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"The council hasn't emerged from the chamber since yesterday. The lights have been burning all night and rumors have been spreading from house to house about who he is."

"what are they?" Trent asked

Saphron drew him aside and lowered her voice. "Some say he's an ambasador from another isle, others say he's here to declare war, others still believe he is the source of the anger in the city and he is the essance of evil."

"And which do you believe?" said a familiar voice.

The two turned and found Evrae standing above them.

"Dad! Where were you last night?"

Evrae looked drawn, as if he had aged twenty years in a day and his attitude was worse than his vissage.

"It's none of your business, boy." He said rather gruffly, his grey eyes fixated in an icy stare.

"Dad... what's going on?"

"We have a right to know Mr. Sylverstar. We're not children anymore."

Anger, fear and sorrow all crossed Evrae's face in an instant.

"You think you're not children? If I were you I'd cling on to that childhood, you onl yhave it once. In a few years your aging will slow to a near stop and you'll have centuries to say you're not children. For now, cherish what you have.

"Be happy you haven't seen the horrors of war and death, because those visions will change even children into the elderly. Cling on to that innocence as long as you can, you may lose it sooner than you think."

Trent and Saphron stood in stunned silence as Evrae walked away.

My father had changed into someone I didn't recognize. Anger, pain, fear, hate and sorrow clouded his once bright eyes. This man was not my father, and I needed to find out why.

Saphron and I stayed in my home that day, talking about rumors. The only one that made any sense to us was that the stranger was pure evil.

We didn't know how right we were.

Saphron stayed the night in my bed, I took the couch... Again I didn't sleep, but she slept soundly.

We awoke the next morning and continued searching for answere.

"Saphron, I'd like to wander alone for a bit. I'd like to find my father and ask him a few questions." Trent said with a slight sigh. Saphron nodded and departed to find her own answers.

I didn't know then, but that would be the last time I'd see the inquisitive, vibrant Saphron I had called my dearest friend.

Trent wandered for hours, searching for his father, but no trace of him could be found. No one Trent questioned had seen him since the day before.

Trent, tired and weary, returned to his home and collapsed on his couch, falling instantly into a deep slumber.

Fire, death, destruction... These were my dreams. All the while a faceless shadow laughed, delighting in the misery of the Dead. I remember crying when I awoke, and my father's arm around my shoulder...

"There there, son." Evrae said in a sweet calm voice Trent had known all his life. "It's alright."

Trent sobbed for another twenty minutes before calming down.

"I'm sorry, dad..." He said. "You were right, I'm still a child. Look at me, I'm crying over a nightmare."

His father smiled at him "You may have the innocence of a child but you are not a child any longer."

"Then... I have to ask... What's going on? Who is that man, Dad?"

His father sighed heavily. "I cannot say, Trent. All I can tell you is do not persue this, do not search for answers to questions you do not understand. In persuing these questions you could be putting not only yourself, but everyone on this island in danger."

I was stunned. But I primised my father I wouldn't search anymore. I departed to find Saphron, to voice the warning to her.

I wish I hadn't seen her, so I could have remembered her as someone I loved for who she was... Not someone I pitied when I saw what she had become.

"Saphron! Wait up!" Trent said.

He had seen her walking far ahead of him. He sprinted to catch up. She either didn't hear him, or wasn't listening.

When he did catch up, he turned her to face him. "Wh... What's wrong?"

Saphron's beautiful face was drawn, her eyes no longer filled with the light of life. She seemed dead inside.

"Trent, I can't talk to you right now..." There was fear in her voice as well as sorrow. "I have a lot of things to do."

Trent didn't know what to say, so he nodded and let her leave.

He fell on the ground where he stood.

what's happening? he though.

Trent stayed there for an hour, pondering everyone's behavior. The Elurian Elves walked around him, not even asking why he was on the ground.

Finally he rose and shambled back to his home.

"What am I supposed to do?" Trent asked the empty room. He knew no response would come, but still he asked.

The day passed quickly. Before Trent realized it it was already night fall. He looked out into the moonlit streets of Eluria, wonderingwhat had befallen his home.

The lights of the council building remained on, Trent noted. He had promised his father he wouldn't persue the issue, but he still wondered.

He turned in early, not expecting his father to come home, nor him to sleep... but still he lay in bed.

I laid in bed for a long time, not sleeping, not thingking... it was like I was just... there.

After a while I did sleep, but it felt like as soon as I did, I awoke to the smell of Baccon and eggs cooking in our kitchen. I dressed and went to see who was there.

It was my father. THe only time my father ever cooked breakfast was when something terrible was happening, or was going to happen, but he didn't know I knew this.

"Well good morning sleepy." Evrae said with a smile.

Trent said good morning, noting a newly formed gray streak through his father's dark hair. He seated himself and was served.

He ate in silent thought, looking at his father every now and then trying to decipher thelook on his face, but he could not.

