Legacy

Prologue

Welcome! This is my first story on Wattpad and something I created as a part of nanowrimo. While I do try to provide the best quality, it is still a first draft and definitely will need editing in the future. As for now, I hope you enjoy! Thanks for checking it out and giving me and my characters a chance :)

Antonio had never been a man to believe in superstition or any outside forces, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. It started in the morning when he woke up from a bad dream of which he could only remember the echo of screams and the fading of hurried footsteps. As he began morning prayers with his fellow knights, he felt a presence that he had never felt before, like he suddenly had a duty to attend to, but he didn't know what it was. The rest of the day dragged on in this same manner, and Antonio's mind fell into a daze of depression and sadness.

He watched half-heartedly as his men thrust and parried each other with practice swords until he dismissed himself for the day, surprising the young men. The captain never took a day off, and he was feared and respected as one of the best knights of the Alton Order. They knew better to question him and chose to continue their sparring.

Antonio wandered through the nearby forest aimlessly. Light filtered through the thick canopy, and time seemed to freeze. His feet dragged across the ground until the forest started to thin and led out onto a small cliff. Antonio fell onto the ground and gazed across the land, trees reaching the far extent of the horizon. He leaned his head back, letting the fading sunlight hit his darkened and scarred face. His large and muscled body stretched out across the rock, and Antonio realized how he had missed simpler times.

In the distance, he could see his home, the Kingdom of Aragona. For the first time that day, Antonio felt the heavy burden of his sadness disappear. He remembered the colorful buildings built into the hillside, full of simple but wonderful people. The kingdom never lacked art, and there were markets full of people with new ideas and perspectives all over the square in the middle of town. The sea treated the people well, adding to the beauty of the kingdom and providing a strong market for fish and other seafood. The royal family, whom he considered himself a friend of, was kind and contributed greatly to the prosperity of their kingdom. They had two heirs, a boy and girl, who were only destined to make their kingdom greater.

The best thing of all was her though, the woman who had changed his life for the better. The sadness returned to his heart, and he recalled her soft, brown eyes, and the way they sparkled in the sun like the sea she had loved so much. He had only wished his son had those same eyes, but he had been cursed with his pale blue ones instead. With a sad smile, Antonio regretted that he could not save them both. If only he had had more than one soul to sell to that devil of a man.

Antonio gazed at his home one more time, wishing he could forget it but also wanting to hold on. He turned to go when a small movement caught the corner of his eye. Antonio's heartbeat quickened, and he hoped it had just been the lighting of sun fading into darkness. He inhaled sharply upon his thorough examination. There was no mistaking the thin gray wisps that floated into the sky. Smoke. The kingdom was on fire, the sea was empty of boats. The screams from his dream echoed in the back of his mind. The kingdom, his home, was being attacked.

Antonio raced back to the knights, hoping they could make it in time, if it wasn't already too late. A voice in the back of his mind uttered his worst fears, but Antonio shook them away. Whether he was prepared or not, he was responsible for the safety of his people. He would do whatever it took. He erupted from the thick woods to find a black stallion outside the stone building of his men, one that he knew all too well.

Antonio threw the cloak off his head as he entered the building to meet a pair of piercing, jade eyes, which were just as cold as he remembered them from his deal all those years ago. The room was full of all the knights of his Order, except Antonio's heart fell at the realization of the one man who was missing. His pale blue eyes fell over each one of them, their faces empty of any expression. Antonio thought there had to have been some mistake, and he was waiting for one of the knights to jump up and tell him that his son was out on a walk or in the practice ring. No one did.