The Pure Ones

Chapter One

I knew the kingdom of Bravenik to be a terrible place filled with evil, the rich lived extravagantly while people like us were forced to feed on scraps. Having a tyrannical dictator as a king only made things harder, King Roderic was more interested in waging wars on other nations to acquire land than actually care for his people. My parents made a small living by farming and selling the crops we planted, it was not a lot of money but I was content.

A few minutes later, I was outside playing with Alysia when we saw a familiar man heading towards us.

"Welcome back children!" my father shouted and he dropped the heavy bag he was carrying and opened up his arms to us. Alysia and I tackled him with powerful hugs as he laughed. He was a heavy man with olive skin and thick, untamed eyebrows. His black hair was cut rather shortly, a sharp contrast from me, my sister and mother

"Guess what I got ya?" he asked.

"What?!" my sister and I asked with excitement. My father opened up the bag he came with and as I peered inside, I saw chopped up pieces of meat.

"It's a pig! You love pork don't you?"

Alysia and I looked back at him unimpressed. Soon, my mother came running outside to my father and they greeted each other with a long, searing kiss, Alysia and I closed our eyes with disgust.

"Children, your mother and I have some...matters to attend to. Why don't you go play with your cousins" my father said to us as he held my mother by the waist, I knew what they had in mind so I grabbed Alysia and left quickly.

Our cousin's place was just a few steps away from our home, a small similar looking cottage. We played outside with our cousins while my uncle, aunt and grandmother watched from the window. Our game began by Edith materializing a slingshot with her magic and she began to fire at us as we took cover. Patrick bravely abandoned his cover and called forth birds with his powers that pecked at Edith's hair and face. While she was distracted, Alysia summoned a gust of wind that pushed Edith back and I finally emerged from my cover to deliver the final blow to Edith. I charged up a bolt of lightning from my fingertips before firing it at her.

Her screams cut through the air as she flew a few steps back before falling to the ground. Our game instantly stopped as everyone rushed to check if she was alright, I watched from afar with shock.

"Too much Alistair! Too much!" my uncle Jacob scolded me; guilt gnawed at my insides. This always happened, my abilities always got out of hand from time to time. My aunt screamed at me while her husband tried to calm her down, I turned around and walked away, frustrated tears already stinging my eyes. My uncle called me to follow him just before I could leave, we took a short walk to his forge and he gave me an earful about how I could seriously hurt people with my powers if I was not careful.

When he was done, he offered to spar with me to redirect my anger. Uncle Jacob was a bladesmith who fought in the army many years ago, so ever since I turned eight he had been teaching me how to wield a sword. My parents and grandmother were unaware, they believed Pure ones should live completely peaceful lives so they were all very unhappy with his decision to enlist in the army all those years back.

We took a break from our match to recover our strength. As I sat and drank some water, my uncle asked me to follow him, I got up and followed him until he stopped at a table that had a large wooden box displayed on it.

"What is it?" I curiously asked. He smirked at me before he slowly opened the box to reveal a beautifully forged sword. I studied the blade in awe, so beautiful and majestic, strange symbols were carved into the blade that emitted a dark blue light.

"Did you make this?!" I asked my uncle as I ran my hands over the long blade, I felt the magic in me grow as I touched the carvings.

"Yes I did, forging weapons with magic is a technique our ancestors were very skilled at"