When both were done eating, Evrae instructed Trent to get his sword and meet him in the back yard.

Trent hadn't trained with his father in months. The crops had been suffering and Evrae had been workingon a solution.

Trent walked to his room and took his Scymitar from the wall on which it hung.

It wasn't the prettiest of weapons. It was sleaker than the typical wide-at-the-tip scymitars. This one had a thin blade ment for a balance of slashing and piercing attacks as well as retain agility and speed during attack. At its tip the blade was about an inch, moving into a sleak curve to the guard which was formed into an S shape.

Trent hung the blade at his side and walked outside to where his father already stood.

"Ready?" Evrae asked, his blade out of its scabbard.

Trent envied his father's sword. It was almost exactally like his own, but with a diamond blad and a silver hilt. the guard was in the shape of a crescent, its handle was wrapped in black silk and its pommel was made of a diamond shaped blue gem, unknown to Trent.

"Ready for what?" Trent asked.

Evrae smioled "we're going to review everything I taught you."

Trent smiled, nodded and drew his own sword, poising himself for attack.

I'd never beaten my father in battle, but I still enjoyed training with him.

We faught for hours, neither of us relenting. I was determinet to win this time.

I knew he wasn't holding back like he normally did, but I still faught with all my heart and mind.

Trent, exhausted, made one last ditch effort. He ran to his house, his father following him closly. Quickly he ran up the wall and flipped backwards, slashing at his father's wrod at the same time. He managed to knock his father's sword away but....

When I landed, smiling, I pointed my sword at my father in victory, but I was pointing half a sword. My blade had broken in half when I hit his sword with so much force.
Trent and Evrae laughed and fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"This is on eof the greatest days in my life." ERvrae said, his chest heaving. "You've finally surpassed me. I didn't even teach you that move."

"I worked on it outside the town." Trent smiled, his chest heaving as well.

"well you've done well my boy." Evrae said, patting his son's shoulder warmly. "Tomorrow we'll review your magickal skills. You should get some rest."

Trent nodded but hesitated a moment. "Dad?" he said. "I know I said I wouldn't press the issue, but I need to know...."

Evrae sighed, but had a slight smile on his face. "Come inside, I'll tell you what I can now. After defeating me I guess you have the right to know."

The two rose and entgered their home. His father made them both a cup of cocoa as Trent sat at the table.

Evrae placed the dark liquid in front of Trent and seated himself. They both drank and silence consumed the room.

Trent waited patiently. He could tell Evrae was gathering his thoughts.

Finally he took a deep breath and began.

"I cannot tell you all." He said, as if a weight were on his shoulders. "but I can tell you I knew the stranger would come. I've met his before, as did you, but you wouldn't remember. Him coming here is a dark omen. I had hoped he wouldn't come, but his resolve is too strong... It always has been.

"We are all in very real danger, but very few people realize this. Even the Elders do not know what they have done, agreeing to meet with him."

Evrae fell silent, feeling he had said too much already.

"What's going to happen?" Trent asked

Evrae shook his head. "I don't know yet. BUt you should sleep. we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Trent nodded and we to bed happy that his father had toold him at least a little. But why had he held so much back?

Trent pondered this new information as he fell to sleep, which didn't take long. He awoke the next morning with his father gently shaking him awake.

"Time to get up." Evrae smiled. "we have a lot to review."

Trent rose and dressed. He walked out into his back yard to see hay piled twice his height, stones as bhig as his body, minerals and metals, gems, wood and many other materials.

my specialty with magic is energy manipulation, whether it be my enerdy or the energy and structure of items. In all honesty I could easliy blow apart these bars with an energy blast...

For hpours, Tret trained, changing materials into other substances, weapons, blasting apart rocks with his energy, lighting the hay on fire with an elemental power, creatingdefensive walls from the ground.

He's ready Evrae thought I've tauight him all I can, now he must learn alone

Trent, having changed all the materials in his yard, fell exhausted to the ground, his energy was expended.

Evrae walked over to him and noticed a silver chain clutched in Trent's hand.

"What's that?" Evrae asked him, an eyebrow raised.

"Huh?" Trent said, looking. "Oh, I made it from the silver you provided. I was going to give it to Saphron."

Evrae looked at the pendant Trent had formed. It was made of three half circles, arching inward in a triangle formation and knotting through one another.

"Wh... Where did you see that symbol?" Evrae questioned, a little shocked.

"I saw it in a dream." Trent responded, in a far away voice, recalling when he had envisioned it. "Though I have no clue what it means."

Evrae sat next to his son. "It's called a Trinity knot. It's an old symbol of protection."

Trent smiled. "Then I think I'll go give it to Saphron now. She might need it."

Trent jumped up and ran from his yard, hopping over the fence that surrounded it.

Remember that symbol, son Evrae though, casting his eyes to the ground.