As the first signs of sunlight poured through Ezra's window, he was slowly pulled from the depths of sleep. Bright and early is how every day started for Ezra. He and his family lived by the rhythm of the day, retiring not long after nightfall and rising with the sun's return
"Ahh man, 5 more minutes, I'll rest my eyes for a little bit longer."
"Ezra, it's time to get up, food is almost ready!" Ezra's mother called from the kitchen, her voice carrying the warmth of routine. She was always the first one up and about making sure breakfast was ready for everyone.
"Give me a minute to get up, I'll be out in a second" Ezra mumbled as he sunk deeper into his pillow.
"Nice, I can close my eyes for a little bit longer now."
Just then, some footsteps were heard making their way to his door. Following them came two quick knocks that served as an alert that the door was about to be opened. Ezra's father opened the door just a couple of inches and spoke in a calm manner
"You should listen to your mother for both of our sakes, you don't want to disrespect her effort to make our food." With that, he closed the door and took off towards the kitchen.
"Guess I can't help it, time to get going."
Ezra threw the cover off of his body, kicked his legs up to propel him into the air, and landed beside his now mess of a bed. He quickly fixed up the sheet and blanket, threw on some khaki pants and a dark red buttoned-up short-sleeve, and made his way to the kitchen.
"Good morning Ez! I cooked up some eggs and jerky for you, would you like some milk?" his mother, who seemed to have all the energy in the world after having woken up not long ago said.
"Morning Mom, I would love some milk, and thank you" Ez said with post-waking-up grogginess in his voice while taking a seat next to his father.
"Good, you need all the protein you can get since you're a growing boy" she stated matter of factly.
Ezra's father was given the same thing except some bread rather than jerky.
"Ahhh, so Ez gets all of the good stuff now?"
"Oh dear, Ez is hitting a growing boy and needs the best of the best, if I recall, it's been a long time since you've rapidly grown and need all the extra protein," his mother teased.
That caused his father to nearly choke on his bite.
Ezra focused on his food so as to not get caught up in his parents' banter.
They all finished up their meals and started to get ready for their day. Ezra's father, Elias Irvine, was a sword instructor at the town academy. His mother, Lyra Irvine, also worked at the academy but taught more general knowledge classes—stuff like arithmetic, science, weather, and anything else that was important in the world. Ezra already knew most of what his mother taught since she was a book nerd who had been teaching her son since the moment he could comprehend her words.
The sun was well past dawn now and Ezra's parents were getting their horse-drawn carriage ready to head to town. He would not be joining them since there was no reason to as he had his own routine he needed to do. He could get much more done with a higher efficiency by working on his own rather than at the academy. His parents were the ones who recommended this since he out-paced everyone at the academy in class as well as sword training. He would run to town on his own later in the day so it wasn't a big deal to not go with his parents.
"Ez dear, will we be seeing you in town later?" called out his mother.
"I better be seeing him later as I want him to spar with one of the students again" his father remarked.
"Dad, are you sure you're not just throwing your work onto me?"
"Well a little bit, to be honest, but I also think that a kid sparring with someone closer to their age and level can be very beneficial in its own ways that aren't just technique and strength. Plus, it is also good training for you to spar with other people as much as possible to gain more combat sense."
"Well, he's not wrong. Even though I usually win the spars against the academy students, it often helps me learn how to improve. It's also fun when the fight is close, that's when I can really make a breakthrough."
"Alright alright, I will be there by noon at the latest, Love you both!" said Ezra.
"Love you!" said both of his parents in unison as they looked at each other and giggled before taking off to the town.
Ezra rolled his eyes at his parents' constant antics but secretly enjoyed it.
He turned towards his lofty home in the woods and went to grab his training sword to start his morning workout routine. Ezra is almost 15 years old and hit puberty a year prior so he has been rapidly growing. He can feel himself getting stronger by the day and feels the effects of the effort he puts into working out. It is exhilarating for him and he strives to put more work into getting stronger physically.
His morning training consists of body weight work mixed with sword practice. He always starts with overhead swings with focused precision to get his mind and body in tune with each other. Raising his sword above his head and striking in a downward motion with practiced speed over and over interspersed with bouts of horizontal slashes and other notable stances until he builds up a sweat. He continues this for a while until the sun is well past dawn and shines through the trees in a certain way that indicates a couple hours have passed.
