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Chapter One

Ederock Direblayde woke up to a barrage of senses. The scorching light of the late morning sun fell upon his undressed body and he could feel it beginning to burn. The foul stench of the pigsty next to his room was warmed by the heat of the sun and penetrated the barriers to create a retching smell of dung and rotting food. But worst of all was the sound.
It was the sound of his older brother’s wife, Ederock’s own age of 17, screeching at him, “Aughhh! Still asleep! This has to end! Wake up! You have chores to do! Awake! Awake!”
To accompany the screech she walked over and slapped him repeatedly. Ederock dug his head into the down pillow reached inside it and pulled out his hunting dagger.
“Susan, get out or I swear I will throw this knife,” is all Ederock said. He made the same threat every day and he missed every day. Who could blame him though? He’d only been awake for less then 10 minutes.
Susan heaved a sigh then said,” Ok but get out here in 5 minutes or you will be sorry.” Ederock threw the dagger and added yet another hole in the wall within the same 4 hand circle. Ederock groggily sat up, and looked around his garbage dump of a room. He stood up walked over to the wall and pulled out the dagger, set it on his pillow, then walked over to the large pile of clothes. He rummaged through it for a while then pulled out a pair of hemp trousers and tunic, for his chores of feeding the pigs and cleaning the 3 room hovel they lived in, and the pulled out a fine pair of black leather pants and a black silk shirt with dragons embroidered on it and manticore spines for closures. He had a meeting with the High Mage about his future as an apprentice to the greatest warrior in his small home village of Evenhall.
The warriors name was Barrock and he had fought everything from cockatrices to zarrocks. Ederock put on his work clothes and walked to the kitchen. On his short walk he saw mice and devourers crawl across the floor. Susan was a horrible cook so lots of food ended up on the floor or was burnt and ended up on the compost heap. So the mice and devourers had a constant supply of food and so made nests in the wall. Secretly Ederock knew he could cook better, because he cooked for himself often, but it was disrespectful for a man to take a woman’s job and vice versa. His mother had been a great cook but she had been lately losing her memory very quickly. Ederock walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table where his brother, Chris, Susan and his mother were already eating their lunch of warm bread, cold cheese, and dried, salted meat.
Chris, 22, looked at Ederock sitting down and eating and announced,”Ederock don’t forget to bring that sword dad gave you.”
Ederock, looking thoughtful, replied,”Oh yeah, forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me.” He meant it to. He’d remembered about the meeting but not the challenge. He had also forgotten to practice. Oops, he thought as he finished wolfing down his lunch, then ran to the pigsty, fed them their normal meal of burnt leftovers, carrots and apples. Then he ran inside, cleaned all he could in the house, and finally he ran to his room, got his sword and ran outside. He was a quarter of the way down the street, and belting on his sword when he realized he still had his work clothes on.
“Damn,” he cursed as he ran back down the road to the house. Just as he had finished changing and got his sword belted on the third bell rang. He was supposed to be at the manor at five minutes past the bell.
”No!” he screamed as he threw aside the door and jumped over the fence in his rush to get out. He rushed past the other villagers in the street and saw the manor in the distance. He started running faster, muttering an air spell asking for swift travel. Just as the world around him began to blur he came up on the building. Ederock slowed down, caught his breath and waited for the world to stop spinning. When the world regained its position Ederock stepped inside.
The mage’s servant clambered to him, looking with distaste at his sweaty clothes, and muttered,”Oh yes, Master Direblayde. Of course. Right this way.” as he shuffled past him on the smooth marble floor. From the way the servant was acting he seemed nervous.
“What’s wrong?” Ederock asked.
The servant responded,”Well, you see Barrock wants you to fight another of his students but my master says you are too valuable to waste.”
Too valuable to waste huh? This could be fun.
Ederock followed the servant through the maze of the house until he heard someone roar. ”What if he dies? Well? He has more control of magic than many adults, and he has great physical power not to mention his sword than can only be wielded by his those with his families blood!.”
”Well if he is so powerful he should have no problem mastering this challenge”
“He is untrained. He will fight with desperation, hurt himself, and most likely kill his opponent.” “Well that is surely regrettable, but …” Barrock stopped talking as he heard the door to the chamber open, and turned in unison with the high mage.
“I want to fight. I want to see how well I truly practiced.” Ederock said with a voice of command. He drew out his father’s sword and held it in front of his face as a challenge. And what a sword it was. It was the color of the forests summer leaves with a line of emeralds fused together into a bar running down the middle of the blade. The blade was made of a legendary metal called adamantite, which was stronger than mithril, though slightly heavier. The sword could cut through almost anything, from light armor to solid rock. Ederock was proud of his sword for it was the finest in the entire lordship.
“Well of course you want to fight, but are you sure it is wise? What would happen if he were to disarm you?” asked the High Mage.
Ederock looked thoughtful for a few seconds then replied, “I would throw myself upon my enemy with bare fists and strike him down. My father was a great warrior and I would be ashamed to be any less than he was.”
Barrock looked fondly at Ederock then stomped his steel booted foot twice on the floor.
“Bring in the contestant,” was all Barrock said. A large metal door opened and out walked Joshua Woodsheart. He had been Ederock’s rival since childhood and they hated each other with great vigor. This could get dirty.
“Oh, hello Ederock. Didn’t think it was you I would be fighting. Still living in your pig dung?” Joshua smirked and caused the hairs on the back of Ederock’s neck to stand up with anger.
“You wish Joshua.” Ederock replied while readying his sword.
Both warriors yelled an earth spell for creating armor against the other blade. Joshua wore himself out creating armor strong enough to repel Ederock’s blade. Ederock smiled. He now had the advantage. He struck out with his sword and hit the inside of Joshua’s armor under his arm and paralyzed it causing Joshua to drop his sword. Joshua, weaponless, summoned fire and threw it at Ederock, only to be blocked by a column of water summoned in the blink of an eye. Ederock drew back then sprang forward and struck Joshua repeatedly with the flat of his sword. Joshua rapidly lost strength until he fell awkwardly to his knees.
Ederock swung his sword for the killing blow, but pulled back at the last second at the very skin of his neck. In many scenes and dreams Joshua had died like this, but now was not the time. Ederock pulled his sword back, sheathed it and finished the fight with the customary bow. His head was so full of adrenaline he barely heard the applause from the other side of the chamber.
Ederock heard muttering behind him and spun around just as the daemon tarrasque appeared. A tarrasque is the greatest of beasts, with the very elements as its substance. There is only one tarrasque, created as the world was beginning. It is a wandering predator, eating anything and everything. Many great warriors had fallen at its teeth including Ederock’s father. However this tarrasque was only the size of a small mastiff, and its control of the elements only minor. As the tarrasque began to charge, Ederock began the ritual. While the tarrasque was strong with fire, water, wind and earth it was weak against one other. Ether.