual changes.

The second gift from the gods were called blessings and they were a boost determined by the divinity of the God one decided to follow. For warriors for example, the most popular choices were Fadall ( God of War) with a boost to Strength and Stamina, Izana (Goddess of Valor) with a boost to healing and combat arts, and Odos (the God of Justice) with boost to Wound healing and a small strength boost every time an Elysian increased in Levels.

As they got closer to the center of the village where the ceremony was to take place more and more people started to gather. There were 8 more kids that were participating in the ceremony and starting their brand new life. When it was time to start, all the kids lined up in front of the altar. Rahz was the smallest of all the children he looked like a dwarf among giants. All the kids look extremely nervous while the eldest shaman preceding the ceremony started his prayers.

Being the son of the chief, Bhirl had the privilege to go first. Mustering his courage, Bhilr step forward and knelt in front of the altar. He prayed to the gods " Oh great gods of creation, please grant me the strength to protect my people from harm. I will like to follow the path of the warrior and uphold the principles of law and justice." After a few seconds, 2 different light columns descended in front of him. One was pure white and the other was a light blue color. The shaman in charge of the ceremony then explain to Bhirl that two different gods approved of his prayer. One was the god of valor and the other was the god of justice. By stepping into a beam of light he would received the particular god's blessing and become a follower of said god upholding his or her principles. After meditating for a few seconds Bhirl step into the light blue column. As soon as he stepped in, he was lifted a meter from the ground as the grace of the god of justice descended and granted him a blessing. After the light beam faded away, Bhirl felt that his skin and bones got tougher, his life force had strengthen and his cells were radiating with energy; energy that would greatly promote his healing. After Bhirl finished his ceremony the other children stepped up one by one and chose their paths increasing the awaken of the village by 3 scouts, 3 healers and 2 more warriors.

Rahz's turn came last and as he stepped up to the altar, there was no sense of anticipation for everyone in the village as they all knew of the Child's obsession with becoming a warrior. Rhaz knelt in front of the altar and began his prayer, " Oh great gods of creation, please grant me the strength to vanquish all my foes. I will like to follow the path of the warrior and crush my enemies across countless battlefields. I want to be the strongest." As soon as he finished his prayer, Rahz started grinning while imagining the gods fighting to give him their blessing. As time passed, two light columns appeared in front of Rhaz; one was Dark Red and the other was Black. They represented the God of war and the Prince of death respectively. When the two columns appeared a commotion started. everybody was dumbfounded due to the fact that both gods were of evil alignment. The prince of dead was a must for the path of assassination. As for the God of War even though it provided a very nice blessing for fighters, it did not uphold any lofty principles. Strength was king in his book.

The village of Helgahvall was associated with the city of Silverwing that was built for the Good Alignment followers. The city had a kill on sight order for any Evil God worshiper that attempted to come in to disrupt the peace they had created. Rahz was bound to be cast aside to the city of Blackrock Port where all sorts of people mingle.

Looking at his two choices Rahz was a little perplex, he thought that Izana the Goddess of Valor would extend an invitation but to his disappointment she was not a choice. Rahz quickly recompose himself and after listening to the Shaman explained the name of the Gods that had accepted his prayer the choice was obvious. He wanted power and there was only one Supreme being that symbolize the search for power and that was the God of War. Rahz stepped into the red column of light very nervously, and his muscles bulged due to the blessing of strength as his skin and bones became tougher from the blessing to his toughness and due to the path he chose, Warrior. As soon as the light dissipated, everybody in the whole town square cover their noses and were gasping for air. Rahz skin was covered with a black and sticky substance symbolizing the expulsion of impurities from his body. The stench was so bad that it felt as if their nose hairs were on fire.

While looking a Bhilr, Rahz asked " Did you fart?".

"Shameless"

Was the thought in everyone's mind.

Looking at the situation at hand, the shaman decided to finish the ceremony and save everyone the torture generated by the release of the impurities inside Rahz's body. Even though the other kids also released some impurities, the bigger the release the worst the stench.

The shaman dismissed everybody and told the kids to familiarize themselves with their new bodies and skills pertaining to their chosen path. Even though the ceremony appeared to be like any other, in the eyes of the village elders, the biggest winner today was not the son of the chief but that shameless little fellow.