The Sparrow

Chapter One

The streets are bustling, the air filled with nearby shouts of conversation carrying over snippets of vender's cries that are lost to the crowd. Children are playing together, pretending to be on squads of the Elite Ravens while weaving paths through the body of people. There are three groups of little ones chasing one cluster of "rogues", the unlucky children who drew the short straw at the beginning of the game.

The Ravens are the military of this continent, but are most concentrated in cities such as this one for the protection of the population. All of the young boys and even some of the girls in Edan aspire to be as great as these high ranking protectors, including the quiet one who crouches, balancing himself on the top of a wooden fence as the world rushes by. Only his motivation isn't to impress anyone- it is to prove something.

Reza Leofwin is one young man in this town that no one wants to mess with. He has just graduated from the Academy a week ago at the head of his class and is now ranked as a certified Sparrow, an underling guardian of the town. Though he isn't as privileged as the more experienced men on squads of the Ravens or even the Crows, he is still permitted to handle missions alone or with a team of two others judging by the danger of it. If it is ranked above a C class, it is to be handled by the Ravens or the Crows.

Crows and Sparrows are lower ranked than the Ravens, but are still considered valuable protectors of Edan. A Sparrow is someone fresh out of the Academy who needs to work their way up to a Crow by taking hands-on examinations overseen by officials, typically consisting of a one-on-one fight with another Sparrow. The contestant that remains standing is eligible to graduate to the Crows. For a Crow to graduate to a Raven, there is a long list of requirements you must reach, including a specific strength and level of experience.

Reza is the youngest son of the Leofwin clan, and many already believe that he is stronger than any of his siblings, though they received all of the training and attention from their father growing up. The other three were instructed to ignore their youngest brother and to focus on their training. From the start, Reza was told by his father that he was bound to be a servant to the rest of his siblings, and was otherwise useless as a Leofwin. He was told that he was a waste of space who would never amount to anything, all because he was the last born of their deceased mother. Now that he is older, Reza comprehends that his father blames him for the death of his wife, as she died giving birth to him. He also understands that it was not his fault.

The oldest son of Adelard Leofwin, Tarsis, was the apple of their father's eye, so to speak. Tarsis was being groomed to become the next head of the Leofwin clan, but that was previous to him becoming a rogue after murdering the other two members of his squad. Before he left with no explanation, the eldest son was the youngest known Elite Raven in all of Edan at the age of sixteen, and the only one of the siblings that was kind to Reza. It is because of his brother that Reza learned how powerful he could be and was inspired to join the Academy in his sibling's footsteps, even though it caused his banishment from his own father.

Tarsis was not only a part of the Elite, but he was also the Ghost Captain, the head commander of three separate squads. The other men on the team knew better than to test or question Tarsis, because he didn't cheat his way into the position. He graduated from the Academy a whole year early, and flew through the required stages leading up to the Captain, graduating to Raven status at the age of fifteen. Tarsis matured earlier than the any other teenager in the town because of the pressure Adelard's pride and expectations put on his son's shoulders. When his mother died, Tarsis knew that he had to work hard to gain the highest rank that he could, so that he could help his father support their family with the paychecks that came with high positions.

It was almost two years ago that Tarsis abandoned his family and slaughtered his squad mates, and no one, out of all of the groups and scouts sent to look, has ever found a trace of him. Reza's new motivation is to become as strong as his brother, so that he can track him down and confront him personally. If nothing else, Reza has to know why his brother would do such a thing. He trusted Tarsis so much, and the older boy who taught him everything isn't the same one who would become a rogue. The Tarsis that Reza knew would never have done something so unforgivable, and he believes that there must be something more to the story, a piece of the puzzle that is missing. Something he was never told, or that no one knew about.