THE LEGACY

Prologue


Dear son,

When you read these words - and it is my hope that you find enough forgiveness in your heart to take a moment and read them - I will be gone never to return. Had times been any different, we would have been a family and I could have taught you much that you will require to learn in the not so distant future. Had our world been safer, I would have been home to see you grow and be the mate your mother always deserved but, as even the remotest of contact with me would have meant the greatest of dangers for your mother and you, that was not to be.

You are young still, too young to understand what kept me away from our family and from my personal duties to you, yet I must now entrust you with my never-ending task and with some of my most important possessions. They will arrive for you in the care of an old friend who goes by the name of Oren and whom I trust with my life. This legacy comes at a cost however and, had I a choice, I would have held it back a few more years. But, as I go fight what is doomed to be my last battle, I urge you to keep to the shadows with your mother, and to believe.

We have failed at our task, my companions and I… utterly. The others have paid the ultimate price for our errors and there is little doubt on the outcome of the battle I am about to rage. Yet, rage it I must. Much depends on how much I can achieve before the end… Know that I will do my utmost efforts to ensure that your own journey becomes less arduous.

It is with a heavy heart that I write these words to you, my son, not at the thought of falling into death's grip, but because it is likely that I will leave you in a world wrought with untold fears and deadly dangers. A deep sorrow has befallen this land for the very essence I have dedicated my whole life to protect has been tainted and has turned against us.

Soon, my duty will fall upon you, and now I wish I had had a chance to teach you our ways. It will come to you naturally nevertheless, and I am confident that, one day, you will succeed where I have failed. Be assured that our honour is intact, however, for I have always held to the duty assigned to me by my kinsmen. I trust you will, when time comes, carry on in my stead. Take my Sigil and my Orb and use them well. One day, the Gods willing, my Master will come for you and teach you what I could not.

Before we part, know that I am proud of you and of the way your mother has raised you. Be good to her and give her my fondest love. May the Gods keep you safe and whole on your journey.

Love,

Dad

I stared at the slowly fading words until the parchment was blank again, fighting to keep my composure. The words cut deep still, even if they were written 15 years prior. As a 10 year old, receiving the message had been a shock, to say the least. I had never known my father and, even if my mother had repeatedly told me that he was alive and well, I had always imagined him dead. To realize that he had been living and had never bothered to take care of me had opened up a wound I did not know how to heal at the time. I had almost torn the letter apart and thrown the pieces in the fire that day, but my mother had calmly taken it away - 'for when you're old enough to understand', she had explained. Her smile had seemed so sad…

With a sigh, I remembered her last words to me, 5 years later… the day my future turned bleaker and darker still.

"It is time, my son, whether you deem yourself ready or not… whether you want it or not." She had whispered then, lying pale and worn out on her bed. "You are one of them and, with me gone, his legacy will become fully yours at last. Train well, child, and embrace your fate with all your heart. Only then will you find what you need to keep hope alive. Others may join you, in time, but the task is yours, son, to reclaim the essence of the world and purify it. May the Gods always guide you and protect you. I will put in a word for you."

This, she had said to me- her last words spoken with a playful smile on her lips - before breathing her last breath, and I suddenly found myself alone in a world of chaos and fears, just like my father had foretold in his letter. So much has happened since…