Draven watched his father at the dinnertable, he was laughing and smiling as he feasted like a pig. “Joshua, please. Manners.” The queen reminded, as she folded the napkin in her lap. The king forced a wry smile on his face and continued on, “Sorry, love, but since my son is to become king soon, I simply can’t wait!” his excuse was lame, and the queen had heard it many of times.

The queen laughed and shook her head, before putting a small bite of mashed potatoes in her mouth.

“So, son. Are you excited at all? What’s going through your head?” the king asked Draven.

Draven looked up at his Father and said, “Nothing really. I’m just taking in the situation and planning what I’m going to do as king when I get there. Being King, I supose you have lots of lives on your hands, so I’m just preparing myself.”

The king shoved a spoon-full of soup in his mouth and nodded. After finishing the bite he agreed, “Yes, being king has a lot of weight put on your shoulders; the other kingdoms, rouges in the area, the people of our kingdom. It’s a lot to take in at such a young age, and that is why you still have 3 more months to get ready.”

The queen agreed, “Yes, and you must find a queen, someone who wants to take the kingdom into her hands. But Draven, you must choose wisely some will fool you into choosing them.”

Draven nodded, “Of course, mother.”

“And don’t forget the beggers.” The queen laughed and the king laughed with her.

“Yeah you don’t want one of those, the other kingdoms and higher ranks won’t take you or us seriously.” The king told him, before devouring the whole plate. “Hey,” the king called over a servant, “More pig roast. Whatever you did to it, Celsias, do it many more times!”

Celsias chuckled from the other room, loud enough for the three royals to hear in the dining hall. “For you my King, anything!” he cheerfully sang.

The servant politely picked up the plate and bowed before hobbling over to the pig and putting more on for the king. He showed the king the amount he put on and raised his eyebrows waiting for the king’s order. The king nodded, and the servant immediately returned not saying a word, placed the plate in front of the king, bowed, and went to the side.

“Love, have you seen the flowers that we are going to use for the Challenge Ceremony? They’re quite magnificant.” The queen chimmed, to her king as she cut some of the pig roast.

“I have. They seem to be perfect.” The king responded.

Draven always thought it was odd that they had flowers at a Challenge Ceremony, especially since they kill things and challenge each other to the death. But he knew better than to argue, it was tradition to have flowers at the Challenge Ceremony. Plus, the queen always liked something to be peaceful at the Ceremony.

“We have a special surprise for the Ceremony, love.” The king smiled happy to surprise his one and only love.

The queen looked up in wonder, interest  sparked in her eyes. “Who?”

The king smiled, “An old friend,” he paused and put his fork down, “Markov.”

It’s a well-known factor that all sleuths have duties, they can’t mess around; they always have stuff that needs to be destroyed or departed from the world. It’s like not having your other half when the jobs not finished. Guilt fills your insides, eating up your humanity, killing you inside that you didn’t fullfill your one and only destiny. The thing is, not all slueths can handle the evil out in the unknown. They shy away from the monsters and leave them to do what they do; eating people, destroying villages, and harming the Kingdom of Salum. That’s why if you shy away from sluething, then you shy away for good. You aren’t brave enough to fight for yourself and the others.

Ember knew all of this and thought about it everyday.

When she woke up on her bed of straws and sighed, another morning of training before she could be trusted on her own in the wild. Oh, how frustrating it was that she had 2 more weeks, couldn’t it just be over with? Her trainer had told her she was ready, but tradition is tradition and for her to be a slueth she would need to be patient. Her gut told her she should go out on her own and hunt the evil without kingdom order, but of course there were going to be consequences. If she did it, she would be locked up, for what? A stupid mistake? ~Not smart~ her conscious told her.

Hopping out of bed, was like jumping out of a dream and into reality, not very pleasing at first. Since she already had her cloths on she slid on her shoes and picked up her bow. She traced her finger along it’s finely carved arm. Her father had made the bow for her before she went through training and she loved it. It was the only memory she had of him before he was slaughtered by wild slum reapers. The thought gave her shivers, followed by sadness. How she missed her father was unbearable, yes, he was stubborn and strict but he was the only one she had left and he was gone.

One last sniffle before she walked out of the cottage. She had places to be and right now all she wanted was for her training to be over. As soon as she arrived at the training center, she opened the gate and slid inside, it squeaked as she closed it behind her. “Sir Assen?” Ember called out, as she peered behind collumbs. The view in front of her was beautiful as always, the courtyard was filled with flowers in the spring, vines in the winter, and vines in the fall. As much as it was beautiful it was relaxing, completely. A small stream had carved it’s way into the clearing, snaking around near the back of the courtyard. She smiled she hadn’t even entered the training part and she was dazing off at how beautiful the spring flowers were.

“Ember. You made it just in time.”

The sound of her name being called as she dazed off surprised her and she whipped around to see Sir Assen watching her. “How’s your day been?” she asked trying to start a conversation, even though they both new it was helpless. They were so used to eachother after seeing one another for 3 years now.

