All the guards in the barracks gathered around to witness this upcoming match between Prince Enzo and the royal knight Rowan. Endre, who was already at the arena, pushed his way to the front of the crowd. What is Enzo doing out there and who is that man he's facing off against, he thought. He overheard some of the guards talking, "Hey isn't that a royal knight over there?" Another responded "It is and look, he's fighting one of the princes. This could be an interesting fight." This filled Endre with more questions, but he decided to stay and watch the match. He also wanted to see his brother's full skills.
A guard on the sideline signaled for the match to begin. Rowan began to speak, "You know I'm not going to go easy on you. This is the best way for me to see your skill." Enzo replied, "Good, I was hoping you wouldn't." Enzo's and Rowan's eyes were fixed on each other, as they waited for the other to make the first move. Enzo griped the wooden sword tightly and ran forward yelling, "Let me show you what I can do." Enzo swung at Rowan with all of his might, but Rowan blocked it with ease. Enzo began skillfully maneuvering his sword around allowing him to try and get consecutive strikes against Rowan. Endre was amazed while watching his brother fight. If he was fighting against me, Enzo would have already had won, he though. The dull and heavy sounds of their swords colliding filled the arena, as they traded blows with each other. The crowd of guards began cheering for both of them. "You can do it your majesty, I know you can," shouted one of the guards. Rowan and Enzo stopped fighting and looked at each other. Enzo was breathing heavily and wiping sweat off of his forehead, whilst Rowan stood there like he had barely broken a sweat. "You're pretty good. I think I know your ability level now," said Rowan. Enzo smirked and said, "I'm not done yet," Enzo darted forward swinging his sword from overhead. Rowan stops the attack by hitting Enzo's hands, which causes his sword to go flying on to the ground. He then puts his wood sword up to Enzo's neck and said, "Now you're done." Enzo smiled and put both of his hands up, "looks like I lost, but I never stood a chance from the start, did I?" he laughed. Rowan grabbed Enzo's shoulder "For your first time fighting against one of the strongest knights in the nation, I think you did pretty well."
Enzo walked over and picked up his sword then Rowan continued, but all of his youthful emotion had left his voice. "But on the battlefield, during a life-or-death situation, 'pretty well' won't be enough to keep you alive." Rowan's face had a bleak look and his eyes looked lifeless. That's the expression of a warrior, the expression of man who had to take countless lives in battle to save countless others, Enzo thought. Rowan snapped out of it and went back to normal, "Sorry about that, I can ruin the mood sometimes. Back to what I was saying, if you train with me, you'll be as strong as a Royal knight or maybe even stronger. Enzo clenched his fist, If I get stronger, I'll be able to protect the empire and my family, he thought.
Aeron woke up near the edge of a cliff. The sky above him was pitch black with lots of shining light scattered through out its empty void. The brilliant glow of the moon lit up the sky, casting its light down below. A soft breeze rustled the leaves of trees behind him. Aeron got up and walked over to the edge of the cliff, looking down below him. There was a large city out in the distance, surrounded by lots of flat land. The city looked familiar to him, but from the distance he was at, it was hard for him to tell. Suddenly Aeron felt a sharp pain in his head. He grabbed his forehead, but then the pain quickly receded. When he looked out again, the distant city had become engulf in flames. Towers of smoke rose up from the city almost touching the moon. A strange feeling had overtaken his body and his eyes began filling up with tears. The tears escaped his eye's, slowly trickling down his cheeks. Aeron wiped his tears away, "Why am I crying," he whispered to himself. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had some sort of connection to the place in the distance.
A soft voice spoke out, "It's beautiful, isn't it? The orange glow from the fire, lighting up the dark sky." Aeron looked over to his right to find a girl sitting a large rock next to him. She had bright glowing green eyes, and long sliver colored hair that was blowing in the breeze. Aeron stared at her confusingly, who is this girl and what is she doing here, he thought. "Aeron, it is rude not to respond to someone when they are speaking to you," she stated in slight annoyance. "Who are you and how do you know my name?" he asked. "We've already met each other before, although I have known about you ever since you were born. I have never introduced myself to you though," responded the girl. More and more question started piling up in Aeron's head. "I think you're mistaken; I would have remembered you, if we've met somewhere else before." She grabbed a piece of her hair, twirling it between her fingers. "No, you are the one who freed me from my cell. The boy who will 'choose his own fate' or something like that" she mockingly said. Aeron bent down to get a closer look at her face, "That was you, but you are much smaller than that weird creature. Also, that creature was covered in shadows, but I can clearly see you." She frowned and turned towards him "What do mean 'that creature', that's just how I look when I am in a low on magic. Otherwise, I can change my form to whatever I like."
