"Mother, can you tell me a story?" Rowan's voice was soft, laced with sleep, but his eyes still shone with curiosity. He clutched the edge of his blanket, the flickering firelight casting warm shadows across his face.
His mother chuckled, brushing a hand through his unruly hair. "Again? But I've told you this story so many times."
"Please?" he pleaded, his voice barely above a whisper. "I really want to hear it again."
She sighed, but it was the kind of sigh that held nothing but love. Settling beside him, she pulled the blanket up to his chin and began, her voice gentle. "Very well, my star. Listen closely, for this is a tale of the Great hero Rowan The rising sun …"
"He was born a very, very long time ago. Humans were much weaker then, but we learned how to grow stronger with magic, given to us from the Earth. But even with that, we still weren't enough. Dragons were superior beings. They were truly the masters of the elements."
She paused for a moment, her eyes distant, as though seeing the past in her mind. "But something miraculous would happen one day. A great warrior named Iscariot defended the people of old. When a dragon named Mythrendel came, it wiped out his whole army. In the end, he was the only survivor."
"But he realized humanity was weak. The only way to grow stronger was a deal with a demon. And as soon as his brothers-in-arms heard this, they came to see what he'd done. He was stronger, but eventually, they would see how that power was corrupting him. Rowan, he was young at the time, couldn't hold him. Lucius, his other companion, tried to help their friend, but once you make a deal with demons, it's hard to come back."
"Rowan and Lucius did everything they could to try to free him, to get their friend back, but Iscariot didn't want it. And the people of that time didn't care. All they wanted was to defeat the dragons and send the other creatures away from the Earth. Iscariot would be the reason for the First Great War. In the end, he would kill the dragon Mythrendel, King of Dragons, but the dragons were tired of the war with humans."
"The humans, though, did something unthinkable. They drank the blood of the dragon, and something changed in them. They were given powers—greater strength and other abilities."
"Rowan, though, never drank the blood. He became strong using his own inner power—abilities no one thought a regular human could ever reach. And yet, he did. Soon, others would too. They called it Flux, powers drawn from their inner selves. Lucius would gain this power as well, but by then, Iscariot was already gone. No one could find him to this day. But since he was gone, peace came, and the First Great War ended."
She smiled gently, brushing his hair from his face. "Thanks for listening, my star. Can we hear the second part tomorrow?"
"Yes, my star, we can."