“Good. You?” he asked walking around the courtyard casually, with his hands behind his back. His huge lean but muscular body shape seemed to move as if he was floating. But silly Ember that’s not possible, right?

“Wonderful, I just can’t believe my training is almost over.” She sighed in disbelief.

Assen gave her a look that almost passed as a scowl. She then immediately knew she had said to much and bowed her head in shame. You weren’t supose to talk about your training being over or training in general, it was unpolite as an aprentice. “Sorry.” She quietly murmured.

He ignored the issue and continued on with what he was about to say, “I was thinking about starting today off with bow practice, and since you’ve done it a million times already,  let’s practice the hard part.”

She nodded and followed him back into the training part. Once there he ordered, “Lay on your stomach.” She looked at him and the ground and immediatley didn’t argue but just simply laid on the ground.

“Hand me the bow, and your arrows.” He ordered and held his hand out for them to be placed there.

Ember sighed and unwrapped her bow from the hanging position across her back and handed it to him  as well as her arrows. He grabbed them and placed te bow on the ground 10 feet away from them. Then emptied the quiver threw it by the bow and chucked the arrows. At first, Ember had no idea what her mentor was doing, but then she understood.

“I’m going to hold you down. I need you to fight me off, then advance towards your bow as fast as you can. Aim and shoot it at this target over yonder. Understood?” he asked.

Ember nodded, mapping up a plan in her head as he climbed over her and held her down, his knee in her back and his hands holding her arms down. Without warning Ember instinctively kicked as far back as she could knocking him off balance, slightly. But she took the chance when the oportunity showed up, she grabbed his leg and twisted, not too hard, but hard enough so that it hurt. She kicked him in the stomach and stood up and ran to her bow as fast as she could sliding and grabbing it and an arrow. She loaded it, pulled back, aimed and released. It hit the target square to the left of the center, she kicked the dust and swared.

“Don’t worry about that. Worry about what caused it. You were totally lack of focus in the end. In a real situation you only get one chance.” Assen stated as he walked towards her. “Try again.”

And so she did, many times, until finally she hit the center every time. “That’s so weird. Your shooting is never like that. It’s always on target and perfect. I think you were completely mentally lost at that point.” Assen guessed. “Which is not execeptable. Your training is almost over and you can’t afford showing up at the Challenge Cerremony , messing up every challenge because of mental focus issues.”

Ah, the Challenge Ceremony. Ember remembered it quickly, since she went with her father to watch the new warriors be accepted or refused. If you were accepted, it was like winning 10,000 euros. The thrill and pride is unbearable, you simply can’t believe it. If you were refused, it’s like being in debt for all of your training and hard practice you put in, that pain, so many go through. But Ember won’t, she wouldn’t. She would try harder than a clown getting attention, she wanted this so bad and if she failed what else was she to do with herself?

Ember’s green eyes glanced up into Assen’s grey eyes that were even more intense by his dark brown hair. She nodded and understood completely, she needed to focus on the prize at the end of all of this.

On a cold morning a woman held her child tightly to her chest, the warmth of the child gave her a pleased pride, for she had been the one to have the child. A smile made it’s way across her mouth as she watched him examine his soon to be known world. Of course he wouldn't know yet, but he was the one who was going to rule all of this when he became of the age. He would make the decisions, whether to  declare war or to marry when he was ready, he would do it when it’s necessary. The woman knew it too, for she was the queen of this land and planned for it to stay that way for a while, until her son grew of the age to take the kingdom and claim it as his own.

The Queen sighed as she looked out at the village, how much it had grown since the beginning of her rein. She jumped slightly as a hand gripped her shoulder lightly. She turned to see her husband, the king. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek, then walked to the railing, and took in the air with a big breath. “How is your morning, love?” he asked, as he watched the village below move with excitement.  

She glanced down at their happy babe and replied, “Wonderful, as always. Draven and I have been walking around the palace all day, just exploring.”

The kings age showed with the wrinkly eyes of his smile he gave her. He loved his wife, yes, but he never loved her more then when she had birthed his own child. He nodded in reply and gestured for his queen to give him his new son. She handled the babe with care and softly picked him up and handed him to the king who embraced the child instantly, rocking him back and forth. “What a beautiful babe.” The little babe had his mother’s gorgeous eyes, a deep set blue, with an even darker ring around the  edge of the iris and he was set to having her thick dark brown locks. “He looks just like you, my queen.” The king said holding the babe’s tiny little hand.

The queen smiled and replied, “But I’m sure he’ll have his father’s courageous heart.”

The king laughed at the queens words and nodded holding the babe in one hand, he cupped the queens cheek with the other hand,  “Oh, what be I without you, love?” he asked her, kissing her forehead.

Although the King and Queen were happy, soon to be, the little babe will grow into a great and powerful one. And darkness will be knocking down on his door.