"She's going to show up anytime now, I should freshen up and eat something."
As he wrapped up his morning training, he sheathed his sword on his belt and made his way inside to rinse his face and munch on some bread and cheese.
"Ezraaaa!" a low-pitched female voice screamed from the path in front of his house.
Sighing as he finished his bite, he stood up to meet his loud friend outside.
Waiting at the front of his lawn was a girl his age, just a little shorter than him, with medium-to-long curled brunette hair tied back in a band.
"Hey, Gwen, do you mind knocking like a normal person instead of screaming at the top of your lungs?"
"Yeah, but what if you're outside training and don't hear me knock? My method ensures you will know when I am here every time!"
"Well you're not exactly wrong, I will definitely always hear when someone is screaming in front of my house" Ezra replied.
Gwenevere had a smug expression as if she had beat him.
"By the way, I have to be at the academy by 12 to do my dads wor—, I mean help him with training one of his students," Ezra said with a joking tone.
She let out a small laugh "same here, my parents LOVE throwing their work onto me with the pretense of 'it'll help you in the long run!' or something like that."
Gwen and Ezra chatted for a little longer before taking off onto their run through the forest and up the mountain. Gwen carried her bow comfortably on her back, its string wrapped around her shoulder, along with a small quiver, as well as two small daggers on her waist, while Ezra had his almost full size metal training sword sheathed at his hip.
They always ran with their weapons of choice on them—if a situation ever required them to fight, they would likely need to run as well. This was just one of many small habits in their training to become strong enough to one day venture the world.
Ezra and Gwen both valued being quick and nimble on their feet so running was a key part of their routines.The forest was also provided an extra challenge because they had to be constantly alert of their movement and surroundings so they didn't trip or crash into a tree.
Rain and thunder were quite frequent where they lived, making the trails even more treacherous when wet. But unless a storm was severe, neither of them let the weather keep them from training.
The two kids ran up the local mountain almost everyday. This was no ordinary mountain because at the summit was one of the Great World Trees. Not much is known about this type of tree since there are likely only a handful of them on the planet. The only thing known for certain is that they are the largest trees in the world, and their wood seems indestructible. This indestructible nature is the only reason towns and cities aren't built from their wood, leaving most of humanity to pay little attention to them. Ezra had heard from his parents and people in town that entire religious groups revolve around the World Trees.
"I can definitely see why people would worship such a mighty structure. I don't really care about all that, though—what matters to me is that the tree provides excellent rain cover. The roots also stretch across the entire mountain, making for great obstacle courses."
These were some of the reasons Ezra and Gwen had been thankful for the tree as it helped them with their training and made for an amazing view of thunderstorms at the summit.
Soon after the two started running, both Ezra and Gwen felt a slight change in the air pressure as well as a subtle change in the smell of the air. They both glanced at each other and gave a quick nod indicating that they should hurry up before a downpour hit.
Spending so much time outside in nature had given Ezra and Gwen a natural sense of weather patterns. Both could tell that a small storm was about to form and pass through the area. It wasn't a big deal to them since they often ran in the rain, but they definitely preferred to be at the summit when the show started.
After about 45 minutes of navigating the mountain's obstacle course and the small paths they had slowly created on previous runs, they finally made their way to the summit.
"I don't think I'll ever get over this view" Gwen states.
"True, even though we haven't traveled the world or seen the other world trees, I don't think anything is gonna beat this for a long time."
"We're gonna have to find that out ourselves and travel the world to see what it has to offer us!" she said with a smirk.
"That's the plan."
They made their way to a small cove at the base of the tree for more cover as the rain had been picking up rapidly for the last 20 minutes. Ezra's favorite part about storms was about to start.
Feeling a slight tingle on his neck and a small intuition, he turned his head and pointed towards a seemingly random direction in the sky.
"Right there." he asserted confidently.
Just then, a bright flash of lightning seized control of the sky as a loud boom echoed around the area. There was no sound delay for Ezra and Gwen as they were very close to the mighty lightning strike.
"How the hell do you always do that Ez? I don't understand it one bit."