Thunder crashed amongst the black clouds blanketing the heavens as torrents of rain poured down upon the earth, covering the land beneath the rising tide. Eric pulled his drenched cloak tighter as he and his twin brother, Benedict, quickly made their way down the muddy road, their destination, the village of Hothal Aldu. The two brothers came from a small, nameless hamlet along the Forg'heaven River that lay a few days' hike from the village, and they had been on the road for the past three days and nights.
Both were excited for they would be arriving in the village around noon, and then they would make their way towards the town's adventurer's guild where they could receive the classes that would define the rest of their lives. Hothal Aldu was located within the Undarthu Kingdom, which was part of the United Kingdoms of Elvadera. Back during the founding of the United Kingdoms, a law was passed stating that everyone upon their sixteenth birthday, were required to touch a Class Stone, which was specifically designed to assign you your class.
Before the Class Stones came to be, people would be assigned classes through an extremely painful and natural process at midnight of their sixteenth birthday; with those who had stronger classes, could risk finding themselves dying due to the extreme amount of stress that receiving one's class could cause. The Class Stones circumvented this issue, allowing for one to awaken their class in a more relaxed manner, saving many from the excruciating pain that occurred during natural class awakenings.
As years passed, and the Class Stones became a natural part of society, the Conclave of Wizards discovered that due to the usage of the Class Stones, there was a decreasing amount of people going through natural classing, and instead, those who missed the deadline of the Class Stone would instead find themselves to have no classes at all. With this new knowledge, in the hearts of the average people, it became mandatory to arrive at a Class Stone at all costs, otherwise one would risk being part of the weakest rank of humans there was, the Classless.
The two brothers had intended to arrive for their classing several days earlier, however due to the spring storms that damaged several of the buildings that their family and neighbors lived in; the two had stayed behind to help in the repairs before setting off. And though they were cutting it close, the two brothers sighed with relief once they arrived upon the main road that led to Hothal Aldu, for this meant that they had no more than two hours before they would finally learn what their classes would be.
"Come now Eric! If we hurry, we can reach Hothal Aldu in an hour, and then we can receive our classes before we spend the rest of the night celebrating in Rang Hog's Tavern!" Benedict cried out excitedly before he began sprinting down the road, causing his younger brother Eric to shake his head with a slight grin before taking off after him.
The two ran through the pouring rain, splashing through the deep muddy puddles on the road, as they raced one another towards the village. That was until a carriage came racing from behind them, the horses breathing heavily as they were pushed to their limits as they pulled the large wooden box behind them. The carriage had come out of nowhere, catching the two brothers by surprise as the lightning illuminated the darkness. Diving to each side of the road, Benedict escaped imminent death unharmed, however Eric was not as lucky.
Upon diving to the side of the road, Eric found himself diving straight down a steep, but shallow ravine that was too tall for him to climb out of. As his head hit the hard, rocky ground, Eric became dazed as he began to bleed and rolled over to look towards the sky.
"Eric! Eric, where are you?!" Benedict, upon noticing that he could not see his brother on the other side of the road, rushed across to look for him. Coming to the ridge of the ravine, Benedict looked down to where his brother lay, worry awashed among his eyes. Seeing that his brother was alive, Benedict let out a soft sigh of relief, before he began taking note of the area in an attempt to find a way to help his brother get out.
"Eric, can you hear me?!" After searching for several minutes, Benedict came to the conclusion that the ravine was too sharp of a drop to climb up or down, and that there was no way to get his brother out of the ravine. "I'm going to go get help, okay?! I'll be back, so don't move!" Benedict quickly took off down the road, not looking back as Eric weakly reached up, calling out for him to not go.
Eric lay there as pain flooded his nerves. As his mind slowly refocused itself, Eric first tried wiggling his fingers and toes to make sure that no serious damage had occurred. Upon finding that he could move and feel his extremities, Eric groaned as he forced himself to sit up.
Tenderly rubbing the back of his head, Eric could feel a large puss filled bulge forming where his head had cracked open, his black hair had fused together in clumps due to the clotting blood, and the gash that he could feel was extremely large.
Looking around himself, Eric quickly understood that he was not going to be getting out of the ravine, and all he could do was sit and wait for the return of his brother. As the storm raged on above him, Eric waited, unable to make out the time, though he did eventually notice that it was beginning to get darker as he was no longer able to make out what was two feet before him.
Fear crept into his heart as he realized the entire afternoon had passed, and that it was now becoming evening. Benedict should have arrived in Hothal Aldu by now, he should have gotten people to come out and rescue him by now. Why had his brother not returned yet? If they didn't hurry, he wouldn't be able to receive his class!
Looking up towards the sky, rain gushed down Eric's cheeks, washing away the pain filled tears as he let out an anguished cry. But Eric would soon learn what true pain felt like, for the night would be the longest he would ever experience in his eternity, and it would leave him the most shattered he could ever be by the time the sun came up.