She sighed "Anyway, let me introduce myself, I am one of the legendary ancient spirits. I was contracted with an ancestor of yours, but he died before our deal was completed." Aeron was still skeptical of the girl, so he asked, "how come this is the first time I'm hearing about a contracted ancient spirit? Wouldn't stories about you be written down and passes down for generations." The girl answered his question, "After he died, his son's and the people closest to him had me sealed since they could not use my power. They were afraid of me and viewed me as a threat since no one could control my power. They then erased my existences from all records, so that no one would ever try to find me. The place you free me from was a prison, that his sons constructed for me and it was also a tomb for my old master," her voice sounded more serious than before. She turned her head toward the burning city in the distance. Aeron then asked, "Well that story is sad and all, but why are you here talking to me?" she quickly responded, "I've been residing inside of you, ever since you freed me. I wanted to speak with you. That is all." Aeron asked another question, "Where are my friends?" The girl became annoyed again, "You ask to many questions. Your friends are fine, they are probably more worried about you anyway." Aeron remembered that he was dueling Sir Baldwin before waking up here. "My duel what hap-", Aeron tried to ask another question but was cut off by the girl. "Don't worry about it, I took care of the duel a while ago," she said. What does she mean took care of it, he thought, while trying to figure out what was going on. "While you went unconscious, I took over your body and won the duel, but I used up all your power, so we passed out. If you were stronger, I could have won a lot faster, but I can't really complain," she said trying to brush it off. Aeron grabbed her by the shoulders, "What happened after the duel? Am I going to die or am I already dead?" The girl smacked Aeron in the face, bringing him back to his sense. "Listen to me, you are fine. You were just unconscious for a few weeks from expending all your mana. You should be able to wake up at any time," she said while fixing herself. Aeron sighed out of relief and sat down beside the girl. "oh okay, so why did you bring me here to talk," he asked calmly. She responded, "Well, we made a deal, I just wanted to make sure that you will honor it." Aeron scratched his head, "We made a deal? Sorry, but I don't remember what you're talking about." She let out another sigh, "It's okay, we'll talk about it another time." She then stood up and placed her hand on his cheek, "I think it's about time that you returned to your friends." Aeron had one more question, "Wait, you never told me your name." The girl responded, "It's been so long, I have forgotten the name my old master bestowed upon me." She then suggested, "Since we have a contract now, how about you give me a new one." Aeron started thinking of some names that would suit her. He looked over at the burning city and the distance, and suddenly it came to him. "Your new name is Ember, after the glowing light of a dying fire," said Aeron. She whispered the name to herself and smiled, "Ember, huh… It could be better, but It's as good a name as any I suppose." Aeron eye's felt heavy as the world around him began to fade away into nothingness.
The sound of hooves smacking against the dirt filled Aeron's ears. As he opened his eyes, he saw Alana's and Rose's backs next to him. They were whispering to each other, trying not to wake up Pierre and Elise. "How long did he say it would take us to reach the next major town," asked Rose. "He said Two more days or so depending on the weather," responded Alana. "If it wasn't for this rain we would have been there by now," whined Rose. "I think it's rather peaceful, especially after all that's happened to us so far," said Alana. She looked back at Aeron and grabbed his hand, "Aeron, won't you wake up already." Aeron squeezed her hand and softly said, "I think it's about time that I woke up too." Alana was so overwhelmed with emotions, that she just began crying. Rose got frustrated and punched him in the arm, "Don't scare us like that every again-," As soon as she finished speaking tears started flowing. Aeron hugged both of them tightly and whisper, "I'm sorry to have worried you." Pierre and Elise both woke up from the noise the others were making. As soon as Pierre realized Aeron was awake, he walked over to him lowered his head. "I left you alone out there to fight, when I should have been out there fighting beside you. I don't deserve to guard you, or Alana and I don't deserve the right to call myself your friend." Aeron placed his hand on Pierre's shoulder, "Before that fight I chose to fight alone to protect all of you. You then protected Rose and my sister; you also rescued Elise. I think your more than qualified to be my guard." Aeron then wrapped his hand around Pierre's hand, "But you'll be my friend whether you like it or not." Pierre smirked and scratched his head, "Your right, I don't know what I was thinking." They both start laughing showing that their friendship hadn't changed. Although Elise was happy that Aeron had woken up, she was still on edge after witnessing Aeron fight so brutally against the knights. Rose and Alana sat next to her, "I promise you that Aeron wouldn't hurt any of us" reassuringly said Alana. Rose followed by saying "And If he does try to, we'll just beat him up first." Elise chuckled a bit and started to calm down. Then a thought had popped up in everyone's minds, what was that mysterious power that Aeron used during his duel.